Chapter 1

The presence of the noonday sun was making itself felt as the inside of the stationary BattleMech heated up while the young warrior waited and pondered his situation. He was powered down at the moment so the heat pumps were not circulating the coolant through his vest nor were the fans stirring the air and he was beginning to get very warm. He sat there reclined in the battle seat thinking about the Marauder BattleMech and the number of weaknesses it has if a person could just look for them. There are several problems with looking however. One, you have to do it fast as they don't stand still for you to take advantage of them; two, they are usually shooting at you so you have to be fast or sneaky and three; in order to make use of the weakness you need to place your shots where they would count.

The upper leg narrows down to a flattened plate that fits into a hinge pin to create the knee. There is a lot of armor above the flattened area and the knee is well armored but for a small space, especially from the rear, the flattened plate is exposed and is very vulnerable, a medium laser hit on that plate would be enough to snap it. Another weak point is the connector ring where the legs and hips fit to the upper part of the body. Again small parts are open to direct shots that can do a lot of damage. Hits there can act as welds to freeze the torso, preventing it from twisting from side to side. The third and most apparent weaknesses are the elbows and upper arms. While the lower arms are massive and well armored to protect the PPC cannon and the medium laser contained in each, there is very little upper arm protection. In this location also, a medium laser hit is enough to cut through the weak armor and destroy the myomer muscles housed there. Such a hit would take that arm out of action and negates nearly half of the Mech's offensive weaponry.

The reason he had been thinking so much about these weak areas was that he was now waiting in ambush on a Marauder. While a Phoenix Hawk BattleMech is an excellent machine it is also 30 tons lighter than a Marauder. His P. Hawk had speed and jump capability on the Marauder, in all other areas it fell far short. Therefore it would be necessary for him to take advantage of any weaknesses in his ambush of that big Mech as they needed to take it out of the equation.

His boss, Major Nancy White, had told him, "Ward, just remember all we've been teaching you about vulnerable points on Mechs and the combat experience you've had up until now. Look for the weak points and capitalize on them. They taught you something very similar at the Soloris Academy, just remember and do it! You can take down a mountain if you concentrate on its weak points." While that might be true, mountains didn't normally shoot back at you he was thinking.

In the middle of a battlefield the Magnetic Anomaly Detector or MAG wasn't much assistance as there was metal from shot up vehicles and Mechs all over the place. If the battle was recent then the InfraRed detectors weren't much help either as some of the wreckage was on fire, still smoking or still cooling from being blasted. Then it was Mark 1 eyeball, motion detectors and luck. The young man was just hoping the pilot of that Marauder was overdrawn in the luck department.

His 'Sassy Lassy' had taken several hits during the initial combat so she passed for being shot up. It was all just light armor damage and paint scoring but she looked bad. One of the hits she had received had been from an inferno round. Ward had been doing some firing so his heat level was up and he went into instant shutdown. He didn't even have a chance to slap the override control. Before the infantryman could take advantage of his weakened condition however a Lance mate had shot up her and her squad. Now the Mech looked badly damaged and out of the fight. Propped up against another BattleMech he had shut down the fusion engine. He had his hand on the switch and was ready for a fast start but for now he was just so much more dead, cooling metal on the battlefield.

He knew the Marauder was close as he could feel the vibrations in the ground as it walked. Eyeballing through the side of the cockpit view plates he spotted movement. In a moment or two more it came into sight. It was even closer to him than he had thought it would be. With his finger on the start up switch he waited as it hesitated and looked around. Finally after what felt like two or three years it stepped forward again. Flicking the switch he grabbed the controls and when the panel turned green brought up the large laser to sight on the right leg just above the knee. He had decided to use the fudge factor, if a medium laser would do the job then a large laser would do it 'mo' better'.

His Tech had fine tuned the sighting computer until Ward knew that where cross hairs were was where the shot was going. He fired just as the left leg started to swing forward. Before it could complete the step the right leg folded under it, throwing it back and to the right. The Mech landed flat on its back, such as it was and lay there for a moment. While it was laying still Ward climbed to his feet, moved forward and pressed the large laser to the cockpit. With the left hand of his Mech he moved the Marauder's autocannon barrel to the side so the enemy pilot couldn't use it to fire on him. He then asked the pilot to release the hatch and exit the BattleMech. It was necessary for him to repeat himself several time as the pilot was still stunned but the hatch finally popped open and the pilot climbed out. The enemy pilot was totally pissed and enraged when he saw the weight of the Mech that had taken him out of combat.

