Coupe

Four medium lasers hit the heavy 'Mech. Two lanced into its right flank, carving glowing red scars beneath its armpit. A third lopped a chunk of armor from the 'Mech's right arm and the last lanced into the Orion'sright thigh. The beam played across the armor, vaporizing what it touched, but failed to pierce it fully.

The Orionlet loose with everything it had except for its short-range missiles. The autoca

Hovercraft swept in at Tom Clark's Thunderboltfrom behind. Two of them hit with their medium lasers, but the damage they did was minor. As one swept past his position, Clark tagged it with a medium laser, blasting armor from its nose. Even more devastating, Nancy Campion's Grasshoppergoosed one fleeing Sava

The third group of hovercraft targeted Karsten's Crusader,slashing at the 'Mech's rear. One beam blasted armor over the Crusader'sspine. The other two beams that hit stabbed into the 'Mech's left flank and pierced its side. Steam and yellow-green fluid burst from the wound as the laser beams vaporized three heat sinks. Though Karsten unleashed two flights of LRMs and fired both medium lasers at the hovercraft, all five escaped unharmed.

Heart in her mouth, Ala

The Rifleman'sautoca

The other four hovercraft swept on through the fiery cloud that had been their group leader. Three of them hit with their lasers, and two cored through the Rifleman'sback armor. A series of explosions detonated within the Rifleman'schest as the lasers destroyed the fusion engine's shielding and the incredible heat touched off the autoca

Seconds before a massive explosion tore the Riflemanapart, a gout of flame shot from the 'Mech's chest. De Chanoui's ejection seat shot straight up, then angled over toward the hills to the north. The 'Mech he'd left behind split down the middle as an argent spear of flame stabbed up toward the dawn sky. The 'Mech's arms flew off in two different directions while torso fragments peppered the water. The 'Mech's legs, untouched, but trailing smoke from where the torso had sat, remained stuck upright in the swamp.

Ala

The hovercraft, which had attacked from the west, continued on toward the east. They followed the river as it curved north and quickly vanished behind the hills where de Chanoui had landed. Ala

Ala

She hit two switches, expecting to hear the bored voice of a radio operator in the invasion's tactical center. Instead, a babble of voices and noise blasted through her neurohelmet. "We're taking heavy fire on Boomslang Ridge," she heard an excited voice report. The whine of an autoca

"Negative, Deuce Battalion. Support allocations are only assigned on request of a commanding officer. My screen shows you're only a Captain. Where is Colonel Harkness?"

Irritation shot through the field commander's voice. "Harkness bought it when he marched his Marauderinto a Liao militia ambush. They had inferno rockets and roasted him alive."

Ala

"If you don't get it, Taccom, I'm the only command officer left in the Second 'Mech Battalion. I guess that brevets me to Colonel, wouldn't you say?"

The command center's radio operator came back with nervousness twitching through his words. "I guess it would, Colonel Moultrie, but I still can't give you any air cover." The man's voice sank. "We don't have any more."

Ala

Moultrie's voice lost its edge. " 'Mechs and armor in the foothills. They're dug in, so we can't do anything. Can you swing over?"

Ala

She looked up as the barrel-chested 'Mech staggered, then spun wildly. Armor flew in ragged sheets from its torso. Explosions from the SRM magazine began, shooting flame from the legion of holes opened in the 'Mech's chest. The Ostrocstumbled back down the hill, then exploded, blowing the upper half of the 'Mech's torso out into the middle of the swamp.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Colonel, we've just been hit by something!" Ala

Rex Archambauld's voice broke into the radio frequency. "Ca

The panic in Rex's voice made Ala

Doubt bled into Rex's words. "Cap, that'll move us away from the concentration of our troops. We'll be on our own."

Ala