BattleTech Legends: Natural Selection by Michael A. Stackpole

Author:Michael A. Stackpole
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2016-09-25T08:00:00+00:00

Twelve hours later Kommandant Israel Zimmer stormed into the communications wagon that had become his command post. He wanted to be out in the field, but when his Marauder lost a leg in the losing battle for Shasta, he was left waiting for either his ‘Mech to be repaired or a ‘Mech whose pilot no longer required use of it. Though the latter would likely happen well before the former, he did not look forward to getting back into the battle that way.

“Leftenant, have you got a secure line to those incoming DropShips yet?”

The young commtech nodded and vacated his chair in front of a patched-together visiphone set. He pointed to a button. “This one will activate the link, sir.”

Zimmer winked at the boy. “I’ve used them before, Leftenant.”

“Yes, sir.” The young officer blushed, but Zimmer waved it away. The boy still wore a shirt with corporal stripes on it, and the Leftenant’s bars on his lapels showed a spot of blood. “It’s ready now, sir.”

Zimmer hit the button and got a picture of a stern-looking man. “This is Kommandant Israel Zimmer of Zimmer’s Zouaves. We could really use your help.”

The man on the screen frowned ferociously. “You are mercenaries, quiaff?”

Zimmer narrowed his eyes. “Yes, we are. To whom am I speaking?”

“I am Star Colonel Conal Ward, commander of the Thirty-first Wolf Solahma. We will be grounding ourselves to engage the bandits. Our landing zone is in your Sector 3342. Please vacate it.”

“Say what?”

Conal stared straight out of the visiphone screen. “Sector 3342, I want it vacated. This is where I have agreed to meet the bandits.”

“Star Colonel, I have my battalion dug in throughout that sector. If I move them, I will lose them. If you land in 3244, you will ground yourselves to the northwest of that position and catch the bandits between us. We’re not too mobile, but we can still shoot.”

“Kommandant Zimmer,” the black-haired Clanner began coolly, “if you do not move your troops, you will lose them. I will not have your people interfere in our battle.”

“Your battle?” Zimmer hammered the arm of his chair and made the Leftenant jump. “You listen to me, you son of a bitch, my command is now what is left of my mercenary battalion and the local militia. We’ve fought these raiders for sixteen solid hours and have just now managed to regroup under cover of darkness. We’re good troops and we won’t be dismissed.”

“Very well.” Conal lifted his head up. “With what are you defending 3342?”

“What are you, a moron?” Zimmer thumped his fist against the screen. “I just told you, I’m defending it with every last frigging thing I have.”

“Excellent!” Conal smiled at Zimmer. “I shall look forward to meeting you, Kommandant. We land in an hour. Bargained well and done.”

The screen went blank and Zimmer stared at it for a second before he realized the conversation was over. “What the hell just happened there, Leftenant?”

“I dunno for sure, sir.” The younger man shook his head ruefully.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.