Author Warning here: Since my laptop got screwed, I lost my microsoft word and am now typing in Word Pad. Thank you all for
your support in the writing of this fanfic. On to the continuation of "The Awakening-Enter the Wolf"
The Awakening - Enter The WOlf (part 2)
"What have I done?" Katherine said, letting go of the controls for a moment as she looked at her shaking hands. "I didn't mean to crush it outright..." She was still shaking, looking at the charred remains of the base complexes before her. And that of the Forestry MOD that was before her, its head missing.
"This is war, Katherine. You can't change it, you can't ignore it and it'll try its best to change us all into monsters but you've got to be strong." Leon's battered Ryoken II came from the area of the mech hangar. Its armor was ripped in half a dozen places and the myomer muscle could be seen in holes that were visible around both arms. "I've been in battle since the Raider's attack on Towne and I've seen what people at war can do to each other. It's not pleasant but you have to accept it."
Leon was about to say more to Katherine, but he paused as he received a transmission from Jonah, "Leon, get down here quickly, the majority of the Steel Wolves have engaged us two clicks away from the base's starport. They don't seem to want us to leave this rock, hurry!" The face of the paladin disappeared, and with that, Leon forgot about the rest of his speech to Katherine.
"Kath, we gotta move out, Jonah and the surviving members of the battalion are at the starport!" He turned the cockpit to face her mech, then ran at top speed towards the starport.
All Jonah could see was red.
Red from the lasers, red from the paint of the Steel Wolves' mechs and red from the battlefield itself as the bodycount of the Sphere infantry rose.
He tried to assess the situation but it was no use, because the 'Wolves almost had them completely surrounded, and the Sphere mechs were taking murderous fire from their counterparts across the field.
The remains of vehicles could be seen strewn around in a lazy arc around the Sphere line where the defenders had entrenched themselves, with SRM teams and Hauberk Battle Armor firing at a near constant rate from the blasted rubble of several AA bunkers.
The Wolves, however, paid a heavy price for each step and a Legionnaire blossomed into fire as it took one too many hits from a pair of Marksman tanks moving amongst the infantry. Still, the Steel Wolves advanced and the defenders had to give up ground to stay alive.
Katherine had matched the speed of Leon's Ryoken II and open her channel to him again.
"Ok, I don't have any choice in the matter anyway. But promise me one thing..." She paused, as if unsure if he would accept it in the middle of a battle.
"What would that be?" he replied, distracted by the turn of events.
"That we'll both come out of this alive." She said it in a hushed tone, her voice barely audible.
That snapped Leon out of his concentration. He sensed her fear and anxiety and said, "I promise." With that, they entered the starport's dropship area.
The location was a rectangular one-by-one click area that had been cleared of the grassy plains. In place were three gantries for dropships in the center, a control tower and airfield to the west and the main base to the east.
Leon and Katherine were about 800 meters away from the battle but they could see all the action as death consumed both Spheroid and Clanner alike. He toggled the comm. to the paladin, "Jonah, I'm flanking the Wolves to on the right and I got the Schmitt lance on the left, I need you to pull back to within 300 meters of the dropships." He said this while moving his mech and that of Katherine's to the 8 o'clock position relative to the Steel Wolves' advancing line.
"I got that Leon, I hope the crab bites the wolf this time." Jonah replied and his black Atlas, now bearing a host of new scars and holes of its own, started to back-pedal as fast as he could, firing his PPC at an over-eager Demon medium tank, melting armor on the flank of the vehicle.
The other units with him moved back, grudgingly giving up ground as units from other areas began to show up and join their comrades at the dropship gantries, lending their own, if somewhat reduced firepower against the enemy.
Kendrick eyed the movements suspiciously as he scored a hit on the damnable black Atlas which had brought down three of his own mechwarriors but still refused to be killed, even though it was the third time Kendrick had scored a hit with an ER Large Laser, melting more armor off the giant's torso.
He was confident that his unit would crush the freebirths this day but this was getting too easy. After ten minutes of maneuvering and intense action on both sides, the enemy was falling back, the mechs covering their infantry and vehicles while the war machines themselves moved back.
"Look at them, running from the true strength of the pack!" A Wolf tanker commented.
"We shall bite their necks and swing them around until they are all dead!" Howled a mechwarrior.
"For the glory of the Steel Wolves!" Cried another.
When the reinforcements arrived, they were too few. Another Marksman, a JESS missile carrier and two squads of Purifier Battle Armor were hardly giving the Sphere army a winning edge and it dawned on him that his men, driven by the smell of an injured prey, were pursuing the remaining forces at flank speed, unaware of the danger that lay in wait.
"All Sphere units, halt withdrawal upon reaching the 300 meter line and reform the line!" Jonah barked, swiveling the upper torso of the Atlas to track other eager Wolves as he continued to back-pedal his mech.
His forces scrambled to obey his orders.
About 800 meters away, two mechs were lurking furtively.
"Leon, what's your plan?" Katherine asked anxiously as her Arbalest peeked around the corner, the backs of the Steel Wolves mechs and vehicles could be seen in the distance.
"Hold on, in ten seconds, you and me will come form the west flank and a lance of DI Schmitts from the base to the east will converge on the rear of the Steel Wolves' line."
"The rest is up to Paladin Levin and my battalion." He stared at her sweat-stained face on the comm. "You got that, Kath?"
"Yeah, and although it is the craziest thing I've ever done since I dated you, I'm all for it."
