CHAPTER 3
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Shigata, Ashio,
Ashio Prefecture, Dieron Military District,
Draconis Combine,
January 13, 3074
Dusk blanketed the city of Ashio, and through her windshield Noloty watched as dozens of Elite 3 land trains, modified to carry passengers, lined up in staggered formation. Civilians of Shigata flocked in the thousands to get a spot inside the land trains, modified to accommodate passengers. Myriads of trucks, APC, and various forms of transports scattered around and in between the 200-ton giants. Light tanks formed perimeter defense encompassing the bulk of the caravan. It was an impressive sight, yet they were vulnerable, lightly-armored and pathetically armed. Their only true protection came from 5 battlemechs.
Were 5 battlemechs enough to guard hundreds of lightly-armed vehicles full of civilians? Noloty was too afraid to find the answer.
"This is Delta-Six Red, ten minutes to roll out," Oblivia's voice scrambled over the comlink. "We rounded everybody that remained in the city, roughly 10,000 heads. We need them off world, safe from Word of Blake's grips."
"Acknowledged, Delta," Tsagoi followed suit. "Hawk Lance, lock and load." His voice turned grim when he switched to different frequency to talk to his lance mates. "Now understand one thing: We are all they have, and we are not enough to protect everybody. Some will die. Maybe most of them will die. You can't save them all. Fight your heart's content, and kill any Word of Blake's underlings within gun range. I will see you at dustoff. Gregoro, left cover, Yin, right cover, Noloty, rearguard. Jax, you stay with me."
"Yes Sir," the two Banshees split to cover the convoy's flanks. Tsagoi and the Blood Asp stayed at the front. Noloty jogged toward the end of the caravan, joining 2 Galleons to anchor the convoy. A couple of Hunter tanks took position on her right, and a lance of Badger APCs covered her left.
"Thank you for joining us," the captain of the Galleons opened comlink.
"The honor is mine," Noloty replied halfheartedly. Even though battlemechs were regarded as the 'kings' of the battlefield, she doubted if her Sagittaire was more effective than the Galleon, considering her cannons were empty. She thought of telling the good captain, but she didn't want to drop morale. Perhaps some things were better left unsaid.
"Here we go, Hawk Lance, three leagues to dustoff," Tsagoi's voice thundered on the speaker. "Watch your step, and keep your eyes open at all times. Shoot first, ask later."
Engines roared, and the convoy started to move, using the moonless night as cover. Noloty put her Sagittaire on cruising speed, keeping up with the bulk of the caravan. Through her rearview camera she watched as the smoldering city of Shigata became smaller and smaller, until what was left was a few black smoke stacks. She wondered what went through the minds of the Markham's Marauders when they took the lives of those couldn't fight back. Perhaps it was just a job for them, but still. No money was worth the ignominy.
She solemnly swore to never, ever, take up a mercenary job.
The trip clocked in at 30 minutes when the first explosion rang. Artillery shells pounded the ground, scattering wide at first but dangerously zeroing in on the bulk of the caravan. Several VTOLs hovered in the distance, undoubtedly spotting for the artillery units.
"Spread out!" Tsagoi barked. "Armor units, find the artillery! And somebody kill those choppers!"
"I'll get the choppers!" Noloty broke formation as the light tanks started to leave the convoy.
"Negative, Noloty, hold the line! This could be a trap. Stay at the rear flank!"
"Ryokai," Noloty returned to her post. She was itching to snipe the VTOLs with her ERPPC, but Tsagoi saw something she didn't. She thought she had better carry his order than go maverick and leave the rear flank open for blitzkrieg.
And he was right. As soon as the Galleons and Hunters were out of the battlemech's weapon range, a company of Yellow Jacket helicopters attacked the light tanks from 3 different directions. The armor assets had no chance against Gauss rifles. One by one the light tanks burst into bonfire, revealing parts of the caravan. Desperate cries flooded the comlink.
Freed from the light tanks, the Yellow Jackets moved in for the unarmed vehicles like prowling wolves.
"Bring them down!" Tsagoi roared. "All units, bring them down!"
Gregoro's Banshee was the first to break formation. It broke into a sprint and hurled itself at the incoming Yellow Jackets. Two Yellow Jackets banked hard left to engage the assault mech. Supersonic slugs left trails of condensed vapor as they left their tubes under the Yellow Jackets' chin. Gregoro's Banshee, aptly dubbed Gold Rush from its gold-black livery, buckled when the twin nickel-ferrous balls bludgeoned its torso. But the armor held fast, and the Banshee steadied itself up for a counterstrike. A long burst of ionized beam sheared the tail off one Yellow Jacket. The chopper spun uncontrollably before crashing onto the ground. The other Yellow Jacket swerved to the right but Gregoro's Gauss slug struck its fuselage. The attack helicopter exploded midair.
