CHAPTER 12

Author's Note: I waited to write this chapter for so long, and it ends in a rather emotional fashion for me, so I'm glad it turns out the way I thought it would be, if not better. I hope you enjoy it the way I wrote it.

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mobmal: Thank you always for your enthusiasm and your dedication. It makes me happy that somebody appreciates what I write.


Logistic Depot, 2 hrs from Shigata,
Ashio, Ashio Prefecture,
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine,

October 18, 3074

"Well well, another little kogyaru trying to play in the big league," Dultom grimly hissed. He remembered the Sagittaire very well; a plain mech back then, without any livery or insignia, epitomized only by twin gattling cannons under the stubby arms. In his dictionary, a duel reached completion with total annihilation of his opponent. The Sagittaire was one of the few to have escaped from his grasp, thus a 'loose end' in his litany of victories. And Dultom Markham did not like loose ends.

"My name is Heishi Noloty Malche, DCMS Ryuken-go," Noloty trained all weapons at the Bull Shark, but planted her feet firm on her jet pedal. "I failed to kill you last time. I will not fail again."

"A mistake, never to be repeated," Dultom sneered, appaled by the fact that the one who put a blemish in his record was actually a low-ranked Kuritan soldier. It made him even more determined to destroy the Sagittaire. "There are no Overlords to cover your retreat this time, Heishi. Your only way out is through me."

"I am not looking for an exit," Noloty centered her crosshair on the Bull Shark's midst. "My order is to liberate Ashio from Word of Blake occupation, or die trying."

"Then die trying you shall!" Dultom drew first blood and squeezed his trigger, sending armor-piercing projectiles to the Sagittaire's midst. But his shot hit a cloud of smoke and debris. The 95-ton Sagittaire was already airborne with the grace of a medium mech half its size. Dultom followed up with his lasers, but the Sagittaire changed direction awkwardly, dodging his laser strands in a way he never thought possible for an assault mech.

From a high vantage point Noloty rained down her cannon shells at the Bull Shark. The cockpit rattled as the multi-barrelled autocannons blasted in full speed. She noticed the gaping wound on the Bull Shark's torso, and one lucky shot might end the life of the mighty mech for good. But Dultom guarded his damaged mech well. The Bull Shark twisted left, exposing its still-intact armor platings at Noloty's assault. Laser and HEAP shells scourged the Bull Shark, but the armor held on, shrugging off the attack, although at a very high cost.

Dultom tried to predict the unorthodox movement of the Sagittaire. He knew the 95-ton mech was designed as an urban brawler, with jump jets to maneuver in confined spaces. But this one was different. The jump jets were Noloty's bread and butter. Her footwork was mediocre at best, which was expected from a low-ranked mechwarrior, but her vertical movement gave him headache. She jumped as if she was in a Phoenix Hawk. Fortunately she didn't shoot that well, otherwise the duel would go south very quickly for him.

Touching down, Noloty engaged a 'circle of death' and peppered the Bull Shark with withering lasers. A wash of heat surged into the cockpit, making even breathing difficult, despite her effort to volley fire. She painted the Bull Shark with a few more lasers, then capped her offense with ERPPC. The blue streak grazed the upper left arm of the Bull Shark, disintegrating half a ton of armor. But she paid greatly for it. Waste heat overwhelmed the Sagittaire, making the myomers sluggish.

Dultom took Noloty's best shots but remained unfazed. His trained eyes found a hole in Noloty's defense and his hands were quick to exploit it. Steam and smoke wafted as several layers of Sagittaire armor sagged into bubbling smelter. He followed up with his LB-10X, spitting hundreds of armor-piercing sub-munitions. The Sagittaire took it to the air to prevent more damage, but Dultom expected it. He blasted his Thumper cannon, rocking the jumping assault mech with clustered munitions. The Sagittaire twisted and staggered mid air, rolling upon descend.

Noloty fought hard to correct the Sagittaire's position but she didn't have enough time. The Sagittaire landed on its left leg. The structures screamed in agony as the entire 95-ton mass hinged on a single support. Noloty blasted her jets in rapid succession, trying to alleviate pressure on the left leg. She twisted right to force the Sagittaire to lean on its right leg. As the Sagittaire stabilized, a swarm of armor-piercing bullets shredded its right torso armor to ribbons. The cockpit rattled. She fired her jets again to quickly get into firing positioin, but another wave of HEAP snapped the Sagittaire way off target.

