4
"Limey, how's our mech doing?"
"The mech? Well, about as good as can be expected. I'm just putting in the last PBC right now."
"But you didn't get the windshield repaired?"
"Not yet, sir. That's bound to take a couple hours."
Jurick walked a circle around the mech, looking it over. "What about the comm. array?"
"That'll probably take even longer sir."
"Well, get it in quick. I'm going to need to borrow it."
"The Eagle, sir? It's in no fighting condition!"
"No?"
"Of course not! The armor's damaged, the comm. array is out, and if anyone gets a shot off at the windshield, it'll be the end of you!"
"Then you have seven minutes to get a piece of armor over that hole. I'll use one of the mobile long-range radios I can use that to stay in touch."
"But sir, why do you need to use the Eagle? A Guardram can take a lot more damage, with its shield."
"But the Eagle can make 100 kph, but a Guardram can only do about 82. Two of them have just been stolen from Mech Bay 2, and I intend on catching up with them. As long as I don't get hit in the face, I should be OK, right?"
"Well, I suppose. The armor's not too badly hit."
"Then get on it. And put a piece of armor over that hole."
"It won't keep any shots out."
"Hopefully it will take care of the sand and heat at least."
After fifteen minutes, Jurick Donnell was out of Mech Bay 3, and catching up with Kain and Omarus. Limey had replaced the last of the six medium lasers with a PBC 250, which were designed to easily come in and out of the mech, and he'd managed to get a piece of armor over the hole where the mech's cockpit was exposed, while Jurick found a long-range radio and brought it aboard the mech.
The city's radar had come up shortly before Omarus and Kain left its range, so Jurick was able to follow the course they had taken. He quickly found their trail, and eventually Omarus appeared in front of him, and he locked on and began firing.
"This is Captain Jurick Donnell of the Arthenis III Heavy Infantry in Graedis. You have stolen two Arthenian mechs and will immediately relinquish them into Arthenian custody and surrender yourselves, or be destroyed."
"Uh, hello, Captain Jurick Donnell," Omarus answered, standing the mech back up. "How did you manage to catch up with us?" Jurick made no answer, and Omarus kept going. "As to what you said, I couldn't care less about the Arthenian government's former property. These mechs are now under the possession of the notable mechwarrior Omarus Aldan and his sidekick Kain Ikiru. I have no intention of surrendering my mech, now or anytime. I suggest you return home and tell your Colonel so."
Jurick's reply came swiftly: a full volley from his PBC's, directly at Omarus. His mech stumbled forward, but unlike the previous one, the blast wasn't enough to knock him down.
"I'm afraid you don't have much choice, Omarus Aldan," Jurick continued, opening fire again. "The two of you together are no match for me-even with your shields. You may want to reconsider. After all, I'd prefer to take back whole mechs to Graedis."
"You won't have the pleasure."
Back in front, Omarus signaled Kain again. "Turn 45 degrees to the right, Kain." "Where are we going?" "Sniper Stone. When we-" another PBC beam hit Omarus's mech, and he floundered a bit before recovering. "When we get there, you break right, and I'll break left. Jurick must have found our tracks and followed them, but the ground near Sniper Stone is rocky. We'll do our best to lose him. If not, then I want you to target Captain Jurick's right leg-repeat, his right leg." The mechs raced toward Sniper Stone. Omarus hoped that if they could get there before Jurick took out his shield, they might be able to lose him in the rocks.
"Use your jump jets, Kain," Omarus said as his mech went airborne. "You'll go faster. We should stay in the air as long as possible." Sniper Stone wasn't too far away, and in a few minutes Omarus and Kain, dogged by Jurick, reached it. Omarus continued almost straight while Kain headed to the right, away from Omarus and Jurick.
Thick dust covered most everything on Arthenis. However, there were some places that were rougher, so that the sand didn't pile up. The area around Sniper Stone was one. Mech-sized boulders were all around, and between them small trenches, rough rocks, craggy surfaces and eroded stones made for a battlefield that, to Omarus, was perfect for his purpose.
It was day again; it had been day for hours now; had it not been, Jurick would probably have not found the trail the Guardrams left. In the morning light, he kept his eyes and guns trained on Omarus, and continued hitting him.
The only problem was that Omarus kept on disappearing behind the boulders for a couple seconds at a time, changing course to put them between him and Jurick. It was an annoyance to Jurick, but little more.
"You're only delaying the inevitable, Omarus. Your shield won't last forever. Why don't you just shut down your mech now and surrender? I promise nothing will happen to you. At least, not until after Roberts gets a hold of you."
A second went by, and Jurick signaled again. "What happened to that friend of yours-Kain, you said? Did he just leave you out here?" But Omarus said nothing, and the Guardram disappeared behind another rock. The Eagle held its course and passed the boulder, revealing to Jurick's eyes nothing. Omarus had vanished. "Where'd he go," Jurick said to himself, looking all around him. Half a dozen boulders were immediately visible; he could have ducked behind one perhaps. Jurick looked down to the radar, hoping it would tell him Omarus's position; but there was nothing. Omarus had disappeared from vision and radar, it appeared. Jurick zoomed in the radar; then, to his right, a faint signal appeared.
"What you doin', Omarus? Goin' passive radar? You're still just delaying." Jurick started moving forward again and looped back around the boulder, as the signal disappeared. Jurick slowed down, but kept moving in the same direction, and zoomed in his display, searching for any sign of a mech arm or leg sticking out from behind a boulder.
