Chapter 11

12th Star Guards Headquarters, Icar

Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth

March 20th 3050

What a complete and utter shitshow. My own unit had performed well, and there were spots of bravery and skill among the mercenaries and the Icar Armored Brigade, but overall they had been terrible. They had panicked badly, blindly firing at the nearest target or been destroyed before they could even engage. Some tanks had even run into each other. When the Toads started to tear into 'Mechs and armor they had collapsed further.

Had my command company not arrived when it did, it would have been a rout. Perhaps we should have pursued the heavily damaged enemy, but most of the forces on the field were in no condition to do so. We found Col. Caitlin alive but unconscious. Her 'Mech had been destroyed, and she had ejected, but she landed poorly. Lt. Col. Rell, her XO, was dead. His Griffin had gone down under a deluge of laser fire. One of those lasers had fired late, right as he was ejecting, burning him to death as he ascended into the air.

With the enemy heading back to Fraserburg, we had time to bring out the MASH trucks and see if we could save anyone. My artillery barrage onto the battlefield meant that more than a few MechWarriors who had survived to eject, still ended up dying from being within the blast zone, but it had been the right call to make.

We did find a couple of the enemy alive. One was a Toad, built like a brick house. I was tall, thankfully, but even I was dwarfed by his height. His height wasn't the only gargantuan thing about him – he was built like an extreme bodybuilder. I was pleased with the muscle mass I had put on in this higher-gravity world, but it was nothing compared to the locals, and this invader made the inhabitants of Icar look positively scrawny. The man should have been dead, but the armored shell of his suit had somehow kept him alive, coating him in a black resin-like substance.

We had found him alive, but he never regained consciousness, despite our medical personnel's best efforts. The second one was a MechWarrior who had ejected. He looked much like some of the students at the Nagelring, though his cooling vest and neurohelmet looked very different than ours.

He was alive and only mildly battered. I had him packed up in one of the APCs while I took inventory of what could be quickly salvaged from the field. The enemy 'Mechs we destroyed were almost all completely ruined, but there was one major find and a few interesting ones.

The first was a 'Mech showing substantial armor damage but otherwise intact, aside from a melted cockpit. It must have taken some damage earlier, weakening the armor – possibly even from the shelling – before suffering an extremely lucky shot directly to the head. Even with my superior accuracy, taking out a cockpit is virtually impossible unless you're at very close range.

I remember reading some marketing material for the new Poland Main Model A Gauss Rifle that claimed the weapon had a 2.78% chance of taking out a 'Mech cockpit on every successful hit. Thankfully, that's an absurd myth – just marketing hype off by at least one order of magnitude. Still, unlucky events occur, and in this situation, this invader's ill fortune is my gain.

The enemy 'Mech looked like a cross between a Crusader and an Awesome. With the majority of it intact, the NAIS research team and my techs would hopefully be able to learn a lot from it.

Some other good news was finding a couple of weapons systems relatively intact. We had an almost fully intact arm brisling with weapons ready for us to dissect.

I wonder if I could mount one of these on my 'Mech. The range on these weapons is obscene, far greater than even the theoretical improvements still in the design stage at the NAIS.

Using tanks and J27 transports, we began hauling all of it back to Cuanger. Some very good news was that the enemy infiltration team, more Toads, had been successfully taken down. It turns out that Gustav's sniper rifle was ineffective against their armor, but not the narrow visor they saw out of. One of the machine gun turrets saw some action but was destroyed, doing little more than giving them pause.

The bad news was the casualties. Half of Leftenant Rogers' platoon was dead, and he himself was in critical condition. Two of our techs were dead, along with one of the machinists from TharHes, some civilian workers at the spaceport, and dozens of MPs from the Armored Brigade. Getting the DropShip's guns armed had finished off the attackers, and in total, it looked like we managed to kill fifteen of those Toads.

A base with elite FCIS agents, multiple platoons of infantry, and machine gun emplacements was nearly taken out by a half-platoon of armored jump infantry? How disturbing.

There was no one above the rank of Kommandant alive and healthy; however, there were two Kommandants in the Armored Brigade. Sick of the overall incompetence, I quickly took command and announced that, as the last remaining 'Mech commander at the rank of Kommandant, I would be leading our combined force until Col. Caitlin regained consciousness. I wasn't sure if it was due to my status as royalty, or their shock at losing their senior commanders, or just the ingrained 'Mech bias in the AFFC, but no one challenged me.

It was hours later, and there was no liftoff from the invaders' DropShips, which meant they were not done with us. I didn't know how many they had left in Fraserburg to secure it when they sallied out against us, but there would almost certainly be a round two.

