Текст книги "Mercenary's Star"

Автор книги: Уильям Кейт

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Текущая страница: 26 (всего у книги 28 страниц)

37

 

Grayson saw the black-suited commando team roll across the rubble barricade, lugging their satchels and the deadly, twin-tubed shape of the inferno launcher after them.

"Lori, quick! Undog the canopy!"

"Huh? But..."

"Do it, or we're dead!" She squeezed past the control seat, reaching past the instrument consoles to twist the hatch lugs. The Maraudermounted several hatches in its flattened, egg-shaped hull, one up topside, another in the belly between the legs. The canopy was designed to open as well, making it easier to repair or replace circuitry in the instrumentation. It also gave Marauderpilots cramped in the stifling heat of their enclosed cabin an opportunity to let in a bit of cool air.

Lori hauled at the hatch release. It didn't move.

"Grayson, I can't budge it! It's stuck!"

From his control seat, Grayson could not reach the hatch release without disconnecting from the neurohelmet, a process that would take a number of seconds that they simply did not have. He could see one of the commandos bringing the inferno launcher to his shoulder.

Desperately, Grayson scanned the control board. Somewhere in that maze of instrumentation was the switch to the Marauder'soutside hailer, but he couldn't decide which of a dozen controls it might be. Simulators taught the use of basic controls and suggested the feel of a particular machine, but they could never teach the arrangement of secondary controls, which often differed from ‘Mech to ‘Mech.

And it was useless to try the radio. Each BattleMech and infantry unit had microprocessor-monitored guards on all transceivers. Those simple-minded computers used a programmed code to scramble and unscramble all communications within the unit. The result was that enemy units who happened upon the right radio frequency might hear a battle transmission before or during combat, but they would never figure out what was being said unless they had access to the same computer transceiver program. Grayson knew what frequency the commandos were using, but they would hear only electronic gibberish when he spoke.

His own throat mike was gone, knocked away and lost during his scramble with the Kurita interrogator. The Marauder'sradio was useless until it could be reprogrammed to translate the Gray Death's battlecodes.

Grayson gave no thought to any of this. In his mind's eye, he could see the commando's finger tightening on the trigger.

Lori pulled again on the stubborn hatch release. As she hauled back, she looked up, saw the shapes ahead, and gasped.

"Down, Lori! Down flat!" When she didn't move, he swept a booted foot out, knocking her ankles from under her. She fell, bringing her arms up over her head. Grayson brought his hand down on the emergency eject controls, slapped off the arming switch cover, and stabbed the bright red button exposed underneath.

Explosive bolts banged on the outer hull, and the canopy split over their heads, its two halves falling away to either side in the sudden gust of fresh air that spilled in from a green sky. Grayson was already on his feet. Though encumbered by the tangle of cables spilling from his neurohelmet to their connectors behind his seat, he was plain in the sight of the commandos twenty meters in front of him.

Then Ramage was on his feet, waving and shouting, and the trooper with the inferno lowered his weapon with the reluctance of a professional denied the chance to demonstrate his craft.

Grayson sank back in his seat, suddenly drained. "It's all right, Lori," he said as she levered herself up to her knees using the seat's armrest for support. His voicecracked, and he felt a strange sensation in his hands. Looking down at them, he realized they were trembling. Death by fire had brushed close by them both. To be trapped, helpless, consumed in agony...

It took him a second more to control his voice. "I think I finally know what you've been feeling all this time."

Governor General Nagumo motioned to his bodyguards and turned from the communications center. Kodo had been alerted to the situation and would arrive with reinforcements from Verthandi-Alpha in a few hours.

Not that he really needed Kodo's presence, but Nagumo did not believe in doing things by half measures. The DropShips landing outside Regis would serve to warn the Verthandians in the city to keep the peace in the wake of the pitched battle in and about the University grounds. With luck, the landings would trap some of the rebel soldiers who'd been reported in the fields outside the city proper.