Suddenly, two blasts came from the other direction-from behind Jurick. Someone had fired PBC's at his leg, rocking the mech slightly. He looked at the radar again while turning the mech, to where he thought the shot may have been fired from, but there was nothing-no mech, no signal. The Guardram out there must have ducked behind another boulder, and with only passive radar, there was no way Jurick could see him. But how had Omarus had gotten there so quickly after running the other direction? The answer came only a second later, when a shot came from behind Jurick again, hitting his leg once more, and then another shot, and a third: Kain had not left, as Jurick thought. Omarus and Kain were working together against Jurick.
It took Jurick a second to make up his mind which mech to go after. It seemed most likely that the mech behind him-the one he had seen when he first got out from behind the rock-was Kain's, while the one that had fired first was Omarus, since Kain had gone to the right earlier, putting him closer to where the other mech was. Then who was the best target? It might be easier to find Kain, since he had only just fired and would still be seeking cover, while Omarus had probably long since disappeared into the rank and file of the rocks ahead of him. On the other hand, Omarus's shield was about half gone, while Kain's was still full. Jurick was already facing that direction, so he hit the throttle and went to search for Omarus.
He moved forward, slowly twisting his torso from side to side, looking for Omarus. His hunch was that he would be on the right, but there was no way of saying for sure, so he kept twisting, hoping to find any sign. He looked downward for tracks, but the rocky, sandless ground was no help. Forward Jurick went, passing stones on either side. Then, something behind him on his radar caught his eye; the mech fired at Jurick and disappeared quickly behind a boulder. Jurick whirled around to catch the mech on its right flank with his PBC's, before it moved behind the rock, which took most of the hit. "Come on, Omarus," Jurick said over the radio again. "You know there's no way you can win. Just surrender." From behind him, the other Guardram lashed out at Jurick again, hitting him on the leg. Jurick started away from that mech, toward the other, but another shot hit, this time from his left, where no mech should have been. Jurick wasted no time and headed toward where the last shot had come from. Again, another shot came from behind, and then a Guardram poked its head out from behind a boulder and fired at Jurick, and was swiftly counterattacked. Back out of his sight it went, and Jurick sped forward to get on its tail. Jurick made it around the boulder, harassed by Kain in the other mech, and found that, like before, Omarus had gotten away. To the right there was nothing-no stones at all. To the left were a couple rocks, but they were too small to hide behind, as were the stones directly in front of Jurick, each about half the height of a Guardram. Jurick knew Omarus hadn't gotten away on the left side, because he was watching there the whole time; and there was nowhere he could have gotten off to so quickly on the right side, or forward. But Jurick's surveil of the situation was again interrupted by several shots from Kain on the leg, bringing tremulous creaking and rumblings to the mech. Jurick retreated fully behind the rock to keep Kain from hitting him and came out back around the other side. In a second Kain was in front of him and he closed in and fired, with Kain shooting back. Then PBC's started hitting Jurick from the other direction. He swung around, and there was the other Guardram, firing and charging Jurick at full speed. Behind Omarus Jurick saw that there were now only two rocks where earlier he had noticed three, and it then dawned that Omarus must have crouched the mech. But it was past now, and Jurick hit the throttle and prepared to crash headlong into the Guardram. Omarus stopped 100 meters short, but Jurick kept moving and the Eagle slammed into the Guardram, unabashed by the blow. Jurick backed off, and Omarus brought the mech back up, and he and Kain began firing at the right leg, while Jurick held his guns on Omarus, sapping away at his shield.
"This is funny," Jurick said over the radio. "I didn't think you were quite so bold to come out in the open and fight me, after your evasion game. I figured you'd just run away. After all, there's no way you can beat me. You know that there's a reason they call those PBC's on your mech 100's, and 250's on mine: because mine are 2.5 times stronger than yours. I have seven tons of unildanium armor on my right leg alone. Your mech has one ton of armor all together. You'll be dead long before you can cut through, because once your shield is gone, one hit will finish you off."
Omarus was more interested in taking Jurick down than listening to his intimidating words. "Kain," he signaled, "do you know how resonation works?" "Resonation? Why are you asking me about resonation at a time like this!?"
"Kain, put your weapons on bolt mode and start Alpha Striking him. I'll do an Alpha Strike, and then you, back and forth. Hopefully we'll be able to jerk his mech around enough to keep him from hitting me."
So back and forth they went, their weapons hitting Jurick on full power. Omarus's plan was just starting to work a little when Jurick actually took a look at the remaining armor on his right leg, and realized that it was a deal less than he had expected. The knee, where Omarus and Kain had been firing, had a lot of armor itself, but Jurick knew that with both of them firing at the exact same spot, they might actually begin to break through the armor. Between that and their jolting him back and forth with their hits, Jurick began to get fed up.
"You would have been better off to run away when you had the chance, Omarus, because two can play this game!" he bellowed over the radio as he turned his PBC's from beam to bolt and initiated an Alpha against Omarus. The little mech was knocked to the ground, but Omarus quickly got it back up and-was hit by Jurick again and knocked back to the ground.
Now that Jurick had found something that seemed to work quite well against Omarus, he wasn't nearly so worried about him or Kain. Omarus would stay on the ground until Jurick decided to let him up. Kain continued firing, but it would take him quite some time to cut through the rest of the armor, and Omarus's shield had already fallen to 10%.