Leon gave pause, "Was I that bad?!" His voice full of mock indignity.
"I'm not answering that until the end of the battle." She chuckled slightly and proceeded to move her Arbalest alongside the Ryoken II.
"Ohh, fine." He left the joke at that and gave the order, "Immolate the Wolves!"
At his order, the four tanks powered up and started a diagonal slash, pouring barrage after barrage of LRMs and AC 10 rounds into the backs of the Steel Wolves. An Arbalest went up in a geyser of flame as its weak rear armor was shredded by two flights of LRMs followed by salvo after salvo of autocannon fire.
"All Steel Wolves forces, this is a trap! Halt the advance and reinforce the rear!" Kendrick said into his comm., finally figuring out the plans of the Sphere army.
It was too late though, all around him hell opened its fiery maw.
Some of the 'Wolves reacted with the spirit of the pack, lead by a Black Lanner-C firing its six ER medium lasers at the same time, scarring the lead DI along the front and flanks.
Another DI was ambushed by a group of Cavalier battle armor which harrased the fast tank with flamers and lasers, dividing it's attention between the deadly infantry and the deadlier mechs and vehicles.
Leon's ambush partly worked, although two DIs were crippled by the 'Wolves fast response, they had taken out two mechs and three vehicles, besides damaging the morale of the enemy troops.
Kendrick was proud of the response time of his men, but nevertheless, the pincer move had partly caught him off-guard because he had expected a slash from the flanks, or even a last stand that was common to some suicidal Inner Sphere units in the past.
The Steel Wolves were completely surrounded.
Further into the battle...
A formation of Demons and Condors came apart as the Sphere battalion charged into the fray, breaking the enemy line at several points.
A Sphere Agro MOD-B pitched to the side as an ammunition explosion took out the entire right arm, along with most of the external and internal structures of the mech on that side. The Shadow Cat which had killed it came from behind the flaming wreck, proceeding to its next target of opportunity.
Infantry clashed on both sides as an Elemental threw its smaller cousin, a Hauberk, to the ground, rendering the pilot inside the battle armor unconcious.
"Jump, Terin!" Kendrick shouted as he saw the young battlemech pilot swinging his arms in vain as several Gnomes latched on to him, clinging on long enough to kill the pilot. One made a bold move and jumped his battle armor away from the torso.
When the jump had carried him high enough, the Gnome let loose with his heavy machine gun, the metal slugs tearing right through the cockpit of the Koshi.
The light mech staggered and fell while the Gnomes jumped away from the "dead" mech. Steel Wolf infantry, on the other hand, caught two Gnomes in a cross-fire, killing the Sphere units instantly.
Kendrick realized that long range weapons would be of no use now, being almost surrounded by attacking forces from both the front and rear. He decided to make his enemy pay dearly before it was time to start falling back.
He moved his Madcat III in closer and fired his LRMs at the strongest point of the battalion, the black Atlas. The remains of his star fired their own long range weaponry as the black machine as it reeled under the desperate assault of the Wolves.
Jonah tried his best to concentrate on the fighting as his Atlas was pounded with wave after wave of enemy fire.
He belatedly noticed that the star lead by the Madcat III had decided to go for him.
A quick glance at his armor indicator told him his Atlas would not survive the next volley when it came for him
His mind wrestled with the idea of leaving his mech behind. Would it be self-preservation or self-sacrifice? Jonah asked himself. Time seemed to slow as he tried to move his Atlas in front of the Steel Wolves in a final sacrifice for his men. Before he could complete the maneuver, his mind was transported elsewhere...
Flash...
He was on a cliff by a sea, torrents of rain were splashing against his skin. He looked upon the sea as it rose to swallow all the land.
Flash...
He was by a lakeside, he saw a young man in a boat, rowing his way to the middle of the lake. A hand flashed from the water, a glittering sword in hand. As the paladin squinted, he saw that the sword was in fact, a katana.
Flash...
Jonah witnessed a mech tearing through an assault battalion, the strangest thing was it was kicking out and punching all the other mechs into scrap...
Flash...
Jonah saw that he was in the cockpit of his Atlas again. The battle still raged around him.
He tried to regain his mental faculties when he saw a black Ryoken II come into view, its LBX 10s spitting out fire at two of the Steel Wolf mechs.
A blue and white Arbalest joined the fray, its medium lasers and LRMs withering away the armor of a Black Hawk at an alarming rate.
For once, fate had saved Jonah. He thought it a fitting fate that these young people, possibly the only hope for the young Republic, would save an old relic like him. He would have found the thought amusing and would have laughed about it, but it was neither the time nor place.
"Good to see your still alive, old man!" Leon called out all the while, facing off against the Madcat III he had antagonized.
He had to admit that when the paladin's Atlas slumped in place, he almost died. Leon was thankful that his mentor was still alive and kicking.
Jonah smiled weakly under his neurohelmet, "This old man can still fight and is still your 'superior'!"
The Atlas' first action upon waking was to punch a Koshi that had gotten too close. The metal-shod fist slammed into the rear of the enemy mech, making it stagger then fall over from the loss of balance.
Although the pilot had regained control of his downed mech, Jonah had unleashed the last of his Heavy Gauss slugs, while the twin ER PPCs spat out azure lightning.
The Koshi never got up because its arms were sundered from its body by the PPCs and its crotch had caved in, with help from the sheer kinetic force of the Heavy Gauss slug.
