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Lori watched as a shape materialized from the smoke 250 meters below her. Then, the targeting crosshairs of her main imager centered on that shape. Her computer read mass and power plant emissions, while a glowing, wire-outlined image appeared on her screen. It was a Wasp.Though certain Garik was behind her and to her left, she punched the IFF receiver to be sure.
The Wasp'slaser fired in the same instant she read the transponder ID. Superheated rocks exploded near the Locust'sleg, the fragments clattering across her hull. She squeezed the firing trigger convulsively, and saw orange flame fork from the Wasp'storso armor, leaving a blackened scar across its chest. Though the 'Mech twisted away from the beam, it was trailing smoke, and Lori could see blue lightning flickering in the ragged wound.
She fired again, and again. Two hits more! The Waspwas having difficulty standing. One leg seemed frozen, and apparently the pilot was having trouble keeping the 'Mech balanced. Lori urged the Locustforward 30 meters, then stopped and fired again. Fire gouted from the stricken Wasp'storso and there was a splatter of molten metal.
The Wasp'shead exploded in smoke and light as the pilot ejected. The huge hull of the machine keeled over backward, leaving a curved trail of black smoke as it went down.
Another missile blast near the leg of her Locustsent Lori back up the hill. The boulders were thicker here, many of them the size of a house, and the battle became a game of sight, fire, and dodge among the sheltering rocks.
"Garik!" she called on the general combat frequency. "Yarin! Where are you?"
"This is Garik! I have you in sight, Sergeant. You're 200 meters below me, and to my right. Four 'Mechs — three lights and a Wolverine— are making their way uphill about a hundred meters to your left. Do you read them?"
She sca
"Better fall back before you're cut off.”
“Moving!"
She edged farther up the slope, the dry soil crumbling beneath the scraping claws of the Locust'sfeet. On either side, the ground was rising more sharply, creating a wide ravine that restricted movement and — worse — visibility. All three 'Mechs had to be in the first defensive line before their pursuers got there.
Another Waspstepped out from among the boulders, up the hill from her position, and between Lori and her friends. She didn't need to trigger the IFF for this one. It was scarcely 50 meters away, but its paint scheme was totally unfamiliar. The orange-black tiger stripe camouflage was designed for jungle warfare, and created a stark contrast with the greys and browns of the boulder field. Her shot caught the Waspby surprise, a clean hit on its right arm that sent the 'Mech spi
"Good shooting!" Lori didn't know whether that voice was Enzelman's or Yarin's. She fired again, missed, then saw a lone HEAP warhead catch the Waspsquarely in its back. The enemy pilot managed to stabilize his 'Mech, though, and turned to face Lori head-on. A pair of short-range missiles spat from twin launch tubes set on the 'Mech's left leg. They missed as Lori strode forward to 30 meters' range and fired her laser again. The beam savaged the Wasp'shead, leaving a twisted, smoking, half-molten ruin where the pilot had been sitting only a second before.
Lori didn't have time to gloat. Her external mikes were picking up the grinding thud of another approaching ‘Mech off to the right. She nudged the Locustinto an ungainly but brisk trot up the hill, anxious not to be cut off from the Rift again.
Lori's 'Mech crested the top of the rise. There, it opened into a broad ravine that angled across the hill face toward a steeper, more rugged slope with vertical cliffs of striated red and ocher rock. Beyond, cliffs that were only half visible from below opened wide. They soared above her on either side of the valley, which grew narrower as its walls continued to rise like a vertical gash across the face of the mountain.
She scuttled the Locustback among the boulders, and found a place with a good view of the slope below. Then, she lowered the 'Mech into a leg-folded crouch, with the hull less than two meters above the ground and the long snout of the laser ca
Lori's mind rapidly assessed their position. They'd knocked out two 'Mechs, both light scouts. That left ten, possibly eleven enemy 'Mechs. Ah... there! Two more scout 'Mechs, a Stingerand another Locust,advanced into the open at the bottom of the ravine. Behind them came two more, a Riflemanwith its odd, twin-barrelled arms, and the ponderous lurch of a 55-ton Griffin .
Lori bit down hard, triggering a com circuit. "Sergeant Ramage!"
"Here, Sergeant!"
"Are you ready?"
"All set, Sarge. Give the word."
Lori waited, catching her lower lip between her teeth as she studied the unfolding situation. Two more 'Mechs had appeared behind the first four. They were too distant for her to make them out by sight, but her battle computer tagged them as two more Wasps.The range to the nearest targets was just over half a kilometer. The attackers kept moving, struggling up the loose-packed slope, but moving quickly.
The Duke must really be anxious to catch us, Lori thought. She zoomed her telescopies in on the lead 'Mech, a Stingerwith a dull grey camou pattern and the black and red Kurita dragon bright against its chest. She had already spotted a pair of boulders designated as markers at the base of the ravine. Only a few meters farther...
"Okay, Sergeant! Now!"
Explosions drew a curtain of hurtling rock and black smoke across the entire breadth of the ravine. They lifted the enemy Stinger,and hurled it with a mighty push. Meanwhile, the ground rippled under the Locust,creating waves of dizziness in Lori through her neural helmet. The wall of debris collapsed on itself like the tumble of an ocean wave, raising lighter-colored dust, and revealing a second 'Mech, the Rifleman.It lay on its back with the twin barrels of its right arm wrenched apart and bent back upon themselves by the force of the blasts.
The other 'Mechs were in full retreat. It was only too bad that the explosion represented nearly all the Lancers' small supply of explosives.
Someone was yelling in her helmet phones, a rolling, unending litany of "We won! We won!"
"Silence on the commline!" Lori snapped. "They're just regrouping." She could see the movement of men and 'Mechs through the air clearing much farther down the slope, perhaps two kilometers away. By the way they were deploying across the ravine, she could tell they had no intention of returning to the port. The Lancers were in a good defensive position, but it would not take long for a determined push by overwhelming numbers to climb back up the ravine and overwhelm them.
"Come on Gray," she said with unexpected fervor. "Stow that ante
She turned her eyes to a monitor that looked up the hill toward the vapor-wreathed opening of the Rift two kilometers behind her. Through her mikes, she could hear the muted thunder of its waterfall. Their three 'Mechs and the hovercraft defenders were rapidly ru