Author's Note: I noticed while writing chapter 45 that I had made two chronic and serious mistakes in this, and perhaps other chapters.

1. The LEFT arm of a Guillotine IIC contains the ER PPC.
2. The name of Myers' 'mech is actually Corvis, not Corvus.

This chapter has thus been edited. My apologies, but that is what happens when I try to write too fast so I can get more stuff out.Fear not, chapter 45 is being written. In the words of the Red Alert 2 Apocolypse Tank: "Be patient."

"SLS Sable Pine," Ladavic read off of the terminal in her ready room. "Vulture-class DropShip, carried by the independent trader Unmentionable, a Tramp-class JumpShip." A note of amusement at the interstellar vessel's name left her throat and made its way past the microphones, transmitters, and receivers to be ultimately registered by the listener on the planet below. "Overdue and presumed lost after jumping from Proserpina. Subsequent search of surrounding systems revealed no trace of either ship, nor the SLS Abigail Leroux, that Mule that the recording mentioned." Ladavic then closed her eyes and sighed lightly. "Obviously, we know now why that is."

"I suppose," Tanaka said, somewhat suspiciously. "I'm not sure if I can still buy the whole time travel thing. I mean, wasn't that all proved to be a pile of horseshit in the 20th century?"

"Sort of," Ladavic replied cautiously. "Einstein, Dirac and Hawking didn't have the advantage of Kearny and Fuchida's hyperspatial physics when they made those proclamations," she said and then paused to sigh. "But I've asked my engineer, since they gotta take more hyperspatial physics than command track personnel do. He said somethin' about Cassie DeBurke's postulation on the unfinished theorems of Kearny and Fuchida… And then he started mumbling equations that I've forgotten how to do." Ladavic chuckled dryly at that. "Anyway, I managed to get out of him the fact that, since K-F drives work by rotating a chunk of 4-D space through the non-relative hyperspace realm, it's theoretically possible to not only transition through three axes, but also the fourth as well."

"In English, please, captain," Tanaka requested tiredly.

"It's possible, just not damned likely" Ladavic replied flatly. "Hell, we already know that time gets funky around jump drives just from the infrared emergence signatures."

"Oh?" Tanaka asked curiously. "I've not heard anything about that."

Ladavic grunted. "It's not something most people outside of theoretical physicists or JumpShip engineers bother to think about," she admitted. "But suffice it to say, a fully loaded JumpShip can sometimes create an emergence signature in its arrival system up to half a minute before the engines are actually engaged."

"Wait, what?" Tanaka sounded incredulous. "Are you telling me effect precedes cause?"

"In this case, yes," Ladavic replied with another sigh. "Like I said, it's not something that gets around, 'cuz frankly, no one has any bloody idea why that happens the way it does."

"Indeed," Tanaka's voice answered dryly via the speakers in the room. "So I suppose this recording our friends stumbled upon is verified, then?"

Ladavic nodded, despite the fact that the radio connection was voice only. "I am afraid so. The Sable Pine's manifest was recorded diligently by the Star League's Terraforming Corps, and it as all the sort of things one would expect to need to engineer native species, or even the stock animals they brought along with them." She sighed again. "I am afraid, captain, that Garcia's confession is, so far as we can tell, accurate."

Tanaka grunted neutrally. "Well… I suppose this doesn't really change anything. But still… It's one big pile of mojo."

"Indeed," Ladavic returned. "I hope you've not told anyone about this?"

"Not really, no. Just my Lieutenants, van Horn, Castellano, Hurano and Farkas know about this, and the latter two… Well…" This time it was Tanaka who sighed. "I don't think they're in the mood for blabbing."

"That's certainly understandable," Ladavic said as she opened her eyes and began to work the keyboard built into her desk. "In any case, I'm going to have all this sent out to sector command. Hopefully, it'll light a fire under their butts."

"Speaking of which, I've been out of the loop a bit. Has there been any news?" Tanaka asked hopefully.

"Just a brief HPG yesterday saying that some assets were being cut loose for us, but there wasn't anything specific," Ladavic replied even as she typed. "I don't know about the Army or even the Guard, but with my service, that usually means we ain't getting much."

"Pretty much the same here," Tanaka admitted with another sigh. "In any case, captain, I think it's time to see to my boys. Unless you require anything more of me?"

"No, nothing more captain. Thank you for your time, and be sure to call if you need some hammer dropping." Her face twisted in a grin at that.

Tanaka chuckled lightly. "Will do, captain. Over and out."

Van Horn stood and watched as the Kaytorian lupar walked up the trail that he and several other troopers had spent half the night blazing. He was on one of the rocks that sat astride the last turn before one got to the ruins, and his natural height added to the meter height of the rock caused him to dwarf the lupar.

His perch wasn't for the imposing view to the natives, however, but rather, it was for him to watch the trail of refugees all the way down to where they emerged from the thick of the forest below, all the way to the small patch of ground that had been cleared for them around the main structure. The encapsulated dropship, of course, was off-limits, and two troopers from Foxtrot squad stood guard at the one opened entrance, their fearsome Salamander suits more than enough warning to the locals to not venture close.

I must confess, though, my mind is not fully on the job, van Horn admitted to himself as he turned back to watch the natives being directed by Mikula and Alexis. They look like they've just been dragged from Plato's Cave… And who can blame them, really? Finding out your entire species is just someone's way of keeping their genetics alive… The anthropologist-soldier shuddered as he remembered the written report that Dr. Garcia had appended to her 'confession,' as he thought of it. Thank God that Alexis and Mikula were so stunned and shocked that they didn't even think to ask about it, Earl thought as he turned back to watching over the Kaytorians and the valley. What they did… Wow. I wonder how they could do that to themselves, as well as the natives? He shook his head then, trying to get the mental images out of his mind's eye.

"Van Horn," his radio emitted, relaying Lieutenant Vickers' voice. "Report status."

"Sir, things are moving smoothly, if somewhat slowly," van Horn replied almost automatically, having given similar reports twice before. Everyone's getting antsy, he thought before continuing. "I'd say we're about another twenty minutes, and then we can stop leaving troopers to watch the trail."

Vickers grunted. "Good. Relay to me via Connors once things are finished there. Vanquisher One out."

It was some time later that Alexis nodded mechanically to a quick thank you from a small family of Kaytorians as they passed her after taking her directions. Then she found herself alone as Mikula was handling the last group of lupar, and the gatón looked around to find herself a seat. Spying a small log that had been dragged from the center of the ruins, Alexis walked over to it and sat down heavily.

So, what now? She asked herself and looked around. Not just what do I do after pointing people around… But what do I do? What do I think Alexis closed her eyes and sighed then. I couldn't sleep half the night… Too much, just too much has happened, too much has changed…

That thought made her mind stop in its tracks. Oh, Gods, this is what Father must've felt like, Alexis thought, but then her mind went off in another direction. 'Gods?' What are they? She asked herself with a snort. Nothing more than humans… No divine force created us; no one watches over us, no one cares… She leaned over and cradled her head in her hands. We're nothing… Nothing but playthings for some stranded scientists… The tears began then, and Alexis struggled to keep herself from sobbing aloud.

It was then that the log creaked as someone sat down, and Alexis felt warmth next to her. Strong arms wrapped around her body then, and the gatón felt herself drawn into a tight embrace against a broad chest.

She fought back the tears and managed to open her eyes then, and Alexis was unsurprised to see it was Mikula. Looking into his eyes, she didn't say anything, but instead closed her own again and leaned into Mikula, and he tightened his grip on her in response.

After a few moments of this, Mikula lightened his grip and began to speak. "I know what you're thinking about… Because I've been thinking about it as well," he said quietly.

"Oh Mikula," Alexis managed to speak in a strained fashion. "It's all wrong… Everything we've grown up knowing… It's all wrong…."

"No, it's not," Mikula replied quickly. "Unless you think that caring for the people you know and love is wrong, or that life isn't worth living," he said and gave her a quick squeeze. "I know I was taught those things, and I'm sure that you were too." He paused a moment while Alexis simply nodded her head. "Well, no matter what, Alexis, those things are still true. I know, because I look at you, and I feel that they're right. Because without those things, you'd mean nothing to me… And if you haven't noticed, you mean everything to me."

Alexis couldn't help herself then, and she just let the tears pour from her eyes. But not only because I'm sad… "Mikula," she managed to whisper. "Thank you so very much."

"No, thank you Alexis," he replied. "If anything helps me through this, it's knowing that you'll always be there."

Alexis had nothing to say, so she just reached out and returned Mikula's embrace.

Hours passed, and the Republic soldiers and the natives from Kaytor soon began to settle into their positions. The latter were mainly wondering where they were, as the decision had been made to keep the ruins' identity secret for the moment, while the former were waiting for the next act to play out.

As much as that will suck, van Horn thought darkly as he walked quickly along the newly blazed path leading from the ruins down to the mouth of the valley. We know the Wobbies have called in reinforcements… Light infantry, from the looks of it. He remembered seeing the recordings of Blakest transport VTOLs making low-altitude runs that had helped them avoid the Republic's overwhelming aerospace superiority. The treetop flight paths were almost impossible for most aerospace fighters to follow for any length of time, and the few fighters that could do that couldn't be in more than one place as the Blakest pilots had split up.

Still, they got three of 'em, the anthropologist-soldier thought with dark satisfaction. But that leaves at least two more of their own Karnovs, and who knows what else might have slipped the fighters altogether?

Light infantry, van Horn knew, was, on the face of it, totally outclassed by battlemechs and power armor. However, in tight confines like these mountains and forests, infantry can take down even the stoutest 'mech. Most especially if their commander doesn't care about loosing men too much. Given the Blakests' track record, van Horn was worried, indeed.

Then he paused in his thoughts and movement as he left the forest and came upon the lower field that lay behind the valley's entrance. It had been transformed with some work from a lush meadow into a temporary staging camp for the three lances of war machines and the platoon's worth of battle armored troops.

The four battered 'mechs of Oni Lance were the first to cross his vision, standing as they did in a diamond pattern nearest to the trees that van Horn had halted near. Around them were several small tents of the kind that MechWarriors preferred, and in the middle was a small circle of stones that outlined where a campfire had burned the night before. No one stood near the 'mechs, though van Horn guessed that at least one of the Guard MechWarriors would be inside his or her machine, waiting for the inevitable call.

Van Horn mentally shook himself at that. Stop that, you're beginning to sound defeatist, he grumbled to himself and began to walk towards the center of camp. For there were the three remaining omnimechs of Whiskey Lance, arranged in a triangle and dispersed a bit wider than the Guard 'mechs. And, unlike the area assigned to Oni Lance, there were several people standing and apparently talking around Lieutenant Williams' Timber Wolf. Amongst them the good doctor recognized Tanaka, Williams, Vickers, Peterson, and Sergeant Renard, in addition to most of the MechWarriors and the commander of each tank.

It only took a few moments to walk up to this gathering, and van Horn was tracked all along the way by several pairs of eyes. When he reached the group, he took off his helmet and nodded towards Tanaka. "Reporting as ordered, sir."

"Good," Tanaka replied quickly, giving a bare nod of her own. "Status on the civilians?"

"Everyone's settled in tight and the area is secure," van Horn answered easily. "Corporal Connors has a watch set up around the ruins."

"I don't see why the scout squad is babysitting the rear area," Williams added. "It'd be nicer to have them watchin' for the Wobbies."

Tanaka sighed and shook her head as she turned to look at the Lieutenant. "We've gone over this. We just can't spare any of the heavier forces, and we can't just leave them undefended if the Wobbies do manage to get around the rock walls."

"Even so," Williams Peterson spoke up. "The Lieutenant has a point. We could use a picket force that can fall back faster than the Wobbies can march."

"You volunteering?" Vickers asked Peterson with a smirk. "After all, your tanks can move faster than anything slower than a Charger."

Peterson blushed slightly under his dark skin. "That ain't exactly what my Abrams are built for."

"Enough," Tanaka said, her calm but stern tone cutting through the air and bringing everyone to silence. "Sergeant Renard has already volunteered himself and his squad of Marauder-Rangers to be our pickets. They and our fighter cover should provide more than enough lead time on any-"

"Captain!" Nguyen's voice came from the Hellbringer II, where he had been keeping a watch on communications. "Blue Six reports that the Blakest have begun moving up the pass!"

"Speak of the devil," Tanaka growled. "All right people, this is gonna be it. Everyone to your positions, now!" With that, she turned and ran for her 'mech, her thee lance mates following behind her, and they weren't the only ones scrambling. The news was sending the entire camp into a frenzy, and van Horn was not immune, as he turned and started back for his assignment of guarding the ruins and the civilians within.

Oh God, the scientist-soldier thought as he snapped his helmet on and ran up the valley. I have a bad feeling about this.

"That's right, captain, enemy forces are moving up the pass at high speed," Blue Six, the pilot of a F-24 Silver Fox reported. "I count at least twenty battlemechs and what looks to me to be several platoons of light infantry. ETA at your position is about forty minutes."