"Kain! Get of here, now! I'll keep him busy as long as I can, but you need to get those blueprints back!" Back in his mech, Kain let his finger off the trigger and looked around the scenery-the cracked ground, scorched by untold years of insolation and radiation from the large star of the Arthenis system. A few boulders here and there were broken and falling apart-some struck by PBC's and other weaponry from the three mechs, others just eroded by the continuous, sandy winds of Arthenis III. This was the desolate place where he would last see Omarus. Kain turned his mech toward the southwest, to hook up with the rendezvous party, but then, inexpicably, he turned back. "I don't think so, Omarus," Kain said solidly. "What are you talking about? Get out of here! We can't take him on." "I'm afraid I have to disagree with you, Omarus. Personally, I think there is a reason they call these mechs rams. We're about to find out for sure." "No, Kain!" Omarus called back. "He's three times your size! It'll be like running into a brick wall. He already knocked me down. Get out of here while you can!" But Omarus was too late. Kain put his finger back to the trigger and fired again on the Eagle's leg, and then he rushed the mech forward. Then, at the last moment, Kain hit his jump jets, and the mech flew into the air, its legs colliding deftly on the back of the Eagle's head. To Omarus's surprise, Kain's little tactic worked. The Eagle staggered and toppled over facedown onto the hot, rocky ground of Arthenis, while Kain's mech landed on its back a few meters in front of the Eagle. "Get out of here! I'll keep Jurick busy!" Omarus didn't need to be told twice. His mech came back up and he zoomed away.
When Jurick came back up Omarus had already disappeared, using the rocks as cover. Kain remained, pelting him with his guns, distracting him. In his anger Jurick turned his guns on Kain, but Kain raced away before he could fire. Still, the Eagle was as fast as ever, and he caught up to Kain and stayed on his tail. Jurick put his PBC's back to beam and began firing at Kain. "Too bad for you," he called to him after a minute. "You should have gone with Omarus when you had the chance." "I had no intention of getting away," Kain responded, the first time Jurick heard his voice. "Omarus is away, and that's what matters." "Why is that so important?" Jurick responded. "Why do you think this mission is so important? The Inner Sphere is in need of what the Arthenians possess." "And what might that be?" "Information." "Just information? I never would have imagined information could be so important." "You might think differently when you find the information we discovered about your wife and child." Few things were further from Jurick Donnel's mind than his wife, Raquel, and their son, Derrick. It was something he had buried years in his past, and had not revisited since. Jurick was shell shocked at what Kain said, but in a second he fired with his guns back on bolt, knocking the Guardram over.
"I oughtta blast you and that mech to scrap for even mentioning my family, Roberts and his trial be damned!"
"Yes, Jurick. Roberts should be damned, for what he did to them." A swift blow came from the Eagle again, and the Guardram crashed to the ground, and got up again. But Jurick was no longer in a playful mood; the mech only made a few more meters before he hit it again. Then, over and over Jurick's PBC's lashed at the Guardram until the heat was too high, and he ceased firing to let the weapons cool down. Kain took the opportunity to get away, this time with the aid of his jump jets. Once the Eagle had cooled off, Jurick put the weapons back to beam, though at a higher power setting than before. In a few minutes the shield on the Guardram failed. Then the right leg was damaged, and the mech took its last strides away from Jurick before he fired on it again. Then down a short sand dune it toppled, and at the bottom lay. From the top of that dune, Jurick stared down at the mech, which slowly lifted itself back onto its feet.
"It's over now. Your friend managed to get away, but that doesn't help you any, does it? Even if he decided to turn around and help his friend, there's nothing he could do-not in that Guardram with a sapped shield. It's time to head back to Graedis."
"And what if I refuse?" "Then say goodbye, and welcome to the last moments of your life."
"Might I persuade you to hold your fire a moment more?"
Jurick looked up from the fallen Guardram below. This was not Kain's voice. Sure enough, another mech had snuck up behind him, nearing on the radar.
"You came back for your friend after all!" Jurick said, looking back down at the Guardram to keep a watch on it. "I thought you were going to get out of here with the precious information you came for-but you're back. Have you come to join Kain and me on our way back to Greadis?"
"I'm afraid you won't have the opportunity to take us there. You see, I got tired of the Guardram. Say hello to Hell Strider. Even up against what Arthenis has to offer, you might find him to be quite a challenge." "Oh, really?" Jurick said, as he looked at the information his scans of the Hell Strider had revealed. "I doubt that. Your mech might be bigger, but you ought to know that Arthenian mechs are significantly more powerful than IS." Omarus laughed at Jurick over the radio. "I know that Arthenian mechs are better than the Inner Sphere's. Why else do you think I would have pulled those six PBC's off that Eagle, not so long ago? You didn't think I would just throw them away, did you?"
The truth of it all came to Jurick like a slap in the face. "And of course, the Strider has a lot more power output than your Eagle. I'll bet my PBC's are twice as powerful as yours."
Jurick fretted that what Omarus said might be true. If he had actually put the PBC's on the Hell Strider, he might make a formidable opponent. On the other hand, it might just be a bluff to help Kain get away. But Jurick didn't dare take his guns off the Guardram, because given the chance, he was bound to get as far away as possible.
"What do you want then, Omarus? You know you can't kill me, even if you are in a big mech, like you say-at least, not unless you want to challenge me for his life. Is that why you're here-to challenge me for his life?"
"Not really." Omarus already had his crosshairs laid over the Eagle's right leg; without any more delay, he fired. Three times as much firepower as both Guardrams together could muster struck the back of the Eagle's knee. It sparked and exploded, and the mech tumbled to the ground.
When the dust had cleared, Jurick took a look at the damage report and found that his mech could no longer walk. He got back on the radio and contacted Omarus. "What are you going to do now, then? Leave me here to die? You are a dishonor to all mech pilots."
