A Sequel to "Venom" by Ghost Rider {CSV}
Prologue
Erik had just had yet another vision. It began just the same as the first, and continued where the other had stopped. As the fight between the Bear and the Snake was winding down, both were tiring, but the victor was still yet to be decided. The food seemed to just explode, and a shockwave was formed. The two animals were the first in its path and were wiped out.
Following in the wake of the first explosion was a second, which dissipated the first, and then stopped. This vision served to effectively confuse Erik, and he decided to wait and see what would happen, hoping that he would be able to decipher the vision.
Taylor had only just learned that the Ghost Bears had already struck at Dieron. Apparently his Galaxy Commander had not been informed of a small scout force that had been sent in to evaluate the strength of the enemy Garrison. No one knew what to expect because they had not gotten anything back from them. It was assumed that they had been wiped out.
No one had expected the Steel Vipers to be there, but they were, and in force. They had an estimated five Galaxies on-planet, and that may not have even been their full attack force seeing as they had wiped out a full regiment of Draconis Combine forces and an additional regiment of Comstar mechs.
Fortunately, the Ghost Bears had come in force as well, boasting five Galaxies of their own. With both units boasting more than two thousand mechs, this was going to be a long fight, and Taylor was determined to have the Ghost Bears be the last group standing.
Chapter 1
This time Scott hit the trigger first and, just as before, George anticipated, and maneuvered out of the way of the twin ER PPCs. The charged particles struck the surface of the water, sending up a mix of steam and water where they hit. George's mech landed on the bank of the lake and fired its own PPCs at Scott. One of the brilliant streaks of lightning struck Scott's mech in the torso, shaking his mech and tearing off armor like tissue paper. The other missed high.
George watched his PPC wreak its havoc on Scott's torso. Interesting, I seem to be seeing things even earlier than before. I can only hope that my psychic abilities will continue to improve themselves. George sidestepped his Linebacker to avoid the about-to-be-fired barrage of pulse lasers, fighting back with his SRM4.
Scott returned fire with his quad-array of pulse lasers. The Linebacker dodged again, hurling a quartet of SRMs back. Scott switched on his AMS, chewing all but one of the short-range missiles out of the air.
Okay, George, Scott thought, dodge this. He angled his arms five degrees to each side, tilting his torso two degrees up, and fired every weapon at his disposal, save his medium pulse lasers. There was no way to dodge all the attacks, and George's best shot was to jump. That is precisely what he did, but not in time. The large pulse lasers had been angled up and caught the Linebacker in the legs, boiling armor.
George swore as his mech fell to the ground. He fought his control stick, and before he could regain his balance, he caught another flash of future action and instinctively triggered his jump jets, too late again. He fought his control stick in mid air while struggling with his jump jets to regain his mechs balance. He's getting smarter, George thought, first creating a situation that I could not avoid, and now hitting me hard and fast before I can regain my balance.
As the 65-ton Linebacker came down, still off balance, Scott triggered all his pulse lasers. The Linebacker had not had time to regain its balance before it tried to jump out of the way again. Scott watched as his pulse lasers again struck George's legs, throwing his mech even further off balance. The Linebacker began to lean forward, but used its jump jets to level out its descent.
The Linebacker landed perfectly this time, its balance restored. Scott fired his pulse lasers again, but George was ready for it, dodging to the right. Scott continued his attack, firing one of his PPCs instantly. This time it hit before George could side step again, but he was prepared for the second PPC, this time dodging left. Scott mashed down on the trigger for his pulse lasers.
George regained his balance after dodging to the right to avoid the second PPC shot, but, before he could do anything, he was hit with the pulse lasers again. He sure knows how to keep the pressure on, George thought, but now it's my turn. Ignoring the warning lights blaring for attention, George fired his PPCs, LRMs, and SRMs. Instead of watching the damage his barrage had done, he looked up at his damage display. His legs had lost all their armor, and the pulse laser attacks had dug into the myomer musculature that was the internal structure of his legs. His torso did not look much better: multiple breaches where the PPC and pulse lasers had dug in; one heat sink destroyed, and several support structures melted.
Without looking up, George dodged to his left, avoiding the return barrage from Scott's Cauldron-Born, which had also seen better days. George let Scott's next attack hit, deciding that four pulse lasers to the torso was much better than twin PPCs to the cockpit if he tried to jump. An instant later, the two ER PPCs flew right over his Linebacker. George was losing his grip on the fight rapidly, and he knew that if he did not get it back, ashes would be all that was left of him.