"Copy that, Blue Six," Tanaka replied in clipped tones as she rushed through her 'mech's startup sequence. "Can you slow 'em down?"

"I'll try," the pilot, one Michael Donaldson, replied cautiously. "Me an' my wingmate are a bit low on fuel, and we ain't the fully equipped for ground-attack, but we'll see what we can do."

"Thanks Blue Six," Tanaka replied, the relief in her voice coloring her response a bit. "Oni One over and out."

"Over and out," Donaldson replied. He then sighed as he changed radio channels. "Jessie, you copy that?"

"Sure did, Mike," Donaldson's wingmate, Jessica Wright responded. "How you want to do this?"

"What else? We strafe 'em," Donaldson replied in a somewhat strained tone as he pulled his 25-ton interceptor in a loop that would align it with the pass they had just over flown. "Go in max speed, hope they ain't lookin' up."

"Gee, all this and a paycheck," Wright responded in a disgruntled voice. But she pulled her craft over and set up to follow Donaldson in. "I'll be right behind ya."

"Copy that," Donaldson replied as he put his craft into a shallow dive while still in his turn. Given the high-speed nature of aerial combat, it was necessary of him to make a rather large detour in order to approach at the right altitude and speed. Thus, Donaldson bided his time carefully as he and his wingmate soared over range after range of mountains, before they finally approached their target zone.

Here we go, Donaldson thought as he streaked in, hitting his throttle for maximum speed. The fusion engine buried within the heart of his craft rumbled as its reaction intensified, and the pilot felt himself pressed roughly back into his seat. The ground below became a blur, and the only thing in his consciousness was the pair of mountain peaks that he had selected earlier to align for just such a run. A bare second was all Donaldson had before he was into the pass and coming up on the identified Blakest forces.

The icons had just barely popped up on his screen when his fingers jerked tight against the fighter's weapons triggers. Within the nose and wings of the Silver Fox, a quartet of leasers - two each of medium and "micro" sizes - energized and spat out their focused light. As Donaldson had entered the barest of shallow dives just before this, the lasers dug into the valley floor, tracing a one hundred eighty meter path along the Blakest column.

Barely had the lasers finished their discharge when Donaldson pulled back and to the left, yanking his fighter immediately out of his previous flight path and, hopefully, out of the sights of the enemy 'mechs.

Donaldson didn't have much attention to devote to his HUD to check, though, as he worked to keep his fighter from losing control or just plowing into a mountain. However, he spared a glance down in time to see the flashes of Wright's lasers as she made her own attack run. Then her fighter shot clear of the pass and pulled wide and to the left as well, following her wingmate's earlier progress.

Donaldson sighed briefly as he saw that both he and Wright had made it out of their runs without a single hit. Then he checked his fuel, and proceeded to curse profoundly. "Damnit, that run took more of my fuel than I thought it would."

"I don't think it was the run so much, as it was the damn patrol before it," Wright replied cautiously. "You need to have better radio discipline, Mike."

Donaldson blushed a bit before responding. "Could be, Jessie. How're you for fuel?"

"I'm just about bingo," she replied, using the pilot's jargon for the point at which a fighter had just barely enough fuel to return to its base or carrier. "I can't do another fast run like that and still expect to break orbit."

"Neither can I," Donaldson grumped. "Well, I suppose we could make a slow run?"

"And get our asses shot off?" Wright asked incredulously. "Mike, them bastards are alerted now. Likely they'll be havin' a rear guard to blast us if we try that again."

"Indeed," Donaldson added with a sigh. "All right, make preparations to match orbits with the Cabot. I'll let the ground-pounders know the bad news."

"Don't worry 'bout us," Tanaka replied as she marched her Guillotine IIC past the mound of rubble that half-blocked the entrance to the valley she was about to defend. "I don't want you two dyin' for no reason. Get yourselves to orbit, and if you want to make it up to me, bring some friends when you come back."

A tiny chuckle could be heard over the radio. "Will do, captain," Donaldson responded. "We have to wait for the Cabot to swing around in her orbit before we can return, but we'll be back for y'all."

"Thanks, Blue Six," Tanaka replied warmly. "Don't worry too much, though. The Rodger Young is comin' up, and we're gonna get some help from them."

"Sounds like a plan," Donaldson replied. "Well then, captain, my best wishes. Blue Six over and out."

"Oni One over and out," Tanaka said as she stopped her 'mech in the middle of the mountain pass that the Blakests would travel on their way to attack the Republic forces. The other 'mechs of Oni Lance, battered though they were, rallied around her, as did the three remaining 'mechs from Whiskey Lance.

All according to our plan, Tanaka mused. As half-assed as it is, we just might have a shot. This she thought as the two squads of battle armor under Sergeant Renard moved past the line of 'mechs to find good positions from which they could snipe at the Blakest forces.

Time to see if all our luck is gone or not, Tanaka though as she clicked her radio over to the more high-powered bands. "This is Oni One calling Starbase One. Repeat, Oni One Calling Starbase One, is anyone awake up there?"

"Oni One, this is Starbase One," the voice of the Rodger Young's radio officer sounded over the channel. "We're reading you five-by-five, go ahead."

Tanaka took in a breath before speaking again. "Enemy units are moving towards Task Group Echo. Aerospace forces have indicated an approximate two hours until contact. We request backup as forces from USS Cabot are not in position to cover us."

"Copy that request for support, Oni One. Stand by while I kick this upstairs," with that, the radio channel went silent. I have a good feeling what 'upstairs' means, Tanaka thought with a small grin as she checked over her 'mech's armor readout again. Damn, I'm a bit thin for a real battle. Hell, we've all been lucky that none of us have had any real internal hits so far… But the Wobbies only need one or two shots before what's left of our armor is gone. A weight seemed to fall over her shoulders at that, and Tanaka had to physically shake her head to snap herself out of a fugue. Come on now, Cassandra, don't go defeatist now.

Suddenly, the channel burst with static briefly and Tanaka heard a familiar voice. "Oni One, this is Juliet Actual, do you read?"

"I copy you, Juliet Actual," Tanaka responded quickly. "You got any good news for me, captain?"

"I hope so. I'm having my aerojocks scramble to their fighters now. We'll be in position to launch in about ten minutes, and it'll be another- What the Hell?" Ladavic interrupted herself as a noise erupted on her bridge. "Stand by Oni One."

Ladavic swung her command chair around from where the holotank was displaying the map around Tanaka's position and faced the sensor officer's station, where an automatic alarm had interrupted the good captain. "Sensors, report!"

"Sir, large-scale IR readings bearing five five by two one positive!" The woman at the sensor console responded quickly as she input commands rapidly. "Contacts are consistent with JumpShip emergence signatures."

"How many?" Ladavic snapped, her temper wrought thin with this most unwelcome news. We didn't get any transmission indicating incoming friendlies… Which means these are likely enemy ships.

"Ten- no, fifteen- twenty- Jesus," the operator finally exclaimed as more and more contacts appeared. "Twenty-eight incoming contacts sir!"

It was a testament to Ladavic's self-control that she didn't let loose the torrent of profanity that raced through her head. Instead, she took a moment to order her mind before speaking again. "Ops, confirm with our other friends in orbit."

"Already on it, sir," the man at ops replied. It only took a moment before he shook his head. "Contacts confirmed. Glacier Bay and Cabot both have our contacts. Triangulation places them at the L2 Lagrange point."

"Damn," this Ladavic let slip before she regained control. Taking a breath, she then began to bawl orders. "Helm, calculate course for the L2 point, full standard thrust. Ops, call the air boss and tell him to hold our birds in the bay." She then took another breath. "And sound battle stations."

Van Horn managed to reach the ruins just as Tanaka's voice began to sound over the all-hands channel. "Attention everyone. I've got some good news and bad news.

"The good news is that we have a good position, easily defensible, and the enemy has to come up terrain unfamiliar to him while we have the advantage of technology and the lay of the land.

"The bad news, however, is that we won't be having any support," Tanaka paused then, and van Horn tried to simultaneously think, listen, and try to keep from slamming into a nearby house as he jogged towards the position he had been assigned.

Tanaka's voice again sounded in his ears. "The Cabot and her fighters are in the wrong position for help, and the Rodger Young is heading out to engage a series of incoming, unidentified ships. Her fighters won't be helping us, and thought a transmission from Firebase Hotel has their two birds scrambling, they won't be here 'til a good hour after we've engaged. So, for all intents and purposes, we're on our own."

This announcement caught van Horn off guard, and he brought himself to a halt beside the structure that would be his duty post. On our own, he mulled over this thought as the silence on the radio stretched on. Haven't been this way since we got picked up by the Vanquishers all those months ago… The sudden realization made him shudder slightly.

However, Tanaka began to speak again, and so van Horn didn't dwell. "Things may seem bleak now, but I'm sure that you all know that the Republic never abandons its own. All we have to do is hold, and help, will, come." Tanaka paused then to gather breath. "I know we will hold, because I've seen everyone here in action before. All of you, from the Mobile Infantry, to the army troopers, the tank crews and the MechWarriors, all of you are some of the best damned soldiers ever to grace the field of battle. That's why I know we'll hold, and that's how I know we'll win.

"So stay cool, stay calm, and remember, no matter what happens, be assured that we're gonna kick some terrorist ass straight to the pits of Hell." This final line Tanaka delivered with fire in her voice. "Now, to your duty, ladies and gentlemen, and God Bless."

"Air boss reports all birds are away," Ops relayed to Ladavic as the Rodger Young burned hard for the incoming jump craft. "The Cabot relays that she's boosting for an eccentric orbit to bring her into the fight twenty minutes sooner."

Twenty minute in which we could be ripped to pieces, Ladavic thought darkly. However, she didn't give voice to those thoughts, and instead tried to keep her mind from thinking about the terrible pressure that the three-gravity thrust of the ship put onto her body. "Ops, acknowledge Commander Wells on an open channel. Let's see if we can't put a scare into them new arrivals." Speaking of which… "Sensors, have you got an ID on the incoming or not?"

"Sensors are still receiving lots of backlash from so many jumps, captain. However, things are clearing up." The sensor officer continued to move the tuning controls on her board, tweaking every last bit of resolution from the computers and algorithms that processed the incoming data. After a few moments of this, she went stiff and muttered. "Oh, God…"

"Report!" Ladavic snapped, startling the sensor officer a bit, or so it seemed with the high gravity keeping everyone pressed into his or her seats. However, the woman managed to turn her chair around and give Ladavic a look before she returned to her controls and fed the data from the ship's sensors into the main screen at the front of the bridge.

Ladavic's eyes widened as icons and names popped up on the screen, denoting each of the incoming jump-capable craft and their detaching DropShips. "Sweet Jesus Christ…" Was all that she had to say.

"God, I just want this to be over with," Private Robert Fredericks muttered to himself as he lay down behind a large rock that sat next to one of the pass walls. Like all soldiers from time immemorial, he was becoming fed up with the situation. Too much waitin', too much runnin' around. I'm sick of this shit! He mentally complained as he checked his power reserves again.

Twelve hours capacity… He read off of this HUD. Which means about two and a half in combat. Fredericks sighed at that as he closed the function on his HUD and switched it back to battle mode. After that, I become a big, fat, immobile target that can't even move. He shuddered as his memory dredged up some of the more outlandish stories from other troopers. Stuff 'bout guys who went on patrol without checkin' their power, and then had to be dragged back ten hours later after sittin in their own piss an' shit for half the time. Fredericks felt his skin crawl at the idea. Man, what a suckass thing to happen.

Just then, a blip appeared on his HUD, and Fredericks dropped all thought of the old stories as he read off what exactly had just closed in enough to be detected. "Oh, Hell," he muttered before using his eyes to open a secure channel to his commander. "Red Dog Two, this is Red Dog One Six, please come in."

"I hear you One Six," Renard's voice replied quickly. "What do ya got?"

"Sir, I have a Toyama battlemech moving up the pass and towards my position," Fredericks reported quietly, as if the enemy MechWarrior could hear him though layers of steel and distance. "He's movin' slowly, kinda scannin' the air a bit as well as the ground ahead. Wait," he added in the last word as more blips came up. "More contacts, sir. A Vanquisher and an older style Banshee."

"Sounds like our boys. Okay, Fredericks, stand by for orders." With that, Renard's voice cut out and Fredericks went back to monitoring the enemy. Even as he watched, another three 'mechs appeared behind the first group, and the whole procession moved forward at a leisurely thirty kilometers per hour.

I guess our aerojocks scared 'em more than I thought, Fredericks thought with a smile. Before he had any more time to mentally gloat, however, the radio cut into his consciousness again. "Fredericks, get your ass back to nav point alpha," his squad commander called out. "Rally with the squad. You copy?"

"I hear you, bossman," Fredericks replied as he scooted behind his rock and began to stand up. "I'm movin.'"