I got in touch with ComStar and asked if they had received a response to our Priority Alpha message about the invasion. When they said no, I demanded an explanation for the delay. They said they could confirm that it was sent, but that after it is sent, it is up to the next HPG station to continue forwarding the message. They suggested there may have been a delay along the chain due to not receiving many Priority Alpha messages.

"Then send another and route it through Wotan. I don't care about the cost, but I want a response from Lyran State Command, the First Prince, or Wotan Command within the next three hours, or it will be very clear you are delaying the transmission. And I will make an incredible stink about it with Precentor Tharkad and Precentor New Avalon!"

They had agreed to send the next message, and meanwhile, I had to take time to compose, codify, and send a message through my K-Series Black Box. In it, I briefly explained that invaders from outside of the Inner Sphere had LosTech that made them formidable. I explained how we had repelled one attack, suffered significant casualties, and were awaiting further orders. Mention of ComStar shenanigans was also included in very explicit terms.

There, I know there should be a black box on Wotan and Trell at the very least. Even if ComStar is simply not forwarding our messages, word will get out.

Next, I met with the other officers and determined exactly what we had left.

In terms of 'Mechs, my command company was in good shape. My techs were already grafting on armor to replace what had been knocked out. We had plenty of SRM ammo to give fresh reloads to the three Commando 'Mechs. One of our Spider 'Mechs had lost an arm, but no critical weapon systems. The 'Mech would be harder to pilot, but my company had been endlessly drilled in the simulator, so it wasn't a huge loss. My broader company, save for Leftenant Rogers' platoon, had come out unscathed. We had stockpiles of ammo, and the Spitfire Cannon had performed as well as predicted.

The 12th Star Guards were in very rough shape. They lost their 2nd battalion outright, as they had been stationed at Fraserburg. Only two companies of 'Mechs remained in fighting condition. That was a charitable interpretation, as some of them had whole weapons systems missing. There were another two lances of 'Mechs that were ambulatory but truly not in fighting condition. One, for example, was missing an arm, a leg, and had a damaged engine causing it to bleed heat. The heat wasn't an issue since they only had one medium laser left to fight with.

The Third Icar Armored Brigade was basically reduced to light tanks and support units. We did have 8 LRM Carriers that had never even made it to the fight, so that was something. In addition to that, they had 4 Ferret Light Scouts, 5-ton VTOLs, that, unlike my battalion's versions, kept their machine gun. They also had 10 Savannah Masters, which were 5-ton hovercraft armed with one medium laser. They were also rather pristine, as some hadn't gotten to the fight, and those that did had avoided taking damage, because any damage would have blown them to smithereens like their comrades.

They had a bit more than a battalion of Light Scorpion Tanks. Each was armed with an AC/5 and a machine gun. In terms of support units, they had 8 MASH trucks, which had come in handy, 8 J27 ordinance transports, and 12 APCs backed by some infantry platoons. Finally, they also had a pair of lances of Pegasus Scout Hover Tanks. These packed a lot more punch than their Savannah Master counterparts and had more durability.

The only real bright spot was that they also had two companies of artillery assigned to their armored brigade. They had never even made it off base – 12 Thumpers, just like the ones I had, and 8 Sniper Artillery Pieces. This was quite a bit of potential firepower and gave me some hope for fending off a second attack.

Ops Control let me know they had detected two more DropShips coming down on Fraserburg. They were descending at a more normal rate of speed than the ones that had dropped before. That meant we had most of the day to decide what to do. I didn't have any orders to evacuate, and the planet was still defensible. I couldn't just abandon my post when it was still winnable. If I did that, my reputation would suffer an enormous blow, and while I would likely not be court-martialed due to my family connections, it would be a life-altering disaster.

***

12th Star Guards Headquarters, Icar

Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth

March 21st 3050

I had half-expected a night assault, but no attack came. Perhaps they were also repairing their 'Mechs. The patchwork armor job done for my company brought them back to near full functionality. The Spider's arm would unfortunately take longer, and I told them to keep it off while we focused on getting the rest of the 12th Star Guards' 'Mechs operational. This was classic triage – quick and easy armor repairs took priority, while harder jobs like missing limbs, damaged heat sinks, and destroyed weapon systems would have to wait.

Agent Ainsworth had taken over for Leftenant Rogers, who would recover. Some of the Toads had SRMs, and he had been too close to an explosion to escape unscathed. He was banged up badly, but he fared better than some of his platoon, who had been killed outright. Ainsworth assisted in fortifying the spaceport and its attached compounds. Civilians were being ferried away from the base as best we could, but there were only so many flights to the other continent.

Meanwhile, Ainsworth and the FCIS crew set to work rigging various areas to blow with explosives. We didn't have mines, but by using some of the Armored Brigade's reserve ammo combined with traditional explosives as triggers, the result would be effective. We would stay well clear of those spots but had some ideas on how to lure the enemy there if they breached our outer defenses.

