He punched up the ground command frequency. "Ax One, Hatchet One, this is Quarrel One. We have a target. Keep your heads down. We'll do the work, you pick up the pieces."
* * *
Phelan started his Wolfhoundsprinting up the hill as the quartet of Visigothscame in on their strafing run. Hundreds of rockets shot from the fighters, riding smoke-trails straight down to the hilltop. Like a string of firecrackers, the missiles exploded in sequence, blasting the lip of the hill away. Fireballs sprouted like great pumpkins, then collapsed into greasy black smoke-stains against the sky.
Phelan felt the ground shake with the missile barrages, but pressed on as fast as he could..From behind the smoky curtain rising above him, he saw the searing blue highlights of PPC beams stabbing down into the enemy position. Occasionally the blood-red of a laser bolt flashed through the sky, but Phelan could not see if they hit their intended targets.
He did note, with grim satisfaction, that no one from the ComStar position returned fire against the fighters. Maybe they got them all!Much as he wanted that to be true, he knew it was not. As his Wolfhoundpassed the halfway point going up the hill, he braced himself to face whatever ComStar was about to throw at him.
* * *
Precentor Krag Jernberg shook his head to clear it, then looked out through the cracked canopy of his Exterminator.He brought the massive 'Mech upright and used its hands to shred the last of the sensor canopy that had overlaid his position. Through the smoke and tattered canopy, he saw the dead and wounded left by the strafing run, but instantly put them out of his mind.
"By the Holy Word of Blake! Have at them!"
* * *
Stepping his Exterminatorforward, Jernberg found the trench's breastwork had been torn apart. With the trench wall covering his 'Mech only from the thighs down, he felt half-naked. Still, as he brought his 'Mech's arms up and his crosshairs centered on the charging Wolfhound'schest, he felt invincible.
"For Blake!" he shouted. "For the Primus! We will hold!"
As Evantha Fetladral dug her way clear of the mound of earth deposited on her by the strafing run, a status report on the Elementals of Hatchet Star scrolled down the left side of her armor's viewplate. Even though her Star had been strung out below the lip of the hill, it looked as if no one had perished because of friendly fire. Good crew. Willing to get in close.
"Hit them hard, Hatchets. Use your missiles on the 'Mechs, then concentrate on any missile batteries they have. Point commanders, coordinate."
A black veil of smoke curled down over her, then dissipated to reveal a ComStar 'Mech stepping up to a u-shaped divot in his rampart. The Exterminator,all white except for the golden star emblazoning its chest, would have looked beautiful except for where the armor had been blasted off the right side of its chest. From the way the melted armor curled up away from the endo-steel skeleton, Evantha knew a PPC had expanded on damage done by the LRM barrage that hit the ComStar position.
Evantha pointed her nose in the direction of the 'Mech as the war machine brought its arms up. She felt a sharp tug on her shoulders as she launched both of her SRMs from the backpack. As they shot forward on jets of flame, she immediately jettisoned the useless launcher.
Out the corner of her eye, she saw the missiles hit, but already her attention had shifted elsewhere. With her Point at her back, Evantha Fetladral advanced to sow yet more havoc in the trenches.
Phelan's mouth went dry as he saw the ComStar Exterminatorrise up before him. He knew that 'Mech design had not been seen for centuries in the Inner Sphere, and for good reason. The Exterminatorhad been designed to seek out and destroy command 'Mechs. It had become so good at its task that special squads had been formed to hunt them down and destroy them.
Phelan knew the 'Mech was after him.
As the Exterminator'sarms came up, Phelan saw twin flashes from an Elemental crouched near the lip of the hill. Both SRMs shot straight in at the ComStar 'Mech and lanced into the gaping hole in the Exterminator'schest. Phelan saw the 'Mech shudder as the short-range missiles detonated.
The blasts provided Phelan a second or two to make an attempt to evade the Exterminator'sattack. Phelan cut sharply to his left, sending him in the opposite direction of the Exterminator'sinvoluntary movement. As the other 'Mech's arms began to track the Wolfhound,Phelan brought his own weapons to bear on his foe.
The Exterminatorconvulsed with subsidiary explosions. A muffled whump and puff of blue-white smoke announced the destruction of a jump jet. Fire wreathed the anti-missile cannon nested in its chest as a full belt of shells shot off in all directions. Armor plates shattered as the anti-missile slugs cooked off and punched their way out of the Exterminator'storso.
Phelan shivered as a hail of anti-missile projectiles burst free through the Exterminator'sbroken canopy. Smoke trailing from me hole, the 'Mech fell back as if it had been pole-axed. As Phelan shifted course again, driving in at the breach in the wall, another ComStar 'Mech stepped up to fill the hole.
Phelan let the Sentinelhave it with all of his forward weapons. The medium pulse laser at Grinner'sright shoulder burned away armor on the Sentinel'sleft arm. The pulse laser mounted in the opposite shoulder slashed at the right arm while the center pulse laser shot low and melted rampart into glass without hitting the Sentinel.
The Wolfhound'slarge laser capitalized on the damage done to the Sentinel'sleft arm and autocannon. Under the coherent light's hellish caress, the last of the armor vaporized and the autocannon flashed to a molten white heat before it melted clean away. The 'Mech, unbalanced by the loss of the limb, staggered but managed to stay upright.
The ComStar pilot proved himself game by firing back. Two SRMs corkscrewed out from the Sentinel'schest and ripped armor from the right side of Grinner'storso. The small laser mounted just below the missile launcher shot a beam that bubbled paint and armor on the left side of the Wolfhound'sbroad chest, but neither attack did any real damage or anything to slow Phelan's charge.
Up into the opening he thundered. With a kick to the left side of its torso, Phelan sent the Sentinelstumbling through the trench. It caught its heels on the Exterminatorand toppled backward. It hit the trench's far wall and a shower of dirt buried it in a makeshift grave.
Phelan knew better than to imagine it down, but he saw three Elementals descend on it to finish it. He turned to the left and took one step forward, clearing the breach to admit another of his Points into the ComStar position. As he did so, a ComStar Lancelotstarted to come around the corner lacing him.
"Peace of Blake, indeed," he laughed to himself and dropped his crosshairs on the 'Mech's narrow silhouette. "Come on in, boys. We'll dispense all the peace you want. No waiting."
* * *
The Precentor Martial watched as Phelan's lance secured one section of the trench. While the zig-zag cut of it prevented the Clans from shooting down the trench's entire length, it made approaching the breached section of the trench extremely dangerous, especially for stiff-armed 'Mechs like the Lancelot.Before it finished negotiating the corner, Phelan had lased away armor from the 'Mech's chest and arms.