LE5739 - Falcon Rising, page 25
She realized her Nova and Bello's Black Lanner were the only Falcon BattleMechs left standing.
Two of the Viper 'Mechs were shooting down at Ravill Pryde's fallen Timber Wolf. Not Clan etiquette, but this was a war to the finish, and the Steel Vipers' perfidious tactics were apparently acceptable.
"Bello!"
"Aff, Star Commander."
"Forward. We have to help the Star Colonel."
"Neg, Star Commander. I am done, disabled. Can't fire, can't move, trying not to look like an easy target."
"Good luck, Bello!" Diana shouted as she moved her Nova forward. She was on her way to help the Star Colonel who despised her, by defeating the Khan who had come to kill her.
* * *
Joanna almost extricated herself from the 'Mech before its plunge accelerated. One leg was outside the cockpit hole, and she was trying to thrust the rest of her body out as the Summoner hit the sand below. She was knocked back into the cockpit and her head careened off the hard cockpit seat.
The rush of pain through her head and her body nearly knocked her out. It probably should have. But Joanna could not lose control, she did not know how.
The left side of her body was becoming numb, but she could move. She managed to stand, even with her left leg threatening to collapse under her. Standing was difficult as the surging waters of the sea made the 'Mech, heavy as it was, rock slightly where it lay, on its left side. If she did not act quickly, the 'Mech might tip over and land on its face, burying the cockpit in sand. Hopping on her right leg, she maneuvered her body into a roll toward the edge of the cockpit hole. In a show of strength that she had not managed since she was a falconer and had to be stronger than the best of her cadets, she pulled her body out of the hole and for a moment dangled on the edge of the cockpit opening. In place, she felt her body drain of strength. She could go no further using either arm. Instead, she dragged herself forward and slowly, arduously, fell off the 'Mech body and onto the wet sand.
Crawling away from the 'Mech and pulling herself to a sitting position with her back against the hard-packed sand of the terrace, she blearily watched the Summoner being pulled, a short distance at a time, into the turbulent sea. She passed out before she saw it disappear under the waves.
* * *
Diana blasted the Viper 'Mechs attacking Ravill Pryde out of position, then stood over the fallen Timber Wolf.
"You alive, Ravill?" she said, as she scanned the terrain and saw that all of the remaining Vipers, six of them, had turned their attention to her.
"Alive. What are you doing?"
"I am not sure. I am the last Jade Falcon 'Mech standing and I intend to remain that way."
"How many against you?"
"Six, including Perigard Zalman."
"Too many, especially considering they have specific orders to see you dead. Get out of the way."
"Look. You are down, Joanna might be drowning in the sea, Pegeen is stubbornly remaining in her BattleMech while it dangles over the waters, and Bello—though still upright—is a sitting duck for any Viper 'Mech who cares to finish him off. I figure not only do I draw off enemy fire, but there is a chance some of the others may survive, including you, Star Colonel. So you get out of the way."
"I would, freeborn. But my whole console is off its moorings and on top of me, and I can just barely move. It will take me a few minutes to escape my cockpit."
"No problem. You work at it and I will cover for you."
"That is insane."
"Probably. Excuse me, I am being fired at."
A Hankyu was firing wildly at the Nova.
"But it is only a Hankyu," Diana muttered and, with a single burst of laser fire, she managed to make it spin around. Another burst at its left knee and the whole leg collapsed. The Hankyu went down on one knee and was tilted to the left as it tried to get traction in the sand with its right leg. Diana realized that, for the next few minutes at least, the Hankyu would not be a threat.
Hovering over the fallen Timber Wolf, ignoring the mutterings of Ravill Pryde, some of them curses directed at Diana, she faced the remaining five Viper 'Mechs. Rotating her Nova's torso, she countered the Viper attack as well as she could. She found it surprising that she could not tell which 'Mech was piloted by Perigard Zalman. She kept her right-arm PPC busy, since the arm had already taken some damage and she was not sure how long she could use it. One azure bolt of lightning demolished the cockpit of a Battle Cobra, and it came to a grinding stop.
