January 19, 3035, diary of Daniel Horgunse, Tyr/Kungsarmee Second Regiment, Training Company Alpha, Recon Lance (how I love to write that) I'd always wanted to be a Kavallrist, what you call a MechWarrior. I spent all my quarter-Cs on the simulator games when I was growing up. Not the gulping smile-faces, not the lance combat on kangaroos, the games as much like 'Mech piloting as possible. Minnesota Tribe Raid, Star League Divided, Davion for Glory, even the can't-win Hohiro Vanquished, I can tell you their strategies even today. As a gawky teener I spent my prentice wages on the training sims while I worked with my dad, who is an Astech at a Tyr secret base, servicing the scrap-heap 'Mechs which were all the Tyr saw for equipment, particularly before the deal with the Lyrans. Say what you can about the Elsies, old Katie treated us decently when it came to equipment. I worked on the'Mechs I loved and hung out with the pilots. (Well, I went for coffee and listened to their stories.) Just before the end of the Fourth Succession War, there was a raid on Skokie. My Oncle Fredrik's lance was one of the defending units. They did a classic combined ops canyon maneuver, with hidden infantry, VTOLs, the whole bit. They placed a juicy ambush at the end of a long river canyon. Between them, nine enemy'Mechs were salvaged. One was a Panther which looked as if it had been through a meat grinder. Ammo explosion took out the left arm and most of the center torso and killed the pilot. I was assigned to work on it. Javla, it was a beautiful machine! I had to rebuild the arm actuators almost completely . It is possible to take the central socket from the left hand actuator of a Clint and do a lot of reshaping on it and make it fit a Panther! I've proved it. It only takes two months of night work! I put in a lot of night work, and most of my paychecks. I kept my simulator training up, so my dating was limited to women who liked picnics - or holding wrenches. It took me over a year to fix Sluggo up. He'd taken a lot of damage. I got into the habit of talking to him during the long nights testing myomers - even with the Thornhill MAS, you can't rush a myomer analysis! When he was done, I gave him a coat of blue paint with yellow trim to hide all that blood red - and felt a little lost. Then the Major called me in. He asked if I'd transfer to one of the training units. I'd seen the posters in the 'Mech bays saying how desperately they needed Techs. Dad's training took over. I volunteered. Then the Major told me three things more: 1) I would be training under a Lyran captain. It was part of a supersecret deal where both the Dracos and the Elsies were sending officers to train our troops. He had to explain this one twice; I'd had my head in a 'Mech and hadn't been following politics. 2) The others training with me would all have the battlefield training I lacked. I'd have to work like crazy to be even adequate. But he thought I was sufficiently motivated to succeed. (Huh? I had my Astech credential now; I was no Robertson, but I could pull my weight.) 3) I WAS GOING AS A MECHWARRIOR. In training. The shock of joy this gave me hit as hard as a battle wound. I almost passed out. I don't know what I said to him. I only knew I had to tell Sluggo. There seemed to be a lot of people around the 'Mech bay as I made my way to the back hanger. Suddenly I saw Sluggo had a blue ribbon on him. And a label with D. Horgunse written on it. Then I did pass out. If you ever get everything you've wanted for years on a single day, maybe you'll do better at it than I did. I hope someday you get the chance, OK? Ja, I wore a grin like a vidshow country boy for a week. Then I said goodbye to everyone I'd ever known and Sluggo and I shipped out. Fierce joy and terminal homesickness clashed in my belly. Dad had given me a letter so he didn't have to say it all face to face. When you feel inadequate - and you will - remember that you're twice the Tech any of them will ever be! he told me. If I hadn't been studying so hard that whole trip, I'd have wanted to cry. February 19, 3035 Our lance commander is the Lyran, Elizabeth Rychek. She's short, which is an advantage in a cockpit. I'm 6'1" myself; after one of her long night watches is over, I've got kinks in places I didn't know I owned. She's soft spoken; it took me an expensive week to learn that orders are