47

In the week since the Stingrayhad caught us off-guard, we did a lot of skirmishing with Gamma Regiment. Per Colonel Wolf's plan, we were trading ground for time, trying to bloody Alpin's forces as much as possible, while minimizing our own losses. We'd been laying a lot of ambushes and were getting very good at it.

Now we were deployed in and around Silone Lake. Hidden underwater, I waited and watched.

My Lokiwasn't hot, but" the other 'Mechs in the detachment were sure to be. They were old tech and had been in battle while I had been waiting in the lake. They wouldn't be a lot of help till they'd had a chance to let their heat sinks vent for a while.

The video feed from the pickup floating above me came through the optical-fiber line. The quality of the image wasn't great, but it served to show me the 'Mechs approaching the lake. Most cut to their left and raced along the beach. A Vindicatorand two Waspsfired their jump jets and sailed over the water. The 'Mechs were pretty badly beat up.

A Fenris,the first of their pursuers, came over, the rise. The OmniMech was moving flat out, and rapidly closing the distance separating it from its prey. I let it go. There would be more.

Two Blackhawkswere next and I would have taken them, but they fired their jets and sailed high above the lake. The detachment would have to handle them as best they could. Although I was unhappy that all three of the Omnis we had identified with Ansell's company were still operating, I was pleased to see that they had also taken a beating.

Another half-dozen 'Mechs came into sight, the rest of Ansell's company. I was relieved to see that they were older designs; our limited intelligence hadn't told us what sort of replacements Gamma Regiment was getting. The charging 'Mechs moved in the tight formation we had come to expect from the warriors of Gamma Regiment, especially those under Major An-sell. Keeping their spacing required some of the 'Mechs to enter the lake; there wasn't enough space for them on the beach.

It was time to trip the switch for the Loki'sjump jets, which sent me and my 'Mech boiling out of the lake in a cloud of steam. The spy cable ripped away as I rose, but I didn't need it anymore. As soon as the Loki'sarms cleared the water, I triggered both the big lasers at the most massive of the hostile 'Mechs. It was a tricky shot, but nothing for which my targeting computer couldn't compensate. Twin scarlet beams sliced into the rear of a Marauder,cutting in beneath the port heat sink. The carapace of the Maraudererupted in a chain of explosions that blew the left arm out in an arcing trajectory. Even before the seventy-five-ton 'Mech had collapsed to the ground, I moved on to another target.

Grant's Archerrose from its crouching position in the depths of the lake like some leviathan seeking prey. The armored covers for the twenty missile launchers opened like jaws as the Archervomited forth a double salvo of long-range missiles. Grant held the big machine steady under the vibrations of the ripple launch, improving his chances of hits. Forty missiles screamed toward a sixty-five-ton Axmanthat was the deadliest in-fighter of the enemy company. The 'Mech rocked under the impact, then toppled in slow motion, arms flailing as the pilot struggled to reassert control. The missiles that missed banked in a tangle of contrails, each searching for a secondary target. Flashes from impacts on the two 'Mechs nearest the falling Axmantold me that the swarm warheads had been a good choice for this ambush.

I landed uphill from thebeach along the tree line where the dense woods would mask my silhouette. Dodging among the smaller trees at the edge, I swiveled the LokVstorso back to keep the firing arcs of both arm-mounts on target- Whenever I could, I put a shot into the Axmanstruggling in the mud at the lake's edge.

Our Vindicatorand Waspswere back as per the plan, their return sparking confusion among Ansell's jocks. Their formation broke, but they didn't run.

The pinging of the Loki'santimissile system warned me I had incoming missiles. A glance at the threat-assessment screen pinpointed a Sentinelas the launch platform. A standard Sentinelcarried only short-range missiles. I modified my fifing pattern to compensate for the heat the antimissile system would generate and prayed that it would catch them all. The AM ammo bar shrank and I felt none of the sharp raps of SRM impacts. The antimissile system was not good against the Sentinelsautocannon. Shells pocked the front of the Loki,ripping shards off armor in a vain attempt to reach my 'Mech's inner structure.

Reluctantly, I abandoned my attack on the Axmanin order to deal with the Sentinelsmore immediate threat. I triggered the left-arm laser and watched its beam boil away the last arrnor remaining on the Sentinel'sright thigh. Sparks leapt from the wound and the Sentinel'spilot shifted liis machine's course to the right to shield the exposed area. Trailing smoke, he raced past me along the beach. I tried another shot, hoping to take him down, but the heat levels in my

Lokiwere rising and affecting the targeting systems. I missed.

Grant had the Axmancovered. Slogging ashore, the Archerswiveled back and gave him another double dose. Explosions blossomed across the Axman'sright arm and chest, shredding ferro-fibrous armor and opening craters to the vulnerable innards. The missiles that had failed to target the stricken 'Mech screamed around it, seeking in vain for other targets.

"Ken's down! Somebody help him!"

The call was on the command channel. Ken Shia-matsu was piloting a Dervish,the heaviest of the machines in our decoy element. If he was down, they were in trouble.

A laser cut across my Loki'sleg as I tried to assess the situation. I lost armor, but there was no warning of a breach. I snapped a shot in return, but with all the steam and smoke, I didn't know what I'd fired at, let alone whether I'd hit.

Wu's Vindicatorwas landing from a jump on my right. It hit ground poorly, its right leg collapsing under it. An enemy Jennercame through a smoke bank a hundred meters away, ripping at the fallen Vindicatorwith a quartet of lasers. The beams gnawed armor, then broke through to vaporize the myomer pseudo-muscle that moved the machine's foamed titanium bones. The Vindicatorwas out of the fight.

We'd done damage. The Marauderwas a definite kill and the Axmana probable, but we had too many down.

"Break off! Break off!"

The hostiles continued their fire as we retreated, but they used only energy weapons. Fed by the fusion reactor that powered a BattleMech, such weapons had inexhaustible ammunition supplies. Ansell's jocks did not use their other weapons and that worried me. Typically, they would have dumped everything they had in hopes of taking down a few more of us, but they were saving their ammo for something.

At least they didn't follow us. Maybe they were afraid of another trap. Or maybe they were finally learning respect.

* * *

Iota Battalion's losses were being made for by more down-and-out mercs eager for a chance at the Dragoon name. Dechan doubted that they had heard what happened to their predecessors; Elson had a tight rein on the news that got back to the World. Iota's jocks soon found out why there had been openings.

Spider's Web Battalion had shifted away from Fancher's line of advance through Green Sector, to be replaced by another force of BattleMechs that some reports claimed was led by Jaime Wolf himself. The shift made Alpin and Elson reconsider their plans. Svados' intel people predicted that Jaime Wolf was lairing somewhere in Red Sector, but the famous blue and gold Archerhad been seen among the enemy 'Mechs in Green Sector.