Tikonov Principality
May 25, 3219
"My God." Edward Davion fell back into his chair, letting the dispatch flutter to the floor. "My God."
"Sir?" Shenke asked worriedly.
"It's from Bharat. The Free Worlds Republic is attacking them. We've . . . lost both WarShips." Edward rubbed his temples. "They landed with three regiments. General Steiner destroyed the HPG array to keep them from taking it. She's gone to ground."
"Christ. Any word from the Star League?"
"Yes, in fact, there is." Edward grimaced. "The Star League has expelled the Free Worlds Republic for its actions. In protest, the Capellans seceded."
"Lord, but there will be hell to pay when this is over," Shenke said.
"But will it ever end? All right, we're going to have to—"
The screaming of the alarms interrupted him.
"Dammit, this day just keeps getting better and better."
". . . and that's the current situation."
Edward looked at the tactical display. It was bad, possibly worse than it was on Bharat. The Free Worlders were coming in strength, with at least two BattleMech regiments and their supporting units. Edward had ordered the two WarShips he possessed to back off to the nadir jump point. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of the massacre at Bharat.
"Mobilize the First TRG and Colonel Esteban's people. Get our people into the streets now, and start evacuating the city. How much time do we have till the Free Worlders make planetfall?"
"Four days, at their present acceleration."
Edward shook his head. "How long will it take to evacuate the city?"
"Longer than that, sir. Four million people won't just disappear." Shenke squinted his eyes. "We need to fight the Free Worlders in the city. If we meet them in a straight-up fight, their superior numbers will kill us."
"Yeah, but if we fight in the streets before the city is evacuated, we're going to end up killing a lot of people," Edward said. "Damn. All right, what if we evacuate the northern section of the city, and then concentrate our forces there? They'll have to come to us if they want to win the planet."
"We won't be able to rely on our air support in the city," Shenke pointed out.
"But neither will they, and it frees up our aerofighters to hit their supply lines. Okay, people, we have a plan, now make it happen."
Tikonov City, TikonovTikonov Principality
June 12, 3219
Four BattleMechs stalked carefully through the streets, blissfully unaware of the ambush they were walking into.
Edward leveled his Atlas's right arm at the first 'Mech, a Locust, and unleashed the hellish fury of his particle projection cannon. The blue energy rope slapped the 'Mech aside, knocking it into one of its lancemates.
"Hit 'em!" Edward shouted. The Catapult beside him unleashed a full volley from its LRM launchers, smothering the Free Worlder lance under an avalanche of missiles. To Edward's left, a Davion JagerMech stepped forward, its rotary autocannons firing nonstop. Depleted uranium slugs punched through the 'Mechs' armor, and explosions erupted from within the maelstrom. In thirty seconds, four 'Mechs died in the streets of Tikonov City, and Edward's lance quickly moved to relocate before the Free Worlders could respond.
"General, this is Shenke." The operations officer had set up shop in the basement of a local radio station, making full use of its transmitting equipment. "We've got a company of heavies moving into the city from the northwest. I've intercepted communications indicating that this is the command unit for the First Marik Knights."
"Roger, can we intercept?"
"Your lance is about five klicks from their last-known position. I've got Basher Lance coming in from the west. If you two can ambush them, with a little luck, you'll be able to inflict serious damage."
"Any word as to which 'Mech the Knights' commander is riding in?"
"Our file says it's Colonel General Alister Lofton. Last time the Secretariat checked, he was in a King Crab."
"Fantastic." On the bright side, the heavily armed, heavily armored BattleMech would be easy to pick out. "Okay, Command Lance, let's get these guys."
It had been a bloody two weeks of fighting, reducing the peacekeepers' strength to an over strength battalion. Colonel Esteban's mercenaries had fought valiantly during the first week of the fighting, but as of four days ago had ceased to exist as a viable fighting force. Its six survivors had been integrated into the Kuritan force, which had suffered more casualties than the Davion battalion in the opening battles of the campaign. However, as badly as Task Force Aleph had been hurt, the First Marik Knights had gotten even worse. Their force had been reduced to a single battalion of 'Mechs and half as much in vehicles and infantry.
As his 'Mechs tromped toward the enemy commander's last known coordinates, Edward couldn't help but feel the excitement welling up in his gut. If he could eliminate the Free Worlders' general, the battle would be essentially over. The peacekeepers already had them beat in numbers, and sacking their commander, especially when their next-ranking officer was a senior lieutenant, would deal a fatal blow to the Knights' efforts.
But don't get ahead of yourself, Eddy-ol'-boy, Edward told himself. First things first. Kill this bastard, and then worry about how it'll affect his troops.
"Gold One, this is Basher One. We have visual on the target. Over."