Artillery was split even further than usual, with smaller half-batteries positioned in various locations. I had no desire to put all my eggs in one basket, especially if more of those Toads hit us. The buildings were designed for 'Mechs to easily disembark from DropShips, creating long firing zones that worked against us given the enemy's superior range. To mitigate that, we used some of our 'Mechs to pile up whatever debris we could to blockade some of those open pathways. That wouldn't stop a 'Mech from walking through, but it provided some cover, and several piles completely blocked direct lines of sight.

Note to self, a 'Mech shovel to be used by 'Mechs with hands would be useful. They could be kept on base for just this sort of occurrence and brought out when needed.

When I had a moment of peace, I checked in to ensure the officers under my command were holding up. Hauptmann Wright was handling things well, but one of her Leftenants was visibly shaken. The heavy tanks assigned to anti-air duty would also serve as our main frontline force. They carried standard AC/5 rounds, but against the firepower they were up against, it wouldn't be enough. With few viable positions for our artillery to set up within the cover of the spaceport's buildings, targeting parameters would be tight, and friendly fire was almost inevitable.

Can't be helped.

The artillery officers were nervous but maintained their professionalism. I didn't have to worry about Aiko, though I still checked on Gregory.

"Leftenant LeBeau, you've tasted your first battle. How are you holding up?"

"Well enough, ma'am. I always knew I'd be putting my life on the line, just thought it would be against bandits or mercs, not… this."

"Understandable. I won't sugarcoat it—the next battle will be even tougher for the battalion. We got lucky taking out an isolated 'Mech and eliminating the Toads, but the enemy's main force never truly brought their firepower to bear on us."

He grunted. "Yup, that's true. But we'll take them – one 'Mech at a time."

I saluted and then got on the line to call out the lying shits at ComStar who claimed there had still been no response to my message. Ops Control pinged me to report movement – three groups of 'Mechs were heading our way. I sent my VTOL scouts up again for more detailed data and then headed for my Phoenix-Hawk.

After powering up my 'Mech and pulling up the details on my specialized battle computer, I could easily determine what 'Mechs we still had standing as long as the communication line remained uninterrupted. Jamming was possible, but not typically effective at these close ranges. The VTOL feeds started coming in, and I switched them on to see what I was dealing with.

They move fast for heavy 'Mechs, wow several seemed to be assault 'Mechs and were still moving at pace with the rest!

Their numbers were limited; we still outnumbered them in 'Mechs alone. One group was slightly more than a company, another slightly less, and a final group of five 'Mechs with unique designs I didn't recall seeing the previous night.

"See if you can get a closer…" the VTOL from 1st Company went offline.

I checked the other feeds; a calm voice came from one of the other pilots. "HQ, we have Aerospace contact. They are heading this direction." The voice changed to something far more somber. "It has been an honor, Highness."

The VTOLs winked out one by one, the eyes of my 1st and 2nd Company were forever shut.

Shit! I didn't expect them to have Aerospace assets. Why the hell wouldn't they have used them earlier? If I had known that I wouldn't have sent all four out in the same sector.

I internally raged at the waste of precious human resources and the critical stream of tactical data. I didn't have time to dwell on it and called out orders instead. "Hauptmann Wright, get flak rounds loaded in your Partisan Heavy Tanks ASAP! We've got multiple Aerospace assets, and they just took out our eyes. Our artillery tubes are going to be juicy targets."

"Yes, Kommandant," came her professional response.

We didn't have full satellite cover like New Avalon or Tharkad. We had some and it had detection capabilities, often pointed at space for incoming JumpShips and DropShip descents, but not actual good coverage of the surface. Without good spotters, our artillery fire would not be that accurate. Sending out a scout lance or two too far from the spaceport was just asking for them to get shredded by an unknown number of Aerospace fighters.

Without our own Aerospace fighters, our DropShips were also vulnerable. They did have a lot of armor and a decent number of weapons, but in the initial takeoff stage they would be extremely vulnerable. This was a recipe for disaster and we needed to make bringing down their airpower a priority.

"Overwatch, get some height, we only have visual distance of less than 5 kilometers with the horizon. You can see much further; I'm linking your personal comms to our artillery channel."

"Confirmed, Ice, a bit new for me but I'll do what I can."

The call sign they'd given me was probably due to my blue eyes, which someone once described as glacial, I thought as I waited for more info to come in. Some of the batteries – deliberately not all –had begun firing. I listened in on the comms chatter between them and Overwatch. The first ranging shots missed.

"Looks like some of them have Toads attached, but only a few. You are roughly 450 meters off the mark. Based on their current speed…" Gustav advised my artillery officers.

