CHAPTER 2

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Ulquiorra9000: Looks can be deceiving :) The Yakuza made a mistake of underestimating her.


Shigata, Ashio,
Ashio Prefecture, Dieron Military District,
Draconis Combine,

September 5, 3074

The view of Shigata from the dropship bay door gave Noloty bitter chills. The city was not burning and smoking anymore, and the sky above the skyscrapers was not smeared with embers and ashes. But the ambience of death still lingered, and she knew the Markham's Marauders were still there, entrenched deep inside the city like antlions, waiting for unsuspecting mechwarriors.

Noloty knew what the Ryuken-go was up against. She had seen the Markham's Marauders, and she considered herself lucky to get out of their grips. She knew how they operated. She fed that information to Scarlet, who used it to devise strategies to outmaneuver the mercenaries. The Ryuken-go dropped off to Ashio with all-time-high confidence, expecting hard-fought battles but victory within grasps.

But Noloty didn't feel they had covered all the grounds. She studied Dultom Markham, a veteran mechwarrior with illustrious career. He had been in mercenary business before she was born. He had worked for all 5 major houses, all 7 periphery power houses, all sides of Chaos March, and now he worked for Word of Blake. He had worked for DCMS and against DCMS. He knew everything about DCMS warfare more than any of the Ryuken-go members. Scarlet was a fierce leader, but Noloty truly believed she was not in the same league as Dultom Markham.

But for now, she kept it to herself.

"Tai-I Kiyomi, set up perimeter defense, half a click," Scarlet ordered. "Sho-ko Kayoko, reconnoiter, one click. Tai-I Seether, take Fire Lance out to back up armor company. Everybody else, sit tight. Just like training, I want everything by the numbers."

A chorus of "Yes, Ma'am!" flooded the comlink. Kayoko's lance got out first, pounding the ramp and quickly disappearing around the bend. Kiyomi's massive, hundred-ton tank led the armor company rumbled out of the dropship in a steady flow. The sight of four Glory tanks gave Noloty a little comfort. No sane commander would take on a lance of Glory tanks in a straight-up fight. The artillery units exited last, then Seether's powerful Warhammer IIC walked out in assertive gait, pausing a brief moment at the door. Behind it, an Uziel, a Black Knight, a Legionnaire, and a Hatchetman followed the lead.

"Strike Lance. Contact with four Pegasus, 1 click north," Kayoko chirped.

"Signature?" Scarlet mused.

"Indecisive. Must be a mercenary recon."

"Run them down. If they're hostile, I want them dead."

"Ryokai." Kayoko kicked up her MASC and launched her Argus into a 100-kph speedster. The Pegasus lance underestimated the Argus' speed, assuming it was the common -4D variant. By the time they turned around to leave, Kayoko was meters away from her shooting range. She kept her profile low to reduce drag. The moment her crosshair burnt gold, she mashed the trigger, and a long azure particle bolt leapt from the tube, stabbing the closest Pegasus. The boxy turret flew into the air, catapulted by a red fireball. The hull drifted aimlessly in the desert, consumed by flames.

Running in triple digit pace, with the addition to the waste heat from the Heavy PPC, turned the cockpit steamy hot like a sauna. Kayoko blinked to clear her eyes from the dripping sweat, then turned realigned her crosshair to the next closest Pegasus. It was just about the edge of her range, but she had a lock. She let loose another volley, and the PPC bolt ripped the skirt of the Pegasus. The 35-ton hover tank spun out of control. It bounced on the desert a few times before sliding to a complete halt. The crews jumped out of the hover tank and scampered away.

The other 2 Pegasus pulled away, and the heat became unbearable, so Kayoko deactivated her MASC and came down to a jog. The rest of the Strike Lance caught up with her. The Phoenix Hawks moved in to blew up the stranded Pegasus, but Kayoko halted them.

"Stand down! We should frisk that little bitch for information." She switched to general frequency. "This is Strike Lance. Dispatched two Pegasus, one is still intact. The others escaped."