While the pilot was dancing around having his temper tantrum Ward contacted Major White and told her that the ambush had been successful. She congratulated him and said she had troops moving forward to take the pilot off his hands.

While he waited Ward surveyed the battlefield. There were several light and medium Mechs that had fallen victim to the larger Mechs that the Pirates had sent forward. They were mostly part of the Bryceland Militia that had tried to defend this world. There were also several Pirate BattleMechs that had been shot up to the point of shutdown or defeat. His Battalion had plugged the hole that had been created in the line and now if they could just drive the enemy back they could move in and recover all of these downed Mechs. They had them moving in that direction if they could just keep up the pressure.

With the arrival of the troops to take the pilot Ward's assignment now was to move forward and spot for some of the Battalion's missile Mechs. They had two Trash Buckets that had moved up. While they aren't great one-on-one fighting Mechs they are superb as support Mechs. Ward moved into and up the gully. After moving several klicks he could see the trees on the other side that he had been looking for so climbing out and using them as concealment he looked over the enemy's formation. There was a Lance near him made up of two Griffins and two Riflemen. He was within medium laser range to them.

Calling in the plots to the Trebuchets he waited. Again it seemed like years before the missiles began to arrive. When one is close in under the guns of the enemy like that a few moments wait can seem forever! The missiles were right on the money of course and the first Rifleman went down. The other enemy Mechs started to scramble out of the area as the second salvo arrived. They were centered on the second Rifleman to make sure they didn't get into action. "Of course" because Ward had given up the medium laser on his right arm and had an Artemis IV Fire Control System mounted. They might have fired the missiles but HE was aiming them.

The Snakes now knew their opposition was inside missile range to them and were stirred up. There were two or three other targets within range of Ward so he called up the first of them. There were two J-27s ammo carriers that were reloading a couple of Archers. You don't just stop reloading in the middle and take off. The entire back armor has to be swung out of the way to get to the storage bins. It was into the middle of this juicy target that the sixty missiles hit. All the missile hits set off a chain reaction which blew up both '27s and one of the Archers. It knocked the second Archer off its feet with its rear armor still wide open, exposing all its internals, missile bins and everything.

Swinging them around he had them sight in on a field maintenance area. This might not take out any of the fighting Mechs but it would stop any more repairs being done on several injured Mechs and keep the Techs from closing the inspection areas, etc so the Mech could again go into action. The arriving missiles took out a field gantry and did further damage to two Mechs that the Techs were working on. When a Mech is opened up for repairs it doesn't take much to do major damage to one. With the armor out of the way you don't have to chew through it and the myomer muscles, internal frame and other very sensitive parts are exposed for easy damage.

The third target that was within their range was a small vehicle yard. While they were only support not fighting vehicles they would cause problems for the Snakes if they lost them.

While the Trebuchets were firing on the vehicles Major White called him again. "Ward, there're four Grifs in the gully below you. Call some shots for them, they're much closer than the Trebuchets and have a full compliment of missiles."

"Yes, Ma'am," came the only possible reply.

He started to plot the individual Mechs for the Griffins now instead of the Trash Buckets. With them closer and with full bins of missiles he could use the Artemis again, he hadn't on the maintenance yard and the vehicle compound. Ward had them continue firing on the targets until either they moved out of range or the Mech went down. He didn't care if it could later get back up, for the present he wanted to take them out of the fight and to do as much damage to them as possible. If the attackers could cause a panic from the Mechs falling over they might just be able to chase the Snakes away which would give them the battlefield and the battle.

After a Lance had been shot up, two down and two badly damaged, plus the explosions of all the other missiles landing that's what they did. They had heated the area up too much for them and the enemy Mechs pulled out. With one group in retreat it was easier to convince the others that retreating was a good idea.

"Major, the field's ours, they're leaving," Ward radioed to her.

"All Specters, move forward and secure the battlefield. Ward, take the Grifs and secure the area you had under fire," was her reply.

The five Mechs moved forward and checked each of the downed Mechs. In the two Riflemen they forced the pilots to come out. In two others there was one dead pilot and the second pilot was unconscious. The first Archer's pilot was alive but he had gone down face first. He was trapped until he got help to move the Mech as the emergency hatch in the back of the head had taken hits and was either jammed or warped so it couldn't open. His removal was accomplished by one of the Griffins pushing the armor panel back over the missile bin and then rolling the Mech over part way onto its side. That freed up the cockpit enough for the pilot to release the hatch and climb out. The second Archer pilot had been killed from the chain reaction of missile explosions. At the field repair area they captured several Techs who had been abandoned when the Snakes had pulled out. In firing on the vehicle compound they had shot up the techs means of escaping. The two Mechs the techs had been working on when the firing started were still there also.