Spitfire Cannons began to fire as well, but not to any great effect. Then the Aerospace fighters showed up on the sensors from Ops Control.

"I count ten bogies incoming hot; they'll be here in two minutes or so," comms chirped and I relayed the info where it needed to go.

My Armored Company had their flak rounds ready to go. I was pleased that our training and endless drilling had paid off. Hopefully we could get some good shots in when they attacked. Within the atmosphere Aerospace fighters were uniquely vulnerable to flak rounds, which had the potential to knock their craft into a deadly arc toward the ground if struck. My artillery units continued firing, but at this point it was educated guesses as to where the enemy 'Mechs would be as they kept altering their route towards us.

I took my 'Mech into a run and had my two lance commanders form up on me.

"Based on their direction and which of our artillery has fired, I'm guessing they'll target the one on the east side first. If they swoop low enough, our ER large lasers can hit them," I advised and then also let the Armored Brigade prepare to send LRMs up into the sky if they could get a lock.

They streaked down on the base and opened fire with Gauss Rifle slugs and PPCs, with far greater range than our own weapons. They ripped into the Sniper Artillery Pieces. If they had been smart, they would have stayed at range and pulled away, but instead, they dove in close and unloaded even more weaponry on my already mostly destroyed half-battery of artillery. That gave us the chance to strike back!

24 AC/5s with flak rounds poured into them. I engaged my jump jets to gain height and stabbed at them with my two ER large lasers. Despite their diving speeds, my lasers were on point and melted armor away from these heavy fighters. One of the fighters let loose a burst of AC/20 rounds into one of the LRM carriers and destroyed it in one fell swoop.

Who mounts an AC/20 on an Aerospace unit? Is that a DropShip hunter?

Our return fire was satisfying to witness. We filled the sky with flak, extended lasers, and a wave of LRMs, and even our Scorpion Light Tanks joined in, sending regular AC/5 rounds into the air. While many of my people's rounds missed, the sheer volume of concentrated firepower and area dispersal took down three of their fighters and damaged several others. None of my forces, except for the artillery, which couldn't hit the fighters anyway, had anything else to shoot at since the enemy 'Mechs had not arrived. That meant even their clearly superior speed and armor wasn't enough to protect them.

Ops Intel informed me they were flying past and appeared to be circling around the long way. More batteries continued to fire, and I heard Gustav report at least a few rounds had connected and done some damage.

"Ice, this is Overwatch, be advised the third group of 'Mechs, those five, have stopped advancing. They are spreading horizontally, and when I zoom in, they do not appear to be LRMs. I think it is some type of artillery 'Mech!"

Alarmed I looked at the electronic map. The three groups of 'Mechs were converging on the spaceport, but there was a fair amount of distance between each grouping.

"Leftenant LeBeau, take your lance and a company of the Scorpion Light Tanks and head to these coordinates. If the larger group of 'Mechs moves to support, retreat eastbound and swing around the base. If nothing else, it will slow their advance. If they don't move to support, take out those five 'Mechs. Overwatch thinks they're artillery, so they shouldn't be able to direct fire on you, but who knows what these things are capable of," I commanded.

"Orders received; I'll keep you posted."

The Aerospace units were coming around for another pass, almost certainly to strafe at their superior range to avoid taking more hits. I watched in absolute shock as they didn't. They came diving in straight at us again, focusing their fire not on the artillery, but on the LRM Carriers.

Aiko fired her ER large laser and missed, but both of mine found their mark on an already damaged foe. The air was filled with a deluge of firepower from both sides, and when the smoke finally cleared, most of the LRM Carriers were down, along with all but two of the Aerospace fighters.

Does the enemy commander hate their Aerospace fighter pilots? Not having the punch of those LRMs is going to hurt, but if they had swooped in while we were engaged with the enemy 'Mechs, we wouldn't have had nearly as much firepower to direct at them.

The final two pilots flew off, both likely heavily damaged, so hopefully, we had seen the last of them. I was getting paranoid that the enemy might have more waiting in reserve somewhere, so I opted to keep the flak rounds loaded in my heavy tanks just in case. If push came to shove, those flak rounds could still do some damage to enemy 'Mechs.

Sniper Artillery Pieces, Thumpers, and Spitfire Cannons fired off, desperately trying to predict the 'Mechs' movements and saturate those locations with shells. To my horror, Overwatch had been right—those five isolated 'Mechs were indeed artillery, but with devastating firepower. Missiles rained down on our artillery batteries. I winced as multiple pieces and their entire crews were obliterated, their ammunition setting off secondary explosions.

"LeBeau, those 'Mechs need to be taken down as quick as possible."

"Roger, coming up on them now."

