From the upcoming book Battle Diaries of the '39 War, A Study in Futility. Fraser College, Ryde University, 3040. There I stood on the tarmac of the Northwind spaceport at false dawn, with the morning fog rolling about me. The Union- class DropShip that the Major and I came in had landed just minutes ago. Major Jamieson of the 22nd Avalon Hussars had been met by a jeep which was close to overflowing with security police and had driven away. They would be back for me soon enough, so I took the time to reflect on the reasons why I was here and to supervise the unloading of my Crusader-L. Two weeks ago, on Quentin, my captain asked me to go to a top-level security meeting on Northwind in his place because his wife was soon to have a child, and he didn't want to leave her. I agreed to go. Now here I was. Sgt Justin Karlton, winner of the Draconis March Pentathlon of 3037, one of the top twenty swordsmen in the RCT - a lot of good that would do me in a meeting with some of the most important military figures in the Draconis March. To say the least, I felt a bit overwhelmed. A few minutes later ajeep pulled up with only two figures in it. It was hard to tell, but I didn't recognize anyone important. I waited for them to come to me. A figure stepped out and came towards me; quickly I realized that this was Field Marshal Bisla. I came to attention and gave her my best salute. "At ease, Sergeant," she said. I slowly relaxed as I took her in. At the age of forty-eight, she was in charge of the entire Addicks PDZ; she looked quite competent for the job. "Why are you here, Sergeant? I had been expecting Captain Smythe of the First Battalion." "Yes, Ma'am. His wife is very close to labor. It's in the letter; he chose to send me because he wanted someone who would think of the problems from the point of view of the combat soldier. Ma'am." "Yes," she said thoughtfully. "I read your file. You actually own two Mechs, a Crusader and an Awesome. Do you have a preference between them?" "No, ma'am; I will pilot either one. At this point the Awesome I inherited is in the family vault on Quentin. The Crusader fit in better with the other Mechs in the lance and.." "Uh, ma'am," interrupted the driver, "You asked to be reminded at 0830 hours. The meeting is half an hour from now!" The trip to the meeting took half an hour. It was pure silence in the jeep the entire time. I kept wanting to ask things like why did she come out to meet me? What was going on? And of course, why was I - or any representative of the 22nd here? As soon as we entered the room, it was obvious that something major was going one. The Field Marshal quickly called the meeting to order and began to speak. It was a bombshell. "In two months, the Federated Commonwealth will be making four thrusts into the Draconis Combine. Those of you who are in this room represent the units who will be taking part in one of those thrusts. Our First Wave will attack Athenry, Pike IV, Telos IV, Nashira, Biham, Halstead Station, Ancha, and Sadachiba. The war will begin on April ninth. Now for unit assignments: The 22nd Avalon Hussars regimental combat team will make the Initial Landing Zone on Nashira and hold it until June fifth, when they will be relieved by the 2nd Kearny Highlanders. The 22nd will then proceed to Telos IV and bring that into the fold as well. The 5th Lyran Guards will lead the attack on Biham..." In a state near shock I realized that he was talking, not just about a raid, but that full-scale war was beginning again. Two Months Later The drop onto Nashira went like clockwork. We landed in the swamps just north of the spaceport. Captain Smythe led us out of the swamp under the cover of darkness. Our first two objectives were to take out the artillery batteries and the aerospace facilities. I had been temporarily placed in command of a lance made up from the various Mech companies which took part in the assault on the aerospace launch site. Along with my Crusade-L were two Phoenix Hawks and a modified Rifleman. I placed the Rifleman in a concealed position at the end of the runway to fire upon any fighters that managed to take off before we could destroy them. The Phoenix Hawks' targets were those fighters which had not taken off: combining physical attacks with attacks from various weapons to wreck havoc on those slow burners. I took on the task of destroying the communications link atop the command tower. As I jumped up, I got a clear picture of the progress of the other battles. The Medium Armored Regiment was keeping the planetary militia busy outside the city. The infantry regiments were landing just outside the city, ready to take it street by street. Battalion A of our Mech regiment was easily taking out the artillery groups to gain control of the spaceport. I made my landing on top of the control tower with a flourish, only to hear an ominous creaking below me. With a crash, the roof fell in, broken under the weight of my Mech. I made a lucky grab at