"That's it for me, I'm pulling out before any other puppies appear." Jonah's Atlas moved away slowly, not wanting to attract attention as some of the Sphere units gave it covering fire.
Leon had finally dropped one of the cursed Madcat III's arms, but in turn, had lost more than half his over-all armor to the skilled Wolf pilot. The hunched mechs had squared away and Leon was about ready to release his remaining rounds into the brown mech but stayed his hand as the Madcat III opened its external speakers and began to speak.
"I, Star Captain Kendrick of the Steel Wolves, declare a Trial of Possesion for all units on the battlefield, Republic and Steel Wolf. Do you accept?"
Jonah was quite stunned that the enemy, which had been bent on mopping the field with the Sphere army, was considering a Trial of Possesion.
That was until he took look at the HUD and saw the remaining forces.
While the Wolves had nine mechs left, five vehicles, and a point of Elementals left. The Sphere army, on the other hand; had almost a company of thei own vehicles, seven mechs and a mixed platoon of battle armor.
The odds were not quite in the Sphere's favor but neither were they were they in the Steel Wolves, Jonah thought.
It has to be decided by a Trial, or the victory would be too costly for either side.
Jonah was about to signal the acceptance of the challenge, when Leon overtook him and answered through his own external speakers.
"I, Knight-Errant Leon Diaz of the Repulic of the Sphere battalion, accept your challenge!"
Kendrick was puzzled by the answer, was the leader of this battalion the only one who could answer? The answer was obvious, the black Atlas looked more like a pile of spare parts than a functional battlemech.
The rest of the other mechs on either side were either littering the base in their death poses, or barely standing at all.
The Star Captain replied, "Then let us begin!" His Madcat III marched to a clear patch of land and was followed shortly by the hunched Stormcrow II of Leon.
The forces of the Steel Wolves formed up on the west side of the base, while the Sphere units formed ranks on the east side of the base.
Some of the Sphere units were new an acctual Trial taking place and many were on the edge of their seats, just watching the two mechs get ready.
In her Arbalest, Katherine silently mouthed a prayer to whatever gods may be to protect Leon.
"Let the Trial of Possesion begin!" Cried the XO of the Steel Wolves.
Kendrick opened up with two ER Large Lasers but Leon side-stepped his Stormcrow II in an attepmt to evade both. Leon was partly successful and one beam struck his battered Stormcrow II's left shoulder.
The Sphere mech countered as Leon sent two LBX-10 rounds to the torso of the Madcat III, shattering half the remaining armor on both left and right torso.
The two mechs circled each other, judging when the time to strike was right. Leon heard Kendrick's voice over
"Very good, Knight-Errant", Kendrick said to himself, "but not good enough!"
The Madcat III launched its remaining 30 LRMs at the moving Stormcrow II. Explosions rippled all along the Sphere mech as it tried to stay upright despite the fearsome damage it was sustaining.
Leon gave the controls all the effort he could muster, but it was no use. The Stormcrow II sank to its knees and was now left at the mercy of the medium mech's small and medium ER lasers.
Kendrick now wore a feral smile as he closed his mech in for the kill, "This is for the glory and honour of the Steel Wolves!" he bellowed as the Madcat III launched an alpha strike at the Stormcrow II, regardless of serveral failing heat sinks in his mech.
Leon braced himself as his mech was pummeled by the furious assault. Both of his arms had been torn off and his LRM racks were virtually exhausted from the earlier slugfest. Even his LBX 10 was out of ammunition. Only 3 ER medium lasers remained.
He resigned himself to fate and fired the lasers, and executed his last strike.
Kendrick was surprised when the armless mech stood again on its two feet and fired three ER medium lasers at him, two went into his right leg, causing the actuator to melt in place while the second one flensed armor off his already battered torso.
He decided on the virtues of continuous movement but it was too late, he could see the Stormcrow II's visage quickly looming before him.
Leon braced himself for the impact he knew would come and with the Madcat III only scant meters away from becoming scrap, he didn't have to wait long.
The two mechs met with the scream of twisting and breaking metal. The Madcat III's left flank crumpled under the vicious blow while the Stormcrow II's whole right torso was an unrecognizable pile of twisted metal. Both mechs fell down and skidded onto the ferrocrete while a trail of metal and broken parts mad known their path.
Kendrick's ears didn't hurt, they were screaming for him to just die and be over with the horrible sound of metal screaching against the ground. he couldn't handle much more of the invisible banshee singing in his ears and propmtly lost conciousness.
"God! Leon! What did you do?!" Katherine wailed as she rushed her Arbalest to the side of the downed Sphere mech.
She could see that there wasn't one part of his mech which diidn't seem to be twisted or missing. Even the rollbars on his cockpit were possed every which way except the way they were meant to be.
"Leon?!" She called out to him on her external speakers, "Answer me, Leon!" She called out again.
She suddenly caught some movement from the cockpit and he was waving her mech away from his stricken mech. She moved her Arbalest out of the way and his Stormcrow II rose to its feet, albeit, more shaky than normal, but standing nonetheless.
Katherine was amazed that the heavy mech could withstand that much punishment and still stand up. She didn't care though, all she was thinking of was that Leon was safe and although his mech looked like it was better suited to a scrapyard, it would live along with its young pilot.
Leon could feel Katherine's concern radiating from her light mech, and as much as he wanted to celebrate, the Trial wasn't officially over yet.