That made eight Mechs that had been killed or captured in this area. Two full Lances. That can eat into a Company real fast. They had herded all the prisoners into one area and had them sit down. Ward was standing guard over them as his Mech was the best equipped for a situation like this. On top of the lasers, P. Hawks are armed with a pair of heavy machine guns also. They were much better as anti-personnel weapons than lasers.

He had just been relieved with the arrival of the infantry support when Major White arrived also. With the field secured he had popped the hatch of the Lassy and climbed down. He was running his fingers through his wet, matted hair when the Major walked over.

"The Trash Buckets get credit for six, Major. They took out the two Riflemen, the two Archers and the P. Hawk and Shadow Hawk over at the repair yard. Also two J-27s but you don't give credit for things like that. The four Grifs get credit for the two Wolverines that were dropped. I just get credit for good calls."

Looking at the tall, slender young man standing before her Major Nancy White just shook her head. "Ward, you also get credit for the Marauder, don't forget that. Don't complain. We work as a team here and this one little action cost the Snakes nine Mechs, five of them Heavies. On the field behind us I saw five more of theirs, all Mediums and nine Light and Medium Davion Mechs. That's three and a half Lances of Mechs that we have salvage rights to plus two lances of a company of Mechs which they can't salvage and we won't have to fight."

"Major, I know we work as a team but... Well I want to do some fighting. Not ambushes, not playing Forward Observer but some fighting. I still don't know if I'm any good and I want to find out."

"Terry, you're good. Damnit, do you think I'd have had you ambush a Mech nearly twice your weight if I didn't think you were good? You can get that damn Lassy of your's into tighter spots than I thought possible and work your way forward much further than I ever dreamed you could. The closer you get to the enemy the better our missiles are. You know yourself that missiles can shoot further than we can aim them. With a FO who is in close with an Artemis system we can do lots of damage and scare the living bejesus out of our enemies. It's team work that does it."

"Yes, Ma'am. I know all of that, but... How do I get shield credits calling in artillery or missile strikes? You know yourself that other pilots look at your battle shield to see what kind of pilot you are. They don't ask how many Mechs your missile strikes took out, they ask how many Mechs you took out. Those Trash Bucket pilots are both nearly double aces now because of the strikes I've called and I have three kills counting the one today. Major, I'm not trying to take credit away from those pilots. They've earned every bit they have, they're darn good shots with those missiles and because of it we take battlefields away from the enemy but still..."

"Ward, you'll get your kills. You're always in the thick of the action. Right now individual credits aren't the thing, taking over the battlefield from someone else is. This is the best equipped group of Pirates we've fought in a while. They are not only well equipped, they know how to use their equipment. Now go look into the repairs you need on the Lassy."

Major Nancy White stood watching the young man walk away. 'Young and impatient like all of us were at that age, ' she thought. 'Only 21 standard years, was I ever that young? Not bad looking, dark brown hair and tall, 190 centimeters at least and slim, only about 80 kilogram. Features too rough cut to be handsome but still not bad looking at all. The problem with the Solaris Academy is they teach one-on-one combat instead of unit movements, unit combat. They teach the individual instead of the team. Still he can get that P. Hawk in places I'd swear a Stinger couldn't go. Well, if he lived long enough he should learn.'

Acknowledging the order Ward climbed back into the Lassy and took her over to the field maintenance area that had been set up. She only needed a few plates of armor and a paint job. The armor they could replace now, the other would have to wait until the battalion got to a quiet area. Because of his Forward Observer duties Ward had a priority on repairs. His Tech hadn't caught up with them yet so he let the other techs there do the work. They stayed out of the cockpit, they only replaced the armor plates that had been shot up.

When they were through with her Ward took her back over to the newly set up company area and shut down. He then trudged into the mess tent to get something to eat. One thing about the Major, she brought everyone with her, not only the repair crews with the field gantries but the mobile kitchen as well. Joining the two Trebuchet pilots he congratulated them on the shooting they had done.

"I told the Major that between the two of you we stopped six Mechs. You'll be getting the credit for them shortly. Any more and I'm going to start charging you guys for my services. You're getting more kills than many of the front line fighting Mechs."

"You call good plots, Terry. That helps our shooting a lot. That and the Artemis. If you don't charge too much then I'll pay up. What're your rates?" asked Billi Howell. She was the leader of the two support Mechs.