"Hold position, Strike Lance. I'm sending Engineering to retrieve data." Scarlet switched to different channel. "Dropship Command, tap into any local signal, see what you can find!"

"Ryokai!" the dropship's helm confirmed then disappeared in a series of tweets and statics. Minutes passed without event. Scarlet sent the JI-100 to retrieve the Pegasus, then walked out of the dropship, escorted by Noloty on her left flank and the Marauder on the right. They strolled around the dropship almost in full circle when the helm returned, "This is Dropship Command. Somebody claiming as Ashio Underground is trying to establish comlink. Do you want to take it?"

"Patch it through," Scarlet said.

"Patching, stand by." The line crackled with static, then a girl's voice sprang. "DCMS Task Force?"

"Sho-sa Scarlet, Ryuken-go. State your name and unit."

"Gunjin Mirabel, 16th Sun Zhang Cadre. We have been waiting for you."

"Are you in charge, Gunjin?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I am the sole survivor of the 16th Sun Zhang Cadre. My order is to guard planetary governor Duke Nikolai Jansma until I am relieved. I have not failed my assignment, Ma'am."

"Good work, Gunjin. What's your sitrep?"

"I have one battlemech, two light tanks, and a few foot soldiers to guard Duke Jansma. The rest of the 16th Sun Zang Cadre has been decimated, along with Ashio Militia. There is a Level III Word of Blake unit and a mercenary command, battalion size. They used heavy and assault battlemechs, with some lights and mediums for recon duties. I hope you bring in heavy firepower, Ma'am."

"Markham Marauders. We know who they are, and we are ready for them." Scarlet hissed. "We were not informed of a Level III Word of Blake, but intel reports are shit half of the time."

"Some of the survivors of Sun Zang Cadre and Ashio Militia were taken to the Word of Blake Reeducation Camp…"

"Reeducation Camp," Scarlet sniggered. "Boy was this a turn of event."

"Sho-sa Scarlet, Ma'am," Noloty called Scarlet from private channel. "Can we be sure this is not a trap? We don't know anything about Gunjin Mirabel…"

"Your job is not to question my decision, Heishi," Scarlet replied harshly. "Your job is to protect my flank."

"That's what I am doing, Ma'am. I'm protecting your flank from possible ambush. Reeducation Camp sounds too good to be true. It might be just Markham Marauders' plot to draw us deeper into their territory."

Scarlet pondered her position for a while, then switched to different frequency. "Seether, run the background on this woman: Gunjin Mirabel, 16th Sun Zang Cadre. Assigned to Ashio about a year ago."

"Running background. Stand by." A brief moment elapsed, then the XO of Ryuken-go returned to comlink, "Background checks out. Gunjin Mirabel, born 3053 at Shitara, enrolled in Sun Zang Academy in 3072, broke several school records as a freshman and sophomore, promoted to Gunjin in 3073 based on academic merit, the first of her class, immediately got sent to Ashio late 3073 and listed as MIA as of June 3074."

"There is a chance that Mirabel had been brainwashed into a Word of Blake agent," Noloty muttered.

"True, but if she has not, then there are soldiers in that camp burning for revenge. I'm going for it." She switched to the previous channel. "Alright, Gunjin, stand by for more orders. Maintain radio silence until we contact you."

"Ryokai. Mirabel out."

"Seether, set up a bivouac. We're taking that Reeducation Camp at dawn."

"Yes Ma'am!" Seether's reply came immediately, followed by a chorus of enthusiastic war chants.


Markham Marauders' Base Camp,
Ashio, Ashio Prefecture,
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine,

September 5, 3074

Dultom Markham propped his feet on the table as he listened to the propaganda feed from the city of Shigata.

"… we are Ashio, and we are still alive! The dawn of the new era is coming, and we will see Ashio once again in the hands of Draconis Combine! The time of the Word of Blake is over! Rise and join us in our fight for our right! Rise, good people of Ashio! Pick up your weapons and fight for our world! Fight for our land! Fight for our people! Ashio is ours!"

