B16

As we advanced on the Jotunheim Pass, our first taste of what awaited us hit us from the Nidavellir Woods, a boreal forest around halfway between Helluland and the Jotunheim Pass. A lance of Hipparch Cavalry Tanks we were using to scout ahead got ambushed by a mixed company of Combat Vehicles, two lances of Scorpion Light Tanks backed by a lance of SRM Carriers. The Hipparchs were fast enough to withdraw without taking more than light damage, but clearing the forest took time that Maria Morgraine could use to organize. That was never more apparent than when a Squadron of Warrior Assault VTOLs came in from the pass as we started moving again to strafe out lead elements with SRMs and Autocannon Fire. 

They were quickly chased off by a group of Vulcan Aerospace Fighters with heavy losses, but their attack delayed us further and knocked out two of our Ignis SRM Infantry Support Tanks with missile hits to their treads, but the delaying tactics were becoming apparent. Maria Morgraine was using her non-Battlemech Elements to slow down our advance so that she could be properly organized and ready for when we reached her. Essentially, she was trading her lighter units and territory for time to prepare, and I definitely didn't care to know what exactly she was preparing for us when we eventually made it to the pass. 

Ironically, if the Dreams were accurate, these were the same tactics she'd used to slow down the clans enough to allow her daughter to escape the attack with a few companies of surviving Valkyries. It wasn't a bad strategy at all and delayed our advance by three days. Attacks from ambushing Combat Vehicles or hidden Artillery Positions, raids by VTOL Attack Craft, and so on continued while we made our way to the pass. Most of the attacks were being carried out by units bearing Lackhove Auxiliary Colors, though I did spot one or two units that had unfamiliar insignia, likely denoting mercenary troops that weren't noteworthy enough to merit mention in either Blackjack's Textbooks or any of the Dreams I'd had

Casualties were pretty light, all things considered, only a few Combat Vehicles here and there knocked out or a few killed or wounded troopers. Pinpricks that were quickly repaired or healed thanks to lots of spare parts, technicians, doctors, and SLDF-Grade medical technology. It wasn't the casualties that concerned me, it was the time that these attacks were costing us. Every day we were delayed was one more she could use to fortify or discover that we hadn't only landed a single regiment. Three days to travel a distance that it would normally only take a day and a half to cover. Of course, her own casualties from this were pretty horrendous. At least a battalion's worth of Lackhove Auxiliaries and Minor Mercenary Troops had been fed into the meat grinder to stall us and been destroyed, along with multiple Lackhove and Mercenary VTOL squadrons.

At the same time, I had the benefits of technology and strategy on my side. The latest telemetry from the ASF Flotilla in orbit told me that she still hadn't cottoned onto the fact that Colonel Frankowski had landed the First Regiment behind her and had seized control of Valhalla City. It likely helped that we had some Electronic Warfare capabilities thanks to our Rim Worlds Republic Army Equipment while they had none. The Jamming was proving effective enough to fool Maria Morgraine into thinking she still had a City to fall back on if whatever she'd prepared at the Jotunheim Pass didn't work out.

It was on the fourth day of the Ground Campaign that we finally made it to the Jotunheim Pass. The gateway to the Asgard River Valley, where the Capital of Valhalla City lay, and where the bulk of Gotterdamerung's Food and Industrial Production was, opened in front of a truly titanic mountain range that bisected the planet. The entrance to the pass yawned wide like the gates of a formidable citadel, flanked by towering mountains of granite and basalt whose peaks were so high up that they disappeared into the clouds. This was the entrance to Maria Morgraine's Heartland.

While Helluland was all Boreal Forest and Snowy Plains, and areas further out were even less hospitable than that, the Aesir River Valley was actually somewhat temperate, capable of growing various strains of rye and barley. Further downstream, near where the Asgard River flowed into the planet's single, saltwater, ocean, there were mines that dug up various minerals, including nickel, iron, tungsten, copper, and a slight bit of Germanium, all of which were transported back up the river to Valhalla City to be processed into refined metals and shipped off-world. It was a decent money-maker that Maria Morgraine couldn't afford to allow to fall into our hands.