Dultom's lips crooked into a cruel smile, watching the Sagittaire writhed under his assault. He relieved his childhood memory of torching worms and insects and other small creatures under his magnifying glass. He didn't expect the Sagittaire to last much longer than those miserable critters under his scorching assault. This would go down as just another kill in another day's job, despite its unexpected escape on their first encounter. He swung left, aiming for the Sagittaire's damaged right torso. His lasers melted the remaining right torso armor, exposing internal structures and keeping the Sagittaire on the defensive.

Once again Noloty resolved to her jump jets to keep the Sagittaire upright. Dultom Markham was good, really good. The best she ever fought. He quickly deciphered Noloty's fight plan and used it for his own advantage. Her right side armor was reduced to pulp, and Dultom was going at it like a shark smelling blood. She had to adjust her plan if she wanted to survive this contest. She fired her ERPPC, and the Bull Shark keeled over, puffing smoke from the midsection.

Dultom pulled his mech back up and lobbed a HEAP shell from his Thumper cannon. The Sagittaire easily dodged it. Dultom followed up with his LB-10X scattershot rounds, forcing the Sagittaire to take evasive maneuver to the left. He strafed the left side of the Sagittaire, carving a few craters and canals on its hide. When his lasers went green on his console, Dultom overrode the shutdown sequence before sending 4 emerald beams at the craters and canals on the Sagittaire's left torso. The armor glowed orange, coupled by smoke and a spray of molten armor.


The Noloty-Dultom gunfight quickly became the centerpiece of Kuritan – mercenary power struggle. The remaining of Ryuken-go fire lance moved in to back up Noloty, but Behemoth and Glitch cut them off. Behemoth's Highlander and Glitch's Rifleman concentrated fire on the Kuritan's Black Knight, which was quickly reduced to scrap. The Highlander's Gauss slug split the Black Knight's chest plate open, and the Rifleman buried a load of high-explosive rounds into the opening. The Black Knight's upper body swelled in a fireball. The remaining crotch and legs teetered drunkenly for a few paces before crumbling.

The Hatchetman used the lack of attention to sneak behind the Rifleman undetected. By the time the Rifleman realized the threat, the Hatchetman was in position to deal a debilitating blow. The hatchet dropped like Thor's Hammer and cut a swath of destruction from where the cockpit met the torso down to the ribcage. A geyser of sparks and shards burst from the Rifleman's left torso. The boxy heavy mech keeled over on wobbled knees, straining to stay on its legs.

The Highlander fired its lasers and missiles, pushing the Hatchetman a few paces back, then took to the sky in a thick smoke. The Hatchetman tried to escape but the Rifleman slugged its legs with well-timed autocannon salvo. The Hatchetman dropped down to its knees, and could only watch in helpless horror as the 90-ton Highlander descended upon it. The Highlander's feet crushed the Hatchetman cockpit, leaving the rest of the mech thrashed in death throes.

"Yankee Tornado, fire lance is gone," Kayoko reported. "Heavy and assault units are creeping up on Tango Sakura. Moving in to intercept."

"No, no, no! Do not come here!" Noloty screamed amidst cracks and ricochets. "Dultom Markham has his eyes on me! Pull out before he finishes me off! I'll hold him as long as I can!"

"Are you trying to be a hero, Tango Sakura?" Scarlet roared.

"Ma'am, I know how he fights. He'll engage me and ignore the rest of you as long as I'm alive. This is a chance to pull out and fight another day!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" Kayoko blurted.

"Luna Swift, we're taking too many casualties! The Marauders win this round! Please, save yourself and fight another day! Yankee Tornado, please, pull them all out! I'll hold back Dultom Markham!"


Holding back Dultom Markham was easier said than done, and Noloty didn't know how long she could last. Her damage console was blinking furiously. Less than 15-percent armor remained on the upper body, and Dultom's next shot would certainly crush the Sagittaire's internal structures. It was only a matter of time until her reactor overloaded. The Bull Shark was not particularly in great shape. The torso armor was next to nonexistent, thanks to Seether's particle bolt works. But Noloty couldn't get a shot at it. Dultom expertly covered his damaged side with a combination of torso twisting and razor-sharp shooting.

The Bull Shark charged the Sagittaire from 2 o'clock position, hurling laser bolts at the Sagittaire's damaged torso. Noloty fired her jets to slide forward, dodging the laser beams, then turned her back at the Bull Shark as if she was running away. The Bull Shark couldn't resist taking a pot shot at the thin rear armor, but as it lined up behind the Sagittaire, Noloty slapped it with two rear-firing medium lasers. The twin emerald beams melted several layers of armor very close to the damaged right torso.