"Katherine, I'm getting out of my mech, I'd appreciate it if you tell the troops to stay calm." He said, with a weary voice.
Katherine paused, the replied, "Alright, but if things get ugly, those men can't take much more pounding." She cautioned him.
Then she reminded herself that clanners were a far cry from being tricksters and conn-men of the Inner Sphere, they would uphold their end of the Trial like true Clansmen.
Leon clambered out of his mech as soon as the computer shut his mech down. He quickly climbed down to the ground and started to walk towards the downed Madcat III.
He could see a point of elementals extracting their leader from the ruined mech, using their battle claws to pry away metal. They worked as fast as they could and in moments, the unmoving body of Kendrick Fetladral was pulled out of the twisted metal.
Upon reaching the slumped form of the Madcat III, Leon could see the clan leader was stirring from unconciousness. He was about to approach the man but two burly elementals stood in his way.
One of them spoke, "Spheroid, do not come any closer, the star captain does not want to see you." His partner was silent but the arm-mounted micro laser on his forearm was a sure warning of what was to come if Leon didn't back off.
Kendrick could faintly hear the exchange and with much effort, raised himself from his prone position. The pain was there and he could feel it, but he didn't want to show his enemy any kind of weakness, even at this state of health.
"I gave no such order, Devon, let him through." Kendrick said, the pain barely kept in check by his discipline.
The elemental hesitated for a second, then moved back to let Leon through.
Kendrick straightened himself up before the Sphere officer standing before him, choosing to stand as equals, rather than an invalid.
"Knight-Errant Diaz, you have fought well against me and have defeated me in a Trial of Possesion, I acknowledge my defeat and obey the conditions we have agreed on."
He choked back his remaining pride, turned to his fellow warriors and declared in a nearly hoarse voice, "All units of the Steel wolves in the battle are honor-bound to become bondsmen to this battalion of the Republic of the Sphere."
He paused, then contiuned, "Any and all violators will be stripped of rank and personally executed by myself."
He knew that it was a tense moment when he announced to his troops that they would all become bondsmen and bondswomen of the Sphere freebirths.
He was ready to deflect any attacks which came to him, although his survival depended on the other clanners accpeting the results with honour and grace.
The tension was thicker than the air, and was seeping into everyone's nerves. No one had noticably moved, then Devon started to walk towards Leon, the elemental's long strides carrying him right in front of the Knight-Errant.
Then the elemental went on one bended knee and accepted the honour-bound agreement in a loud voice, "I, Elemental Devon accept this honour-bound agreement." He bowed to Leon and the young man returned the bow with as much courtesy to the clanner.
Leon could hardly beleive his eyes, a clan elemental, the mightiest of Kerensky's warriors among the clans, had just bowed to him and sworn his feealty to the young man. Leon had returned the bow as a reflex but he was still puzzled about the other's reactions to their actions, he looked around and found his answer.
Paladin Levin had seen enemies become friends during the days of the Blakist jihad but never had he seen clanners act this way, he wasn't born during the clan invasion. One by one, the warriors of Clan Steel Wolves had bended on one knee and had laid down their weapons and swore their oath as bondsmen.
he thought it was best to speak now, before any of the grunts did something rash.
"I, Paladin Jonah Levin accept all bondsmen of Clan Steel Wolves into this Republic of the Sphere battalion."
The clanners stood up and then wondered what would happen next, it would all be up to their leaders.
Those same two leaders had watched the event unfold with interest and relief and now, Leon thought it best to let both forces rest after the battle.
Leon spoke up, and Kendrick turned his tired face once more upon his former enemy, "You must rest now, Star Captain Kendrick. We shall discuss more when you're feeling better."
The clanner bowed ever so slightly and laid down on the strecher he previously laid in. The Steel Wolves infantry carried him to the field hospital for treatment, along with everyone else.
Leon turned to the direction of his men and realized that the event had a mixed impact on his men, though they respected the Steel Wolves as enemies, it would be hard to reconcile both parties, he was going to need Kendrick if he was to succeed.
Katherine was beside him a moment later, "It'll be morning soon, wouldn't a little breakfast be in order?" She didn't wait for his answer and dragged him to a waiting jeep that would take them back to the base complexes.
Leon didn't prtoest that much, only citing that Jonah and the others needed to hammer out a plan for the next leg of the campaign. After that, he got into the jeep and seated himself alogside Katherine.
They both rode in silence and Katherine was thinking if the future would bring more death and destruction to her life. She turned to face Leon, wanting to ask him that same question.
She immediately saw he was asleep and a small smile crept upon her lips, she hadn't seen him sleep in along time, and his light breathing brought with it, a sense of innocence around him.
She brushed some hair out of his face and turned to the driver, asking him to head for the officer's quarters.
Upon reaching the squat building, she awoke Leon and despite his sleepy protests, she lead him to his room and shoved him into the bed, and closed the door.
Leon wanted to protest but sleep had its way and he was soon before his past again.
Ok, time for the author's notes:
1. I'm so sorry about the mix up with Kendrick's age and name. Kendrick has yet to earn his blood name and he is around 24, not 18. Thank you TNG for pointing that out.
2. Someone tell me if I did the whole Trial of Possesion (the aftermath of the battle) right.
3. If anyone, and I mean, ANYONE can give me specks on the Ryoken II and other MW:DA mechs, please give it to me! I beg you!