Chapter 2
Scott weathered the alpha strike as best he could, and fired back at the Linebacker with his pulse lasers, then his PPCs, which he aimed high in case his friend wanted to try jumping out of the way. George chose the pulse lasers, which carved up more internal structure, this time nicking the fusion reactor. Scott slowed his rate of fire, letting his mech cool down after the toasty pulse laser strikes he had sustained over the last several minutes. He could see George's heat levels spiking, and knew that the fight was coming to a close.
George fought for a breath as scorching air filled the cockpit, burning his lungs. He cursed when he finally did get a breath, knowing that with his fusion reactor damaged, his heat levels would not get better any time soon, and that with his heat levels reaching critical levels, his mech would be too sluggish to dodge anything more than a snail crawling toward his mech. He was powerless to stop the PPCs that his mind told him were coming, and a second later, twin bursts of blue lightning emerged from Scott's mech's arms, taking a monstrous bite out of George's torso.
Scott mashed down on his triggers, firing his primary circuit containing the two ER PPCs. The azure flashes of charged particles ate into the Linebacker's torso and incinerated its gyro. He watched as George and his mech tumbled to the ground. Scott's mech's heat levels dissipated quickly with water all around his mech to soak up all the heat his mech could throw at it. He triggered his mech to mech communications.
George was dazed from the fall. He was still slightly awake and managed to reach over and shut down his mech's reactor. Not that I'll need it with my gyro destroyed. The headset in his neuro-helmet crackled to life with Scott's voice. "George, this is Star Captain Scott Masters. I hereby take you as my bondsman. You will relinquish all names and ranks and will be know simply as George from now on." George had barely enough time to process what Scott had just said before he blacked out from exertion, heat exhaustion, and pain.
Scott got no reply and assumed George was unconscious. He checked his radar, and found that the battle about him was over. The Steel Vipers had won the first engagement. Natalie and Mathew stood at the top of the hill with the rest of Scott's trinary watching their Star Commander look down at his vanquished enemy.
Scott's neuro-helmet crackled to life; it was Natalie, "Are you okay Scott?"
"I am fine, however, my mech has seen better days."
"You aren-… are not kidding." Mathew was still getting used to living with no contractions. He had been taken as a bondsman on Tukkayid, and it had taken him twenty long years to earn his rank as a Mechwarrior.
The trinary headed out to regroup with the rest of the Cluster en route back to their base. The techs were already on the battlefield picking up survivors and salvaging anything they could get their hands on.
Chapter 3
George woke to find himself laying in a bed with a pair of doctors and another man standing over him. He tried to sit up, but felt a sharp pain in his back and gave up the attempt and instead pushed himself a little toward a sitting position. He noticed that the third man's arm was a clear, pale color, although he had no clue what that meant. He had never seen anything like it.
One of the doctors spoke, "Well, George, you are awake. Very good."
George managed a, "Where am I?" although he had a pretty good guess of the answer.
"You are in a Clan Steel Viper medical facility," the third man replied. "Doctor, when will he be up and around again?"
"Well, I can see nothing hindering him aside from a stiff back from the fall."
George remembered his pain trying to sit up, "I don't think stiff even begins to describe it."
"I will give you some painkillers to get you up and about. You will be sore for the next few days but nothing more."
The third man spoke again, "Good, then get up, Bondsman George." Only then did George realize who he was talking to, Scott. He looked down and saw three thin cords wrapped around his arm. Scott noticed his puzzlement and said, "Those are your bond cords. If you prove yourself loyal to the Clan, your first bond cord will be cut. As you continue to prove yourself, your second and eventually your third will be cut. Now, we have work to do. We will aid my tech in repairing the damage you did to my Cauldron-Born."
"I did do that didn't I?" George grinned.
Scott did not. "One more thing. You will cease all use of contractions from now on."
Chapter 4
After the damage Scott's Cauldron-Born had sustained, it took forty-eight hours for the three of them to repair the mech. It had taken them an additional twenty-four hours to modify his Cauldron-Born to its Alternate A configuration. They had finished just in time for Scott to go into battle once more. This time, his fight was against the Ghost Bears, who were currently inbound on Dieron. Khan Perigard Zalmon had decided to give them a warm welcome.