Somewhere in the distance, a fire alarm was wailing. A blaze was out of control in the lower levels of the Tower, and gunfire or some other cause had wrecked the automatic sprinklers built into the University ceilings. The fire control crews were all Loyalist Verthandians, but most of them had already fled, abandoning their Kurita masters to their fate. According to the building monitors, that fire was spreading with ferocious speed through the lower sections. The Tower's remaining staff would have to evacuate Very soon.

There was still time to win the battle in the courtyard and to crush the rebel forces outside the city as well. If the reports were accurate, most of the mercenary BattleMechs were inside the walls of the University now, trapped by the sudden redeployment he'd ordered from the Tower a few moments before. From his vantage point, Nagumo could see the Courtyard spread out like a sand-table battle at the Luthien Military Academy, could look beyond the main gate and see his own forces massing for their assault. It had taken only a moment to consult computer records and find the forgotten passageway. That rebel woman, Helgameyer, had spoken of the tunnel during her questioning.

The tunnel would be part of Nagumo's trap now. Once the mercenary BattleMechs had been herded through it and into the courtyard, Nagumo's ‘Mechs would close in, Company A of the 3rd Strike Regiment through the main courtyard gate. Company B through the tunnel itself. Eighteen ‘Mechs would be more than enough to finish the four ‘Mechs that had been reported outside the walls.

The Gray Death would die at his feet in the courtyard below.

He hurried to his office, noting the empty passageways. Many of the building's workers had already fled. News of the fire in the Tower sublevels had spread quickly.

"Wait here," he told his guards, and he stepped through into his office. A strange drama was unfolding in the courtyard below his window. A Marauder—Kevlavic's Marauder—was emerging from the repair facility and advancing on the enemy commandos' perimeter.

Strange. The Colonel was in the hospital, still recovering from the amputation of his arm. Had one of the Techs powered up the machine in an attempt to rush the commando defenses?

The door hissed open behind him. He turned, a puzzled scowl forming on his face. "What do you..."

He stopped, open-mouthed. The girl who stood there held a stun pistol in one hand, a long, keen-bladed combat dagger in the other. She stepped past the senseless forms of the two bodyguards, her face an expressionless mask. She wore a form-hugging black outfit and combat harness, and her face was smeared with black camouflage paint.

"Who the devil are you?" he demanded with a scowl, though she looked familiar somehow. "Do I know you?"

"Don't mind me. General," she said. There was a strange light in her eyes, a touch of wildness. "I'm just one of the things you... usedonce."

"Now wait a minute. Put that thing down! Look, I've got money. I can make you..."

She continued speaking, her voice honey-sweet. "You really should be more careful of your toys. General. Sometimes they can turn on you, just when you're least expecting it."

She had stepped closer. Desperate now, he grabbed for the stunner in her hand. Her fighter pilot's reflexes proved faster, and her finger tightened on the trigger.

She had reset the stunner for a light charge after she'd used it to dispatch the guards outside. Nagumo was quite conscious when she tied him to his chair, conscious and fully aware of what was happening. His stunned nervous system simply had no control over his muscles.

For some time after, he couldn't even muster the muscular control that his throat and diaphragm needed to scream.

* * * *

Moments later, the Gray Death BattleMechs plunged into the slanting, early morning light in the courtyard. Khaled, the last one through the tunnel, reported that enemy ‘Mechs had been breaking into the factory compound just as his borrowed Shadow Hawkhad ducked into the passageway entrance.

They were surprised at the sight of the Marauderstanding there among the battle-haggard commandos, but Ramage was explaining as they stepped through into the light. Lori used a lightweight line to haul a combat transceiver up into the cockpit of the captured ‘Mech.

"Good morning, Sergeant! What's the situation?" she asked, once the unit was in place, clipped to her ear with the thin pick-up extended in front of her lips.

"Lori! It's good to have you back!"

"It's very good to be back." Her voice was unsteady, and the adrenalin pumped into her system at the sight of that inferno launcher still had her trembling. She kept her voice light, though, hoping Ramage wouldn't notice. She knew that Grayson already had, but she didn't mind that. "I'm relaying for the Captain," she continued. "What's happening?"

"They boxed us. They swung something like a company of ‘Mechs around outside and caught our people against the factory wall. Now they're out there and we're in here...and I expect something to be coming through that main gate, too, any minute now."

