Sweat soaking his clothes, Shin Yodama continued to push himself as he ran toward the coordinates he'd been given before the Skulker exploded. By the time he was within sight of the small outpost that was his goal, the air strikes had met with stiff resistance and the burning wreckage of aerospace fighters littered the dark battlefield. He had approached two of the crash sites, but the intensity of the inferno had kept him back. He knew no one or nothing could have survived, but the debris gave him no clue as to which side the craft belonged.
He had wanted to stop when the ache in his side first began, and then again when it felt like a knife had been shoved deep and twisting into his guts. Whenever he did slow down to look back, the silhouettes of the pursuing 'Mechs grew even larger as they came on. Like demons from some childhood nightmare, the Clan 'Mechs lumbered forward despite the firepower hammering them. As hard as he ran to escape them, he could never lose sight of them.
The first sign Shin had of A2536 was a nervous young trooper half-hidden behind a fallen tree. "Halt or I'll shoot!" The excitement in the youth's voice made Shin certain he'd carry out his threat, but the wavering of his gun barrel told the yakuza he need not fear for his life.
He raised his hands. "I am Sho-saShin Yodama. Who is in charge here?"
The trooper jerked his head toward a low hill. "Chu-iAshai. I'll take you to him."
Rounding the hill, Shin discovered that this forward observation post was nothing more than two soldiers, their leader, and a pair of scanning binoculars mounted on a tripod, radioing data back to headquarters. Ashai looked intelligent and eager. Probably a military academy recruit who'd graduated early, Shin concluded. His two young companions carried their automatic rifles awkwardly enough to convince Shin that they, too, must be very new to the warrior's life.
"Chi-iAshai, we have to report back to headquarters."
The junior officer nodded curtly. "Hai, Sho-sa.There is a Skulker due here soon to take us back. It's been forward ..."
Shin shook his head. "I was in that Skulker. It isn't coming." Shin held out his hand. "Give me your radio."
Color drained from Ashai's face. "I cannot. The microphone went out on our unit." He pointed up at the place on the hill where they had set up the visual scanner. "We were directed to leave this unit in place because they're still getting visual."
"Good." Shin ran up the hill as fast as his weary legs would take him. Reaching the summit, he positioned himself before the scanning binoculars. He waited until the device's motors whirred the lenses into focus on him, then quickly made a series of hand signals. He went through the sequence twice more, praying that at least one of the yakuza comtechs would be on duty.
As he stepped back out of the line-of-sight, the binoculars autofocused out at the advancing Smoke Jaguar 'Mechs. Their paint scheme showed circlets of black dots against a gray background, mimicking the coat of the animal that gave them their name. The dust and smoke they left behind in the bloody light of dawn blotted out everything to the rear of their lines. So heavily did the smoke hang in the still morning air that Shin imagined the Clan commander had arranged it less to obscure his troops than to warn them that they must go on, for no retreat was possible.
Shin saw aerospace fighters twist through martial acrobatics in the sky, then occasionally dive at their ground-bound enemies. More than one aircraft made it through the hail of ground fire to destroy a 'Mech, but Shin did not see that the attacks made the least difference.
To the west, facing the dawning sun, rank upon rank of Combine BattleMechs appeared to oppose the invaders. The crimson 'Mechs of the First Sword of Light occupied the center of the Combine line. The Otomo, their royal blue 'Mechs arrayed in staggered ranks, made up the northern flank. The two Genyosha regiments had been deployed as the southern flank. The black and silver 'Mechs of their Second Regiment stood at a forty-five degree angle to the main body of Combine troops, giving the southern edge a hook to drive the Clan in toward the center.
Using their advantage of range, the Clan warriors engaged the Kurita units at long distance. Shin realized immediately . that the Clans had abandoned their tactic of one warrior trying to engage another warrior in single combat. They concentrated their fire on individual targets, hitting hardest the 'Mechs equipped for LRM barrages. They kept coming as they fired, ever so slowly closing to a range at which the Combine's 'Mechs could effectively return fire.
The discipline of his comrades amazed Shin. No one moved or broke formation. It was maddening for Shin to watch them from afar as they stood there, taking barrage after barrage, but it had to be a thousand times worse for those in the BattleMechs. Even though the attacks mainly peeled off armor, Shin knew he would have been hard pressed to remain in his place. Even so, rigid adherence to Theodore's plan was the key to victory, and that knowledge would have kept him doing his utmost to hold and wait.
Ashai joined Shin atop the hill. "Look, Sho-sa,the Otomo are hurt."
A quick glance confirmed Ashai's observation. The long-range attacks had devastated the Otomo ranks. A dozen 'Mechs were down and many others looked fit for nothing but salvage. Even before the battle had been fully joined, the Combine's northern flank had started to crumble.
Shin noted that he and Ashai were not alone in observing the collapse of the Otomo. Smoke Jaguar 'Mechs surged forward. The Otomo stood furthest away from Imperial City, and the charge redirected the attack off its original line. The Smoke Jaguars broke into a gallop, increasing their speed as the Otomo's return fire came spottily and poorly aimed.
Ashai couldn't keep the fear from his voice. 'They shoot like old women! It is a wonder they don't run!"
Shin smiled. "Watch, Chu-i.Watch and learn."
The swiftest of the Smoke Jaguar 'Mechs punched through the Otomo line. Their lead element had made it to the third and final rank of Otomo 'Mechs when the first Clanner hit a vibrabomb. In a flash of fire and steel that blew away the lower half of his right leg, it stumbled and went down, bowling over an Archer.
The Archerexploded. Shrapnel sprayed down in a forward arc that lifted the downed Clan 'Mech off its chest and blasted away its left arm. Like a string of firecrackers, the other Otomo 'Mechs started to explode as well. From back to front, each of the blue war machines detonated. The thin armor over the chests of the 'Mechs burst outward, showering the enemy with a hail of death.
At the first explosion, Shin hit the ground and pulled Ashai down with him. "Theodore refitted industrial 'Mechs with armor to make them look like BattleMechs, then loaded them with explosives. A new variation on the old Trojan horse strategy. Instead of letting them take the horse into their castle, we had to lure them to our herd, but it worked nonetheless."
Into the chaos marking where the false Otomo regiment had stood, the real Otomo Mech Warriors and the Second Legion of Vega charged. Their sudden appearance from the hills beyond the Kurita line clearly shocked the Smoke Jaguars. Their whole line had to stop to regain its drive toward the Kurita center. As they sought to regroup to do this, the Combine's line let loose with all the long-range weaponry it had.
What the attacks lacked in organization, they made up for in intensity. Individual Clan 'Mechs fell here and there, but the damage was far more widespread than that. Scant few of the mottled gray paint jobs escaped without revision. On the northern flank, where the Legion and Otomo blasted into the Jaguar's wing, the sheer force of their assault routed the Clansmen. As they began to push the Jaguar formation back in on itself, Shin could imagine the Genyosha doing the same on the other flank.