Scott climbed up into his command couch and initiated startup procedures. He reached up and grabbed his neuro-helmet from its resting place in an overhead compartment. He plugged his coolant vest into his cockpit, and settled the neuro-helmet over his head, where it rested comfortably on his shoulders.
Taylor's first target was a Cauldron-Born, and although his 25-ton Packhunter was facing off against a mech more than twice its size, he was fearless and confident in his mech and his skills. Though only a Mechwarrior in rank, he had earned his blood-name. He was not about to lose to a Steel Viper.
Taylor fired the first shot, his ER PPC carving a hole in the center armor of the heavily armored 65-ton enemy mech. The Cauldron-Born A hit back with its twin ER Large Lasers and trio of ER Medium Lasers, carving up most of Taylor's torso armor in one shot.
Scott returned fire on the Pack Hunter with all of his Extended Range Lasers, the five beams, varying in intensity, tearing up the 25-ton mech's torso armor. Insolent freebirth. He thinks his little pest has a chance against my Cauldron-Born, Scott thought. But Scott was no fool. He knew that even though the Pack Hunter only mounted one weapon, a single ER PPC in the right hands was all a pilot needed.
Knowing this, Scott punched his trigger once more, unleashing his autocannon and pulse laser. The autocannon missed wide, but the pulse laser hit home, burning up even more torso armor. STRAVAG! Scott thought, I need to get used to the strength I have in my right arm or I will never be able to use this configuration effectively again.
The pulse laser struck Taylor's torso, boiling up more armor, but fortunately the heavy twenty caliber ultra autocannon missed wide, instead shredding up the dirt behind Taylor's mech. I lucked out that time. I need to end this fight before I give his mech's firepower a chance to eat right through me. At that moment, Taylor proved why he had earned his blood-name, and catching the eye of his Galaxy Commander, unknowingly earned himself the right to test for the rank of Star Commander.
Taylor triggered his jump jets, pushing his mech up and forward. He landed only a meter behind the Cauldron-Born, and before the other mech could turn to face him, Taylor lashed out with his mech's fist, which boasted four claws. The punch tore straight through any rear armor the heavy mech had, and as he pulled his Pack Hunter's arm out of the Cauldron-Born, he placed an ER PPC shot right inside the hole that the punch had made. The ER PPC quickly turned the Cauldron-Born's gyroscope into molten scrap.
Taylor looked up from his victim to see his fellow Ghost Bears in complete disarray. The Khan had called a complete retreat; the Steel Vipers had won the day.
Chapter 5
Scott pounded his fists against the control panel, "FREEBIRTH!"
He opened his cockpit and stepped out onto the battlefield. The techs were already scrambling around salvaging what they could. Scott spotted his tech and George and waved them over to pick up his mech. The damage was minimal aside from the gyro, which could be fixed. Other than that, all they had to do was slap on some armor plates and his Cauldron-Born would be ready to go.
Scott moved to board the salvage vehicle carrying his Cauldron-Born. He wanted to get started on repairs the minute they got it back to the mechbay and in its slot. The trip was not very long, and it did not take much time to get his mech in its proper place. Scott, George, and Scott's tech, Will got to work right away.
Taylor climbed down the access ladder from his mech and waved his tech to get to work. He rendezvoused with his Star Commander and the rest of his star on the way out of the mechbay. Surprisingly enough, every mech from the mixed medium and light star of mechs had survived the fight.
"Fifty percent losses in our Galaxies. The other Galaxies did not fair mech better. Estimated twenty-five percent loses to the Steel Vipers," the Star Commander told them.
"We will crush the surats in our next engagement," declared Rob, the most hotheaded warrior in their trinary. Taylor could not help but agree with him.
"By the way, nice moves taking out that Cauldron-Born, Taylor. It appears you caught the Galaxy Commander's eye. He has designated you for your trial of possession once our fight with the Steel Vipers is over," the Star Commander told him.
A tech appeared among their group and handed the Star Commander a message.
"No rest for the weary. Get your mechs refitted and repaired as quickly as you can, we leave in one hour. We need to keep the pressure on the vipers."
