Dragonslayers 03
NNW of Conlan City
New Aberdeen
Technically Roland Kaplan, as the representing of the 4th Deneb and proper ranking officer of the AFFS, should have been in charge of this operation. However, when Raymond Allwine revealed the plan, he realized that this was the special sort of crazy that could work terribly well against the DCMS.
"The Eridani Light Horse, the Deneb Light Cavalry, the Second Galedon Regulars - all of us purport to be specialists in the field of fire and maneuver. Who then, are the best at it?" Allwine had asked idly.
Kaplan blandly replied "The Second Galedon is nowhere near this starting line. I would have to ask from Kurita for a Sword of Light regiment at least, not these trumped-up paper boys."
Allwine nodded. The 2nd Galedon benefited greatly from the best that Kurita's logistics could bring, but carried themselves as a regiment that earned their place through skill alone. "That's what they think. One of them has the pride of all of them."
He sighed "The Draconis Combine is a dragon that cannot be defeated, a monster that cannot be slain. Because they will never admit to ever being beaten. All setbacks are only temporary, a man would rather die than be humiliated. That is the way of the warrior - their bushido."
Kaplan grimaced in return. "We have all been fighting the Combine for centuries now. There really isn't anything new that can be used against them anymore. Just beat them straight up and don't worry about it," Kaplan replied and looked to the distance with the despair of Pyrrhus after defeating Rome at Heraclea and Ausculum. "The Combine… is just something we all have to endure. We beat them here, they're justs going to come back. Twice as mad. Not angry-mad, insane-fanatic-lunatic-mad.
"Sometimes I feel like they're a force of nature, a perpetual disaster of the Inner Sphere. How can any reasonable man stand against such reckless hate?" Kaplan clenched his fists. "Just beat them. Beat them every time. Kill enough of them so that next time they get weaker and weaker until for a longer time… we can have peace. Until they start to pull their bloody mind to things again."
Allwine said "The Draconis Combine cannot be hurt through war and violence alone, that is where they thrive. To truly hurt them, you need to attack their soul."
-.
As Kaplan remembered that the Second Galedon took pride in being open-field combatants, the wide open sun-baked plains of New Aberdeen promised to answer this unspoken question. There were few wooded areas to hide ambushes in, and tube artillery like the venerable Long Tom were far too slow to accompany mechs. There was no choice but to intercept the enemy and get into a knock-out match.
The 2nd Galedon had to prove they were better in very thing their enemy took pride in. The 2nd Galedon moved with the arrogant confidence of a firstborn son.
Unlike the Eridani Light Horse and Kornilov's regimental command, the 4th Deneb's 3rd Battalion vs Kutuzov's Battalion would be decided by skill versus skill. They had the same tech level, the same overall speed, and no artillery to complicate things. There was always the chance that Kornilov would not have split the force, but too large a force was unwieldy and refusing to accept battle was timidity.
Both the 4th Deneb and the Eridani Light Horse had fought the Draconis Combine through centuries, and by now they were familiar with how they thought. The Combine thought in mythic terms, as if the whole of the Inner Sphere was a stage and each one had their role to play. Most were just chaff, incidental actors and background scenery, it was up to each one of them to achieve a starring role (often at someone else's expense).
Just outnumbering and encircling the defenders would have been fine, but that did not make for an interesting enough story. The glory that the commanders would achieve would be minimal. As Allwine admitted, this was similar to how on Hoff, the Kurita commander decided to ignore the Wolf's Dragoons and attack first after a soothsayer had promised him victory.
One would think that there would be no room for astrologers and mystics in a military campaign, but that was the inherent dichotomy of the Draconis Combine. Kaplan had to admit that the DCMS had some damn good individual soldiers ruined only by the rank ego and superstitiousness of their officers.
"I am Major Roland Kaplan of the Fourth Deneb Light Cavalry Regiment! Pyotr Kutuzov, I know you can hear me!" he shouted into an open channel. At the very least, everyone's battlerom would have it. "Is a fair fight the only thing you're scared of? Come on, you snakes! Let's dance!"
Unlike the Eridani Light Horse who cheated with Catapults and Archers that were just as fast as Medium Mechs, the two companies of 4th Deneb had to work to keep the enemy's attention on the chase. Kaplan's mechs moved in a loose formation that invited one on one duels.