***

Outside of Cuanger, Icar

Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth

March 21st 3050

Gregory LeBeau had always been raised with certain expectations. His father was almost certainly poised to become the next CEO of Achernar BattleMechs, and though it was unclear whether Gregory would be groomed to follow in his footsteps, the idea of joining the AFFC and earning field credentials could only help that cause. Gregory enjoyed being a MechWarrior and the prestige that came with it.

Gregory wasn't a coward, but he wasn't eager to be thrown to the frontlines of war, not like in 3039. The opportunity to work with Princess Katherine was a tremendous deal. She would be stationed in a safe location to conduct research—work that not only supported his future business career with his father's company, but also helped him develop valuable connections. And beyond that, Katherine was absurdly talented and freakishly intelligent. Few at NAMA knew just how extraordinary her abilities were.

He hadn't enjoyed everything, as she was a harsh taskmaster, but his unit was in tip-top shape and were also highly skilled. Commendations were a certainty and depending on how this Research Battalion panned out he had a real chance to fast track to Hauptmann and then Kommandant. Then these invaders had shown up and he was in the fight for his life!

He was pleased with how his lance had performed during their first battle. They had swarmed over that big, heavy 'Mech with its absurd number of weapons. It had been fortunate that they had targeted Katherine, for anyone else would not have been able to move that way and would have surely lost their 'Mech – and possibly their lives.

The disbursement of the Toads was touch and go, and Gregory was thankful that Katherine had trained him and Aiko in effectively using physical attacks. It took skill to grab a jumping Toad or land a well-timed kick or stomp. Several members of his lance had failed to hit initially, but he, Aiko, and, of course, Katherine made several kills in quick order.

As his lance of four 'Mechs and twelve light tanks came into range, he swallowed thickly. His on-board computer couldn't identify the 'Mech, but the size indicated they were assault 'Mechs. Hopefully, nearly all their armament was long-range artillery…

"Focus on one at a time," he said to his command group. "To avoid friendly fire, my lance is going in close, and we are focusing our fire on target Alpha. Hauptmann, focus your tanks on target Bravo. We have a lot of ammunition back at base; let's not let these guys blow it all up!"

A chorus of confirmations was heard as he placed the crosshairs on his target and pressed his thumb down on the firing button. His ER large laser melted armor off the chest of his target. Autocannons filled the air on the tank company's target, and, much to his annoyance, they didn't all hit.

They are barely moving and are a huge target, who taught you to shoot!?

He raced his 'Mech forward and saw the whoosh of more missiles raining down on their base a few klicks away. His medium lasers came online, and he added more ruby-red beams of light to an already damaged opponent. His lance also added lasers and SRMs.

The enemy 'Mechs began advancing forward, still not bothering to aim at them. He wasn't sure if those big missile launchers were configured for close-range scenarios, but he was going to circle around the back anyway and hit their weaker armor. As they passed each other, two of the 'Mechs fired off small laser blasts. One struck his 'Mech's leg and the other his torso, with a third missing. Another 'Mech fired on his lance's Spider, and all three lasers melted armor across the torsos.

Another whoosh of missiles was fired as they circled around back and sent damage deep into the back armor of the advancing 'Mechs. He saw the autocannons continue to chip away at target Bravo, while the Scorpion tanks 'faded' backward, trying to keep their distance from the up-close and personal lasers.

This is a turkey shoot; they aren't even turning to fight us.

The back armor was thin, but any assault 'Mech still had significant internal support and bracing structure. Hopefully, they'd be able to strip away important components before chewing through the entirety of it. Just as he thought this, one of his medium lasers triggered an explosion in the enemy 'Mech's side torso. The resulting blast tore the 'Mech apart, killing the MechWarrior instantaneously.

No ejection? Malfunction?

The remaining four fired another salvo of missiles at the spaceport, and Gregory began to grow desperate. The damned company of armor hadn't even taken down their first target yet. The enemy 'Mechs were firing as soon as their weapons came back online after each shot.

If I time this right…

He triggered his lasers, searing off armor from the back of the 'Mech. Gregory raced forward, and just before the enemy 'Mech would fire, he shoulder-checked it with his Wolfhound. The impact caused damage to his own 'Mech, but the move seemed to completely shock the enemy. Despite its far superior size, the artillery 'Mech toppled over, even as missiles whooshed out of its weapon system. The downed 'Mech struggled to stand as Gregory's lance continued firing at it.

The other 'Mechs had reached range with the Scorpion Light Tanks and had started cooking them with lasers.

Wait, are those medium or small lasers?

Gregory's confusion about the type of laser was replaced by a moment of thankfulness when combined fire into target Bravo's torso toppled it over.

Finally.

The last two 'Mechs standing continued to advance, firing more of their potent payload into Cuanger. In the end, they managed to take down all five at the cost of only two tanks and some minor armor damage. The enemy 'Mechs' relentless focus on shooting into the base was a major reason for their success. Gregory was also mystified as to why none of them had been able to eject.