the edge of the communications dish mounted on the rooftree; the dish flipped over, giving me an even better handhold. I dangled there for a moment then let go with my left hand, using it to clear the top floor of whatever human life remained. I retriggered my jets, burning my way down to the ground floor, then bashed my way out of the tower. In twenty minutes the spaceport was ours. The rest of the DropShips came down, and we went after the planet's home forces. It was a tense, week-long hide and seek game before we mopped them up. For the next three weeks we had to deal with a sort of underground movement which kept up the harassment of our forces. An example of this: I was walking from the commissary to our temporary barracks when a young boy of five or six came up to me. He whimpered that his sister was hurt in the rubble of their apartment building. I told him not to worry, and asked an infantry squad just coming off patrol to help me to get her out. We drove to the place; six of us dug while two watched for snipers. After twenty minutes we found the girl. As our medic was treating her, I turned to speak to the boy and saw our guards crumpling to the ground; they'd been attacked by six of the locals. As the insurgents circled for the attack I noticed that they had no guns. I drew my sword to meet their attack, and signaled to the rest of the squad to do the same. In almost no time the untrained attackers were unconscious or dying; the children were nowhere to be seen. A private asked with smothered hostility, "Sir, why did you restrict us to hand weapons? And why did you let the kids get away?" I resisted the impulse to snap. "I restricted you for two reasons. They had only hand weapons; we could see they didn't know much about fighting, so I knew it would be easy for us to take them. And, Private, you don't get many answers from a corpse! To answer your second question: I wanted those children to get away to report that we tried to take prisoners, not just to gun down these hostiles. Because we took them so easily, it won't be read as weakness, but as mercy. It may make it easier for those who come after us who'll have to pacify this planet in their dealings with the locals." I didn't want to tell him how sick I felt, making war on kids. When dawn rose on the fourth day of June, it came with sounds of DropShips. I assumed that the snakes were striking back, and that we were going to get it now. It turned out that the Highlanders had arrived a day early, to all of our relief. During the next week, the 22nd prepared for our next battle on Telos IV. To aid the incoming garrison we kept our patrols up to the end. We wanted the locals to know that Davion was here to stay. The flight to Telos IV was almost perfect till we came in at nadir point. For twenty-two hours we shuttled off to the planet; then the aerospace fighters began theirattackon our convoy. It is one of the most terrifying times that a MechWarrior experiences, a feeling of supreme helplessness, of having no way to fight back. For the next twenty-six hours there was continual sniping at our ships. We didn't lose many DropShips, but the fighters were able to disperse us enough so that we couldn't reach our primary targets. The Leopard-class DropShip I and my lancemates were on ended up nose first in a swamp on the other side of the world, three weeks of slogging travel from where we were supposed to be. My lance by now consisted of: myself in the Crusader-L, Jessica Ross and Skye Troy, who both pilot Catapults, and Nicholas Burke in his Battlemaster. it was commanded by Lieutenant Devins in his Battlemaster, who would apprise HQ of the situation as it developed. We began our travels, not in an optimistic mood. As it turned out, with the exception of the 15th Dieron Regulars Fighter Wing (which we had run into as they had been on maneuvers in this system), the planetary militia had immediately dispersed into the countryside to begin operating as guerillas. By July First, we'd almost gotten to our command camp without seeing any activity not natural to the flora and fauna of Telos IV. Two hours, two hours, outside the camp we came across a unit of light armor waiting in ambush. We were spread out; I was on point. I took in the situation with a glance: ambushers, our approaching convoy which was their target; it was up to us to act quickly. I spoke on the tight band, "Jess, Skye! Two Hunters, one Striker tank, 10 o'clock." Jess spoke up, "We've got just a short time to set up, but this looks like a good time to see how well these Swarm SRMs work!" Skye was enthusiastic, "If they really do use hundreds of submunitions to devastate an area quickly, they'll blanket-fire and cut down on missile wastage! We don't have that many, so we'll be able to make them count!" We made our way quietly and slowly into place behind the ambushers (how I grudged that slowness with our troops in constant danger of attack!) We got there without alerting them and