They didn't need to pull the enemy away very far. Less than fifteen minutes later, the dry semi-desert of New Aberdeen showed a broad plume of dust coming from the horizon.
Just far enough that the Eridani Light Horse and 4th Deneb's combat vehicle complement could roll in from the flank. The Vedettes of ELH Bravo Company and DLC 3rd Armor Company now joined the fray.
Now Kaplan could almost hear the Kurita pilots scoff at their sensors reporting the approach of over two dozen Vedettes.
The quintessential medium tank all others were measured against, a Vedette weighed fifty tons but was only armed with a single AC/5 and a Machine Gun. This was an anemic warload in the thirtieth century, more proper to a tank or mech 25 tons lighter.
Even at those numbers they were underwhelming. A Vedette Medium Tank was not worth a mech - in fact a MechWarrior would consider it not worth eventhree for a mech- a well-piloted Light Mech could even just survive its fire long enough to step on them.
Their main advantage was that they were cheap and decently fast, able to keep up with medium mechs. They roared to contact in several dagger lines, tearing up the ground at over 80 kilometers per hour.
This disdain for the AC/5 was odd considering that an AC/5 was a Dragon's main gun as well, but it also had an LRM-10 to supplement long range fire, and a pair of Medium Lasers that never feared running out of ammo. It was an excellent close-range combatant. Kutuzov's Dragon led the charge.
"Is this it, you Davion dogs?!" Tai-sa Kutuzov spoke over comms. "Pathetic. You are not mechwarriors if you need to be rescued by some second-rate tanks! Enough running. Fight me now, cowards!"
Major Kaplan ordered his two companies to wheel about to fight. "This is far enough. Deneb Cavalry! Let's skin some snakes!"
Kutuzov detached two lances to screen against the incoming tanks and readied to duel the Davion mechs to their deaths. They would not accept surrender, he boasted. His ancestors would always look upon him with pride, but the Davions would know only weeping and disgrace, unworthy and craven from birth.
They were sons of the Dragon, and this was their story. It was the story of a warrior trampling upon the weak and the unworthy.
These eight mechs, mainly Jenners that were deadly with their four medium lasers and SRMs at close range, and led by Griffin, were excellent tank hunters.
The leader's PPC and the Autocannons on those Vedettes had the same effective range. As the dazzling blue lightning of the Griffin's PPC shrieked, a rolling boom of autocannon fire answered.
Shells ripped through the air, and the incoming Kurita mechs waded into that fusillade. Light Mechs running at full speed aiming to close the distance all staggered. For the sufficiently unlucky, blood painted the insides of cockpits.
The Eridani Light Horse had even ditched their Machine Gun ammo in order to load even more Armor Piercing ammunition for their Class-Five Autocannons.
The RNIK Death Egg could plunder nearby parallel dimensions for items to duplicate and ELH 19th Red Horse Regiment, Allwine's "Winners" Battallion, had a hundred tons to share.
AP ammunition was not strictly a straight improvement, being twice as heavy with larger propellant load to compensate for the heavy tip in exchange for improved chance to punch through fresh armor. The heavier kick meant they were less accurate in a burst. In many ways they were more dangerous against tank armor, where a punch-through would rapidly disable or kill the crew, compared to mere equipment destruction or mostly harmless blow-through on a battlemech.
Having half as many rounds per ton was not worth it. The Inner Sphere had the ability to craft better ammunition for a long time now, but no one wanted to bother. Just shoot more at the enemy. More ammunition meant better battlefield longevity, as plenty of shots were likely to miss under combat conditions, mechs and tanks jinking this way and that.
But with this many guns concentrating fire against mere eight mechs-
It was like a farmer cutting through stalks of rice.
And now the ELH armor company had a clear run at the thinner rear armor of the 2nd Galedon troops already engaged with the 4th Deneb. Kutuzov could not even turn back in horror.
Roland Kaplan smiled as he drove his Dervish deep into the brawl. This was the story the 4th Deneb wanted to tell.
A tale of gung-ho idiots.
-.
-.
North of Conlan City
New Aberdeen
A loud cheery voice issued from the comms, drowning all used radio frequencies.