Dultom reined her mech, realizing how close he was to catastrophic explosion. Noloty's shot was less than an inch away from frying his engine. He fired his Thumper, forcing the Sagittaire to move, then let loose a hail of ballistics from his quadruple cannons. Again the Sagittaire took to the sky, missing most of Dultom's bullets. Those who connected stripped the Sagittaire's leg armor bare. Frayed myomer jutted out at the knees.

As soon as the Sagittaire landed, Noloty fired her multi-barrelled cannons, first the left, then the right. The shells smothered the Bull Shark, forcing it to reverse direction to avoid torso hit. She gunned the engine, circling the Bull Shark, then slammed home a triple-laser volley from the Bull Shark's blind spot. Two bolts incised the upper right arm, dangerously threatened the ammo feeding mechanism for the cannons. Smoke twirled from burnt myomer, and for the first time since the duel start, the Bull Shark staggered.

Dultom rarely rarely had to struggle to center his crosshair on an assault. Assault mechs were slow, sluggish, and overly reliant on thick armor and large-bored, high-performance weapons. But this Sagittaire moved exceptionally well. The mechwarrior – he almost couldn't believe that she was just a heishi – knew her mech well, and pushed it to the limit. He started to doubt the outcome of this duel. Last time it happened, it was almost 30 years ago.

But Dultom still had aces up his sleeve, bits and pieces he learnt in the battlefield throughout half a century of his career. He fired his cannons, one after another, and forced the Sagittaire to fight on its heels. The Sagittaire grew weary and - as Dultom anticipated - jumped to clear his line of fire. Dultom fired his Thumper cannon – loaded with scattershot munitions – a few inches ahead of the Sagittaire. Half of the submunitions ravaged the Sagittaire's right side, slipping through armor fractures to crush the delicate machinery underneath. Sparks highlit critical hits, along with Dultom's newfound confidence.

Noloty clenched her grips on the joystick as the Sagittaire landed roughly. Dultom's opportunistic shot clobbered the Sagittaire's hip, shredding myomers and punching holes on the coolant reservoir. Acrid smell of vaporized coolant seeped into the cockpit, forcing her to hold her breath to keep her from vomiting. She spread the Sagittaire's legs for stability, then fired quick two bursts of ballistics in quick successions. The Bull Shark ducked, dodging half of the projectiles. Noloty backpedaled behind her laser shots, then quickly turned right for another circle of death.

Dultom noticed the Sagittaire's hesitation and he capitalized on it. His quad ballistic cannons roared in anger, scourging the remaining armor of the Sagittaire. His lasers cut through metal chassis into the structures and fragile machinery. The Sagittaire squirmed with every critical hit. Its knees wobbled under the relentless assault of the Bull Shark. Dultom swung left to get an unobstructed shot at the Sagittaire's bad hip. The Sagittaire fired its PPC, a poor choice of weapon, to which Dultom easily circumvent. He loaded his Thumper with a solid round, then hammered the Sagittaire's right hip. Strands of myomer sprayed into the air, along with fragmented armor and structures.

Noloty pulled her joystick backward and blasted her jets to quickly correct the Sagittaire's position. Half a dozen warning rhetorics overwhelmed her senses, telling her things that she already knew. She furiously aligned her crosshair with the Bull Shark, only to see the muzzle flash blitzed like a strobe light. Next thing she knew, a massive explosion threw her to the left side. She felt her mech capsizing in an ungainly twist, and at the last minute she spread the Sagittaire's left arm, hoping to find suspend the Sagittaire with its long-barrelled cannon.

Dultom relished the spectacle of the right arm of the Sagittaire blown off in a single hit. The squat torso now lied crooked, supported by its remaining UAC10, while black smoke billowed from the stump. Its legs twitched in frantic fashion as the mechwarrior tried to figure out a way to bring it up to fighting stance.

"You exceeded my expectation when you escaped me the first time, Heishi Noloty Malche," Dultom circled the struggling Sagittaire. "And you put up a good fight the second time around, much better than the Warhammer IIC. But you still have a lot to learn. Shame, though, because you won't have that luxury."

Noloty fired her jets in quick succession, bringing her mech upright outside the Bull Shark's line of fire. She quickly access damage screen, and her heart sank seeing the right arm went offline. The right torso was blinking red; not much was left other than mangled structures and limping engine. Her right UAC10 and two medium lasers were gone. So was half the myomer on her right leg. Armor and chassis were shredded to bits, which meant the next thing the Bull Shark threw at her would go straight into the engine.