Chapter 6
Scott's trio was still working on his mech when an alarm went off in the mechbay. All Mechwarriors were ordered to mount up and meet an inbound Ghost Bear attack force. They had been working tirelessly for the last two hours, and, having received help from a number of techs, had managed to repair his gyroscope, and were now finishing up with the armor repairs.
Scott began climbing the chain ladder leading to his cockpit while George and Will finished patching up the holes in his armor. By the time he reached the cockpit and was strapped in and set to go, the armor was finished, and he began the startup. When the computer prompted him for voice identification, Scott replied "Star Captain Scott Masters."
The computer accepted his voice ID and continued by prompting him for the pass code to unlock all systems to his control. Because techs and others had access to the mech, and because voice IDs could be faked, mechs were required to have a pass code known only to the pilot, which unlocked all the systems, including weapons. "Honor above all else," Scott replied.
Scott set his throttle on low until he cleared the hanger with the rest of his star, and then pushed it up to max throttle to join up with the rest of the Steel Vipers. The Ghost Bears were close, and it only took a matter of minutes for Scott to find his first contact. To his surprise, it was a Pack Hunter, the same one that had beaten him before. Scott grinned, Good; this freebirth will not survive the day. Scott claimed the Pack Hunter for himself, and the rest of his star left it alone.
Scott fired his twin ER Large Lasers at range, burning two large scars into the Pack Hunter's torso, leaving a ton and a half of molten Ferro-Fibrous armor flowing in streams to the ground. Scott followed through with his three ER Medium Lasers, burning a trio of smaller scars into the 25-ton enemy mech.
Off to the side, Scott saw twin Gauss slugs from Mathew's Maddog Alternate D flatten a forty-five ton Shadowcat into the ground. The Medium mech began standing up before Mathew fired another set of rounds into it. The mech stayed down that time.
The Pack Hunter took to the air after Scotts attacks, firing its ER PPC. The blue burst of charge particles tore through the recently replaced armor on his torso, creating a new scar where there had been one only two hours before.
The light mech landed only a hundred meters in front of Scott, and Scott unleashed a full alpha strike, two ER Large Lasers, three ER Medium Lasers, one Medium Pulse Laser, a twenty caliber ultra autocannon, a flamer, and even his anti-infantry machine gun at it. His assault bathed the entire left side of the Pack Hunter in fire. When the smoke cleared, the left arm was missing, the entire left torso had been torn off, and the Pack Hunter was lying on the ground.
The enemy pilot fired his ER PPC from his right shoulder mount, scoring another hit on Scott's torso, giving him enough time to get his mech back on its feet. The Pack Hunter jumped backwards, and Scott was about to pursue when he received an order from the Star Colonel to withdraw. He turned in time to see the parting shot of forty LRMs from Natalie's Crossbow tear a 40-ton Ghost Bear Viper to pieces. The mech melted under the explosions, and when the smoke cleared, was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal on the ground. The Ghost Bears would not be salvaging more than an armor plate or two from that mech.
The Pack Hunter pilot has eluded death today, but tomorrow will be his undoing, Scott thought.
Chapter 7
Scott learned from his Star Colonel that the Ghost Bears had brought in reinforcements in the form of an additional two galaxies. The Steel Vipers had been forced to abandon their base when the Ghost Bears had continued their pursuit, and were now being tracked by the bears across the northern continent. They had devised a plan, which was to be sprung at a nearby marsh.
A full trinary of seventy-five elementals was hiding submerged in the murky waters, the water masking their heat signatures and the properties of the swamp masked their magnetic signatures, hiding them completely from radar. The only thing that kept the Steel Vipers from trampling them was that the elementals were underwater in designated spots that every Steel Viper mech knew about.
However the Ghost Bear's did not, and that was the trap. The Ghost Bears would start wading through the swamp, and a second later, elementals would swarm almost a full cluster of mechs, which is when the Steel Vipers would whirl around and open fire on the Ghost Bear force. The vipers had also called in reinforcements, but they would not arrive for another two days. Khan Perigard Zalmon was hoping to do enough damage with this strike that the two galaxies he had called in would easily crush the bears.
Unfortunately, the plan did not work as well as they could have hoped. The trap was sprung perfectly, and the Steel Vipers turned and fired well. But the Ghost Bears' superior numbers just pushed right though the elementals, withstanding the fire from the Steel Viper Galaxies, and forming a semi-circle, caught the vipers in a crossfire.