"Captain, I'm havin' my boys pull back," Tanaka heard Renard's voice roll into her ears via her helmet earphones. "They' movin' to Nav Alfa, then we'll see about layin' our friends a nasty surprise."

"I copy that, Red Dog Two," Tanaka replied curtly. "I advise caution, though. The Wobbies can't know that our support is away, so they must have a trick up their sleeve if they're movin' up now."

"I figured that," Renard answered matter-of-factly, despite the fact that Tanaka heard the sound of his jump jets over the radio. "Don't worry, we'll just do some hit and fades 'til we get to Nav Bravo."

Tanaka nodded automatically as she replied. "Sounds good, Sergeant. Call if'n ya need help."

"Will do. Red Dog Two out." With that, Renard's voice disappeared and the active channel went out. At that, Tanaka closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Dear God, please watch over them, she prayed silently before opening her eyes to look over her tactical display once again.

The display was on the cockpit's primary multi-function display, a computer monitor located straight in front of Tanaka and above a keyboard that didn't fully resemble a standard Qwerty setup, having extra keys as it did. On this high-resolution display was a map of the surrounding area compiled by the campaign computers located aboard the USS Fist of Fury - the Apollo-class transport located at Hercor – using orbital surveys and local readings taken by the Republic battlemechs. Although not as accurate as a true survey, it gave Tanaka and the Republic soldiers a critical edge in that they at least knew the lay of the land.

Looking on this map now, Tanaka saw the icons representing the two squads from the 3rd Platoon coalesce from their dispersed positions and form up into two staggered lines that ran parallel to the mountain pass' walls.

Must be hard to hide in there, Tanaka mused. Lord knows those walls are just this side of classifying the pass as a canyon. Still, the two squads managed to become still as the first icons representing the Blakest force appeared on their sensors. Which means they have good hiding spots, else they'd be charging in to minimize their exposure to enemy fire.

It was then that static appeared on the display. Confused, Tanaka frowned and opened her lance frequency. "Can anyone else feed me the picture from Red Dog Two? I'm getting static on my feed."

"You ain't the only one, cap'n," Stein's voice answered her. "My console's startin' to go a bit wacky."

Tanaka frowned even deeper then as not only did Stein have bad news, but his voice was even staticy as well. "Myers, Carmike, what about you two?"

"I've got some big-static here captain," Myers responded next, her voice also marred by the unprecedented static in the Republic radio net. "Can't seem to get anything beyond a few hundred meters."

"Captain," Lieutenant Williams' voice came over the radio next, as garbled as the others.' "Are you getting heavy static on your sensors and radio as well?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," Tanaka responded in a frustrated tone. "I suppose you've got the same problem?"

"I do, and I think I know why," Williams replied darkly. "Towards the end of the campaign for Terra, the Wobbies realized that we're communications heavy, and they started modding some of their fusion-powered tanks to be high-capacity jammers."

"But our radios are frequency agile and use a twenty forty-eight encryption key, how can they be jammed?" Tanaka asked, her frustration turning to concern and worry.

"I'm not sure you understand, captain," Williams responded carefully. "They took high-speed fusion-powered tanks and converted them so that almost their entire energy output was fed into an array of antennae that were scavenged from Guardian ECM suites." He took a breath at the mentioning of the Star League-era ultra-jamming system. "Basically, it's like Guardian, but on steroids. They flood every channel with random noise and keep our radios from working. At the range we're at now, it's just static, but as they get closer…"

"No talkie," Tanaka finished the thought. "Alright, laser comms then… Shit! Someone needs to alert the 3rd Platoon!"

"As I figured, captain," Williams replied calmly. "I can send Nguyen. His Hellbringer has an ECM suite and an Active Probe, so he can set the former to counter-counter measures while his probe adds in as well. He ought to be able to cut through the crap enough to help extract the Red Dogs."

"Good thinkin'" Tanaka replied quickly. "Git him going yesterday."

"Yes sir," Williams replied quickly.

"Ge- -ur ass- -ere yo- -ker!" The heavily garbled transmission was barely understood by Fredericks as he fired his machine gun and particle cannon. The former sent tracer-tracked rounds into the first line of infantry coming up the hill, which tore out Frederick's heart as much as it tore out the infantry's hearts, as the reinforcements had turned out to be lupar fighting for the Blakest forces. However, these were not the same kind of infantry at Hercor, who had been pressed into service, but these apparently were trained and trusted soldiers, for they returned fire with assault rifles, lasers, and even a few rockets.

Fredericks didn't bother to think too much, however, as he clutched to the side of the rock wall with one arm and fired his particle cannon into the chest of a Blakest Stalker. Sergeant Renard had identified it as the Red Dogs' primary target just before the jamming hit, and for good reason. The 85-ton war machine was slow, but heavily armed and armored, often to the point where even a lower-tech version could overwhelm the battered 'mechs of the Republic force.

Pulsing laser fire slammed into the rock in front of Fredericks, and he immediately pulled himself back behind the strip of rock that he and another trooper had been hiding behind until the Blakest had gotten into range. Looking down, Fredericks was relieved to see the he squadmate was still alive and pulling himself back behind cover as well.

"Damn, we're in a tight spot!" Fredericks' friend, Jason Alvarez yelled via his suit speakers. The two had immediately taken to using their external speakers and microphones once the jamming had started, and it afforded them clarity that even jamming couldn't block. "Bobby, about those ten bucks you owe me…"

"Callin' off the debt in the face of your imminent doom, Jase?" Fredericks replied as he leaned out again and took another pair of shots, sending both this time into the rounded nose of the Stalker, his fire being quickly joined by three LRMs from the other squad from across the pass.

"Hell no! I'm just sayin' that when we die and get to the Pearly Gates, I get to cut in line in front of you!" Alvarez shouted back as he too leaned back out and took his own pair of shots. Then he ducked back to stand on the rock he had chosen and looked up at his friend, who stood about three meters higher on a ledge. "Got a deal?"

"Go fuck yourself," Fredericks replied as he leaned out to fire again. This time, however, he paused as the previous radio call was repeated, this time with a bit more clarity. "-Edericks, Alv- -you- -t your asses ba- -here NOW!"

"I think Sarge is pissed," Alvarez added in the unnecessary fashion in which people tended to repeat the obvious. "I don't got his beacon, Bobby, can you see it?"

Fredericks took a more detailed look on his HUD, and he studied it for a moment as blips of friends and foe alike faded into and out of existence. "Yeah, he's about three hundred meters back, along with a few others… Shit, I think we're the most forward guys here."

"If that's the case, then," Alvarez began. "I think we ought to rectify that."

"Damn straight, skippy!" Fredericks called out before he turned and threw himself from his ten-meter-high perch and hit his jets. Using his suit's propulsion system, Fredericks moved a good ninety meters before he hit the ground, and then he ran for a rock that lay in the pass, hoping to find cover behind it. Via his HUD, Fredericks saw Alvarez follow along, although his friend managed to turn around a bit so he could fire his own machine gun towards the advancing enemy.

However, luck wasn't with the pair. The pilot of the Stalker in the lead managed to get a decent bead on them and he fired his two ten-tube long-range missile racks, sending a score of the missiles downrange. The semi-ballistic munitions fell down amidst the two troopers, and the explosions from their warheads shook the ground. Fredericks himself was hit by two of the projectiles, and he fell over as the high-explosives tore off over fifty kilograms of armor and imparted a good deal of momentum into the soldier's back.

"Fuck!" Fredericks yelled as his head rang from the noise of the blasts. Quickly, though, he realized that his armor had protected him, and he leapt up and began to run forward. That is, until, he saw that Alvarez was down and not moving.

Turning almost on a dime, Fredericks changed direction and raced for his friend, even as a large laser bolt rippled the air above his head. "You missed, fucker!" He screamed towards the advancing enemy, despite the fact that the Blakest almost assuredly didn't hear him.

Then he was at his friend, and Fredericks quickly dropped to the ground next to Alvarez in order to present a harder target. He also fired his shoulder-mounted particle cannon as he dropped, sending a bolt downrange, though the hastily aimed shot simply made a scar in the rock walls of the pass.

Fredericks ignored his shot's lack of effect, and he crawled the last few feet to his friend and checked over the armor. Took three missiles, must've knocked him for a loop. "Jase!" He yelled over the suit speakers and slammed his fist into the shoulder of Alvarez's armor. "Wake up you poker-cheatin' bastard!"

"I won that money fair and square," Alvarez replied weakly, and stirred. "Jesus H. what the Hell hit me?" He asked as he began to prop himself up.

"The thing that's about to squish us into paste," Fredericks replied as the Stalker ran forward, clearly intending to claim its two kills. Alvarez flipped himself over and cursed in Spanish.

But before either soldier could do anything, two particle streams reached from behind their heads and slammed into the left side of the Stalker's chest. The hellish energy ripped away armor already weakened by air strikes and the 3rd Platoon's ambush, and the cerulean beams cut deeply into the torso.

Even as the streams faded out, a new light illuminated the torso of the Stalker from within. Superheated by the incoming particle streams, the ammunition bins for the 'mech's LRM and SRM racks began to detonate. The size of the dirty orange explosions grew exponentially until the entire left side of the 'mech was wreathed in flame, then a final, massive explosion ripped the left arm and leg away and disintegrated the left half of the torso. The remaining pieces of the Stalker were propelled away, the detached arm and leg flying off towards the walls of the pass, while the somewhat-intact right half flew about ten meters before it crashed to the ground in an unrecognizable heap.

"Fredericks, Alvarez!" Renard's voice came in on the pair's radio then, clear enough that they both started and turned around as they stood up from the ground. To their surprise, the imposing bulk of Nguyen's Hellbringer II stood amidst the other troopers from the 3rd Platoon. "Fall back now or I'll leave your asses here to rot!"

"Comin' Sarge!" Alvarez replied and he bounded away on jump jets, and Fredericks soon followed behind, just barely missing being impaled by a particle cannon from a Blakest Marauder.

Fredericks felt his heart beat fast at that, though not just with fear; he felt good at being alive. And I plan to stay that way!

"That's right, bitches, I smacked your friend down!" Nguyen yelled over a channel he knew to be used at times by the Blakests. "Come ride the lightning!"

"Infidel, you dare-" The heated reply was cut off by Nguyen as he flipped a control on his console. I don't care to hear his reply, the Asiatic MechWarrior thought with a wry grin as he pushed his 'mech into a backwards walk. I'm just happy knowin' I pissed 'em off.

The sudden wails of multiple weapons locks interrupted his train of thought, and Nguyen saw a Vanquisher, a Toyama, and a cluster of light infantry – natives? Damn! – Approach his position while the rest of the Blakest force began to reform behind them. The Vanquisher wasted no time and quickly sent a pair of light gauss rifle slugs down range, the two half-sized shots slamming into Nguyen's mech's left arm and right torso.

The shots were hardly anything that the Republic MechWarrior had to account for, as his 'mech's gyro easily took the shift of momentum in stride. Gonna regret the loss in armor, though, Nguyen thought as he brought up his ER PPCs and spitted their crosshairs onto the squat form of the Vanquisher. The reticule barely pulsed with the gold of a hard lock before he pulled hard on the triggers.

The view was impressive from both the holographic and physical view that Nguyen had from within his cockpit. Both streams reached out and slammed into the torso of the 100-ton target 'mech, ripping and melting slabs of armor off and causing the enemy MechWarrior to jog his machine to a halt, lest he lose balance and fall.

"That's my cue," Nguyen muttered to himself as he turned his Hellbringer II around and began a run towards the rear, following the path of the withdrawing Red Dogs. Shots from the other Blakest longer-ranged weapons began to land around the retreating 'mech, causing Nguyen to jog left and right in his path to avoid being hit.

Time to turn the enemy's advantage against them, the Republic MechWarrior thought with a smirk as he quickly turned off the ECCM functions on his electronics suite. Within seconds, a sudden wave of the overall jamming, turned up by the Blakests to try and hinder with the newly arrived Hellbringer, began to interfere with the targeting systems on the Blakests' own 'mechs. Thus, the enemy's shots suddenly began to fly wild and slam into the valley walls before the Wobbies realized their ineffectiveness and stopped in their attacks.

Grinning from ear to ear, Nguyen watched his HUD as the enemy 'mechs tried to dash forward in an attempt to catch up to his own. Unfortunately for the enemy, however, the majority of their Level III consisted of slower heavy and assault designs, thus limiting their speed.

Nguyen saw this easily, and as he began to catch up with the retreating squads of the 3rd Platoon, he couldn't help but chuckle and speak a favored childhood line. "Meep meep!"

Tanaka didn't breath an easy breath until she saw Renard's squads and Nguyen's Hellbringer come around the last turn in the twisting mountain pass. Thank God, she thought, until she saw that there were only thirteen out of the fourteen soldiers that had left.