"How deede-ly do, bad neighborinos! Are these some snakes in the grass I see before me? Hellooo New Aberdeen! This is Raymond Allwine, Battalion commander of the Eridani Light Horse speaking! I can see you, Lavrenti Kornilov. I stand approximately twelve kilometers ahead of you. Maybe this would be a good-doodly-day to once more be reminded why House Kurita cowered before the SLDF. Dare you fight me in this death ground?"
Then he laughed. It was a strange canoodling sort of laugh.
Kuritan communications returned with angry retorts. "Honorless mercenary rat!" "You will die like the dog you are!" "Kurita banzai! Combine banzai!"
Kornilov only scowled in silence.In difficult ground, press on; In encircled ground, devise stratagems; In death ground, fight.
This was the wisdom of Sun Tzu, still valid after three thousand years, and studied well in all military schools of the Combine.
This was too obviously a scheme of the Light Horse. They had some sort of stratagem. Now that what had once been an overwhelming force had been cut in half to merely overpowering, they were promising to stop running and finally conclusively fight to the end.
That was probably a trick. Yet of course the DCMS would dare!
As the mechs closed in, Kornilov's sensors detected aircraft at long range. VTOLs. Petty white strings of LRM-5 volleys spun towards the 2nd Galedon on the heels of the Light Horse. Most of them misses, and those that didn't caused minimal armor were probably some pathetic Warrior combat helicopters.
Useful, but rarely decisive against battlemechs. Their rotors could never be adequately armored and the need to fly sharply reduced their weapons load. Warrior VTOLs were skies' equivalent to the Quikscell Company's Scorpion Light Tank. Cheap and nearly useless by themselves, only threatening in great numbers - and the buyer will need those numbers, because they were that cheap and they were so thinly armored they were guaranteed to lose a great many of them.
Was that it?
No, he resolved. This was a distraction. A stupid distraction, but there had to be something else. Even if they were there to waste the time of any mechs aiming up to shoot at them it would still be a poor scheme. The Eridani Light Horse was no underfunded militia.
He scowled. This was disappointing of the Light Horse if that was all they had. With ten mech lances, he did not fear an ambush even by tanks.
As much as Kornilov wanted to accelerate and join the point of contact for combat, the leading line of light mech companies had stretched out enough distance between the center force composed mainly of medium missile mechs and Dragons and the trailing rear line of assault mechs and their Panther escort.
"Visual contact with enemy battle line!" the forward lances reported. "Heavy mechs! Led by a Battlemaster!"
Kornilov's heart sang. Finally!
The ELH Archers and Catapults slowed down and formed up to join the advancing lance. Three lances formed the Erdani battle line versus the ten (more like nine, after damage from the running battle) of the 2nd Galedon. The eight Super Urbanmechs screened the left side. It remained immensely frustrating that the ELH mechs were still mostly in shape, though not unscathed.
Fortunately it seemed that the Archers and Catapults had finally run out of ammo. They could only contribute their guns now.
No need for anything complicated. Just slam into them at speed and cut them down! Not even his troops could screw up something that simple. The flanks would care for themselves with this many mechs forming natural encirclement.
-.
And this was the time the Eridani Light Horse finally used their Arrow IVs.
Kornilov had almost forgotten that the ELH had them.
Eight missiles slammed into the ground between the forward and middle lines of the 2nd Galedon formation. But instead of artillery, the missiles on impact exploded into tall billowing columns of black smoke.
Despite themselves, the running Kurita mechs hesitated. The DCMS did not prize initiative in its low-ranked officers. Run through or not? Better wait for orders. Lance leaders waited a few priceless seconds for the company leaders to order them to rush through.
The forward line, with their sight lines unhindered, rushed ahead in full fervor.
This abruptly reminded him of the great shame of the Kurita family, the battle off Leyte between the IJN's Center Force and USN's Taffy 3. The commander of that fleet, aboard the mighty superbattleship Yamato herself, had been driven off by a bunch of destroyers and jeep carriers. Takeo Kurita's descendants spent a thousand years trying to expunge that shame.
If only he had dared. If only he had been willing enough to lose, he could have seen the illusion of the enemy's strength for what it was. The DCMS studied it to understand how nerve meant the difference between defeat and victory. Metal was nothing if the man was weak.
And once more, the forces of Kurita were being stymied by a smokescreen.
In those seconds, the forward lances exploded.