"Gold One here, I roger," Edward said. "Okay, Basher, I've got you at under a klick away. ETA thirty seconds."
The fighting was already vicious when the command lance arrived, and Edward could see six downed 'Mechs, one of them from the Bashers. He settled his sights on an Arbalest and fired with everything he had.
The wave of heat washed over him, drenching him in sweat despite all his cooling vest and heat sinks could do. But the results were well worth it.
His gauss rifle smashed the Arbalest's long-range missile launchers beyond repair, and only the 'Mech's CASE saved it from the cataclysmic explosions of its munitions. An azure particle beam flayed armor from the Arbalest's side like a paring knife, and the quartet of medium pulse lasers stitched ruby darts into the 'Mech's main torso. The Arbalest turned to face him, unleashing a pair of medium lasers and scoring direct hits, but it was nothing compared to Edward's second shot . . . and the gauss slug that went through the 'Mech's hip joint, blowing off the leg and sending it toppling to the ground, out of the fight. Edward saw the pilot blow out his canopy, running for the relative safety of a nearby apartment complex.
Edward shifted his attention to the target of the attack, the Free Worlder commander's King Crab. The 100-ton assault 'Mech stepped toward him and opened its arms in an obvious challenge, looking very much like the animal for which Aleksandr Kerensky had named it. Blinking sweat out of his eyes, Edward muttered a prayer, and fired.
With the heat gauge still in the red, Edward could only afford to fire his gauss rifle. The rail gun sent a silvery melon-sized round into the Crab's side, blasting off chunks of armor that fell to the street below like metal rain. Bracing himself, he nudged the Atlas up to its full speed, not waiting for the King Crab's response.
Edward hunched his 'Mech's shoulder forward, barreling into the King Crab at fifty kilometers an hour. The BattleMech was thrown back onto one foot by the impact, and Edward didn't let up, swinging the Atlas's fist into the Crab's main body. The 'Mech fell backward, smashing to the street with all the subtlety of an earthquake. Edward fired his gauss rifle point-blank into the left shoulder joint, sheering the arm completely from the body. Pinning the 'Mech against the street under his foot, he aimed the gauss rifle at the Crab's cockpit and turned on the broadcast channel.
"Listen up, Free Worlder," he said. "You are in direct violation of Star League Ruling 42891. With the power vested in me as commander of Star League Army Task Force Aleph, I hereby order you to get your ass off my planet, or face punishment by death!"
The reply came, weakened by the damage the 'Mech had sustained.
"Christ . . . this is General Lofton . . . Star League commander, the First Marik Knights agree to your terms. We'll be off Tikonov in twenty-four hours."
Edward levered his 'Mech off the King Crab, crushing the 'Mech's intact claw—and the weapons housed there—on the way down.
"Glad to hear it, General Lofton, because I'll destroy every 'Mech in your regiment if you stay a minute longer."
Twelfth Donegal Guards HQ, BharatTikonov Principality
June 12, 3219
Brilliant beams of laser energy crisscrossed across the spaceport landing field as Capellan and Free Worlder BattleMechs came pouring out of the forest. Lara Steiner's Atlas, still damaged from previous engagements with the new attackers, rocked backwards from the impact of a gauss slug. Lara fought to maintain control of her 'Mech, firing its autocannon at a Capellan Tarantula, blowing the four-legged 'Mech's cockpit open.
Shouldn't have brought a light 'Mech to an assault fight, Lara thought, redirecting her attentions at a Grendel. The 90-ton BattleMech fired at her with one of its PPCs, missing by a bare margin, and received sixteen rounds from her autocannon for its troubles. But the Grendel was far from finished, hitting Lara with its second particle cannon and a flight of Streak-SRMs. The wave of missiles bracketed the Atlas in explosions, one of them blasting through her barely-armored thigh, destroying the myomer muscle beneath and rendering the 'Mech's left leg useless. Dragging the cripple appendage behind her, Lara moved to pursue the Grendel, which was trying to maneuver behind her for an unopposed shot. She hit it with a prolonged burst from her autocannon that hammered one of the PPCs to scrap, but then it was out of her firing arc. She could still see it in her secondary displays, the Grendel arrogantly striding up for a better shot. Artificial lightning lashed out from the Grendel's intact particle projection cannon, whipping the Atlas across the back, punching through the heavy shielding around the 'Mech's fusion reactor. The heat instantly became overwhelming in the cockpit, and Lara heard the telltale warning voice of the computer, advising her to bail.
Her hand found the ejection lever and pulled. The top of the Atlas's head blew off to make way for the ejection chair, which rocketed Lara some forty meters into the air. Sometime on the way up, she passed out.