opened fire, catching the ambushing Snakes with out own ambush! Jess fired upon one of the Hunters while Skye let loose on the other. I'd decided that the Striker was mine. All of Jess's missiles hit, and all but one of Skye's. Mine missed the Striker, but went right on, seeking out the Hunters on either side of the tank and completing their destruction. We spooked the Striker into running out, right in front of the convoy. With tire from our lance and the convoy, the tank was history in minutes. At last we were home. When we reported for duty, we were told that those three tanks were the last effective of the planetary militia. The government of Telos IV handed the world over to our forces with almost no fight whatsoever. We broke the RCT in half so that we could be ready for the orders to begin the second wave. The rest of the regiment was to stay on as a garrison force. We patrolled for a week or so, waiting for the orders to come. July 29, 3039 I won't forget that date in a hurry. I was on a long solo patrol sixty kilometers outside the spaceport when the word came through. The Steiner High Command was assaulted by DEST commandoes! Almost the whole High Command was dead or severely injured; the replacements were more conservative in policy. The Steiner forces had stopped their advance. Great, here we are in the middle of the Benjamin Military District and the bloody Steiners have gotten cold feet! I went over the top of this little hill and got the worst shock of my life. Below me was a battalion of combined arms. Types of vehicles I had never seen before, anywhere! A cold feeling entered my soul as I looked upon these devices. Fear washed over me as I looked at them. These vehicles cannot exist! I had to get the information back to base at all costs. But how could I describe these ... things? Carefully, I scanned their numbers, attempting to figure out what we were going to have to deal with here. Then I recognized one of the Mechs, which my father had told me about as part of a history lesson. It was what he'd called the Exterminator, with specialized heat sinks and an antimissile system. It was a Mech which hadn't been seen since Kerensky's time! Those Kuritans had to have found a Lostech cache of incredible size! I knew that hell had broken loose. I swallowed twice before I called it in. But my report was not the only one! Reports were coming in from everywhere; we'd lost a battalion already. Orders were to pull back to base camp. Then a huge monster of a Mech came at me, already firing its weapons. The thing was obviously an assault Mech of some sort, which was armed with two particle projection cannons and some sort of laser. I began a retreat back to base, followed by this huge horde of nightmares, with the one big Mech chasing me every step of the way. I was within five kilometers of base when I saw the first DropShips taking off. A retreat off planet! I didn't waste any time, with the size of the attacking force behind me, and the means of retreat leaving the planet before my sensors. Listening to the communications, it was clear that we were down at least FOUR HUNDRED AND NINE of our forces. I was the last friendly in sight as I neared base camp; the last of the DropShips began to take off. I was three hundred meters away. I ran even faster. The DropShip must have had me spotted; it hovered thirty meters off the ground. I noticed the open Mech door and I jumped for it! Just as I saw I was making a clean approach to the door, I felt piercing blasts shatter through my rear armor, penetrating my engine shielding. I veered this way and that; my gyroscope had been destroyed! I was in the DropShip! In fact, I was slamming into the walls of the Mech Bay. I had lost control of my Crusader-L; nothing was left of it but scrap to repair other people's Mechs. And I did massive damage to the walls of the Mech Bay. I was in the infirmary when my unit was told that it had to repair the Mech Bay during our long voyage of retreat. The Commander decided to send us back to Quentin to resupply and reequip. It took us three weeks to get back. You might think it was impossible to dodge the Captain of a DropShip for that long. Not quite; somehow I was able to. I wasn't eager to hear him on the subject of the damage to his Mech Bay. We came into the nadir point in the Quentin system and announced our presence to our security forces so we wouldn't be shot down on sight. We landed on August 29. Our commanders gave us seventy-two hours of home leave. So I went home. This Isn't Easy to Tell When I got to my father's apartment, there was a sign on the door. It was for rent. I checked with the manager. It seems that my escape from Telos IV had been on the newscasts twelve days ago. My father saw me as I slammed into the Mech Bay. He had a seizure, certain I was dead. I had lived but he, safe on the home front, was dead. This war of Prince Hanse's was ruining everything! We were losing everywhere. It had cost me my father