34
Skupo, Tukayyid
ComStar Intervention District, Free Rasalhague Republic
6 May 3052 (Day 6 of Operation Scorpion)
Strapped into the command couch of his modified Wolfhound,Phelan surveyed the ocean of golden triticale stalks undulating in the wind. It extended for kilometers in all directions, with an occasional tree poking out of it like a weed in a carefully tended garden. Aside from the swaths he and his 'Mechs had cut through as they marched forward, and some small pathways shooting ahead from his position, the field lay unblemished and serene.
It gave Phelan the creeps. Not only did he not see any sign of the enemy, but the sun was slowly rising over the crest of the long, sloping hill at whose base he now stood. The grade looked steep enough to take the edge off any speed they might be able to generate and he felt dead certain the enemy waited for him just beyond the crest.
"Armorer, this is Ax Star."
"Go ahead, Ax Star."
"We are through sectors 3021 and 3022. We have met no resistance. Either the fish are not biting or we're walking into a huge trap. Request air recon of 3023 and 3024 before we proceed."
"Standby, Ax Star."
Phelan frowned. "Roger, Armorer." He flipped his radio over to his Star's command frequency. "We wait here for a second. Let's hype our sensors and see what we can find out about whatever reception ComStar has waiting for us."
* * *
At Wolf Clan Headquarters, Ulric Kerensky paced through the middle of the holotank. On his right, the OmniMechs of the Fourth Wolf Guards set themselves for a counterstrike by a ComStar force. In fierce fighting that had lasted through most of the morning, Clan Wolf had failed to close a loop around Brzo to trap ComStar's Tenth Army. The swift arrival of this new force, ComStar's Ninth Army, meant the conquest of Brzo would take far longer than expected.
He allowed himself a grim smile. You are very good, Anastasius Focht. I had hoped that when we did not land in the first five days, you would divert your best troops to oppose some of my fellow Clans, but you did not. You've tied up the Diamond Sharks in the Kozice Valley and crushed the Forty-fourth Nova Cat Cavaliers at Joje. Now, here, at Brzo, you slow me.
The ilKhan's head came up as an aide entered the holotank. "Yes?"
"Reports are in from the Wolf Spiders, my Khan. Ax Star is their Point Star and they want a flyover into Sectors 3023 and 3024." The aide's hand remained poised over a keypad attachment on his clipboard. Ulric nodded and the man punched a number into the device. The holotank's image shifted to a tactical map of the Skupo area. "The Eleventh Wolf Guards have just met the advanced position of the 278th Division and the rest of the Thirteenth Guards are skirmishing with the 166th Division along this broad front to the south of Skupo."
The tactical map left the whole western flank of the ComStar position open. Ulric knew it had to be defended, but by how much and what level of troops he had no way of knowing for certain. Detaching one Cluster from Alpha Galaxy to perform an end run was a tricky proposition at best. According to the map, either they were free and clear, or—if Focht had defended Skupo the way he defended everything else—they were walking into an ambush.
Ulric traced a finger along the ridgeline. "If they meet resistance, it will be this far out. They will hit them when Ax Star is halfway up the hill. Give them a flyover high, then have the wing come back and pull a strafing run along the line. While they are doing that, Ax Star will have to move fast and get up the hill. Is Hatchet Star still ahead of Ax?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Let Star Commander Phelan and Star Commander Fetladral both hit that line just after the strafing. Hatchet should be in first to cause confusion—hit-and-run stuff—to soften them up. Tell Star Colonel Kerensky to bring the rest of the Cluster up fast. Have this go off in ten minutes."
"Yes, sir."
As the aide left, Ulric cupped his chin in his right hand and stroked his goatee. "Make sure your first shot is the best, Anastasius. If Natasha gets through you there, Skupo is mine."
* * *
Anastasius Focht refused to surrender to fatigue. In his artificial world, he stood atop the ridgeline at Skupo and saw the Star of five 'Mechs waiting at the base of the hill. Back beyond that Star, the rest of the Cluster was slowly moving up. Even without the magnification granted him by the computer, he would have recognized the unique shape of the Wolfhoundleading the forward element, and the night-black Daishiin command of the rest of them.
"This is the real stupidity of war, isn't it? I know how good you are, Phelan Wolf and Natasha Kerensky. I have read all the reports on your Wolf Spiders and I know that even though we outnumber you almost three to one, you can defeat us. Even so, even though it will cost me men and machines, I am forced to oppose you."
He opened a radio channel to Precentor IV Krag Jernberg. "Precentor Jernberg, your 138th Division is facing the Thirteenth Wolf Guards."
Jernberg's voice displayed no emotion. "Bandit's Bane will hold, Precentor Martial."
"This I trust, Precentor. Remember that surprise is your advantage. While you are dug in and shielded, they can guess where you are, but they cannot know. Be aware, however, that this unit is very good. If you must fall back, you will not dishonor yourself."
"We will hold."
"Very well." Focht found words sticking in his throat. Yes, the stupidity of war."If you eliminate the Wolfhoundand the Daishi,you will seriously hamper the unit's performance."
"Consider them dead," Jernberg's voice rattled.
* * *
"Switching HUD to ground mode. Quarrel Flight form up on me." Carew punched a button on his command console and shifted the combat display from air-to-air to air-to-ground mode. The 160-degree holographic display of the battlefield cycled through visible light, magnetic resonance, and infrared scanning but detected nothing on top of the ridge. I know they're there, but where?
"Quarrel Leader, Three and Four are negative. They must be shielded."
"Roger, Trey." Carew flicked the Visigoth'sjoystick flight controller to the right to begin a long, looping turn. All negative, but there has to be a way. Phelan is down there sweating LRMs and I cannot find the guys waiting for him. This place looks virgin. Wait!
Carew punched orders into his computer. It replayed the look-down radar scan of the ridgeline, then superimposed Royal Rasalhague Geographical Society topographical data on top of it. Right along the ridgeline, he saw a moiré pattern where the current lay of the land differed from the recent RRGS survey of the planet.
Carew ordered the computer to further refine the scan discrepancy and paint it with colors, depending on the degree of difference between the two data sets. Those people down there dug great fortifications to baffle us, but they did not have the equipment to make this a perfect replica of what it was before they did their work.
The picture redefined itself according to his command and revealed a saw-toothed line traced with green along the top of the ridge. "Yes!" He keyed his radio to his flight and downloaded his plot of the trench. "On me. Hit them with everything you have got going in and coming out. We only get one shot at this, so let us give our mudbug buddies some help."