"HQ, this is LeBeau. Enemy artillery destroyed."

***

Cuanger, Icar

Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth

March 21st 3050

Star Colonel Jera Carns neared the enemy spaceport. The enemy had put up a tougher defense than she had expected, but her artillery 'Mechs and Aerospace Star had silenced many of the enemy guns. Explosions had rocked the spaceport as ammunition and enemy artillery had been destroyed. Secondary and tertiary explosions also went off, and Jera could only assume several depots of ammunition had been neutralized. The enemy would have more of their pitiful armored vehicles and subpar 'Mechs than she had, but her warriors were far better.

The damage her 'Mechs had sustained from enemy artillery was a concern, but their evasive maneuvers, superior speed, and armor had prevented anything catastrophic. As she and her 'Mechs moved past blasted-apart buildings, battle ensued.

Four light tanks with autocannons emerged from behind a ruined building, attempting to fire before maneuvering around another. Against the warriors of the 4th Wolf Guard Cluster, such tactics would not suffice. Jera sent two ER PPC blasts of white-hot plasma into the lead tank, destroying it instantly. Three of the remaining tanks swiveled their autocannons, some rounds stitching across her 'Mech's leg before her Command Star obliterated them. Three 80-ton Gargoyle and two 75-ton Timber Wolves gave her Star a formidable punch.

They pushed further in as artillery shells whistled overhead.

Stravag, they still have those? But they must be nearby, we just have to push in faster.

She sent her 'Mech through one of the blasted ruins and found herself face-to-face with a swarm of angry foes. She immediately fired her ER PPCs, spinning a Hunchback around and sending it crashing to the ground. It was not out of the fight, so she added her medium lasers to finish the job. The 'Mech pilot ejected, but with his 'Mech downed, instead of propelling him safely into the air, the ejection sent him rocketing into the leg of a nearby friendly 'Mech, killing him on impact.

The enemy was not idle as autocannon fire filled the air. Each individual barrage barely stripped armor, but the sheer volume posed a real threat. Her other Stars arrived, and enemy tanks and 'Mechs began to fall. A PPC blast from an enemy 'Mech scorched across her Gargoyle's arm, and she marked it as her next target. Her computer, loaded with data on Inner Sphere 'Mechs, identified it as a Vindicator.

How few weapons these Spheroids have on their 'Mechs.

Mindful of her heat, she avoided firing the ER PPCs and instead relied on her large pulse lasers and medium lasers. The combined damage nearly sent the 'Mech toppling, but despite tearing massive holes in its armor and exposing critical components, it remained standing. The enemy 'Mech fired and missed, and the next volley brought it down. In a proper fight, no one would have been shooting at her during this exchange, but instead, she had taken more autocannon fire and been struck by SRMs from a light 'Mech.

Some of the small tanks were scurrying away, but more 'Mechs were now leaping from behind the debris where they had been hiding. One in particular moved with an odd grace, and its twin large lasers, combined with fire from other 'Mechs, took down the leg of one of Jera's Timber Wolves. As Jera finished off the light 'Mech that had fired SRMs at her, she cursed – one of her MechWarriors had already begun exchanging fire with it. Niffur's

Gargoyle, outfitted for heavy missile bombardment, unleashed a dozen SRMs at the nimble Phoenix Hawk.

Much to Jera's surprise, the enemy pilot's jump jets flared horizontally, causing most of the missiles and the LBX Autocannon rounds to miss due to the sudden maneuver.

That pilot is skilled but does not fight properly. Their comrades are sending wave after wave of attacks, focusing on Niffur.

Jera had her own problems to deal with as four heavy tanks joined the fray, emerging from around another building. Seeing more worthy prey than the light tanks in front of her, she fired her ER PPCs at longer range.

Stravag! Only one hit.

The return fire from those tanks was rather inconsequential, but as she took stock of the sensor data on her BattleMech's HUD, she saw worrying numbers of casualties among her surviving Stars. Niffur's internals had been exposed, and he was struggling to turn and face the disturbingly agile 'Mech with his weaponry. Niffur was a skilled pilot, but the enemy 'Mech was staying within extremely short range, literally running in a tight circle around him with preternatural elegance.

More 'Mechs swarmed toward Jera, and she had to move to reorient on her designated target. This time, both of her ER PPCs landed, and the armor was clearly thinning out, but it could still fight. The cowardly crew, however, sped off back behind the ruins it had crawled from, its comrades still firing flak rounds into her and her Star-mates.

