Falcon Guard

"I wish to fight."

"If you wish useless heroics, then fight. If you wish to do your duty by the Clan, begin the retreat. The ComStar DropShips are landing on the other side of Olalla. You are about seven kilometers from death. The choice is yours. If the Falcon Guards are a

"You do not present a balanced case, do you?"

"I did not intend to, Aidan Pryde."

Aidan looked around the cockpit of the Timber Wolf,fully expecting to see a transparent, phantasmal version of Kael Pershaw standing behind him. But there was no ghost. Aidan was alone in the cockpit, alone with his decision.

"The retreat then," he said sullenly, all the while every nerve, every muscle in his body, urged him forward.

36

Aidan Pryde's warriors did not need their 'Mechs' inertial guidance systems to find their way back to Robyn's Crossing. They needed merely follow the glow in the night sky. Every time it flickered, threatening to vanish below the horizon, there would follow a new explosion that turned the sky momentarily into daylight just as it had been settling back into the beckoning glow.

MechWarrior Diana did not know what to think. It galled her that they were beating the ComStar forces back and were about to enter the city of Olalla, when the order had come to turn back the way they had come instead. She understood that the enemy reinforcements would be fresher, that they would have the fighting edge, that they would even probably wear the Falcon Guards down. But she had wanted to see the Clan force take the city, even for moments, and would have been willing to die for the victory. That was what it meant to be a Clan warrior, she supposed. The way of the Clans and all that. Because the concept was so deeply ingrained, she felt a deep frustration, perhaps even despair, that they must turn tail and run.

It did not help to see the DropShips containing Humptulips warriors pass high overhead, their aerofighter escort blasting away any Jade Falcon fighter that attempted to intervene. They were evidently on their way to join in the a

* * *

Aidan ordered his units to veer toward the Prezno River to meet it downriver from the bridge. "We are coming in along the river bank," he told his warriors. "They may not be looking for us there."

"I have news," Marthe said. "Plough Bridge is completely lost. The Jade Falcons there have either crossed over or been pushed down toward Robyn's Crossing. They are fleeing, in disarray. I have an idea, though. While you are taking the Falcon Guards along the river, I will try a pincer attack, coming in straight at them."

Aidan, for once in his life, felt a pang of fear in his chest. The battle was turning into a rout. The Jade Falcons could be wiped out. It would be worse than Twycross, where at least the destruction had been limited to the Falcon Guards Cluster.

Part of their route to Robyn's Crossing was littered with the debris of their earlier charge. The Falcon Guard 'Mechs had to step over downed BattleMechs and clumps of twisted metal, but nothing could impede their progress. Ahead of them the lights of battle were beacons that drew them on.

Aidan's strategy worked. No one on the ComStar side was looking for a riverside offensive. The Falcon Guards waded into the battle, firing freely at the heavily massed ComStar BattleMechs, transforming a few of them into wreckage. Simultaneously with the Falcon Guards' entrance into the battle, Marthe brought her Cluster's 'Mechs through the rear lines, creating a similar trash-heap of ruined ComStar 'Mechs. So concentrated had the ComStar forces been on the ever-smaller group of Jade Falcons defending the bridge that they were not fully prepared for sneak attacks from units they had smugly expected to be wiped out back at Olalla.

The units of both Aidan and Marthe were at the bridge itself within two minutes of their first shots.

"Who is in command here?" Aidan yelled into the general commline.

"Star Colonel Gran Newclay," came the familiar voice of the Clan officer who had opposed Aidan in council.

"Gran Newclay, retreat your units across the bridge. The Falcon Guards will cover the retreat."

"You ca

"I will settle anything you wish in the Circle of Equals, Gran Newclay, but I speak with the authorization of Kael Pershaw and Jade Falcon Khan Chistu."

Gran Newclay grumbled a bit, but the order for retreat went out, and the Jade Falcon BattleMechs began to cross the bridge. Because the makeshift bridge was so narrow, they could only go two by two, and could not move at top speed. Gradually the Falcon Guards and the BattleMechs from Marthe's Cluster closed the gap in front of the bridge, creating their own bridge of laser fire aimed at the attacking ComStar 'Mechs.

The maneuver stopped any advance by the ComStar forces, but created havoc on both sides as 'Mechs were stripped and gouged of armor, as weaponry jammed, and as some 'Mechs fell where they stood, more ComStar than Jade Falcon.

* * *

The Jade Falcon Elementals did serious damage. Star Commander Selima alone, with little infantry resistance, was ferocious in his attacks against the ComStar BattleMechs, peeling armor off the unsuspecting 'Mechs and firing accurately at leg joints. Other Elementals kept up a steady series of hit-and-run attacks on 'Mechs too occupied to notice the damage done by the human gnats until one of their machine's legs collapsed or a fusion engine blew out.

Selima suddenly found himself on the other side of the ComStar lines. Looking around, he searched for an opportunity to do some fatal mischief. The idea came to him immediately, literally dropping out of the skies.

Ahead of him, far enough away to be protected from Jade Falcon 'Mech attack, a ComStar DropShip was descending onto a landing area that had been prepared, no doubt hastily, for it. Ru

Selima guessed that once the ship landed, its crew would immediately begin to unload reinforcement BattleMechs. Those fresh 'Mechs would probably finish the Jade Falcons at the bridge. Using his jump pack to leap onto the side of the ship, he landed just above the unloading door, where he waited.

As a ComStar Highlanderbegan to lead his fellow 'Mechs down the ramp, Selima dropped from his perch on the DropShip to land on the head of the 'Mech. He stared through the canopy viewport at the startled ComStar MechWarrior. Drawing back his arm, Selima rammed the armored claw through the canopy. One, two, three times, he drove his fist, pistonlike, through the transparent armored glass. When the glass finally broke on the third blow, Selima reached in with his mechanical claw and seized the throat of the disbelieving MechWarrior. A twitch of his fingers and the pilot was dead.

Selima jetted off the Highlanderas it toppled back against its fellows in the DropShip. A muffled explosion inside the ship gave testimony to the instability of a BattleMech's ammunition supply. He did not use up much time gloating, however, but ran straight back into the fray, continuing to do any damage possible to the enemy as he raced back to the Robyn's Crossing bridge.

* * *

When the last of Gran Newclay's 'Mechs had stepped onto the bridge, Aidan ordered his Elementals to weave their way across with these last 'Mechs.