"Leave you to die? Of course not," Omarus said, seemingly appalled at the thought. "When your friends arrive, they can help you out. I don't plan on shooting you. However, there is something I want you to hear. Go ahead, Kain."
"What? Uh, well . . ." Omarus had caught Kain off guard, but in a second he knew what he was supposed to say. "Well, I've been reading about you in Colonel Robert's Top Secret files. There's one file you may find especially interesting. It's about your wife, and your son."
"That again? Roberts had nothing to do with their deaths. It was the IS who killed Raquel and Derrick." "Perhaps, but Colonel Roberts planned it ahead of time." "What kind of a lie is that? You're trying to turn me against my commander! I have true dignity, unlike either of you, apparently. Do you expect me-" "We don't have time to argue. I'm sending you a transmission that includes the file about your family. Read it if you wish. You can even verify it with the computer in Graedis when you return."
"Yes," Omarus said quickly, starting off toward the west, "and with that, I'm afraid we're out of time. I actually would have liked to challenge you to single combat, but I'm afraid we're in too much of a hurry for circumstances to permit. But . . . perhaps one day, we will have a chance to fight." Ten minutes later, Captain Pembroke and his lance had found the Eagle; five minutes after that, Jurick watched from his cockpit as the Hell Strider dropship made its departure from Arthenis III. In another minute, three squadrons of Aerotech fighters made their way across the sky to pursue the dropship, but by then it was long gone.
Meanwhile, the Hell Striders dropped Herman off with the blueprints at Allied Armaments. After that there were negotiations and fulfillments of contract and money-passing and repairs and transfers. But after it was all done, shortly before say bon voyage to Kain, he still had a couple questions.
"Omarus, there are a couple things I've been trying to figure out since we left Arthenis. Before, you told me that the only thing you care about is money. But then you came back to rescue me, and, which surprised me even more, you let Jurick live. Why?"
"Well, the reason I rescued you is easy. Did you really think I was going to let that Guardram get left behind? Not a chance."
"I should have guessed that."
"Now, as for Jurick . . . . I first started as a mechwarrior years ago. It only took a few missions for my commanders to realize that I was great at it. They said I could make tons of money at it-maybe even rise to the top. I enjoyed piloting the mech, and it was good pay, especially once I became famous. But all along I'd wondered why the money was so important, and why it was worth ending a person's life. I suppose I actually have a soft heart, but no one would have guessed. That little bit of remorse for the countless soldiers I'd slain eventually built up until I had to make a decision: either I had to sacrifice my morals, or I had to sacrifice what I enjoyed doing-my career. I retired, and told everyone it was because of my graying hair, but that was only part of it. "After I retired, I knew something was missing from my life. I wasn't doing what I enjoyed. I was sitting behind a desk, managing the finances. I had stopped killing mechwarriors my. Instead, I was sending others to kill." "Then all this came along, with Ronald Herman and Allied Armaments. I made the decision to get back on the field-to keep my mind on the money instead of the people I would kill. Then you told me why you fight. You told me you have a cause-a reason to kill. And that's when I wondered if I could do that too-if I could still do what I enjoy doing, but not sacrifice my morals. That's why I let Jurick live. I wanted to see if I could care about something other than money. I wanted to see if I still was Human." After that, both were silent for a few seconds. Finally, Kain spoke again. "Omarus, you're a much deeper person than I first took you for. I can see why you didn't tell everyone the real reason you were retiring, though. I already know the answer to your question: you are Human. They wouldn't have understood that."
And so, the Battle of Arthenis III had ended. Ronald Herman merrily took the blueprints back to Allied Armament's headquarters, and within two years the company's sales had soared by 330%. The LR Mech-to-Mech Energy Cannons were grabbed up by pilots all over the Inner Sphere, quickly replacing the PPC and ER Medium Laser, while quietly stifling Turbine Pascal's belated release of the PBC 2000, which, although it was cooler, priced competitively, and had a mass 50% less than the MMEC, received significantly less media attention than the earlier release. Within five years, with the new technology sufficiently saturated throughout the market, Allied, Pascal, and the other arms dealers reached a stabler state of equilibrium, and there was even talk that Allied might reclaim its control of the market. Omarus took the Guardrams, the PBC 250's on the Hell Strider, and 2,000,000 C-bills for a job well done (plus a significant cut of Allied Armament's MMEC sales). About a month after the mission was complete, he held a press conference announcing that not only was he returning to the field but that the Hell Striders were going to take a radical new direction. Of course, in business, changes don't occur overnight; the Hell Striders were afar from becoming the defenders of innocence, justice, peace, and truth in the Inner Sphere, but Omarus made it clear that the unit would become more vigilant in choosing contracts, and avoiding the seedier ones. When Jurick made it back to Graedis, he found that what Kain had told him was the truth. A week later, he went to the Colonel's office with all the evidence he had found against him-and a gun. He asked him how he could have been so heartless as to allow his family to die, just so he could keep Jurick fighting for him against the IS. Then, as he had planned to do years ago, before Raquel and Derrick were killed, he told Roberts that his days of working for him were over. Then Jurick left Colonel Robert's office. Roberts was thankful to still be alive after the visit from the gun-brandishing mechwarrior, but he soon found himself imprisoned, and his own files the cause. Kain took a sense of accomplishment for having once again helped one of the larger Inner Sphere governments maintain its status. Besides that, he gained a greater understanding of the Human psyche, and discovered that even a mercenary could change. He was accoladed by his superiors for a job well done and sent out on his next mission.
