54

"This is a nightmare, it can't be true," thought Force Leader Mo Ling. A month ago Chancellor Romano Liao had ordered the Death Commandos and House Imarra to give a harsh lesson to those Aurigan Reach barbarians who had once again dared to invade the sacred kingdom of the Capellan Confederation.

Commandeering the use of various civilian JumpShips, they had arrived at the capital of Aurigan Reach much earlier than was possible for the mercenaries who were at this time still in the middle of the Confederation.

And then everything started to go wrong. An until now unknown orbital station that was in geostationary position over Cordia City, the capital and target of this raid, had destroyed the two Overlords that transported not only the main bulk of the forces but also the command structure of both units, before the escort Fighters could destroy it.

The Death Commandos had continued with their original plan and dropped over the enemy palace. That was hours ago and after initial warnings of heavy turrets and enemy 'Mechs, no more transmissions came from then.

Now, Mo Ling was leading what was left of House Imarra forces, in the middle of the inferno that was Cordia City.

It was evident that the opposing force did not play in the same league as the Death Commandos or the Imarra warriors, but they did not lack courage. Countless times SRM Carriers or even infantry had poured Infernos salvos on Liao force, while more distant LRM Carriers kept harassing them, and while they caused tremendous casualties to the defenders, as they advanced towards the palace which was the main objective, they also suffered serious losses. Mo Ling already thought at that time that no one would survive to return to Sian.

Jasmine's Withworth had been lost to an enemy SRM Carrier, Patrick's Phoenix Hawk had been destroyed by a Kintaro, that Ling executed too late, and countless others had fallen in this trice damned city. The infantry had not survived as not only the enemy had more infantry to oppose then, but they had also several IFVs and APCs and even some strange armored units, too big to be infantry, too small to be 'Mechs, that had managed to kill many of is compatriots with almost impunity. Li had hit one but for his amazement, the strange unit had survived his small laser fire and ran away before Li could change to more heavy weapons.

Now, finally arriving at an avenue that led to the front of the fortress, Ling faced the last two defenders, a huge 'Mech that looked like a Marauder on steroids and that his computer claimed to be a Nightstar and a Warhammer similar to his own, among several wrecked 'Mechs in the Death Commandos colors, and many more in the Royal Guard ones. A bit afar, the destroyed parts of several turrets could be seen on the walls of the palace. As soon as Mo Ling's survivors resumed the advance and long before they were in range, the enemy 'Mechs fired. Like the 'Mechs of the mercenaries who were deep in the Confederacy, these two had long-range weapons and firing at the same time as Ling's unit, the enemy Warhammer had destroyed one of his teammates, by placing two ER PPC shots in the Vindicator, one destroying the left torso and the other penetrating the center of Zhang Kang's 'Mech and finishing it off with this single salvo. Ling had a chill in the spine, it's true the Vindicator had suffered damage in battle, but the Warhammer shouldn't have been able to do such damage with a single salvo. The returning fire from the Vindicator had destroyed the SRM-6 launcher of the enemy Warhammer and Ling fired at almost the same time, hitting the center torso and right leg of the Nightstar, but the armor of the 'Mech was not penetrated, which could cause problems later on (if there was a later) as it was obviously not left behind in terms of letality and although obviously struck several times, with several marks on its thick armor, the left arm ripped off and a pronounced limp, it had lost several of his weapons, the 'MechWarrior who piloted him was a superior warrior, no doubt like the one driving the Warhammer, they have survived against the Death Commandos after all. If the Mask was right, Mo Ling would have laughed at that good joke if he had the time to do it, they were the regents of this savage Periphery nation, and the principal targets of this cursed operation. With a salvo of a Gauss Rifle and an ERPPC, the Nightstar destroyed the other survivor of Mo Ling's lance, a Raven, leaving only Mo Ling to face both opponents with his Warhammer 6L. Accelerating his 'Mech to full speed, Ling managed to get within range of all of his weapons before his opponents could fire again, placing two ER PPC shots on the enemy Nightstar, time destroying its left leg and sending the big brute to the ground with a crashing sound that could be heard even inside is cockpit. At almost the same time his 'Mech shook violently, as the Nightstar returned shots, destroying the right side of his Warhammer. Shifting focus to the enemy Warhammer, in the colors of the Arano Royal Guard, Li moved just in time to evade the fire of his adversary, and fired all his surviving weapons, but the ER PPC missed. Another pilot could panic after being hit by flamers, but not this one. The enemy Warhammer rotated calmly to stay centered on Mo Ling's 'Mech and let go with all its weapons, totally unaffected by the heat.

And this is when Mo Ling found himself in the air, the self-ejection having saved him from the destruction of his 'Mech.

Soon after, the Liao DropShips took off, except one Triumph that had been damaged by artillery and , scuttled by its crew before they were captured. With no forces to oppose then in space, the DropShips re-united with the JumpShips and some time later departed the system.

For the records the Aurigans tried, they really tried, but without powerful enough tugs, and very short time, the best they could do was to redirect the free falling Overlords to almost uninhabited areas of the planet: one crashed in one of the oceans and the other in a rural area, causing a few unfortunate deaths.

The victory cost dearly to the Reach. When the shots ended, the Royal Guard had been gutted with only the 'Mechs of Jean-Luc and Kamea were still operational, and to say so of the Nightstar was feeling . And the infantry units were also almost completely destroyed as well as whole areas of Cordia City.

It was a very close call. Jean-Luc and Kamea only survived because many of the Royal Guards interposed their 'Mechs between the rulers and the Death Commandos. The Jacks proved to by lethal against even elite infantry, but also demonstrated they were not yet ready to go against 'Mechs. Of the twelve Jean-Luc had in Cordia City, only three survived.