Diana moved her Nova around the fallen Timber Wolf so that her 'Mech acted as a barrier between the four remaining Viper 'Mechs and Ravill's 'Mech.
What am I doing? Ravill Pryde has vowed to challenge me on the bloodname. I should just leave him to die. If I do, then there will be no challenge. If I save his life, he will hardly be grateful to be rescued by a freeborn. Him and Leif, what is it about these truebirths that make them so stubborn about accepting aid from a freeborn?
She did not have time to mull over the problem, as a blast of missiles exploded against the Nova's chest. The hit nearly toppled her, and the irony of her falling onto Ravill's 'Mech was not lost on her. Whatever other damage was done, the salvo had knocked out some of her sensors. Her scanner screen was showing abstract patterns. Lights flicked on and off. She tried to locate the remaining Viper 'Mechs, but she got only blips and streaks on her screens.
She would have to go visual. She cleared the cockpit shield so that she could see out.
Night had fallen and the mist was heavy. She could see the enemy 'Mechs as the darkest of shadows against the darkness.
As she began firing at shadows, she could not help but think of the death of Aidan Pryde. It was night then, too, and he had lost most of his life support and sensors. And he too had stood by a fallen comrade as he fended off a heavy force of ComStar 'Mechs. Diana herself had been the fallen warrior in that piece of history, while she had Ravill Pryde— who disliked freebirths, who disliked Diana—to protect. Aidan Pryde had dispatched many more 'Mechs than this, and he had more skill than she could ever hope for.
But she was his daughter.
And she had his tenacity.
And his recklessness.
And, stravag, another Viper 'Mech, a Crossbow, was thrown back and out of action by another blast from the Nova's right-arm PPC. She did not even remember shooting it.
And one thing kept coming into her mind. Aidan Pryde had died in similar circumstances. But Diana did not intend to die. After all, it was less than a year since she had won the Pryde bloodname and she planned to bring it honor for years to come.
She was suddenly shocked out of her reverie by the fact that the remaining three Viper 'Mechs were pulling back. Confused, she opened a commline to Ravill Pryde.
"What is going on? They still have us outnumbered three to one and yet they are retreating. Clansmen almost never retreat and certainly not from what should be an assured victory."
"How should I know?" Ravill's voice sounded as grating as ever. "I had a thought, though. It came after you dispatched that last 'Mech. Is it possible . . ." Ravill's voice trailed off into thoughtful silence.
"What?" Diana demanded.
"I find it hard to even contemplate, but you may have not only defended yourself while outnumbered six to one, destroying three 'Mechs in the process, but I believe you may have actually defeated Khan Zalman. Freebirth!" he cursed, incredulous.
Dumbfounded, Diana sat stunned, unable to move. Could it be true? It seemed she had done the impossible. Willing to die defending a man who hated her, she had triumphed against impossible odds, not only stealing victory from the jaws of defeat, but ripping those jaws apart by defeating the Khan of the Steel Vipers himself. Now it made sense.
"That is why they are retreating," Ravill said, echoing her own thoughts. "The fact that their Khan was defeated in battle by a freeborn has broken their flagging spirits. I believe the battle for this planet is done and so is this war."
36
Daemon Beach, near the city ofDaemon
WaldorffV
Jade Falcon-Steel Viper Occupation Zone
1 July 3061
With the Steel Vipers in sudden retreat, Marthe and Samantha easily disrupted the wedge that had separated the Falcon troops. Without further intel, it was impossible to tell what had finally broken the Steel Viper, but both Khans had the feeling the answers would be found at Daemon Beach.
Quickly, the two of them, with the Turkina Keshik and the First Falcon Striker Cluster, headed there. As they approached, Marthe's sensors told her that the fight had been devastating. A lone Nova stood protectively over a fallen Timber Wolf, with what appeared to be an army of defeated Steel Vipers lying toppled and scattered all around the single standing 'Mech.