"I don't know why you find it amusing," Darius Oliveira took a seat next to his CO. "Mordecai told us to watch out for Duke Jansma coalescing with Kuritan invasion force. Now we lost 2 recon hover tanks to an apparent out-of-world unit, and Duke Jansma's speech indicates that they have made contact. And you're sitting here, watching them mobilize and prepare a counterstrike."

"Mobilize?" Dultom popped up a bottle of gin and chugged half of the liquor. "Let them band together. Let them dream. Let them… mobilize. It'll make us easier to crush them in one sweep."

"You don't have much respect to this new Kuritan force, do you?" Darius took a deep breath. "It's not the dragon that kills you. It's the mosquito. Your overconfidence may drag us all to hell."

"What you call 'overconfidence', I call 'confidence in my team'. That's the different between you and me, Darius," Dultom passed his bottle to Darius. "I know the strengths and weaknesses of every member of the Markham's Marauders, and I know how to use them. That's why the Markham's Marauders prosper through many wars, from the Fourth Succession War through Word of Blake's Jihad. That's why I'm in my position and you're in yours."

"So what's your move?" Darius took a sip from the bottle.

"What do we know about this new Kuritan unit?"

"Aside from fast mechs and drab grey color, not much. Kuritans are the proponent of fast light mechs. The one that gunned down Recon-66 was big enough to be a heavy mech, but it outran a 35-ton hover tank and knocked it down with a precise PPC shot to the back." Darius took more gin down his throat. "I wish I could share your confidence, El-Tee. But this makes me nervous."

"Must be one of the Ryukens," Darius smiled. "I love the Ryukens. I fought with them and I fought against them. They're built in mercenary mold."

"I know history. I know what the Ryukens are," Darius snapped. "What are we going to do about them?"

"Well," Dultom pulled up a 3D overhead map of Shigata and the surrounding area. "That signal came from Shigata. It means the Kuritans will rendezvous with Duke Jansma at Shigata, or they're going to relieve Shigata and then rendezvous with Jansma. Either way, it's their starting point. I'm going to trick Mordecai to attack Shigata. If Mordecai wins, problem solved. If the Kuritans wins, they'll be so deprived of ammo they might as well throw rocks to keep their enemies at bay. We just swoop in and slaughter them to the last man."

"How in the hell are you going to get Mordecai's unit to attack Shigata?" Darius blurted.

Dultom didn't answer. He zoomed in on one of the buildings at Ashio. It was a pudgy building, most likely a warehouse or a grocery store in its previous life, before jihad turned Shigata into a wasteland. Bullet holes covered the walls like swiss cheese.

"Word of Blake Reeducation Camp?" Darius cringed.

"Everybody wants to be a hero," Dultom scoffed. "Everybody wants to liberate Reeducation Camp. It's a magnet for glory hunters and idealistic noobs who regard war as a game. Liberate Reeducation Camps in the name of peace and humanity. Jihad is fought by fools, Darius, and I am willing to bet, the Kuritan's opening salvo would be taking that Reeducation Camp. Let's give them what they want. Guarenteeed, Mordecai would march into Shigata guns blazing."

"What if Mordecai doesn't take it?"

"Then we just have to take it back ourselves, don't we?" Dultom finished the bottle then tossed it aside. "I told you, I love the Ryukens. Their commanders are trained in a mix of Bushido and mercenary doctrines. Should make an interesting one-on-one."

"You're not Parker Kerensky, you know."

Dultom shrugged. "Parker Kerensky does not mix business with pleasure. I do." He took a deep breath. "Who's on Shigata?"

"Behemoth and Medusa, with two lances of armor."

"Pull Behemoth and Medusa out. Leave the tanks."

"You're leaving our tanks at the mercy of the Kuritans?"

"If we pull out completely, Mordecai won't pay us. It's bad for our reputation. The objective is to make Mordecai think that we're not cowards, just incompetent enough that he has to take matters into his own hands. Remember, everybody wants to be a hero. We'll play it both ways. By the time they realized they were victims of their own ideals," Dultom entwined his fingers behind his head, "they'd wish they dealt with Parker Kerensky, not Dultom Markham."