So the battles ebbed and flowed, rarely seeing the commitment of all a unit's forces. With each engagement, the 'Mechs would be worn down and the forces would grow smaller. We had to put our warriors in more often and that worried me. People wore down, too. Tired people make mistakes, and the price of a mistake on the battlefield is often paid for with lives.
And so it went. Like Maeve's, my battlegroup rushed back and forth plugging holes in the line and sideswiping the units that managed to punch through our positions. The tankers had the hardest job. Less mobile than the 'Mechs, they had to do an infantryman's job and hold ground. There were times I wished we had infantry, that I could pull the tanks back and regroup them for a counterattack, but the arid wastelands of Green Sector were not an infantryman's terrain. An armored Elemental's, maybe, but I didn't have any under my command.
I couldn't complain about the troops that I did command. They were magnificent. What had begun as a motley group of old warriors, trainees, and sibkids had become a lean, hard machine. It gave me a glimpse of what the old Dragoons must have been, what the Colonel had wanted from the new ones. I was damned proud to be part of it.
As rough as the fighting was, I'd begun to believe that the Colonel was right, that we were doing all right. Then recon reported DropShips landing on the left flank: three LeopardClass and two Unions.'Mech transports. I feared the merc we had captured had lied to us, and we had just found the missing Kappa Battalion.
I ordered the battlegroup disengaged, taking Grant with me. Our two-'Mech Command Lance was going to be more useful in the field than in the command camp. It took us time, too much time, to cross behind Twelfth Armored. The newly arrived 'Mechs would be deployed and moving before we could get to them.
When we came in sight of the distant Luma Mountains that owned the skyline on the far side of Grem-mer Canyon, we got the updated scout reports. The new force had deployed and was moving toward us. They had passed at least two bunker complexes without opening fire. I knew why the men in the bunkers hadn't opened up; there were too few, having been intended mostly as an outpost screen to watch moving hostiles and report positions. But the 'Mechs? That confused me.
Dust announced their arrival well before we could actually spot them, even at maximum magnification. The size of the cloud meant at least two companies, probably more.
Captain Jenette Rand, out on point a klick forward of our positions, reported two Stalkers,a King Crab,and a BattleMasterin the first lance she spotted. Assault 'Mechs all. She observed a variety of color schemes but no unit markings. I called her back. Her Mongoosewouldn't last a minute against that kind of firepower.
The approaching 'Mechs were moving in a tight formation. They were still several minutes away, so I gave orders to take up ambush position. We might be outnumbered, but if we could get in a few shots before having to retreat, I figured we'd be ahead of the game.
Rand's Mongooseburst out of the dry streambed she'd been using for cover from the approaching assaults. "More incoming," she radioed. " 'Mechs to the southeast."
I moved my Lokialong the ledge to where I could command a view in that direction. She was right. Half a dozen light 'Mechs, mixed Omnis and old tech models, were racing toward us. There was no doubt who they belonged to; bold black betas decorated their sandy camo patterns. Several launched long range missiles at Rand's 'Mech and started hammering away with their light autocannons.
I alerted Corwyn's lance and gave them license to engage. They were in the path of the Beta 'Mechs, but the rough terrain between them and the approaching assaults would mostly screen them. I fired a seven-centimeter laser at the lead light, a Puma.The beam ripped across the broad shell of armor that shielded the boxy hunched torso. Having gotten the jock's attention, I also took a hit from a PPC, whose manmade lightning chewed armor from the left side of my Loki.The Puma'ssecond bolt missed.
Then Corwyn's lance opened up, and the Pumajock had a lot more to think about. He'd shown he was dangerous, and Corwyn's people gave him their best. Armor disintegrated und,er the barrage. The Pumastaggered, then hopped a couple of steps to the side under the pounding. A jet of steam erupted through a crack in the Puma'sright-arm armor. Joint seals blew, and the arm dropped from its extended firing position. Rand's Mongooseturned and blasted three laser beams into the crippled Omni. The Puma'scockpit blew open as the pilot ejected, his 'Mech crumpling to the ground.
The second of the Omnis, another Pumabut with a different weapons configuration, caught Rand's Mongoosewith a heavy laser, the beam of coherent light punching straight through her 'Mech's left torso. The pilot followed up with a salvo of autocannon fire that slammed the Mongoose,twisting it around. The arms of Rand's Mongoosearms flailed as it fell heavily. I didn't see her eject.
Grant moved his Archerup beside me and opened up on the Beta 'Mechs. The combined fire from Corwyn's lance and our two heavies from a superior position made the Beta warriors reconsider their position. In minutes they had gone from chasing a lone scout to a full-blown firefight against superior numbers.
They had just started to pull back when long-range missiles began to explode along the cliff face above Grant and me. A second barrage arced over the lights to impact beyond them.
The assault 'Mechs had come into range and we were exposed. I had halted and dust was starting to settle on the motionless 'Mechs. Another lance, two
Daishisand two Mad CatOmniMechs, was taking up position to the left of the first lance while another lance of mixed heavies and assaults moved into position on the right.
The quality of the 'Mechs told me that this wasn't the missing mercenary battalion. I didn't need to hear the commander's announcement to know that Zeta Battalion had arrived at long last.
"This is J. Elliot Jamison of Zeta Battalion. This has gone on long enough."
"Yeah," Grant crowed over our lance channel. "We're gonna kick some butt now!"
"Cease now, Wolf."
"What? They're supposed to be on our side!" Grant's tone was more affronted than confused.
"Why?" I asked on an open band.
"I didn't come to talk to you, Cameron. I don't know why you let the Trial of Position take place, Jaime, but now it must be upheld. So what's it going to be, Jaime Wolf?"
I realized Jamison thought he was communicating with the Colonel. Grant, in the Colonel's old Archer,was silent.
"If that's the way you want to play." There was a short pause. "I sincerely regret this. Zeta, attack."
The Zeta 'Mechs disappeared in billowing clouds of missile exhaust. The blue lightning of PPC beams and the ruby spears and eye-searing pulses of laser weapons burned through the smoke, raining onto our position.