Wolf's Free£ancers

Web novel by LtCol[W£]GrinnerWolf

Templar

MechWarrior Chronicles

Winds of Change
A proud Khan. A rebellious warrior. Together, they must strive against all odds to ensure the survival of their Clan.
A Web novel by A Garang Wolf, copyrighted by AFAR (©AFAR 2003) (ahfaiz@nstp.com.my). Other copyrighted materials belong to their respective owners.

Synopsis:
Due to unrelenting pressure from rival Clans, the Ðreaded Legion faces total annihilation. In order to survive, it must adapt to new ways and leave Clan space before it is too late. However, the Ðreaded Legion can never trust Inner Sphere surats completely. Thus it must prepare for the day when it needs to draw on its reserve fighting force no one suspects exists - the Wolf's Free£ancers mercenary unit.

Chapter 1: Rebel with a cause

Chapter 2: The long journey begins

Chapter 3: A question of faith
Chapter 4: Death Comes on Swift Wings

Chapter 5: Lull before the storm

Chapter 6: The Crossover

Chapter 7: Rebirth

Chapter 8: The Gladiators

Chapter 9: Here be Pirates

Chapter 10: The Good Fight

Chapter 11: Price of Freedom
At the TLF mobile headquarters, leader of the Tioman Liberators Colonel Lohan sat in conference with his senior staff which included newly promoted 1st Lieutenant Cerberus and 2nd Lieutenant Jo-jin Kei. Although Cerb had refused the field commission many times over, the high fatality rate among ranking officers meant that he had no choice but to accept the battlefield promotion eventually. And when that time came, he was more than ready to carry out his responsibilities, much to his own surprise.
As for Jo-jin, he was born into a family with a long line of warriors. And he was trained to lead. Even without rank, he commanded the respect of his peers and many who outranked him. Hence, a field commission was the logical choice for him.
"So, the intel comes from a reliable source," the aged Colonel conceded. "It still doesn't solve the problem of what we're supposed to do when the coup takes place. We don't know when, we don't know by whom. And we certainly don't know if it's going to make a hell of a difference to our fighting cause."
After a short pause, with an audible sigh, Lohan continued, "We'll have to proceed with caution. If we're to lend support to whoever this future usurper is, it's going to be through passivity. I have no intention of letting Tioman Liberators be used as pawns."
"Colonel, I propose that, for now, we send word through our networks that we're preparing for the coup d'état," said Major Hayes, who was the chief intelligence officer. "When the Secret Police receive wind of it, the coup may never come about, but rather than be mere passive observers of what may, or may not, come about, let us use this as an opportunity to turn the heat away from us and onto Alex Davion's own people."
Lohan did not appear enthused by the idea. If anything, the Tioman Liberators had become so desperate that any change would be better than Alex Davion staying in power for another decade or so. To make matters worse, the Wolf's Free£ancers' presence on-planet sounded the death knell for organised military resistance. However, a coup d'état could help stave off the end for the Tioman Liberators.
So, Lohan was at an impasse. Should he lead his warriors to an ignominious doom by contributing to the prevention of a coup that would end Alex Davion's reign of cruelty and deceit, or should he wait and do nothing? Neither options appealed to him.
"Although I would never say this to our fighting men and women openly," Lohan began, "the end for us, ladies and gentlemen, is near." And with that, Lohan looked at all of his senior officers to see if their morale could be brought down even lower than they were already. He was glad that his words did not impact upon them too negatively. They needed to hear the truth and they did good by accepting it.
Lohan then attempted to bring up their morale somewhat by saying, "And quite frankly, I'm surprised we made it this far. We've lost many comrades in arms, and gained many as well. Personally, if I go down, it would be in blaze of glory because I - because all of you - have fought the good fight."
"HUZZAAAA!!" Lohan's senior officers cheered, proud and strong. And Lohan was grateful for it.
"Once again, let us take our fate into our own hands," Lohan continued. "Not that we've been much for sitting back or stepping aside and letting things pass anyway. If we were, we wouldn't have made it this far." And Lohan paused to take hold of the moment with pride.
"Major Hayes, please proceed with your plan. We've all fought bitterly. And if the calm before the storm is all the reward that we can hope for, let us reap it fully and prepare. For, the fight of our lives approaches, and, by God, we will fight right down to every tooth and claw if need be."
"Colonel," Jo-jin interrupted. "If I may make another suggestion?"
"Please, by all means, Lieutenant," Lohan said.
"As we are well aware, mercs are self serving individuals," Jo-jin began. "Their loyalty is only to themselves and, of course, to the 'almighty' C-Bill. So, why don't we give them something they can use against Alex Davion? Even if it's not much, it may come in handy. And hopefully, we would receive a windfall gain as a result."
"What are you referring to, exactly?" Hayes asked.
"For years, we've been gathering important evidence and intelligence regarding Alex Davion's crimes against humanity, corruption and media manipulation," Jo-jin explained. "Let's give all that information to the Wolf's Free£ancers. It's a long shot, but at the very least, it'll make life for Alex Davion a little more difficult."
"We've tried that before," Hayes said sceptically. "We've sent much of that same information to ComStar, Word of Blake, the other Great Houses.... What makes you think that it'll make any difference now?"
"Obviously, they had more to lose by acting on the information we gave them instead of tossing it aside, or they simply had nothing to gain. Lest, they would've acted upon it," Jo-jin tendered. "I'm not saying success this time round is guaranteed. All I'm saying is, give the information to the Wolf's Free£ancers and see."
"Make it so," Lohan said. "We have nothing to lose. Major Hayes...?"
Hayes nodded his assent and said, "I'll get to it ASAP."
"Alright, let's move on," Lohan said. "Lieutenant Cerberus, your status report on the submersible Myrmidons, please?"
"Sir, upgrades are nearly complete," Cerb replied promptly. "It took some doing due to shortage of spare parts and upgrades, but we're nearly done. However, the Myrmidons cannot stay submerged for long, as the depths that they're required to go would place too much stress on the crucial makeshift seals that keep them flexible but airtight. Plus, only half have been refitted with the full complement of ERPPCs. The other half still carry ballistics and missiles."
"We'll just have to make do," Lohan said, albeit the chances of success would have been much better if all the Myrmidon tanks were equipped fully with ERPPCs. "Begin your test runs, but be wary of making contact with sea patrols. We don't want the Tioman Militia to know just how many of these babies we have and what they can do exactly."
"Understood," Cerb replied.
"If there are no other matters uprising, you're all dismissed," Lohan said, bringing the Senior Staff meeting for the week to an end. And with that, everyone got up to leave, except Jo-jin.
Seeing that, Lohan sat back down, but signalled for everyone else to leave. And when only he and Jo-jin were left in the cramp conference room, Lohan asked, "Something on your mind, Lieutenant?"
"I... never really knew my father," Jo-jin began. "But you did. You were his commanding officer, and from what I've been told, a close friend."
"Yes, I was," Lohan affirmed.
"In my mind, there is this mental image of him; of a man who rarely smiled," Jo-jin continued. "And when I was a child, I thought it was because he hated me. My late mother tried her best to explain otherwise, but I was, for the most part, unconvinced. So, I grew up trying as best as I could to feel indifferent about my father. Then, there were these letters; the ones he sent to my late mother, prior to the Battle of Tuqayyid. He made many, many references to me. And they were... mostly about how proud he was of me; particularly of the fact that I had been accepted into the Tioman Junior Military Academy. I have been having trouble reconciling my mental image of him and THIS ever since."
"Your father was a proud warrior who made it a point never to show weakness as best as he could, son," said Lohan. "And that meant he had difficulty showing tenderness and compassion. Perhaps it was his samurai upbringing; perhaps it was just him. The only real time he showed 'weakness' was with your mother. With her, he could relax, and he loved her dearly for that. So much so, he braved Theodore Kurita's wrath by daring to ask to be with the woman of his choosing - your mother hated the war with the Clans and wanted to get away from it as much as she could by returning to Tioman. Of course, your father would never betray his master to become ronin. He would rather commit sepuku first - his sense of loyalty was all too strong. Fortunately, Theodore 'awarded' his service to House Davion as a way to help forge the new alliance between House Kurita and House Davion, and as a way to reward your father's outstanding service to the Dragon. After that, he came here, to Tioman, to marry your mother. And for many good years, they lived happily. But the war... the war called on your father and every other able bodied warrior. And before we knew it, he and I were back in Kurita space trying to beat back the Clans."
A moment of silence passed. Jo-jin appeared to want to say something in response, but before he could, Lohan cut him off by saying, "Your father was a good man; a damn good man. He fought like a dragon! And he laid down his life on Tuqayyid to save his men; to save me."
Another moment passed. And then Lohan said with remorse clearly in his voice, "I should have died with him. Instead, I came home to...THIS," while spreading his hands as though to encompass the grave situation on Tioman.
Jo-jin did not expect so forthright a display of vulnerability by Lohan. Clearly, Lohan had suffered and continued to suffer from survivor's guilt, a syndrome that affected veterans who survived terrible, hard-fought battles, irrespective of age and rank. Amazingly, Lohan had hidden it well.
"Your father didn't die for THIS," Lohan said with an underlying rage. "He didn't die so that men like Alex Davion could lord over us with impunity! If Victor Davion won't do something about removing him, then I sure as hell will, or I'll die trying."
"I... I don't know...," Jo-jin began to mutter, but was cut off promptly yet again.
"Whatever the weaknesses your father had, he deserves nothing less than respect from you and devotion to his memory by you," Lohan said, with more than a hint of finality to it. Whatever Jo-jin thought or felt, clearly, Lohan did not want it to conflict with his own thoughts and feelings.
Jo-jin's immediate reaction to that was anger. Lohan may have been his superior, but he had no right to tell Jo-jin what to think or feel about his own father. Then, somewhat unexpectedly, the anger fell away as realisation dawned upon him. If a man like Lohan whom Jo-jin respected deeply could be moved by his own father so greatly, then who was he to judge the true worth of his father? Almost instantly, the mental image Jo-jin had of his father softened. This time, it was based more clearly on memory. While his father rarely smiled, when he looked at Jo-jin, it was with genuine care and concern. And that made Jo-jin feel both warm and regretful; regretful that he never got to know his father better. Then again, maybe this was how he wanted to be known by his own son - through his deeds.
"Domo arigato, Colonel Lohan sama," Jo-jin thanked Lohan formally as he stood up. And then he bowed respectfully while saying, "If you deem me worthy, I offer to take my father's place by your side."
Lohan stood and returned Jo-jin's bow and said, "You are indeed worthy, Jo-jin Kei. You have done your father proud. And I suspect we will be fighting the coming great battle side by side soon enough. Regardless of the outcome, I would gladly content myself simply with the honour of fighting with the son of the honourable Lieutenant Colonel Rikimaru."
And with that, Lohan stood at attention and saluted Jo-jin. And Jo-jin returned the honour fully, appreciative of the fact that seldom did superior officers saluted subordinates first.