She paused to relay the information to Grayson, then reopened the channel. "O.K., Sergeant. Orders from the chief. Get clear of the tunnel. We'll take care of that. You all deploy to cover the main gate. Clay? McCall? Khaled? You all copy that?"

There was a chorus of assents. The Marauder,its canopy still hanging open, made its way toward the archway through which the Gray Death BattleMechs had just emerged. A short way into the shadows, a ramp opened, leading down one level. Beyond that, the tunnel entrance yawned, twelve meters tall and ten meters wide to accommodate the lumbering AgroMechs that had passed that way in more peaceful times.

Lori looked back at Grayson, hunched forward in the control seat.

"Careful of the control panel, Lori," he said. "Remember, our eject system is armed. One touch, and...whoosh!"

She glanced up at the cracked gray plaster of the ceiling, half a meter above the autocannon extending just over their heads.

"Just watch what buttons you push," she replied.

"Hold it...quiet a moment." He appeared to be straining at the darkness, listening.

"They're coming," he said at last. "Slow and cautious, but they're coming. It's a good thing there's no way to make a twenty-ton metal monster silent. I can hear a BattleMech's leg joint down that tunnel creaking and popping like a rusty old door."

Lori could hear the sounds, too, a far-off, hollow echo of metal scraping against ferrocrete. The Marauderpositioned itself close beside the mouth of the tunnel.

"Okay, Lori. When it goes down, I want youdown, flat to the deck. With the canopy open, we won't have any protection from the dazzle or the UV bleed from the PPCs."

Her eyes widened. "You're going to unleash those things in here?"

"None other. Theywon't be expecting it, either.”

“That's one way to look at it."

A long moment crawled past. Then Grayson spoke quietly. "Right, Lori. Dig yourself a hole in the deck."

Somewhere on that alien control panel there was a switch for the Marauder'sfloodlights, twin lenses under the canopy chin that could have bathed the black tunnel with the radiance of a sunny day. There was no time to find that switch right now. Instead, Grayson waited until he guessed the enemy ‘Mechs would be close, then stepped across the tunnel entrance.

The particle projection cannons mounted in each of the Marauder'sforearm heavy weapon mounts had been charged for several minutes already. He triggered the right'arm cannon first, squinting through the dark visor of his helmet with one eye only, the other squeezed tightly shut.

Man-made lightning glared with intolerable brilliance, starkly illuminating the clustered band of BattleMechs in blue-white radiance. For the split second of its existence, the beam of charged particles burned low across the left torso of the Centurionthat led the pack. The beam snapped off, plunging the tunnel back into darkness again, leaving the eyes and optic systems of the Kurita ‘Mech pilots momentarily dazzled by the PPC's glare.

Grayson opened his left eye, the one he had held closed, and peering into the darkness. Then he squeezed the eye shut again. His right eye still danced and watered with the green and purple disks planted there by the beam's brilliant discharge, but had cleared enough for him to place his second shot The Marauder'sleft arm fired, and again lightning seared through the narrow tunnel. The shot was higher this time and more toward the center. It caught the Centurionsquarely in the chest LRMs in the ‘Mech's chest pack rocketed into the startled darkness, trailing fire. Explosions sent fireworks flashing down the length of the tunnel, lighting up the company of ‘Mechs in sharp relief.

The Marauderdischarged both arm lasers in a quick one-two shot that scattered burning fragments of armor through the passageway. A Phoenix Hawkbehind the Centurionalso opened fire with its heavy laser, but the bolt went wide, scoring the ferrocrete wall across the passageway from the Marauder.

Both PPCs fired again. One bolt caught the Phoenix Hawk,shearing away an arm in flaming chunks of debris. The other drilled the Centurionhigh in the torso a second time. The unfortunate Centurionpitched backward, flame and molten gobbets of metal and plastic spewing from a gaping crater in its chest.

The Marauderstepped back away from the tunnel mouth. Bolts spit and burned from the tunnel mouth, followed by a pair of missiles that exploded against the far wall. Smoke was pouring from the tunnel opening now, and something burning in the passageway lit the darkness.

