Had the Dragoons planned the DropShip's fall, they could not have halted the Ryuken 'Mechs in a better position for the ambush. Rockets roared out of the surrounding buildings, and hidden emplacements opened fire with the eye-searing pulses of laser and charged particle beams. A heavy Dragoon 'Mech bulled through the front of an apartment building and slammed into a Kurita Stinger.Both 'Mechs vanished in the dust and falling masonry.

When the air had cleared enough, Chou saw the Dragoon Thunderboltstanding over the mangled remains of the lighter machine. The Thunderboltraised both arms and slammed them down into the Stinger.Again and again, the fists smashed into the already destroyed Kurita 'Mech.

The ‘MechWarrior's savagery shocked Chou to his senses. He ordered his men to leave the ambush site at top speed. No longer would they fight on the mercenaries' terms. Chou took rear guard to assure that none of his men became trapped into a prolonged duel with the Dragoons.

Reserving his laser and missile fire for the part of Dragoon BattleMechs advancing toward him, Chou raked the infantry positions with a rolling volley of autocannon fire. At the moment, he was thankful for the Thunderbolt'spreoccupation with the downed Stinger.The two 'Mechs he faced were both lights. Combined, they massed less than his Dragon,giving him the advantage. He was going to need it against these blood-crazed mercenaries.

After the first exchange of fire, Chou noticed that the Dragoons were allowing him to increase the range by failing to make use of their superior speed. This action was so uncharacteristic of the last few days of combat that Chou wondered if they were waiting for something.

The pinging of his radar unraveled the puzzle. He had been caught in a second phase of the trap. Dragoon 'Mechs were jetting down from the tops of nearby buildings.

A dark blue Shadow Hawklanded to his right. Lurching out of the steam and dust of its landing, the Hawkcame at him at high speed. Its Armstrong autocannon was pivoted back in transport position, both arms raised above the cockpit. The 'Mech's hands clasped a monstrous steel I-beam, which it must have torn from a nearby structure. For one absurd moment, Chou imagined the BattleMech to be an ancient samurai, sword raised above his head to deliver the pear-splitting stroke that would cleave through his enemy's helmet. The instant was frozen in time for Chou as he saw the stroke coming. In a moment of perfect clarity, he knew he could do nothing to avoid it.

The I-beam came down on the Dragon'scockpit.

47

Government House, Cerant, An Ting

Galedon Military District, Draconis Combine

13 January 3028

 

“What did I miss?” Jerry Akuma said to the air in his tower office of the Government House. The only answer was the faint susurrus of the air cooler.

He shoved his chair back from the desk, threw himself to his feet, and began to pace the room. When Akuma passed the desk for the third time, he stopped with a jerk. His hand struck out, closing on the bronze dragonhead that decorated the desk. Then he whirled, hurling it at the wall. The paperweight smashed one of the video monitors, and shards of glass scattered over the floor. Circuits sparked and a thin plume of smoke crawled from the ruin, only to be sucked away by the room's circulation system.

Frackencrack!

Two days ago, Sho-saChou had died in a Dragoon ambush, and the Ryuken had begun to fall apart. Without Chou's leadership, the unit was no match for the numerically inferior Dragoon forces.

Things had looked so good at first. The riots and the capture of the Hephaestusstation had seriously distressed Wolf's Dragoons. Though Akuma had not been able to incite Wolf to attack the local populace, he had succeeded in deeply angering the hard-shelled mercenary. Angry men made mistakes. But if Wolf had done so, Akuma had not detected any.

When a Dragoon BattleMech company had unexpectedly reached Cerant Square before Chou could begin the attack on Boupeig barracks, Akuma thought he had gotten his overreaction. The Dragoon 'Mechs had not attacked any Kurita assets, however. Instead, they had overseen the evacuation of Wolf and the other Dragoons at the Administration HQ. Taking this as a sign that the Wolf's nerve had failed, that the Dragoons were on the run, Akuma had believed that the principal thrust of his plan was still on target.

Later, when word came that the same company of 'Mechs had disrupted the assault on Boupeig barracks and thereby warned the defenders, Akuma got his first taste of what commanders throughout history had learned—no plan survives contact with the enemy. He had not liked the flavor at all.

Indeed, he learned to hate it as it became his main course. Boupeig barracks refused to fall. Day after day, the Dragoons failed to show the morale collapse he had predicted. Fighting with efficiency and tenacity, they had forced Ryuken- ichito split its battalions to protect sensitive areas of Cerant.

The Dragoon reaction did not make any sense to Akuma. Their mewling morality placed a foolishly high value on their civilians. The losses he had arranged among those civilians should have broken the ‘MechWarriors' will to fight. Instead they had resisted, each day more fiercely than before. Even attacks against the grounded DropShips loaded with those worthless laymen seemed only to fuel the martial fervor of the Dragoons.

The Ryuken had been a disappointment. From the start, the pitiful line officers could not even handle the disorganized Dragoons. Each day brought new tales of disaster at the hands of the ravaging bands of mercenary 'Mechs and infantry. Malking infantry! In Akuma's day as a ‘MechWarrior, no Kurita soldier would have feared infantry. But these Ryuken officers cried every time they had to go near a building, afraid that some sweat-soaked groundpig was going to jump out and gut their 'Mechs with a vibroknife. Incompetents and cowards!

There was nothing left to do on An Ting. While Chou had been in command, there had been some hope of reversing the military situation. That hope had died when the fool had gotten himself ambushed and killed two days ago. It was time to withdraw and revise the plans, to continue the destruction of the Dragoons from somewhere else.

Once Akuma had set up a new headquarters, he would order the release of all the carefully gathered evidence of Dragoon disobedience, as well as the meticulously created “evidence” of their misdeeds. Once that material was in the hands of the public media of the Successor States, the Dragoons would be universally condemned. Everyone would consider them to be outlaws, which would validate any action the Combine might take against them. Should any mercenaries survive the Dragon's onslaught, they would never again find employ, destined to die broken men with evil reputations.

Jerry Akuma considered the failure on An Ting as an annoyance, not a defeat. He would not give up. The destruction of Wolf and his Dragoons was no longer just a sideshow, a way to torture that sanctimonious bastard Tetsuhara. It was personal now. Only Wolf's death and the elimination of all that the gray-haired bastard held dear would satisfy Akuma.

The sounds of distant explosions reached him through the room's outer transplex wall. Looking up, Akuma saw the flashes of energy weapons and the gray trails of missiles arcing over the battle site. The Dragoons had begun their assault. He held no illusions about the Ryuken- ichi'sability to hold them back, however. In an hour, the Dragoons would be storming Government House. It was time to leave.

The door to his office opened to admit Quinn, returning from his last errand. Akuma turned his gaze back to the distant battle. “Is my 'Mech readied for the trip to the DropShip?” he asked, without turning around.