Scott found himself locked in battle with a Ghost Bear Grizzly. The 70-ton heavy mech opened up with its gauss rifle and ten LRMs. The gauss slug clipped his shoulder, just grazing his empty missile rack, tearing off little more than paint. Scott's AMS clawed eight of the long-range missiles out of the air, and the other two fell short, detonating on the surface of the water.
Scott fired next, unleashing his heavy ultra autocannon, the two shells tearing almost three tons of armor off of the enemy heavy mech's torso, and throwing off the return attack. That attack came in the form of a large pulse laser, medium pulse laser, and small pulse laser, which all missed at least three meters high. Scott followed through with his ER lasers, both large and all three mediums. Even more armor was shed from the torso of the 70-ton beast. A large hole was opened over the Grizzly's heart, and Scott fired his flamer into the gap. The liquid fire planted itself on the 70-ton mechs fusion reactor. The Grizzly's heat levels spiked, and Scott ended his foe's suffering, hitting the Grizzly's fusion reactor with his heavy autocannon, sending the heavy mech up in a massive fireball.
Scott looked up in time to watch Mathew's cockpit get cored by a burst from a particle cannon. He watched the Maddog stumble forward, and fall into the murky waters of the swamp. Scott did not hold any hopes that his starmate had survived the attack, and did not bother to call and see if he had. Instead, he searched for the source of the ER PPC strike, and found a Pack Hunter standing fifty meters away. He triggered an open frequency, and addressed the pilot he had fought twice before.
"To the pilot of the Pack Hunter. This is Star Captain Scott Masters of Clan Steel Viper. You will pay for my starmate's life with your own. I challenge you to a duel of warriors. You got lucky last time. Today, your luck runs out."
"Star Captain Masters, good to see you again. This is Mechwarrior Taylor Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear. I accept your challenge. As for my luck running out, we will just have to see."
The Pack Hunter triggered its ER PPC, giving Scott's Cauldron-Born a blackened scar on its torso. Scott fired back with every weapon he had, coring the 25-ton humanoid Pack Hunter. The shoulder gun mounting the ER PPC survived however, and the Pack Hunter fired before losing its footing in the swamp and falling backwards.
Taylor struggled to get his mech back to its feet. He had nearly lost to this Cauldron-Born before, putting their head to head record at one a piece. He would not allow this Steel Viper Star Captain the pleasure of claiming two out of three. As he was getting up, he fired his ER PPC again, tearing more armor off of the heavily armed Cauldron-Born. When he got up he realized just how close the 65-ton mech was, but it was too late, as he watched the barrel of its autocannon coming straight at him. Taylor watched his life pass before his eyes before falling into an eternal darkness.
Chapter 8
Scott stood there and watched the 25-ton murderer of his starmate fall to its knees and crumble into the waters of the swamp. The extra push of his enhanced right arm on the control stick had produced an incredible extra pop in his Cauldron-Born's punch. If he had had the time, he would have opened his cockpit and spit on the remains of the enemy mechwarrior. However, he did not have the time. The Steel Vipers were losing this fight badly. Scott called his trinary together for one final push before the order to withdraw was called.
Scott found that only one star of warriors from his trinary had survived. Only six strong, they made their push anyway. His Cauldron-Born, Natalie's Crossbow, a Matador, a Timberwolf, a Summoner Alternate B, and a Vapor Eagle. Zellbriggin had already been thrown to the wind, and the Summoner, Timberwolf, and Natalie's Crossbow all unleashed their LRMs on an enemy Kodiak. A total of one hundred and twenty missiles, all attracted to the Summoner's Narc Beacon, pounded the 100-ton Kodiak into scrap. Only a smoking pile of twisted metal remained where a proud assault mech had once stood.
The Matador in Scott's band of mechs was crushed under the fire from a Ghost Bear Kingfisher and Warhawk. The Kingfisher was mauled by laser fire from Scott's mech, the Timberwolf, Summoner, and the Vapor Eagle. Natalie began working on the Warhawk and got two ER PPCs to the torso for her forty LRMs. Scott turned and fired his autocannon and flamer at the 85-ton Warhawk. The Vapor Eagle also fired its autocannon at the assault mech, leaving the crippled Kingfisher in the capable hands of the Timberwolf and Summoner, who quickly finished the 90-ton mech off.
