* * *

For Lanja, the light of the flare came through all the open cracks in the wrecked cockpit. Her huge muscles straining from being packed into the tight cockpit, she did not think the signal came a moment too soon.

Weapons activated, she and her fellow Elemental rose from the fallen 'Mech like specters from the mist. Unlike such a phantasmal creature, however, she was already firing at the BattleMech that rose above her but that had yet to see her. Indeed, none of the enemy 'Mechs were prepared for the concentrated attack from below, giving the ambushers a chance to inflict heavy damage in those first few seconds alone.

* * *

To Joanna, the flare was the kind of flamboyant tactic she would have expected in any plan originated by Aidan. The grand gesture, the overreaching move, the plunging forward against all logic—Aidan had been that way even as a cadet. Now that he was a warrior, those characteristics would continue to be his downfall. She despised his individualistic bent. It was some kind of odd blessing, she thought, that circumstances had forced him into the false identity of a freebirth filth. That meant he could never earn a Bloodname. Perhaps it was only bitterness at having failed thus far in her own Bloodname trials, but Joanna genuinely believed that a Bloodnamed Aidan would be a disgrace to all that the Clans represented.

At Aidan's signal, she began to move her 'Mech forward, the resentment only increasing at the idea of having to follow even a single one of his commands.

* * *

Aidan welcomed the light of the flare. He yearned for nothing more in the universe than to distinguish himself as a warrior. It did not matter whether others believed him freeborn or trueborn. The battle was all, the battle and the honor to be earned in it.

Giving the signal to advance, he led the way out of Blood Swamp, the 'Mechs looking monstrous in the quickly fading light of the flare. Moisture from the swamp dripped from their limbs. Stray leaves and patches of moss had rubbed off on their surfaces. Mud and muck smeared their feet. They looked like antediluvian creatures just aroused from beneath the deep waters of the swamp.

The last flicker of the flare was a momentary brightness and then the battlefield was bathed only in the half-light of dawn. In the distance, the Clan Wolf battle line, now a bit uneven, looked gray in the dim morning light. Beneath it, lines of fire from both the weapons and the jump packs of the attacking Elementals rose up around them like a fiery net.

19

Once out of the swamp, the tread of Aidan's Summonerseemed to lighten, climbing the slope with sure, almost carefree steps. Though Aidan felt a touch of disorientation from being so long in the swamp and jungle, his 'Mech easily topped the slope, where the fire of the rear-guard Wolf Elementals was disorganized and ineffective. As Aidan had suspected, Radick had underbid his Elementals, which left too few in the rear. A burst of rapid pulses from his medium laser and a whole line of them lay either still or squirming on the ground. The Summonerstepped over them as Aidan guided it forward. His primary screen showed an LRM coming toward him, but he blasted it out of the air with his anti-missile system before it could do any harm to the Jade Falcon warriors. Instead, much of the shrapnel dropped onto Wolf warriors and support personnel, setting small fires and ripping sections off some of the domes housing supplies.

* * *

Some of the pleasure Pershaw felt at the entrance of his gallant swamp warriors into battle derived from seeing the battle turn, some of it from imagining the confusion and irritation on Dwillt Radick's face. Even now, the man's 'Mech seemed to waver, as though not sure whether to shoot at the Jade Falcon 'Mechs in front of him or turn back to demolish the small enemy contingent at his rear.

The confusion gave the Jade Falcon warriors just enough time to execute the next phase of Aidan's plan.

The Mad Dogthat Lanja had so severely damaged when bursting from her hiding place looked ready to topple. Knowing it would be easy prey to a blast from the Jade Falcon 'Mech now closing in on it, she opened the commlink to order her armored soldiers to move toward the Wolf Clan command dome.

Screaming high on their jump jets, the Jade Falcon Elementals were a fearsome sight against the lightening sky. The Wolf Elementals, already decimated by the Jade Falcon attack from the rear, turned toward the new attack with the same confusion being shown by the Clan Wolf 'Mechs in the middle of the field.

* * *

In the Wolf Clan command dome, tacticians fired off messages to both 'Mechs and Elementals, trying to coordinate the triad of Supernovas in the field into a unit, assigning each element to specific parts of the widely spaced battle around them. Messages flew back and forth across the commlinks.

* * *

On the other side of the field, Kael Pershaw saw that the Clan Wolf 'Mechs were closing their lines to fend off the attack coming from the three advancing Jade Falcon forces.

If Jorge did not perform his mission soon, the tide of battle could turn in favor of the Wolves. Could? It definitely would. Kael Pershaw did not have the personnel for a long stand-up fight. Attrition alone would win Clan Wolf the day.

* * *

Joanna saw that Aidan was in deep trouble. An enemy Dire Wolfhad just gone striding through the line of Jade Falcon Elementals, injuring a couple with glancing blows from its footfalls. When its left-arm SRM got off a cluster, Aidan did not see it in time. The missiles exploded against the chest of his Summoner,gouging out a large chunk just above the fusion engine casing. Another successful hit and the 'Mech would be disabled, unable to finish its mission and perhaps cause a Jade Falcon defeat. Knowing she was too far from the command dome to successfully take over Aidan's mission, Joanna saw her best bet was to plunge forward, coming at the attacking 'Mech from the outside angle, firing everything she had. She was definitely closest to it, while the other swamp 'Mechs were under fire in their own difficult circumstances. One of her Trinary 'Mechs was tottering from a concentrated Elemental attack.

* * *

Zeroing in on the imposing and well-armed Clan 'Mech, Joanna pressed her own machine forward with the determination that had won her as many curses as praise in all her warrior assignments. Once within range, she launched a cluster of short-range missiles. Her hope was that the Dire Wolfpilot, intent on destroying Aidan, would not notice her entrance as a tiny symbol on any of his cockpit battlescreens. The high-velocity missiles sailed toward the Dire Wolf,but Joanna did not wait for them to hit before launching a backup set from both her hip-mounted launchers. If the first cluster did no damage, the sudden appearance of the second probably would. But she was not content to await the flight of the second missiles. Bringing her Hellbringerto a full run, she started firing the PPCs in both her 'Mech's arms.

Rivers of sweat poured from her as the cockpit's temperature soared. She fired off the trio of medium lasers in the Hellbringer's,chest, then slapped the override on the fusion plant's automatic shutdown sequence. It did not matter how much firepower she used. It did not matter if her ammo cooked off from the searing heat of the stressed fusion plant. It did not matter if she were broiled alive in her cockpit. This was the only battle she had to win, the only enemy 'Mech she hadto vanquish.

And all, she thought, bitterly, to save Aidan, that sanctimonious imposter who had become more freebirth than any freebirth.

* * *

Aidan, rocking from the Dire Wolf'shits, did not at first detect Joanna's entrance into the fray. For a moment, he thought his own weak ripostes were causing the awesome damage to the Dire Wolf.After the explosions from the first missile clusters ripped a long scar across the enemy 'Mech's chest, the second group appeared to pierce the wounds created by the first. Then he saw her Hellbringercoming down into a landing, firing off PPC beams at such a high rate that she was obviously risking heat buildup just to go for the kill.