"Roger, I'll go right. And this time," her friend demanded, "I go first."

"Lead on, Nik. I'm right behind you." Tyra vectored thrust to the right, carrying her fighter high and to the left. She brought the right wing up, executing a quick turn, then dove down to the spine level on the JumpShip, following Anika's Shilonein on the run. They both resisted the temptation to send a flight of missiles up into the JumpShip's exhaust ports because they knew the ion thrust would vaporize the warheads before they could do any damage.

"I'm getting a reading up front, Tyra. No more turrets. We took them out. Must be a mudbug crawled down here to stop us." A trace of anxiety seeped into Anika's voice. "No, dammit, it's two of them! Going in high, you cut them off at the knees!"

Anika's aerofighter pulled up, and Tyra saw laser beams lance down from her comrade's fighter. Cerulean bolts of PPC lightning shot back up from the target, carving armor from Anika's nose and left wing. Her ship drifted upward and out of sight as Tyra's Shiloneswooped like a hawk over the BattleMechs anchored to the hull against the JumpShip's thrust.

The LRM flight she used to announce her arrival badly battered one of the two 'Mechs. The explosions knocked the war machine from its broad, flat feet and bounced it off the solid valley wall. Arms and legs flailing, the 'Mech rebounded from the crushed wall and careened off into space. Something exploded on one of its shoulders, the blue sparks playing hob all over its flesh as it, too, drifted up and out of Tyra's sight.

The second 'Mech stood its ground. Her computer informed her that the BattleMech had already taken damage from Anika's run, but somehow that did not matter to her. I don't care what you have or what condition you're in, you're mine. For Nik and for Phelan and for all the Drakøns who died on Rasalhague.Without conscious effort, she stared hard directly at the center of the 'Mech's broad humanoid chest. Ignoring the PPC fire just over her head, she let the 'Mech have everything her fighter could offer.

The trio of lasers focused dead-center on the BattleMech's chest. The glowing hole they opened spat out hot shards of armor and internal structures. The 'Mech's heat silhouette flared like a supernova. An internal detonation plumped the lean torso out into that of an old man, then the armor buckled as golden claws of fire sliced their way through its middle. As the upper half of the 'Mech evaporated in the fire from its fusion engine, its legs flew out to careen back and forth within the valley's narrow confines.

Tyra pulled up to avoid the fireball and ran head-on into a flight of SRMs from a nearby DropShip. The missiles exploded against her cockpit, and the flash momentarily blinded her. The jolt shook her as much as the explosions had shaken her ship, but she forced herself to ignore it until she could regain control of her fighter. Kicking in the afterburners, she whirled the craft into a long spiral that took it away toward the JumpShip's bow. "Tyra! Tyra!"

The urgency of Anika's shout shocked Tyra out of a fog. My God, zoning out like that in a battle ... I must be hit bad.She recognized a tightness around her right elbow and across her chest, but it took a moment or two for her to realize that it came from her vacuum suit's attempt to localize a breach. The wail of warning sirens suddenly impinged on her brain, and as she brought the primary monitor into focus, she realized her cockpit had been breached. She brought her left hand up to her right shoulder, where it encountered something very hard and came away bloody.

"Tyra, talk to me!"

"I'm here, Nik. How are you?"

"Circuit overload from the PPCs shut my engine down. I'm not having any luck restarting. I'll take it all the way off, then do a full restart. That's not important. How are you ?"

"I'm hit, Nik. It's pretty bad." Tyra choked down the lump in her throat. "I love you, you know. I'm glad you can't follow me."

"No, Tyra. Don't do anything stupid. Get your ship over here. I can help you."

"Too late for that, Nik. If you see my father, tell him I made him proud." Tyra cut off her radio and boosted the Shiloneforward. She flipped off two safety switches. One cut the warning klaxons and the other removed all restraints on engine power. These ships have more power than a human pilot can normally take. At full power, a pilot will black out, but that doesn't really matter now, does it?

She laughed aloud and liked the sound. I've not laughed like that or felt this carefree since Phelan left Gunzburg. How fitting. I'll be with him soon enough.

Bringing the Shilone'snose down, she let the ship flip over onto its head, then she rolled it over so she could watch the JumpShip's bridge loom ever larger in her viewscreen. This is it. The Iron Jarl makes another sacrifice for Rasalhague.Pushing both overthruster pedals to the cockpit floor with her feet, she flew faster than any human ever and kept the Shilonedead on target.

41

JumpShip Dire Wolf , Nadir Jump Point, Radstadt

Radstadt Province , Free Rasalhague Republic

31 October 3050

Phelan Kell and the Precentor Martial raced down the corridor toward the Dire Wolfsbridge. Hot on the heels of their escort, they had to use a service ladder to get down from the observation deck, forcing them to head away from the bridge before they could reach it.

As they sprinted down the last thirty meters to the bridge, the whole JumpShip lurched as though struck by some godling's hammer. Phelan stumbled forward, but tucked himself into a roll to absorb the energy. His guide slammed into a corridor wall and smacked his head hard. He slipped to the deck and the Precentor Martial slid nose-up into him.

Jesus Christ, what was that?Phelan shook himself as he unfolded his body and braced for a second impact or subsidiary explosion. He glanced over at the Precentor Martial. "You all right?"

Focht reseated his eye-patch and nodded. "Yes, but our guide isn't. What happened?"

Phelan shrugged as he crawled back to the man's unconscious form. He plucked the radio from his belt and flicked it on. "Damage control, get a team up here to the bridge. We have a problem. And get a medical team up here, too."

"Who is this? Are you calling from the bridge?" Unbridled terror made the words crackle from the radio.

"No. I'm in the corridor outside the bridge. Something exploded in there or hit it."

The repair Tech's oath shouted from the radio. "Freebirth! Something opened a hole in the hull. The automatic systems are sealing it, but we have atmosphere loss. Team's on the way. Medical, too."

The mercenary looked up at the Precentor Martial and shook his head. "If you have atmosphere loss, bring up EVA suits and extra oxygen gear."

The Damage Control Officer's voice calmed considerably. "Confirmed, Commander. On the way."

Focht smiled warily. "Commander. That's quite a promotion."

The Kell Hound ignored the irony and concentrated on the greater significance of his promotion. "Damn, most of the Dire Wolfssenior officers were on the bridge. These Clansmen don't take well to surprises and they're always looking for orders from the folks above them. That's why this clown calls me a Commander—because I was giving him orders." He looked up at the one-eyed ComStar man. "Who's going to be giving orders to the folks who are supposed to keep us in one piece?"