Plagued with the heat from his four ER PPCs and Scott's flamer, the Warhawk was on the brink of a reactor overload, and was no doubt pushing his override button every few seconds. Scott's remaining star of mechs each unleashed a full alpha strike of weapons at the heat plagued war machine, and when the smoke cleared, the Warhawk was gone. Not even ashes remained.
"All Steel Viper forces, withdraw. The Ghost Bears have won today."
Scott keyed his trinary's communication frequency, "You heard the Khan, lets pull out."
"Aye," was the response from his people.
Only five mechs remained of Scott's command, however few trinaries had fared that well. Only Khan Zalmon's Keshik had emerged from the fight with more warriors than Scott's command. Six of ten warriors had survived from the Keshik. Most of the other trinaries had either two or three warriors out of fifteen left. The Steel Vipers had been crushed. Fortunately, the bears had not pursued, instead stopping to lick their wounds.
The Steel Vipers cleared the swamp and set up a temporary camp to repair and refit their mechs as much as possible. The Khan set himself to the task of putting together new commands with what was left. Scott retired for a few hours of rest after seventy-two hours in the cockpit, and left the well rested George and Will to tend his damaged Cauldron-Born. Fortunately, their job was easy. They only needed to slap on a few armor plates and reload his autocannon. For once, his Cauldron-Born had not been completely wrecked in combat.
Chapter 9
Scott woke to find that he had received a field commission of Star Colonel, and would have command of a full cluster. Natalie now commanded one of his trinaries. All this was a result of the Steel Vipers having roughly one Galaxy remaining, and not enough high ranking officers to command them.
The two Galaxies of reinforcements would arrive in thirty-six hours, and the Steel Vipers needed to be on the move again to meet them. The Ghost Bears, three Galaxies strong, were closing in, and the Vipers needed to make full speed in order to kept ahead of the bears and make it to the rendezvous in time.
Scott moved to his mech to find that it had not only been re-armored, but George and Will had managed to get it into its Alternate B configuration. They had not had time to do that before leaving the base for the second major battle. But now, especially since he likely would not be refitting for several days, he needed the energy weapon configuration for its longevity.
Scott climbed into his command couch, and prepped for startup, grabbing his neuro-helmet, stowing the access ladder, and plugging his coolant vest in. He initiated the startup and called his Cluster to form on him. As Khan Zalmon began to move out, the Steel Vipers formed on him with the APCs, repair vehicles, and cargo haulers in the lead to keep them away from the Ghost Bears.
Scott's Cluster was the rear guard for the Galaxy, and after only a few minutes, he found himself in a bit of a predicament. A star of elementals had swarmed his Cauldron-Born, and he was losing armor to their claws and lasers faster than it could register on his displays. He guessed that they had been deployed overnight to delay the Vipers when they tried to move out.
Scott did not have time to think, and, acting on instinct, released his control sticks, allowing his Cauldron-Born to fall to its back, crushing three of the elementals under 65 tons of metal. He felt his mech rock under minor laser fire and watched one of the red blips go out. He watched as the second elemental reached his cockpit and raised its claw arm, about to rip straight through Scott's cockpit and literally take Scott's head from his shoulders.
Fortunately, the attack was stopped before it started, as a gauss slug from a nearby Shadowcat pounded the elemental into scrap. The nickel-iron slug carried the armored warrior twenty meters before depositing his remains in the dirt. Scott got his mech to its feet, checking his damage and thanking his starmates for clearing off the last two elementals for him.
Natalie added her apology for not helping, but Scott agreed with her that her forty LRMs would take care of the elementals, but they would also take care of Scott. With the elementals wiped out, and two mechs from his command down, Scott's cluster moved to rejoin the Galaxy.
Chapter 10
The Steel Vipers were one kilometer out when the dropship began to land. The two Galaxies had finished deploying by the time the Steel Vipers arrived, and were deployed in a position for the retreating Galaxy to retreat and join formation. They were ready to receive the Ghost Bear attack, and when it came, it came in full force. All three Ghost Bear Galaxies struck the three Steel Viper Galaxies at the same time.
The effect was devastating. Lasers, PPCs, gauss rifles, autocannons, flamers, missiles, and machine guns tore up the field of battle. Scott was engaged with a Ghost Bear Direwolf and was taking a beating, but dishing one out as well, his pulse lasers and PPCs working the 100-ton enemy mech over. The Direwolf returned fire with its own lasers and autocannon.
