Bloodname

* * *

For Lanja, the light of the flare came through all the open cracks in the wrecked cockpit. Her huge muscles straining from being packed into the tight cockpit, she did not think the signal came a moment too soon.

Weapons activated, she and her fellow Elemental rose from the fallen 'Mech like specters from the mist. Unlike such a phantasmal creature, however, she was already firing at the BattleMech that rose above her but that had yet to see her. Indeed, none of the enemy 'Mechs were prepared for the concentrated attack from below, giving the ambushers a chance to inflict heavy damage in those first few seconds alone.

* * *

To Joa

At Aidan's signal, she began to move her 'Mech forward, the resentment only increasing at the idea of having to follow even a single one of his commands.

* * *

Aidan welcomed the light of the flare. He yearned for nothing more in the universe than to distinguish himself as a warrior. It did not matter whether others believed him freeborn or trueborn. The battle was all, the battle and the honor to be earned in it.

Giving the signal to advance, he led the way out of Blood Swamp, the 'Mechs looking monstrous in the quickly fading light of the flare. Moisture from the swamp dripped from their limbs. Stray leaves and patches of moss had rubbed off on their surfaces. Mud and muck smeared their feet. They looked like antediluvian creatures just aroused from beneath the deep waters of the swamp.

The last flicker of the flare was a momentary brightness and then the battlefield was bathed only in the half-light of dawn. In the distance, the Clan Wolf battle line, now a bit uneven, looked gray in the dim morning light. Beneath it, lines of fire from both the weapons and the jump packs of the attacking Elementals rose up around them like a fiery net.

19

Once out of the swamp, the tread of Aidan's Summonerseemed to lighten, climbing the slope with sure, almost carefree steps. Though Aidan felt a touch of disorientation from being so long in the swamp and jungle, his 'Mech easily topped the slope, where the fire of the rear-guard Wolf Elementals was disorganized and ineffective. As Aidan had suspected, Radick had underbid his Elementals, which left too few in the rear. A burst of rapid pulses from his medium laser and a whole line of them lay either still or squirming on the ground. The Summonerstepped over them as Aidan guided it forward. His primary screen showed an LRM coming toward him, but he blasted it out of the air with his anti-missile system before it could do any harm to the Jade Falcon warriors. Instead, much of the shrapnel dropped onto Wolf warriors and support perso

* * *

Some of the pleasure Pershaw felt at the entrance of his gallant swamp warriors into battle derived from seeing the battle turn, some of it from imagining the confusion and irritation on Dwillt Radick's face. Even now, the man's 'Mech seemed to waver, as though not sure whether to shoot at the Jade Falcon 'Mechs in front of him or turn back to demolish the small enemy contingent at his rear.

The confusion gave the Jade Falcon warriors just enough time to execute the next phase of Aidan's plan.

The Mad Dogthat Lanja had so severely damaged when bursting from her hiding place looked ready to topple. Knowing it would be easy prey to a blast from the Jade Falcon 'Mech now closing in on it, she opened the commlink to order her armored soldiers to move toward the Wolf Clan command dome.

Screaming high on their jump jets, the Jade Falcon Elementals were a fearsome sight against the lightening sky. The Wolf Elementals, already decimated by the Jade Falcon attack from the rear, turned toward the new attack with the same confusion being shown by the Clan Wolf 'Mechs in the middle of the field.

* * *

In the Wolf Clan command dome, tacticians fired off messages to both 'Mechs and Elementals, trying to coordinate the triad of Supernovas in the field into a unit, assigning each element to specific parts of the widely spaced battle around them. Messages flew back and forth across the commlinks.

* * *

On the other side of the field, Kael Pershaw saw that the Clan Wolf 'Mechs were closing their lines to fend off the attack coming from the three advancing Jade Falcon forces.

If Jorge did not perform his mission soon, the tide of battle could turn in favor of the Wolves. Could? It definitely would. Kael Pershaw did not have the perso

* * *

Joa

* * *

Zeroing in on the imposing and well-armed Clan 'Mech, Joa

Rivers of sweat poured from her as the cockpit's temperature soared. She fired off the trio of medium lasers in the Hellbringer's,chest, then slapped the override on the fusion plant's automatic shutdown sequence. It did not matter how much firepower she used. It did not matter if her ammo cooked off from the searing heat of the stressed fusion plant. It did not matter if she were broiled alive in her cockpit. This was the only battle she had to win, the only enemy 'Mech she hadto vanquish.

And all, she thought, bitterly, to save Aidan, that sanctimonious imposter who had become more freebirth than any freebirth.

* * *

Aidan, rocking from the Dire Wolf'shits, did not at first detect Joa