Noloty was still out of position but a Yellow Jacket underestimated the range of her ERPPC. It glided toward the rear to take a pot shot the other Banshee, busy with other Yellow Jackets. She remembered her previous fight with helicopters, and carefully aimed for the Yellow Jacket's rotor. She fired at the unsuspecting chopper, separating the fuselage from the rotor. The Yellow Jacket took a nose dive and ended up as scorching debris on the rocky ground.
The artillery shells started to converge in the center of the caravan. Trucks and APCs turned into blazing infernos under heavy barrages. A land train jumped to the sky in a tower of flame when a Long Tom shell cleaved it in half. The remnants crashed back down and set ablaze, roasting the passengers.
"Somebody cut that artillery off!" Oblivia yelled. "We're losing civilians fast!"
"Jax! Dispatch the spotters!" Tsagoi barked.
The Blood Asp, the fastest among the 5 assault mechs, veered off the course and engaged in a 65-kph sprint toward the choppers in the distance. The spotters broke formation but the Blood Asp cut the plain, taking it within striking distance. Its Gauss rifle screamed a muffled scream, sending the football-sized metallic ball 600 meters across the field, straight into the cockpit of a spotter. The VTOL cartwheeled midair and disappeared behind a hill. A second later a mushroom-like fireball bloomed from the back of the hill.
The remaining Yellow Jackets converged on the rear flank of the Blood Asp, but Tsagoi and the Banshees made short work of the Gauss-totting helicopters. One by one the Yellow Jackets exploded, taken victim by the marksmanship of the 13th Legion of Vega.
The Blood Asp managed to snipe one more spotter, and the artillery bombardment started to go astray. The other spotters decided to return to base, and soon after that, the artillery bombardment stopped. But before anybody could breathe some relieve, the radar lit up with hostile heat signatures. A multitude of Zhukov and Von Luckner tanks, backed up by LRM carriers, crawled into position to trap the convoy in a crossfire. Missiles arc in the sky and started hammering the lead vehicles of the convoy.
"Break! Break! Evasive maneuver!" Oblivia yelled. Her Badger swerved in zigzag pattern. Some trucks and smaller transports tried to copy her move but ended up straying too far from the body of the convoy. The Zhukovs and Von Luckners easily hunted them down and tore them apart in a turkey shoot.
"Them ground pounders think they can outshine battlemechs in the battlefield," Tsagoi snarled with swagger in his voice. "Let's prove them wrong! Fire at will!"
The two Banshees traded fire with a lance of Von Luckners. In a contest of big-bored cannons, range proved to be the deciding factor, and Gauss rifles were the kings of ranged weapons. The Banshees held the Von Luckners at bay, staying out of their AC20 firepower while stripping the heavy tanks with their Gauss slugs and PPC. It didn't take long before the lethal battletanks were reduced to flaming crates with nothing to shoot with. The crews soon abandoned the tanks, and the machine guns from APCs and armed transports finished them off.
The Pillager took on a lance of Zhukovs, who split in an attempt to swarm the 100-ton mech from all directions. Their autocannons scored moderate success, carving holes and cracks in the Pillager's armor. But the Pillager used its jump jets to outmaneuver the slow Zhukovs, then scored a Plasma hit to force the crews to abandon the vehicles. In quick succession the Zhukovs were left charred hulks, deserted by their crews.
Noloty had been devoid of action and her heart raced when the LRM carriers hurt an Elite 3 land train. Black smoke billowed from the tractor, and the speed dropped to mere 25 kph. It soon fell out of formation and struggled to keep up with the rest of the vehicles.
"Hawk Lance, we have a straggler," Noloty reported. "A missile swarm damaged the tractor and it is falling behind." She watched in fright as the land train started lagging. "We need to evacuate the vehicle, Sir."
"Negative, Noloty," the voice of Tsagoi felt like a dagger on her throat. "Let it go. There's nothing you can do about it."
"Sir?" Noloty couldn't believe her ears. "There are hundreds of civilians in that train! We have to evacuate the train, Sir!"
"No! Hold the line! Stay with the convoy!"
"We can't let them die, Sir!"
"Hold – the -line, Heishi!" Tsagoi thundered on her speaker. "You want to sacrifice thousands to save hundreds?! I told you, we will lose civilians! You cannot save them all! Now get your ass back in line or stay behind with the straggler! I am not slowing down the convoy!"
Noloty could see Tsagoi's reasoning, but those hundreds of civilians in the dying land train were humans. Somebody's sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, children. She couldn't do it. The horrified look on their eyes, knowing that they would die in a cramped place, it would haunt her forever. It was a tough decision, but somehow there was a glimmer of hope that it didn't have to be this way. They could find a way to save the civilians without jeopardizing the rest of the convoy. Tsagoi's resolution came out as heartless, and she was torn between following his order and finding her own resolution. After all, he was not her commanding officer.
But she was still making up her mind when a lance of battlemechs appeared in her radar. Two Bushwackers and two Wolverines came from the rear and immediately fired their weapons on the limping train. Their high-explosive cannon rounds tore open the lightly-armored cars and exploded inside the passenger compartment. Body parts mixed with metal shards. Noloty could barely watch the carnage.
