Fusiliers Forever: Chapter 19

19
Innsbruck
Kolovraty, Lyran Commonwealth
3 September 3038

Standing on an outcropping of rock at the top of a hill, with the Great Boreal Forest behind him and the Inn Valley stretching out in front of him, and Apollo in its red, blue and purple glory filling a large part of the sky, Garadun couldn't help but feel moved by the beauty of Kolovraty. This was a world worth protecting.
     He took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh cool air. It was a few degrees above freezing and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground, broken up across the valley with bare patches of open terrain. He could just make out the Inn River from here. He understood why people had made this planet their home. He gave a last look around, then made his way back to where his Hunchback stood waiting. He climbed the ladder to the 'Mech's shoulder and stood for a moment before retracting the chain ladder and ducking into the cockpit, sealing the hatch behind him.
     Taking his neurohelmet off the seat of the command couch, he sat down and slipped the helmet on, reconnecting the leads. He attached the slim hose linking his cooling suit to the command couch, and then gave his instrument panels the once-over to make sure everything was fine. He put on some music.
     "Time to go home," he said and got Igor underway.
     If the Fusiliers had been a larger mercenary unit, say battalion size, they would have had at least one lance devoted to scouting duties. But since they were only two lances in size, not even a full company of twelve BattleMechs (with three companies comprising a 'Mech battalion) scouting duty was usually performed solo. The Innsbruck Militia had two Packrats and a Boomerang which also went scouting for possible trouble, but there's only so much ground that can be covered.
     Garadun was on today's duty roster for patrol.
     Kolovraty's rather unique status as a moon of a gas giant presented certain challenges when it came to detecting threats, and being located on the edge of the Deep Periphery certainly didn't help matters either. There were no stations at the jump points to detect incoming JumpShips, and the moon's deep space radar capacity was limited. While there wasn't a lot of interplanetary clutter in the system to track, such as thousands of asteroids, the moon's orbit around Apollo meant the gas giant was blocking much of the radar sky at any given moment. Skilled DropShip pilots could use the massive planet and Kolovraty's sister moons to hide their approach, sometimes even managing to get in completely undetected until it was too late.
     Which was why patrols were so important. If raiders did get past the Kolovraty Deep Space Tracking Station, there was a chance a patrol could spot them and give at least some kind of warning. Duke Sheridan had made countless requests for monitoring stations on other moons in the system, BattleMech forces, improved equipment, better radar; all had been rejected by the central government on Tharkad. Kolovraty was simply too remote to warrant the cost, they said. Bloody bureaucrats.
     Garadun had crossed the Inn Valley and was closing on Innsbruck's southern suburbs when his comm system rang, accompanied by a small, flashing red light. That meant it was a priority message, which most likely meant trouble. He keyed the speaker and microphone built into his neurohelmet.
     "This is Patrol Alpha, receiving."
     "Patrol Alpha, Patrol Alpha, this is HighEye One. Do you copy? "
     "I copy, HighEye One," Garadun acknowledged. HighEye One was the codename for the Militia's Boomerang spotter plane. "What's your situation?"
     "Have bogey west of your position, Patrol Alpha. Radar makes it out to be a DropShip, coming in low. Best guess from the size, a Leopard."
     "Roger, HighEye One. Have you informed the Barn?"
     "Copy that. Barn has been informed. Hang on," said the pilot and there was static for a few moments. "Patrol Alpha, Patrol Alpha, be advised," he said, and the fear and excitement in his voice could be heard. "Barn reports second bogey north of Innsbruck. That's a second DropShip, possibly a Union. Do you copy? "
     "I copy, HighEye One. Better get over there, Mike. They'll need your eyes."
     "Roger that. Watch yourself, Garadun. Good hunting."
     The moment he'd been informed of the incoming bogey, Garadun had given his 'Mech full throttle, sending the Hunchback running across the valley at top speed. He vaulted right over a fence and bolted across farmland, hurrying to reach the city. His heart was racing with anxiety; not fear for himself, but fear that he wouldn't arrive in time to help. He ran across fields, dodged trees, and blasted his 'Mech's horn when he approached a highway. Drivers saw him coming and hit the brakes, ground and hover cars skidding and fishtailing as he crossed the road in front of them.
     The Hunchback's radar went off, and on the screen he could see a large blip coming in low towards the city. He twisted his 'Mech's torso to the left and used his own eyes to hunt the sky for the intruder.
     There it was.
     It was indeed a Leopard class DropShip, the smallest and most common military DropShip in use anywhere in the Inner Sphere and Periphery. It was shaped a lot like a brick and handled just about as well as one in the atmosphere, and carried up to four BattleMechs within its bays. It was the favoured vessel of raiders because it was, for a DropShip, fast and relatively stealthy.
     "Igor, lock visual on DropShip and enhance." One of the cockpit's screens came to life, displaying a real-time image of the approaching Leopard in flight. Garadun touched the screen with his left index finger, and it zoomed in even further on the hull. Emblazoned on the side of the Leopard was a curious skull emblem; one half of the skull was solid white, the other half solid black with a white eye.