"Limey, how's our mech doing?"
"The mech? Well, about as good as can be expected. I'm just putting in the last PBC right now."
"But you didn't get the windshield repaired?"
"Not yet, sir. That's bound to take a couple hours."
Jurick walked a circle around the mech, looking it over. "What about the comm. array?"
"That'll probably take even longer sir."
"Well, get it in quick. I'm going to need to borrow it."
"The Eagle, sir? It's in no fighting condition!"
"No?"
"Of course not! The armor's damaged, the comm. array is out, and if anyone gets a shot off at the windshield, it'll be the end of you!"
"Then you have seven minutes to get a piece of armor over that hole. I'll use one of the mobile long-range radios I can use that to stay in touch."
"But sir, why do you need to use the Eagle? A Guardram can take a lot more damage, with its shield."
"But the Eagle can make 100 kph, but a Guardram can only do about 82. Two of them have just been stolen from Mech Bay 2, and I intend on catching up with them. As long as I don't get hit in the face, I should be OK, right?"
"Well, I suppose. The armor's not too badly hit."
"Then get on it. And put a piece of armor over that hole."
"It won't keep any shots out."
"Hopefully it will take care of the sand and heat at least."
After fifteen minutes, Jurick Donnell was out of Mech Bay 3, and catching up with Kain and Omarus. Limey had replaced the last of the six medium lasers with a PBC 250, which were designed to easily come in and out of the mech, and he'd managed to get a piece of armor over the hole where the mech's cockpit was exposed, while Jurick found a long-range radio and brought it aboard the mech.
The city's radar had come up shortly before Omarus and Kain left its range, so Jurick was able to follow the course they had taken. He quickly found their trail, and eventually Omarus appeared in front of him, and he locked on and began firing.
"This is Captain Jurick Donnell of the Arthenis III Heavy Infantry in Graedis. You have stolen two Arthenian mechs and will immediately relinquish them into Arthenian custody and surrender yourselves, or be destroyed."
"Uh, hello, Captain Jurick Donnell," Omarus answered, standing the mech back up. "How did you manage to catch up with us?" Jurick made no answer, and Omarus kept going. "As to what you said, I couldn't care less about the Arthenian government's former property. These mechs are now under the possession of the notable mechwarrior Omarus Aldan and his sidekick Kain Ikiru. I have no intention of surrendering my mech, now or anytime. I suggest you return home and tell your Colonel so."
Jurick's reply came swiftly: a full volley from his PBC's, directly at Omarus. His mech stumbled forward, but unlike the previous one, the blast wasn't enough to knock him down.
"I'm afraid you don't have much choice, Omarus Aldan," Jurick continued, opening fire again. "The two of you together are no match for me-even with your shields. You may want to reconsider. After all, I'd prefer to take back whole mechs to Graedis."
"You won't have the pleasure."
Back in front, Omarus signaled Kain again. "Turn 45 degrees to the right, Kain." "Where are we going?" "Sniper Stone. When we-" another PBC beam hit Omarus's mech, and he floundered a bit before recovering. "When we get there, you break right, and I'll break left. Jurick must have found our tracks and followed them, but the ground near Sniper Stone is rocky. We'll do our best to lose him. If not, then I want you to target Captain Jurick's right leg-repeat, his right leg." The mechs raced toward Sniper Stone. Omarus hoped that if they could get there before Jurick took out his shield, they might be able to lose him in the rocks.
"Use your jump jets, Kain," Omarus said as his mech went airborne. "You'll go faster. We should stay in the air as long as possible." Sniper Stone wasn't too far away, and in a few minutes Omarus and Kain, dogged by Jurick, reached it. Omarus continued almost straight while Kain headed to the right, away from Omarus and Jurick.
Thick dust covered most everything on Arthenis. However, there were some places that were rougher, so that the sand didn't pile up. The area around Sniper Stone was one. Mech-sized boulders were all around, and between them small trenches, rough rocks, craggy surfaces and eroded stones made for a battlefield that, to Omarus, was perfect for his purpose.
It was day again; it had been day for hours now; had it not been, Jurick would probably have not found the trail the Guardrams left. In the morning light, he kept his eyes and guns trained on Omarus, and continued hitting him.
The only problem was that Omarus kept on disappearing behind the boulders for a couple seconds at a time, changing course to put them between him and Jurick. It was an annoyance to Jurick, but little more.
"You're only delaying the inevitable, Omarus. Your shield won't last forever. Why don't you just shut down your mech now and surrender? I promise nothing will happen to you. At least, not until after Roberts gets a hold of you."
A second went by, and Jurick signaled again. "What happened to that friend of yours-Kain, you said? Did he just leave you out here?" But Omarus said nothing, and the Guardram disappeared behind another rock. The Eagle held its course and passed the boulder, revealing to Jurick's eyes nothing. Omarus had vanished. "Where'd he go," Jurick said to himself, looking all around him. Half a dozen boulders were immediately visible; he could have ducked behind one perhaps. Jurick looked down to the radar, hoping it would tell him Omarus's position; but there was nothing. Omarus had disappeared from vision and radar, it appeared. Jurick zoomed in the radar; then, to his right, a faint signal appeared.
"What you doin', Omarus? Goin' passive radar? You're still just delaying." Jurick started moving forward again and looped back around the boulder, as the signal disappeared. Jurick slowed down, but kept moving in the same direction, and zoomed in his display, searching for any sign of a mech arm or leg sticking out from behind a boulder.
