* * *
To Diana, in the midst of the 'Mech throng, the Falcon Guards looked like chaos on legs. It was all she could do to keep her Hellbringerfrom bumping into other 'Mechs or avoid stepping on the swift-running Elementals. And it was all she could do to keep from being nudged toward the fearful Prezno River. This was not being a warrior, she thought, but more like being a techno-athlete. It took skill, yes, but it was manipulation not battle. And it was for battle that she longed. Except for the skirmish on Prezno Plain and some combat during the retreat, this campaign had not yet really given her a taste of what it was to be a warrior.
Tukayyid was her first real war, and she thought it should be the kind of thrill she had imagined so often since the days when the other village youngsters had laughed and teased her for saying she would be a warrior when she grew up. So far her military career had consisted of minor skirmishes on backwater planets, mop-up operations, and the little war experience she had received as a Falcon Guard. She was eager to get to Robyn's crossing and some close combat.
Perhaps it was these thoughts distracting her that made Diana's 'Mech nearly stumble. Though she quickly recovered her balance, she saw in her peripheral vision a particularly violent stretch of Prezno River that might have been her watery grave. No, she told herself firmly. It would not happen that way. She had already survived one near-plunge into the river. If she was going to die in this battle, it would not be by drowning, but among the flames and explosions of the field, a Clan warrior fighting alongside others of her kind.
* * *
To Marthe, the expedition along the riverside had a kind of military beauty to it, something equivalent to the pleasure a warrior might take in the study of a good war map or a passage from The Remembrance.There was an aesthetic to a legion of Clan warriors going forward toward their destiny. Here were OmniMechs, the most fearsome BattleMechs ever created, piloted by genetically engineered warriors whose whole lives were devoted to the way of war. Running speedily and gracefully alongside them were the two-and-a-half-meter-tall Elementals, also the products of genetic engineering, their bodies in armored suits that made them awesome compared to footsoldiers anywhere else in the known universe. Overhead were magnificent aerofighters, also manned by pilots who had been genetically bred for such tasks. The image, as she imagined it would appear to enemy warriors who must counter the Clan attack, was pleasing, artistic.
Keeping her BattleMech abreast of Aidan's and Joanna's, Marthe thought the three of them made a fine vanguard against their ComStar foes.
* * *
To Joanna, the advance had neither strategic, aesthetic, nor emotional significance. Like an old-time foot-soldier, she was most concerned with the performance of duty. Were all the units in their proper places? Had the techs loaded all the ammo before leaving the camp on Prezno Plain? Had she forgotten something vital in the short training time she'd had to whip this misbegotten crew into shape?
She wondered why she could never lose this habit of thinking like a training officer. There were times when she felt that training was, finally, her specialty. The Bloodname she had never won, the minor battles she had fought, the hatred inspired in her by almost all other humans—none of it mattered when she was satisfied with her performance of duty.
Star Captain Joanna, who had never won her Bloodname, who now was among the aging warriors, could not know that among so many soldiers, she was the ideal Clan warrior. Clan military theorists as far back as Nicholas Kerensky himself would have admired her total dedication. On a battlefield she carried in no weight that could not in some way be used in the combat. Even her hatred, deep as it ran, was useful to the objectives of warfare. And in the entire Jade Falcon Clan few warriors could build up a killing growl like Joanna.
* * *
Riding along on the side of a Gargoyle,just behind the vanguard BattleMechs, Star Commander Selima saw the upcoming battle from an Elemental's point of view. Elemental training emphasized the transitoriness of life. No Elemental truly feared death because he or she knew that death was an honorable fate for a warrior. Not that an Elemental would seek a suicidal end in combat. No, an Elemental fought to the last moment, never letting up, never letting a fatal wound stop him from firing one more time or making one more thrust. If they embraced death, it was only because Elementals knew that, whether it came abruptly or slowly, sooner or later, it was onlydeath. Even Clan MechWarriors did not quite understand the Elementals' ways. Needing to survive to fight again another day, a Clan warrior did not quite share the same easy acceptance of death.
Selima, a man more serene than most Elementals, had become an officer because he inspired loyalty, even among the crude and quarrelsome Elementals. Looking about him now, at the towering 'Mechs, at the other Elementals clinging to their own BattleMech rides, he saw the upcoming battle as merely another moment in his life. Like all Clanspeople, Elementals were taught that it was the great mission of the Clans to return to the Inner Sphere, where they would conquer its worlds, and restore the glory of the Star League. Yet the idea of the Star League, with its history and significance, had little meaning to an Elemental. As Clan infantrymen, Elementals simply did as they were told. They had been bred that way.
* * *
The first sign of the enemy came when an aerofighter detected a force of ComStar BattleMechs, now detached from the bridge defense, advancing toward the Jade Falcons. Aidan ordered some of the 'Mechs behind him to spread out, away from the river, so that they could present a wide front.
The maneuver worked, for the Com Guards, the surfaces of their 'Mechs gleaming even whiter in the bright light of the hot Tukayyid sun, advanced in a narrow column. It was now almost midday, the weather hot even for Tukayyid. Heat shimmers rose from the whole line of the 'Mechs, creating an aura around the oncoming force.
The ComStar 'Mechs began to slow their advance, preparing for battle. Their officers knew it was the Clan custom to fight 'Mech-on-'Mech, with each Clan warrior selecting his opponent and initiating his own combat tactics.
Knowing what ComStar would expect, Aidan had ordered a change of usual tactics. The Galaxy Commander had cautioned against it, but Aidan had the endorsement of Kael Pershaw to proceed entirely on his own. As was his wont, Star Colonel Aidan Pryde ignored caution and went forward.
"Joanna," he said over the commline, "initiate battle plan."
Joanna responded immediately over the open channel, giving the BattleMechs the first of Aidan's orders. "Slow to half-speed."
When the Jade Falcon advance visibly slackened, it was a ploy to make the enemy conclude that the Clan force was preparing for its usual stand-and-deliver style of combat.
Then, at a precisely calculated interval, Joanna gave the second command of the sequence. "Those who are to speed up, advance at double rate. Those who are to jump, jump in ten seconds."
Aidan led the way for the accelerating 'Mechs, all now running at peak speed, while Marthe held back and launched her 'Mech simultaneously with those selected for the jump-tactic.
Exhilarated by the rush to war, Aidan barely noticed the uneven pacing of the Timber Wolfslope. Nor did he pay attention to the erratic, shifting numbers for his ammo levels and weapon-readiness that his secondary screen was displaying. As his first target, he had selected a Goliath,a heavy 'Mech that looked more like a tank on legs than the often-humanoid BattleMechs of the Inner Sphere.