Victor saw a Clan Centurionlaunch a flight of LRMs at him from the center of its chest. Before he could even think about putting Prometheusthrough evasive maneuvers, he heard a piercing whine from the right breast of his Daishi.Of the ten missiles heading toward him, only six got a target-lock. Those missiles disappeared as the anti-missile system built into the Daishispit out a hail of slugs and shredded the missiles in mid-flight.
The Prince dropped his crosshairs onto the Centurion'soutline. His thumb punched down, sending a silvery Gauss rifle projectile arcing out from the rifle mounted in the left arm. Victor lost sight of the ball, then saw the Centurionjerk as the ball all but took its left arm off. The Gauss rifle's sidecar large laser boiled away armor on the Clan 'Mech's chest, but his other two large laser beams missed the target entirely.
Held aloft by the silver jump jet spears at the back of his 'Mech, Galen's Crusadersoared over the battlefield. He loosed flights of LRMs from the shoulder launchers to strike at distant targets, while the Streak SRMs from the Crusader'slegs slashed out at anyone who got too close. When he grounded himself again, a double-flight of LRMs struck down a fleeing Clan Firestarter.
"Victor, break left!"
Without thinking, the Prince spun his OmniMech away to the left. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Clan Vulcanshoot a large and medium pulse laser through the space he had just left. In the confusion, he almost could have sworn the voice that warned him was Kai's. Not possible. Kai is dead. Who then?
A barrel-chested Hunchbackplanted its feet and turned to face off with the Vulcan.The boxy Kali-Yama Autocannon mounted on its shoulder spit fire and thunder. The stream of depleted-uranium shells hit the Vulcanjust to the right of its centerline, then sawed back through its torso as if the Clan 'Mech were made of soft cheese. Shards of armor mixed with fragments of endo-steel skeleton littered the ground while the Vulcanlisted badly as if to protect its shattered side. It took one half-step forward, then the upper torso twisted and sheered off at the line the Hunchbackhad scored on it.
"Thanks for the help," Victor beamed at his savior. Renny Sanderlin laughed easily, "Thanks for your faith, Victor."
All along the line, the Revenants poured fire and missiles into the Clan 'Mechs. Part of Victor hated watching the Clan's small 'Mechs get battered and pulverized by his own grossly superior forces. That hatred died quickly, however, when Victor remembered how the Twelfth Donegal Guards had been chopped to pieces by superior Clan forces. They overmatched us even on Alynia when we knew what to expect. This is payback.
The Revenants swept forward as the Clans slowed and started to turn back. As his troops pressed the Clans more, they concentrated their fire and took down 'Mech after 'Mech. Individual war machines looked, in the darkness, like the focus of a hundred lasers and missiles. Explosions would illuminate them and trip them while energy beams washed their armor away into clouds of ferro-fibrous vapor. Flayed alive, the 'Mechs kept running until more lasers and more missiles tore myomer muscles apart and crushed metallic bones.
"Revenants, pull back." Victor shook himself as he saw their line begin to drift back along the Clans' line of retreat.
"Begging your pardon, sir, but we have them on the run."
Galen's voice cut into the line. "Can it, Murphy. The Clan commander is likely to be waiting to welcome us if we get too close."
"We can take him."
In Murphy's voice, Victor heard the hopes and desires of the rest of the Revenants. He understood their desire to go after the Clans. Free of the fear of their tormentors, free of the terror that had haunted them since the first time the Clans struck into the Inner Sphere, his people wanted to make the Clans fear them.
He understood that idea because he shared it.
"Pull back. We're not retaking this rock, we're just stripping it of its valuable resources." He glanced at his tactical map, and even though he could not see the Clan's main body, he knew it had to be moving closer to the DropShips. I had not expected Clan 'Mechs this far now. How much further along than my main body would I let scout Stars go?
Victor keyed the radio. "Galen, use those jump jets and pop up for a look on our back-trail. The main Clan body has to be somewhere nearby."
"Roger." Static sliced through the frequency as the Crusader'sion jets lifted it high into the air. "Victor, I have a large Clan force moving toward our DropShips. They have detached 'Mechs in our direction."
As the Crusaderdescended again, Victor switched over to broadbeam frequency and addressed all his people. "Heads up. Nova Cats are between us and our ride home. Let's move."
* * *
Coming up over the hills that had hidden them from the scout Stars they ambushed, Victor saw the plains of Teniente become a circle of hell. Using spotting telemetry from two of the Revenants' smaller 'Mechs, the fire-support lances arced LRMs up over the hills and rained them down on the Nova Cats. The explosions made the ground shake and lit the night with eye-burning fireballs.
At the lead of a sprint lance, Victor's Daishiplunged down the hillside. He slammed into a Clan Dasher,dumping the smaller 'Mech on its back in a cloud of shattered armor. Half-twisting, he pumped a Gauss rifle round through its chest and left it lying on the ground with short-range missiles pouring from the hole.
A Clan Loki,black except for the blue blaze on the center of its torso, stepped through the missile fire and leveled its guns at Prometheus.The autocannon in its left arm lipped flame as it hammered the Daishi'sright leg with a burst of slugs. The Gauss rifle in its right arm sent a silver ball streaking straight into the right side of Victor's 'Mech, spinning it around and sending it crashing to the ground.
The Prince braced for the crash and smiled when no sparks shot through his cockpit at the impact. Pushing off with Prometheus'left arm, he levered himself up enough to point his 'Mech's right arm at the Loki.He dropped his targeting crosshairs onto the OmniMech's outline, but before he could trigger his large pulse lasers, a 'Mech moved up on his right side and engaged the Loki.
Renny Sanderlin's Hunchbacklet go a salvo from its Kali-Yama autocannon. The line of destruction traced from right to left, starting at one shoulder and ending at the other. Along the way, it blew through the Loki'shead and cockpit, decapitating the enemy war machine. Recoiling from the attack, the Lokipitched backward and landed in a tangled, misshapen heap.
Victor started to radio Renny another thank you, but fire blossomed on the Hunchback'sright flank. The FedCom reeled wildly to the left, armor shards spinning into the air. A laser cut through the resulting cloud of smoke and the Hunchbackstumbled across the Daishi'slegs, slewing Victor around, as Renny crashed to the ground.