Suddenly, two blasts came from the other direction-from behind Jurick. Someone had fired PBC's at his leg, rocking the mech slightly. He looked at the radar again while turning the mech, to where he thought the shot may have been fired from, but there was nothing-no mech, no signal. The Guardram out there must have ducked behind another boulder, and with only passive radar, there was no way Jurick could see him. But how had Omarus had gotten there so quickly after running the other direction? The answer came only a second later, when a shot came from behind Jurick again, hitting his leg once more, and then another shot, and a third: Kain had not left, as Jurick thought. Omarus and Kain were working together against Jurick.
It took Jurick a second to make up his mind which mech to go after. It seemed most likely that the mech behind him-the one he had seen when he first got out from behind the rock-was Kain's, while the one that had fired first was Omarus, since Kain had gone to the right earlier, putting him closer to where the other mech was. Then who was the best target? It might be easier to find Kain, since he had only just fired and would still be seeking cover, while Omarus had probably long since disappeared into the rank and file of the rocks ahead of him. On the other hand, Omarus's shield was about half gone, while Kain's was still full. Jurick was already facing that direction, so he hit the throttle and went to search for Omarus.
He moved forward, slowly twisting his torso from side to side, looking for Omarus. His hunch was that he would be on the right, but there was no way of saying for sure, so he kept twisting, hoping to find any sign. He looked downward for tracks, but the rocky, sandless ground was no help. Forward Jurick went, passing stones on either side. Then, something behind him on his radar caught his eye; the mech fired at Jurick and disappeared quickly behind a boulder. Jurick whirled around to catch the mech on its right flank with his PBC's, before it moved behind the rock, which took most of the hit. "Come on, Omarus," Jurick said over the radio again. "You know there's no way you can win. Just surrender." From behind him, the other Guardram lashed out at Jurick again, hitting him on the leg. Jurick started away from that mech, toward the other, but another shot hit, this time from his left, where no mech should have been. Jurick wasted no time and headed toward where the last shot had come from. Again, another shot came from behind, and then a Guardram poked its head out from behind a boulder and fired at Jurick, and was swiftly counterattacked. Back out of his sight it went, and Jurick sped forward to get on its tail. Jurick made it around the boulder, harassed by Kain in the other mech, and found that, like before, Omarus had gotten away. To the right there was nothing-no stones at all. To the left were a couple rocks, but they were too small to hide behind, as were the stones directly in front of Jurick, each about half the height of a Guardram. Jurick knew Omarus hadn't gotten away on the left side, because he was watching there the whole time; and there was nowhere he could have gotten off to so quickly on the right side, or forward. But Jurick's surveil of the situation was again interrupted by several shots from Kain on the leg, bringing tremulous creaking and rumblings to the mech. Jurick retreated fully behind the rock to keep Kain from hitting him and came out back around the other side. In a second Kain was in front of him and he closed in and fired, with Kain shooting back. Then PBC's started hitting Jurick from the other direction. He swung around, and there was the other Guardram, firing and charging Jurick at full speed. Behind Omarus Jurick saw that there were now only two rocks where earlier he had noticed three, and it then dawned that Omarus must have crouched the mech. But it was past now, and Jurick hit the throttle and prepared to crash headlong into the Guardram. Omarus stopped 100 meters short, but Jurick kept moving and the Eagle slammed into the Guardram, unabashed by the blow. Jurick backed off, and Omarus brought the mech back up, and he and Kain began firing at the right leg, while Jurick held his guns on Omarus, sapping away at his shield.
"This is funny," Jurick said over the radio. "I didn't think you were quite so bold to come out in the open and fight me, after your evasion game. I figured you'd just run away. After all, there's no way you can beat me. You know that there's a reason they call those PBC's on your mech 100's, and 250's on mine: because mine are 2.5 times stronger than yours. I have seven tons of unildanium armor on my right leg alone. Your mech has one ton of armor all together. You'll be dead long before you can cut through, because once your shield is gone, one hit will finish you off."
Omarus was more interested in taking Jurick down than listening to his intimidating words. "Kain," he signaled, "do you know how resonation works?" "Resonation? Why are you asking me about resonation at a time like this!?"
"Kain, put your weapons on bolt mode and start Alpha Striking him. I'll do an Alpha Strike, and then you, back and forth. Hopefully we'll be able to jerk his mech around enough to keep him from hitting me."
So back and forth they went, their weapons hitting Jurick on full power. Omarus's plan was just starting to work a little when Jurick actually took a look at the remaining armor on his right leg, and realized that it was a deal less than he had expected. The knee, where Omarus and Kain had been firing, had a lot of armor itself, but Jurick knew that with both of them firing at the exact same spot, they might actually begin to break through the armor. Between that and their jolting him back and forth with their hits, Jurick began to get fed up.
"You would have been better off to run away when you had the chance, Omarus, because two can play this game!" he bellowed over the radio as he turned his PBC's from beam to bolt and initiated an Alpha against Omarus. The little mech was knocked to the ground, but Omarus quickly got it back up and-was hit by Jurick again and knocked back to the ground.
Now that Jurick had found something that seemed to work quite well against Omarus, he wasn't nearly so worried about him or Kain. Omarus would stay on the ground until Jurick decided to let him up. Kain continued firing, but it would take him quite some time to cut through the rest of the armor, and Omarus's shield had already fallen to 10%.