Damn, the good captain thought, but then forced the emotion to the back of her head. You'll have time to mourn later, the living need you now. "Sergeant, report," she called to Renard.

"Sir, enemy forces are strong, and they've been reinforced with light infantry, as we've suspected," Renard began easily enough. Then he took a breath and paused, and Tanaka realized that he had some bad news. "The light infantry are, apparently, natives."

"What?" Tanaka asked, surprised. "You mean, like at Hercor?"

"Negative, sir, these guys have assault rifles," Renard replied quickly. "I've got the dings in my armor to prove it."

Tanaka growled at that, though she had the presence of mind to keep the radio turned off while she did so. Thus, it was with calm that she spoke again to her subordinate. "All right, see to your men."

"Yes sir," Renard replied before signing off the command channel. Sighing, Tanaka was about to switch to the force-common channel herself when a new voice tried to break in. "-Ka, th- -Ladavic- -ead?"

Despite the static-broken transmission, Tanaka easily recognized the voice. "Captain Ladavic, this is Oni One, what's the situation?" The MechWarrior called, wondering what would cause the naval officer to bother transmitting when she was about to have a battle herself.

"Ta- -you- -e?" The broken words barely registered as a question by their tone to Tanaka's ears, though the guard officer couldn't understand the content. However, before she could try and transmit back, Tanaka heard more words being spoken. "Our- -gets ar- -y're- you-" A burst of heavy static then scrambled the rest.

"Captain, can you read me?" Tanaka half-shouted. Oh God, what's wrong now? She mentally asked, but the radio held nothing but static from then on.

Laying down on the upper floor of one of the ruins' abandoned houses, van Horn watched carefully the area through the windows that admitted light into the second level. The scene he looked out on was almost pastoral, given the lack of activity and sullen silence.

A bit too quiet, isn't it? He asked himself, but then shook his head a bit. Don't be jittery, Earl. So the forest is a lot thinner than you realized last night, almost pastureland, it's still an easily defensible position. Still, even as he thought this, van Horn worried about the lack of word from the mouth of the inhabited valley. And all this static, we can barely talk to each other up here. Could it have something to do with the enemy at the gates?

As if bidden by his thoughts, van Horn's radio erupted in a burst of static before the familiar voice of Corporal Connors was relayed to him. "Doc, we might have a situation with the civvies. Could you get yourself to the town hall?"

Van Horn smirked at the nickname for the main structure in the ruins as he stood up carefully. "Will do, corporal. Be there in a jiff," he replied as he began to make his way out of the building.

A few minutes later, van Horn was approaching the front of the central building, the area adjacent to it being a makeshift command post. Though in this case, 'command post' is almost a mockery, the doctor thought as he began to walk around a house full of Kaytorian Lupar. For the area itself held no specialized buildings or communications equipment; it was simply the area where Corporal Connors, Mikula and Alexis stood guard at to provide a central rally point if needed.

However, as he rounded that crowded house, van Horn saw that the "CP" also had several lupar standing and chattering towards both Alexis and Mikula, the latter two interposed between Corporal Connors and the small crowd.

Frowning, van Horn sped up and approached the gathering with long strides. Mere seconds later, the sound of his approach caused the Kaytorians to pause in their verbal assault and pull back a bit, unsure of what to make of another human approaching them then.

Connors, however, quickly snapped his helmeted head around and nodded towards the approaching soldier. "Doc, these folks are in a tizzy 'bout somethin,' and our friends here ain't had a chance to let me know what it is."

Alexis took that as her cue and looked up at the two humans and cleared her throat. "Earl, Corporal, there seems to be some problem with the buildings that are being used to house our friends," she began in English. "The Kaytorians are all crowded in and they want to take up some more dwellings further away from the central building."

Van Horn just sighed and Connors shook his head. "Well, that's not gonna happen," the corporal spoke for the both of them. "It's hard enough to maintain a perimeter as it is, and even more so when I have to pull someone off every time there's a goddamned hissy fit." Connors shifted his sniper rifle about, showing his annoyance. "Now, I don't care who tells 'em that, but one of had better do it 'fore I decide to drag 'em back to their assigned shelters myself."

The three interpreters stood silent for a second, but only for a second, as Alexis quickly spun about on one foot and began to address the crowd of Kaytorians. "We've explained your complaints to our commanding officer," she spoke in Lupari, though van Horn, of course, understood her. "However, I regret that the situation has not changed. We are still very much in danger and we cannot afford to stretch ourselves thin for the sake of comfort."

Van Horn felt a curious mix of pride and surprise at the way Alexis spoke. So different from that young lady I befriended months ago, he thought with a smile behind his helmet. Then, however, he heard his radio come on. "Doc, get back to your duty post," Connors said quietly.

"Yes sir," van Horn replied easily as Alexis began to argue with one of the refugee lupar. However, before he could move off, another radio call came in.

"Choppers!" The voice of Private Stuger rolled into van Horn's helmet. "Karnovs cresting the valley west wall!"

"Fuck!" Connors cussed over the channel. "Everyone, we have bogeys! Prepare for close combat!" He then turned towards Alexis and Mikula and spoke to them as well. "Farkas, Hurano! Get them someplace safe, NOW!"

It was a testament to their training and intelligence that Alexis and Mikula both reacted quickly and without question, yelling for the other natives to run for cover. Van Horn felt another twinge of pride, but it was fleeting, as he had already bolted for his own post, choosing to run instead of jumping to avoid advertising his position.

It only took seconds for the anthropologist-soldier to reach the building that was his station, but even in that short amount of time, the noise of rotary-winged aircraft could be heard. Tilting his head up, van Horn saw one of the Karnov transport VTOLs pitch backward, its tilt-rotors pitching up simultaneously so its pilot could make a completely vertical landing.

The familiar 'crack-whoosh' of a missile launcher could be heard, and van Horn barely saw the trail of smoke from a LAW rocket race up and slam into the nose of the 30-ton craft. The explosion of the warhead carved a good chunk out of the armor, but it did nothing to dissuade the pilot as he began to settle his craft down.

Van Horn cursed and ran to where the level ground of the ruins began to gently slope away to the forest. There, he dropped behind a bush and brought his Heavy Gyrojet Gun to bear on the side of the Karnov, waiting to shoot anything that would emerge.

The VTOL settled quickly to the ground, just as another appeared over the trees to the west. He was trying to decide which would be a better target for his heavy weapon when the familiar cracking noise of a gauss rifle slug split the air, and a silvery blur raced out from the ruins to slam into the port rotor of the second Karnov.

The gauss slug wasn't a full vehicle-sized weapon, but it was potent enough as it ripped into the delicate shaft of the rotor, just above the engine housing, and tore straight through it. The rotor, suddenly free of any attachment, spun up and away in a chaotic pattern, even as the left side of the Karnov dipped down and the whole craft dropped like a stone. Had the pilot been exceptionally good and the craft at altitude, a crash-landing might have been possible. However, so close to the ground, the 30-ton craft barely had time to tilt perpendicular to its previous flight plan before it slammed side first into the ground. The horrendous noise of metal shearing and engines tearing themselves apart was soon masked as the fuel exploded, causing the wreckage to erupt into a large fireball.

So astounding the sight was that van Horn almost missed the moving shapes pouring out of the landed Karnov's rear access hatch. He quickly rectified the quandary, however, and brought his weapon to bear on the brown and gray shapes moving out of the tilt-rotor.

Wait, gray? Blinking, van Horn punched up the magnification on his visor and half-stared as he saw lupar running out of the craft. What the fuck? Is this topsy-turvy week! His mind reeled a bit, until he saw that they were carrying various light infantry weapons made across the Inner Sphere. Assault rifles, mainly, though there was a good assortment of older-style bolt-actions and semi-automatics, as well as an occasional laser weapon.

Then from out of the Karnov emerged several humans, each moving quickly and with more caution and care than the lupar. Van Horn recognized them immediately as professional soldiers, and he realized that they were commanding a unit of natives who had thrown in with the Blakests.

"Enemy infantry, leaving the Karnov," Stuger's voice reported over the radio for those who weren't in direct line of sight of the new battle. "Infantry are natives, repeat, infantry consists of natives armed with rifles."

"All forces fire at will," Connors replied over the frequency. "Eliminate all threats to the civilians with any means necessary."

Such a terrible waste, van Horn thought sadly as he aimed and fired his gun. The miniature rocket flew from the barrel of his Heavy Gyrojet Gun to soar down and into one of the many natives, impaling the hapless man and blasting him apart as the tiny warhead went off. The blood and gore from the lupar's demise caused his fellows pause, enough so that a burst from a Republic assault rifle tore into another, cutting him down as well.

This and some yells from the few humans with them prompted the other natives to resume their movement, and they quickly dashed forward, towards the ruins, ducking and bobbing along the way, showing that the Blakests had, indeed, given them some training.

Then, bullets began to be fired towards the bush where the good doctor had found cover behind. Guess a rocket trail isn't all that easy to hide, van Horn mused before he sent another rocket downrange to kill another enemy soldier, before he rolled to his side and then stood and ran back for the next abandoned house. There, he decided it was time for a bit of show, and he quickly jumped to the roof, his jets sending their roar to roll across the ruins.

Even as he landed, van Horn saw in his HUD that the native infantry were rushing forward, despite the fact that they were taking murderous fire from the three other troopers within range.

Van Horn quickly turned and brought up his own gun and added to the carnage, sending a round to crash into a small cluster of three enemy lupar, who dropped to the ground as fragments tore into them.

The scene was quickly becoming an image from hell, as blood and guts from those killed or wounded started to litter the trail that their comrades were blazing as they rushed forward. Despite this, however, the lupar kept coming on, and van Horn realized their goal. They're heading straight fro the civilians!

Part of him wanted to know just how the Blakests knew where in the valley the Kaytorians were, but the rest of van Horn simply screamed for him to move, and so he did. Running to the edge of the roof, he leapt off and hit his jets. Soaring on a column of superheated air, he drew the natives' attention, and they again slowed or paused in confusion at seeing a battle armored trooper.

However, this confusion didn't last long, and soon bullets began to fly towards van Horn even as he landed next to a tree and dashed towards the houses where the civilians from Kaytor were being housed. "They're pressing forward! I think they mean to charge the civilians!" He called over his radio.

"Copy that, enemy forces are not repeat not engaging us directly," Stuger added in. "I'm falling back."

"Damnit! Everyone rally thirty meters west of the town hall!" Connors' voice came over the channel next. "Move it!"

A flurry of affirmatives rang out, to which van Horn added his own just as he rounded the last of the empty houses, running as he was to interpose himself between the incoming band of soldiers and the civilians.

He was a bit too late, as he came upon a scene of the first wave of Blakest-allied lupar rushing forward, their objective an obviously occupied house, the upper-level windows of which showed frightened faces of the civilians that the Republic forces had striven to protect.

Before he could think of something to do, van Horn saw and heard a trooper in scout armor jump up and over from behind the occupied building, coming to land between it and the incoming enemy soldiers. The small bars on the trooper's shoulders and the icon on van Horn's HUD showed that it was Corporal Connors himself.

Connors wasted no time as he brought up his own M-9680 Pulse Laser Rifle and smoothly pulled the trigger. The rifle whined and dozens of bolts rippled from its barrel, the tiny microelectronic motors twitching the lasing cavity within to provide a saturation effect. As a result, the bolts of laser fire spread out and ripped into and through several lupar. Screams of the wounded could be heard, but the yells of their allies competed with them and tried to drown them out.

Then the Blakest-allied lupar began firing with their rifles, aiming for Connors and the house. Although lacking tracers, van Horn could easily see the dozens of impacts as the bullets slammed into the building, the ground, or even Connors' armor.

Connors, however, simply stood his ground and continued firing his own weapon, and van Horn finally moved forward and shouldered his weapon. Firing as he ran towards the enemy lupar, the good doctor send a pair of rockets into the nearest bunch of natives, and their bodies were torn apart by the brutal explosions.

The sudden attack from the rear put the enemy off balance, and several turned around and yelped in surprise as they saw another armored human running towards them at full speed. Van Horn took advantage of this sudden pause, and he raced into and amongst the enemy lupar. There, he began to swing his arms about in patterns engrained into his mind by training. The sudden chops, punches, and kicks from his strength-augmented limbs crushed arms, windpipes, and skulls, but van Horn didn't stop until he had plowed a bloody trough through the enemy formation.

Once on the other side, Earl stopped himself and spun about, bringing up his weapon to point towards the enemy lupar. The numbers of the natives had taken a rather deep cut, and the few remaining started running away, heading back the way they came.

Van Horn felt a small sense of elation as the enemy retreated, but this emotion soon died as he saw a second wave of lupar coming up the path, their numbers being reinforced with the survivors of the first wave. However, the lupar didn't charge, but instead, they moved to the side of their previous path, seeking the shelter of houses and trees that lined the way to their goal.