4. Thank you for all the reviews (yay! 3 guys!) and please review them more. :)
5. Expect a higher turn over rate for my fic, (damn, 2 months and nothing written).
your support in the writing of this fanfic. On to the continuation of "The Awakening-Enter the Wolf"
The Awakening - Enter The WOlf (part 2)
"What have I done?" Katherine said, letting go of the controls for a moment as she looked at her shaking hands. "I didn't mean to crush it outright..." She was still shaking, looking at the charred remains of the base complexes before her. And that of the Forestry MOD that was before her, its head missing.
"This is war, Katherine. You can't change it, you can't ignore it and it'll try its best to change us all into monsters but you've got to be strong." Leon's battered Ryoken II came from the area of the mech hangar. Its armor was ripped in half a dozen places and the myomer muscle could be seen in holes that were visible around both arms. "I've been in battle since the Raider's attack on Towne and I've seen what people at war can do to each other. It's not pleasant but you have to accept it."
Leon was about to say more to Katherine, but he paused as he received a transmission from Jonah, "Leon, get down here quickly, the majority of the Steel Wolves have engaged us two clicks away from the base's starport. They don't seem to want us to leave this rock, hurry!" The face of the paladin disappeared, and with that, Leon forgot about the rest of his speech to Katherine.
"Kath, we gotta move out, Jonah and the surviving members of the battalion are at the starport!" He turned the cockpit to face her mech, then ran at top speed towards the starport.
All Jonah could see was red.
Red from the lasers, red from the paint of the Steel Wolves' mechs and red from the battlefield itself as the bodycount of the Sphere infantry rose.
He tried to assess the situation but it was no use, because the 'Wolves almost had them completely surrounded, and the Sphere mechs were taking murderous fire from their counterparts across the field.
The remains of vehicles could be seen strewn around in a lazy arc around the Sphere line where the defenders had entrenched themselves, with SRM teams and Hauberk Battle Armor firing at a near constant rate from the blasted rubble of several AA bunkers.
The Wolves, however, paid a heavy price for each step and a Legionnaire blossomed into fire as it took one too many hits from a pair of Marksman tanks moving amongst the infantry. Still, the Steel Wolves advanced and the defenders had to give up ground to stay alive.
Katherine had matched the speed of Leon's Ryoken II and open her channel to him again.
"Ok, I don't have any choice in the matter anyway. But promise me one thing..." She paused, as if unsure if he would accept it in the middle of a battle.
"What would that be?" he replied, distracted by the turn of events.
"That we'll both come out of this alive." She said it in a hushed tone, her voice barely audible.
That snapped Leon out of his concentration. He sensed her fear and anxiety and said, "I promise." With that, they entered the starport's dropship area.
The location was a rectangular one-by-one click area that had been cleared of the grassy plains. In place were three gantries for dropships in the center, a control tower and airfield to the west and the main base to the east.
Leon and Katherine were about 800 meters away from the battle but they could see all the action as death consumed both Spheroid and Clanner alike. He toggled the comm. to the paladin, "Jonah, I'm flanking the Wolves to on the right and I got the Schmitt lance on the left, I need you to pull back to within 300 meters of the dropships." He said this while moving his mech and that of Katherine's to the 8 o'clock position relative to the Steel Wolves' advancing line.
"I got that Leon, I hope the crab bites the wolf this time." Jonah replied and his black Atlas, now bearing a host of new scars and holes of its own, started to back-pedal as fast as he could, firing his PPC at an over-eager Demon medium tank, melting armor on the flank of the vehicle.
The other units with him moved back, grudgingly giving up ground as units from other areas began to show up and join their comrades at the dropship gantries, lending their own, if somewhat reduced firepower against the enemy.
Kendrick eyed the movements suspiciously as he scored a hit on the damnable black Atlas which had brought down three of his own mechwarriors but still refused to be killed, even though it was the third time Kendrick had scored a hit with an ER Large Laser, melting more armor off the giant's torso.
He was confident that his unit would crush the freebirths this day but this was getting too easy. After ten minutes of maneuvering and intense action on both sides, the enemy was falling back, the mechs covering their infantry and vehicles while the war machines themselves moved back.
"Look at them, running from the true strength of the pack!" A Wolf tanker commented.
"We shall bite their necks and swing them around until they are all dead!" Howled a mechwarrior.
"For the glory of the Steel Wolves!" Cried another.
When the reinforcements arrived, they were too few. Another Marksman, a JESS missile carrier and two squads of Purifier Battle Armor were hardly giving the Sphere army a winning edge and it dawned on him that his men, driven by the smell of an injured prey, were pursuing the remaining forces at flank speed, unaware of the danger that lay in wait.
"All Sphere units, halt withdrawal upon reaching the 300 meter line and reform the line!" Jonah barked, swiveling the upper torso of the Atlas to track other eager Wolves as he continued to back-pedal his mech.
His forces scrambled to obey his orders.
About 800 meters away, two mechs were lurking furtively.
"Leon, what's your plan?" Katherine asked anxiously as her Arbalest peeked around the corner, the backs of the Steel Wolves mechs and vehicles could be seen in the distance.
"Hold on, in ten seconds, you and me will come form the west flank and a lance of DI Schmitts from the base to the east will converge on the rear of the Steel Wolves' line."
"The rest is up to Paladin Levin and my battalion." He stared at her sweat-stained face on the comm. "You got that, Kath?"
"Yeah, and although it is the craziest thing I've ever done since I dated you, I'm all for it."
Leon gave pause, "Was I that bad?!" His voice full of mock indignity.