     The ship began slowing, and with a quick look at his map Garadun could see he was going to be able to intercept it if it kept to its present course and continued to slow down. Perhaps the most unnerving thing was that the malfling ship looked like it was going to land right in the heart of the southwest suburbs of Innsbruck.
     "Tzao gao," he muttered and activated his jump jets when he reached the Inn River, which wound its way through the city. There was a bridge not too far away, but he had his doubts as to whether or not it could support the weight of a 50-ton BattleMech running across its length, to say nothing of civilian traffic. He landed in the parking lot of a shopping mall, narrowly missing a bunch of parked groundcars.
     Activating his horn and setting it to repeat, he crossed the lot and turned into the main road, bringing his 'Mech up to top speed. Using every bit of skill he had, Garadun ran, skipped, dodged and leapt over, around and through traffic, most of which had the good sense to get the hell out of his way. He made a sharp turn at an intersection, using Igor's right arm to reach out and shove off the corner of a building to prevent him skidding on the pavement and keep his momentum going.
     His comm went off again. He activated the headset built into his neurohelmet.
     "Garadun, do you read me? This is Alexandra."
     "Yeah, I read you," he said and leaped across another intersection.
     "HighEye One reported a DropShip in your area. Did he manage to contact you? "
     "Yeah, I know about the DropShip. I'm on it."
     "Say again? " said Alexandra, bewildered.
     "I said I'm on it. Kinda busy right now," he said and killed the line.
     By now the sounds of air raid sirens going off could be heard, and he could see people abandoning their cars and clearing the streets. He killed the repeat on his 'Mech's horn. A big building suddenly loomed up in front of him as he came to a T-junction, so he hit his jump jets and soared right over it, landing in the road more than a block further on. He winced when he felt his 'Mech crush a deserted car underfoot.
     "Shit, sorry," he muttered. He threw the throttle forward and kept on down the road, doing his best to avoid stepping on any more abandoned vehicles. The Leopard was suddenly in the sky right above him, its landing thrusters roaring as it turned and swung down on one of the city's large public parks, which gave it plenty of open space in which to land. Around the park were business districts and some housing.
     "Oh no ya don't!" Garadun shoved off a huge stone building to help him turn his 'Mech to intercept the raiders. He ran off the road and into the park.
     The Leopard spun in place as it came in for a landing, and he was suddenly looking at the engine section. Whoever it was manning the rear weapons must have finally realised he was there because the ship's aft lasers, two medium and one large, lashed out at him. One of the mediums hit his Hunchback's left arm, but the other two lasers missed, striking buildings far behind him and doing serious damage. Then the Leopard touched down, crushing small trees beneath it.
     "Not on my watch, asshole," Garadun snarled and leapt up, activating his jump jets. His Hunchback hurtled through the air and landed right on top of the DropShip with an enormous CLANG. The 'Mech crouched, its legs bent at the knees, and he brought its left hand forward to grip the hull for a moment as he recovered his balance.
     Then the Hunchback stood up and took a single step forward. Garadun tilted the torso down slightly, bringing his targeting crosshairs right over the Leopard's bridge section. He hit his joystick's top left thumb button and his 'Mech's massive autocannon fired a storm of heavy calibre armour-piecing rounds, which blasted right through the hull and destroyed the bridge and everyone on it.
     "Right, that sorts you out." He took a couple steps back, positioning himself above where the bays doors would be. The Leopard had two on each side of its hull. He cued his external microphones and flicked his eyes around his holographic display. The bridge was knocked out so the ship wasn't going anywhere, but that still left the 'Mechs inside the DropShip to deal with.
     Someone must have activated the emergency controls for the bay doors, because he suddenly heard the starboard doors opening. He twisted his 'Mech's torso to the right and took a few breaths, trying to imagine that he was still on Solaris, where he felt most comfortable fighting. Then he heard the portside doors beginning to open.
     Well, shit.
     Two BattleMechs suddenly leapt clear of the DropShip from the starboard side, and he didn't need his computer's warbook to recognise them. The one on the right was a 35-ton Panther, the one on the left a 20-ton Wasp; both were light scout 'Mechs. They'd gotten perhaps seventy or eighty meters away when he opened up on them.
     He fired his autocannon at the Panther, walking the fire from right to left. The heavy rounds blew its right arm to bits, taking the 'Mech's PPC with it, then went on to destroy all the armour on its right rear torso and shredding the fragile interior. There was an explosive spray of green fluid, indicating the destruction of at least one heat sink. Despite the enormous damage, the pilot managed to keep the 'Mech standing.
     The pilot of the Wasp wasn't nearly so lucky. Garadun shot it with his medium lasers; one hit it in the middle of its back, melting all the armour and damaging the engine. It was a moot point, however, because the second laser hit the lightly armoured cockpit, blasting it apart. The Wasp collapsed to the ground, it and its pilot dead.