Several weeks later, "OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS INDICATE THAT THE BOMBING OF THE MUNITIONS SUPPLY DEPOT IN FORT DAVION SEVERAL WEEKS AGO WAS INDEED THE WORK OF TIOMAN LIBERATOR TERRORISTS," said Denise over the holovid display. "15 CASUALTIES HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED. THEY WERE MOSTLY RESERVISTS AND NATIONAL SERVICE TRAINEES AGED BETWEEN 18 AND 27. UNCONFIRMED REPORTS, HOWEVER, SUGGESTED THAT IT WAS THE WORK OF THE TIOMAN REGENT HIMSELF. THESE REPORTS WERE BASED ON ORAL TESTIMONIES MADE BY EYE WITNESSES, WHO HAVE SINCE DISAPPEARED MYSTERIOUSLY. WHEN ASKED FOR HIS RESPONSE TOWARD THE ALLEGATIONS, PRINCE ALEX DAVION HAD THIS TO SAY."
And the holovid display reduced Denise's talking head and enlarged Alex Davion's.
"AS USUAL, MY DETRACTORS WILL TRY TO PIN EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES WRONG ON THIS PLANET ON ME; ALLEGING CONSPIRACIES AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL," said Alex. "SOME DAYS, BEING THE REGENT CAN REALLY BE A THANKLESS JOB," he added while appearing saddened and hurt.
"THIS IS DENISE RANGER, FOR NEW TIOMAN TIMES," Denise signed off, and the holovid display started showing the holovid news channel marquee, accompanied by important sounding musical accompaniment.
"What a pity," Jay commented from a minor gantry in the main ready room of Wolf's Free£ancers command dropship The Hillbilly. He and the rest of Typhoon's mobile suit warriors had just finished their last minute briefing session with Typhoon, when the dropship captain notified Jay that he should check out the news grids.
"Problem?" Typhoon asked, as he approached Jay.
"Yeah, check this out," Jay replied as he repeated the video stream for Typhoon.
When it finished playing, Typhoon remarked, "This changes nothing."
"I'm not so sure. For the Tioman Liberators, it just might," Jay said.
"They're not a factor we can count on anyway," Typhoon countered.
"Still, they could have ended up as a useful wildcard factor," Jay persisted. "With this, they might just decide to do nothing."
"I seriously doubt that," Typhoon said. "Regardless, it's not something we didn't expect."
"I suppose," Jay conceded. "I hope that the Tioman Liberators are intelligent enough to see how desperate Alex's Secret Police has become, enough to brainwash Denise and induct her into the mainstream Press. And I kinda feel sorry for her. She's really messed up in the head now."
Over at the TLF mobile headquarters, Major Hayes was providing Colonel Lohan his assessment of the latest developments.
"Either Denise was a mole all along, or the Secret Police finally caught up with her," Hayes said. "Or, they caught up with her and then forced her to pump us with disinformation."
"No, I'm more inclined to think that there really is a third hand in all this," Lohan said. "Alex's Secret Police is usually more subtle. Making Denise turn 180 degrees like that is a mark of their desperation."
"Do we continue with our plan?" Hayes asked.
"Affirmative," Lohan replied. "It's still a go. Move our forces closer toward Lancaster."
From the safety of a media helicopter hovering high over the port city of Lancaster, Denise had been covering the standoff between the Tioman Anti Terrorist Force (ATF) and Lancaster's duly elected governor, Thomas Portman. Accused of masterminding the terrorist attacks against military and civilian targets in Fort Davion, Portman had been given an ultimatum by Alex Davion: surrender or be killed. The problem was, Portman was not so easily intimidated. Plus, the human shields made of Lancasterians who were loyal to him and sympathetic to the Tioman Liberators were growing in number.
Alex Davion had anticipated this. It was what he wanted exactly. And regardless of the horrendous casualties, his media machine would simply play it down as partly "acceptable" collateral damage, and partly the result of armed resistance among those posing as human shields. And now that he had Denise for a very strong voice of reason, the all-round success of his latest action against those who would stand against him was almost complete.
"AND ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS HAVE NOW MOVED IN WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE," reported Denise. "AND STILL, HIS SUPPORTERS HAVE NOT DISPERSED. SOME CAN BE SEEN AS WAVING ANGRY FISTS AND, REPORTEDLY, SOME ARE CARRYING ASSAULT RIFLES AND OTHER LIGHT WEAPONRY; CAN'T BE SURE FROM UP HERE, THOUGH. CAN WE GET IN CLOSER?"
The helicopter pilot shook his head.
"IT ISN'T SAFE AT THE MOMENT TO GET IN CLOSE," Denise reported. "WE DON'T WANT TO ATTRACT WEAPONS FIRE, BE IT FRIENDLY FIRE OR HOSTILE. WE'LL UPDATE YOU IF THERE IS FURTHER DEVELOPMENT. THIS IS DENISE RANGER, REPORTING TO YOU LIVE FOR NEW TIOMAN TIMES."
The holovid display then reverted to NTT news anchor Richard Hamner. "GOVERNOR PORTMAN HAS ALLEGED THAT PRINCE ALEX DAVION IS NOT INTERESTED IN PROSECUTION THROUGH AN OPEN COURT, BECAUSE THERE IS NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST A LINK BETWEEN PORTMAN AND THE TIOMAN LIBERATORS," Hamner read allowed. "SUPPOSEDLY, PORTMAN IS TO BE ARRESTED AND DETAINED WITHOUT TRIAL INDEFINITELY. IN RESPONSE, PRINCE ALEX DAVION HAS THIS TO SAY."
And the holovid display reduced Hamner's talking head in size and to the side, and showed the enlarged talking head of the Tioman Regent. "GOVERNOR PORTMAN IS A DESPERATE MAN WHO WILL SAY ANYTHING TO RALLY SUPPORT AND SWELL THE NUMBER OF HUMAN SHIELDS THAT ARE PROTECTING HIM RIGHT NOW. KNOW THIS, LOYAL TIOMAN CITIZENS: PORTMAN IS A DANGEROUS MAN. THERE IS ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO JUSTIFY HIS ARREST AND EVENTUAL PROSECUTION. HOWEVER, SOME OF THAT EVIDENCE IS SO SENSITIVE, REVEALING IT TO THE PUBLIC NOW COULD FRUSTRATE EFFORTS TO DISMANTLE THE TERRORIST NETWORKS ON TIOMAN. IN TIME, WE WILL DECLASSIFY THE EVIDENCE AND TRY PORTMAN IN PUBLIC. NOW IS NOT TO THE TIME FOR DOUBTING. NOW IS THE TIME FOR ACTION. LET US PUT CRIMINALS LIKE PORTMAN BEHIND BARS, SO THAT WE CAN ALL BE SAFE FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE FUTURE."
Alex Davion switched off his desktop holovid display with satisfaction while leaning back in his plush leather high-back chair. His media machine was putting exactly the kind of spin he wanted. While appearing fair, it was always Alex who had the last say. More importantly, although it seemed as though Portman was the intended target of Alex's latest crackdown against dissenters, his real targets were the Tioman Liberators themselves. And yet, the Tioman people remained ignorant largely.
Portman was just a sacrificial pawn. He would go down, along with the rest of his supporters, and enrage the Tioman Liberators enough for them to rally toward Lancaster in a desperate attempt to avenge innocent civilians. Alex would then bring the might of his forces down on the Tioman Liberators fully.
Standing up, Alex tugged at his uniform to straighten it, dusted off some imaginary lint on his left breast with a flick of his left hand, and walked toward the entrance of the Mech Command centre which was adjacent to his private chambers. Upon entering the centre, Alex was joined immediately by his bodyguards. And they all proceeded toward the Mech Commander's chair at the centre of the enormous war room.
Sitting in the Commander's chair was Karen, who promptly stood at attention when Alex approached.
"Sir!" she said in recognition.
"As you were, Lieutenant," Alex acknowledged.
And with that, Karen sat back down to resume overall command of Tioman's combined ATF, Militia and mercenary forces. Although the task should have fallen on the shoulder's of one of Alex's senior Militia commanders, Karen managed to talk him into giving her the honour. Her pretext was, she wanted to demonstrate to Alex her command ability, as a prelude to her working for him as his personal senior military advisor.
"Status?" Alex enquired.
"All systems go. All units on standby, waiting on your command," Karen replied, in strict military fashion, betraying nothing of her romantic relationship with him.
"Excellent," Alex commented. "Proceed."
"ATF assault teams, move out," Karen ordered into the general coms channel. "Militia and merc forces, standby."
And with that, Alex's Anti Terrorist Force moved in on Portman who was holed up in his office. Two teams dropped from helicopters and onto the roof of Portman's office, whereas three teams attempted to clear a path through the crowed using stun batons and shields in order to get to the main entrance of the office building.
On cue, agent provocateurs placed among the ranks of Portman's human shields started firing off their handguns and throwing Molotov cocktails at the oncoming ATF personnel. And then all hell broke lose.
The gunners manning the ATF armoured personnel carriers' gun emplacements opened fire blindly into the crowed, mowing down men, women and even children. Even those that turned and ran were gunned down. The agent provocateurs, however, escaped unhurt, as they had had a head start.
"Oh my God! This can't be. It's not possible. Alex Davion wouldn't allow this!" Denise cried out. "Are you capturing this?" she asked her cameraman.
He nodded excitedly.
"Are we online?" she asked
He shook his head.
"Keep rolling," Denise said. "Citizens of Tioman, this is footage of what appears to be blatant...," Denise began to say, but then hesitated. Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of fear for her safety, which then prompted her to tell the helicopter pilot to pull away immediately. "Pull up! Pull up! Get away of here."
And none too soon, because something started rushing up toward them at high speed from the port side of the helicopter - it was a heat seeking missile.
The Tioman Secret Police had planed the assault on Governor Portman's office right down to very last detail. And Denise was to be martyred supposedly by Tioman Liberators as a result of her turning pro-government.
The Secret Police had programmed her to be compliant, but they knew that the sight of dead and dying innocents would be too much for her, and that it would shock her back to her true self. So, she had to be "martyred" in Alex Davion's cause, and the Tioman Liberators would conveniently be blamed.
Fortunately for Denise, it was not to be. Not only did the sight of the dead and dying shock her out of her programming, it also caused her sense of survival to kick in just in time.
"Look out!" Denise cried while pointing toward the incoming missile.
Immediately, the pilot put his helicopter into a nose-dive and angled for a nearby building, and luckily, he managed to put a building between the missile and his helicopter just in the nick of time, causing the missile to strike the building instead.
Denise could not tell if there were people in that building and if they had been hurt as a result. She could only hope that no one was injured.
"Take us out of here!" Denise screamed.
And the helicopter pilot was only too glad to comply.
But after a short while, "Wait, we can't go back to Fort Davion," Denise said, changing her mind. "Circle around!"
"What?!" the camera man asked, perplexed.
"No way!" exclaimed the helicopter pilot.
"If we go back to Fort Davion, we'll all be detained by the Secret Police," Denise reasoned.
"What the hell for?" asked the cameraman.
"Because we're witnesses to government troop atrocities and have footage to back our testimonies," Denise answered.
"It's never been a problem before," said the cameraman.
"Right! They confiscate vital evidence that could be used against them, and you go on pretending like nothing's happened," Denise said sardonically. "Well, it's a problem now because we weren't suppose to survive that missile attack," Denise said.
"Are you saying that government forces shot at us?" asked the helicopter pilot.
"No way," said the cameraman.
"Trust me, you guys," Denise pleaded. "They did, and with impunity. We have no choice but to stay and see this to its very end. I have a hunch that this is the big one - something really big is about to happen."
"I... I don't know," the cameraman said hesitantly. "I have family to think of."
"We'll drop you off on our way back in," said the helicopter pilot as he swerved his helicopter around, heading it back toward the flashpoint in Lancaster city.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" the cameraman pleaded anxiously. "Hold on, now. You can't go back in. And you can't just leave me out here!"