Scott lucked out when the enemy mech fired its LRMs. His AMS chewed six of them up, but the other four curled downward to late and drove themselves into the back of Natalie's Crossbow. With Zellbriggin broken, and her having just dropped a Ghost Bear Ursus, she whirled around, unleashing a lethal barrage of forty long-range missiles at Scott's target. Being an assault mech, the Direwolf weathered the assault rather well, but not well enough to withstand what Scott added to it. Scott's large and medium pulse lasers shredded armor off the torso of the beast, and his twin PPCs broke through the light armor that remained, carving a good sized chunk out of the assault mech's gyroscope and putting it out of the fight.
Scott ordered each mech in his cluster to pair up with another mech and gang up on a Ghost Bear mech. Scott himself stuck with Natalie, and they tore a Hunchback IIC to pieces in seconds. Their next target was a Ghost Bear Executioner, which lashed out at Scott with its gauss rifle and twin ER Large Lasers, and took to the air to minimize the damage of Natalie's LRMs.
There was no way the pilot could minimize the damage of Scott's twin ER PPCs, which chewed two and a half tons of armor off of the 95-ton assault mech's center torso. As the Executioner landed, Scott triggered his pulse lasers, tearing a deep scar across the torso of the assault mech. Natalie added her LRMs to the damage, and all but five missiles hit home. Ten of the missiles found the cockpit of the giant, coring the head, pilot and all, in a ball of flames.
The Ghost Bear's caught on to the ganging tactics, and a full star of mixed light and medium mechs came at Scott and Natalie. Natalie was the first of the seven of them on the trigger, her LRMs coring a 20-ton Firemoth and putting it down before a shot could be fired.
Scott picked the most dangerous target in the Ghost Bear star, an Adder, and fired his pulse lasers, following with his ER PPCs. The heat levels in his cockpit rose, but it was worth it as Scott's ER PPCs cut off the 35-ton mech's leg before it could make use of its own twin ER PPCs.
The other three Ghost Bear mechs managed to fire back. A Ghost Bear Viper dug into Scott's torso with its five ER Medium Lasers and 6-pack of SRMs. A Clint IIC attacked Natalie with his twin ER Medium Lasers and autocannon, and a second Firemoth hit Scott with its twin ER Medium Lasers and ten short-range missiles.
Armor fell from both of their 65-ton mechs, and they returned fire. Scott's pulse lasers found the cockpit of the Firemoth, boiling its pilot alive, and leaving the mech to fall limp to the ground without its brain. Natalie's forty LRMs sank their teeth into the 40-ton Clint IIC, crippling it for Scott's twin ER PPCs to finish off. The Viper was about to strike at Scott when it was hit from behind with forty LRMs and four ER Lasers from a Timberwolf. The wave of fire easily tore through the armor of the medium mech, coring its innards from behind, and leaving a smoking heap of scrap at the feet of Scott and Natalie.
The two fresh Galaxies combined with the Khan's improvised Galaxy had thrown the Ghost Bears into complete disarray. One of the fresh Galaxies had moved to cut off any Ghost Bear retreat, and now the bears were being slaughtered.
Chapter 11
The fight for Dieron was coming to a close, and it looked as though the Steel Vipers would hold the day. Then Scott's headset in his neuro-helmet came alive.
"Khan Zalmon," it was the panicked voice of a comm. technician. "We have dropships inbound, more than I can count.
"Do you know who?" was the Khan's response.
"From here we could not ID them, but we received a transmission from one of our Jumpships. Our Warship was destroyed. The attackers belong to the Word of Blake, and from the looks of it, they are bringing at least seven Regimental Combat Teams."
"Understood."
For the love of Kerensky, Scott thought. What could they want with Dieron, and how in Kerensky's name did they get seven RCTs. This is not good.
"This Khan Perigard Zalmon to all Steel Viper warriors. We will finish off the Ghost Bears and then withdraw from this planet. We have hostiles inbound in more numbers than we will be able to handle. Our attack on Terra will have to wait."
Scott's heart sank with those words, but he did not allow it to hinder his fighting. He, Natalie, and the Timberwolf were still tearing through the Ghost Bears like a hot knife through butter, and they would not stop until the bears were wiped out. But Scott's mind was elsewhere, racing to figure out what interest Word of Blake had for Dieron, and how they had gotten seven RCTs together for the attack.