Deciding that he had a minute, van Horn turned around and looked towards the building he and Connors had defended, and was shocked to see the corporal himself kneeling down on the ground, his left arm out to support his torso and his right clutched around his midsection.

Worry and concern washed over van Horn's mind, and he dashed the few meters to where Connors sat hunched over. "Corporal, are you okay?" Earl asked as he reached Connors' side.

"Hell no," Connors replied, the pain in his voice a tangible thing. Then he managed to pull himself upright, and van Horn saw that, amongst the terrible ravaging that the armor had taken from the enemy's assault weapons, there was a gash where several rounds had managed to chew through the weakened armor plating over the corporal's belly. Blood flowed from the opening in the armor, and it stained the normally black suit red.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Van Horn heard from behind him, and he wheeled about to see Stuger and the other two troopers from the western section backing towards the scene, their eyes watching the lupar who now, for some odd reason, sat still in their semi-concealed positions.

"Somebody get a medic for the corporal!" Van Horn called over the squad's frequency. "He's been gut-shot!"

"Don't mind me," Connors replied quickly. "The armor's medical systems are kicking in." Even as he spoke, the assertion was proved as HarJel flowed over the opening in the corporal's armor, covering the wound, protecting it from further damage and stopping the blood loss. "Just get the civvies to safety before the enemy charges again."

Van Horn hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded. "Yes sir," he said and then turned and jogged around the house, heading for the one ground-floor opening. Behind him on the HUD, he saw the two soldiers with Stuger helping Connors stand, while Stuger herself was crouching and aiming her Gauss rifle towards where the enemy waited.

What the fuck are they waiting for? Van Horn wondered quite naturally, but he soon pressed this question to the back of his mind as he reached the door and slowly stuck his head around the empty frame.

Inside, he saw a pair of Kaytor militiamen standing with their swords drawn, though when they saw the familiar shape of one of their protectors, they relaxed a bit.

"You two, get everyone in this house out now," van Horn quickly spoke in Lupari.

"What?" One of the militiamen asked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because you almost got overrun! Now move it out and head for one of the buildings further back!" With that, van Horn pulled himself back from around the doorjamb and quickly retraced his steps to reach the other side where he had left Connors and the others.

Upon reaching that side, van Horn saw Connors walking at a slow pace around the opposite corner of the concrete building and half supported by one of the other troopers, Both Stuger and the third trooper were crouched next to the house, and van Horn quickly moved over and joined them in their stance.

Stuger managed to look up. "You got 'em movin?'" She asked quickly.

"Yeah," van Horn replied as he checked his weapon. Damnit, only one more round in the clip? He briefly wondered whether it would be better to change clips now, or to not waste that one extra shot. "How's Connors doing?

"He's hurt pretty bad," Stuger replied quietly. "The medical systems in his armor are keepin' him alive and awake, but he's not gonna be winnin' any gold medals. He says that you're in command of the squad now."

"Me!" Van Horn half-shouted, clearly surprised. "I'm not even regular corps!"

"Yeah, but the bossman said so, so that's how it's gonna be," Stuger responded casually. "Now, you got any ideas?"

Van Horn had to physically shake his head before he answered. "Jeezus… Well, we need to keep protectin' the civvies, that's obvious enough."

"Yeah," Stuger replied softly. "About that: I know you an' the officers don't want us in that main building, but it might be the only safe place here."

"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to agree," van Horn replied with a small sigh. "Can you wait here and watch those bastards," he waved towards the enemy lupar, "while I call the troops and start roundin' up the civvies?"

"No prob, doc."

"Heat level is critical" the electronic warning voice spoke calmly into Tanaka's sweat-covered ear. "Myomer efficiency down twenty-five percent."

"Fuck you!" Tanaka growled back at the computer as she dodged her 'mech to the right, despite the sluggishness that came from her near-constant use of her energy weapons. A pair of light gauss rounds whipped through the space just vacated by the Guillotine IIC, and Tanaka breathed a quick prayer of thanks through her parched lips.

The engagement had started bad, and had gotten progressively worse. The Blakests, knew somehow that the Republic forces couldn't run any further, and so they had approached slowly in a broad line, their heaviest and most-armored 'mechs at the forefront. Although the Republic 'mechs had a range advantage, it was soon nullified as they could not maneuver out of the way of the approaching juggernaut.

Thus, Tanaka and the other six MechWarriors had moved out a bit to engage the enemy, and slowly had moved back to increase the amount of time they could use their advantage. Sadly, they had precious little time, and now the Blakests were pressing in.

I've got to stop alpha-striking, Tanaka thought as she hit her jump jets, pouring more heat into the cockpit but sending her further away from the incoming Wobbies. Can't overheat this early, girl, unless you want to die. However, she also knew that only overwhelming force was going to stop the Blakests, and thus Tanaka had moved in and started hammering an enemy Vanquisher.

A rather stupid idea, that, the captain thought as she turned the 'mech around as she landed it, bringing it to face the enemy. Her movement and the overbearing jamming managed to keep her 'mech from taking a particle barrage from an enemy Banshee, and Tanaka breathed a quick sigh of relief.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Tanaka again hit her jets, this time jumping backwards and away from the enemy line to come to a landing near her allies. To her left, Myers' Corvis stalked left and right, trying to bait the enemy to break ranks for a supposedly easy kill, while Stein's Grizzly sent a one-two punch of Gauss slug and LRM barrage downrange, the former missing but the latter spreading dirty-orange explosions all over the right side of the enemy Vanquisher. Carmike then added in his own ER Large Laser and LRM rack, and he managed a hit with the former on the Banshee that had fired on Tanaka earlier.

"Damnit, target the other one!" Tanaka yelled, though with the jamming in full effect, the sound had no way of reaching across to her lancemate. Instead, she decided to lead by example, and she fired her ER PPC towards the Vanquisher. The heavy cannon ripped into the 100-ton Blakest 'mech with hellish fury, and a virtual river of molten armor streamed down from the gaping wound that the cannon created in the 'mech's left torso.

Shaken by the repeated hits, the Wobbie assault 'mech teetered a bit on its massive legs before its pilot could steady it. This, however, bought Tanaka enough time to move her 'mech back even more, and she angled to protect her damaged torso.

As she did this, the enemy Vanquisher replied to the damage it received, and its paired light gauss rifles spat their shells out, sending one to slam into Tanaka's right arm while the other burrowed a large gash in the valley floor. Then the two ER Large Lasers in the enemy 'mech's chest opened up, one slagging armor from Tanaka's rear right torso, the other slagging part of the right leg's protection.

Tanaka fought to control her Guillotine IIC as the multiple weapons impacts and the loss of armor tried to unbalance the 70-ton war machine. However, she managed to keep herself upright and she spun about as her lance and the 'mechs of Whiskey Lance opened up together, sending a hail of fiery death to rain on the Vanquisher.

The attacks were devastating, and chunks of armor flew off or melted down, exposing the 100-ton 'mech's internal skeleton. More shots of lasers and particle cannons ripped through these open wounds, and the Vanquisher seemed to evaporate from the inside out as its internal structure was turned into a lake of molten metal.

Bereft of its support, the enemy 'mech's torso collapsed in on itself, and the falling material punctured the fusion reactor, causing the super hot plasma to explode outwards and consume the remains of the torso.

Tanaka felt like she wanted to cheer, but the feeling only lasted as long as it took for another heavy 'mech, this one a Toyama, to take the Vanquisher's place. "Damnit," the captain cursed as she switched targets to hit the newcomer.

Before Tanaka could fire, however, Myers dashed forward. Confused, the captain broke off her aiming as she tried to decide how to get Myers back without a radio. Then she saw the reason for Myers' run, and she started forward herself, for the movement of the Toyama had managed to open a gap in the Blakest formation enough for Tanaka to see one of the heavy jamming vehicles.

If we take one of those out, we might be able to talk again, the captain thought as she pushed her 'mech hard. Lasers from the Toyama, particle and autocannon fire from the Banshee, and missiles from another Blakest 'mech – this one a Longbow – all rained down towards Tanaka and Myers, though by some good fortune, most of the shots that did hit only blasted armor from their 'mechs' legs and torsos.

Some movement on the HUD caught Tanaka's attention, and she quickly concentrated on the part of the 180-degree display that showed the rear view. She was surprised to see the other 'mechs from the task force charging ahead as well, their pilots apparently having decided that Tanaka was up to something.

Stupid bastards, Tanaka mused, but she smirked as she dodged her 'mech side to side. But God Bless 'em, it's nice to not have to be blasted to Hell alone. With that grim thought, she focused her attention on the Toyama and settled the targeting crosshairs over its torso. The sights pulsed gold for only a second before she fired all of her lasers, the large pulse lasers melting huge gashes over the enemy 'mech's center and left torso, while the ER Mediums managed to hit low and slag armor from both legs.

The Toyama pilot proved himself game, as he easily kept his 'mech on an even keel and returned fire. His ER Large Lasers send megajoules of photonic energy streaming into the right arm of Tanaka's Guillotine, melting away the last of the armor and exposing the arm's inner workings.

Next to fire was the 75-tonner's LB-10X autocannon The pilot had apparently selected solid shot for this attack, and the fierce weapon sent a stream of the projectiles to slam into the center torso of Tanaka's 'mech.

Tanaka fought to control her reeling 'mech, just barely succeeding in time to see Myers hit her jump jets and soar up and over the Blakest front line. Cursing, Tanaka hit her own jets and the Guillotine leapt into the air after Myers. Hurtling over one hundred twenty meters, Tanaka landed behind the enemy front line just as Myers began her attack.

The target appeared to be a Galleon light tank, though it had obviously been modified heavily, as antennae jutted out all around, and nowhere were the weapons such tanks usually carried. Unfortunately for the tank crew, the heavy jamming that their ECM systems produced couldn't stop Myers from unleashing a full barrage of pulse lasers and autocannon shells. Unfortunately, the double-burst from the cannon missed, the stream of shells tearing up a cloud of rocks and dust. However, both lasers managed to hit, and their stuttering beams tore apart half the antennas on the enemy tank and carved long gashes in its armor.

Tanaka then decided to add her own fire, and she triggered all of her weapons, save the ER PPC. The large pulse lasers managed to match their smaller cousins from Myers' Corvis, and they ate through the last of the tank's armored hide and turned the interior into a burning hellstorm that consumed the vehicle's electronics and crew. The ER Medium Lasers and SRM rack simply added to the growing fireball that erupted from the ECM tank, but did nothing that would help the situation.

Before she could even think about what to do next, Tanaka felt her 'mech shake excessively as missile and laser shots impacted the right side of her 'mech. Sheets of armor were ripped or melted off, and a blast from a Blakest Starslayer amputated the right arm at the shoulder where the armor had been slagged away.

The sudden loss of so much mass threw the Guillotine's balance off, and Tanaka fought the sudden shift in the 'mech's center of gravity. Unfortunately, it was a loosing battle, and the 70-ton 'mech fell forward to crash into the ground with such force that Tanaka felt herself wrenched about as if she were in a paint can shaker.

Stunned by the fall, the captain sat in shock for a moment before the sounds of an autocannon on full auto broke through her daze. Looking to her HUD, Tanaka realized that Myers had quickly moved to cover her downed comrade, the Ultra AC-10 in her Corvis' right arm spitting out hundreds of shells at the second line of Blakest 'mechs.

"Shit!" Tanaka yelled as she began to work her 'mech's left arm underneath the torso. Despite the situation, she forced herself to move cautiously, lest more hurried movements cause her to make a mistake and fall again.

As she wrestled her 'mech upright, Tanaka checked her HUD again and realized that, despite the plethora of enemy 'mechs, none of them were shooting back at Myers or even taking potshots at herself. Why aren't they firing? Even as she wondered, the answer became apparent as she saw the Blakest front line trying to maneuver around the pair of Republic 'mechs.

They can't fire without the risk of hitting their own, the good captain realized even as she hit her throttle and backed the Guillotine IIC towards where the other 'mechs of the Republic force were firing into the Wobbies' front liners.

Suddenly, the radio came alive. "Captain, you okay?" The static-heavy transmission tortured Tanaka's ears, but she recognized the voice of Lieutenant Williams.

"Yeah, just battered a bit," Tanaka replied easily. "Myers, you there?"

"Yes sir," Myers responded quickly, though the sound of her cannon firing interfered with the transmission almost as much as did the remaining jamming.

"I'm gonna kick your ass," Tanaka quipped carefully. "But now, fall back." With that, she turned her Guillotine IIC around and hit her jump jets again, this time falling back and away from the swarm of Blakest 'mechs.

Myers backed up and unleashed another volley of shell and lasers before she hit her own jets and soared in an arc that nearly paralleled Tanaka's, and like the captain, Myers managed to use the jets' thrust to spin about in mid-air, thus allowing both 'mechs to come to a landing that let them face the enemy.