"It's one or the other," the pilot said, knowing too well that the cameraman would choose to follow because a solitary cameraman from the mainstream media on the ground was bound to run into trouble with an angry mob, if not with looters or street thugs.
"Then you're coming with us," Denise said. "We can't go back."
"Yeah? Well, where the hell are we going to hide once we're there?" asked the cameraman, exasperated.
"You leave that to me," the helicopter pilot replied. "I didn't survive war with the Clans just to get shot by freaking 'friendly fire'," he declared, with anger clearly on his face.
Back at Mech Command centre, Karen was tapping away on her foldable handheld computer with the writing stylus, as though to update her database with some important details, when in fact, she meant to drop her stylus on the floor in preparation for the explosions that were about to take place in the Mech Command centre. Ten seconds before detonation, she hit the Enter key on the Mech Commander keyboard casually to execute a system wide virus she had secreted into the Mech Commander system via her handheld computer, dropped the stylus on to the floor, sighed as though to signal her annoyance at having dropped it, bent down to pick it up and braced herself.
The explosion was deafening. Two of Alex's bodyguards were knocked unconscious. Alex, who had been standing next to Karen, was thrown onto the console and was in a state of shock.
Karen was shielded by the Mech Commander chair but was shaken nonetheless.
The shaped charges that were secreted into the Mech Command centre by Wolf's Free£ancer intelligence operatives posing as maintenance personnel were tweaked to maximise their shock value rather than kill personnel or disable the centre entirely. But while care had been taken to ensure that Karen or Alex Davion would not be harmed, there was no guarantee against injury to either or both.
Almost instantly, the halon fire suppression system kicked in, and in the confusion, many of the injured could not scramble for the gas masks stored in their assigned lockers and were suffocating as a result.
Karen regretted their suffering but steeled herself with the thought that they were combatants and that they were the enemy.
Looking at the still-operational main display for the Mech Commander System, Karen noted that all of Alex Davion's forces had turned from blue icons to red icons. The virus had done its work, in that the IFF for all ground forces and airborne forces had turned from friendly to hostile, sowing confusion among the ranks.
Without further hesitation, Karen grabbed Alex's left arm, looped it over her shoulder to prop him up, and dragged him toward the entrance to his personal chambers. The remaining two of Alex's bodyguard who were conscious came to her "aid" quickly by taking over and pushing her to the side.
Inwardly, Karen smiled. 'Yes, please make it easier for me,' she thought to herself as she unbuttoned her service auto-pistol holster casually.
At the entrance to Alex's private chambers, the bodyguards palmed the door control with Alex's hand and proceeded into the chambers when the door swished open. Karen followed in behind them, and as soon as the door swished closed, she drew out her auto-pistol and emptied three 9mm rounds into the backs of each of the two bodyguards. And when they fell face-down on the floor, she put three more 9mm rounds into the back of each bodyguard's head for good measure.
Confidently, Karen strode over to Alex's desk and brought up the communications control. As she expected, it was "barred" against intruders.
She then walked over to the dead bodyguards to relieve them of their sidearm. As she did, she noticed that Alex, while still on the floor, appeared to be more lucid, and he was giving her an accusatory stare.
Coolly, Karen asked, "Are you hurt?"
No response.
"I said, are you hurt?" Karen asked again.
"NO," Alex replied coldly.
"Good," Karen said. "Stay down, and this time, I mean it. And don't try anything, old man."
Quickly, Karen emptied the dead bodyguards' auto-pistols of bullets and tossed the pistols and the bullets aside. She then took out a pair of handcuffs and began to cuff Alex's hands behind his back.
"Hold still," Karen said.
Alex offered no resistance, but threw a barb at her by saying, "Old man, eh? Huh! It was this 'old man' who pleasured you over and again."
"Yes, you did," Karen acknowledged with a smile. "I enjoyed every minute, every second of the experience. Was it good for you too?"
Hearing that, Alex's expression turned from coy to anger.
Reaching for Alex's sidearm, Karen said, "I'll keep this as a reminder." And she caressed the ivory-handled auto-pistol the same way she had caressed Alex's person. "Get up," Karen commanded, as she pulled the hair on the back of his head to prompt him.
When Alex was up, she poked him hard with the muzzle of her auto-pistol to get him moving toward his desk. "Move!" she prompted further, and only then did Alex begin walking.
"Remove the bar from the coms system," Karen ordered.
Turning his head back to look over his shoulder, Alex flashed her a look of incredulity that said, "No way."
"Look, old man," Karen began menacingly. "We can either do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. I don't need to signal my people that the first phase of the mission is a go. They'll just come get me when its time. But just so that they know, I want to tell them that I have you alive and well. It'll motivate them more. But if you refuse...," Karen trailed off, grabbed the Tioman Regent by the chain of his handcuffs to lift his arms away from the small of his back, put the muzzle of her auto-pistol down into his left palm and fired.
Alex screamed his anguish as a 9mm bullet tore through bones and tendons, and his knees buckled as a result.
"The next one goes into your foot," Karen declared. "And if you're still uncooperative, I'll put a bullet into your knee. Then I'll work my way up...," Karen trailed off, pointing the muzzle of her auto-pistol playfully in the direction of Alex's crotch.
"And you know the irony of it all?" Karen asked rhetorically. "By the time I'm done, it'll still be nothing compared what you've done to your own people. In fact, you deserve nothing but the worst. But you have a choice. You either give me access to coms or I swear I'll make you beg for death!"
Alex was still in a lot of pain, but his mind was clear. And he nodded his assent, while he struggled to get up.
Karen helped him up and pushed him along till he was seated in the chair behind his desk.
"Computer," Alex croaked, his throat coarse from screaming. "Open coms; access code Alex Davion, Tioman Regent, now and forever," he added.
"Voice print matched, access code accepted, coms open," said the saccharine sweet female voice of Alex's desktop computer.
Opening a secure channel to Wolf's Free£ancer's Dropship Command, Karen said, "Objectives secured."
"Acknowledged," said a voice on the other end. "Drop teams are already on their way. ETA for retrieval ops, one hour."
"Copy that," Karen said.
Meanwhile, halfway across Fort Davion, Typhoon's mobile assault teams had parasailed from low-orbit and then parachuted into the estate of former Solaris VII governor, Erik Stanton. Owing to his vast amounts of wealth, Stanton was one of the most important dignitaries of Tioman, but his estate was lightly guarded. All of the sentry Mechs had been called to the front-lines, leaving only a few tanks, armoured personnel carriers and light infantry foot-soldiers.
These second-line forces were routed easily, what with the aid of ground-assisted orbital fire support. And with the Mech Command centre neutralised and Alex's ground as well as airborne forces in disarray, Stanton could not call in for reinforcements. In less than seven minutes, he found a stars' worth of mobile suit infantrymen moving through his stately mansion searching for him.
Stanton was holed up in his panic room located in a secret portion of his expansive basement. But with advanced scanning equipment, it did not take Typhoon long to locate Stanton.
The door to the panic room was made from standard ferro fibrous duracrete material. But it would appear that Stanton did not expect to have to deal with anything more than a token hostile force. He was, after all, living in the "safety" of Fort Davion. And so, the panic room door was not as thick as military grade hatches which were designed to keep intruders at bay for hours on end, such as those found on dropships.
"This won't take long," Typhoon remarked happily while he signalled for one of his mobile suit warriors who carried a cutting-laser backpack to begin carving the panic room door open.
Meanwhile, Jay's star of mobile suit warriors had landed virtually unopposed at the heart of the complex housing the main generators powering Fort Davion's fixed weapons emplacements such as calliope turrets, SHIRKM launchers and other stronghold defences. The Mech sentries guarding the complex had been called away to prop up Fort Davion's outer defences, leaving only tanks and light infantrymen behind.
Obviously, years of enjoying the upper hand when fighting Tioman Liberators had made the defenders of Fort Davion complacent and overconfident. And they paid dearly for it.
The fixed weapons emplacements guarding the complex had been taken out via orbital bombardment. And when Jay and his mobile suit warriors landed, they took out three 100 ton Myrmidon tanks in quick succession using ground assisted orbital bombardment technique - moving targets required ground units to light them up for orbital weapons lock to be maintained.
After that, two Bulldog tanks were disabled quickly when Jay's mobile suit warriors closed in on them swiftly, clawed open their personnel hatches with the assistance of pulse-laser fire, and tossed in anti-personnel cluster grenades.
And without tanks providing heavy fire support, the remaining light infantrymen were routed quickly. Within minutes thereafter, the main generators powering Fort Davion's weapons emplacements were down.
Secondary generators located in other sectors of Ford Davion kicked in, but the power they produced were only sufficient for powering less than one-third of the fixed emplacements that protected Fort Davion's walls from being breached and its airspace from being violated by hostile jumpships with impunity. And several of these still-functioning turrets were taken out as four Wolf's Free£ancers dropships descended upon Fort Davion - two landed near Stanton's estate and two near the generator complex.
The dropships had taken hostile fire from airborne and ground forces as they came in, but it was nothing they could not handle. Nevertheless, the Wolf's Free£ancers were quickly losing the element of surprise.
And as the clock continued to tick, Fort Davion's defenders were becoming more organised.
Although there was still a lot of fighting between Secret Police forces that were ever ready to thwart a coup attempt by purging Militia ranks of would-be mutineers and old-guard Militia forces wrongly accused of attempting a coup, both factions of Fort Davion's defenders that were close enough to the generator complex and Stanton's estate began turning their guns on the Wolf's Free£ancers. Fortunately, they were kept at bay by Wolf's Free£ancers Mechs as well as SHIRKM mobile launchers that came off the dropships. But the tide of battle could have easily turned, which was why every one of the Wolf's Free£ancers on the ground was anxious to get away as quickly as he or she could.
"Blue star leader to Dropship Command," Jay said to The HillBilly over a tight beam coms channel. "Thanks for the back-up. Objective complete."
"Acknowledged, Blue star leader," said the captain of The HillBilly as it took off along with its support dropship. "But be advised. We have a lot of hostiles coming our way...."
"And you want us to stay on the ground and kick butt," Jay continued for the captain. "Way ahead of you."
And with that, Jay's star of mobile suit warriors hooked up with a mixed star of light and medium Wolf's Free£ancers Mechs.
"Good to see you," said First Sergeant Draak over his sub-unit's coms, as Jay's star approached his Ryoken. "Now see if you can keep those tanks away from our SHIRKM launchers...sir."
"But of course, Sergeant," Jay said with a smile, not taking offence in being ordered by the unit's First Sergeant. Draak had the battle situation well under control and Jay did not want to pull rank when there was no need to.