orders even when they're not barked. She's even polite to us ... but relentless. We train till we drop. Red Alert power-up drill. Run-and-Fire obstacle courses. Jump-and-Fire obstacle courses. Hide-and-Fire obstacle courses. Cliff climbing with lobster claws. Asteroid fighting, with the non-jump capable 'Mechs tending to lose contact with the ground and drifting away. Understudying the Astechs so we know maintenance (the only place I do well). Never mind if you've been a'Mech pilot for most of your life. Back to basics; unlearn bad habits (I'm OK here, too. I have nothing much to unlearn). Start over and this time DO IT RIGHT (that's the hard part). Hiro's worse. That's the only consolation. Takashi Hiro is the Kuritan commander of the Fire Lance. He's also the Company Commander. You should hear the Fire Lance groan back in barracks. Laura Micheaux waving her hands around begging somebody to kill her and put her out of her pain. Sven just grunts and carves up some inoffensive piece of firewood. Well, he's senior Kadett, he has to set a good example. Our lance, Kimi and David and me, try to convince them that our training is a piece of cake; we're waltzing right through it. Her Catapult, his Trebuchet, my Sluggo; they're all such sweet 'Mechs that Rychek can't help loving us. The Fire Lance doesn't buy it. Silverton said some particularly pointed things yesterday when I got KP. March 23, 3035 Sven's got us all out chopping firewood again. Punishment detail. I asked if anybody knew why. We weren't great today, but we didn't really mess up the way we used to. Appaarently some reporter interviewed Sven, Rychek, and Commander Hiro. All together. According to Kimi, who was on office duty and overheard, Sven did his best wooden Kadett imitation and Rychek and Hiro sniped at each other. They're always correct; each owes it to basic self-esteem to keep one up on the other in courtesy. But staff conferences are so icy you could skate on it. April 17,3035 I passed my pilot certification. Rychek bought me a beer in town. She's actually kind of human off duty. Sven led the initiation last night. It was worse than the Astech certification party. Somehow or other it seemed logical last night to show them how the Astechs made me climb the mech I was working on. There I was, climbing Sluggo without using the access code to get stairs. I had a rope around his left shoulder; I was dangling about mid torso when I noticed the vocal encouragement from below had slacked off. I looked down, and there was Hiro, waving to me to descend. I let myself down so fast I took skin off of my hands. He asked for an explanation. It seemed to take a long time to tell. Sven was standing beside me. He asked permission to speak. He told Hiro the whole story, how I'd been a tech for so long, that I'd never thought I'd get a chance to be a mechwarrior, that he thought I'd worked hard and I'd finally got my certification, against some rather heavy odds. He even said he'd take full responsibility. Hiro looked us up and down. There was a long silence. "Can you make it to the top, Horgunse?" he asked finally. "Yes, Sir, I can." "Prove it. If you make it to the head of your 'Mech," he paused, "then this never happened." If you think they cheered me on before, you should have heard them this time. Yes, I made it, even more stylishly than the time before. Oh, my head hurts! May 16, 3035 Basic retraining done at last! We got a speech from Hiro, and both officers agreed to give us a week's leave. We went out on the town to celebrate. There's the base tavern, the PX, the alehous in town, the smorgasbord shop -- we hit all the fleshpots. Wow. We were supposed to get leave in Ymir, ninety klicks away, but there's some kind of emergency; we have to stay close to base and keep our whereabouts known at all times. That puts a crimp in your lovelife! I have a week with no duty and a date with Lorette Swenson for tomorrow. So life could be worse! May 17, 3035 Life is worse. We've got incoming DropShips surrounding Jotunheim. Our air wing's gone already. We get to march upcountry. Lorette was understanding. That's nice. Somehow the town's home brew seems more enticing than it did yesterday. And the barracks never looked so snug. Bag packed, ready to leave. I've checked Sluggo over for luck. May 19, 3035 battle recorder transcription Why does this place seem so familiar? It 