"Get up, Hamlet, get up get up get up" Noloty muttered, 'pleading' her Sagittaire to give everything it had left. "Don't quit now. We've come this far. The Bull Shark is done in. One more hit and it's all over. One more, just one more…"


Scarlet kept one eye on the Wakazashi in front of her and the other eye on the rest of the Ryuken-go. Half of the company had perished. The backbone of the team, the Fire Lance, had been wiped out to the last man. Her XO and arguably the most talented mechwarrior in the company had fallen in an ill-fated duel with Dultom Markham, the leader of the mercenary unit under the spell of Word of Blake.

The fact that the Ryuken-go hadn't been completely annihilated was largely due to Dultom Markham getting caught up with Noloty. Scarlet knew Dultom's battlefield exploits. Had Noloty not kept him at bay, he would have roamed free and slaughtered the rest of the Ryuken-go. She could've taken Dultom herself, and perhaps she should've, but giving up 20 tons in a mech she barely knew wouldn't make much of an impact. She would fall, anad things would get even worse for the rest of the team.

It was hard for her to see Noloty, the bright young new member of the team, had to trade her life for the company. She surprised everybody by staying alive longer than Seether against the dreaded Dultom Markham, but the end result wouldn't be different. Her mech couldn't take another hit. But she accepted her fate so her commanding officer, her best friend, and whatever was left of the Ryuken-go could survive and fight another day.

So Scarlet hurled a two-punch attack at the Wakazashi, opening up with the last Gauss slug to the torso, closing in with a PPC blast down the midsection. The Wakazashi keeled over amidst a shower of sparks and smoke. As the Wakazashi staggered, Scarlet swung past it and came behind Kayoko's Argus, which was trading blows with a Caesar. Her pulse lasers gutted the Caesar, and her PPC forced the mercenary to lurch. The Argus' streak missiles incinerated the engine, and the Caesar went off in earth-shattering explosion.

"Gather your men and follow me!" Scarlet barked. "We're getting out of here!"

"We're leaving Tango Sakura?!" Kayoko was dismayed.

"She's buying us time! Don't waste it!"

"I'm not…"

"We'll honor her death with the blood of the mercenaries, but we can't do that if you keep diddle-daddling! Get your men out! We're going back to Shigata!"

"Strike Lance, disengage and follow Yankee Tornado! We're going back to Shigata!" Yet instead of following Scarlet, Kayoko went back into the thick of battle.

"Dammit Luna Swift! What the hell are you doing?!" Scarlet roared.

"Strike Lance will follow you to Shigata, but I am not leaving Tango Sakura behind!"

"Luna Swift…"

"I am… NOT… leaving my friend behind!" Kayoko snarled. "Kill me if I return, but I am not letting Tango Sakura die alone!"


From the corner of her eyes Noloty saw Scarlet and the surviving band of Ryuken-go pulled out of the battlefield, and she could breath a little sigh of relief, knowing that they would continue to fight, even as a shadow of what they once were. She raised the Sagittaire's remaining arm and emptied the ammo bin. The Bull Shark sidestepped the attack. She followed up with her laser, brazing the upper left arm of the Bull Shark. The beam vaporized several structural beams, but failed to inflict critical damage.

Dultom could see the Sagittaire was setting up for its PPC before the gun started firing. He easily brought his Bull Shark to the side, just as the azure light beam splashed murderously, but harmlessly, a few inches on his left. Smiling victoriously, Dultom hit the trigger, and the Sagittaire engulfed in fire. Pieces of machinery flew every which way as the Sagittaire swayed left and right mindlessly.

Noloty knew she did everything she could. Dultom Markham was an unstoppable force, and she knew she wouldn't be able to escape him the second time around. Her mech was stripped bare from weapons. But her teammates survived the carnage, and that was all she cared about. It was time to end her service for the glory of the Draconis Combine.

But she didn't want to go down without inflicting maximum damage to the enemy.

"We are weapons, Hamlet," she blasted her jump jets, full speed. "We are death, every part of us!"

Dultom knew the Sagittaire would pull off a vault. He was ready for that. But he didn't expect that the Sagittaire would power its way straight at him. He pulled the joystick as hard as he could, but it was too late. The Sagittaire crashed into the Bull Shark, breaching the damaged right torso. Half his console exploded. Blistering sparks rained down from the ceiling. Half a second later the engine overloaded, sending a violent jolt throughout its body. The harness prevented him from crashing onto the console, but it dug so deep into his ribcage he thought he lost a rib or two.