Grayson swung the Marauder'sright arm into the tunnel mouth, exposing only as much of the heavy machine as he needed to make the shot. The enemy ‘Mechs were caught in complete confusion behind the flaring light of the burning Centurion.Grayson triggered the PPC and the laser together. An Archertook both hits, one in an arm, the other in the torso. Considering the thickness of the big ‘Mech's armor, the damage was minor, but the Archercollided with a Stingeras its pilot attempted to back out of the line of fire.

Lori rolled over on the Marauder'sdeck and looked up at him. "Gray! Ramage is calling! They're coming through the front gate!"

"Damn," Grayson replied. "Do we hold here, or go help?"

"He says the gates have been blown clear off their hinges. He says that there are at least eight ‘Mechs coming through the gap, and that he sure could use our firepower."

"I guess that's the answer. Flatten down again, Lori." The Marauderstepped fully into the opening again, ignoring the wildly aimed bolts and missiles that whirled down the tunnel at them. Both PPCs triggered together. Blue light engulfed the struggling Archer,which still had not disentangled itself from the Stinger.In the dying light of the burning Centurion,Grayson fired his lasers into the tangle, watched the Archerstagger and topple in flailing metal limbs, dragging the Stingerdown with it. The tunnel was blocked, at least for the moment. It would take a concentrated effort to get the passageway clear enough for BattleMechs to squeeze through.

With the surviving ‘Mechs in full retreat down the sheltering darkness of the tunnel behind them, Grayson didn't think they were going to make that concentrated effort very soon. He had Lori suggest that Ramage post an anti-Mech team to watch this route into the courtyard, and then took the Marauderthundering up the ramp to the upper level.

An explosion rocked the tunnel behind them as a damaged ‘Mech exploded, bringing chunks of rock and ferrocrete down in dust-spewing ruin.

That was our way out,Grayson thought, grimly. With the tunnel closed, the Gray Death was trapped within the University Courtyard.

38

 

Smoke wreathed the Courtyard, providing some slight cover for the black-clad men crouching behind their barricades. The Courtyard grounds were still shadowed by the surrounding walls and buildings, but slanting, red-gold rays of Norn sliced through the rising smoke and dust clouds. The Courtyard gate had been blasted open, the cast steel warped and blackened by satchel charges packed with high explosives.

The smoke was heavier in the street beyond, where several vague shapes moved against a background of gray fog. Blue-white bolts of lightning flickered and probed out of the murk, shattering craters in the masonry above and behind the defenders, showering them with a powdery avalanche of crumbled stone. McCall had planted his beloved Bannockburn just behind themain barricade, and the Rifleman'squad weapons swung back and forth in tiny arcs across the opening. A shadow moved, and the ‘Mech's autocannons barked, spent casings trailing streamers of smoke as they spun away from the furiously cycling guns.

As the Wolverinewas crouched in an enfilading position across the Courtyard on the east side, in a position where it could catch the enemy in a crossfire as he came through the gate. Khaled had Grayson's Shadow Hawkhigh up on the roof of a two-story building along the western side of the court.

The Marauderemerged from the deep shadows of the ramp to the lower level, Grayson had Lori call Ramage on her combat transceiver.

"He says they rushed the gate about a minute ago, but pulled back when McCall opened up. He thinks they're still testing us."

Grayson raised the visor on his neurohelmet and wiped at the sweat pooling above his eyebrows. "That won't last long. They'll be along any..."

His words were chopped off by the shrieking hiss of incoming rockets, arcing on white contrails over the Courtyard walls and erupting in volcanic fury amid rubble piles, buildings, and crouching men. The barrage ended as suddenly as it began, enfolding the courtyard in an unnatural silence.

Grayson guided the Marauderinto the light and close alongside a three-story building. "End of the ride, Lori," he said.

Seeing argument in her eyes, a protest forming on her lips, he shook his head. "Quickly! I can't close the canopy on this thing, which is going to make this open cockpit a target! Now get off, if you don't want me to throw you off!"

Conflicting emotions struggled in Lori's face. "You need someone on the radio."

"Not anymore."

"What's the point, then?" Her face was flushed, her eyes bright. "We're trapped in here! Do you think I'm going to leave you now?"