"Battlemechs!" she cried out on her speaker. "Two Bushwackers and two Wolverines, 6 o'clock, 60 kph!"
"Hold them as long as you can! I'm coming!" Tsagoi replied. "Jax, Gregoro, Ping, take point and finish the ground pounders! I'm going in!"
Finishing off the Elite 3 land train, the medium mechs turned their attention toward the convoy, and the lone Sagittaire that stood between them and their preys. A lance of Hunter Light Support Tanks, the only ones left guarding the rear flank of the convoy, turned around and joined forces with the Noloty. Their LRM20 tubes rained down missiles upon the incoming mechs. Noloty put her crosshair squarely on a Wolverine's chest then fired her ERPPC. The ionized charge bolt cut through layers of armor and carved a smoldering crater on the Wolverine's midsection. The Wolverine lurched backward; its knees wobbled, and its arms splayed wide for balance. It returned to fighting stance just as a swarm of missiles exploited the damaged armor on the center torso. A flood of sparks bled from the wound, forcing the 55-ton mech to fall to its knees.
The combined PPC and missile attack pinned the medium lance for a moment. Every yard gained was paid by a ton of armor. That, until the Bushwackers scored a lucky hit on one of the Hunters. The missiles from the Bushwackers cracked the front hull of the 35-ton missile tank, and the Wolverine's cannon slugs slipped past the fracture to incinerate the magazine. The tank roared in brilliant explosion, pelting the other Hunters with burning fragments.
The medium lance pressed their advantage, concentrating fire on one tank at a time. The lightly-armored tanks buckled under pressure. Another Hunter exploded in spectacular fashion when a Bushwacker's laser beam cooked off the remaining missiles. The surviving two Hunters concentrated fire on the damaged Wolverine. Ten missiles cored the deep gash on its chest, finishing the job Noloty started. But the Bushwackers poured their cannon rounds at the light tanks. Fire engulfed the tanks, and the crews raced out of their vehicles.
Now stood alone, Noloty fired her medium laser trio at a Bushwacker, turning metal into molten slag. The Bushwacker returned fire; its laser burnt a slab of armor on the Sagittaire's right leg, and its autocannon scored a good hit on the Sagittaire's shoulder. Noloty steadied her mech for a PPC volley but furious ricochets threw her off the grid. The missile volley cracked the windshield, a few inches removed from fatality, but she was lucky she got hit in the head by only 1 warhead. The rest of them landed the shoulder.
The Marauders used Noloty's momentary grogginess by smothering the Sagittaire with high explosive ballistics. The armor-piercing slugs pulled widespread damage through the entire body, dangerously inching toward the delicate structures and machineries. Noloty gripped her joystick hard, steadying her mech as much as she could, but the constant rattling form ballistics and missiles threw her crosshair off the target. She blasted her jets, pulling a gap between her and her attackers, but the medium mechs kept up their pressure.
Then a stream of 'something', a mix of ballistics and energy strands, slammed onto a Bushwacker. The 55-ton mech careened to its left, and the legs snapped from uneven load. It crumbled like a dead animal, and the canopy popped open.
Noloty glanced left to see Gypsy, Tsagoi's 100-ton Pillager, shifting target to the other Bushwacker. The Bushwacker broke hard right but Noloty fired her PPC, stopping the medium mech from escaping. Her particle bolt hit the Bushwacker center mass, buckling its knees. Then in came Tsagoi's powerful volley, almost a carbon copy of his previous shot. The Gauss slug punched a deep hole on the left torso and the LBX submunitions sanded off a ton of armor, but it was the Plasma shot that sealed the Bushwacker's fate. The engine was overloaded, and the Bushwacker disintegrated in a fireball.
The surviving Wolverine chose to return to where it came from.
"You OK?" Tsagoi's voice crackled.
"Yes, Sir, I'm fine," Noloty let out a breath of relief. She inspected her mech, and winced upon seeing how much armor she lost in that short encounter. "A little banged up, but my mech still has a lot of fight in him."
"Let's regroup with the convoy. We are getting closer to the dustoff site. The dropships can give us some nice fire coverage."
"Ryokai, right behind you, Sir," Noloty rallied on Tsagoi as he sped up to rejoin the convoy. Artillery fire still rained down upon the convoy, but without spotters, it was inaccurate. Aside from a few trucks and small transports, it missed the bulk of the convoy. The armor assets were all wiped out, thanks to the valiant effort of Gregoro, Ping, and Jax.
"Delta-Six Red, sitrep," Tsagoi called her sister.
"Twenty percent loss. It could get worse."
"It could get worse," Tsagoi concurred with his sister's assessment. "All hands, this is the home stretch. Let's put this to a close."
Various replies flooded the comlink. Noloty returned to her post as the anchor and treaded along until she saw Overlord dropships descended from the sky like fireflies in the morning light.
