Tor's problems would begin if the Invidious'crew was able to alert the spaceport to the fact that he was boarding their ship. The spaceport would alert the warship, and the warship would have armed DropShips alongside almost at once. That warning would also spell trouble for Grayson on Trellwan. He was planning another raid on the port, and word that the freighter had been captured would put the spaceport defenses on their guard. That might make the attack impossible, or worse, lead it into an ambush.
It was for this reason that Tor's mission was coordinated so precisely with Grayson's forces on Trellwan. The Lancers would be in position to attack the spaceport at the same time Tor's DropShip approached the Invidious.The ground attack's first target would be the spaceport control tower, which housed the communications relays to the commnet dish antenna that could warn the enemy warship of the assault on the Invidious.
Too, the ground attack could not be launched before the DropShip reached the freighter. If it were, someone in the tower might alert the warship, and the warship's officers might become suspicious of the timing of that lone DropShip approaching the freighter. A laser's flare could end Tor's mission just kilometers short of its goal.
Tor looked at the computer screen on his console, which showed the elapsed days, hours, and minutes since launch. Their burn time had been carefully adjusted so that the DropShip would arrive at the Invidious'stationkeeping zone at precisely 55 hours, 30 minutes after launch.
T plus 55.5 hours was the jump-off time for both attacks. That was if everything had gone according to plan on Trellwan. Tor and his men were about to risk their lives on the assumption that it had.
* * * *
More than 50 hours after local sunrise, Trell had crawled clear of the horizon and was hanging low and to one side of the black silhouette of Mount Gayal. The swollen, mottled red disk could still be looked at without discomfort, but the red light had thrown the entire western face of Gayal into shadow so deep Grayson could not make out the Castle; The temperature was already several degrees above freezing. The faint and distant sussurration the 'Mechs were picking up on their external mikes was the first roar of falling meltwater from the depths of Thunder Rift.
The assault force was approaching from the west this time, making use of the rugged and water-tortured ground to shield the 'Mechs from enemy radar and other remote sensors. Grayson was in the newly captured Shadow Hawkseveral kilometers from the rest. He had found another arroyo southwest of the port, and he'd moved the Hawkinto the shelter of an undercut bank. A computer display on his instrument console flickered with the passing seconds. Fifty-five hours, twenty-eight minutes had passed since the DropShip's launch. In two minutes, the attack would begin.
The Lancers' assault of two days before had caught the Combine forces off guard, allowing Grayson and his men to retire to their hiding place in the Rift without being pursued. The enemy had managed to launch only one missile-firing helicopter, and that had been brought down by a salvo from one of the Lancer's missile-firing hovercraft
There was no way to achieve such surprise a second time. In the past 50 hours, Combine forces at Sarghad had offloaded and readied two full 'Mech companies — twenty-four BattleMechs of various models and sizes. Two Lances, totalling eight 'Mechs, had been deployed in the city around the Palace grounds, and another Lance had moved into the Castle shortly after Grayson's escape with the Shadow Hawk.The remaining company of twelve 'Mechs stood sentry at the spaceport. Eight were patrolling constantly while the remaining four were being serviced.
There was also at least one other 'Mech at the port, Lieutenant Vallendel's black and grey Marauder.Grayson wondered if Duke Ricol's own red and black Marauder,the Red Hunter, were also on Trellwan, though he'd seen no sign of it.
The Red Duke's forces also included ground troops, at least 250 soldiers equipped with a variety of hovercraft and light tracked vehicles suitable for rough mountain terrain that air cushion craft couldn't manage. These troops were armed with an impressive array of assault rifles, man-portable lasers, and shoulder-fired missile launchers.
A direct attack against such a force was clearly hopeless, but an attack was the only way to knock out the communications relay tower. Grayson looked at another screen, whose image was coming to him from a small camera at the top of the wadi's wall. The antenna of the relay system was a 20-meter mast topped by a shallow, wire mesh dish five meters across, which was canted low toward the southeast horizon. That was the direction of the nadir jump point, the place where — if everything was on schedule — Tor should be approaching the Invidiousin the captured DropShip at this very moment.
The tower was Grayson's special target. The other 'Mechs of the Lance, the 20-tonner Locust, Stinger,and Wasp,would be attacking the base, which was patrolled by at least thirteen heavy 'Mechs. With the odds they faced, the Lancers' battle plan would require a careful use of strategy.
The plan called for the light 'Mechs to attack the hydrogen tanks once again, then flee. They expected most of the 'Mechs on hand to pursue the Lancers as they retreated toward the hills. Grayson was sure the Combine forces would be determined to trap the raiders this time, chase them to their camp, and destroy them once and for all.
But while the main 'Mech force was chasing the three raiders, Grayson would slip into their rear and destroy the antenna. The Lancers' hovercraft and troops were deployed in rugged, defensible terrain halfway up the mountain slopes toward the Rift A stubborn defense might allow the Lancers' light 'Mechs to escape, and discourage active pursuit.
Might... might... might... Grayson rubbed his hands over his face, and tried to dispel the fears that plagued him. There were so many unknowns here. Was Tor really in command of the DropShip? Would he be able to take the Invidiouswithout interference from the Combine warship that must be somewhere in that same area? Could three light 'Mechs and a handful of half-trained troops survive an all-out attack by three full Lances of medium and heavy 'Mechs?
Once before he had mapped out a daring battle plan against superior odds, only to watch that plan dissolve in blood and fire as the Repair Bay door crashed shut behind them. Given the cunning and resourcefulness of Duke Ricol, it was entirely possible that Grayson was leading his people into another trap, one even more deadly than they'd faced before.
His first suggestion at their council of war had been that he slip into the port alone. A knapsack packed with high-velocity explosives might bring the radio tower down.
Might... might...
His men had vetoed the idea. The attack against the tower HAD to succeed — and succeed immediately. If the Duke's people managed to get through a warning to either the Invidiousor the Combine warship, they would blast Tor's DropShip into meteoric fragments. Only the Shadow Hawk'sfirepower, consisting of medium laser, autocannon, and short-range missile clusters, could guarantee a successful strike on the tower.
Tor was depending on Grayson, who, in turn, was depending on Lori, Garik Enzelman, and Yarin to buy him the time he needed to get close to that tower.