Grayson hesitated, surprised. Then he smiled. "Look at it this way, Lori. Here I am, all set to eject if I get in trouble. But I can't very well punch out with you squeezed in next to the chair thrusters now, can I?"

Again, Lori's face revealed her inner struggle at this strange piece of logic. At last, she only nodded, then bent forward to kiss him, a deep, hungry but brief joining. "I love you," she said.

He held her for a moment, searching her eyes. He saw the love there, and his own spirit soared. Grayson nodded, squeezing her shoulders tightly. "I love you, too, Lori. Now git. And mind the hot metal."

She climbed out of the cockpit onto the open hatch panel that extended from the hull like a stubby wing. From there, it was a short leap across and down to the roof of the building. Their eyes met as she looked back at him from the rooftop, and then she was on her feet and sprinting toward the safety of an open doorway.

The next flight of missiles volleyed into the Courtyard an instant later, their detonation filling the enclosed space with light, thunder, and hurtling clots of debris. Close behind the missiles, a pair of vast and threatening shapes pressed up against the open Courtyard gate. Grayson recognized the squat, massive silhouettes against the battle fog. They were Archersrushing forward in a close assault role.

The Kurita command must be anxious to finish this,he thought. They could stand off and shell us into submission if they had the patience. What's their hurry?

He checked his weapons. Both PPCs were at full charge. His hands closed over the firing controls, and computer-generated characters on his console screens spoke of power levels, target locks, and combat-ready status. The PPCs fired together, twin beams arrowing into the first Archeras it strode through the swirling dust. The impact staggered the heavy ‘Mech, caught it off balance, and sent it lurching into one of the warped Courtyard gates.

Grayson hit the recharge and triggered his lasers. White-hot, minor suns flared into radiance close together, high up on the stricken Archer'storso, close by the cockpit. The Riflemanfired lasers and autocannons together at the same instant, and gouts of flame marked the detonation of autocannon shells in partly molten slabs of armor.

The second Archercrowded past the first, LRMs rocketing on flat trajectories into the black wall of the central University tower behind the Rifleman.Chunks of shattered ferrocrete and stone rained onto the barricades in a steaming, smoking avalanche that sent the commandos there scattering for deeper cover. The Courtyard had become a blazing hell where unprotected humans could not hope to survive for more than a few seconds.

The Wolverineopened up from its corner alongside the gateway wall, autocannon fire hosing across the second Archer.The Shadow Hawkjoined in from its position on the rooftop opposite. Three streams of high-explosive mayhem converged on the 70-ton BattleMech, transfixing it in fire and the stuttering flash of explosions.

The Marauder's autocannon was empty, but Grayson could still join in the litany of destruction with his lasers. A green light winked readiness on the charge for his PPCs. He fired them again, the searing bolts closely spaced. Fragments of white hot metal erupted from the Archer'sflat snout as the ‘Mech's cockpit took a direct hit. In an agonizing parody of slow motion, the stricken Archertwisted slowly, then toppled. It slammed into the ground with the shattering impact of a crashing aircraft, trailing an arc of black smoke from its smashed-in cockpit screen. Flames licked from the wreckage.

The first Archerremained on its feet, crouched back by the open gate, missiles rocketing into the Courtyard buildings. The machine was too close to its target to take effective aim with its LRMs, but it could and did shower thundering chaos through the smoking ruin of the court. Lasers burned white, their paths dazzling against the particles of dust and smoke that choked the air. Khaled nailed the damaged Archerwith a spray of autocannon fire that sent the heavy 'Mech staggering back out the gate in retreat.

More shapes surged into the gateway and stopped, hesitating behind the obstacle of the fallen, second Archer.A Griffin was in the lead, closely followed by a Waspand a Stinger.The Griffin 'sPPC stabbed flaring lightning against the barricade. The Riflemanstaggered back a step, struck full in the chest by the blow.

Clay fired a spread of SRMs at the Griffin ,three of the missiles striking the Kurita ‘Mech in the arm. The Griffin spun and returned the fire, PPC bolts slapping into the Wolverine'sarmor. Grayson crouched low in the exposed seat of his Marauderand urged the captured ‘Mech forward. The Griffin 'sPPCs were threatening to take out all four of the defending ‘Mechs.

