Mercenary's Star

The Stinger's right foot came down in minor chords of thunder. Its left foot shifted, swung forward.

Ramage was already moving, ru

The gap was small, too small to admit so large an object as the satchel. Several of the satchel's wire hooks caught on the joint's moving parts, meshing with them as the joint closed with the ‘Mech's forward motion. The rest of the bag snagged on the Stinger'sknee and hung there. Ramage grabbed the ring dangling from the cable and jumped. The ring came free in his hand, leaving a wisp of smoke trailing from the bag as the Stingercontinued its stride. Ramage landed in the sand with an acrobatic roll and was up on his feet and ru

The Stingercame to a halt A moment later, the upper hatch on the ‘Mech's head swung open, and Jaleg Yorulis squeezed his torso up out of the tiny cockpit. "I think I'm dead!" he called, and the trainees laughed and applauded.

"That," Ramage said, dusting sand from his khakis,"is called kneecapping. Unfortunately, my commanding officer won't let me use realC-90 on our own ‘Mechs because he says it's too hard to clean up the mess." He rolled his eyes at Grayson and was rewarded by more laughter.

"If that had been real plastique on a real ‘Mech," he continued, "I guarantee you that that ‘Mech would have been hurting bad when the explosives went off. At the least, it would have been limping. With luck, I could have torn its leg off at the knee and sent the whole critter toppling to the ground, crippled and useless. If I'd wanted to substitute a thermite detonator and a couple of plastic bags filled with CSC or just plain gasoline and oil, I could have engulfed the whole lower torso of the ‘Mech in a fireball. Not as effective as an inferno round, of course, but I promise you that ‘Mech's going to be having heat problems, right about then.

"Now don't think what I did is easy! Every ‘Mech has its own individual weak points. What I just did wouldn't have any effect at all on a Marauder.Their legs are too well-armored. But for some

 ‘Mechs with weak knees— Stingersand Wasps,for instance—this tactic can be deadly. Commandos,especially, are good targets for kneecapping. They've got a gap between thigh and knee where you could stuff the whole satchel, without using the hooks! Almost always, you can cripple 'em. Yes...question?"

The girl he'd pointed at earlier stood among the other trainees, her slim arms behind her back. "But how are you supposed to get that close, sir? You said you were hiding in a bush, but wouldn't the ‘Mech see you?"

"You have no idea just how hard it is to see anything when you're buttoned up inside. Hell, it's hard enough seeing other ‘Mechs, much less people! Yes, they have IR sensors and all-round vision sca

There was more laughter at that. "O.K., take ten," Ramage told them. He skirted the group as it started to break up and walked over to Grayson.

"Sounds like you're having a good time," Grayson told him. Ramage looked grim. "Look, Captain, can I level with you?”

“Of course."

"This is all one malfin' big screw-up. You realize that, don't you?"

Grayson closed his eyes. He'd seen this coming for the past several days. "What do you mean, Sarge?"

"Dammit, Captain, we're grooming these...these kids for a slaughter! How can we possibly train them to hold their own in a fight against Kurita's ‘Mechs in a few short weeks?"

"Now Sergeant..."

"Did you hear me back there? The whole point was to tell them how to do it.. to let them know they coulddo it. But good God, if I told them the whole truth, they'd knowbetter than to go chasing after enemy ‘Mechs on the battlefield!"

"Some of them have been doing just that They're in the middle of this war, too. And they volunteered."

"Of course, they volunteered...when their friends and older brothers and sisters did! God help me, they're swallowing everything I feed them. Take on a ‘Mech with a satchel charge? Sure, it's been done. But they don't know how often some hotshot ‘Mech pilot doessee someone hiding in a bush and goes ahead and steps on the guy because he just might be carrying an inferno launcher, satchel charge, or a portable SRM—or just for the hell of it!"

"Sounded tike you were giving them a pretty encouraging lecture, just the same."

"God help me. Godhelp me! I'm giving them the same lecture you gave me back on Trellwan, and I'm sure you heard it from your instructors back when you were in training. Sure, an ordinary guy can take on a BattleMech with his bare hands and a few kilos of plastic explosive...but damn it all! The one guy that makes it is going to do it over the bodies of how many of his buddies? These kids don't know what war is like! We'll fill their heads with glorious notions of bringing down BattleMechs, and they'll try. But most of them are going to end up very dead!"

Grayson looked past Ramage toward the students, who had gathered around the Stinger's foot to watch Jaleg pull the canvas bag free of the knee joint, laughing and shouting suggestions to the' dead ‘Mech Warrior miraculously come back to life.

Beyond the Stingerand its audience, under the glare of overhead fluoros, Grayson could make out Lori Kalmar's slender form, dwarfed by the dinosaur bulk of a green-painted LoggerMech. At this distance, he could not hear her over the dull roar of machinery echoing through the cave, but the animated movement of her arms suggested she was presenting the ‘Mech's pilot with a royal dressing down. The ‘Mech's right forefoot was locked behind its left forefoot, and the apprentice seemed to be having trouble untangling them. Still deeper into the cave, a boiler-room crash marked a ‘Mech-to- ‘Mech practice confrontation as Debrowski sparred in his Waspwith one of the Verthandi Rangers' Stingers.The Stingerwas flat on its back, looking up at the mercenary ‘Mech.

"You're right," Grayson said finally. "Of course you're right. I agree with you, but so help me, I don't know how to answer it yet. I'm working on it, but I don't know what we can do that'll keep us from murdering these kids...and satisfy the clients, too.”