That was why, as soon as we arrived, my Targeting and Tracking Computer screeched out a warning, threat board showing an incoming LRM strike coming down from one of the mountainsides. Sure enough, one of the Archers lay camouflaged against the titanic bulk of the mountain, which was big enough that even the Heavy Mech was swallowed up among the rocks. The Lead elements of the regiment scattered, as Captain Schroeder's Dragoon Company and Captain O'Malley's Hipparch Company tried to dodge into the trees of the boreal forested foothills to try to avoid the strike. The LRM strike was soon joined by more, as three other Archers and four Griffins let loose from various mountainside positions.

Captains Schroeder, O'Malley, and their companies did their best to dodge, but somehow these LRM Strikes were annoyingly accurate for the Archers and Griffins being so high up. They didn't have our advanced targeting and tracking systems, after all. It wasn't until I caught the telltale flash of metal among the foothills that I realized what Maria Morgraine had spent the time doing. She'd set up a number of prefabricated bunkers for forward spotters to direct LRM fire from. She hadn't had time to properly fortify them, though, so she'd settled for using low-tech camouflage netting and other makeshift methods of hiding them. Likely these bunkers weren't much more than a few concealed gun positions and a spotter with a comms unit. 

"Colonel, grid F-Five, do you see that?" I questioned over Comms.

"I see them. I'm sending Captain Gamla and his Jump Infantry Company in to clear them out, but Captains O'Malley and Schroeder aren't going to last long under such sustained fire." Informed Colonel Lindqvist.

"All right, lend me Captain Nilsson and his Griffins and I think we might be able to get them in a little counter-battery fire to suppress them while the Infantry Clears out the forward bunkers." I responded.

"That's likely to bring out Maria Morgraine's heavier elements." Warned Colonel Lindqvist.

"That's why I'll be counting on you and Captain O'Toole to come to the rescue." I retorted.

And with that, I sighted down on one of the Archers with my Gauss Rifle, not even waiting for Captain Nilsson to show up with his Griffins. I squeezed off two shots, sending a pair of Ferro-nickel slugs up the mountainside at the Archer that had started the barrage on our lead elements. The First round penetrated the armor belt but didn't hit anything major, the second, however, smashed into the cockpit, pulping the Mechwarrior inside. The unique design of the Archer's cockpit placement rendered it extremely vulnerable, putting it below the main armored belt, affording it a good field of view for an artillery platform, but exposing the Mechwarrior within to anything that could penetrate the lighter armor around the cockpit. A Gauss rifle definitely was able to do that.

As I mission killed one Archer, the others turned toward me, lessening the volume of fire against Captains Schroeder and O'Malley considerably. Fortunately, Captain Nilsson arrived just in time. His twelve, upgraded, Griffins, let off a return salvo of LRM-Ten Fire, sending one-hundred-twenty missiles accurately back at the Archers, even as they tried to get updates from the forward bunkers for firing solutions on my position. Three Archers got hit by enough saturation LRM Fire to partially collapse the mountainside they were stationed on, utterly annihilating that heavy lance.

"Don't worry, my Lord. The Cavalry has arrived." Came Captain Nillson's voice over the comms.

Just as he said that the majority of the enemy forward Bunkers in Grid Square F-Five went up in flames, Captain Gamla's Jump Infantry having detonated explosive charges after taking them. This was followed by the Enemy Griffins losing the accuracy they'd displayed previously and allowing the ragged remnants of Captains Schroeder and O'Malley's Companies to sally forth out of the now charred and desolated boreal forests for the entrance to the Jotunheim Pass. Several of Captain Schroeder's Dragoons had damage of varying extents, and Captain O'Malley had lost half her Hipparch Company to the barrage. As Captain Nilsson and I began covering their advance with LRM and Gauss Rifle Fire against the Griffins on the Mountainside, Enemy Combat Vehicles and Light and Medium Mechs in the Colors of Morgraine's Vakyries poured forth from the pass to meet them.

Colonel Lindqvist sent in the rest of our Combat Vehicles to back them up and soon, a major battle was taking place among the small field of boulders that was between the boreal forest and the entrance to the pass. . .

