Chapter Thirty-Four: Vengeance

Chapter Thirty-Four: Vengeance

Tybalt, Capellan Confederation April 25th, 3007

"Alright people, we have a couple of hours before the Wolf's Dragoons make landfall." I briefed the mechs and artillery I had with me. "I want the 2nd Mac dead and gone before they get here."

I was leading the mechs we had managed to get back up and running to the outpost. We were going to bait the 2nd Mac into a rage and throw our arty along with the LRM carriers at them from range. In order to do this though, I was going to need to expose myself. As we neared the clearing, I began broadcasting on an open channel.

"This is Colonel Hull, I broke your assault battalion, and I'm going to shatter you before the Dragoons get a chance to pick at your corpse." I called out, walking out in my Warhammer challenging them. "You a coward Barton? Or just scared?" I taunted, watching as an Atlas was doing the little things that indicated what a pilot might do via the linked neurohelmet.

The Atlas clenched and unclenched its fists before moving forward at its maximum speed. "This is Major Barton, I'm going to crush you beneath my Atlas' boots and wear your Warhammer as a cape!"

We both circled around the open field pocketed with craters and shattered mechs and vehicles. I wasn't concerned about facing Barton, he was angry and I was cool, I was freshly armored up, and he had visible damage to parts of his Atlas. While I might despise these sorts of duels on a personal level, I couldn't deny that it was going to be necessary in order to make sure that the Dragoons didn't get the credit for our work.

As soon as we were both in the field facing each other, I began throwing PPC fire at his AC/20, I needed that weapon out of commision if I wanted to win this fight. At this point, it didn't even matter if people could tell that my mech was a Royal variant with Freezers. I kept up a rate of fire with my PPC's as I closed in that would have melted a regular mech. I knew I was going to be paying the price with my Warhammers myomer muscles later, but this fight was the fight for Tybalt. As soon as I was in range and knew that the AC/20 was down, I dropped my Warhammer into what looked like a baseball slide, coming around at the rear armor and worrying it with some SRM's and medium lasers before peeling off again.

Barton spun around and let loose with a brace of medium lasers, smiling a shark-like grin as he watched them converge on one of the PPC's that had been melting armor off of his Atlas.

He then closed in and began to try and hammer the lighter mech with his Atlas' fists. Laughing to himself as one of them connected and shattered armor on the left shoulder that he spat some SRM's at.

Barton had been angry originally, but now he was in the zone, he had the heavier mech; one that was built for this kind of fight, even without the AC/20 that normally came with it. And he was still congratulating himself when the Warhammer lashed out with a kick that tore his knee actuator off of his mech.

I had been dodging fire for too long, some of the lasers had come dangerously close to my cockpit. I had been worrying the Atlas in several different places, making sure to make it look like I was spreading out the damage when really I had focused my Machine guns on his right knee, and as I kept harassing the Atlas, I noticed when the actuator had begun to spark, Seeing that I had this one chance, I threw my Warhammer forward, heedless of any shots that might strike me and kicked the Atlas' knee.

The Atlas knee actuator groaned for a minute before it buckled and fell to pieces. Barton fought to stand on one foot and maintain balance, but he was already crashing to the ground. I walked up, placed one foot on his mech and pointed my remaining PPC directly at his cockpit. At this range it wouldn't be able to fire, but it would still kill Barton.

"Surrender." I said over the open comms. "Or don't. I don't give a damn either way."

"Stand down." Barton coughed over the comms. "We surrender."

With that, the remaining 2nd Mac powered down and popped their hatches. When the surrender order had been followed, my Mithril clad infantryman that had been in the tunnels below came out, one platoon saw to it that the wounded were taken our dropships, while the rest of them took custody of what was left of the 2nd regiment of McCarron's armored cavalry.

April 26th, 3007

"We don't need you, Colonel Wolf." I said to the man across the table from me. "We held this world and took out a third of the Big Mac."

"We're only asking to take part in salvage operations." Wolf replied.

