Страница 72 из 85
Both pilots had protested the order, claiming that their 'Mechs could still move and fight. They had accepted Grayson's command, though, when he pointed toward the south and told them he didn't want to hear any more about it. "You get your 'Mechs spread all over the landscape in pieces, and you won't be one damn bit of good to me," he said. "Rejoin the unit when you've completed repairs!"
The two damaged 'Mechs had made their way through Drango toward the southeast, as villagers began to emerge from their homes, wide-eyed and wondering. The other six 'Mechs had made their way quickly northwest. Grayson's armor and infantry forces had split up, some moving with his 'Mech lance, some following the Archerand the Shadow Hawk.
* * *
Hours later, a lone Marik Waspmade its way back up the pass toward Drango. Its pilot was one of the survivors of the 4th Light Assault Group, and her orders were to observe the Gray Death's salvage operations among the five shattered BattleMech hulks the 4th had left behind. She found three of the lost Marik pilots walking back toward camp, but there was no sign of the Gray Death forces. A Boomerangpilot circling high overhead was able to report that the enemy had not withdrawn back down the pass toward the Vermillion plain, but that he could not tell where they hadgone.
It was as though the mountains had swallowed them.
* * *
Captain Chu Shi-Lin was commander of the Marik 7th Light Assault Group, and he was not pleased with his orders. Elements now making up the 7th had been roughly handled several months before at Yalin Station, and now mustered only nine BattleMechs. Of those nine, his heaviest was a Thunderbolt,and he had two Shadow Hawksand a Wolverine.All the rest were light 'Mechs— twenty to
During his briefing early that morning, Langsdorf had explained to Chu that his mission was more than a mere diversion. The mountain trail known as Lee's Pass offered both opportunity and danger to the Marik forces. It was narrow, rugged, and twisting. In places, Chu's 'Mech force would have to use its arms and legs to climb or descend like multi-ton mountaineers. In most places, they would have to travel line-ahead, single-file, and there were endless blind turns and pockets where parts of the column would be out of sight of their comrades.
If the Marik forces ignored the pass, the renegade mercenaries might be able to slip through Lee's Pass and escape to the north, or turn south and strike the Marik encampment. On the other hand, if Carlyleignored the pass, a small, light, and fast-moving Marik 'Mech force might slip through and emerge on the Vermillion Plains while Carlyle was bogged down in combat elsewhere. And even Chu's damaged force could pose a threat to the grounded DropShips on the plains beyond.
Chu was not so optimistic about his orders. "That pass looks like the perfect place for an ambush," he had said, apparently not caring whether Langsdorf heard him or not. "A perfect opportunity to throw away nine good BattleMechs!" It was an unusual outburst for Chu, a phlegmatic man not usually given to questioning orders.
Outburst aside, he was a soldier, whether or not he wanted any part of Lee's Pass—soldier enough to salute Langsdorf, return to his Shadow Hawk,and form up his troops.
By the time Chu and his men had reached the mouth of Lee's Pass, they could hear the sound of gunfire to the southeast. Captain Maranov and the 4th L.A.G., it seemed, had jumped ahead of schedule and run into trouble at Drango. It might mean that Lee's Pass was unopposed, but Chu was taking nothing for granted.
"O.K., troops," he had said. "Single file. We don't have much choice."
And so they had started to climb.
* * *
The Gray Death BattleMechs made use of the old Star League tu
It appeared that the Star League facility had once been accessible by numerous routes from the surface. Drango had apparently been some sort of transport center whose surface co
The underground passageways had allowed the Gray Death to deploy into Drango Gap early that morning so that they could be seen there in force well before Maranov’s force could race across the pass. As Maranov's force had withdrawn, they had used the passageways again to withdraw from the field, leaving the Marik observers completely mystified about where the mercenary 'Mechs and armor could have gone. Sharyl and Koga had been able to follow one branch of the tu
Meanwhile, a single long, winding passageway reaching to the northeast had allowed the Gray Death to reach Lee's Pass ahead of Captain Chu. Grayson had already deployed a force of tanks and armored hover vehicles there, a precaution against a middle-of-the-night movement through the pass in a Marik attempt to flank Grayson's force. Lee's Pass was divided by a razor-backed ridge that marked the highest point in the pass in its course across the mountains. The Gray Death's armor was deployed hull-down behind this ridge, with only their gun turrets exposed. Grayson's 'Mech force arrived behind the ridge only moments before Chu's BattleMechs came into view down the valley.
"Well, Sergeant Burns, how's it going?" Grayson said through his Marauder'sexternal speakers when he caught sight of the dirty, ragged figure directing operations among the infantry from the open, top-deck hatch of his Pegasus armored hovercraft.
"No sweat, Colonel!" Burns had to cup his hands to his mouth and shout up at Grayson to be heard over the keening of the vehicles around him. "We've spotted a column coming this way, mostly light 'Mechs. There's no room to deploy around 'em, so we sit here and let 'em come to us."
"I leave it to you, then, Sergeant. I will hold my 'Mechs in reserve until you need me."
A defensive battle was always preferable to an offensive one, at least in terms of minimizing battle damage and casualties. Burns's troops were deployed across the entire width of the narrow pass, dug into shallow foxholes or trenches, or sheltered behind hastily erected barriers of rock and scrap metal. Vehicles, mostly lightly armed transports had been dug in as well, though in such a way that they could easily back out of their entrenchments and maneuver, should the enemy manage a breakthrough. Volunteers made their way precariously along both valley walls, with man-portable missile launchers strapped to their backs. Though the regiment had exhausted its supply of inferno warheads during the raid on the mobile headquarters, they had a number of short-range missiles for their launchers, and the rocky walls of the pass provided ideal sites for firing from ambush into the enemy's flanks. Grayson kept his six 'Mechs out of sight and out of the line of fire behind the ridge that Burns defended.