Noloty's head flailed uncontrollably and smashed into the main screen, splitting her neurohelmet. A splinter of the helmet thrust inward and tore a long gash on her forehead just above her left eye. Blood gushed out from the gap, covering half her face – and her eyes – with red sticky goop. Whimpering, Noloty tried to remove her helmet but the splinter slid deeper into her flesh, causing her to cry in pain.

The Sagittaire and the Bull Shark remained tangled with each other. The stump of the Sagittaire's right arm thrust into the Bull Shark's damaged right torso, taking out the engine. None of them moved as a Highlander and a Longbow closed in, boxing the two mechs from the opposite direction.

"Sir?" Behemoth called. "Lt. Col. Dultom Markham, can you hear me?"

"I'm here, Behemoth," Dultom wheezed. He shifted painfully in his command chair, but a sharp twinge on his ribs forced him to seize further movements. The saltiness in his mouth told him he got internal bleeding. "I'm losing power. Pull that sonofabitch off my mech!"

"Right away Si…" Behemoth already moved her Highlander toward the Sagittaire when a strand of blue charge zipped past her face. She turned her Highlander around to see a Kuritan Argus standing in attacking position. She didn't realize there was still another Kuritan unit in the vicinity, after they retreated.

"You move, Dultom Markham's dead!" Kayoko blurted in general frequency. "You shoot me, he's dead! You shoot the Sagittaire, he's dead!"

"Kill her!" Dultom hissed. "Shoot the goddamn bitch!"

"My mech can withstand two alpha strikes, one from each of you!" Kayoko put her thumb on the alpha strike trigger. "But he can't withstand one of mine, and you know that! So yeah, come on! Hit me with your best shot! See how MRBC reacts to incompetent mechwarriors who let their commander die in a standoff!"

"Let's mug her, Behemoth!" Dekker moved his Longbow to get a clear shot at the Argus.

"Stand down, Dekker!" Behemoth yelled.

"What is your problem, Behemoth?!" Dultom growled. "I gave you an order! Kill the Kuritan bitch!"

"I'm sorry, Sir, no can do," Behemoth replied.

"If you're not doing it, I will," Dekker interjected.

"Stand down, Dekker, or I'll shoot you in the head!" In an unprecedented move Behemoth raised the Highlander arm.

"Shit girl, what the hell is your problem?" Dekker backed down.

"Yeah, didn't think so," Kayoko chimed in. "Now you two assholes stay where you are, otherwise you're not going to see your commander again!"

"Kayoko, what are you doing?" Noloty whimpered.

"I can't let you claim all the glory, can I?" Kayoko chuckled. "Now back up your mech."

"Just go, Kayoko, leave me in peace," Noloty said with trembling voice.

"Back… up… your… mech, you stubborn ass! I'm not putting my butt in their crosshair to see you die in 'peace'! Now back up! "

"Hamlet is done for," Noloty sobbed. "We're done for. I can't see anything. Oh God, Kayoko, it hurts."

"Hey, hey, hey, stay with me! I'm going to get you out of here! I'll be your eyes. Now just back up. Come on, give everything you've got!"

With trembling hand Noloty put the Sagittaire in reverse. The legs whined as the Sagittaire disentangled itself from the Bull Shark. It backpedaled in painful trot, putting the remaining myomer to work. But it kept backtrekking, going farther and farther away from the Marauders.

"That's it, keep going, there's nobody behind you," Kayoko guided Noloty. "Now turn around and rotate, then go straight ahead. Don't worry, I'll tell you what to do."

"You have a lot of nerve coming between me and my prey!" Dultom grimaced. "Cowardice is something I don't regard lightly. Our paths will cross again, and next time we meet, you will regret this day!"

"I'll be waiting!" Kayoko replied curtly, then cut off all communication channel.

The Sagittaire limped away with its Argus escort, slowly, until they both got out of the Marauders' reach.

"Sir, they are out of range. I can call artillery strike on them," Behemoth called Dultom.

Dultom would very much like it, but only on the Argus. No matter how much it hurt him to acknowledge that he failed to kill the Sagittaire the second time, it was a worthy opponent. It did not deserve to die in an artillery strike. "Negative, Behemoth. Let them go. Where the hell is Darius?"

"He got knocked out by a Marauder, Sir," Dekker replied. "He's getting too old for this shit."

"Round out the survivors. We're going to Shigata in 24 hours. This time, no survivors!"