The Griffin turned at Grayson's approach and hesitated. With a surge of triumph, Grayson realized that the Griffin 'scommander must be confused. The enemy ‘Mech's unit markings read Company A, 3rd Strike Regiment...the same unit as the captured Marauder.The Kurita MechWarrior would be looking through the smoke and confusion of the firefight and be seeing his own regimental commander's BattleMech. And that stayed the Draco pilot's hand for the critical second Grayson needed.

Twin PPC bolts lanced out from the heavy forearms of the advancing Marauder,striking close together in the heavy armor of the Griffin’s chest. Exposed circuitry sparked and flashed behind the pump and gush of green coolant fluid. Twin laser beams arrowed through the ruin, flashing plastic and tender wiring into superheated steam. The Griffin tried to turn, but actuators failed and power failed The deep-set, spherical head split open like a blossoming flower. For an instant, the enemy MechWarrior was visible, hunched forward in his control seat. Then ejection thrusters fired and the seat rocketed into the sky, leaving the Griffin frozen in place, a dead hulk.

Grayson swung the Marauderfor a shot at the next advancing ‘Mech and held his fire. A black-clad figure was dropping away from the Stinger'sfoot as it swung up to scramble across the fallen Archer.The satchel charge behind its knee exploded in a fine spray of jagged fragments and coolant mist. The leg came down, the savaged knee buckled, and the Stingercollapsed across the wreckage of the Archer.

The Waspstanding in the gateway swung an arm up and around, as though pointing out the scattering figures of the commandos. Machine gun fire flickered and yammered, chopping miniature geysers of dust in zigzags across the ground. Another black-clad figure rose from the debris nearby, rose and held its ground in the face of the hail of machine gun fire as it took aim with the weapon at its shoulder. The weapon thumped, and liquid fire sleeted across the Wasp'storso. The ‘Mech stood transfixed, a pillar of raging fire. Grayson found himself willing the pilot to eject, but it didn't happen. The inferno's white heat must have overloaded the emergency power to the eject circuits.

The blazing Waspand the tangle of wrecked ‘Mechs blocked the gateway completely. Grayson took advantage of the sudden lull to check his instruments. Except for the obvious problem of the open canopy, his ‘Mech was undamaged so far. The heat build-up from his use of the PPCs was extreme, but not critical. He'd not been moving the heavy ‘Mech much, and that helped. He eased his machine back into the shade of the veranda lining the Court.

He couldn't tell for sure without radio communications, but the other Gray Death ‘Mechs did not seem badly damaged. So far the Courtyard battle was all in their favor, with four enemy ‘Mechs destroyed or seriously damaged at the gateway, and at least two more out of action in the tunnel underground. Grayson knew, though, that there was no way their luck could last much longer.

Shapes moved through the wreathing smoke in the gateway. Armored hands smashed the burning wreckage of the Waspto the side, clearing the way for another BattleMech charge. An Archerloomed through the smoke, but Grayson couldn't tell if it were the damaged one returned or a new one. Autocannon fire and laser beams lanced across the Courtyard, clawing at the massive shadow. The Archerdid not return the fire, but bent to the task of dragging the wreckage of the destroyed Archerto one side.

Grayson opened up with his PPCs and lasers, but directed his fire to one side of the struggling monster. Craters gaped and cracked in the stone wall beside it The archway over the gate shivered and flexed. Blocks of stone showered onto the Kurita ‘Mech, but without apparent effect. The entire gateway began to crumble as the Shadow Hawkand Wolverineadded their autocannon fire to the effort. The Riflemankept its weapons trained on the Archer,burning chunks from its arm and side, flaying open raw patches of twisted armor.

Smoke, dust, and falling rubble were so thick that Grayson could hardly see past the death-choked gateway. Another shadow appeared, looming squat and powerful as it shouldered past the Archer.With those long, heavy PPC cannon barrels that made up the ‘Mech's forearms, there was no mistaking that silhouette.

A Warhammer!

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