The Price of Glory

The explosion and fall had split open the Warhammer'scoolant tanks. With the 'Mech in a head-down position, most of the superheated chemical fluid that had not already flashed into steam flooded into the ruptured cockpit.

Maranov was mercifully unconscious by the time the boiling liquid reached him.

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Grayson's command and fire lances had caught the Marik BattleMechs between them, with the 'Mechs near the head of the trap caught in a flame-shot crossfire, while those toward the rear could not return fire without risk of hitting their own forces. Grayson's Marauderstrode forward through the battlefog. As manmade lightning flared and flashed, he found himself confronting a Marik Crusaderrising from the rubble of a landslide caused by an exploding mine.

Grayson's Marauderfired with both PPCs and lasers together, scoring great, jagged hits on the Marik 'Mech's hull. The Crusaderreturned his fire. The Maraudertook a hit on its right arm, and another squarely in the hull just below the cockpit. Over the general taccom frequency, Grayson could hear McCall's Scots curses, in themselves spine-curdling sounds that might easily confuse the enemy. He brought his massive, 120 mm auto-ca

Before he could trigger another salvo, however, Grayson was attacked from another direction. As laser bolts struck his right arm again, red lights on his console warned of damage and overheating. He spun his Marauderand faced two Marik heavies standing side by side—a Thunderboltand a Rifleman.

That Thunderbolt'sheavy laser could do horrendous damage to any 'Mech it targeted, and so Grayson wasn't eager to tangle with the big machine. He backed up the Marauderquickly, leveling bolt after bolt at both enemy machines. They followed, laser bolts flashing wildly past Grayson's machine.

The Thunderboltlooked familiar as Grayson brought the machine up on his main viewer, then magnified the image. The Thunderbolt'sright arm laser showed a sharp crease across its surface, and it looked as though the main power co

Even with the right arm laser out of action, the Thunderboltwas still a formidable enemy. It mounted three medium lasers in its torso, as well as an SRM launcher, and the massive, sewer pipe-sized Delta Dart LRM-15 launcher angled across its left shoulder. Even damaged, the Thunderboltwould be a serious challenge for Grayson in his Marauder,and this Thunderbolthad a well-armed Riflemanbacking it up.

The three 'Mechs exchanged fire at 200 meters' range, laser and PPC bolts crossing and crisscrossing in the hazy air between them. Grayson tried to fire calmly and deliberately, but within seconds, he found himself snapping off shots as fast as his 'Mech could recycle the power sequence and wink the weapon ready lights green on his console. He saw the Thunderboltstop moving, then shift the heavy long-range missile launcher to a new cant. Grayson paused, measuring the T-Boltpilot's aim, then lunged hard to the right just as the enemy pilot fired. Fifteen warheads smashed into the rock and gravel where Grayson had been standing a moment before. He returned fire with a rapid left-right-left-right pattern of laser and particle fire. The Thunderboltwas struck full in its center torso three times, staggered by the explosions. The Riflemanlaid down a heavy fire that forced Grayson to keep moving. Then autoca

"Hello, Gray," he heard on his taccom. "Need help?"

"I wouldn't mind it a bit, Lori. It's hot out here today!"

Lori's autoca

Thunderboltswere notorious for so much heat buildup that their operational governors would shut down automatically to keep the excess heat from killing the 'Mech or its pilot.

But Grayson was suspicious. The Thunderbolt'sheavy laser was the main culprit in heat overloads, and this machine hadn't fired its heavy laser once during the fight so far. Of course, it could have overloaded from other sources . . .

Reaching a quick decision, Grayson leveled another volley of laser and particle fire into the big Marik machine. The response was immediate; the Thunderboltstumbled to the side, turning, trying to twist out of Grayson's murderous fire and to bring its torso lasers to bear. Lori opened fire from a different angle, her autoca

The Riflemanwas firing, this time at Lori. Grayson spun his Marauderand opened fire on the Rifleman,scoring hits on its torso and on its undamaged arm. When Delmar Clay's Wolverinewalked up, its autoca

The Riflemanpilot appeared to be in trouble. There was a jerkiness about his machine's movements that suggested he was having gyro trouble. Faced with three powerful BattleMechs, he could not turn and run, not with so little armor on a Rifleman'sback. There was a fire burning now amid the wreckage of its right arm, and smoke was boiling from a hole low in its center torso. Green coolant fluid leaked from its left arm, and the tracking ante

The Riflemantook another step backward, stumbled, and fell. With one arm damaged and the other gone, its pilot was having obvious difficulty getting the machine on its feet again. Abruptly, the damaged Riflemanworked its way into a seated position. Then the cockpit armor folded back. In a flash of light and a trail of smoke, the Riflemanpilot was gone, ejected, his 'Mech abandoned on the field.

With the fall of the Marik Rifleman,the fight seemed to go out of the Marik force. The Marik 'Mechs began to withdraw back down the valley in a ragged line. They had lost the Warhammerthat had entered the valley in the lead, as well as one Phoenix Hawkand the Rifleman.Khaled had accounted for an enemy Stinger,in a darting rapid-fire and highly unbalanced duel, and Sharyl and Bear together had destroyed another Stingerand a Shadow Hawk.

None of the Gray Death 'Mechs had been destroyed, but all had been hit several times, suffering considerable battle damage. Sharyl's Shadow Hawkhad been especially mauled, as had Koga's Archer.Grayson ordered both 'Mech pilots to take their machines back to the central underground facility's main depot, where Gray Death Techs were already going through the Star League supplies in search of equipment to maintain the regiment's combat machines in the coming battle. The hope was that they could patch damaged 'Mechs as Grayson sent them in, and then get them back out in the field in time for the next encounter.