It was only several minutes before the Ghost Bears on Dieron were no more, and the mechs remaining in the Steel Viper force began to board the dropships. Scott and his Cluster boarded one of the dropships, and Scott piloted his Cauldron-Born to its slot before making his way to the command center of the giant mech hauler.
The Steel Vipers dropships lifted off together and began their trek toward the jump point.
It was a day before the Steel Viper forces intercepted the inbound Word of Blake dropships. The Steel Viper dropships had no choice but to engage, and their first attack destroyed seven Word of Blake dropships. It was nothing more than a drop in the ocean as the Word of Blake invasion force, which included a trio of Warship escorts, returned fire. By the time the fight was over, the Steel Vipers only had three dropships left to make it to the Invader Class Jumpship at the Nadir Jump point. It was the only Jumpship to survive the naval battle that had taken place.
They jumped out of the system as soon as their dropships attached themselves to the Jumpships. Only Scott's dropship, the Khans dropship, and one other dropship had escaped.
The Steel Vipers jumped to the Skye system less than a Galaxy strong. They found out when they arrived on Skye that Word of Blake had attacked numerous planets near Terra in force in the first wave of their so-called "Jihad". No one had been able to stop them, and they were continuing to move outward from there.
It was not long before Scott received word that Word of Blake had jumped in-system and had dropships inbound. Khan Zalmon decided to make a stand on Skye, but made sure that the dropships would be ready to go if they needed to retreat off planet.
Epilogue
Erik had just learned that Word of Blake had begun a set of attacks against the entire Inner Sphere and there was no stopping them. Numerous units had tried and been crushed.
Erik assumed that the first shockwave of the explosion was Word of Blake. So far they were sweeping through the Inner Sphere like a wave. He had no way of knowing what the second shockwave was, but he could only hope that whatever it was, it would dissipate the Word of Blake attacks as his vision had suggested.
Erik could not help but think of what would have happened to the Word of Blake Jihad had the Ghost Bears and Steel Vipers not pitted a total of fourteen Galaxies against each other. Fourteen Galaxies would have easily been enough to crush any attacks Word of Blake would have made. However, that had not happened, and there was no point in thinking about it. There was a war to be fought, and Erik, along with the Novacats, were moving as fast as they could to make it to the front lines against Word of Blake.
Scott was in the cockpit of his Cauldron-Born, recently converted back to its Alternate A configuration, knowing that he would need it against Word of Blake. Knowing that George had been a pilot, needing as many mechs against Word of Blake as they could get, and having more mechs than they had pilots, Scott had cut George's bond cords. He had been given a Rifleman IIC salvaged during the fight with the Ghost Bears and was made an extension of Scott's Command Star. The Rifleman IIC was a deadly design in the right hands, despite being a second line clan mech. A remake of the Inner Sphere Rifleman, it was 65 tons and mounted four Large Pulse Lasers and jump jets to go with them.
Scott and his Cluster stood watching the Word of Blake dropships descend. Knowing that the entire Inner Sphere's safety and their chances at claiming Terra were at stake, the Steel Vipers had armed all of their bondsman and had even armed the planetary militia with clan mechs, and, absorbing the militia into their ranks as the cost for arming them, were now a full galaxy strong. The last word placed the Word of Blake invasion force at three RCTs.
That gave the Steel Vipers about fifty more mechs than Word of Blake, although there were no doubt a number of vehicles and infantry, but taking technology into account, the Steel Vipers had a decent advantage. Scott only hoped that they would capitalize on the advantage and be the first ones to prove that Word of Blake could be stopped.
The Word of Blake dropships landed, and their forces were deployed. The battle had begun, and Scott's first target was a Word of Blake Thunderhawk piloted by the commander of one of their RCTs. Scott opened up with his Ultra Autocannon and extended range lasers, throwing off the 100-ton mech's three gauss rifles. The Thunderhawk's four medium lasers hit, but did little more than blacken Scott's Cauldron-Born's heavy clan armor. The battle for Skye had begun, and as Scott might put it: Only Kerensky knew who would win, and what the next several years would bring. And if Kerensky did know, he also knew that they would be very dark times.
To Be Continued…
Angel of Death {CSV}