and my Mech. That Draconian in the mystery Mech was going to pay! He had killed my father, destroyed my Crusader, and ruined my reputation with my unit! I took the old skimmer out to my family vault. It had been hidden during the First Succession War; only my father and I knew its location. I had not been there in nine years. I turned first to the small chamber at the heart of the vault. There was our family's greatest heirloom, in an airtight case. I took it in my hand. A simple broadsword, dating back to fifteenth century Terra, so old no-one remembers how it entered our family, nor which of my ancestors was the first to use it. Carrying the sword, I went to the main vault. There he was, Demonicus. The family Awesome. I had piloted Demonicus throughout the Fourth Succession War. And he was going to master the battlefield again. Together we would teach that snake a lesson he would never forget! I turned on the reactor. I cleared all the weapons systems, checked down all the boards and got green lights. Last of all I loaded in my gear. On impulse I made a rack for the sword in Demonicus' cockpit. All the family weapons could take part in my revenge. Certainly I would never return here. Leaving the vault door open I began the long walk back to town. As I was moving along I tuned the Awesome to our current lance frequency; I heard Skye and Jessica wondering if I'd got it in the raid. I called in and asked them what they were talking about. Apparently the Ryuken units which hit us on Telos IV had followed us, opening their offensive on our planet just yesterday. There were eight Ryuken units, including the one which I'd been chased by. INCLUDING THE MECH WHICH DESTROYED SO MUCH I HELD DEAR! A plan came into my mind. I told Jess and Skye about an island sixty kilometers away where we could collect the remnants of our unit and entrap and destroy a few of the Ryuken in return for what they'd done to us. And so we began "Operation Deep Six". We met at the beach just across from the island. It was just two hundred meters away. They told me that they'd been in contact with the Union-class DropShip which had already landed on the island. The ladies went across and concealed themselves. And I placed myself in the shallows waiting for that snake and his buddies to come, so I could make them pay. Suddenly, undramatically, they appeared over the horizon, two Hunchbacks, two Panthers, and the new nightmare Mech. I shot at that murdering snake and watched with satisfaction as his left arm, then his center torso armor began melting down. All the hits I took were minor except one; the Panther on my right took off almost a ton of my right arm armor. The lance advanced towards me and we all five fired again. They all missed. It was great! All three of my PPC shots hit that monster Mech. Two of them hit on the Combine symbol, melting it right off of him, and one hit his left leg. I stepped back into the waterwhile the Panthers jumped in after me. For a few seconds we lost each other in the underwater murk; then it cleared, and we had contact. One of the Panthers was a little close; I trashed him with triple PPC shots into his torso. The Panther just vaporized. The Thuglike Mech struck me with a dual PPC shot and laser in the center torso, while the other Panther hit my right leg with its own PPC. We fired at each other again; my center torso took all three PPC shots. My gyro and my engine were destroyed! But I was able to get a PPC shot into the second Panther's head, and a shot into the right leg of that monster Mech who had now so completely destroyed my life. My Mech was filling, and I had to eject or die underwater. I made sure I had the broadsword before I pushed the eject button. Somehow I made it to the surface; ridding myself of everything but my broadsword. Carrying the broadsword I swam to shore. As I pulled myself out of the water, I heard the steps of a Mech behind me. I whirled around. There was my nemesis. I shouted in words my ancestors might have used, "I will take my vengeance on you!" The roar of jumpjets was loud in my ears as Jess and Skye rocketed out of cover to destroy this menace. They let loose all of their missiles from the Catapults' pods, destroying the head of my enemy. When the smoke cleared, I saw that the pilot had ejected just before the missiles struck. He was touching down thirty meters away. I knew that I would get my chance for revenge now. I looked at the Kuritan as he got himself out of his harness. He was not very distinguished. He looked like hundreds of pictures I'd seen of citizens of the Draconis sphere of influence. He stripped off his cooling vest and neurohelmet as I approached, then drew a katana. He was ready to continue our battle. I readied my broadsword. Speaking very slowly, so he'd be sure to understand, I recited my accusations, "Whoever you are, Kuritan, you have dealt me three mortal blows. You cut my Mech apart on Telos IV. You killed my father with that same