XXXX

Maria Morgraine growled softly as she watched yet another valuable mech wink out on her threat board. Already she'd lost a Company's worth of Lackhove Auxiliary Mechs and had now lost the sole Mercenary Lance she'd wasted all those C-Bills on hiring when it looked like war was going to break out with the Boy over the issue of Koskenkorva. Sixteen Mechs lost in the space of four days, with nine of those being downed by a single Mechwarrior. That plus the Aerospace Losses she'd suffered when the Boy's Flotilla had arrived in Orbit meant that even if she managed to turn back the assault, she'd effectively lost.

"My Lady, we should send in the veterans we've been keeping back." Argued Alice Crowe, one of her veterans. Alice had been born and raised on Star's End, though she'd chosen to join up with Maria rather than languish under some Belter Captain. Alice was a damned virtuoso in the cockpit of her Trebuchet but was a bit of a hothead.

"If we commit them now, odds of success are slim. We should wait for the ASF before heading out." Cautioned Amalie van der Hoenn. The daughter of a deposed Federated Suns Baron, Amalie's upbringing in exile had made her cautious, but she was no less a competent Mechwarrior for it. Her Enforcer bore the tally marks for destroyed enemies to prove that.

"The ASF isn't coming. Major El-Fadil sent a report back from the rear via courier that arrived twenty minutes ago. We've been had." Growled Viktoria Volkova. Viktoria was a former DCMS Mechwarior of the Eighth Rasalhague Regulars who'd opted to go mercenary rather than re-enlist. She'd joined up with Maria just before they'd all taken over Gotterdamerung Together and brought a certain fatalism to the Veteran Company. She knew her business though, and was deadly behind the cockpit of her Assassin. She handed over a piece of paper to Maria who took it and read it with a frown.

"What is it?" Asked Desdemona Guzzo. A former technician from Placida in the Oberon Confederation, Desdemona was the daughter of a Mercenary who'd inherited her father's Valkyrie just a year after graduating from technical school. She spent two years in the Oberon Guards after that, before deciding to strike out on her own, joining up with Maria at the same time Viktoria had.

"Major El-Fadil reports that Valhalla City has fallen to a second Regiment of Enemy Forces. He and the remnants of the First Lackhove Auxiliary Battalion ran into them on the way to the rear. Apparently, he was only able to send a single Hover Scout back with a message." Spat Maria, seething. She was staring defeat right in the face and it was pissing her off something fierce. To think that the Boy could do this, clearly, he had far too much of his father in him.

"How did we not know? And what do we do now?" Questioned Amalie.

"The Boy has shown enough novel technology so far. He probably has the capability to jam our transmissions in such a way that we wouldn't have realized it. As for what we do now? Ready my Grasshopper, we're sallying out." Snarled Maria.

"Finally." Grinned Alice Crowe, viciously.

"Is that wise?" Queried Desdemona Guzzo.

"It doesn't matter. If we stay back, we lose, if we sally out, we lose. At least this way, we can take some of them with us." Pointed out Viktoria Volkova.

"Viktoria's right. Get Shield Maiden Company Ready. I want to hit them as soon as we can." Ordered Maria.

They were all going to either die or be captured one way or another, but Maria at least wanted to take the boy out before then. She'd have to for Susie to have any chance of reclaiming what was owed her. She thought briefly of her daughter and of her paramour on Butte Hold. If she died here, and couldn't take the boy with her, they would avenge her. That thought warmed her heart as she strapped herself into the cockpit of her Grasshopper. If she failed to kill the Boy, Redjack Ryan would carve a bloody swathe through his barony until he did so, Maria was sure of it. For their daughter to reclaim her birthright, the Boy would have to die, Ryan had to know that. As she pulled on her Neurohelmet and made ready to head out, Maria Morgraine vowed that she would do her level best to put the Boy in the ground herself. 

For Susie's sake, if nothing else. . .

XXXX

We'd almost managed it. The Enemy Griffins had been suppressed and the motley collection of Combat Vehicles, Light, and Medium Mechs had failed to break our assault. The Combat Vehicles had broken and run in the face of our renewed assault now that the ambush with LRM Fire from the mountainsides had been defeated and we'd sent in the rest of our own Combat Vehicles. Though the Mech Forces had stayed to fight, they'd been whittled down substantially and had been fighting a losing battle for a good fifteen minutes by now. All it had taken out of us was the destruction or damaging of a little over a dozen or so combat vehicles, four dragoons damaged, and one crippled. These losses would be easily repaired and replaced once we could actually finish fighting on Gotterdamerung, and the loss of actual personnel was even lighter than the loss of material.