     The badly damaged Panther turned around to face Garadun, backing up as it did so. He ignored it for the moment, turning his torso all the way round to the left, just in time to see two more BattleMechs emerge from the Leopard's portside 'Mech bays. To the right was a Jenner; an ugly, ungainly-looking 35-ton 'Mech with weapon pods instead of proper arms. To the left was a 30-ton Javelin; a much more humanoid-looking machine. He split his fire again, targeting the Jenner with his autocannon and the Javelin with his medium lasers.
     He hit the Jenner in its right arm weapons pod, blowing it and the two medium lasers mounted there to bits. The autocannon's massive burst continued on into the rear torso, where it fragged the paper-thin armour, shredded most of the internal skeleton and, most importantly of all, set off the ammunition for the 'Mech's Thunderstroke SRM launcher. The Jenner blew itself to pieces, its pilot ejecting just as the ammo started to cook off. The auto-eject system must've been switched on.
     The Javelin suffered the same fate. One of the Hunchback's medium lasers fried most of the armour on the Javelin's right arm; the other struck it in the right rear torso where the armour was practically non-existent. The laser bored through and touched off the SRM missiles stored there. The Javelin went up in a truly impressive fireball, its pilot rocketing clear of the explosion on their ejection seat. The parachute deployed and they drifted toward the ground.
     This was why the Fusiliers insisted on putting as much armour as possible on all their rides, and why any 'Mech with ammunition was protected with CASE.
     The Panther cut loose with its sole remaining weapon, a Telos Four-Shot SRM system mounted in the centre torso. Three of the four missiles blasted into Garadun's Hunchback; one on each of the 'Mech's arms and another in the middle of its back. Then the Panther activated its jump jets, landing a good 120 meters away on the same street Garadun had entered the park from. Garadun spun in place and ignited his own jump jets, soaring through the air in pursuit. He landed further down the road, his Hunchback facing off against the Panther like a couple of Old West gunfighters.
     Garadun fired his main weapon a second before his opponent, but thanks to the jump and the range between them, he missed. The pilot of the Panther fared no better, their short-range missiles failing to lock on target. The damage to the surrounding buildings was costly to say the least. The Panther jumped yet again, this time flying through the air off to its left, landing on a street running along the south side of the park and putting a large group of trees between it and the Hunchback.
     Pissed off at the damage to the city (and desperately hoping no-one had been hurt or killed from the collateral damage) Garadun ran his 'Mech down the street, made a right onto the south avenue, and came to a halt less than ninety meters away from the Panther, giving himself a nice clean line of sight at short range.
     The Panther fired its SRM launcher again, and this time was able to get a weapons lock in spite of its huge, jet-assisted leap. One missile blew apart a perfectly innocent tree, but the other three hit home, damaging the Hunchback's chest, left arm and right leg. But these were nothing more than pinpricks as far as Garadun was concerned, and he was glad his 'Mech had taken the damage instead of nearby buildings.
     "Say goodbye, dirtbag," he said and opened up with everything he had, not caring about heat build-up. One laser vaporised armour from the Panther's remaining arm; the other destroyed more than half the armour on the head. But these strikes were nothing compared to the autocannon. It hit the Panther square in the middle of its chest, blasting away every bit of armour and ravaging the internal structure, including damaging the fusion engine's shielding. Its waste heat spiked considerably.
     The force of the autocannon's blast was too much for the pilot to handle, and the Panther stumbled to the right and fell with a crash, damaging internal components even further. A few moments later the cockpit hatch opened and the pilot crawled out, lifting their arms in surrender. Garadun magnified the image on his screen and saw the pilot was a woman.
     "You park your ass right there, lady," he said over his external speakers. The woman nodded, put her hands on her head, and sat down. A few minutes later sirens could be heard, and shortly thereafter a lance of the Militia's Strikers and two of their APCs came down the street, followed by six squad cars and a SWAT van belonging to the Innsbruck Police Department. The pirate was quickly arrested.
     Garadun saw the hatch on one of the Strikers open, and the lance commander looked up at him, touching his hand to his headset. Garadun switched on his comm.
     "What's going on with the other DropShip, Kurt?"
     "It landed a few kilometres outside the north side of the city," said Leutnant Kurt Adler, gesturing. "Your guys are fighting them right now."
     "Shit, I gotta get over there double-time."
     "What about the pirates here? "
     "I disabled the DropShip. Don't know how many of the crew are still alive," Garadun replied, pointing with his 'Mech's right arm. "You guys better secure the area. Two of the other pilots punched out. The third's dead."
     Kurt stared at the burning debris of the two destroyed 'Mechs, the crippled DropShip, and what was left of the Panther.
     "Son of a bitch…"
     "Later, man, gotta go." Garadun turned his Hunchback around and sprinted down the road, honking his horn to let people know he was coming. Kurt dropped back into his vehicle and ordered the APCs and two of the Strikers to stay on site and help secure the area. Then he quickly wheeled around with the other Striker and went tearing off down the road after the Hunchback, lights flashing and sirens blaring.