's one of Skandia's rifts, broken sharply by glaciers, further carved by a roaring river; not deep but very swift. The rock walls reach= out of sight, broken by strata of rubble, in crumbly layers. The Recon Lance under Rychek are advancing in a modified leapfrog, sticking to cover. Kimi can't pilot her Catapult as well as Hiro (gosh, he's good!) but she did a good camo job on her 'Mech; wherever she sets down, she blends. I'm still in blue and yellow. I loved my proud paint job once. Now I wish I'd stuck to mud! David ... David's Trebuchet seems to flow through the terrain effortlessly. He's seen combat before, of course. "Bird One to Bird Lance," crackls my radio, "I/R caught a possible at the end of the valley. Hard to identify." "Bird Two to Bird One," Kimi interrupts, "Positive I/R readings. Some are 'Mech sized; some too small." "Bird One to Bird Two, try to get a count." "Bird Two to Bird One, three or four 'Mech size, a lot of something else." I knew suddenly why this place looked familiar. Oncle Fredrik's canyon! "Bird Four to Bird One", I say. "Come in, Bird Four," Rychek's voice. I hope I know what I'm talking about. "Could it..." my voice could have been steadier, "could it be combined arms? Mechs and scout vehicles or hovertanks?" "Bird One to Bird Lance. Possible mixed force ahead. Look out for 'Mechs, vehicle, VTOLs, infantry, whatever. Think 360 degrees, guys. But don't shoot your own!" On the private link, "Not bad for a wrench jockey, Horgunse!" "Bird One to Dragon Leader. Possible hostile force. Heat signatures indicate mixed forces. Hovertanks, maybe." "Bird Two to Bird One. MAD confirms. Heavys and Hovers. Maybe more!" "Bird One to Dragon Leader. Seems we've got trouble here. Can you help?" "Dragon Leader to Bird One. Affirmative. Hold position; we'll close up with you." The simulators don't tell you what it's like to wait to be fired upon. We keep our radio transmissions to a minimum, things like "Forty klicks - two Condors, 10 o'clock!" "Two more, thirty five klicks, separating!" Now I see them, four heavy hovertanks coming in from 10 to 2 o'clock, zigzagging so it'd make you dizzy. "Bird One from Bird Two, the air is full of heat signatures. Something there besides..." "Bird Two and Three, this is Bird One. Get lost, I repeat, get lost! Bird Four, they're going to peel and fire. Try to pick 'em off as they start their turns." Somewhere ahead of us Kimi and David are going to ground. I'm trying to do the jump-and-fire sequence Rychek drilled us in. If you jump, they miss you. Zing, it worked that time. The second shot went by me too. "Bird Four, fire when you jump!" Expletives deleted from battle recording. I jump and fired my PPC. Naturally I missed. Rychek hits one; an armor shot, I think. Two more jumps till I was in the red... From the Fire Lance I hear, "Dragon Two to Dragon Leader, 'ware infantry!" Sven' s voice. The Fire Lance had caught up to us - but the hostile infantry had gotten past us and was attacking them! The Condors had masked the infantry advance. I wonder uneasily how many there were of the infantry. Wondering, I missed my evasive jump. Sluggo rocked wildly; I'd taken a hit on the right arm. I compensate frantically to stay upright. I see Rychek turn, sight, and fire in one smooth motion. Her autocannon five blasted, right down his exhaust! A bloom of fire. One Condor gone. "Dragon Two from Dragon Leader, one of my right side jump jets is hit. Attempting controlled landing. Stay clear." He must have made it because the next command was "Dragon Two, I'll take the right side clearance." The hiss of laser fire, and Sven's "Got my avalanche started, Dragon Leader. Looks like you did too. They're history!" We're switching frequencies, preprogrammed, of course. Over our latest channel we get a voice from the enemy, a command and answer in Japanese. "Hiro Okama, right flanking!" "Hai, Chu-i!" The next thing I knew, our Captain Hiro's Catapult is rocking past me, unstable in the air, with one jump jet belching smoke. Laura's Phoenix Hawk is following, not too close. Why get eliminated by your own side? Why take to the air at such an appalling risk? The cadet that tried that would be washed out in a minute! But Hiro isn't a cadet; he is a pilot with skill that'd make you weep with envy. He's proving it, too. He makes a safe landing in front of an enemy Rifleman, shouting