Chapter II

Jumpship Catalonia,
Carver V Orbit, Chaos March,
December 11, 3059

For about 2 months, the Knell's Cavaliers members became Evee's new family. She grew particularly close to Allison and learnt that Allison used to work for the Lyrans, Kangpae was a mediocre Solaris fighter (and it was the reason he left Solaris and joined the Hanson's Roughriders), Jules Hidleman was taken POW by the Kuritans and developed a psychiatric problem, Bill Xander had some money on his head, and Sebastian Knell assumed command of the Cavaliers after killing its former CO. There was a person Evee had not known or spoken with yet. He was a mysterious man known only by 'Psycho'. Nothing was known about this man apart from he was wanted in several major worlds. But he was a good mechwarrior and fought harder than anybody in the unit.

Today the Cavaliers gathered in the briefing room. Captain Kyle Garret of the Shooting Stars, a Davion unit, conducted a briefing for the Cavalier's first mission. "As you all know, you're heading to a chaotic planet in Carver V," Kyle said through the screen. "My unit stations at the city of Ayodya, but it is too hot to drop-off in the city. I'm sending you an alternate drop-off point. It is 15 kilometers outside the city of Ayodya. Make your best speed to Ayodya."

"What's the sitrep down there, Captain?" Sebastian asked.

"There are a dozen factions that fight each other, some are extremely hostile, others won't care about you. Avoid gunfight unless necessary. Your true enemy is Liao's Zhanzheng deGuang. It is the one that terrorized pro-Davion civilians. So open your eyes. This is a free combat zone. See you when you get here."

"Alright, Cavaliers, suit up and ready for drop-off!" Sebastian yelled as soon as Kyle disappeared.

All pilots went to the hangar bay of the dropship. Evee changed her clothing to her cooling jacket, fastened her Mamias, then climbed into the cockpit. As the technicians locked her canopy, Evee initiated the start up sequence. Seeing everything was in good condition, Evee contacted her superior, "Fire lance leader, this is Evee Ridinghood. All system nominal, ready to go."

"Stay on my six, Ridinghood," Daniel Wilks answered. "Keep your guns hot, but fire only on my mark."

Five minutes later, the dropship detached and started the descent toward Carver V surface. The wall rattled and groaned, as if it was about to break. Evee never liked this sequence, but she would do it anytime for Parker. About half an hour went by, and the dropship shook in one mighty quake, then stopped.

As the door rolled open, Evee pushed the throttle forward, being the first one that climbed down the ramp of the dropship. Carver V was a barren rock, with the torn city of Ayodya spread in front of her eyes. Pillars of smoke rose from the city, and occasional flashes prompted her with the fact that there was a war going on at the city. Evee painted the horizon with her long-range radar, looking for potential threats, but all she could see was debris. She waited until the Cavaliers finished dismounting the dropship, then lined up behind Daniel's Hunchback.

"Alright, Scout Lance, you go first," Sebastian commanded his troops. "Fire Lance, bring your lance 200 meters behind the Scout Lance. I'll watch your back."

The Scout Lance arranged themselves in line formation, followed by the Fire Lance in diamond formation. The Command Lance took the last position behind the Fire Lance. They crossed the barren land quickly toward the city. Up to that point, they maintained radio silence because they did not want to attract the warring factions.

The travel was pretty much fine until 5 kilometers from the city, an explosion blasted very close to the Scout Lance. The Javelin almost fell off by the shockwave. As it painfully tried to regain balance, two more explosions rocked the world, this time very close to the Fire Lance. Smoke and dirt flew in the air.

"What? Those were Long Tom artillery! Command, somebody's attacking us!" Allison croaked in panic.

"Spread out and find them!" Knell replied. "Fire Lance, fry it as soon as you see it!"

Evee took her mech to the left and flicked her radar, but she realized that the Long Tom had longer range than her radar. She would not be able to find the Long Tom until it fell within 1000 meters from her, and for all she knew, the Long Tom could be 5 kilometers away from them.

The whistling sound of descending shells grew more and more apparent then ended in three huge explosions among the Cavaliers. All mechs spread out and crisscrossing their paths, minimizing the chance of getting hit by the Long Toms, while sprinting toward the city. But the next waves fell too close to Ash Reeves. One shell blasted and ripped the right leg of his Clint. The lanky battlemech jerked and toppled like a timber.

"Damn!" Ash yelled. "I'm hit! My mech is crippled!"

"Get out of there, man!" Daniel Wilks roared. "Eject! Eject! Evee, turn back and help him out!"

But it was too late. The next wave of Long Toms fell directly onto the Clint. Blue light spewed out of the mech, indicating reactor failure, then a geyser of fire and smoke rose into the sky, raining down molten metal and burning debris. Some mechs that was too close to the erupting Clint received minor damage.

"Argh! That's a no go, Sir! Ash is gone!" Evee turned her mech back toward the city.

"Everybody go to the city! They can't hit us inside the city!" Sebastian screamed his order.

Evee pushed her reactor to maximum, bringing her Trebuchet running top speed. Long Tom artilleries roared left and right, but no one was caught in its fire. As soon as the Cavaliers entered the city, the artillery rain stopped. A group of Mad Cat, Loki, and two Bushwackers were waiting for them behind an abandoned building, and Evee took a deep breath upon seeing the FedCom crest on its torso.

"Knell's Cavaliers, this is Captain Kyle Garret, commanding officer of the Shooting Stars. Rough flight?"

"The flight is fine," Sebastian huffed. "We lost one mech on the ground travel."

"My condolences," Kyle turned around, followed by the other mechs. "I'll lead you to our field base. Stay close to me. You'll get lost easily on Ayodya."

Next on Escape from Carver V:

"Who else knows about you coming to Carver V?"
"What, you think Hanson's Roughriders sold us? We are a professional mercenary unit, for God sake! Or do you imply that there is mole inside us?"
"We have to be careful. There might be a mercenary with his own agenda."
"What? Are you that certain?"
"Look, FedCom hates Liao, and Liao hates FedCom. The Shooting Stars are a bunch of zealots that would rather die than giving Liao the advantage. The Cavaliers, on the other hands, fights only for money."
"Everybody may have a motive, including you. So next time, think before you accuse somebody of treason."