However, now that the Republic 'mechs were no longer amongst their own, the Blakests began to fire again. Fire from ten different 'mechs reached out from the enemy lines and tore into the front plates of the Republic forces, savaging armor and in some cases, ripping into the internal structure.

"Jesus!" Tanaka heard someone swear over the common frequency, though the heavy static prevented her from identifying who it was. Not that it matters now, she thought and narrowed her eyes as she aimed her weapons and returned fire.

She wasn't alone, as each Republic 'mech dished out raw vengeance from the favored weapon of the army, the PPC. Seven of the deadly energy streams crackled through the narrow pass, the noise from their passage causing the entire valley to reverberate in the thunder-like vibrations. Even more impressive, however, was the sheer marksmanship displayed by the Republic MechWarriors, as every shot connected with an enemy machine. Tons of armor vaporized off of five 'mechs, and one – the older model Banshee – took a direct hit to the head, killing the Blakest pilot instantly and causing the 95-tonner to collapse to the ground.

Then came the remaining weapons on the Republic side, as Stein and Carmike added in their LRMs, lasers, and a gauss slug that send a cascade of explosions across the enemy lines, while Tanaka and Myers were close enough that they could add in medium lasers and SRMs.

A brief lull accompanied the dying out of the barrage, and Tanaka used these precious few seconds to check her 'mech's status diagram. Sweet Jesus! My armor's thinner than Katherine Steiner's morality! She grimaced at the image displayed on one of her cockpit's MFDs before keying her radio. "Oni One to all 'mechs, fall back to Nav Charlie," she said, using the designation for the valley entrance. "Best possible speed, now move!"

A chorus of acknowledgements rolled in, and almost as if guided by a single hand, each 'mech turned about and made a speed run for the mouth of the valley they sought to defend.

The next few moments weren't too clear for Tanaka, as she and the other Republic MechWarriors dodged and ran their warhorses, all the time coming under fire from the pursuing Blakests. All she remembered later was that her force had made it to the narrow opening between the pass and the valley and had begun to deploy automatically.

Tanaka felt a brief surge of pride at how the other soldiers quickly worked without the need for communication, seemingly working as one. Then a particle cannon blast from an enemy Lightray screamed behind her 'mech's broad shoulders, illuminating the area in a hellish blue light and scaring the good captain for a moment.

"Checker Lance, can you read?" Tanaka called as she turned her 'mech around to face the enemy. The disheartening sight that greeted her made Cassandra want to scream at the unfairness of being outnumbered, but she forced the thoughts back.

Luckily, that was when Lieutenant Peterson replied. "I hear ya cap'n. Looks like y'all could use some help."

"Damn straight," Tanaka replied quickly as she fired her own particle cannon again, missing but causing her target – the Lightray – to dodge instead of making another shot. "We're gonna move behind the wall, so you get yourselves ready to cover us."

"I hear ya, boss," Peterson responded. "You mech jockeys have gotten their attention pretty good, so if y'all will just get outta the way, we'll do our part."

Tanaka half smirked as she replied. "Just don't get yourself killed, bud. The paperwork for that is a bitch."

"Copy that. We're ready to engage whenever you begin your parade." Peterson spoke quickly, his voice becoming more businesslike.

"Good, stand by," Tanaka said and then switched channels back to the common frequency. "Whiskey Lance, begin your fallback behind the wall, move to join Checker Lance. Oni Lance will cover you until you're through, and then we'll jump over.

"Vanquisher One, I hope you're listening," Cassandra went on. "'Cuz we'll need you to ambush the fuckers as soon as they get in range."

"I hear ya, Oni One," Vickers replied quickly. "Us an' the Red Dogs are just waitin' for to go ahead."

"Good. Now, as Prescott said, 'don't fire 'til ya see the whites of their eyes,'" Tanaka spoke hurriedly as she backed her 'mech to follow behind Williams' own Timber Wolf. Vickers began to reply, but it was lost as a barrage of missiles reached out and slammed into the ground at her 'mech's feet.

Tanaka and her lance fired back, while Williams and his two comrades ran their 'mechs at full speed through the narrow opening between the small stream leading from the valley and the rock fall wall. Tanaka had already splashed through the shallow watercourse, and she briefly wished that it were a much more substantial barrier, as it crossed the pass to ultimately flow downhill, away from the incoming Blakest force.

More missiles began to fall around Tanaka's position, and she returned fire with her particle cannon to score nearly a ton of protection from the Longbow's chest that was targeting her. Stein added in his Grizzly's Gauss Rifle, as well, and it slammed into the left leg of the enemy 'mech. Unbalanced by the dual impacts, the 85-ton design fell forward and crashed into a pile of armor debris.

"We're through!" Williams nearly yelled over the radio. "I'd suggest you get your ass outta the fire, captain."

"Duly noted," Tanaka retorted and hit her jump jets. The rumbling of superheated air filled the valley, and it took a second for Tanaka to realize that it wasn't just her 'mech, but that it also came of her lancemates' mechs as well.

The sight was a spectacle, as all four of the Guard 'mechs rose on their jets and came to a landing on the other side of the wall, each turning to face the direction they had come.

Tanaka breathed a quick sigh of relief as the valley entrance, at a right angle as it was to the pass' own path, covered her forces for the few moments it would take the Blakests to move up. And when they do, we'll have a nice surprise for them, she thought with grim satisfaction.

It was then that the first sounds of battle erupted from the other side of the wall, and battle-armored troopers began to make quick jumps to the protected side as they exposed themselves. Then a bright light reflected off of the walls of the pass that the Republic 'mechs had just vacated.

"Yeee-haw!" Vickers' voice rang over the radio. "Captain, we got 'em good, even managed a reactor breech on one 'o them." A sudden burst of static then cut off Vickers, and Tanaka saw the blue light of a PPC flash at the same time. "But they're also pissed off, we're falling back to Backup positions."

"Good work, Vanquisher One," Tanaka said almost excitedly. "Prepare for a back stab as well."

"Just like the plan, gotcha," Vickers replied breathlessly as hit his own jump jets. "Jus' keep 'em distracted, and we'll rip 'em a new one."

"Good to hear," Tanaka responded with a smirk. "Okay, Whiskey and Oni lances, fall back to Checker Lance's position now!" Even as she spoke, Tanaka took her own order to heart and ran her 'mech at full speed up the inclined floor of the valley, towards where the Abrams tanks were concealed within the tree line of the nearby forest.

"Oni One, do you read?" The sudden, loud voice ripped into Tanaka's ears and she barely managed to keep her hands on her 'mechs controls. "Jesus, who the fuck is this?"

"This is Sierra Eight, captain, and we're up shit's creek without a paddle," van Horn's voice came through again, a bit softer this time but still with a loud volume. "The Blakest know where we were keepin' the civvies. They have us pinned down in the ruins with light infantry and support machine guns."

Tanaka felt her blood run cold at the transmission. "Sierra Eight, if you don't mind repeating that and authenticating."

"Roger, wilco. Two Blakest Karnovs crested the upper valley walls, and while we got one, the other was full up with native infantry, and these guys ain't no victims," van Horn began, his grammar suffering under a load of adrenalin. "We've been attacked with modern firearms and support weaponry manned by Blakest troopers. We've moved all the natives into the central building, but they have us pinned here. Authentication whiskey uniform delta five three, and we need help."

"Goddamnit," Tanaka muttered under her breath so as to not trigger her microphone. She then took a breath and spoke louder. "Doc, where's Connors?"

"Connors is down, took a few hundred rounds to the torso, and it ate his armor up enough that some got through," van Horn sighed audibly over the frequency. "He's alive, but out of it. For some odd reason, he gave me command."

Tanaka smirked at the comment. "In any case, doc, I'll send help. But don't expect too much, we're in sad shape down here." She paused to sigh a bit then. "By the way, how the hell are you cutting through the jamming?"

A detectable pause made Cassandra think that the good doctor had lost his connection, but the small sound of a breath being let out made her realize that he simply had something bad to say. "I told you, we had to retreat into the central building… And we're using the Sable Pine's transmitter."

Tanaka frowned, but she was calm when she replied. "That's okay, doc. Just keep those folks alive. Oni One out." With that, Tanaka turned her 'mech around and made sure she was facing Carmike's Wyvern IIC. "Carmike, unless you've gone deaf, you heard that. Git your pasty white-boy ass up to the ruins now!"

"Yes sir!" Carmike replied energetically, sending his 45-ton 'mech into a flat run into the nearby forest. Tanaka watched him go for a moment, but only for a moment as a new radio call came in. "Oni One, enemy commin' past the hill!" Yelled out Vickers.

Tanaka sighed again, and she turned her 'mech to face the mountain pass. "Gonna be a long day," she muttered to herself. Then she spoke again with more volume. "Checker, Oni, and Whiskey Lances, fire at will!"

Van Horn breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the Kaytorians rushed through the opening that van Horn and Castellano had smashed open the night before. They're gonna be safer in there… From physical harm, anyway. Dunno 'bout their mental health.

The lull in the fighting turned out to be from the fact that the human soldiers amongst the enemy lupar had called them to a halt. Or so van Horn reasoned, given the fact that the Blakests had brought up a support machine gun and had set it up whilst hidden behind their native allies. Then the Lupar had parted at a word, and the heavy bullets from the enemy weapon had nearly chewed a hole through van Horn's depleted armor.

Good thing these suits have jets, the good doctor thought briefly as the very last Kaytorian went through. With that, van Horn opened his radio and called out to the other Republic troopers that were hopping about, keeping the Blakests from moving forward fast enough to catch up to the evacuating civilians. "All civvies are inside. Everyone fall back to the entrance now." He waited for everyone to answer before he himself went through the opening and entered the anteroom.

Inside, van Horn was surprised to see Alexis and three of the Kaytor militiamen standing inside, weapons drawn, though only Alexis carried a firearm. "What is this?" He asked in Lupari.

"They don't want to leave," Alexis replied with a subtle half-shrug. "They want to help defend the place."

"We know that we have not your great weapons," one of the lupar, whom van Horn finally recognized as Acryu, said. "But we are in close quarters now, and our swords can be as effective as any of your weaponry."

Van Horn frowned, despite the fact that he knew the lupar couldn't see it. "I know you want to protect your families and friends," he said softly to the three there. "But this isn't the spot for you. The enemy doesn't need to come into this room to kill you, they can just throw 'grenades.'"

Acryu frowned. "What are, 'gra-nades?'" He asked suspiciously.

"Weapons that can be thrown and are especially deadly in an enclosed room like this one," van Horn answered patiently. "So please, go wait with your fellows deeper in the building, and pray we do not need your help."

Acryu continued to frown a bit, but he nodded. "Very well, we shall wait at the metal staircase then." With that, he turned around and gathered his two fellows up by eye, and the trio walked off down the dark hall, their way lit by a flashlight that Alexis had set up at the far end to face towards the ceiling, thus causing its light to dimly light the immediate area.

Van Horn sighed as they rounded the corner. "Dear God, please don't let us need their help," he said aloud in English.

"A worthy sentiment," Alexis added in respectfully. "What about me, Earl?"

Van Horn smiled a bit within his helmet as he turned his head to face the gatón. "Go with them and make sure that they don't go wandering about," he said. Alexis nodded and turned to move off, but van Horn spoke up again. "And Alexis?"

She turned her head around and looked at the armored human. "Yes, Earl?"

He took a quick breath before going on. "In case anything bad happens… I just want you to know, that it was an honor knowing you."

Alexis stood for a moment before she nodded her head. "Th- thank you," she said, and van Horn thought he saw her eyes tear up. "And it has been as much an honor to know you, as well." With that, she turned and hurried down the hall.

Van Horn closed his eyes, which threatened to fill with salty water as well. Not now, damnit, he thought. You still have a job to do.

A moment passed while he was regaining control of his emotions, but soon van Horn recognized the sound of approaching jump jets. Deciding to be ready for anything, he turned to face the entrance and backed into a corner and brought his weapon up to bear on the entranceway, though he purposefully kept his finger off of the trigger.

It was a fortunate move, as the sound of gunfire began to accompany the roar of battle armor jets. Then, a black shape landed amid a cloud of smoke and steam and backed inside, and van Horn breathed a sigh of relief as the short-ranged transponder on the other man's armor identified him as one of the soldiers from Sierra squad. "Shit hit the fan, Lopez?"

The man started a bit, but he soon calmed down and turned to give a brief nod to van Horn. "Damn straight, doc. I'm' the first, but Mike and Josh are right behind me. Where do you want us?"

Van Horn took a moment to think, during which two more black shapes appeared at the door, saw that the small room was occupied, and then crouched next to the entrance. After another second, he made a decision. "Dubrovskiy, Ito," he said aloud, calling the two men who had just arrived. "You two have assault rifles, so you move back and defend the junction." Van Horn paused to jab a thumb towards where the hall ended. "Make sure you turn off that flashlight.