Kornilov had no idea what was happening, only that massive explosions were rippling ahead of them. Had the Light Horse set up a minefield? When? How?
Well behind the lines, after laying down pre-targeted kilometers-wide areas with obscurant, the eight Super Urbanmech Arrow IV artillery mechs now let loose their Arrow-IV Thunder scatterable mines.
Behind even them were two trucks with six individual command pods and extensive command and control facilities inside. They just happened to command and control drones.
Arrow IV artillery was dangerous, but in the end they were still only about two hundred kilograms of bang each. Even airburst cluster warheads had an effective kill radius of sixty meters.
The VTOLs that Kornilov had dismissed earlier as Warriors were actually RNIK Egg Flyer drones, twenty tons each, packing an LRM-5 for long-range harassment and a Medium Laser for close-in support. Piloted remotely, they had an effective control range of 80 kilometers and could serve as recon and light support with their top speed of 151 kph. Surprisingly, they were even fusion-powered - what many considered a waste of a Class-85 fusion engine in a chassis protected only by two and half-tons of armor.
The way the Eridani Light Horse operated in the Succession Wars was from a position of extreme scarcity. They had to carefully mitigate risk and conserve as much military hardware as possible. The DCMs preferred to spend men, and if enough died in exchange for good salvage, they would still come out ahead. The SLDF's philosophy was that it was always better to spend metal instead of men.
The Egg Flyer drones swooped down to every lance that was not sufficiently dispersed and exploded in the middle of them. Abruptly turning into an expanding globe of heavy shrapnel, the kamikaze drones meant that anything within 30 meters was just outright deleted from existence and anything inside a 180 meters-wide sphere was just dead or heavily damaged.
The Death Egg considered them "Urbanmech enough" for some reason to produce, the same as the Urbanite Ultralight Mechs. The ELH would never run out of these type of disposable remote control drones.
Within those three and a half seconds of hesitation, eight explosive drones removed six lances of the 2nd Galedons forward battle line. Mechs bravely running through the smoke ran into the fresh minefield.
"Minefield! Minefield!" Kornilov heard one of the forward elements screaming in panic. "Their missiles can lay down minefields!"
'More damn lostech!' Kornilov cursed silently.
Then moments later only the sounds of PPC fire and more explosions. Firecracker-like bangs announced airburst artillery shells, dropping bomblets that were more likely to hit battlemech heads (and thus increased chances to breach through to the pilot within) compared to ground-contact high explosive shells.
The Kuritan general was struck numb with indecision. The last he had seen, the ELH battle line was weak to the right. But that was also predictable. Super Urbanmechs were fast enough to move flanks in that time.
Radar of course still worked through smoke. But without visual sensors to aid in identification, Super Urbanmech ECM blocked any information from passing through.
Left or right? Or wait for the smoke to dissipate?
Until he could make a decision, the entire battle group was actually paralyzed in place. He snarled and ordered "Right!"
More airburst bomblets bloomed overhead in the few moments while he reached a decision. No more time to think - just run! Mitigate artillery damage by simple speed and dispersal!
He ordered the Panthers to push through the smoke and report, while the pair of Assault Mechs and Trebuchets remained in reserve, following close by as he rushed to the right flank with his Dragons.
The smoke was there to make it difficult to know tell the mines landed, he was sure now! It was unlikely for the trailing edges of the smoke line to be mined. He only needed to move a little further and then push through.
As Kornilov finally made visual contact with Allwine's battle line, there was only joy in his face. Finally, an enemy he could shoot at!
He never saw the six Super Urbanmechs moving through the smoke cover, the Kuritan mechwarriors ignoring the unfamiliar warning buzz as they sighted but did not fire anything recognizable as a weapon.
It would prove to be a mistake.
TAG lasers worked through smoke because they communicated via microwave from the TAG-carrying battlemech's targeting sensors to the inbound missile. With the same effective range as a Large Laser, this put those daring light mechs well within danger range of return fire from the Stalker. If only that Assault Mech turned around.
Seconds later, it no longer mattered.
But even with more explosions erupting behind him, Kornilov could no longer spare any attention to the rest of his regiment.
He had Raymond Allwine's lance in front of him; seeing them cutting down his Panthers with massed laser fire from Archers and Flashmans, striking well beyond what should have been possible. Kuritan pilots were known for making a light mech act like an extension of their body, slipping away from weapons fire, turning combat almost into a deadly dance. None of that helped them now.
