"All right, Kael Pershaw, you have made your clever point. Is that why we are speaking again?"
"Neg. My purpose at present is to give you new orders. Cancel that. Certainly I cannot giveyou orders. I may only suggest possible modes of action that might conceivably assist the Clan cause, then implore you to accept them."
"You are getting doddering in your old age, Kael Pershaw." The reference to Pershaw's age was a calculated insult, and the gruff sound that filled the cockpit told Aidan the barb had hit its mark. "Tell me now what you expect from us. The Falcon Guards will serve the Clan."
"Those are the words that send shudders up a warrior's spine. An oldwarrior's spine. Aidan Pryde, you and the Falcon Guards will be joined by Marthe Pryde's unit at a point four kilometers from where you now stand. The engineers at Plough Bridge have had too many disasters, and we are abandoning that bridge. The combined unit, under your command, will proceed to Olalla. Your mission is to take the city for Clan Jade Falcon by any means possible. We are concentrating our efforts on that city only. Once it is ours, we will mount an assault on Humptulips. Any questions, Aidan Pryde?"
"How does the battle for Tukayyid proceed elsewhere?"
"Better for you not to know. Clan Wolf will be dropping down soon, if that is any indication." It was. The other Clans had hoped to be victorious on Tukayyid before the despised Clan Wolf could enter the fray.
"When are the Falcon Guards to leave Robyn's Crossing for Olalla?"
"Immediately. Robyn's Crossing is not under imminent threat. Soon the end of the bridge will be close enough to the other shore for the 'Mechs equipped with jump jets to use it as a way over, much like your Operation Skipping Stone. The supply depot is already one-third built, and the bridge will soon be completed. It will not be long before the bridge and supply depot are well-defended by the Fifth and Ninth Falcon Clusters. Your troops will attempt to lay siege at Olalla. Reinforcements will arrive within hours. I suggest you organize your Falcon Guards, re-arm yourselves with the first supplies brought in for the new depot, and get on the move."
Again the voice went away abruptly. Aidan first scanned the area to test whether Kael Pershaw's evaluation was accurate, and not just misty words from a Specter.Then he informed Star Captains Joanna and Jula Huddock that the Falcon Guards would be moving out immediately.
* * *
MechWarrior Diana nearly shouted with glee at the new orders. Visions of glory at Olalla invaded her mind. She tried to shake them, but she was a Clan warrior, and a Jade Falcon one at that—a proud member of Pryde's Pride. How could she notdream of glory?
34
If Olalla had not been one of the two predetermined Jade Falcon objectives, according to the agreement between ComStar and the ilKhan, no self-respecting military outfit would have wanted it as a target. Surrounded by hills and laid out in an ugly, patternless sprawl across a pallid stretch of Prezno Plain, it displayed no purpose. According to intelligence reports, Olalla was a marketplace for harvested crops. Indeed, it possessed a number of areas that no doubt served as large open-air markets when the planet was not under invasion. But the buildings around these areas were gray and dull-looking, their windows dirty, the roof shingles hanging at odd angles. Few streets were paved, and Olalla looked old and somehow unfinished.
Like me as a warrior, thought Star Commander Jula Huddock, gazing down from a hill onto Olalla. She would never speak such a thought aloud, however. Jula Huddock rarely talked at all. If addressed by a superior officer, she responded in crisp military style. When she needed to communicate with subordinate warriors or techs, she did so efficiently, wasting no words, in a series of short sentences.
Other warriors said that Jula Huddock spoke best with her weapons. She rarely wasted a shot or used a missile ineffectively. Even age had not diminished her abilities. Upon taking command of the Falcon Guards, Aidan had been impressed by her codex, enough to wonder briefly if the Clans were wise to relegate old warriors to lesser roles. In a way, Jula Huddock's assignment to the Guards had prolonged her career as a warrior. On the verge of reassignment to a training unit on Ironhold, she had been reclaimed for real combat when older warriors had been recruited to fill out the slots in the Falcon Guards.
As always, she was ready to do her best in the coming battle.
But where was the battle? In front of the Falcon Guards was an unsightly little city that seemed abandoned and unimportant. No ComStar 'Mechs were about, no evidence of any firepower in service to Olalla. Scanners detected no BattleMech activity in the surrounding area.
Jula Huddock tensed, awaiting the moment when the order would come to fire, launch, jump, or die.
* * *
"Do you think they are ceding Olalla to us?" Aidan asked Horse.
"Why? Because we demolished their forces at the bridge? Not likely."
"Remember," Joanna said, "the Com Guards are in the habit of attacking from ambush. Maybe they are concealed down there."
"I see no building big enough to hide a 'Mech," Marthe said. "And the buildings look too old to be recent camouflage."
"I agree," Aidan said. "What is your view, Jula Huddock?"
"I sense danger, but do not know why."
"MechWarrior Diana?"
There was a delay as Diana reacted with surprise at being addressed at all. Her being a new warrior and a freeborn, why would anyone want her opinion?
"Perhaps we should go in and take a look around," she said.
"That may be just what they want us to do," Horse commented. "Especially if Star Captain Joanna is right about the possibility of ambush."
"I am surprised to hear you agree with me, MechWarrior Horse. We were such enemies once."
"In a situation like this, the past is prologue."
"An interesting phrase. A freeborn phrase?"
"In a way."
Only Aidan would know that Horse was quoting from one of the books in their secret library.
"I believe it would be a mistake for the entire unit to enter Olalla. One Star will go on ahead, while the rest of us cover their advance. Volunteers?"
The commline was in commotion as all the Star commanders volunteered.
"Sir?" It was the soft voice of Jula Huddock after the voices of the rest had died down.
"Yes, Star Captain?"
"I recommend my Star be chosen. We are the only intact Star in all the Falcon Guard Trinaries. All others lost BattleMechs to combat, the breakwater, the jump across the Prezno. We are the only Star that still has five BattleMechs functional."
This might have been the most anyone had ever heard Jula Huddock speak at one time. Aidan realized for the first time that the woman had a beautiful voice, deep and with an earthy sound to it. It went so well with the worldly knowledge in her eyes.
"Well-bargained and done, Star Commander Jula Huddock. Proceed."
"Gladly. Alpha Heavy, forward echelon right, twenty meters apart."
Jula Huddock's Executionerled the way toward the city. She was followed, in order, by the 'Mechs of MechWarriors Alyn, Lan, Eleny, and Crocco. They made a pretty picture, Aidan thought, as each 'Mech in the diagonal line kept an even distance from the others. Joanna had trained all the Falcon Guards well in all aspects of Clan warrior discipline, and her skill showed continually in everything the Guards did.