In frustration, Jera unleashed a barrage into a computer-identified Jenner, blowing apart its center torso. Another two points of 'Mechs winked out from her reinforcement Binary. A chill ran down her spine – was she going to lose? Niffur's 'Mech finally fell under the combined firepower of no less than seven enemy 'Mechs, and Jera moved her 'Mech again so she could target the Phoenix Hawk. At the same time, she opened a direct channel and spoke.

"You are talented, I would know your name, Warrior."

"Surrender and you can have it," the female voice came from the other 'Mech, accompanied by four lasers spearing into her already heavily damaged arm, fouling one of her ER PPCs. Jera replied with the other ER PPC and her lasers.

The ER PPC missed by the slimmest margins while the pulse lasers scoured the enemy 'Mech. Despite over a ton of armor being melted away, the enemy did not so much as wobble. The swarming light 'Mechs sent SRMs, and medium lasers at her, exposing parts of her internals. Trying to aim while being battered by so many opponents was a challenge, but she was up to it. Or would be if the enemy 'Mech had not hid behind one of her comrades from Bravo Assault Star.

"Move!"

As her subordinate attempted to comply, the enemy lanced lasers into Jera despite the awkward aiming profile with a 'Mech between them. In frustration, Jera attempted to carefully fire her lasers but still managed to scorch the friendly Gargoyle and only hit her opponent's arm with one staccato blast of pulsing laser fire.

Warning claxons sounded as her rear armor was compromised. The ground rumbled from an explosion as two more Points disappeared from her command display, and more tanks fired autocannons at her. Her massive 'Mech was being killed by a thousand paper cuts while she wasted time with this bedeviling surat!

An enemy Wolfhound finished her 'Mech off and destroyed her engine. Her ejection seat fired into the air, an air filled with flak autocannon rounds, and she felt her body get pierced a dozen ways before oblivion took her away from her shame.

***

12th Star Guards Headquarters, Icar

Tamar March, Lyran Commonwealth

March 22nd 3050

The casualties from our successful defense had been atrocious. The LRM carriers were destroyed, as were half of the Scorpion Light Tanks. We even lost some of our Ordnance Transports in the artillery shelling. I lost one MechWarrior and two 'Mechs from my command company, as well as two of my Scorpions and two of my Partisan Heavy Tanks from the armored company. The biggest loss, however, was the artillery. Nearly all the Icar Armored Brigade's artillery was wiped out. Half of my Thumpers and half of my Spitfire Cannons were gone. Half of my men were wounded or killed. As far as my first command went, this was an unmitigated disaster.

The media is going to have a field day. The best I can hope for is that they blame it on my youth and flood the airwaves with how irresponsible it was to let me attend NAMA so early. No one will want to be associated with the stench of failure, my marketing work will dry up, and it wouldn't surprise me if TharHes looks to back out of our contract somehow. I even got one of their machinists killed.

I took a steadying breath. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. My parents ruled their nations; they could probably suppress just how bad the casualties were, right? And maybe with the highly advanced salvage I could ship to NAIS, that will become the story of the day. The Arrow IV system that the artillery 'Mechs were using seemed to have a longer effective range, while being lighter and less bulky. If we could figure out how it worked, that would be big. In fact, many of the weapons from the 'Mechs we destroyed were advanced beyond even Star League weaponry. This could leapfrog our current weapons development.

I could also pin the blame on others. I only assumed temporary command after Col. Caitlin managed to get herself severely injured, and the other senior Kommandants in the Armored Brigade didn't step up! Yes… that could work.

I didn't like throwing anyone under the bus who didn't deserve it, but if those amateurs had their act together, I wouldn't have needed to assume control! The 12th Star Guards were in bad shape. To their credit, they had been extremely brave, and none of them had broken despite the number of casualties. What was once a proud regiment had been reduced to little more than a single company, and a heavily battle-damaged one at that.

In terms of salvage, most of the enemy 'Mechs were unusable. There was no windfall of a 'Mech almost fully intact like the battle at Pofadder's Gully. We did find the 'Mech I was dubbing the 'Super Catapult,' which might be fixable. It had lost some heatsinks, along with both legs, and had a damaged gyro. However, it still had a working engine. The techs thought it would be possible to rebuild the gyroscope, so that would be useful if they could graft another 'Mechs legs to it.

We would need to check on Fraserburg to see what else the enemy had remaining. At a minimum, two heavily damaged Aerospace fighters and several DropShips. ComStar was still playing hardball, but my message wouldn't take much longer before it reached Wotan. I knew they had a black box, so a few more days after that, and I'd get orders from the chain of command.

Before that happened, more DropShips began descending toward Icar, and the enemy was attempting to open a communication line.

You've got to be kidding me.

The line clicked on. "I am Star Colonel Erik Kerensky of the 352nd Assault Cluster. What forces defend this world?"