"Kain! Get of here, now! I'll keep him busy as long as I can, but you need to get those blueprints back!" Back in his mech, Kain let his finger off the trigger and looked around the scenery-the cracked ground, scorched by untold years of insolation and radiation from the large star of the Arthenis system. A few boulders here and there were broken and falling apart-some struck by PBC's and other weaponry from the three mechs, others just eroded by the continuous, sandy winds of Arthenis III. This was the desolate place where he would last see Omarus. Kain turned his mech toward the southwest, to hook up with the rendezvous party, but then, inexpicably, he turned back. "I don't think so, Omarus," Kain said solidly. "What are you talking about? Get out of here! We can't take him on." "I'm afraid I have to disagree with you, Omarus. Personally, I think there is a reason they call these mechs rams. We're about to find out for sure." "No, Kain!" Omarus called back. "He's three times your size! It'll be like running into a brick wall. He already knocked me down. Get out of here while you can!" But Omarus was too late. Kain put his finger back to the trigger and fired again on the Eagle's leg, and then he rushed the mech forward. Then, at the last moment, Kain hit his jump jets, and the mech flew into the air, its legs colliding deftly on the back of the Eagle's head. To Omarus's surprise, Kain's little tactic worked. The Eagle staggered and toppled over facedown onto the hot, rocky ground of Arthenis, while Kain's mech landed on its back a few meters in front of the Eagle. "Get out of here! I'll keep Jurick busy!" Omarus didn't need to be told twice. His mech came back up and he zoomed away.
When Jurick came back up Omarus had already disappeared, using the rocks as cover. Kain remained, pelting him with his guns, distracting him. In his anger Jurick turned his guns on Kain, but Kain raced away before he could fire. Still, the Eagle was as fast as ever, and he caught up to Kain and stayed on his tail. Jurick put his PBC's back to beam and began firing at Kain. "Too bad for you," he called to him after a minute. "You should have gone with Omarus when you had the chance." "I had no intention of getting away," Kain responded, the first time Jurick heard his voice. "Omarus is away, and that's what matters." "Why is that so important?" Jurick responded. "Why do you think this mission is so important? The Inner Sphere is in need of what the Arthenians possess." "And what might that be?" "Information." "Just information? I never would have imagined information could be so important." "You might think differently when you find the information we discovered about your wife and child." Few things were further from Jurick Donnel's mind than his wife, Raquel, and their son, Derrick. It was something he had buried years in his past, and had not revisited since. Jurick was shell shocked at what Kain said, but in a second he fired with his guns back on bolt, knocking the Guardram over.
"I oughtta blast you and that mech to scrap for even mentioning my family, Roberts and his trial be damned!"
"Yes, Jurick. Roberts should be damned, for what he did to them." A swift blow came from the Eagle again, and the Guardram crashed to the ground, and got up again. But Jurick was no longer in a playful mood; the mech only made a few more meters before he hit it again. Then, over and over Jurick's PBC's lashed at the Guardram until the heat was too high, and he ceased firing to let the weapons cool down. Kain took the opportunity to get away, this time with the aid of his jump jets. Once the Eagle had cooled off, Jurick put the weapons back to beam, though at a higher power setting than before. In a few minutes the shield on the Guardram failed. Then the right leg was damaged, and the mech took its last strides away from Jurick before he fired on it again. Then down a short sand dune it toppled, and at the bottom lay. From the top of that dune, Jurick stared down at the mech, which slowly lifted itself back onto its feet.
"It's over now. Your friend managed to get away, but that doesn't help you any, does it? Even if he decided to turn around and help his friend, there's nothing he could do-not in that Guardram with a sapped shield. It's time to head back to Graedis."
"And what if I refuse?" "Then say goodbye, and welcome to the last moments of your life."
"Might I persuade you to hold your fire a moment more?"
Jurick looked up from the fallen Guardram below. This was not Kain's voice. Sure enough, another mech had snuck up behind him, nearing on the radar.
"You came back for your friend after all!" Jurick said, looking back down at the Guardram to keep a watch on it. "I thought you were going to get out of here with the precious information you came for-but you're back. Have you come to join Kain and me on our way back to Greadis?"
"I'm afraid you won't have the opportunity to take us there. You see, I got tired of the Guardram. Say hello to Hell Strider. Even up against what Arthenis has to offer, you might find him to be quite a challenge." "Oh, really?" Jurick said, as he looked at the information his scans of the Hell Strider had revealed. "I doubt that. Your mech might be bigger, but you ought to know that Arthenian mechs are significantly more powerful than IS." Omarus laughed at Jurick over the radio. "I know that Arthenian mechs are better than the Inner Sphere's. Why else do you think I would have pulled those six PBC's off that Eagle, not so long ago? You didn't think I would just throw them away, did you?"
The truth of it all came to Jurick like a slap in the face. "And of course, the Strider has a lot more power output than your Eagle. I'll bet my PBC's are twice as powerful as yours."
Jurick fretted that what Omarus said might be true. If he had actually put the PBC's on the Hell Strider, he might make a formidable opponent. On the other hand, it might just be a bluff to help Kain get away. But Jurick didn't dare take his guns off the Guardram, because given the chance, he was bound to get as far away as possible.
"What do you want then, Omarus? You know you can't kill me, even if you are in a big mech, like you say-at least, not unless you want to challenge me for his life. Is that why you're here-to challenge me for his life?"
"Not really." Omarus already had his crosshairs laid over the Eagle's right leg; without any more delay, he fired. Three times as much firepower as both Guardrams together could muster struck the back of the Eagle's knee. It sparked and exploded, and the mech tumbled to the ground.
When the dust had cleared, Jurick took a look at the damage report and found that his mech could no longer walk. He got back on the radio and contacted Omarus. "What are you going to do now, then? Leave me here to die? You are a dishonor to all mech pilots."