I sighted down on a Locust-One-S that had flanked around one of the standing menhir-like boulders that the current fighting was taking place among and was about to pop out to surprise an unfortunate Dragoon with SRM Fire to the rear. Squeezing off a ferro-nickel slug from my Gauss Rifle before it could do so, the sheer amount of overkill the attack represented managed to not only penetrate the light mech but come out the other side, completely coring the Locust for my tenth kill so far of the campaign. As the Locust went up in flames, however, my targeting and tracking computer screeched out a warning and my threat board lit up with new contacts.

"It looks like Maria Morgraine has finally had enough of watching her Valkyries die from the sidelines. I'm sending in the Rampages, my Lord. I beg you to withdraw." Came Colonel Lindqvist's voice over comms. He was right, my threat board was reading twelve new contacts.

As he said that, however, I was forced to throw my mech into a sideways dodge as I was informed that no less than five laser weapons had acquired a target lock on me at once. The absolute barrage of laser fire that scorched a hole through the rocky ground my mech had been standing on just moments before and melted the permafrost underneath had come from above and a glance upward revealed a Grasshopper landing in close range from me. Painted in mottled blue and green, with the binary systems of Gotterdamerung and Lackhove picked out on the shoulder, there was only one person who this could be.

"I think it's too late for that Colonel. You'd best hurry." I commed Back. 

"You've made a big mistake in coming here, Boy! It will be the last one you ever make!" Broadcasted Maria Morgraine over an open frequency. As she said that, a motley assortment of light and medium mechs rushed Captain Nilsson's Griffins and Captain O'Malley's remaining Dragoons. I sent up a silent prayer that Colonel Lindqvist got here with the rampages soon.

Then my threat board screeched again and I was forced to move in order to avoid fire from the Grasshopper's Large Laser. I moved to the side and let off a burst with my Ultra Autocannon, only for Maria Morgraine to dodge by engaging her jump jets. I backpedaled just in time to avoid fire from the medium lasers, but my response of a snap-shot from my Gauss Rifle was dodged aside thanks to a veteran application of Jump Jets. I was forced to retreat back behind one of the stone boulders to avoid fire from the large laser, though a single beam from Maria Morgraine's medium laser struck the armor on my right shoulder, burning a line across the ferro-fibrous armor before I was able to fully take cover.

I popped out around to fire off a burst from my Ultra Autocannon only to be shoulder-checked to the side by a charging enforcer, sending my mech toppling sideways. Fortunately, before I could get hit by the large laser in the Enforcer's arm I let off a burst of Ultra Autocannon Rounds point blank, firing blindly. Even firing blindly, however, at this range, with an Ultra Autocanon, I couldn't really miss. Armor-piercing rounds slashed out and into the Enforcer, though the awkward angle and blind firing meant that it wasn't exactly a kill. It did damage the Enforcer and buy me the time I needed to get upright, at which point I had to duck behind the standing boulder again to avoid another blast from Maria Morgraine's large laser, taking yet another glancing hit from a medium laser in the process.

"You didn't think this would be a duel, did you? I was a Pirate long before I was a noble! Why would I fight you alone?" Spat Maria Morgraine over an open frequency.

I turned to see the enforcer staggering back to its feet from where it had stumbled back against another boulder. It took aim with its Large Laser and I hit my jump jets for all they were worth, only to be smashed into sideways by Maria Morgraine using her Jump Jets to intercept my dodge. Falling to the ground, I let off a burst from my Ultra Autocannon at a Valkyrie that had been skulking around the edge of the skirmish and had been lining up a shot at me with its medium laser. Through some freak luck, I managed to catch it in the ammunition storage for its LRM Launcher, detonating the magazine and killing the Valkyrie.

