The sensor operator hit the replay button on his console, and Darwin could hear it—the sound that ruled the battlefield. Footsteps. Big footsteps. The footsteps of something heavy enough to shake the very ground when it walked.
A BattleMech.
“Did any of the other sensor units pick this up?” Darwin asked as soon as the replay was done.
“Aff, sir. Scout Team Beta, with the Shandra scout vehicle four kilometers to the north. We are comparing signals now, sir, and—”
The sensor operator paused and touched the display screen.
“There it is, sir. Range twenty, due west of our position, moving from south to north at forty-five kilometers per hour. We are getting separation, and a good triangulation.”
“Very well,” Darwin said. “Do you know where it stopped?”
“Aff, sir.”
“Chart it and transmit that location to all units. With that size and speed, it could be an Atlas or even a Jupiter. If it starts moving again, let me know.”
“Sir.”
Darwin turned back to his tactical comms. “All units, enemy ’Mech located. We are going to take this one. Arm with long-range armor-piercing.”
The other commanders acknowledged.
Darwin smiled. Now that he had the Highlanders’ ’Mech located, he would be able to take it out with a sudden, overwhelming blow.
“Forward,” he said. “We will salvo on target when in range.”
Anastasia Kerensky would be pleased.
On the cliff top by the saddle between the mountains, time passed slowly. Will, Lexa, and Jock took turns watching the road to the west through infrared binoculars. The night air grew cooler around them as they waited, and the wind made sighing noises in the conifers on the slope below.
“What happens if you guessed wrong?” Lexa asked, after nothing had happened for some time.
“Then some other scout team will get the glory,” Will said. “But I don’t think—”
“I see something,” Jock called down from his position lying belly-down on the ridge, the binoculars to his eyes.
“What?”
“Heat shimmer. Bearing zero-seven-five true.”
Will and Lexa crawled up onto the ridge to lie beside Jock and look out through their own binoculars at the road below.
“I see it, too,” Lexa said. “But something—tell me. Do you think they heard our little sound show?”
“I certainly hope so,” Will said.
“And if they heard it,” she persisted, “then they know where that supposed ’Mech of ours is?”
“Can’t bet that they don’t,” Jock agreed.
“Then about thirty seconds after they get in range, we’re going to get hit hard.”
Will thought a moment. “You’re probably right. Do either of you know the max range of the Steel Wolves’ biggest?”
“Their best bet for capturing a ’Mech would be infantry,” said Lexa. “And that means a range of—ah, damn, I knew I should have stayed awake more during basic training—no more than a hundred meters.”
“That’s no good,” Jock said. “They can’t afford the time to send up the gorillas. It’ll be rockets.”
36
Red Ledge Pass
Bloodstone Range of the Rockspire Mountains
Northwind
June, 3133; local summer
The report came back to Nicholas Darwin from the sensor operator in his Condor tank: “Target in range.”
“Very well,” Darwin said. “On my command… stand by… fire.”
Columns of smoke and fire lit up the night sky to the right and to the left of Darwin’s tank and arced away to the east, as the Valiant Arbalest long-range missiles of all the Steel Wolves’ Condor tanks spoke as one. The multiple separate columns first converged in the darkness of midheaven, then slowly descended to a point. That point suddenly grew brighter, like an expanding ball of incandescent gas.
Nearly a minute later the sound of rolling thunder came echoing from the distant hills.
“Well,” said Star Captain Greer over the private command circuit, “if the Highlanders somehow failed before to notice that we were coming, they certainly know it now.”
“They were bound to find out,” Nicholas said. “And they have found out in the worst way—by losing a ’Mech. Move out now. Resume tactical column.”
The order echoed through the links.
“Losing signal,” the communications operator said. “Sir, the radio propagation is terrible through here.”
“It will only get worse,” Nicholas said. “Pass to all units: Continue west, do not allow the Highlanders to slow you down. Maintain visual contact with the friendly beside you.”
We have an appointment to keep on the far side of the mountains, he added to himself. He would not let Anastasia Kerensky down.
“Forward, Wolves!”
The road to Tara lay through the black shadows in the valleys of Red Ledge Pass. Ahead, smoke rose from just below the crest of a ridge.
“Our orders were to locate the enemy and report,” Jock said.
“We’ve done that,” Lexa said. She was sitting on the hood of their vehicle, some three kilometers back from where an empty bit of ridge line had recently become smoking vapor. “I thought that sound was going to blow out my eardrums.”
“Just be glad that their aim was good,” Will said. “A miss could have nailed us all the way over here.”
“And I suppose you thought about all that in advance,” she said.
“No, not really,” Will admitted. “I didn’t think of it until after we popped those fake footsteps.”
Jock nodded soberly. “So do you know which way they’ll be coming?”
“Yes… well, no. Not exactly. I have a best guess, though.”
“Why not radio it in?” Lexa asked.
“Because for one thing, radio reception is no good through here,” Will said. “And for another thing, we don’t want the Steel Wolves listening in when we make our report.”
“Then we’d better hope that someone with landline communications saw the explosion and called it in,” Jock said.
Lexa glanced upward at the night sky as Jock spoke. “They may have done better than that,” she said.
There was a whistling sound, and a momentary darker shadow passed across the night. A second later, a man in powered jump armor marked with the insignia of the Northwind Highlanders scooted out of the sky.
“What was that flash and bang?” he demanded as soon as the dust of his landing had cleared. “I’ve been assigned by Colonel Griffin to scout forward and find out what the hell.”
“Well, you can take this back with you to the Colonel,” Lexa said. “We have the Wolves located. They’re out to the west of this spot, somewhere in missile range, and they’re down one rack of ammo per long-range shooter.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes,” Will said. “They’re coming through the mountains on Highway 66.”
“Great,” said the man in jump armor. “I’ll take that word back to the Colonel. Oh, one more thing. Better be careful. I was told they’ve got a hell of a big ’Mech, and it’s not too far from here. Have you seen it?”
“Seen it?” Lexa asked. She laughed. “We are it.”
37
Red Ledge Pass
Bloodstone Range of the Rockspire Mountains
Northwind
June, 3133; local summer
“Better you than me,” said the infantryman in jump armor. “I’ll take your message back to the Colonel.”