"I. Do Not. Care." I enunciated each word. "My people did what yours couldn't, and unless Ian or Hanse Davion show up to politely ask otherwise I'm going to continue making this my business."

"Colonel Hull, be reasonable about this, you've got wounded and don't have the manpower to use this amount of equipment." Colonel Jaime Wolf continued to push.

"I just fought off a reinforced regiment with a battalion and shattered it." I said firmly, "You and all of your equipment do not scare me. Now fuck off unless you have a Davion that you can pull out of your ass."

Right as I said this, Ian Davion walked into the room. He had a metal bowl in his hands and he sat at the table between me and Wolf before reaching into the bowl.

"No, please continue." The First Prince said as he munched on some popcorn. "It's just starting to get interesting."

"Prince Davion." Both myself and Wolf made to stand up and greet him.

"Sit down." Ian said, and so we did. "Now, what seems to be the issue here?"

" I want to take both Overlords and one of the Unions as my salvage rights. I'm willing to cede pretty much everything else, but Colonel Wolf here, thinks that my unit can't maintain an Overlord for long." I said. "I also want the mechs that were still on the Overlord that's in space." I folded my arms. "The two of you can debate any other salvage you find aside from my company's mechs."

"That's all?" the First Prince raised an eyebrow. "Done, are there any other issues?"

"None sir." I said, shaking my head. "As long as the scheduled meeting takes place tomorrow I'll be set."

April 28th, 3007

"Sheppard!" I greeted as he used a wheelchair to leave the medbay, assisted by his Girlfriend Sergeant Erika Lamb. "How's the leg?"

"It sucks." He replied, and then his face turned solemn. "Rose didn't make it though."

"Damn." I said. "I thought she looked fine."

"She was supposed to be fine, but apparently she didn't tell anyone that she had broken a rib in time. She bled out internally." Sheppard replied.

There were a host of us with injuries, both minor like the torn ligaments and sprained ankles, and major, like Captain Petersons eye, or Sheppards now missing leg. We were currently waiting for Dunham to show up with the Argo and the advanced medical facilities there. Until then, we had commandeered one of the civilian hospitals and were going to be using it for now.

May 1st, 3007

"We are the luckiest people in the Inner Sphere." Jewel observed to Bruce as they conducted a damage and repair assessment of the Overlord in the void. "There's only one panel we'll need to replace in order to get this thing able to be moved to a shipyard for further repairs." She held up her 'Noteputer to show Bruce the section she was referring to.

"Must have been a golden BB." Bruce said. "I'll get the details sorted and we'll start working in an hour."

On Tybalt…

"So…" Ian Davion sat across from me in my Office on the Messenger. "You're willing to license these to us for manufacture?" He gestured to the Mithril plans in front of him."

"Yes we are." I said. "We also have licenses worked out with the Concordat and TTI."

"Hmm." He stroked his chin. "You have partial ownership in a factory or two on Taurus, correct?"

"Yessir." I replied. "We're trying to make some extra income."

"Well, I'll look over the contract, but I'm giving you a solid yes on that." He chuckled. "Those battleRoms you showed me proved their worth."

"Understood." I made to stand up and he waved me to sit down again.

"What do you want?" The First Prince's normal smile turned serious. "I can give you almost anything you want for accomplishing what you just did. A landhold, a planet?" He paused. "What is it that you truly desire?"

I almost answered, and then paused to think. "Give me a year and a half, three Mules, and two Mammoths." I smirked. "When I get back, I want Kentares."

Silence reigned in the room for a good five minutes before the First Prince responded. "Kentares?" He asked. "You're sure you want Kentares?" you could hear the surprise in his voice.

"Yes sir, give me what I just asked for as a bonus, and I'll come back ready and willing to get to work."

"Done." He stood up and shook my hand. "And I'll do one better." he grinned. "I'll give your people the priority for repairs on the Overlords and one of the Invaders to carry them to New Avalon for you."