"Lopez, that SMG of yours I want at the main staircase inside. Just go back, take a left at the junction, and follow the hall 'til you see it. There are four native friendlies waiting there, so identify before shooting. Everyone got that?"

Three 'yes sirs' came over the channel and van Horn nodded. "Good, now move." With that, the three troopers moved back and past Earl's line of sight, and he paused for breath before he stood and triggered his radio again. "Stuger, you there?"

"I hear ya doc," the familiar feminine voice answered. "Y'all ready in there?"

"Yeah, just wait 'til I jump out to cover you, and then do your thing," Van Horn responded as he changed clips from the near-empty one to a full clip he wore on his armor's side. He put the almost spent clip on the old wooden desk and then leaned a bit against the entranceway. "Ready?" He asked over the channel.

"As I'll ever be," Stuger replied calmly. With that, van Horn took a deep breath, and then he turned and hopped outside.

No sooner had he done so than a flurry of bullets from a nearby cluster of approaching lupar reached out at him. Van Horn felt several of the slugs impact his armor, but he ignored them as he brought up his Heavy Gyrojet Gun and fired.

His first shot blasted one lupar in half, his bloody torso flying up and over to land behind his comrades. The other lupar, however, continued firing, and thus van Horn jumped up and toward the enemy.

Confused, and perhaps remembering what an armored trooper could do at close range, the enemy soldiers began to scramble back and towards the house they had just passed. Van Horn, however, didn't hit his jets, and instead he dropped to a crouch and unleashed another rocket into the cluster, this one tearing through an arm before detonating and sending shrapnel to tear into the wounded lupar.

Just then, the resounding 'crack' of a gauss rifle sounded yet again, and the noise of metal being smashed could be heard from somewhere behind the nearest row of concrete buildings. Van Horn ignored it, however, as it was expected, and he sent another rocket hurtling towards his foes.

The lupar, for their part, had managed to retreat around the stout habitation, though the man van Horn had just wounded just lay on the ground moaning. The Republic soldier, however, forced himself to concentrate as he waited for Stuger to arrive from her sniping position.

She didn't disappoint, and soon the black of her armor was soaring over the very same building that van Horn's immediate foes had taken refuge behind. No sooner had Stuger landed, however, than light and noise erupted from behind the building, and van Horn jerked upright.

"No worries, I dropped a grenade on your friends," Stuger spoke casually. "Now, how about we go back to your place?"

"You're a lecherous wench, ain't ya?" Van Horn retorted. Then he turned and ran for the main building, and Stuger followed right behind him. Thus, the pair crossed the intervening space in seconds, and they dodged inside the central building.

Once inside, the two paused, and van Horn triggered his external speakers. "Stuger, move down and join Dubrovskiy and Ito at the end of the hall. I want you set up between them so that that monster gun of yours can mow down anyone tryin' to make their way through."

"Yes sir," Stuger replied and then moved off quickly. Van Horn let her go and then turned to check outside the entrance again.

He was rewarded with a flurry of hastily aimed shots, and the good doctor quickly ducked back in. "Shit," he muttered. There's a whole passel of those infantry out there. How many can one damned Karnov hold?

More importantly, what do we do now? This sudden thought made van Horn stand and think for a minute. At the end of this time, he snapped his head up, turned, and strode purposefully towards the end of the hall where his comrades crouched at the ready.

"Runnin' away doc?" Ito asked in a jocular manner. "It's only a small horde."

"No, Josh," van Horn replied easily as he passed the trio. "I just got a fairly good idea, for once. Y'all stay here and welcome our friends if they decide to visit."

"No problem, man," Ito replied simply and he shifted his rifle a bit. "Just let me know when it's nap time."

Earl couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that as he followed the curved hall. Gotta love the irrepressible nature of soldiers, he thought as he entered the so-called 'main hall.'

Once inside, van Horn was a bit surprised to see no one there. Then he heard someone move a bit and soon Lopez appeared from behind one of the columns. "Sorry, doc. Didn't want to be lazy."

"No problem," van Horn replied almost casually as Alexis the Kaytorian lupar soon emerged from behind their places as well. "Just passin' through. Holler if ya need anythin.'" With that, van Horn quickly moved over to the stairs into the DropShip and he ascended them in seconds as he strode towards his destination.

The entrance into the ship wasn't too different from the last he remembered, though there was a distinct lack of a dust covering on the floor. Following the path, van Horn quickly reached the vehicle bay, and he paused to take in the sight that greeted him.

Sitting in groups around the bay were the Kaytorians, their huddled shapes made visible by chemical lanterns that had been brought out from 'MechWarrior/tank crew field packs. The dim orange light barely allowed anyone to see around the cavernous bay, though the sound of the human's arrival quickly brought many heads around jerkily. When they saw that it was another Republic soldier, the natives tended to relax, save a few who obviously didn't care for the humans in the first place.

No matter, that, van Horn thought as he walked towards the ladder at the far side of the bay that would take him to the ship's upper levels. Once there, he quickly began to ascend, and he soon left the bay behind.

Passing through the various rooms of the Sable Pine, van Horn didn't quite expect to run into anyone, but he soon saw Mikula standing outside a rather large double door on one of the crew decks. As he approached, he saw Mikula turn and half-aim his rifle before he realized whom it was. "Earl, you startled me," the lupar said breathlessly. "I thought you were a spirit."

"And I thought you were down with the other natives," Van Horn responded. "Why are you here?"

Mikula turned and nodded his head towards the door he stood adjacent to. "Dan remembered that this room was a sick bay, so he brought the corporal here in case they had anything."

"Not bloody likely," van Horn muttered under his breath. Although not intended to be heard, Mikula's ears nevertheless picked up the comment, and the lupar nodded. "You're right, unfortunately. Dan said the place was empty, but he didn't want to move Connors any more, so here we stay for now."

"Hmm," van Horn mumbled noncommittally. "So how is he doing, anyway?"

"I do not know," Mikula replied quietly, his ears lowering a bit. "I haven't seen Dan since they went in there."

"Well, let's find out then," van Horn said and then grabbed the doorknob and then opened the door quickly.

The room inside was dark, save where Castellano's headlamp shined down on a form that lay on a table. Van Horn took a moment to realize that it was Connors laying on a table, apparently still in his armor. Then he saw the stains of blood on the black armor, and van Horn took a breath in to steady his nerves.

Castellano, meanwhile, looked up from where he was applying a MediJel bandage to Connors' wound. "Who's there?" He asked.

"Just me, Dan," van Horn replied quietly and then walked softly up to where Castellano continued to work. "I came to see how things are going."

"Goin' well enough, I suppose," Dan muttered as turned back to his work. "I gave him some neomorph, so he's out now, though that will only last 'til the supply runs out." He sighed then. "As for his wound, he won't die right away, but if we don't get him to a real sick bay or infirmary soon enough, then…" His voice trailed off reluctantly.

Van Horn nodded. "How soon is 'soon enough?'

"Depends on the receiving station," Castellano temporized. "If it were an aid station, I'd give him about two hours, maybe twelve for an honest to goodness field hospital." He paused to sigh then. "Although, a well-equipped WarShip sick bay ought to be able to help for about twenty four hours after he got hurt."

"Like the one aboard the Young?" Van Horn asked hopefully.

Castellano nodded a bit, though he soon stopped as the light bobbing up and down in the room proved distracting." Yeah, though from what the captain said, we shouldn't expect their help soon."

Van Horn didn't say anything at that. Instead, he just stood for a moment before speaking up. "Well, I had an idea earlier, about breaking through the jamming…"

"Oh?" Castellano asked, clearly curious, despite the fact that he didn't move his head from paying attention to his work.

"Yeah. This bird still has power from somewhere… And I doubt that batteries last that long," van Horn replied in a knowing voice.

"You think the reactor's still good?" Castellano asked, finally pausing in cleaning Connor's wound to look up at the anthropologist-soldier.

"Yeah, I do," van Horn said with a nod. "I don't think it'll have enough power to get 'er flyin' again, but it should cut through some of this radio soup that's been in our ears."

"Sounds like a plan," Castellano said as he retuned to his work. "You don't need my help, do ya?"

"No, thank you though." Van Horn shook his head then. "Anyway, I need to go now. Call if you need help," he said as he turned and began to walk out of the room.

"No problem, doc," Castellano replied easily. "Just get a real doctor down here, that's all I ask."

Mikula had heard everything, even despite the fact that he hadn't entered the darkened room. Thank goodness for my people's hearing, he thought as the two humans talked, though the depressing nature of the conversation made the lupar wish that he were in a dream, or a nightmare.

He heard van Horn walking out, and Mikula quickly stood more erect as his friend appeared through the doorway, turned, and headed away towards a service ladder without a word spoken. Frowning at this strange behavior, Mikula turned and leaned into the still-open doorway. "Dan, do you need me here?"

"No, Mikula," Castellano replied with a sigh. "Not much you can do, and I don't think I need a guard, so feel free to find a more useful thing to do."

Mikula nodded. "Okay, but I will check back later if that is all right with you?"

"No problem," Castellano said with a barely-detectable shrug. With that, Mikula turned back into the hall and then headed off after van Horn.

Several minutes and a few ladders later, Mikula was pulling himself into the dark command center of the Sable Pine, having tracked the sounds of movement to the room. Inside, the lupar saw van Horn turning to look down at his visitor, his sidearm already free of its holster.

"Mikula?" The human asked as he re-holstered his weapon. "You shouldn't be wandering, it's dangerous to do anything like that."

Mikula frowned and shook his head as he finished bringing himself into the compartment and standing. "I'm not wandering. I came to see what you were doing, maybe see if I could help?"

Van Horn paused for a moment, and then he sighed. "No, nothing you can do, my friend," he said as he turned back to the console he was working with, and the light of his headlamp cast swirling shadows on the wall. "Not unless you managed to learn electronic repair while you were with us on New Honshu." This latter comment he said half-jestingly.

"Unless it involves food, I'd say no," Mikula replied back in the same jocular tone. Then he walked over to where his friend stood, carefully watching the floor as he went. "But may I ask what you are doing?"

"You may," van Horn replied neutrally as he fidgeted with the various controls on the communications console. "I'm trying to figure out this communications station. Hopefully, if the ship still had power for…" He paused as the obvious reference floated unspoken between the two friends. "For what we saw last night, then there might be enough power for the transmitter to cut through the radio jamming that's preventing us from calling in help."

"I see," Mikula said with a nod. "So… Do you know how to work a this machine?"

"I haven't got a damn clue," van Horn said as he jabbed a few buttons violently, and then made a disgruntled noise when nothing happened. "I'm a doctor, not an engineer, but even poking around blindly seems better than just sitting here and waiting to be attacked."

"Indeed," Mikula responded. Help… Gods, we could sure use that, he thought. Then his memory kicked in at the words, and the lupar shuddered as he remembered the message he had seen in this very room. I feel like a hypocrite, comforting Alexis and yet having the same reservations as her. He turned and looked around the dimly lit room, eyeing each control console in turn and finally stopping at the captain's command chair. How can we all go on from this point, knowing that we're nothing more than the creations of a laboratory, and not of the divine creator of all things?

Then a new thought entered Mikula's brain, and he turned to look at van horn as the human worked to figure out the controls. Well… Are not humans also created by the divine? I mean they cannot be made in a laboratory, because Earl said they know exactly how their own species came about… Is not something created by a creation not also of the original creator?

It was at that moment that lights started to come on the communications console, and Mikula quickly put his thoughts aside as van Horn let out a whoop of joy. "It looks like you have it figured out."

"Not really," van Horn admitted sheepishly. "But I got it activated now, so maybe there's a tutorial…" He pressed a few buttons on the side of the console's screen, and soon the monitor lit up with a series of colored boxes. "Even better, it's a touch screen with a user-friendly interface."

"Uh… Okay…" Mikula managed to say, unsure as he was of van Horn's tech-speak. For his part, however, the human chuckled and then took a moment to remove his helmet. "Sorry, Mikula, I'm just a bit hopeful now that I'll be able to use this thing."

Mikula frowned, but he said nothing as he watched van Horn begin to press some buttons on the screen and off. Earl became rather involved with his task, and so Mikula turned and started to walk around the compartment and look over the various controls to keep himself from getting in the way while van Horn muttered "looks like it needs more power for the transmitter... "

It was during this period when Mikula noticed that a particular light had come on that hadn't been lit before. Odd, he thought and then walked over to the console.

It was large, easily half again as large as the communications console, and its controls looked far more formidable. As he approached, Mikula nearly tripped over the stanchion that would have supported a dedicated seat for the position, and this alone told even the relatively ignorant lupar that this was an important console. Carefully, he leaned over the edge of the panel and squinted to read the lettering that was now illuminated by the light. "Earl…" He began.

"Wait a moment, Mikula," van Horn replied. "I'm still trying to see if I can weasel more power out of this."

"But, doesn't power come from 'engineering?'" Mikula asked and turned back towards the human.