Quickly, they all retreated toward ComStar's expansive hyperpulse generator (HPG) facility located near Alex Davion's palace. There, the Wolf's Free£ancers would seek refuge and negotiate its passage off planet and out of Tioman's planetary system, but not without first having to contend with uptight and corrupted ComStar acolytes who refused to provide sanctuary. Fortunately, the matter was put to rest when The HillBilly captain took out all of ComStar's fixed weapons emplacements and threatened to destroy the HPG.
While there was no written interplanetary law that governed those seeking asylum at ComStar facilities, HPGs were so valuable, and thus sacred, that any great House of the Inner Sphere responsible for the destruction or contributed to the destruction of one could result in political, economic and military reprisals from ComStar throughout the Inner Sphere. And while the Wolf's Free£ancers would not hesitate to destroy a HPG in order to survive, Fort Davion's defenders would.
And as corrupted as they were, the ComStar acolytes in charge of Tioman's only HPG did not want to contribute to its destruction either. It was a sure fire way of ending their comfortable careers and privileged lifestyles.
About fifteen minutes later, two more Wolf's Free£ancers dropships descended upon the ComStar HPG facility compound, and they were followed closely by a mixed star of light and medium Mechs, and a star of mobile suit warriors.
"Packages retrieved," Typhoon radioed The HillBilly via tight beam coms, informing Wolf's Free£ancers Dropship Command that Stanton had been taken into custody, along with valuable data chips and hardcopy records that would allow Typhoon to trace his stolen C-Bills and, hopefully, the whereabouts Typhoon's former accountant-cum-secretary as well. All that was left was for Wolf's two mixed stars of assault and heavy Mechs to make it to the ComStar facility, before extraction of Karen and her prisoner, Alex Davion, could be made.
However, as the clock continued to tick, it became clear that Wolf and his warriors were in trouble. Lest, they would have arrived about the same time Typhoon's assault group did.
Considering that Wolf had to contend with only medium and light Militia Mechs, cutting across Lancaster and breaching the near-defenceless walls of Fort Davion should not have been a problem. But fighting in Lancaster was proving to be more difficult as the toll on civilian lives and property began to mount.
As best as he could, Wolf would steer battles away from high population density areas, although that meant limiting his options. Nonetheless, he was determined to make it work.
"I repeat!" Wolf shouted into his battle group's coms channel. "PULL BACK!"
"We got them on the run, sir," protested Lieutenant Duff.
"Bring your star left toward the sea, Lieutenant," Wolf ordered.
"But we'd lose out city advantage, sir," Duff protested further. Considering that city battles tipped the balance in favour of heavier chasses, Duff had a point.
"I'm aware of that, Lieutenant," Wolf said. "But I won't have any more civilian death on my conscience. Now MOVE! And don't get separated!"
"Copy that," Duff acknowledged begrudgingly.
Fortuitously, resistance toward Wolf's flanking manoeuvre was rather light or mostly ineffective. It was as though the Tioman Militia Mechs that stood in the path of Wolf's flanking battle group were fighting a two pronged battle.
"Go! Go! Go!" Duff prompted his star of warriors to take advantage of the situation, leaving Wolf's star to bring up the rear. But Duff's elation was cut short when he saw what caused the Militia Mechs to fight the way they did.
"Uh-oh! Tioman Liberators, and... they are firing at us," Duff announced over the coms as his Black Knight took a combined Alpha strike from a submerged Myrmidon tank and a Ryoken jump-sniper. "Pull back into the city," he ordered his star of warriors.
"Negatory!" Wolf countered. "Keep moving forward. We have several fast-attack Militia Mechs to our rear now. We're better off fighting the TLF. Take them out quickly before we have to deal with the oncoming Militia Mechs."
"Roger that," Duff acknowledged.
Over on the Tioman Liberators side, "Black Knight is cored!" Colonel Lohan announced with satisfaction over his attack wing's coms channel as his Ryoken descended behind the protective cover of a high sandbank by the water's edge again.
"Sir, they're mercs!" Jo-jin said in response, as he circled his Raven around on the expansive Lancaster city shoreline for another long range attack-sweep on incoming Mechs.
"I don't care who they are, Lieutenant," Lohan bit back. "They killed civilians and they're going pay!"
"Sir, Myrmidons are taking in more water than we can afford to," Cerb announced anxiously over the coms. "Permission to advance."
"Affirmative," Lohan said. "Push forward."
And with that, Cerb's two lances of Myrmidon tanks began surfacing slowly as they moved closer to shore. Cerb's Myrmidon tank was the first to reach the shore and, as soon as it cleared the first sand embankment, his breath was caught in his throat when he spotted several heavy and assault class Mechs moving out from the protective cover of Lancaster city's buildings.
"I see eight hostiles!" Cerb said excitedly as his pulse raced. "I repeat, eight! Mixed heavies and assaults, maybe more."
"Concentrate fire on cored targets, Lieutenant!" Lohan ordered. "Don't let them roll straight through us. Keep them wedged between us and whatever else they are fighting."
"Roger that," Cerb acknowledged. "Concentrate fire on the cored Black Knight," Cerb ordered his Myrmidon tank commanders as he lined his own Myrmidon tank's ERPPCs on the cored Black Knight and fired. ERPPC fire cut right through the air in a lightning blaze and connected with the severely damaged Black Knight, but Cerb's shot was off-centre.
"Lucky son-of-a-bitch!" Cerb swore in disbelief.
And although the Black Knight was taking a severe pounding from other Myrmidons equipped with extended range weapons, its pilot managed to shield its severely damaged centre torso area by torso twisting. The merc then kept his Black Knight's moderately damaged left flank facing Cerb and his Myrmidons, while returning fire in sidelong fashion.
Cerb's first instinct was to press his advantage. If he could get all of his Myrmidon's to fire on the Black Knight, especially those armed with medium range but powerful ballistic weapons, the merc pilot would be history.
But when he saw that the cored Black Knight had only a Thor for back-up, he became alarmed and checked his radar scope quickly on his heads down display. And what he saw nearly froze him - eight mercenary Mechs were ganging up on Lohan's mixed star of medium and light Mechs.
"Myrmidons disengage!" Cerb shouted over the coms. "Flank right and form up on Colonel Lohan. Fire at will. Draw their attention away from the Colonel. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late. Lohan and his star mates were routed. No matter how hard Lohan and his warriors fought, there was simply no way to beat back two mixed lances of heavy and assault Mechs.
"Lieutenant Jo-jin Kei," Lohan radioed calmly. "You and the rest form up with Lieutenant Cerberus' Myrmidons. I'll hold them long enough for you to get clear."
"Negatory," Jo-jin responded calmly, knowing what Lohan meant to do exactly.
"That was not a request, Jo-jin," Lohan countered. "It was a direct order."
"With all due respect, Colonel," Jo-jin said. "It makes little or no difference if we all die now or die later. And this is as good a place as any."
Just then, Lohan's Ryoken took a tumble from being shot at in the legs, cutting short the exchange between him and Jo-jin. And standing over his Ryoken was a hulking Mad Cat MKII, the same assault Mech that had pummelled Lohan with Arrow clusters and long range missiles so as to force the Colonel out of his sniping position and into the open.
But to Jo-jin's surprise, the Mad Cat MKII pilot did not finish off Lohan's Ryoken. It was not as much hesitation as it was contemplation apparently.
In fact, all of the mercenary Mechs had stopped firing, if only for a short while. Fighting resumed when the mercs were shot at by Cerb's Myrmidon and other approaching Myrmidon tanks, but the mercs fired only to discourage pursuit as they fought a fighting retreat toward the protective cover of Lancaster city's buildings. And then, they turned their attention on fast-attack Militia Mechs that finally appeared on the battle scene.
"Colonel! Are you alright?" Jo-jin radioed.
No response.
"Rebel star, form up on Lieutenant Cerb's Myrmidon," Jo-jin ordered. "Cerb! Hold your fire!" Jo-jin radioed further, but not before the Mad Cat MKII, which was last to leave the battle scene began taking sever damage to its "ears", arms and legs.
Still, the assault Mech returned only warning shots while backing up slowly. And then it stumbled and fell backward when both its legs were shot out from underneath it.
"Cerb! They've disengaged!" Jo-jin radioed anxiously. "Stop firing at the MKII!"
"Cease fire," Cerb ordered his Myrmidon tank commanders. "Cover me while I make a visual inspection of the Colonel's Mech."
"Roger that, Cerb," Jo-jin acknowledge. "Fan out," Jo-jin ordered his star mates. "Make our firing arc as wide as possible but stay close."
Cerb's Myrmidon pulled up next to Lohan's downed Ryoken and stopped. Then, both he and his tank driver alighted, and ran toward the Ryoken which was lying on its right side.
Climbing via the Mech's mangled legs, Cerb and his tank driver worked their way up to Lohan's cockpit. Upon reaching it, Cerb kneeled down and peered in by putting his face to the cockpit screen and cupping the sides of his eyes with the palms of his hands.
"He's still alive!" Cerb announced excitedly. Then, he reached for the hammer and chisel which he slipped into his jumpsuit belt earlier, and began working on the armoured cover protecting the cockpit's access panel located toward the rear of the cockpit.
The cover had become welded shut by intense heat, but if Cerb hit it just right, it would pop off, as per its safety design.
Once, twice, trice, he hit the cover on its edge with his hammer and chisel. But the cover refused to budge.
"Come on!" Cerb shouted in frustration.
Once, twice more, and this time, the cover popped off. Quickly, Cerb threw aside the hammer and chisel, and keyed in a shared access code using the cockpit access keypad, and then the left side of Lohan's cockpit cracked opened with a depressurised hiss.
"Alright, together," Cerb ordered his tank driver to help him lift the heavy cockpit hatch. When the opening was wide enough, Cerb stepped in gingerly and reached for Lohan's seatbelts release.
Lohan was unconscious and limp, and would have fallen out of his cockpit chair when his seatbelts released their grip on him, had Cerb not held on to Lohan tightly. Then, with sheer brute strength, Cerb lifted Lohan up toward his tank driver, who then lifted Lohan out of his cockpit.
"I got him," the tank driver said reassuringly. "I got him."
When Cerb climbed out, he quickly jumped off the Mech and signalled for the tank driver to lower Lohan down slowly toward him. But as Lohan was being lowered, the tank driver slipped, and both he and Lohan came crashing down on Cerb.
Cerb managed to break Lohan's fall but was winded as a result. And when he inhaled, he felt a sharp pain that was all too familiar to him.
"Damn! Busted my ribs," Cerb said.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant!" the tank driver began apologising profusely. "I'm sorry!"
"It's alright!" Cerb cut him off impatiently, as he rolled onto his front and tried to get up slowly. "Take the Colonel back to the tank, NOW!"
"Roger that, sir," the tank driver said as he lifted Lohan onto his back and carried the colonel away, fireman style.
When he was on all-fours, Cerb ran the palm of his left hand down the left side of his ribs gingerly and then winced. He had three, maybe four broken ribs.
And then he heard voices calling out his name from a distance as though to warn him of something. When he looked up, he was shocked to see a brutally disfigured man, clad in nothing but skin-tight MechWarrior shorts, standing over him.
"You Inner Sphere surat!" the man shouted angrily as he grabbed Cerb by the collar of his jumpsuit with his left hand and lifted Cerb up with surprising strength. "You have no honour!" the man shouted further as he began pummelling Cerb's face with his right elbow causing Cerb to see stars and his nose to bleed profusely.
But despite the pain and having been taken by surprise, Cerb fought back with vigour. For, it would take more than a few cracked Ribs, a surprise attack and a bloody nose to bring him down.
