Which meant that she should be able to take them by surprise.

How many enemy 'Mechs might there be? Tracy wondered. She had glimpsed only one. The fact that she had been under fire from a PPC and missiles did narrow the field of possible opponents somewhat. There just weren't that many BattleMechs mounting both particle cannon and missile racks. A Panther,possibly...

She nodded to herself. Yes. a 35-ton Panther,most likely. That was a Kurita favorite. Besides, the bad guys were not likely to post something as big and as expensive as a BattleMasterior rear-guard sniper duty out here in the wilderness. In her mind, the enemy had already made the transition from ‘they’ to ‘it.’ Assuming there was only one enemy 'Mech up there, it was probably a Panther.She should have no trouble taking it one-on-one with her 45-ton Phoenix Hawk.

Especially with the element of surprise. Tracy edged the Dutiful Daughterpart way up the loose slope, went into a crouch, then triggered her 'Mech's jump jets. White-hot plasma shrieked from the twin verniers set below her 'Mech's jets as the 'Mech straightened from its crouch and sailed skyward. The gravel slope blurred past her windscreen, and then the Hawkwas descending on ravening jets of flame, scattering gravel and raising a fresh cloud of dust. Her 'Mech took the shock of landing on partly bent legs as the Harmon heavy laser swung to cover a silhouette half-glimpsed against the largest boulder a hundred meters away. Even before her ID computer could bring up the target's name and tonnage, she recognized the enemy 'Mech.

A Griffin !She'd forgotten about Griffins!Ten tons heavier than her own BattleMech, slinging a Fusigon PPC like a rifle in its massive fists, and carrying a blunt, tubular LRM launcher across its right shoulder, an undamaged Griffin was more than a match for her own machine. Nor had her surprise been as complete as she'd hoped, for the Griffin was already spinning about, its PPC coming to the point.

Tracy bit off a curse and triggered her heavy laser. Coherent light stabbed into the heavier 'Mech's right side, scoring a black trail of scorched paint and hall-molten metal. The enemy PPC spat lightning an instant later. The blast caught the Dutiful Daughterfull in the chest and sent her staggering backward. While Tracy struggled to keep her 'Mech from tumbling back over the slope behind her, the electrical charge from the bolt spilled from her 'Mech in crackling forks that stabbed the ground around her. For a moment, her instruments went crazy as her charge shunts struggled with the massive overload.

Then she was moving again, circling right, her heavy laser snapping off a shot that melted rock and forced the Griffin to weave sideways out of her line of fire.

‘Skull Leader!’ she called, her voice taut with excitement and fear. ‘I'm back in the fight! Enemy Griffin behind the big rock!’

‘Back away.’ Carlyle's voice replied. ‘Pull back and take cover! We've got our hands full up here!’

A quick glance at her tac display showed the situation. There had been more than one ambusher. Four red pinpoints moved among the rocks now. surrounded by the loosely woven net of green. Three enemy 'Mechs among the boulders farther up the slope were engaging the Colonel's Command Lance as he tried to move down the hill. Behind her. the 'Mechs of the Gray Death's Fire Lance and the others of her Recon Lance were still hurrying forward, but too far...too far...

Another PPC bolt burned the air close to the Dutiful Daughter.She returned fire, burning deep into the armor above the enemy Griffinsright knee. The Colonel's order to pull out was lost in the surge of her own blazing need to strike back. She fired again, shifted, fired once more. The Griffinsnext shot struck air but carbonized the paint on her Mech's left pauldron.

Tracy knew that the duel could not continue much longer. Though the Griffin carried only slightly more armor than the Phoenix Hawk,its main weapon was heavier, able to give more damage to armor and to vulnerable internal wiring with each shot than her laser. The Dutiful Daughtermounted a pair of medium lasers as well, one set into the vambrace of each arm, side by side with paired heavy machine guns. She did not dare fire them at the same time as her heavy laser for fear of building up too much heat.

The Griffinhad only the PPC and its long-range missile rack. Though it could not do much with its missiles at this short range, that massive PPC would be more than enough to slag the Dutiful Daughterinto half-fused junk.

A bolt struck her. mangling her Hawksleft arm. Red lights flared across her console, warning of power loss to her right medium laser, of a jam to the machine gun mounted there. Her return fire missed.

She had to do something now!

Inspiration whispered through the roar of explosions as the Griffinsmissile salvo exploded around her. The key to this duel was range. Neither of the Griffinsweapons were as effective at extremely close range as her lasers. If she could close the range suddenly, yet stay out of the reach of those massive, metal-crumpling hands, she might have a chance.

Tracy gauged the angles by eye. then triggered her jump jets a second time. Their kick sent her sailing low across the ground. and brought her down with a roar less than 50 meters from the enemy Mech. The black-on-red Kurita dragon was plainly visible now, painted high on the enemy's chest and on the shield baffles flaring above each shoulder. She could make out the unit markings as well, a starburst against a gold, setting sun. Second Dieron Regulars,she thought. The Pride of Shionoha, they call themselves...

Kurita bastards, all of them...

Her laser was already upand firing as she recovered from her landing. Laser fire scored hits on the enemy's arm and torso, licking greedily at the House Kurita emblem as she used it for a bull's eye. The Griffin brought its PPC around and fired, but the range was short, the deflection difficult. Tracy dodged, putting her machine between the boulder and the Kurita 'Mech. The gravel slope she had fallen down earlier was just behind the larger 'Mech's feet.

Another flight of missiles erupted from the Griffinsshoulder rack, and one connected with the Dutiful Daughtersalready-battered left arm. Abandoning caution. Tracy began to snap off shots from both her hand-held heavy laser and the medium laser set into her right vambrace. An alarm shrilled in her ears as the heat buildup in her Mech threatened to shut down the Dutiful Daughter,but she slapped the override and continued to lay down a savage barrage of fire. A hit! And another!The temperature in her cockpit climbed. Tracy was drenched in sweat now, her skin glistening where her brief costume exposed it. She could hear the strain in the 'Mech's cabin-cooling system as the unit struggled unevenly to keep the cockpit temperature within habitable limits, to keep the coolant flowing through the vest she wore over her upper body.

A PPC bolt connected with her Hawk,smashing her to one side, but she continued firing as molten craters opened in the enemy Griffinschest and shoulders. Shifting tactics, she redirected her fire down, aiming for the Griffinsfeet. The Kurita pilot stepped back and vanished from sight as the edge of the gravel spill gave way and the Griffin slid down the slope with the din and dust of a boiler factory.

Tracy urged the Dutiful Daughterforward at a lumbering run. Having already scouted the terrain at the base of the slope, she knew what to expect, knew where the enemy must lie. She caught the Kurita 'Mech before the dust had settled, before its pilot was able to bring it to its feet. A hit scored squarely in the 'Mech's back...and another. Her medium laser burned through internal wiring and the strap-like bundles of polyacetylene myomers. Greasy smoke spilled from the laser gash as the Griffin staggered erect.