Van Horn nodded as he replied. "Yes, it-" He suddenly paused, raised his head, and then lightly smacked his forehead. "Duh! I can access engineering controls directly from the bridge." He then turned to Mikula with a self-depreciating smile. "I really should dye my hair blonde to match my brains, sometime."

Mikula frowned. "I do not understand, what does the color of your hair have to do with intelligence?"

Van Horn sighed then. "It doesn't, it's just an old joke that blonde-haired people are dumb. Of course, it's not true, but it still persists."

Mikula grunted. "Well, don't let Alexis hear about them, then," he said in half-hearted jest.

"Don't worry, I shan't," Van Horn said with a nod. Then he began to peer around the dark room. "Now, where's engineering?"

"Uhm," Mikula raised a hand and then pointed it to the lit console he stood next to. "I think it's here."

Van Horn blinked a bit before he smirked softly again, grabbed his helmet, and walked over to where the lupar stood. "Again, I need to start paying attention to what's going on," he said as he reached Mikula's side, the latter taking a step away from the console to give his friend enough room.

Earl, for his part, brought his helmet up and managed to trigger the lamp in it, which then spilled illumination over the dark controls. Mikula watched silently as his friend poked at a few more buttons before he finally grunted and stood upright. "Well, I think that might do it…"

"What did you do?" Mikula asked as he looked over the dials on the board. He noticed that a pair of said devices was twitching up from their resting state now, though he had no idea what they meant.

"I just fed more power from the reactor to the communications system," van Horn replied easily. Then he scrunched up his face a bit and brought up a hand to scratch his head. "At least, I think that's what I did… I mean, that report that Dr. Garcia left said that they cut off all leads to the reactor, save that for communications and data storage to reduce the chance of decay, so I'd assume that ramping up the reactor a bit ought to give more power to the comm. panel."

"I… Believe I see," Mikula said, his face showing that his mind was racing to catch up, and for the most part, winning. "So, we can call in help now?"

"Well, let's find out," van Horn replied and then turned and headed back for the communications console. Mikula followed along, and soon both were standing next to the panel and van Horn began to work the touch screen again. After a few moments of this, Earl looked at Mikula and took in a breath. "Cross your fingers."

Mikula nodded, having heard the expression before, and he did so. It cannot hurt to do so, now can it?

Van Horn, meanwhile, had adjusted the transmitter to the right frequency and then pressed the 'transmit' key as he leaned into the microphone built into the console. "Oni One, do you read?"

The brief conversation with Tanaka had confirmed van Horn's worst fears, and yet had given him some hope as well. At least we can expect some help in drivin' the Wobbies off, he thought as he turned off the transmit function and gave Mikula a small smile. "Well, looks like we won't have to worry too much longer."

Mikula just gave him a look. "I certainly hope so," he said quietly.

"Well, in any case," van Horn began. "We should get back downstairs befo-" He was suddenly cut off then by the sound of electrical arcing, which was itself quickly followed by sparks that spat out from the communications console.

"Shit!" Van Horn yelled as he grabbed Mikula and jumped back, bringing them both out of range of the searing hot sparks. He then started to look around desperately for a fire extinguisher before the whole console went out like a light, and with it, the sound and sparks. The smell of burnt insulation and metal still hung heavy in the air, though, and van Horn was loath to move until he could figure out what to do next.

"What just happened?" Mikula asked, his voice betraying his surprise.

"I'm not too sure," van Horn replied quietly. Then he glanced at Mikula briefly. "Stand here," he said and then turned and slowly inched towards the now-still console. Despite his innate curiosity, Mikula was only too eager to obey the order, and he stood rock still while van Horn walked up to the console and barely touched it.

Van Horn waited for a moment, tensed for a shock that didn't come, before he relaxed and started tapping at the controls. It only took a few tries to confirm his suspicions. "Damnit!" He muttered loudly.

"What is it?" Mikula asked as he started walking towards the console himself, now that it seemed safe.

Van Horn just glanced back ad Mikula with a look of despair before he turned back to the console. "The extra power I diverted to communications console burned it out," he said, and then sighed. "It was just too old, couldn't handle the strain any-" Suddenly, his eyes bulged open. "Oh, shit," he said and then bolted across the dark room, nearly knocking down Mikula as he raced for the engineering console.

"Hey!" The lupar exclaimed as he was roughly pushed aside. "What was that for?"

"Wait a minute," van Horn spoke quickly as he pressed another few controls. After a moment, he sighed with relief. "I just had to make sure that the reactor wouldn't blow up," he said and then turned back to look at Mikula. "I was worried that the sudden lack of power drain would cause a feedback loop and melt the power relays."

"What?" Mikula asked, somewhat dumbfounded at the jargon.

Van Horn just smirked slightly and shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "It's fine, so there's nothing to worry about."

"If you say so," Mikula responded dubiously. "So, what now?"

Van Horn shrugged as he walked over to where he had left his helmet. "Now, we go downstairs and wait for help," he said as nonchalantly as he could manage. His thoughts, however, were a bit darker. Wait for help… Or for our imminent doom.

Carmike felt his heard thud almost as loud as the footfalls of his Wyvern IIC, so worried he was that he would arrive too late. "C'mon, baby, a little faster now," he muttered to the machine as he held his throttle against its stops, pressing slightly past the 'full speed' position. It was a trick every MechWarrior knew, that the throttle would press past its designed limit and give a few extra tenths of km/h to the 'mech's top speed. I just hope it's enough.

He pressed on along the path carved into the forest by the procession of Kaytorians earlier in the day, following it up to where Sierra squad was besieged. However, even as he pressed on, part of Carmike wanted to stop and turn back and help his friends and comrades against the storm he knew they were enduring.

Still, I have my orders, he thought to reinforce his resolve. That, and I didn't spend half the march up here getting' shot at just so the Wobbies can go killin' civvies! The mere thought made him want to move even faster, but he was constrained by his 'mech's top speed of about 65 km/h.

Finally, after an interminable amount of time, Carmike burst through the line of trees that denoted the forest's furthest reach, and ahead only the occasional tree stood before him and the ruins, which he now saw for the first time. Carmike slowed his 'mech down and tried to take account of the view, and he quickly picked out the central building where he knew that his comrades had taken shelter.

He also noted, for the first time, the Karnov VTOL sitting to the left of the ruins, as viewed from his perspective, and around it he saw a small set of Blakests dressed in their robed battle garb.

Sneering a bit, Carmike checked the range and, seeing it within the engagement envelope of his Large Laser, he aimed and fired. The Series 6b ER Large Laser built into his 'mech's right arm took only milliseconds to discharge, and it sent megajoules of coherent light straight into the right side of the Karnov.

As it was never intended to engage enemy units directly, the Karnov had little armor protection against heavy weapons. Thus, it was no surprise to Carmike as he saw the searing red shaft of his laser carve into the VTOL's side as if it were a lance hurled into a warhorse in ancient times. Unlike those old beasts, however, the Karnov exploded as the heat of the laser set off its fuel tanks.

The sound of the explosion reached back to Carmike, who smiled grimly as he hit his throttle again, sending his 45-ton war machine into a loping sprint for the main building.

The noise of the exploding Karnov startled van Horn as he walked down the steps from the Sable Pine and into the large hall at her entrance. He crouched instantly and looked around in case the enemy had blasted a hole in the encasing building's walls, but he saw nothing amiss.

"What the fuck was that?" Lopez asked, his SMG following his sweeping gaze as he, too, made sure that the Blakests hadn't tried something new.

"I don't know," van Horn replied truthfully. "Stay here," he said to the other trooper and then turned to run down the hall and towards the entrance. Thank God I managed to convince Alexis and her friends to take up positions inside the ship, he thought as he ran.

Coming around the bend, van Horn saw that the three troopers he had left at the junction to the entrance were still there and, indeed, were firing a few rounds down the hall and into the open air beyond the doorway at the far end of the hall they faced down. Stuger, however, didn't fire, but instead looked up to nod at van Horn. "Doc, I hope y'all're alright in there?"

"Yeah," van Horn replied with a nod. "Ya got any idea what the hall made that boom?"

Before Stuger could answer, however, they all heard and felt the telltale vibrations of a 'mech's footfalls, and the four troopers looked to each other. "Oh shit, what now?" Ito asked with an exasperated voice.

The sudden sound of yells from outside made everyone start, especially as those yells changed into screams as the noise of machine guns and a flamer roared. Through the narrow slice f the outdoors that the building's entrance afforded them, the four Republic troopers watched native lupar running past, many on all fours as they abandoned their weapons in a mad dash to escape. Van Horn had a sickening sense of déjà vu, and he closed his eyes and prayed that whoever was clearing the enemy from their midst would avoid excessive killing.

Then the noise suddenly stopped, and the only sound that came from outside were the footfalls of the new arrival. It was then that the radio cackled to staticy life. "Sierra squad, this is Oni Four, are you guys okay?"

Van Horn breathed a deep breath of relief, and he heard his fellow troopers doing so as well. "Aye, Oni Four, we are now."

A stream of charged particles raced by the Guillotine IIC's head, and Tanaka flinched as the PPC bolt cast a blue pallor over her vision. She blinked her eyes clear just in time to see the offending Blakest 'mech get slammed by four gauss slugs from Checker Lance, each one of the shots ripping sheets of armor off of the enemy Marauder's hide.

Tanaka added to its misery by firing her ER PPC and Medium lasers, and she again bemoaned the loss of her pulse lasers. Then she dropped the thought as she watched the PPC rip the left arm of the Marauder off while both lasers missed and turned soil behind the 75-ton 'mech into glass.

With that, Tanaka hit her jump jets, soaring up and away from the approaching Wobbie 'mechs. Have to concentrate with an arm missing, she thought as she brought her heavy 'mech to a jarring landing, a landing that took her an extra moment to balance out without the right arm.

The second half of the engagement wasn't going well, she knew, as the Blakests had pushed into the mouth of the valley, overrunning the Republic bivouac and forcing the combined mech, tank, and battle armored forces into the forest. There, the cover of the trees allowed the Republic troops to stage a bit of a rally, but now the enemy was pushing forward again.

As if to exemplify this, the Blakest Marauder brought itself back under control and began to move forward again, its PPC and autocannon mix sending a hail of fire that ripped into the front glacis of one of Checker Lance's Abrams tanks. Unfortunately for its crew, the tank had already taken severe damage from enemy fire, and the particle stream ate through it and into the heart of the 70-ton battle tank. There, it destroyed the vehicle's reactor controls, and the Republic tank exploded from the inside out as the fusion reactor released its plasma.

"Fuck!" Tanaka yelled, her heart sinking at the loss of three good soldiers that the tank's death represented. The sensation of sadness was soon replaced by anger, and Tanaka wheeled her 'mech into line with the enemy and fired an alpha strike.

Her PPC hit first, and it tore into and through the Marauder's left breast, erasing structural members before its fury petered out. However, Tanaka's SRMs soared in next, and two of them found the gaping wound in the enemy 'mech's chest, and they exploded within. The explosions were soon added to, as the Marauder's autocannon ammunition was set off by Tanaka's missiles, and within seconds, the enemy 'mech seemed to half disintegrate as the detonating ammo consumed it internally.

Tanaka blinked her eyes clear of the explosions' after images in time to see the husk of the enemy war machine fall to the ground with a resounding thud. Then, the area became strangely quiet, and the captain checked her tactical display to see why.

Although an as-yet unseen jamming vehicle was still affecting it, Tanaka could still make out the icons that denoted the Blakests as falling back somewhat, and she realized that they only intended to regroup to make a final push. With this thought, Tanaka quickly checked her 'mech's armor diagram and uttered a foul Japanese curse word as she saw that her protection was all but gone. And I'm sure that everyone else is as screwed as I am, she thought and made a decision.

Sighing, she walked her 'mech back a bit and triggered her radio. "This is Oni One to all Republic forces," she began. "Authentication Alfa Alfa echo one. Everyone is to fall back to nav point Zulu immediately."

"Say again, Oni One?" The voice of Lieutenant Williams came back through the headset.

"I repeat, we're falling back to the ruins," Tanaka said more forcefully. "The enemy is just too numerous, and our armor hasn't been fixed in a week. If we stay here, we're toast, so I'm callin' a fallback. All commanders confirm receipt of orders."

"Whiskey One copies, Oni One," Williams spoke first, he apparently needing no time to trigger his radio.

"Checker One reads," Peterson came on next, his voice emotionless, though Tanaka knew that, with the loss of a crew, of friends, he was anything but. "We're moving now."

"Oni One, this is Vanquisher One," Vickers spoke next. "I need time to check over our casualties, to see who's really dead or not." Although his voice was somewhat detached, anyone and everyone could hear the genuine pain that rode his words like an undercurrent.

"I read that, Vanquisher One, but we don't have much time," Tanaka replied, her heart heavy. "You need to move fast."

"Roger, we're movin' now," Vickers replied. "Stand by."