"I'm not answering that until the end of the battle." She chuckled slightly and proceeded to move her Arbalest alongside the Ryoken II.
"Ohh, fine." He left the joke at that and gave the order, "Immolate the Wolves!"
At his order, the four tanks powered up and started a diagonal slash, pouring barrage after barrage of LRMs and AC 10 rounds into the backs of the Steel Wolves. An Arbalest went up in a geyser of flame as its weak rear armor was shredded by two flights of LRMs followed by salvo after salvo of autocannon fire.
"All Steel Wolves forces, this is a trap! Halt the advance and reinforce the rear!" Kendrick said into his comm., finally figuring out the plans of the Sphere army.
It was too late though, all around him hell opened its fiery maw.
Some of the 'Wolves reacted with the spirit of the pack, lead by a Black Lanner-C firing its six ER medium lasers at the same time, scarring the lead DI along the front and flanks.
Another DI was ambushed by a group of Cavalier battle armor which harrased the fast tank with flamers and lasers, dividing it's attention between the deadly infantry and the deadlier mechs and vehicles.
Leon's ambush partly worked, although two DIs were crippled by the 'Wolves fast response, they had taken out two mechs and three vehicles, besides damaging the morale of the enemy troops.
Kendrick was proud of the response time of his men, but nevertheless, the pincer move had partly caught him off-guard because he had expected a slash from the flanks, or even a last stand that was common to some suicidal Inner Sphere units in the past.
The Steel Wolves were completely surrounded.
Further into the battle...
A formation of Demons and Condors came apart as the Sphere battalion charged into the fray, breaking the enemy line at several points.
A Sphere Agro MOD-B pitched to the side as an ammunition explosion took out the entire right arm, along with most of the external and internal structures of the mech on that side. The Shadow Cat which had killed it came from behind the flaming wreck, proceeding to its next target of opportunity.
Infantry clashed on both sides as an Elemental threw its smaller cousin, a Hauberk, to the ground, rendering the pilot inside the battle armor unconcious.
"Jump, Terin!" Kendrick shouted as he saw the young battlemech pilot swinging his arms in vain as several Gnomes latched on to him, clinging on long enough to kill the pilot. One made a bold move and jumped his battle armor away from the torso.
When the jump had carried him high enough, the Gnome let loose with his heavy machine gun, the metal slugs tearing right through the cockpit of the Koshi.
The light mech staggered and fell while the Gnomes jumped away from the "dead" mech. Steel Wolf infantry, on the other hand, caught two Gnomes in a cross-fire, killing the Sphere units instantly.
Kendrick realized that long range weapons would be of no use now, being almost surrounded by attacking forces from both the front and rear. He decided to make his enemy pay dearly before it was time to start falling back.
He moved his Madcat III in closer and fired his LRMs at the strongest point of the battalion, the black Atlas. The remains of his star fired their own long range weaponry as the black machine as it reeled under the desperate assault of the Wolves.
Jonah tried his best to concentrate on the fighting as his Atlas was pounded with wave after wave of enemy fire.
He belatedly noticed that the star lead by the Madcat III had decided to go for him.
A quick glance at his armor indicator told him his Atlas would not survive the next volley when it came for him
His mind wrestled with the idea of leaving his mech behind. Would it be self-preservation or self-sacrifice? Jonah asked himself. Time seemed to slow as he tried to move his Atlas in front of the Steel Wolves in a final sacrifice for his men. Before he could complete the maneuver, his mind was transported elsewhere...
Flash...
He was on a cliff by a sea, torrents of rain were splashing against his skin. He looked upon the sea as it rose to swallow all the land.
Flash...
He was by a lakeside, he saw a young man in a boat, rowing his way to the middle of the lake. A hand flashed from the water, a glittering sword in hand. As the paladin squinted, he saw that the sword was in fact, a katana.
Flash...
Jonah witnessed a mech tearing through an assault battalion, the strangest thing was it was kicking out and punching all the other mechs into scrap...
Flash...
Jonah saw that he was in the cockpit of his Atlas again. The battle still raged around him.
He tried to regain his mental faculties when he saw a black Ryoken II come into view, its LBX 10s spitting out fire at two of the Steel Wolf mechs.
A blue and white Arbalest joined the fray, its medium lasers and LRMs withering away the armor of a Black Hawk at an alarming rate.
For once, fate had saved Jonah. He thought it a fitting fate that these young people, possibly the only hope for the young Republic, would save an old relic like him. He would have found the thought amusing and would have laughed about it, but it was neither the time nor place.
"Good to see your still alive, old man!" Leon called out all the while, facing off against the Madcat III he had antagonized.
He had to admit that when the paladin's Atlas slumped in place, he almost died. Leon was thankful that his mentor was still alive and kicking.
Jonah smiled weakly under his neurohelmet, "This old man can still fight and is still your 'superior'!"
The Atlas' first action upon waking was to punch a Koshi that had gotten too close. The metal-shod fist slammed into the rear of the enemy mech, making it stagger then fall over from the loss of balance.
Although the pilot had regained control of his downed mech, Jonah had unleashed the last of his Heavy Gauss slugs, while the twin ER PPCs spat out azure lightning.
The Koshi never got up because its arms were sundered from its body by the PPCs and its crotch had caved in, with help from the sheer kinetic force of the Heavy Gauss slug.