As Marthe and the others headed up the beach in their 'Mechs, their electronics occasionally distorted by severe weather conditions, she detected that the lone Falcon 'Mech belonged to Diana Pryde and that the fallen one was Ravill Pryde's.
"I raised Diana on the commline," Samantha reported. "I asked her if she might have an explanation for the sudden Steel Viper retreat."
"And did she?"
"Oh, yes."
"What was it?"
"She told me that she not only deprived them of an easy victory by defeating them while outnumbered, but that seeing their Khan defeated by a freebirth was probably more than any trueborn could bear."
The moment released all that Marthe had held back as the brutal battle for Waldorff had raged. She laughed. She was not one to laugh often, but the laughter released her battle tension, and she relaxed.
The Jade Falcons had broken and smashed the Steel Vipers. Khan Zalman had also suffered a personal defeat when he lost in battle to a freeborn. Unless Zalman wanted to see his forces totally obliterated, he would have to cease fighting. Marthe would offer them the honorable withdrawal of hegira, but shame would follow them nevertheless. The war was over. The Jade Falcons had won.
And a newly bloodnamed, freeborn warrior had been instrumental in that victory. Many Clansmen will have to start rethinking their beliefs concerning those they have always cursed as freebirths. A slow smile began to spread over the face of the Khan of the Jade Falcons.
* * *
As it turned out, Samantha happened to overhear a brief transmission between Diana and Ravill Pryde.
"Why save me?" he demanded.
"I am a warrior. It is my duty, quiaff?"
"The odds were against you."
"As Star Commander Joanna says so often and so annoyingly, I am Jade Falcon, quiaff?"
The transmission then became garbled. Samantha tried to contact Diana again, but there was no response. The next thing Samantha saw was that Diana had scrambled down the Nova and was presently racing toward the sand terrace that was beginning to erode under the effects of an incoming tide.
* * *
Marthe saw to it that Ravill would be pried out of his cockpit, while she dispatched others to deal with the warriors in the two remaining Falcon 'Mechs, one standing still and the other dangling off the crumbling sand terrace, about to fall off at any moment. Both pilots were rescued, and the endangered Hellbringer was subsequently pulled to a safe place.
Although she could get no visuals on the beach devastation, she could work it out through the diagrammatics on her scanner. She saw that the beach was littered with BattleMechs from both sides, many of them downed and becoming covered with sand. For all she knew, there were more already buried under some of the sand mounds.
Marthe knew that this victory was impressive within the overall rout of the Vipers on Waldorff. What her warriors had achieved here at Daemon Beach, especially the defeat of the Steel Viper Khan by Diana, would surely be worth some lines in the Remembrance. Stravag, she thought, the entire Waldorff campaign would take up a passage of its own.
If Marthe had ever doubted some of her own decisions over the last few years, those doubts could now be put to rest. Driving the Vipers out of the corridor proved that the proud Falcons had returned to their former glory, justifying everything Marthe had tried to do as Khan. She had been forced to find her own path at times, when the traditional wisdom could not save them. Yet, she had remained true, in her heart, to the way of the Clans.
Marthe also noticed Diana running across the beach, and wondered what she was up to now. The Remembrance would note the heroism of this freeborn warrior with a bloodname. Like her father before her, it would seem that Diana would also find herself immortalized in the Jade Falcon Remembrance. That she was the daughter of Aidan Pryde would not go unremarked either. Marthe wondered what Aidan would say if he were here. Ah, let it go. Let Aidan go. He cannot be my secret conscience any more.
Later, when she heard about Horse's defeat of Ivan Sinclair and of the heroic actions of the entire freeborn Trinary, the Khan's Irregulars, Marthe realized that their victories, combined with Diana's victory over Khan Zalman, had truly defeated the Steel Vipers concerning freeborns. The freeborn issue had been fought in the council chambers and on the field, and none could dispute the matter now. It would be a long while before any Khan dared question the Jade Falcon use of freeborns.