"Leave you to die? Of course not," Omarus said, seemingly appalled at the thought. "When your friends arrive, they can help you out. I don't plan on shooting you. However, there is something I want you to hear. Go ahead, Kain."
"What? Uh, well . . ." Omarus had caught Kain off guard, but in a second he knew what he was supposed to say. "Well, I've been reading about you in Colonel Robert's Top Secret files. There's one file you may find especially interesting. It's about your wife, and your son."
"That again? Roberts had nothing to do with their deaths. It was the IS who killed Raquel and Derrick." "Perhaps, but Colonel Roberts planned it ahead of time." "What kind of a lie is that? You're trying to turn me against my commander! I have true dignity, unlike either of you, apparently. Do you expect me-" "We don't have time to argue. I'm sending you a transmission that includes the file about your family. Read it if you wish. You can even verify it with the computer in Graedis when you return."
"Yes," Omarus said quickly, starting off toward the west, "and with that, I'm afraid we're out of time. I actually would have liked to challenge you to single combat, but I'm afraid we're in too much of a hurry for circumstances to permit. But . . . perhaps one day, we will have a chance to fight." Ten minutes later, Captain Pembroke and his lance had found the Eagle; five minutes after that, Jurick watched from his cockpit as the Hell Strider dropship made its departure from Arthenis III. In another minute, three squadrons of Aerotech fighters made their way across the sky to pursue the dropship, but by then it was long gone.
Meanwhile, the Hell Striders dropped Herman off with the blueprints at Allied Armaments. After that there were negotiations and fulfillments of contract and money-passing and repairs and transfers. But after it was all done, shortly before say bon voyage to Kain, he still had a couple questions.
"Omarus, there are a couple things I've been trying to figure out since we left Arthenis. Before, you told me that the only thing you care about is money. But then you came back to rescue me, and, which surprised me even more, you let Jurick live. Why?"
"Well, the reason I rescued you is easy. Did you really think I was going to let that Guardram get left behind? Not a chance."
"I should have guessed that."
"Now, as for Jurick . . . . I first started as a mechwarrior years ago. It only took a few missions for my commanders to realize that I was great at it. They said I could make tons of money at it-maybe even rise to the top. I enjoyed piloting the mech, and it was good pay, especially once I became famous. But all along I'd wondered why the money was so important, and why it was worth ending a person's life. I suppose I actually have a soft heart, but no one would have guessed. That little bit of remorse for the countless soldiers I'd slain eventually built up until I had to make a decision: either I had to sacrifice my morals, or I had to sacrifice what I enjoyed doing-my career. I retired, and told everyone it was because of my graying hair, but that was only part of it. "After I retired, I knew something was missing from my life. I wasn't doing what I enjoyed. I was sitting behind a desk, managing the finances. I had stopped killing mechwarriors my. Instead, I was sending others to kill." "Then all this came along, with Ronald Herman and Allied Armaments. I made the decision to get back on the field-to keep my mind on the money instead of the people I would kill. Then you told me why you fight. You told me you have a cause-a reason to kill. And that's when I wondered if I could do that too-if I could still do what I enjoy doing, but not sacrifice my morals. That's why I let Jurick live. I wanted to see if I could care about something other than money. I wanted to see if I still was Human." After that, both were silent for a few seconds. Finally, Kain spoke again. "Omarus, you're a much deeper person than I first took you for. I can see why you didn't tell everyone the real reason you were retiring, though. I already know the answer to your question: you are Human. They wouldn't have understood that."
And so, the Battle of Arthenis III had ended. Ronald Herman merrily took the blueprints back to Allied Armament's headquarters, and within two years the company's sales had soared by 330%. The LR Mech-to-Mech Energy Cannons were grabbed up by pilots all over the Inner Sphere, quickly replacing the PPC and ER Medium Laser, while quietly stifling Turbine Pascal's belated release of the PBC 2000, which, although it was cooler, priced competitively, and had a mass 50% less than the MMEC, received significantly less media attention than the earlier release. Within five years, with the new technology sufficiently saturated throughout the market, Allied, Pascal, and the other arms dealers reached a stabler state of equilibrium, and there was even talk that Allied might reclaim its control of the market. Omarus took the Guardrams, the PBC 250's on the Hell Strider, and 2,000,000 C-bills for a job well done (plus a significant cut of Allied Armament's MMEC sales). About a month after the mission was complete, he held a press conference announcing that not only was he returning to the field but that the Hell Striders were going to take a radical new direction. Of course, in business, changes don't occur overnight; the Hell Striders were afar from becoming the defenders of innocence, justice, peace, and truth in the Inner Sphere, but Omarus made it clear that the unit would become more vigilant in choosing contracts, and avoiding the seedier ones. When Jurick made it back to Graedis, he found that what Kain had told him was the truth. A week later, he went to the Colonel's office with all the evidence he had found against him-and a gun. He asked him how he could have been so heartless as to allow his family to die, just so he could keep Jurick fighting for him against the IS. Then, as he had planned to do years ago, before Raquel and Derrick were killed, he told Roberts that his days of working for him were over. Then Jurick left Colonel Robert's office. Roberts was thankful to still be alive after the visit from the gun-brandishing mechwarrior, but he soon found himself imprisoned, and his own files the cause. Kain took a sense of accomplishment for having once again helped one of the larger Inner Sphere governments maintain its status. Besides that, he gained a greater understanding of the Human psyche, and discovered that even a mercenary could change. He was accoladed by his superiors for a job well done and sent out on his next mission.