"For you Billi, I might make a 'special' rate. Sure you want to pay it?" he said leering at her.

Laughing she swatted him on the arm. Leering right back and wiggling her eyebrows she replied "If I took you up on that you'd run and you know it. Really though, thanks for the good plots and more thanks for seeing that we got proper credit."

The subject changed to other things and they chatted while eating. The Major was right, Snyder's Snakes were the best equipped and run pirates they had ever come up against. Most of their equipment was first rate not the trashed Mechs one normally expect of pirates. These pirates had a full support crew. They were also much heavier Mechs than any of the pirates they had found before had been running. Soon the Battalion was saddled up again and moving forward. You don't keep a battlefield by moving backwards or by standing still. The Battalion moved forward a couple of klicks and while they waited in place sent infantry scouts in sneak suits forward to find the enemy. When night fell they moved again until they once more spotted the Snakes.

While they had sentries out it looked like the rest of the enemy Mechs were shut down for the night. The Major slowly brought a company up in front and one up on each side of them. Ward had been moved all the way passed them and part way up a small ridge to the their rear. There was a large outcropping of granite slabs part way up the ridge that served to shelter him from sight as well as from most sensors. It was situated right where their scouts had said. When the fighting started he could call in missile strikes from this location on those withdrawing from the battle.

When Ward was in position he gave two clicks on the mike and the Major gave the firing order. All hell broke loose on those poor Snakes. Mechs came charging through from three sides and before they knew what was happening several of their Mechs assembly areas and the pilot areas had been captured, several tents housing support troops had been cut off and the equipment and supply depots had been captured. All this in the opening seconds of the conflict. The sentry Mechs were able to hold up the deeper penetration long enough for some of the other Mechs to become active.

Of the nearly two Battalions that had been encamped a full Battalion was cut off and captured in the opening moments of the battle. A company here, a Lance there and before you knew it a Battalion had been put out of action. The surviving Mechs were not in any type of formation and had no battle plan. They just fought as individuals trying to survive. Some were able to join up to stage a more orderly withdrawal. In doing so they retreated straight towards Ward. As they began to come in closer he was talking to the Trebuchet pilots and calling in strikes. The Griffin pilots were involved in close action and were not available for this round.

There were too many targets for the missile strikes to stop everyone. Using the outcropping to rest the arms of his Mech upon he took careful aim on the first Mech approaching. It was an injured Archer. Just as it was stepping forward he fired with the large laser and hit his cockpit. The hit, the earlier injury plus the hill all contributed in knocking it over.

The next Mech was a Crusader that was backing up the hill firing back at any available target. Waiting until it was nearly to him, he then fired first the large and then the medium laser. The two hits ate through and destroyed the right rear portion of the torso. It set off the LRMs stored there and it went down also. He was able to call strikes on the two Dragons that were approaching him which knocked them both down. One was struggling to rise so he fired on it and it stopped. The missile strike also took care of a lot of infantry that was trying to retreat in that direction. The rocks which he was hiding behind had a lot of friends and neighbors that were covered by only a thin layer of dirt. The missiles that missed the Mechs turned the rocks into flying razor sharp shards that cut down the poor foot soldiers like a thrashing machine through a wheat field. With multi-targets like that he hadn't used the Artemis, he just called in tight plots.

A Grasshopper, two Warhammers and an Awesome were the next group heading his way. They stopped at the base of the hill and were firing back at the attacking Mechs. They stayed bunched together and this allowed Ward to call in missile strikes on them. He had called for the fourth volley on the same target when the Trebuchets called up that with this volley they were dry. When the volley arrived it was enough to force the enemy to abandon their position but to do so they were now turning to face him. All 45 tons of him against only 290 tons of them! He might be able to live through this as they had absorbed four volleys totalling 240 missiles. They had taken hits on the head, chest, arms and all parts in between. The Awesome which had been the center of where he had called for he strike had lost most of its chest armor and the others had lost guns as well as much armor.

When the Awesome turned Ward hit him square in the middle of the chest with the large laser using the gaping holes from missile hits as his target. With little armor to stop the blast it exploded when the shot breached the engine shielding and the engine. That was what saved him as the explosion knocked the other three down. As the Grasshopper and one of the Warhammers struggled to get up he was sniping at them to keep them down. The Grasshopper finally rolled over onto its chest and extended its arms firing medium lasers back up the hill at him. From that position he couldn't see and was firing blindly and the shots he was making were hitting low on the rocks that Ward was standing behind. It also only allowed him the two medium lasers as everything else on the Grasshopper was torso mounted and his torso was pressed against the ground.