Quickly, Cerb spun and hit the crazed MechWarrior's left hand away with both his arms, and followed through with continuous hook punches to the man's ribs. Cerb's punches were so hard that the man had no choice but to back away quickly in order to avoid serious injury.
"What are you? Some kind of Clanner?!" Cerb asked in angry disbelief.
"I had disengaged!" the crazed MechWarrior shouted back furiously. And then, with seemingly lightning speed, the man moved in and delivered an unbelievably hard right turning kick that almost caught Cerb squarely in his left ribs - Cerb managed to bring his left arm in to absorb the blow just in time, but winced in pain nonetheless since his block was not enough to keep his ribs from taking further punishment.
Fortunately, before the man could follow up with more hits, he was tackled from behind by two other Myrmidon tank crews, rugby style.
"Stravag!!" the crazed MechWarrior cursed in frustration. "You will not even honour a duel!" he yelled as he fought being pinned down.
And then the ground began to shake hard with Mech footfalls. The mercenary MechWarriors had returned.
A few seconds later, there was a deafening thud followed by raining debris as a gauss slug dug a deep crater close to Lohan's downed Ryoken, stunning everyone on the ground.
"Cease and desist!" shouted the merc, who had fired the gauss slug, over his Highlander's external speakers. "If you all wish to live to fight another day, then back away from Captain Wolf."
'So, that's who the bastard is,' Cerb thought as he winced again and clutched his busted ribs with both arms.
Wolf sat up and pushed away the two Myrmidon tank crews who had kept him pinned down. And as he got back onto his feet, he pointed angrily at Cerb and shouted, "You! I am not finished with you yet."
"Yeah?!" Cerb shouted back defiantly and took a step forward to face Wolf squarely. "Well, bring it on!"
"I said cease and desist!" boomed the assault Mech pilot again over his Mech's external speakers. "Captain Wolf! Sir! This area is not secure. Enemy Mechs can close in at any time."
Ignoring the assault Mech pilot, Wolf pressed on by saying, "I know who the Ryoken pilot is, and because of that, I ordered my warriors back into the city to fight off the fast-attack Militia Mechs."
"No kidding," Cerb responded sceptically.
"We could have left you to your own devices and even a fool would know that you would have been overrun by Militia forces," Wolf continued. "Instead, we risked our lives to save your ungrateful hides," Wolf added and paused. "Well, I hope our paths never cross ever again," and then he turned his back on Cerb and walked away.
"Wait..., wait a minute," Cerb began to mutter. "I said wait a minute!!" Cerb shouted.
Wolf stopped and turned his head slightly to look over his right shoulder at Cerb.
"How did you know it was the Colonel piloting the Ryoken?" Cerb asked.
"He showed exceptional skill," Wolf replied. "And you all rallied on him to save his life."
"Alright, so, now I know what you did," Cerb pressed on. "But why? I still don't know why."
Slowly, Wolf turned to face Cerb squarely again. "I did not come here to do Alex Davion's dirty work," he began to explain. "My fight is not with the TLF."
"Then why did you fire on us?" Cerb asked accusingly.
"Because you fired on us," Wolf replied plainly.
"Why did you press on against us?" Cerb continued persistently.
"Because you were in our way," Wolf responded. "And because fighting in the city would cause further casualties among civilians, which was unnecessary."
And when it appeared that Cerb had no more questions, Wolf turned and began walking away again.
"Wait!" Cerb called out yet again. "For all your bold talk, your Mechs aren't looking too good, especially that BK," Cerb added while pointing to the smouldering Black Knight he had tried to destroy earlier. And seeing that it was missing both its arms, Cerb remarked, "The pilot's one lucky SOB for being alive still."
"It is not luck," Wolf said while he stood with his back toward Cerb. "It is skill."
"I tell you what," Cerb continued. "You and your warriors escort us back to our rendezvous point and I'll see about having your Mechs repaired and reloaded by our MRBs."
"You have mobile repair bays?" Wolf asked with a touch of disbelief.
"Of course," Cerb proclaimed proudly. "That's how we've managed to stay in the fight this long."
His interest piqued, Wolf turned to face Cerb again. "Are you offering me an alliance?"
"Well, I am the ranking TLF officer around here," Cerb said as a matter of fact. "So, yeah, I am."
"Well bargained and done," Wolf said in acceptance of Cerb's offer.
"Good lord, you are a Clanner," Cerb remarked in amazement.
"And so you know that the word of a 'Clanner' is his bond," Wolf said.
"But it also opens up a different can of worms altogether," Cerb responded. "But we'll deal with that when the time comes."
"Indeed," Wolf said. And with that, both he and Cerb walked away from each other quickly - Cerb toward his Myrmidon tank and Wolf toward an awaiting Highlander Mech.
About an hour later, Wolf found himself sitting in the cramp conference room of the TLF mobile HQ, waiting for Colonel Lohan. Lohan had suffered a concussion, but he was awake and insisted on being up and about, regardless. And if for no other reason, Lohan had to meet the Clanner-turned-merc, Grinner Wolf, face to face.
"Ten hut!" Cerb shouted and stood at attention when Lohan entered the packed conference room.
Wolf and his acting second-in-command, Lieutenant Duff, also stood as a sign of respect for Lohan, albeit they did so less quickly.
"As you were," Lohan said, sounding tired but nevertheless respectable. Lohan was one of those commanding officers whose very voice had a way of commanding respect. And even Wolf felt its effect.
When everyone was seated, "So, this is the Clan warrior who outmanoeuvred me in battle," Lohan began as he took his seat at the head of the conference table. Wolf was about to say something when Lohan cut him off by saying, "I've fought your kind before, and let me tell you, I have no love lost for the Clans. You are the scourge of the Inner Sphere."
"With all due respect, Colonel," Wolf began to say. "I feel more or less the same way about most Inner Sphere warriors. But I am here. So, deal with it."
Wolf's comeback was brash and impertinent, but Lohan kept his cool. He turned his attention to Duff and said, "And you. How do you feel about working for a Clanner-boss?"
"Well, Colonel, sir," Duff began with a wide smile on his face. "Up till today, I hadn't known Captain Wolf is a Clanner; that is if he really is one. But hell, he pays me handsomely for my piloting and gunnery skills. So, it don't matter if he's the devil himself."
Lohan had expected such an answer from Duff. "You, I can understand," he said while pointing a finger at Duff. "I deplore your kind as well, but I understand. But you," Lohan continued while shifting his attention back to Wolf and pointed at Wolf's disfigured face. "You, I don't understand. What in heaven's name are you doing on Tioman?"
With a sigh, Wolf answered, "I am not at liberty to say much. What I can say is this: the Wolf's Free£ancers is not here to fight the TLF."
"Yes, yes, you've said that already," Lohan cut Wolf off impatiently. "What I want to know is why. Are you working for the mutineers?"
Hearing that, Wolf could not help but laugh a little. "Neg, I am not," he clarified. "In fact, there are no mutineers, or at least not at first."
In response, Lohan wore a baffled expression on his face but did not say anything.
"We were the ones who fed you with the coup d'état intel," Wolf continued. "It was part of a diversion meant to create confusion among Alex Davion's forces. We had to feed the disinformation to you in order to make it believable. We knew that the intel would find its way back to Alex's Secret Police."
"Why?!" Lohan shouted in befuddlement. "Tell me why or our 'alliance' ends now. I want the truth, mister!"
"Yes, and I am tired of telling lies," Wolf said while he rested his elbows on the conference table and massaged his temples with his fingers. And that baffled Lohan even more.
After a while, "We are here as bounty hunters," Wolf said truthfully.
"Bounty hunters?" Major Hayes asked in disbelief. "Who the hell...?" he began to ask but stopped short when the answer became obvious to almost everyone in the conference room. "You came for...," Hayes began to say.
But before Hayes could finish, Wolf stole the name right out of the TLF intelligence chief's mouth by saying, "Stanton, aff."
"So," Lohan cut in bitterly. "We are pawns, after all."
Wolf did not look up. For, the truth was indeed bitter, not only for Lohan but for Wolf as well.
Not so long ago, he was but a pawn in Typhoon's high-stakes game with Stanton. And Wolf suffered immensely as a result. However, embittered as he was, when the opportunity came, Wolf made others pawns in his high-stakes game with Typhoon.
That was, as Wolf realised belatedly, the reason why he had become tired of his Inner Sphere persona. It had been created from so much subterfuge and deceit that he purposely let more and more of his Clan heritage surface, especially when he was angry.
Inwardly, Wolf was both sickened and ashamed of what he had become. For, Wolf had lost his way, in that he was neither Clan nor Inner Sphere.
And he yearned to be Clan once again in spite of the imperfections of Clan ways. Concepts like honour and duty were, for the most part, clear cut.
"And your word is your bond?!" Lohan asked in a raised voice.
"I am not proud of what I have become!!" Wolf retorted a little too strongly. And realising that, he paused to calm himself.
After several deep breaths, "I am, regrettably, a creature of necessity," Wolf continued evenly. "Still, I have provided you with an opportunity. Whether or not you choose to take advantage of it is purely up to you."
"What exactly do you mean?" Hayes asked.
"You live to fight again, do you not?" Wolf asked rhetorically while looking at Lohan making it clear that it was the old colonel whom he was addressing specifically. "Had you died, your forces would have fallen into disarray. And do not try to deny it. Humility in this instance will not serve you at all."
"How do I know that you're not simply trying to use us again?" Lohan asked sceptically.
"Because I did not have to, and yet I did," Wolf answered. "And it did not come without cost."
When Lohan did not look quite convinced, Wolf continued by saying, "As your mixed star of medium and light Mechs was being routed, I received a message from Wolf's Free£ancers Dropship Command that said Stanton was in custody, which meant that our primary objective was complete. However, a very important secondary objective was yet to be achieved, and my two mixed stars of heavy and assault Mechs were fundamental elements in accomplishing that objective, and we were running late. Yet, I ordered my warriors to protect you and your people from incoming Militia Mechs, when I could have simply blown through your position with ease."
Still, Lohan said nothing.
So, with a deep sigh, Wolf continued by adding, "If you so choose to end our 'alliance' here and now, you would do nothing but seal your doom. For, all that is left for my merc unit is off-planet extraction. But if WE work together, we can depose Alex Davion and his corrupt government once and for all."
"How?" Lohan asked finally.
With a smirk, Wolf replied, "We have Alex Davion in custody."
"What?!!" Lohan, Hayes and many other TLF officers present blurted in astonishment almost in unison.
"And all we have to do is bring him to a more secure location," Wolf continued while feeling pleased with the reaction he got. "That was the secondary objective. Achieving it would be of little value to the people of Tioman if the TLF cannot fill the power vacuum resulting from Alex Davion's removal from power."
And Wolf paused to let that reality sink in.
"So, the question is, are you up to it?" Wolf stated plainly and paused again for effect.
"Alright, everyone, simmer down," Lohan instructed his senior staff who had began arguing heatedly among themselves.
"I don't believe it!" Hayes could be heard as saying.
"No, no, if anyone can pull it off, they can," Cerb was heard as countering.
"Silence, please," Lohan said without raising his voice, but it was enough for Hayes, Cerb and the rest to pipe down.
When Lohan was sure that attention had focused back onto him and Wolf, he asked, "How do we know that this is not some diabolical plan to extort concessions from Prince Victor Davion by abducting his second cousin, Alex Davion?"