blow. You destroyed my family's Mech underwater. There is nothing left of my life. Now I am going to take yours." "If you admit you are the walking dead, you do not deserve life," was his simple answer. He struck first, cutting through my parry, drawing blood from my arm. He was able to parry my own blade. I changed to a two-handed grip. Careless of defense, I aimed a massive strike into his side, dealing him a mortal wound. This -- I must call him a samurai -- changed his hold on his sword and used it as if it were a pick, thrusting it into my chest. I felt it puncture my lung. We withdrew our blades, then attacked as one, a final time. He swung his katana with a full blow which buried it in my hip and stuck there. I struck him at the base of his neck; my sword shattered as it hit his collarbone. The world was very quiet. We both released our swords. He looked at me without anger, even with pride. "We died well," was all he said. And then he fell. I looked at the sword which had been in my family for sixteen hundred years, now broken at last in battle. Like my family, it could fight no longer. I slowly sank to the ground. Blood was congealing on my sword. My own blood was seeping into the sand. My head was spinning. I began babbling to my sword. "You've been part of my family for so long. How much you must remember. What you've seen, what you've heard. If only you could talk to me. I would ask you ... the answer to one question. What have we fought for?" As I lay there my mind soared; perhaps only in my imagination I heard the sword answering. Child, for the decades and centuries that / have been used by your family, we have always served the same lord. You must realize that your vanquished foe serves that same lord also. You may try to serve the lord of life, but when you pick me up you change your allegiance. You can serve only death. That is the truth of the sword. And the truth of man is like it: life is a short eventful time, but death is forever. A warm dark curtain fell over me. My limbs became weightless. I drifted toward nirvana... I awoke to a bright light and a hazy shape, which slowly became clearer, formed into Skye Troy's face. It was tired, older somehow. I knew now that I had not died. I whispered, "Where am I?" "You're in a field hospital on Helen." "How long have I been unconscious, Skye?" "They've kept you under a lot. You've been out for almost two months since your fight with the pilot of that Thug." My face must have shown my confusion, for she went on, "The Thug is a Star-League era Mech which has an advanced internal structure, and a specialized ammunition storage bay which won't let the ammo blow up. Oh yes, it's faster than anything we know in its weight class." She was quiet for a moment, clearly wondering whether to go on. "The war has gone downhill since you were knocked out. Ardan Sortek was pushed off An Ting, losing all our gains since the beginning of the war. From then on, Kuritan forces seemed to be striking everywhere at once. During the month of October, Theodore Kurita led a series of lightning-fast assaults all the way up to Exeter. He was within striking range Of the Old Duke on Robinson, the Draconis March capitol. The Prince has had to deploy most of his forces just to contain the Draconis forces. That's the quick and dirty story of the last two months." Then the doctor entered with his welcome-back-to-the- land-of-the-living speech. I could go back to my unit soon. I could combine convalescence with retraining. Retraining on what? "No," Skye reassured me, "You aren't Dispossessed. You've got to get used to the Hunchback we captured, that's all. Maybe you hoped for the Thug? Well, the NAIS got there first. Talk to them in a decade or so." A Hunchback is a lighter Mech than I'm used to, but a Mech is a Mech. I was impatient for my release. All this dreaming and talking swords. If the war was going so badly, at least there would be a job I could do. I named my new Mech "Broken Blade" and practiced until I was proficient with it. Then our orders came through; what amounted to a water raid on Fomalhaut. This should be easy enough to deal with. They only ordered Company C, First Battalion, of the 22nd Avalon, the RCT. It's such a simple mission... Northwind, December 6, 3039 Casualty Report, Fomalhaut Company C, First Battalion, 22nd Avalon Hussars Command Lance Captain David Smythe = killed in action Mechwarrior Basil Gannon = killed in action Mechwarrior April Clavell = killed in action Mechwarrior Eli Falcon = killed in action Heavy Lance Lt Horace Devins = killed in action Sgt Justin Karlton = killed in action Mechwarrior Skye Troy = killed in action Mechwarrior Jessica Ross = wounded, survived Recon Lance Lt Erik Cabot = survived Mechwarrior Collette Zahn = killed in action Mechwarrior Fidel Tobin = killed in action Mechwarrior Alix Stephenson = wounded, survived ... end of report Back to BattleTechnology 11 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com