"Honorless cur!" Kornilov screamed at the enemy.
Then for a moment he paused again.
That Battlemaster was running pace with the other heavy mechs. Heavy mechs that had been demonstrated to have the speed and maneuverability of mediums.
A Battlemaster was an assault mech that weighed eighty-five tons.
The 2nd Galedon had split their force again, so that now it was three lances versus two. Now the Eridani Light Horse outnumbered the enemy, as was right and proper SLDF doctrine.
"Hi diddly ho, snakey boyos," spoke Raymond Allwine. "Time to die."
Lavrenti Kornilov let out a guttural roar full of hate and spite. He was still a general of the Draconis Combine! A samurai! As long as he could take down the enemy with him - as long as he could trade his life for the enemy - he could still win!
As long as he lived, he could make a fight of it -
Allwine raised his Battlemaster's right hand, and pointed a weapon that never existed within the timeline of this dimension. To make room for the Command Console, his command mech had to sacrifice all other weapons than the one on its right arm.
Shrak! Shrak! Shrak!
A rapid burst of PPC bolts slapped against the body of Kornilov's mech.
"What-"
As the rest of the heavy lance engaged, throwing bolts and beams downrange, Kornilov's mech kept going and was ignored by the others. It also turned out that the Archers and Catapults had not entirely run out of ammo, but had reserved some volleys for this final confrontation. For a moment the Kuritan general exulted. This at least was a proper duel, and he -
Shrak! Shrak! Shrak!
Again with the PPCs firing in quick succession as if it were an autocannon or something. His Dragon flinched back from the combined kinetic and thermal damage as if an animal wincing in pain. His autocannon returned with snap fire in vain against that weight of assault mech armor, but -
Shrak! Shrak! Shrak!
His cockpit blared with warnings about armor loss.
"What is happening-?" How did everything lead to this?
SLDF doctrine had always been about having as many options as possible. The Draconis Combine had welded itself culturally into the doctrine of all-out-attack to achieve local force superiority and crush the enemy in the decisive battle. In fairness, this also worked most of the time.
Just having superior technology and firepower was not enough to win battles.
But they sure helped.
Shrak! Shrak! Shrak!
"What-"
In his confusion, only that word kept repeating in his mind until the armor was breached and his reactor lost containment. Thoughts of ejection never entered the ruddy fog of his mind until it was too late. He died never knowing about the Rotary Light PPC.
-.
-.
Ehrenburg Firebase
Near The Firth
New Aberdeen
Yasneyev Georgi zoomed in with his mech's secondary cameras at a group of infantry. They had anti-mech SRM launchers but were pointed away from the Kurita mechs. They looked up at the ridges and the open field beyond the valley, anywhere but the Kurita mechs.
Troops on perimeter patrol marched crisply and with purpose, with minimal waste of energy. They were tense, but motivated.
Too motivated.
He sucked in his breath as he realized what had been screaming wrongness into his subconscious thus far. Kuritan infantry, long the much abused child of the DCMS, never exhibited initiative. Discipline in the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery meant brutal suppression of any disobedient individual thought. These infantry did not exhibit the any of the expected battle-worn malaise of a battalion so beaten down to the dregs they feared the open sky.
The Overlord Dropship powered up.
"It's a trap!" Georgi screamed as he fired upon the mechs in front.
The Spider from before dived and then scampered for cover behind the standing lances of Kurita mechs. Most of them were merely unpiloted shells, too damaged inside to repair. The three that were still usable, fired back a single volley and similarly scooted for cover.
Then then Overlord's many guns slammed into Georgi. LRMs, PPCs, autocannons, lasers; his Dragon was just cut in half. Half-melted pieces scraped against the armor of the stunned bodyguard mechs around him.
Over the weeks, although Badnik Company could savage the 2nd Galedon's 3rd Battalion out in the open, the base and the Overlord was not something they could crack with their light mechs.
In many ways, a Light Horse regiment or Davion RCT was weaker than a standard Kurita regiment. They wasted transport tons on infantry and vehicles that could have been more Battlemechs instead. A Light Horse regiment was pathetic by DCMS standards, lacking sheer concentration of force and can only harass and run and prefer to fight enemies that they could outweigh.