Hearing that, Wolf could not help but feel deeply disappointed. He frowned at Lohan and then looked away in disbelief. Wolf then snorted in dismay and said, "I see. Coming here was a mistake." And then, he got up to leave.
Immediately, the conference room became noisy again, with some of Lohan's officers making sweeping statements against Wolf with biting comments like, "Dealing with Clanners is like dealing with the devil," and "A Clanner's word is his bond? Yeah, right!"
"Captain Wolf!" Jo-jin shouted over the din. "Captain Wolf!!" Jo-jin shouted louder and managed to stop Wolf in his tracks just as he was about to reach for the conference room door handle.
Slowly, Wolf turned.
"Captain Wolf, please," Jo-jin said while signalling with his hands for everyone else to become quiet. "Everyone, please, consider this," Jo-jin said. "Colonel Lohan might hate the Clans to the core because of what happened to him and his men on Tuqayyid, but his question was one that had to be asked. We all know that Prince Victor Davion is fighting two fronts - one against Catherine Steiner's Lyrian forces and the other against Clan Jade Falcon. And although he has his attention divided, Prince Victor is still a formidable adversary to both the Jade Falcons and the usurper Catherine. Could Alex Davion's abduction be Prince Victor's 'Achilles heel'?"
Wolf turned to look at Lohan to see whether that was indeed what the old colonel had meant by his question, but Lohan merely fixed his gaze on the conference table and refused to make eye contact with Wolf.
"If you are asking whether or not I work for Clan Jade Falcon, the answer is no, I do not," Wolf said to everyone in general. "But regardless of which Clan I serve, you ought to know your Prince Victor better than this. He would never succumb to extortion."
"Then why do you need Alex?" Lohan asked.
"Because Alex Davion would help increase the chances of successful off-planet extraction," Wolf replied plainly. "Beyond that, he is of little or no use to the Wolf's Free£ancers."
Hearing that, Lohan conceded, albeit not entirely, by saying, "Alright, let's suppose you don't work for the Jade Falcons. From my past intelligence briefings, I've come to understand that they're too proud to forgo honourable combat, even if it means that they don't achieve total victory. Thus it's unlikely that you work for them," the Colonel continued. "I'm not so sure about the Wolf Clan being so 'virtuous' but I doubt that you're working for them either, because they certainly would not want Jade Falcon to succeed where it has failed, if the rivalry between the two Clans is anything to go by." And without pausing, Lohan pressed on by saying, "But I also know men. Somehow, Alex Davion is more important to you than you would have us believe."
Hearing that, it was Wolf's turn to look away and fix his gaze on the conference table. "If it makes any difference, it is not Alex Davion that I am truly concerned about," Wolf revealed finally. He had hoped to avoid giving away such an important piece of information, for fear that it would somehow be leveraged against him later. But he no longer had a choice. "I am concerned about the person who has him in custody, my Executive Officer, Lieutenant Karen. And while you all sit here playing devil's advocate, Alex Davion's forces are continuing to consolidate, making it even harder for me to get to her and get her out." And with that, Wolf turned to face the conference room door again while saying, "Saving the life of my XO is extremely important to me. Yet, I found myself diverting my forces to save you and your men, Colonel Lohan. It is a mistake I will not repeat." Wolf then reached for the conference room door handle, opened the door and left, with Lieutenant Duff in tow.
"Colonel Lohan sama," Jo-jin began to say, as the conference room door closed. "This is it. This is the opportunity we've been waiting for. I implore you, don't make the mistake of letting it pass us by."
"You're out of line, Lieutenant," Hayes cut Jo-jin off.
"Let him have his say," Cerb said, coming to Jo-jin's aid. "The man's got a point."
Hayes glared at Cerb, but did not say anything. Although it was right for him, as a superior officer, to tick off Jo-jin for forgetting his place, what Jo-jin said was not without merit.
"You're a good judge of character, Colonel Lohan," Jo-jin continued. "And you read Captain Wolf like a book. You knew that he was concealing something and you also know he was telling the truth in the end - he has to be."
Hearing that, Lohan wore a grim expression on his face that made everyone, including Jo-jin, cringe inwardly. But then, the Colonel said, "I'd never thought I'd see the day when I'd have to fight on the same side as the Clans. Oh, I know the Inner Sphere has the Nova Cats as allies, but I never thought I'd get to fight alongside Clanners in my lifetime. So, I never gave it much thought - I never had the need to. Maybe I do have prejudices after all."
Then, somewhat unexpectedly, Lohan's expression brightened as he said, "Well, I'm putting them aside. Let's focus on the task at hand. Let's get that bastard, Alex Davion."
"HUZZAAAA!!" Cerb and Jo-jin shouted with joyous relief, but were surprised when others did not join in the cheer.
"Well, you heard the Colonel," Cerb said determinedly, his Sergeant Major background kicking in. "Let's go kick some Militia butts!"
And with that, the rest joined in finally. "HUZZAAAA!!" they all shouted.
"Major Hayes, please inform Captain Wolf that we will give him all the help he needs," Lohan said. "Let's end this civil war."
"HUZZAAAAA!!" everyone cheered again.
About forty five minutes later, Wolf's heavy and assault Mechs were making their way toward ComStar's HPG facility, with the TLF main forces bringing up the rear. Although Wolf rode in the jump-seat of a Wolf's Free£ancers Highlander, he was effectively in command.
And the Tioman Militia forces that stood in the way of his advancing Mechs were either swept aside or surrendered, whereas those that tried to flank Wolf's Mechs were chased away or kept at bay by the TLF.
But then, when the ComStar HPG facility was reached, Wolf was shocked to see that only a few light and medium Wolf's Free£ancers Mechs were standing guard. It could only mean that the rest had already been loaded onto the waiting dropships.
Opening a secure channel to Dropship Command, Wolf demanded to speak to Captain Owen, commander of Wolf's Free£ancers command dropship The HillBilly.
"Yes, Commander?" Owen said over the secure channel.
"Typhoon put you up to this, did he not?" Wolf asked bitterly.
"In your absence, Lieutenant Typhoon was the officer in charge...," Owen began to explain but was swiftly cut off by Wolf.
"Do not patronise me, Captain! Or I will have your head!!" Wolf barked. "You knew what my order was. You were to hold until I got back! Why have you countermanded my order?"
Just then, Wolf heard the rustling sound of a communications headset changing hands. And then Typhoon spoke over the secure channel, saying, "Typhoon here. Grinner, this is between you and me. Meet me at your ready room on The HillBilly and I'll explain."
"Damn right, you will and more!" Wolf bit back angrily.
Several minutes later, Wolf entered Captain Owen's ready room on The HillBilly and found Typhoon standing behind the captain's table and alone.
"So, this is it," Wolf said. "Just you and me."
"If a duel is what you wish for, then I am ready," Typhoon responded coolly. "But killing me would be a mistake."
"Why?" Wolf asked, with a touch of bemusement in his voice. "Because I would no longer have access to your near-limitless funds?"
"Because I am not betraying you," Typhoon answered plainly. "I am being true to my word, by safeguarding your interest."
"How convenient that it is in line with yours," Wolf remarked sarcastically, as he took a tentative step forward and to the side.
Typhoon held his right hand up in front of him, palm facing forward, to stave off Wolf's attack and added, "Wait! You are putting personal interest ahead of your Clan's. I know your feelings for Karen run deep, but if you attempt to rescue her, you will strand us all on this planet."
"You let me worry about that," Wolf responded.
"Neg, I cannot," Typhoon said plainly. "I swore an oath to you and I intend to keep it. But no amount of C-Bills would keep the Death Strike Mercenaries from leaving the system if we delay our off-planet extraction any further - I know because I have tried."
And that gave Wolf reason to pause.
"Check our intel," Typhoon pressed on. "Davion aerospace forces are moving rapidly to block our exit vectors out of this system and into friendly or neutral space. If that happens, you can kiss your chance of ever helping Clan Dreaded Legion goodbye."
"Perhaps," Wolf said. "Perhaps not," Wolf added.
And that indicated to Typhoon that both he and Wolf might end up fighting to the death after all. So, he straightened his posture and placed his right foot tentatively behind his left in preparation.
Then Owen barged in and said, "Gentlemen, we have groundbreaking development. It's all over the news grids." The captain was unaware that he had intruded into and defused a potentially fatal standoff between Wolf and Typhoon. He merely turned on his heel and waved for both Wolf and Typhoon to follow him back to the bridge.
Typhoon looked impassive, giving away nothing, albeit inwardly he was grateful to Owen. Wolf, on the other hand, gave Typhoon a look that said, 'This is not over, yet,' before turning to follow Owen onto The HillBilly's bridge.
On the main view screen, the frozen image of Denise's talking head was being displayed. Owen signalled for the continuation of the news clip when both Wolf and Typhoon came onto the bridge, and Denise began talking animatedly. However, the clip kept blurring out intermittently, which was typical of live news coverage made close to a battle.
"...LOYAL... OF TIOMAN, GOVERNOR PORTMAN IS ALIVE AND WELL. HE... SUFFERED MINOR... JURIES AS A RESULT OF THE FAILED ATTEMPT BY TIOMAN'S SECRET POLICE TO ASSASSINATE HIM EARLIER TODAY," Denise declared excitedly. "...WITH ME IS COLONEL...POTKIN WHO HAS TAKEN... OF TIOMAN ATF AND MILITIA FORCES ...OUT THE WORLD," Denise added. And when the camera view pulled away to include the colonel, Denise continued, "COLONEL KROPOTKIN, GOVERNMENT RUN NEWS AGENCIES ... SAYING THAT YOU ... RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAILED COUP ATTEMPT ...GAINST PRINCE ...LEX DAVION. HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO SUCH ...LEGATION?" asked Denise.
"WITH THE TRUTH," replied the straight-faced, battle hardened colonel. "FOR OVER A DECADE, MY MEN ... I HAVE COWERED IN FEAR OF ... SECRET POLICE. THEIR SELF-SERVING TREACHERY KNOWS NO BOUND.... ... ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE GOVERNOR PORTMAN AT THE COST OF HUNDREDS OF CIVILIAN LIVES ... THE 'FINAL STRAW'. AS PRO-TEMP COMMANDER ... CHIEF, I'VE ISSUED WARRANTS ... ARREST FOR ANY AND ALL SECRET POLICE AGENTS ... INFORMERS. THEY ARE TO BE CAPTURED ALIVE, BUT IF THEY RESIST, THEY ARE TO BE NEUTRALISED WITH ANY MEANS ...CESSARY."
"COLONEL KROPOTKIN, IS PRINCE ALEX DAVION BEHIND THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST ...VERNOR PORT...?" Denise asked.
"...CRET POLICE IS ...RABLE ONLY TO ...LEX DAVION," Kropotkin replied. "... DOES NOT ACT WITHOUT HIS ...PROVAL. BUT REGARDLESS, TODAY'S ATROCITIES ARE THE DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY OF ... SECRET POLICE, AND THAT MEANS ALEX DAVION MUST BE ... TO ACCOUNT."
"WHERE IS THE TIOMAN REGENT?" Denise asked next. "HAVE YOU ISSUED A WARRANT OF ARR... FOR HIM TOO?"
"NO, THERE IS NO NEED," replied Kropotkin, plainly. "HE IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD IN CUSTODY BY THE ...LF'S FREE£ANCERS."
"WOLF'S FREE£ANCERS?" Denise asked in surprise. "BUT AREN'T THEY ALEX DAVION'S ATTACK DOGS, WORKING HAND-IN-... WITH THE SECRET POLICE?"
"THEY WERE," Kropotkin explained. "BUT AS SOON AS THE KILLING OF INNOCENT ...LIANS BEGAN, THEY WAVERED. AND WHEN ALL CONTACT ... MECH COMMAND ...TRE WAS LOST AND CONFUSION SET IN, THEY RAN FOR ... ONLY NEUTRAL PLACE ON THE WHOLE OF TIOMAN - COMSTAR HPG ...LEX. MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY DID IT WITH MINIMAL CIVILIAN CASUALTIES."
"Freeze video," Owen ordered his communications officer. Turning to face Wolf, Typhoon and Jay who had just come onto The HillBilly's bridge, he then said, "That, gentlemen, is an open invitation from Kropotkin for us to form an alliance with the Tioman Militia."
"Can we trust him?" Wolf asked, while looking at Jay. Jay had walk silently onto the bridge, looking expectant but nervous. It was as though he had done something he should not have but soldiered on, regardless.