* * *
Arriving at the battle site, Horse was as awed by the devastation as Marthe Pryde had been, except he saw it up close and could smell the rank odors of warfare. Behind him, Ivan Sinclair cursed and ran over to one of his fallen comrades, who lay wounded next to his Crossbow.
In a light being cast over the sands from Samantha's 'Mech, Horse saw Diana running across the sand toward the terrace. Looking to his right, he saw that the waves of the incoming tide were high and that the roar that had been deafening his ears was the pounding of the waters against the surf.
He broke into a run and chased after Diana.
* * *
Diana scrambled down the sand terrace toward Joanna. The turbulent waters had reached her and she was lying flat with them surging around her. As Diana watched, Joanna's body was pulled out several meters by an undertow. Calling up all the swim training that had been part of her cadet years and underutilized since, she ran into the water and dove forward.
The water was freezing and it seemed as if her skin went numb immediately. She began to swim toward where she thought Joanna was. Or was it illusion? Was that Joanna's head bobbing up above a level area between the high waves?
Diana fought the incoming waves and was frequently pushed backward. All the way swimming toward Joanna was a matter of two steps forward and one step back.
But then she reached the nearly-drowning warrior. Pulling at her collar, she brought Joanna's face toward her own. Joanna's eyes were confused and she tried to pull out of Diana's grasp. In a wild punch Diana hit Joanna on the jaw. There was no stamina left in Joanna and she went limp, unconscious.
Turning toward shore, Diana wondered if she could make it back. The sand terrace seemed kilometers away now. A wave carried her several meters toward the shore but nearly drowned her in the process.
She continued to pull Joanna by the collar. There was no time to get a better hold and the waves were too powerful.
For a moment Diana wanted to just close her eyes and give up. Then she saw the other figure swimming efficiently and strongly toward her. Strong, muscular arms sliced in and out of the water. The sight gave Diana renewed energy and she swam toward the swimmer.
As they all reached the shore and were able to stand, Diana was startled to find that it was Horse who had helped them. He continued to help her drag Joanna up to safety on the beach.
* * *
Marthe Pryde observed the rescue with satisfaction. She had not realized that Joanna was among the missing.
It would have been a sorry note if we had lost that old bird.
At the same time, she saw something that Diana and Horse had yet to notice—that Joanna's body was twisted unnaturally. She was injured.
Marthe ordered that someone with a medkit get to that fallen warrior and administer help. Then she returned her attention to supervising the cleanup of the Battle of Daemon Beach.
37
Jade Falcon Field Headquarters
Viper Valley, WaldorffV
Jade Falcon-Steel Viper Occupation Zone
2 July 3061
After the triumph over the Steel Vipers, Marthe should have felt exultant. And she almost did. But there was one more decision for her to make, one that she did not particularly savor, one that gave her serious pause in thinking about her role as Khan.
The dilemma involved the stubborn Crossbow warrior she had defeated the day before. Marthe had returned to where the Crossbow still lay in the field and been told that the pilot had not yet emerged from the cockpit, though many hours had passed since the battle. There were so many Jade Falcon casualties that no one had attended to the warrior. Marthe climbed up onto the Crossbow and ripped open the cockpit's entry hatch.
"Steel Viper warrior," she cried into the darkness. "Are you conscious?"
No answer.
"We will help you if you are hurt. Are you alive?"
The question made the other warrior laugh, a short guffaw.
"See?" Marthe said. "You cannot be completely silent. Do you need help?"
"I will kill you if you try to enter my cockpit."
Marthe who already had her hand on the hilt of the knife in her belt, smiled. She had no intention of entering an enemy cockpit unarmed.
"If you are not able to come out, I can send techs to—"
"I will not be touched by techs. I can move. I am only slightly wounded. I just do not choose to come out yet. I will come out when night falls."
The voice sounded familiar.