something as he landed. Laura is shouting too as she follows "Don't do that! Don't do that! Don't.." she makes a safe landing, far in advance of us. Rychek's got a Condor smoking; I didn't seethe hit. Imiss Again. So do the three Condors. Davidson's Vindicator and Silverton's Archer are arriving on the scene behind Sven. Sven's Archer just stands there, firing long range missiles at the oncoming heavy 'Mechs. The range was extreme, but one of them returns fire. There are bursts all around us. "Himmel!" I heard Rychek "Cadets! Don't fire on us, blast your eyes!" "Dragon Three, this is Dragon Leader. Break off, this one is mine!" Laura's Phoenix Hawk turns away from the Rifleman to fire on the advancing Warhammer. A Shadow Hawk rises in the air, advancing on Hiro's Catapult, two on one. Rychek snaps, "It's up to you, Bird Four!" "What?" I say stupidly. She jets up to challenge the other Shadow Hawk. I jump and fire, reflexively. Nobody could be more surprised than I am as I hit the damaged Condor square in the hover fans, and watch him spiral out of control. Davidson's PPC and lasers fire from beside me, blasting armor off one of the two remaining Condors. Sven and Silverton run on by me to where Laura's Phoenix Hawk is holding off the Warhammer and a Crusader. She's staying mobile, not trying to fire much, just harrassing them and waiting for help. Just as they close, the Warhammer finally passes Kimi and David in their concealed position. They fire all they have, straight into its poorly armored back. David fires once and ducks down. Kimi stands to fire a second time. This time, two of her lasers hit, but the Crusader hits her. It's one of those flukes, a perfect cockpit shot. I hear Davidson's Vindicator fire again, PPC and both lasers. He misses with everything. I hit with my SRM four pack as the second Condor is coming in. The first Condor hits the Vindicator; some torso armor scaled away. The second Condor has taken out both my right leg jump jets. Fair trade; it's a cloud of smoke now. Rychek hits the Shadow Hawk. It hits her. Both torso hits, no major damage. The Rifleman hits Hiro's right leg. He hits it in the left arm. Our Archers target in on the Crusader. Kimi's 'Mech sways and falls. She seems to make no attempts to keep it upright. There's a gaping hole in the head. Sven hit with two mediums (he was too close now for the LRMs). Silverton misses, stepping in the river, sawing the air wildly with his arms, falling prone. Sven runs to draw fire away from him. Laura scores a hit on the Warhammer with her machine guns and large laser. I think she'd aimed for the head and got the torso, but it's a hit! (She's even worse at gunnery than I am.) Davidson's VIndicator braces itself beside me and fires everything at the remaining Condor. His LRMs hit it at the far point of its turn, and it drives straight into his PPC fire. No more Condors! He runs toward the battle. I limp after him, noticing for the first time that my left leg actuator has been damaged. Davidson is running, firing, running, firing, running ... It is an impressive display of firepower. It was also stupid. He shuts down. Davidson is OK; the volume of his monologue makes that clear. I limp right by him. If I can just get a shot in... but the other combatants surge back and forth; the air is full of heat and smoke. I can't get a clear target. Sven arrives to help Laura with the Warhammer. David got another brace of LRMs in, this time to its right arm. Its PPC is useless; cherry red on the sensors. Silverton pries himself up from the river bed. The Crusader fires its LRMs at the approaching Sven, hitting him in the left leg, then missing with its SRMs at David. Kimi's 'Mech lies still; I know she is gone. I see David bending over her. The Shadow Hawks continue to pound on each other; I really can't keep track of them. Hiro takes a bad hit. His Catapult keeps half its LRM ammo in the left torso; all was unfired. The ammo explodes. The force of the explosion spreads downward and sideways. The remaining ammo in the right torso blows. There is an appalling screeching of metal, audible even over the bass rumbling that followed the explosions. Both of his legs have been blown off! I limp faster, sure that nothing I could do will get me there on time. The Rifleman takes deliberate aim at the immobile Hiro. Sven can't see him; Silverton is in the