A SwordSworn SM1 Tank Destroyer slid up the beach from behind one of the Mad Cats, firing as it skittered sideways on its hoverskirts right in front of the ’Mech, at what must have been its minimum range. It was a gutsy move, Erik thought, and a risky one.

The big gun on the Tank Destroyer fired, and the Mad Cat was momentarily engulfed in flame—the right arm flying loose in the conflagration, the right missile pod left hanging by a few cables and scraps of metal. But the lasers on the remaining arm and torso fired, cutting into the lightly armored SM1. The Tank Destroyer’s hoverskirts collapsed, the vehicle’s right side bit into the sand, and it rolled, turning into a flaming pinwheel that smashed into a dune and exploded.

The Tian-zong units were moving now, separating, each headed for a different tunnel entrance.

Erik knew what was coming next. “East Tunnel, West Tunnel, expect a direct attack soon. Artillery and missile units, reposition to defend those tunnels.”

But he also knew this left the center of the beach more lightly defended, and that the Liao forces would be quick to exploit that. “Everybody on top-side defense, stay awake. The fight is coming to us soon enough.”

More ’Mechs were wading out of the water now; lighter, faster ’Mechs like Spiders and Koshis, as well as more mobile heavy hitters like Black Hawks and Ryoken II s. All of them, Erik noted, were models equipped with jump jets.

The Liao hoverunits were becoming bolder as well, spending more time on the beach in their sweeps, some of them moving past the docks and through the deserted streets of Port Archangel. Erik watched these latter units carefully, but it wasn’t yet time—

“Commander.” It was Sortek. “Those hoverferries are coming in closer.”

“Try to target them with missiles. They can’t be armored.”

“Yes, sir, they’re almost in range.”

Then it happened.

All along the beach, dozens of jump jets fired, and in an artificial sandstorm, a dozen ’Mechs began to rise up along the red cliffs of Ravensglade. “Armor, fall back from the cliff! ’Mechs incoming! ’Mechs incoming!”

And they came, rising over the lip of the cliff like fifty-ton hornets balanced on tails of fire, lasers blazing. A Black Hawk slammed down on a Thumper artillery unit, an accidental “death from above” attack that was no less deadly as the vehicle’s magazine detonated in a fountain of secondary explosions.

A Pack Hunter landed on the lip of the cliff, grabbed the smoking barrel of a Long Tom in its hands, and twisted the nearly red-hot metal into a slight curve. Unaware, the crew tried to fire at the incoming hoverferries, and the mighty cannon exploded, showering the surrounding vehicles with shrapnel.

Erik was momentarily awestruck as a Catapult seemed to rise out of the ground in front of him and loomed above. The much larger ’Mech landed no more than five meters in front of Erik, but the advantage was all his. Powerful though the Catapult was, it was all long-range punch. It had no short-range weapons, and no arms to defend itself.

Erik’s Hatchetman, on the other hand, was all about close-in fighting.

He swung his ’Mech’s namesake hatchet up then down, shredding the big ’Mech’s belly armor. It reared back, staggering off-balance, giving him a clear shot. He swung the hatchet again, faster this time, gutting the ’Mech like a trout.

In slow motion, the Catapult toppled backward over the cliff. He watched as it fell, and had the added satisfaction of seeing the sixty-five-ton ’Mech land headfirst on top of an attacking Tian-zong. Already having weathered countless rounds of defensive fire, the big ’Mech’s armor cracked, and it began to hemorrhage fluids through the opening.

The surviving SwordSworn units below the cliff were quick to target the weakness, hammering away at the breach. The Tian-zong turned, slowly lumbering back toward the sea. It was a move of desperation. If seawater flooded through the hole into a critical system, the ’Mech would be disabled. In the end, it didn’t matter. The concentrated attacks continued until the mortally wounded colossus tumbled face-first into the surf and lay, half exposed, like an artificial island.

Erik heard cheering in his headset, but the fighting had only begun.

A glint of light caused him to look out to sea, just in time to spot a line of flitting insect shapes flying in low over the water. The flash was a reflection from the windscreen of a Donar Assault Helicopter. The nimble aircraft fanned out to cover the landing of the hoverferries: two on the beach below, others beyond at the docks in Port Archangel.

Troops and armor began rolling off. The armor would be trapped below until the tunnels were cleared. But with defenses scattered, troops in powered armor would begin scaling the cliff with jump jets.

Erik heard a shrill voice on the command channel. “This is lower East Tunnel! They’re coming through! We’re falling—” There was an explosion just inside the tunnel mouth, and the transmission was silenced. Erik grimaced, but it wasn’t unexpected.

He could see the streets of Port Archangel filling with fighting vehicles and massed infantry coming from the docks and headed for the East Tunnel. If they thought they had clear passage, they were wrong. Each of the tunnels had a surprise in the middle: back-to-back pairs of DI Schmitt Tanks, deadly “stoppers” that could resist incursions from above or below, and would be protected from ’Mechs and long-range weaponry. If the Liao forces were going to use the tunnels, they were going to have to pay the toll.

Erik had planned one other surprise, too, though timing was critical. He waited until the helicopters—with the landing essentially complete—dashed up over the cliffs to engage the forces above. As the Liao forces cleared the far side of Port Archangel, he issued a radioed command. “Force Archangel, attack!”

In the hours before dawn, Erik had deployed powered armor, and many of his heavier and less mobile tanks, to Port Archangel. They had carefully sheared off the hidden sides of warehouses—mostly those with metal sides or roofs, driving the tanks inside the building shells to wait. The buildings would confuse the enemy and give the SwordSworn an advantage. Likewise, the powered infantry had been hidden around the city.

Now the city behind the advancing Liao forces literally exploded, buildings bursting apart as tanks crashed out, turned onto the streets, and began firing at the enemy’s exposed flank.

Powered infantry spread out on either side, using the buildings as cover, sniping at the surprised and off-balance column, which was bunching up at the tunnel entrance. The first units in were shocked to find themselves greeted with a hellish mix of machine-gun bullets, autocannon shells, lasers, and flamethrowers.

Erik’s elation was short-lived, as one of the air-defense towers exploded under a hail of laser fire from the swarming Donars, and another was taking heavy fire from a mass of light ’Mechs. “Legionnaires, take those ’Mechs on AD Tower Six!”

A trio of ’Mechs dashed into view from behind a hangar. The odd-looking Legionnaires were little more than giant rotary cannons mounted on top of humanoid torsos. Fast, specialized, and deadly accurate, they began pounding away at the smaller ’Mechs with devastating results. A Spider was immediately ripped apart by the massed fire. A Koshi spun and returned fire, a missile smashing into one of the Legionnaires and jamming its cannon. Then the Koshi went down under fire from the surviving units’ rotary autocannon.

The surviving enemy ’Mech, a Panther, ignored the attack and lobbed off one more salvo of missiles at the tower, which exploded and began to burn.