"That's it for me, I'm pulling out before any other puppies appear." Jonah's Atlas moved away slowly, not wanting to attract attention as some of the Sphere units gave it covering fire.
Leon had finally dropped one of the cursed Madcat III's arms, but in turn, had lost more than half his over-all armor to the skilled Wolf pilot. The hunched mechs had squared away and Leon was about ready to release his remaining rounds into the brown mech but stayed his hand as the Madcat III opened its external speakers and began to speak.
"I, Star Captain Kendrick of the Steel Wolves, declare a Trial of Possesion for all units on the battlefield, Republic and Steel Wolf. Do you accept?"
Jonah was quite stunned that the enemy, which had been bent on mopping the field with the Sphere army, was considering a Trial of Possesion.
That was until he took look at the HUD and saw the remaining forces.
While the Wolves had nine mechs left, five vehicles, and a point of Elementals left. The Sphere army, on the other hand; had almost a company of thei own vehicles, seven mechs and a mixed platoon of battle armor.
The odds were not quite in the Sphere's favor but neither were they were they in the Steel Wolves, Jonah thought.
It has to be decided by a Trial, or the victory would be too costly for either side.
Jonah was about to signal the acceptance of the challenge, when Leon overtook him and answered through his own external speakers.
"I, Knight-Errant Leon Diaz of the Repulic of the Sphere battalion, accept your challenge!"
Kendrick was puzzled by the answer, was the leader of this battalion the only one who could answer? The answer was obvious, the black Atlas looked more like a pile of spare parts than a functional battlemech.
The rest of the other mechs on either side were either littering the base in their death poses, or barely standing at all.
The Star Captain replied, "Then let us begin!" His Madcat III marched to a clear patch of land and was followed shortly by the hunched Stormcrow II of Leon.
The forces of the Steel Wolves formed up on the west side of the base, while the Sphere units formed ranks on the east side of the base.
Some of the Sphere units were new an acctual Trial taking place and many were on the edge of their seats, just watching the two mechs get ready.
In her Arbalest, Katherine silently mouthed a prayer to whatever gods may be to protect Leon.
"Let the Trial of Possesion begin!" Cried the XO of the Steel Wolves.
Kendrick opened up with two ER Large Lasers but Leon side-stepped his Stormcrow II in an attepmt to evade both. Leon was partly successful and one beam struck his battered Stormcrow II's left shoulder.
The Sphere mech countered as Leon sent two LBX-10 rounds to the torso of the Madcat III, shattering half the remaining armor on both left and right torso.
The two mechs circled each other, judging when the time to strike was right. Leon heard Kendrick's voice over
"Very good, Knight-Errant", Kendrick said to himself, "but not good enough!"
The Madcat III launched its remaining 30 LRMs at the moving Stormcrow II. Explosions rippled all along the Sphere mech as it tried to stay upright despite the fearsome damage it was sustaining.
Leon gave the controls all the effort he could muster, but it was no use. The Stormcrow II sank to its knees and was now left at the mercy of the medium mech's small and medium ER lasers.
Kendrick now wore a feral smile as he closed his mech in for the kill, "This is for the glory and honour of the Steel Wolves!" he bellowed as the Madcat III launched an alpha strike at the Stormcrow II, regardless of serveral failing heat sinks in his mech.
Leon braced himself as his mech was pummeled by the furious assault. Both of his arms had been torn off and his LRM racks were virtually exhausted from the earlier slugfest. Even his LBX 10 was out of ammunition. Only 3 ER medium lasers remained.
He resigned himself to fate and fired the lasers, and executed his last strike.
Kendrick was surprised when the armless mech stood again on its two feet and fired three ER medium lasers at him, two went into his right leg, causing the actuator to melt in place while the second one flensed armor off his already battered torso.
He decided on the virtues of continuous movement but it was too late, he could see the Stormcrow II's visage quickly looming before him.
Leon braced himself for the impact he knew would come and with the Madcat III only scant meters away from becoming scrap, he didn't have to wait long.
The two mechs met with the scream of twisting and breaking metal. The Madcat III's left flank crumpled under the vicious blow while the Stormcrow II's whole right torso was an unrecognizable pile of twisted metal. Both mechs fell down and skidded onto the ferrocrete while a trail of metal and broken parts mad known their path.
Kendrick's ears didn't hurt, they were screaming for him to just die and be over with the horrible sound of metal screaching against the ground. he couldn't handle much more of the invisible banshee singing in his ears and propmtly lost conciousness.
"God! Leon! What did you do?!" Katherine wailed as she rushed her Arbalest to the side of the downed Sphere mech.
She could see that there wasn't one part of his mech which diidn't seem to be twisted or missing. Even the rollbars on his cockpit were possed every which way except the way they were meant to be.
"Leon?!" She called out to him on her external speakers, "Answer me, Leon!" She called out again.
She suddenly caught some movement from the cockpit and he was waving her mech away from his stricken mech. She moved her Arbalest out of the way and his Stormcrow II rose to its feet, albeit, more shaky than normal, but standing nonetheless.
Katherine was amazed that the heavy mech could withstand that much punishment and still stand up. She didn't care though, all she was thinking of was that Leon was safe and although his mech looked like it was better suited to a scrapyard, it would live along with its young pilot.
Leon could feel Katherine's concern radiating from her light mech, and as much as he wanted to celebrate, the Trial wasn't officially over yet.
"Katherine, I'm getting out of my mech, I'd appreciate it if you tell the troops to stay calm." He said, with a weary voice.