river... Rychek's Shadow Hawk zooms past the Rifleman, firing as it comes. Her autocannon flashes along his torso without noticable effect. The enemy Shadow Hawk follows her closely. Too closely; its medium laser fires, fusing her right arm actuator. Too closely; as it follows Rychek, its leg hits the Rifleman with all the force of its motion. The Shadow Hawk's leg crumples; it rebounds from the Rifleman and falls to the ground. Large dents appear in the Rifleman's center torso. It sways heavily, but keeps its feet. Silverton runs toward the Catapult as Davidson moves past me. Sven is doggedly firing at the Catapult while Laura buzzes the Warhammer, firing only her machine guns, keeping her heat down while keeping him distracted. She keeps hitting, doing fleabite damage each time. He must have hit her again; armor is peeled back all along her torso now. Sven hist again, and the Catapult's right leg fell off! Silverton turns to the Warhammer as Davidson's Vindicator fires its LRMs into it. The Warhammer lets loose, and Davidson is unlucky. He takes hits from a PPC, an SRM sixpack, and two medium lasers. His left arm is hanging; there's something wrong with his right leg; his right torso looks like swiss cheese. He has only his PPC now, and the medium laser in his head. He fires both at point blank range as Silverton's Archer lets loose with its long range missile packs. I can hear the shouting on my radio link as everything connects; the PPC burst finds a hole in the torso armor and smoke starts coming from inside. When two of the long-range missiles find the same target, the Warhammer starts to sway. A gyro hit! The Warhammer fires everything it has left, and misses, so badly was it swaying. The pilot must be seeing everything double! Sven, meanwhile, has picked up the Catapult's leg and was using it for a club. He was having a grand time, whooping in Swedish and banging away at it. I think something has gone wrong with its targeting computer; it can't seem to hit him as he slowly beats it to scrap. And David hits with every long range missile he has, right into the Rifleman's barely-armored back. Some of the autocannon ammo explodes, the engine blows straight forward, halfway through the armor of the center torso front. You can hear the pilot coughing, then swearing as he tries to punch out and fails. Then, mercifully, the rest of the ammo blows. We couldn't have gotten him out. Hiro is beginning to make groggy noises from inside his legless 'Mech. He'd been knocked out and was only now coming to. The end is messy. Neither the Warhammer nor the other Catapult will surrender. We take the Warhammer pilot alive at last; the Catapult pilot dies when his 'Mech takes a cockpit hit. Rychek pulls me aside, keying the private channel. "I didn't want to leave you alone there, Daniel. But when I saw him take that hit! He'd been screaming about family honor, so I knew he wouldn't break off ... That Rifleman was a cousin or something even closer.. But it's not necessary to mention it to anyone, OK? Well, you did all right--you even hit something. You're blooded now." David is our field medic. He does his best for Hiro while Silverton and Davidson bury Kimi. Her Catapult is in almost perfect condition. It only lacks its soul - the pilot. And then we wait. It is not often that a Mechwarrior saves the life of a superior. It's more usual the other way around. Rychek has saved Hiro's life. They were enemies not long ago. It is possible they will be enemies again. What can he possibly say to her, "Thanks for the memories?" The dialogue between them sounds like this: Rychek gives a crisp status report, motioning to Sven to do the same for the Fire Lance. She ends by deliberately asking for the impossible "Permission to salvage, Captain?" Slowly, Hiro returns, "I regret I must refuse. The troops have earned their reward, I agree. Have them place salvage markers - but as many as are fit must continue. The relief of Jotunheim must not be delayed." A combined lance under Rychek marches forward while Davidson and I prepare to salvage what we can. The last exchange my recorder holds is quite mundane. "Perhaps we might share a flask of saki when I join you in Jotunheim?" And Rychek in the most formal voice of Japanese, "Honorable Hiro, I look forward to it" Back to BattleTechnology 10 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com