"Star Colonel Kerensky, I am Kommandant Steiner-Davion, temporarily in command. My commanding officer has been wounded. I can relay a message to her, but to make sure this is efficient, perhaps you can answer some of my questions."

"Neg, Steiner-Davion. Though I must ask, you are the… child of the ruler of the Lyran Commonwealth?"

"Yes, but I only hold the rank of Kommandant and have been serving for less than a year. Simply because my parents rule does not mean I do," I replied, carefully weighing everything this person said.

"If you are temporarily in command, I can speak with you. What forces defend this world?"

This sounded highly ritualized. The previous leader, Star Colonel Jerah Carns, had used the exact same line.

"You are asking me for military information. I do not understand why you would expect me to give it to you. However, I do wish to negotiate. We have the bodies of your comrades, and we have two of your men as prisoners of war. If you would provide me information…"

"Neg, for the last time. What forces defend this world against the Silver Wolves?"

I thought quickly.

"Why don't you tell me what forces you have attacking this world, and I'll consider it."

"Were you wounded?" The voice sounded slightly bemused, which I supposed was better than terse and angry. "What I attack with depends on what you are defending with."

What sort of rank madness is this? Well, I need to keep him talking and presumably he would have knowledge of what the other Star Colonel encountered.

"I am defending this with the remaining units of the Third Armored Brigade, the 12th Star Guards, and the 1st NAIS Research Battalion."

"You say remaining units; you mean those that survived the battle, quiaff?"

"Yes, we suffered losses when your comrade attacked us."

"What do you have remaining in terms of equipment?" Erik asked me. Judging by his voice, he fully anticipated I would tell him. This was growing stranger and stranger.

"We are still assessing; we could have a full and complete report available in a few days…"

He laughed. "Neg, I intend to be on your planet and have defeated you within the next 18 hours."

"Why do you want Icar?" I tried to probe.

"Do not ask meaningless questions during a batchall. I will give you ten minutes to gather your information or put your ranking officer on this channel. Refuse, and I will attack with all the forces at my disposal."

I told him I would take the ten minutes. We had been mauled, and there was no way we could fight another attacker. I communicated through the base, "This is Kommandant Katherine Steiner-Davion. We are evacuating all AFFC units from this world. Priority salvage must also be carried off. We will be lifting off in six hours."

It was time to bug out. Icar couldn't be held. I didn't even bother reestablishing the communication link with the descending DropShips. The 12th Star Guardians and my battalion had rides, but the Third Icar Armored Brigade did not… however, there was extra space due to the casualties we had suffered. We almost didn't have room for the state-of-the-art 'Mech simulators after packing up all the priceless salvage and the remnants of the Icar Armored Brigade.

That was almost very costly!

I worked with the NAIS researchers to grab the most promising pieces: the Super Catapult, the burned-out cockpit 'Mech, the higher-tech Arrow IV system, some of the more intact battle armor suits, and the less-damaged weapon systems. Overwatch had done a damn fine job taking out three Toads with precise shots through the visor. Most of the internals were still intact. I may have had half my command shot up, but the NAIS was going to love me.

Anything that couldn't be loaded up was going to be destroyed as best we could. I wasn't a gracious loser, and I wasn't about to leave anything usable for these catspaws of Being X. The entire installation was in motion as we began loading up the DropShips. Messages were relayed to our JumpShips so we could coordinate the pickup. We would be executing a military burn to shorten travel time. The higher G-forces weren't ideal for our wounded, but getting them proper medical care, instead of just triage, was more important. If they had more Aerospace fighters, things could get very dangerous, but with multiple Union DropShips and even a Fortress DropShip thanks to the 12th Star Guards, we had a lot of concentrated firepower on our side.

While I was worried, we managed to lift off the planet and join our JumpShips without issue. We would jump to the Winfield system and then recharge our K-F Drive, which would take about seven days. I had been tempted to jump to Chateau, but the existing protocol in the event we were forced off-world was for the 12th Star Guards to rally to Wotan Command. Until I received contradictory orders, I would continue acting as Col. Caitlin's stand-in for whatever she would have been doing. They were keeping her under for now, though her prognosis was good. Head wounds were always tricky. She and the other wounded would be traveling down to Winfield for proper hospital care, which was the purpose of using the riskier pirate point.

After Winfield, we could jump to Derf, repeat the process, and then jump to Wotan. Wotan Command would likely assemble a task force to remove this 'Star Colonel' from Icar. Barring any contradictory orders, we would use the extensive 'Mech repair facilities on Wotan. Honestly, I hoped fresh orders would come in soon regarding the black box I had, because I would much rather head back to New Avalon and start salvaging my reputation.

Why do I have the feeling that won't be an option? If anything, I'll probably be stuck joining the task force because I have 'experience' fighting them! Argh! Curse you, Being X!