Katherine paused, the replied, "Alright, but if things get ugly, those men can't take much more pounding." She cautioned him.
Then she reminded herself that clanners were a far cry from being tricksters and conn-men of the Inner Sphere, they would uphold their end of the Trial like true Clansmen.
Leon clambered out of his mech as soon as the computer shut his mech down. He quickly climbed down to the ground and started to walk towards the downed Madcat III.
He could see a point of elementals extracting their leader from the ruined mech, using their battle claws to pry away metal. They worked as fast as they could and in moments, the unmoving body of Kendrick Fetladral was pulled out of the twisted metal.
Upon reaching the slumped form of the Madcat III, Leon could see the clan leader was stirring from unconciousness. He was about to approach the man but two burly elementals stood in his way.
One of them spoke, "Spheroid, do not come any closer, the star captain does not want to see you." His partner was silent but the arm-mounted micro laser on his forearm was a sure warning of what was to come if Leon didn't back off.
Kendrick could faintly hear the exchange and with much effort, raised himself from his prone position. The pain was there and he could feel it, but he didn't want to show his enemy any kind of weakness, even at this state of health.
"I gave no such order, Devon, let him through." Kendrick said, the pain barely kept in check by his discipline.
The elemental hesitated for a second, then moved back to let Leon through.
Kendrick straightened himself up before the Sphere officer standing before him, choosing to stand as equals, rather than an invalid.
"Knight-Errant Diaz, you have fought well against me and have defeated me in a Trial of Possesion, I acknowledge my defeat and obey the conditions we have agreed on."
He choked back his remaining pride, turned to his fellow warriors and declared in a nearly hoarse voice, "All units of the Steel wolves in the battle are honor-bound to become bondsmen to this battalion of the Republic of the Sphere."
He paused, then contiuned, "Any and all violators will be stripped of rank and personally executed by myself."
He knew that it was a tense moment when he announced to his troops that they would all become bondsmen and bondswomen of the Sphere freebirths.
He was ready to deflect any attacks which came to him, although his survival depended on the other clanners accpeting the results with honour and grace.
The tension was thicker than the air, and was seeping into everyone's nerves. No one had noticably moved, then Devon started to walk towards Leon, the elemental's long strides carrying him right in front of the Knight-Errant.
Then the elemental went on one bended knee and accepted the honour-bound agreement in a loud voice, "I, Elemental Devon accept this honour-bound agreement." He bowed to Leon and the young man returned the bow with as much courtesy to the clanner.
Leon could hardly beleive his eyes, a clan elemental, the mightiest of Kerensky's warriors among the clans, had just bowed to him and sworn his feealty to the young man. Leon had returned the bow as a reflex but he was still puzzled about the other's reactions to their actions, he looked around and found his answer.
Paladin Levin had seen enemies become friends during the days of the Blakist jihad but never had he seen clanners act this way, he wasn't born during the clan invasion. One by one, the warriors of Clan Steel Wolves had bended on one knee and had laid down their weapons and swore their oath as bondsmen.
he thought it was best to speak now, before any of the grunts did something rash.
"I, Paladin Jonah Levin accept all bondsmen of Clan Steel Wolves into this Republic of the Sphere battalion."
The clanners stood up and then wondered what would happen next, it would all be up to their leaders.
Those same two leaders had watched the event unfold with interest and relief and now, Leon thought it best to let both forces rest after the battle.
Leon spoke up, and Kendrick turned his tired face once more upon his former enemy, "You must rest now, Star Captain Kendrick. We shall discuss more when you're feeling better."
The clanner bowed ever so slightly and laid down on the strecher he previously laid in. The Steel Wolves infantry carried him to the field hospital for treatment, along with everyone else.
Leon turned to the direction of his men and realized that the event had a mixed impact on his men, though they respected the Steel Wolves as enemies, it would be hard to reconcile both parties, he was going to need Kendrick if he was to succeed.
Katherine was beside him a moment later, "It'll be morning soon, wouldn't a little breakfast be in order?" She didn't wait for his answer and dragged him to a waiting jeep that would take them back to the base complexes.
Leon didn't prtoest that much, only citing that Jonah and the others needed to hammer out a plan for the next leg of the campaign. After that, he got into the jeep and seated himself alogside Katherine.
They both rode in silence and Katherine was thinking if the future would bring more death and destruction to her life. She turned to face Leon, wanting to ask him that same question.
She immediately saw he was asleep and a small smile crept upon her lips, she hadn't seen him sleep in along time, and his light breathing brought with it, a sense of innocence around him.
She brushed some hair out of his face and turned to the driver, asking him to head for the officer's quarters.
Upon reaching the squat building, she awoke Leon and despite his sleepy protests, she lead him to his room and shoved him into the bed, and closed the door.
Leon wanted to protest but sleep had its way and he was soon before his past again.
Ok, time for the author's notes:
1. I'm so sorry about the mix up with Kendrick's age and name. Kendrick has yet to earn his blood name and he is around 24, not 18. Thank you TNG for pointing that out.
2. Someone tell me if I did the whole Trial of Possesion (the aftermath of the battle) right.
3. If anyone, and I mean, ANYONE can give me specks on the Ryoken II and other MW:DA mechs, please give it to me! I beg you!
4. Thank you for all the reviews (yay! 3 guys!) and please review them more. :)
5. Expect a higher turn over rate for my fic, (damn, 2 months and nothing written).