As my mech crashed hard on the ground, I managed to get to my feet to see Maria Morgraine's Grasshopper make a much more graceful landing further away from me. She fired her large laser at a Griffin that was engaging a Trebuchet in an LRM duel, damaging it before charging forth to finish it with her medium lasers. Meanwhile, I was hit by several rounds of autocannon ammo from the enforcer, wrecking more of my armor. I turned and let off a single burst of Ultra Autocannon ammo that riddled the Enforcer with armor-piercing ammunition, some of which pierced the cockpit, killing the Mechwarrior inside.

Unfortunately, it looked like my luck had just about run out, as Maria Morgraine finished off the Griffin and turned to race back at me, firing a salvo from her LRM launcher to cover her advance. I tried to duck back into cover but was bracketed by explosions as I did so, some of which finished stripping the armor plating off my Mech's right shoulder. My threat board screamed at me to move as I was being painted by a large laser, but I was too far from one of the boulders now to get there in time unless I used my Jump Jets, and Maria Morgraine had me beat for Jump Jet use.

It was just about then that a Ferro-Nickel Slug slammed Into Maria Morgraine's Grasshopper from the side, splintering her armor and sending her careening into one of the boulders. I turned to see that Colonel Lindqvist had arrived along with Captain Pedersen's Rampages. Maria Morgraine wasn't out just yet, however, turning to attempt to regroup with what was left of her veteran forces, amounting to a Trebuchet, one Griffin, one Assassin, one Clint, and one Pheonix Hawk. Seven Mechs out were all that was left of Morgraine's Valkyries. For the first time, I replied to Maria Morgraine over the open channel.

"Guess what? I didn't come alone either." I taunted, levering my mech back to a standing position.

The battle didn't last much longer after that. In the end, Maria Morgraine went down fighting, hit by three Gauss rifle rounds at once. Our total casualties for the battle of Jotunheim Pass amounted to fourteen destroyed or damaged combat vehicles, four Dragoons damaged and two crippled, two Griffins damaged, one crippled, and one destroyed, one Rampage damaged, and one-hundred-five killed or wounded troops. We would be able to repair or replace all of our losses within two weeks thanks to having stockpiles of spare parts and equipment, automated repair bays, well-trained technicians and doctors, and SLDF-era Medicine.

Morgraine's Valkyriate on the other hand had suffered total casualties. One combined arms regiment was completely destroyed, along with one entire Battalion of the Lackhove Auxiliary, and one Mercenary Company with two lances of Combat Vehicles, and one of Battlemechs. Two-thousand-two-hundred troops killed or taken prisoner, not including Aerospace Forces whose losses were similarly total. Gotterdamerung had surrendered as well, even though the surrender was just a formality at this point, with the two main population centers under our control and only a few outposts near the mines still remaining out of it.

Colonel Frankowski hadn't even taken as many casualties as we had, his surprise assault on Valhalla City against foot infantry and militia achieving complete victory without any permanent casualties. He would re-embark on the flotilla after a few days of rest and refitting to head to Lackhove while I stayed behind as the Second Regiment needed ten days to fully repair and refit. I would learn via Black Box communications that Lackhove formally surrendered twenty-two days into the campaign after the flotilla swept aside their ASF Force and landed Marines on their orbital defense station.

By the end of one month of fighting, Koskenkorva would officially surrender as well, bringing an end to Morgraine's War. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so now that we've gotten the backtracking out of the way, here's the Battle of Jotunheim Pass and the end of Morgraine's Valkyries. Jozef managed to kill thirteen mechs in four days of fighting, making him just over a double ace in his first campaign, which was a victorious one. You can bet that various people will have taken notice of that fact and not just in the Periphery. Of course, it also will have made him enemies. Redjack Ryan isn't likely to be happy about his lover's death, after all. Expect an Embassy from the Lyrans and an Ultimatum from Redjack Ryan coming in the near future.

Notably, this brings his Barony up to nine worlds with a population of around six-hundred-ten-thousand and a GDP of around three billion C-Bills A Year. Taking Butte Hold, if Redjack Ryan decides to bring war, will up that to ten systems with one-million-one-hundred-ten-thousand people and a GDP of around four-billion-two-hundred-thousand C-Bills a year. Given where he started, that's not too shabby for a little over a year's worth of work.

For now, though, the next chapter will be an interlude involving General Jorgensen and the capture of Koskenkorva.

Stay tuned. . .