"We can't", Jay said. "We can't be sure what card he's playing. We have to remember that he used to be part of the government of the day. And you don't survive that long if you don't carry some clout and/or 'compromised' on quite a few things."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Wolf uttered, saying indirectly that everything else was secondary.
"Exactly," Jay concurred. "Which is why he is waiting to speak to you via audio-video link," Jay said, dropping his little 'bomb'.
Wolf shot him a sharp, angry stare that sent a chill down Jay's spine, but Jay kept a bland expression on his face, giving away nothing.
"Onscreen," Wolf said, but without taking his eyes off Jay. From Wolf's expression, Jay could almost read him as saying, 'we will be settling this later. I guarantee it.'
"Finally!" Kropotkin said over the bridge's main view screen. "Captain Wolf, I presume?"
"Aff," Wolf replied.
"Aff?" Kropotkin asked, a little taken aback.
"Aff, yes, what does it matter, Colonel?" Wolf shot back. "We both stand to gain from each other's assistance and that is enough."
After a moment's pause, "Very well," Kropotkin conceded while looking reserved. "My scouts tell me that you've managed to rally the TLF behind you. That's quite an accomplishment for an 'outsider'."
"Forgive my rudeness, Colonel, but I am far less interested in what you think of me than what it is that you can do for me," Wolf said impatiently. "Time is of the essence."
"Indeed," the old colonel said.
And just then, Colonel Lohan came onto the bridge, accompanied by Major Hayes and Lieutenant Cerberus.
"Is that who I think it is?" Kropotkin said while appearing to cringe his eyes to see more clearly. "Rodney, you old dog," he added almost happily.
"Greg," Lohan acknowledged his old comrade in arms. "You've finally shown some backbone," he added in a less than complementary way.
"We all do what we need to survive," Kropotkin said.
"And self preservation has always been your number one priority," Lohan replied cynically.
"Times change," Kropotkin said, appearing a little sad. "It was so much simpler fighting the Clans. Back home, the battle is different; never straightforward."
"Gentlemen, if you are about done catching up...," Wolf cut in, more than a little annoyed.
"Of course, Captain," Kropotkin said with a placatory smile. "We'll settle all the finer details later. Right now, you need to get into the palace and retrieve Alex Davion, as well as your agent, Lieutenant Karen. I propose that we hit the palace defenders from two sides, splitting their firepower up. The bulk of my forces will attack the front, coming over the fortified walls, thus allowing your forces, aided by the TLF, to flank the palace defenders."
"When can you move?" Wolf asked.
"In under an hour," Kropotkin replied. "And captain, I need not tell you that failure is not an option. But I'll tell you that my warriors are tired of fighting. Brothers and sisters can't continue to fight each other for so long and not come to a breaking point. Whatever you need to do, you'd better do it quickly and decisively."
"Do not worry about that," Wolf said. "You just keep your end of the bargain."
"Aff, well bargained and done," Kropotkin said with a touch of amusement in his expression and in the tone of his voice.
Wolf responded with a raised eyebrow. The irony of Kropotkin's words did not escape him, but he said nothing, and then signalled for the AV link to be cut.
When the screen went blank, Wolf turned to Typhoon and said, "Tell the Death Strike Mercenaries that you will pay any price they ask. Convince them to stay in-system till we resolve this."
Typhoon hesitated but only for a moment. It was a very tall order, and one that had an underlying death threat to it. "Aff, it shall be done," Typhoon replied and moved over the to bridge's communications console.
Turning to Jay, Wolf said, "You. I want to speak with you in private." He then turned and headed for the captain's ready room adjacent to the bridge.
Jay feared that, once inside the ready room, things would turn ugly real quick. So, he followed Wolf in with measured steps, his mind whirling with possible explanations as to why he was justified in circumventing the chain of command. None came across to his mind as convincing enough.
In any case, it did not matter. For, as soon as the ready room door closed, Wolf turned to grab Jay by the collars of his jumpsuit, and with brute strength augmented by his cybernetic limbs, Wolf lifted Jay off his feet, swung him around like a rag doll and slammed him onto the captain's ready room table.
Jay was winded, but he struggled with all his might against Wolf's iron grip. And then, just as suddenly as the fight had begun, Wolf let go. Conflicting thoughts played all over his grotesquely disfigured face and they simmered Wolf to a boil until he burst into a furious scream.
Jay could only stare in shock.
At the end of his bitter, angry scream, Wolf turned his back on Jay, his chest heaving heavily.
Reflexively, Jay's hand travelled to his service auto-pistol by his hip but then he stopped.
"Wolf, I...," Jay began to say.
"Shut up!" Wolf cut Jay off. "Just shut the hell up!!"
And after a few calming breaths, "It is not enough that you took her away from me. You must now go over my head," Wolf said.
"With all due respect," Jay said and then paused to see if Wolf would let him finish his sentence. Sitting up, he continued, "Karen was mine before she became yours. And Karen loves me!"
"Don't you think I know that?!" Wolf countered while turning to face Jay once more, but less threateningly this time. "I am risking everything to save her just so that I can give her over to you. To you!!"
"I'm... sorry, Wolf," Jay said remorsefully, his eyes downcast. "Really, I am. But that's Karen out there, damn it. We all know too well what they'll do to her if we don't get her out."
"Listen to yourself, will you?" Wolf said. "That is Karen's genetically enhanced pheromones forcing emotional responses from you. You are not thinking straight. You have trained all your life for this sort of thing. I need... I need to be able to count on you to do the right thing. Do you understand me?"
A look of clear comprehension came over Jay's face, but he said nothing. He knew Wolf words to be true, but his heart's desperate need to run to Karen's aid kept tugging at him.
"Do not betray me," Wolf then said somewhat belatedly.
Hearing that, Jay looked up, his face filled with concern. And then his eyes were downcast again as he said, "On my life, I will not betray you. Although it was wrong for me to ignore the chain of command, I sincerely didn't think that what I had done could be construed as betrayal. I only meant to expedite things, my personal interest notwithstanding."
After a moment, Jay got off the captains table. "If there is nothing else, I will go prepare our warriors for the assault on the palace," Jay added.
Wolf nodded his consent, and with that, Jay turned to leave. But before he reached the door, Jay asked, "Where do you draw the line, Wolf?"
"As far as I can push it," Wolf replied. "And I think I may have pushed too far already," Wolf added, indicating that if the rescue attempt failed, Wolf would have to abandon Karen to her fate.
About forty five minutes later, the combined forces of Tioman Militia, Wolf's Free£ancers and TLF were laying siege upon Alex Davion's palace. Going over the outer perimeter walls of the palace was easy enough, but the inner palace walls were another story. They were so tall that only the lightest jump-capable Mechs could clear them, and sitting atop those walls were numerous calliope turrets powered by generators located in the bowels of the palace.
Knocking out calliope turrets in strategic locations was the first stage. This was done mostly via strafing runs by the Tioman Militia's aerospace assets that were under Colonel Kropotkin's control.
Next, Tioman Militia engineers focused on bringing down sections of the inner palace walls. This would allow Mechs to pour into the palace grounds and engage the palace defenders.
However, before the task could be completed, Alex Davion's Secret Police pulled a bold manoeuvre. Over a hundred of them slipped out of the inner walls in light and medium Mechs through an underground passageway unknown even to the Tioman Militia. They then flanked the combined Tioman Militia, Wolf's Free£ancers and TLF forces, and attacked.
And the Secret Police Mech pilots moved their machines with such stealth and speed that they managed to keep their enemies in a pincer.
"Colonel Kropotkin, we cannot keep this up," Wolf radioed.
"Maintain defence of the Engineering Corps. They're about to break through, copy?" Kropotkin radioed back.
"Neg," Wolf said. "We are sitting ducks out here. We have to pull out the engineers and regroup."
"Captain Wolf," Lohan radioed. "My warriors are holding our own. Just hang in there. We've got your back."
"Colonel Lohan, with all due respect, that means you would be taking the brunt of the counter attack," Wolf responded. "TLF losses will soar."
"Don't worry Captain," Lohan reassured. "This is our fight."
"Aff," Wolf acknowledged.
Several minutes later, the Tioman Militia engineers accomplished their task. And Kropotkin's forces were the first to pour through from the front side of the palace.
The fighting was fierce, as the palace defenders had had time to dig in and prepare to cut down attackers as they came through the breach in the front side of the inner palace walls. But they were fewer in number, and so, the palace defenders there either fell or surrendered.
Meanwhile, on the rear-left side of the inner palace walls, Wolf had refrained his forces from going in.
"Sir, we're good to go... sir," Lieutenant Duff said impatiently.
"Right, this is how we do this," Wolf said. "The fight is going well for Kropotkin's forces, but back here, our forces are divided. If we go in now, our casualties will be high. Lieutenant Duff, I want Beta star to cover our mobile suit warriors as they go in, but only when Kropotkin's forces have made their sweep far enough into the rear."
"Roger that," Duff acknowledged.
"Sergeant Draak, I want Delta star with Alpha star," Wolf radioed. "We are going to rescue the TLF. Move out."
"Sir?" Draak asked in surprised as his Ryoken formed up behind Wolf's Templar. "Have our mission objectives changed?"
"Indeed," Wolf replied.
"Why... sir?" Draak asked, respectfully.
"The Secret Police know that their time is at an end; that they would lose this war," Wolf began to explain. "But they want to go down on their own terms; they want to kill Colonel Lohan. We cannot let that happen now, can we?"
"Affirmative," Draak said as his star of light and medium Mechs accelerated ahead of Wolf's star of assault and heavy Mechs.
"Alpha Wolf to Colonel Lohan, come in," Wolf said over the shared communications channel. “We are en route to support you.”
"Lohan here," the old colonel responded. "About time you boys figured it out."
"Why did you not say anything?" Wolf asked bordering on annoyance.
"Removing Alex Davion from power completely was priority," Lohan replied. "I had faith that once that was safely underway, you would swing back and get...." added Lohan, but he was promptly cut off. Crackling and static filled the communications channel, and then there was silence.
"Move it, WL," Wolf said.
About five minutes later, Sergeant Draak and his star made contact with the enemy, as well as a few friendly Mechs.
"Contact, bearing 219, 900 metres from my position," Draak radioed. "Engaging."
"Roger that," Wolf acknowledged.
"Alpha Wolf to Colonel Lohan, come in," Wolf radioed.
No response.
"This is M1," Cerb radioed. "Man, are we glad to see you."
"Alpha Wolf to M1, where is Colonel Lohan?" Wolf queried.
"We got separated from the Colonel's star when radar passive was called," Cerb replied.
"Last known location?" Wolf asked.
"Due east, about two and a half clicks from here," Cerb replied.
"Aff, heading in," Wolf said. "Delta star, stay close to the Myrmidon's."
"Copy that," Draak replied.
At top speed, Wolf's star moved toward Lohan's last known location, an area of Fort Davion that had narrow streets wide enough to fits an assault Mech but not spacious enough to allow it to manoeuvre comfortably. And within minutes, Wolf detected enemy Mechs that appeared to have encircled light and medium TLF Mechs.
"Colonel Lohan, do you read?" Wolf radioed.
"Delta 1 to ...pha Wolf," Draak radioed. "Sir, we're being jammed.”