Allwine Battalion wasted valuable dropship carry capacity on sixteen APCs, with only one battlemech company instead of normally three in a battalion.
But there was one thing a mechanized infantry company could do that a mech-heavy force could not.
Assault and seize dropships with their hundred twenty men.
Barbara's Badnik Company had weeks to listen in and decrypt Kurita transmissions with their Super Comms Guard Urbanmechs. A microdrone slipped in to physically tap the electrical lines of the base to turn them into receivers, while other stealthed recon drones recorded all happenings. The ELH didn't even question how the communication systems could imitate voices with enough sampling. That was just the sort of technological wizardy the SLDF used to be capable of, they reckoned.
Now disc-shaped things flung themselves into the sky from behind the ridgeline. Land-Air-Mechs were normally easy prey for ASFs. They were barely air-to-air maneuverable. The pair of Kurita ASFs circling overhead tried to outmaneuver at least a dozen ADA Arrow missiles from Super Urbanmech AIV and eight Urbanmech LAM's Air-to-Air Arrow IVs fired from their two internal bomb bays.
They failed. The Kurita fighters dropped as flaming wreckage into the confused mill of Georgi company.
Arrows and PPCs rained down from the ridge and Inferno SRMs streaked up from the trenches. The Urbanmech LAMs landed to sling more ER Large Laser fire along the path of retreat.
More Mechs powered up from reactor shutdown behind false, magscan shielded cover. Allwine Battalion had landed with what looked to be utility industrialmechs, 15 tons each packed among cargo. With arms capable of hauling ammo bins and reloading missile cells, it was not unusual to see twenty of them working around a base.
It was just that they also happened to have ER Large Lasers for faces.
Barbara Mosley cackled like some some demented coyote as the Dragons all burned in a web of her own making.
The Eridani Light Horse had taken over the Overlord Dropship Bialistock DAYS AGO.
-.
-.
Elsewhere in the skies, 4th Deneb fighters had finally baited the 2nd Galedon fighters into the range of air defense artillery. Flak and ground-to-air missiles slapped them out of the sky. The plan had always been to allow the 2nd Galedon to land. Now that those dropships were landed, the main thing was to keep them from leaving.
Overlords were quite valuable prizes.
Slow offroad as Long Tom artillery might be, now they no longer fear being intercepted by enemy mechs. The Overlords would surrender, or they would be scrap.
Barbara Mosley would then be allowed to paint three "cracked eggs" dropship kill/capture tallies on her mech, right next to the black spider. T̶̷h̶̷e̶̷ ̶̷l̶̷e̶̷g̶̷e̶̷n̶̷d̶̷ ̶̷o̶̷f̶̷ ̶̷t̶̷h̶̷e̶̷ ̶̷d̶̷o̶̷n̶̷k̶̷e̶̷y̶̷'̶̷s̶̷ ̶̷b̶̷e̶̷h̶̷i̶̷n̶̷d̶̷ ̶̷o̶̷n̶̷l̶̷y̶̷ ̶̷g̶̷r̶̷e̶̷w̶̷,̶̷ ̶̷t̶̷o̶̷ ̶̷h̶̷e̶̷r̶̷ ̶̷c̶̷o̶̷n̶̷t̶̷i̶̷n̶̷u̶̷i̶̷n̶̷g̶̷ ̶̷c̶̷o̶̷n̶̷s̶̷t̶̷e̶̷r̶̷n̶̷a̶̷t̶̷i̶̷o̶̷n̶̷.̶̷
"̶̷U̶̷N̶̷I̶̷C̶̷O̶̷O̶̷O̶̷O̶̷R̶̷R̶̷R̶̷N̶̷N̶̷N̶̷!̶̷"̶̷
"̶̷N̶̷o̶̷.̶̷ B̶̷a̶̷d̶̷ ̶̷a̶̷s̶̷s̶̷.̶̷"̶̷
-.
-.
But what about Epsilon Regiment and the rest of the 4th Deneb?
Kaplan had no confidence that two Deneb battalions versus Wolf's Dragoons' heavyweight Epsilon Regiment would fare as well, no matter what trickery in place. Even combined with the ELH reinforcements, ton for ton it was at best an equal fight. For this, the Eridani Light Horse's 21st Strikers mediumweight regiment had another solution going entirely.