"We got an ASF on radar to the south. Low altitude, high speed. Looks like a ground support mission."

Ardan slapped the access panel back in place, sheathed the knife, and slid back into the stifling interior of his 'Mech. He didn't know the outcome of the tangle between AeroSpace Fighters that he'd seen during the Exeter 'sapproach toward the DZ, but it was logical to assume that the enemy would attempt to hit the Davion DZs as soon as their own units were clear and they had fighters to spare.

"ETA?" He fitted his neural helmet back in place, checked the connections.

"Thirty seconds, Gold Leader. Bearing one-seven-nine, altitude—aw, shoot! He must be plowing the fields! Lost him...No! There! Visual.

"Target south! Fire!" Ardan's command went out to all units on the command override, interrupting Gold Two and triggering a spattering of laser fire from those ‘Mechs in a position to target the oncoming aircraft. Ardan's HUD sprang up across his screens, and an autotrack vision enhancer steadied on the ship's nose.

He recognized the squat disk shape immediately. It was a Thrush,a favorite Liao air-space fighter, and a battle-torn veteran by the look of the laser scars across its belly and fuselage. For an instant, he saw the head of the pilot through the canopy, masked in a black-visored helmet. A line of silhouettes, thirteen of them, ran along the hull under the canopy, the last of those kill markers still bright and new-painted. This pilot was an old hand, an experienced killer.

The Thrush'slasers fired before any of the grounded 'Mechs could lock on. An instant later, a cluster of spinning, silvery cylinders exploded from the fighter's belly, the cloud of objects expanding as the cylinders tumbled down across the field.

Ardan held his position and fired both lasers, launched all of his remaining SRM rounds, and cursed his useless autocannon. As the Thrushflashed overhead, the field erupted in spewing, boiling, liquid flame, a chemical fire that splashed across grass and ‘Mechs and shrieking men, clinging like some hungry, living thing. Ardan's mind held a seared after-image of Fitzgerald's Crusaderengulfed in writhing flame, of the 'Mech lifted from its feet by fresh explosions that shredded its legs and hurled it forward in a twisting mass of flaming metal. Fire clung to Ardan's Victor.Inferno bombs were a descendant of the napalm of earlier wars, a jellied, incendiary chemical that burned with the heat of white phosphorous. The grass around him was afire.

He turned his Victorand lumbered toward the forest, his 'Mech trailing streamers of fire. Once clear of the conflagration in the field, Ardan rolled his heavy machine against the ground, extinguishing the flames and leaving vast, deep-slashed ruts in the mud. The Victorstood, blackened and muddy.

He had seen only the one, lone Thrushand it was long gone, but that was not reassuring because ground assault tactics always called for multiple aircraft working together as a team. That initial pass would be followed almost immediately by more. He snapped off orders, took reports. Two 'Mechs had been hit in the attack, a Stingerand Fitzgerald's Crusader. Both machines were total losses and their pilots dead.

The Thrushwas out of sight now, but others would be coming quickly. His orders called for the 17th to disperse, with Second and Third Battalions spreading out toward the eastern ridge and the First Battalion moving into the swamp. There were still Liao BattleMechs in this wooded slope along the Ordolo Basin. The Regiment would have to take them out or further scatter those enemy 'Mechs if it didn't want to become the target of constant sniping and hit-and-run raids to the rear as it closed on Jordan's Pass. Once inside the treeline, visibility was reduced to less than thirty meters. Unable to see any of the other 'Mechs in the Battalion around him, Ardan used the commlink to organize the unseen formation into a rough line running north and south, travelling west. The tree canopy closed in overhead, shielding them from further Thrushattacks. Ardan wondered where the follow-up attack was. Had that Thrushpilot truly been acting alone? What did that say about Liao organization here?

The scope of the Liao trap was obvious now. He didn't have the full picture yet and would not until he could compare notes with Ran and Lees. But their guess about a trap had been accurate. There was no reason to keep such large 'Mech forces so far from Steindown unless the plan had been to lure a Davion invasion force onto the broad plains between Steindown and the mountains, trap them on the peninsula, and bomb and shell them into helpless wreckage. The landing north of the peninsula seemed to have caught the Liao 'Mech forces completely by surprise—and even their AeroSpace Fighter support seemed to be operating in a disjointed, undirected fashion.

That confusion meant the Davion forces had the advantage now, but they would have to push to keep it. The battle was not over yet, not by ten thousand light years.

The ground grew broken and steeper. He used his 'Mech's mass to brush aside smaller trees, which fell with splintering crashes. Other massive, age-old lords of the forest grew in greater and greater profusion as he moved deeper into the forest. There was a faint glimmer of water ahead.

Gold Two and the rest of Gold Squadron were further to his right, out of sight, but perhaps 500 meters away. He would have to get closer to them or risk being cut off. Blue Squadron was on his left. Once he caught a glimpse of the company's number four Recon Lance 'Mech, a Wasp,moving through the trees. The smaller ‘Mechs were better for this kind of maneuver. They were lighter, less likely to become bogged down in mud, and their maneuverability among trees, vines, and undergrowth was impressive.

He cut to the right, then had to detour around an unexpected lake, its surface brilliant with the bright green scum that had nearly fooled him during his landing.

Cannonfire boomed to the right. Gold Seven reported contact with a Liao Rifleman.As Ardan hurried forward, his Victor'sfeet squelching in the shallow mud, he glimpsed movement ahead. The Victorshouldered its way between two trees that shuddered and rocked back, roots flailing mud. Dead ahead was a massive, immobile form, hulking and powerful, the Liao emblem bright against its heavy torso armor. Ardan recognized the shape. Originally a House

Steiner design, a few of these monsters had apparently fallen into Liao hands. Designated ZEU-6S and called Zeus,the 80-ton assault BattleMech resembled Ardan's Victorin many respects.

There were differences of detail, of course. The Zeushad lighter torso armor than the Victor,and heavier armor on its legs and arms. Most critical was the fact that the Victorsacrificed a great deal of space and mass to the HildCo Model 12 jump jets set into its back assembly. That meant that the Zeus,without jump jets, carried far more in the way of heavy weaponry. Especially since the Victor'sautocannon was jammed.

The Zeusfired first. The monster seemed to have been placed there, waiting for him. A salvo of heavy and medium laser shots flickered across the water. Water close behind Ardan geysered steam, and the tree to his right burst into flame. A dull thud somewhere announced the failure of some piece of machinery. Ardan prayed it wasn't critical.

His own twin lasers were firing in response, but the hits seemed to splash off the Zeus'storso without effect. Then he triggered a salvo of four short-ranged missiles, brilliant pinpoints trailing smoke as they hissed toward the target. There! One of them hit, cratering the enemy 'Mech's shoulder armor but doing no other damage that Ardan could see.