"Short-range battlefield coms jammer," Wolf acknowledged. "Switching over to direct line-of-sight coms," Wolf ordered. "Blow past the lights and mediums, support Lohan and his warriors."
"Affirmative," Draak responded.
"Move, move, move!" Wolf prompted.
"Moving," Draak acknowledged, as his star of light and medium Mechs overtook Wolf's star of assaults and heavies using parallel streets.
Wolf noted that when contact was made, Lohan and his warriors were outnumbered 3 to 1. And when Wolf's forces turned up with Cerb's Myrmidons in tow, the odds turned in favour of Lohan by 2 to 1. But instead of retreating and disengaging, the Tioman Secret Police Mechs kept attacking.
"He is still alive," Wolf said. "Spread out, blow through the enemies and go straight for Lohan," Wolf ordered his warriors.
Wolf and his warriors opened fire on targets of opportunity as they went in but focused their attention on getting to Lohan more than anything else. And at that moment, Wolf wished he had taken something lighter and faster, instead of the Templar Mech.
"Come on!" Wolf shouted as though to coax more speed out of the Templar with the sound of his voice. Although mere seconds had passed, Wolf felt like it was taking forever to get to Lohan. And the fact that his Templar had short range weapons only served to compound further Wolf's frustrations in not being able to get into the fight quickly enough.
To make matters worse, he was now being harassed by a Strider and a Raven from the rear. Wolf could take them out easily with his LBX weapons but that would mean further delay.
"Damn it. Get these bugs off me!" Wolf shouted into the shared coms hoping that someone would be in line-of-sight to hear it.
And almost immediately, concentrated ERPPC fire struck the Strider that was tailing Wolf's Templar closely, nipping it in the legs. But the Strider pilot did not break off his attack. He had managed to strip the rear armour of Wolf's Templar almost completely and figured that he could take Wolf down before being taken out of the fight.
But then another volley of ERPPC fire struck the Strider in the legs, causing it to tumble. Its legs had been blown out from underneath it.
"Strider is down and out," Cerb said over the shared coms.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Wolf said.
"My pleasure, Captain," Cerb responded.
"We're through, and we're drawing their fire away from Lohan," Draak said, and none too soon.
"Copy that," Wolf acknowledged, as he slowed his Templar and turned to face the enemy Raven that tried to pick up where the Strider left off. "Die, stravag!!" Wolf shouted as he squeezed of an alpha strike that caught the Secret Police Raven square in the centre torso as it appeared from an adjacent street. Almost immediately, the Raven exploded in blinding white light, its reactor core having gone critical.
Turning around, Wolf headed straight for Lohan. When he finally caught up with the old colonel's Ryoken, he saw that it was limping and that its arms had been torn off.
"Colonel," Wolf said over the line-of-sight communications system. "It is over. Throttle back. We will take it from here."
"The jamming Mech is on that building," Lohan said, as he squeezed off a round of streak short range missiles in the direction of a nearby building located at the centre of a spacious courtyard large enough to fit several Mechs.
"Aff," Wolf acknowledge. Throttling his Templar to maximum speed, Wolf accelerated fast enough to gain momentum for a jump jet leap that would allow his Mech's LBX weapons to line themselves up on a badly mauled Cougar Mech crouched on top of the building. Activating his Templar’s jump jets, Wolf lined the Cougar dead centre on his targeting reticule and squeezed off an alpha strike.
The light Mech was destroyed completely. And with that, general communications were restored.
"Alpha Wolf to Red star leader, respond," Wolf radioed for Typhoon as his Templar landed nimbly on its feets.
"Red 1 here," Typhoon responded.
"Progress update," Wolf ordered.
"Objectives secured with minimal casualties," Typhoon reported. "We have her and Alex Davion. And we are returning to The HillBilly."
Hearing that, Wolf felt all the day's tension drain completely from his body. Leaning his head back onto the cockpit chair's headrest, he rested his head and shut his eyes for a bit.
"Delta 1 to Alpha Wolf, area is secure," Draak radioed.
"Aff," Wolf replied. "Well done, Sergeant. Very well done."
"Thank you, Captain," Draak acknowledged the complement.
Turning his Templar around, Wolf went back to Lohan's Ryoken. It was standing next to a downed Raven. The Raven's ejection pod was crumpled and rested a few yards away at the foot of a building at the edge of the courtyard, and next to the pod stood Lohan.
"Colonel, are you alright?" Wolf asked over the external speakers of his Templar Mech.
Lohan raised a hand indicating that he was ok and then continued to stare at the crushed ejection pod.
Wolf closed the distance with Lohan and throttled back his Templar to a stop. He then alighted to join Lohan on the ground.
"Colonel," Wolf spoke aloud as he caught up with Lohan.
When Lohan turned in response, Wolf saw that he was in tears and realised that Lohan was mourning the loss of one of his warriors.
"Who was he?" Wolf asked.
"That was... is Lieutenant Jo-Jin Kei, son of Lieutenant Colonel Rikimaru," Lohan answered. "And like his father, he laid his life down for me."
"Colonel... I...," Wolf began to say.
"Great men die in battle so that others may live," Lohan continued. "But it should have been me, and not the other way round. He had...he had so much to live for."
Wolf wanted to console Lohan but let the silence pass for a while before he did. When he felt it right, he said, "Fate deals cruel hands every now and then, but who are we to judge whom should live or die? We are not the Almighty Creator. The important thing is that we honour his death by celebrating his life and making his sacrifice meaningful."
"Is that how the Clans honour their dead?" Lohan asked.
"Aff," Wolf acknowledged. "And it is also how the universe honours the dead. Come, Colonel. Your work is not done."
"Aff," Lohan replied.
About a month later, "PRINCE JASON DAVION, DISTANT COUSIN OF PRINCE VICTOR DAVION HAS BEEN INSTALLED, TODAY, AS THE VICE-REGENT OF TIOMAN. PRINCE VICTOR HAS NAMED HIMSELF REGENT OF TIOMAN IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT EVENTS THAT UNFOLDED WHICH LED TO THE INDICTMENT OF FORMER REGENT AND DISGRACED DICTATOR PRINCE ALEX DAVION BEFORE THE FEDERATED COMMONWEALTH WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL," said Denise over the Aliran Tioman news network. "BY TAKING DIRECT AND PERSONAL INTEREST, PRINCE VICTOR HOPES THAT THE FIRES OF CIVIL WAR ON TIOMAN WILL BE SNUFFED OUT COMPLETELY, AS THE PEOPLE CAN NOW LOOK TO A BETTER, JUST FUTURE UNDER PRINCE VICTOR'S RULE. ALTHOUGH PRINCE VICTOR WOULD, IN EFFECT, BE REGENT-AT-LARGE, HE WOULD, NEVERTHELESS, GOVERN DIRECTLY THROUGH VICE-REGENT JASON. VICE-REGENT JASON HAD BEEN BUT A CADET OF THE TIOMAN MILITARY ACADEMY WHEN HE WAS NAMED VICE-REGENT, BUT ALREADY HE HAS MANAGED TO COMMAND THE RESPECT AND AFFECTION OF TIOMAN CITIZENS. HIS POPULARITY RATINGS HAVE ALSO SOARED TWO FOLDS AFTER HAVING NAMED GENERAL GREGORY KROPOTKIN AS THE NEW CHIEF OF STAFF AND RETIRED COLONEL RODNEY LOHAN AS SECRETARY FOR DEFENCE. LOHAN WHO SURVIVED AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT YESTERDAY HAS ALSO VOWED TO BRING THE REMNANTS OF THE NOW DEFUNCT TIOMAN SECRET POLICE TO JUSTICE. BUT WHEN ASKED WHETHER HE WOULD REVIVE THE TIOMAN LIBERATION FORCE, LOHAN HAD THIS TO SAY."
"IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DISARMAMENT TREATY BETWEEN THE TLF AND PRINCE VICTOR DAVION'S GOVERNMENT, NO TLF MEMBER IS EVER TO TAKE UP ARMS ON TIOMAN," Lohan began. "BUT THAT IS WHAT THE SECRET POLICE DESIRE. THROUGH THEIR ACTS OF TERRORISM, THEY WISH TO ENRAGE WARRIORS WHO HAVE BEEN LOYAL TO ME TO, ONCE AGAIN, RISE IN ARMS, SO THAT TIOMAN WOULD PLUNGE INTO CHAOS. THE TERRORISTS ONLY KNOW THE LANGUAGE OF FEAR, BUT WE WILL NOT GIVE IN TO FEAR. WE WILL PERSEVERE. WE WILL OUT-LIVE, OUT-FIGHT AND OUT-LAST THE TERRORISTS WHO FALSELY CLAIM TO BE FIGHTING IN OUR NAME."
And with that, the video display reverted once again to Denise who said, "ALSO, TODAY MARKS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TIOMAN MILITIA'S WOLF ASSAULT GROUP COMPRISING TWO STARS OF MIXED HEAVY AND ASSAULT MECHS, TWO STARS OF MIXED LIGHT AND MEDIUM MECHS AND TWO STARS OF MOBILE SUIT INFANTRY. THE NEW ASSAULT GROUP HAS BEEN NAMED IN HONOUR OF THE WOLF'S FREE£ANCERS, ALTHOUGH IRONICALLY, THE MECHS AND MOBILE SUITS WERE CONFISCATED FROM THE MERCENARY UNIT DUE TO A TECHNICAL BREACH OF CONTRACT WHICH PROHIBITED THE WOLF'S FREE£ANCERS FROM RISING IN ARMS AGAINST ITS EMPLOYERS EXCEPT IN SELF DEFENCE...."
And then the display went blank, as Prince Victor Davion switched it off by remote. "Where are they now?" Victor asked, while tossing the remote onto his desk in his ready room. The magnetic shell of the remote secured the device firmly onto Victor's desk, belying the zero gravity conditions on the Prince's command dropship.
"Intelligence reports confirm that 'they' have dispersed," Morgan Kell replied. "Some are returning to Outreach for re-employment opportunities, while others have gone to Solaris VII, probably to spend their new-found wealth."
"What of Dreaded Legion MechWarrior Wolf?" Victor asked. "Where is he now?"
"According to my deep undercover agent Major Jay Anderton, Wolf is headed for Terra on some kind of pilgrimage. He has failed his Clan. He cannot return. For, he can only do so in disgrace."
"What of his financier, Tiberius Forbs?" Victor asked.
"Wolf and Typhoon have parted company," Morgan Kell answered. "There is no love lost between them, and each has kept his end of the bargain struck before coming to Tioman. Now, Wolf has nothing more to offer, and Typhoon has nothing more to gain."
Victor's magnetic boots clanked as he paced his ready room. "Sounds almost too good to be true," he said. "Wolf has been a thorn in our side since the beginning. And he has the knack for resurrecting himself just when you think he's out of the picture for good."
"Well, I believe we can rest assured that he is out of the picture," Morgan Kell said.
"Is he?" said Victor, unconvinced. "We're so close to having the Dreaded Legion securely in our back pocket. We can't leave anything to chance."
"Jay is one of my best operatives," Morgan Kell assured. "And he has given me no reason to doubt him."
Hearing that, Victor sighed and resigned himself to fate.
Over a hundred light years away and on the fringes of Lyrian space, Wolf stood alongside Karen and Jay on the observation deck of The HillBilly, which was riding on the spine of Wolf's Free£ancers' very own jump ship. And alongside The HillBilly were five other dropships carrying their own complement of Mechs ranging from lights to assaults - all complements of Typhoon.
It was all a sight to behold, but for Karen and Jay, scrutinising Wolf was far more interesting. He had recovered completely from his facial reconstruction operation as well synthetic skin grafting operation.
Karen broke away from Jay's embrace to touch Wolf's hand and then exclaimed in fascination, "It feels so real!"
Wolf pulled away somewhat uncomfortably and asked, "You think so?"
"Yes," Karen replied with a wide smile.
Wolf looked down at both his hands and said, "It feels... it feels good to be whole again, but it seems like...."
"Like a waste of resources?" Karen asked.
Wolf nodded. "And I do not... I do not look my age," Wolf added, sounding perplexed. Staring at his reflection in the wide transparisteel window of the observation deck, Wolf remarked, "Standing next to you, I look like I am fresh out of Sibko training."
And that made Karen laugh out loud. "You know, there is an ancient Inner Sphere saying: don't look a gift horse in its mouth," she said.
"And that is supposed to mean something, quiaff?" Wolf asked sceptically.
"Aff," Karen replied and smiled warmly. "Horses have been extinct for a millennia, but back in ancient times, they were prized possessions. And when a horse was given as a gift, it was rude and ungracious for the recipient to inspect its teeth to gauge its health."
"Ah..., I see," Wolf said, expressing his comprehension.
"Typhoon has gone out of his way to make amends," Karen added. "Let us be gracious about it." She then reached out to hold Wolf's hand, and leaned back, once again, into Jay's loving embrace but without letting go of Wolf.
And that warmed Wolf's heart even more.

Chapter 12: Heart and Soul

Chapter 13: End Game