BattleTech: Chaos Formed (Book Two of the Chaos Irregulars) by Kevin Killiany

Author:Kevin Killiany [Killiany, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2013-11-30T08:00:00+00:00

Burnis, Elume

Melissia Theater, Lyran Alliance

15 October 3067

“What have they got?” Jake asked.

His screens kicked, then multi-framed as the MechWarriors of his lance transmitted their data. The Spector’s tactical system parsed and sorted the information, recognizing when the same enemy had been seen at different angles or times.

Jake felt a twinge of guilt as he admired the sophisticated system. It felt disloyal to admit his beloved Grasshopper could never have analyzed the data at this level.

His reflection—ghostly in the ferroglass canopy—was haggard. It was dark outside. The deep dark of a moonless world with few stellar neighbors.

They had been running from the Elume BattleMechs for fourteen hours.

At the end of a long ten count, the tac-com tooted a strangely cheerful note and presented a roster of the opposing force. Two Lineholders, two Uziels, one Bushwacker, and the Thanatos. Details on the heavy ‘Mech were sketchy, but the five they could see clearly were all off the rack original equipment; no variants, no upgrades, no replaced parts or systems.

Somebody earned the LAAF’s gratitude the hard way, and not long ago.

Three of the medium BattleMechs were tagged with damage—none significant.

Jake was also sure the Thanatos had taken damage. Talbot had stood beyond the range of the heavy’s medium-range missiles and used his own saturate the probable target area with her long-range birds. It hadn’t jumped since, but he didn’t hope for more that reduced mobility.

He fed the analysis back to the other three.

“What do you see?” he asked.

“I’ve got the reach on the Bushwacker and the two Lineholders,” Talbot said almost immediately. “But between them they’ve got deeper pockets, even if they don’t get resupply. I can’t keep them at distance for long.”

Jake nodded to himself. By his count Talbot’s Griffin had nine flights of long range missiles left.

In theory the LB-2X autocannons mounted by the Uziels outranged the missiles, but the defenders had evidently anticipated closer combat and loaded up with cluster rounds. Now effectively giant shotguns, the cannons delivered little damage at range.

“Either they simply pulled their slowest ‘Mechs back to cover the base, or they went from three lances to two demi-companies,” Davis said. “Either way, it shows very flexible thinking.”

Jake nodded again, too tired to care this communicated nothing to his lance.

Only six of the Elume BattleMechs they’d encountered were still with them, driving them toward the chalky cliffs that formed the eastern edge of Burnis. Two of the defenders had been destroyed—kills for both Green and Davis—and four had withdrawn when the running battle had turned into a headlong chase.

Jake wondered if the four that had been pulled back were all that was left to defend the base. That was going to affect his strategy if and when he got his lance away from its pursuers.

Which in itself might prove problematic.

Jump jets had given them an early lead on the defenders, but as the noose closed keeping to cover became more important. Sticking to the ground gave them the advantage of keeping the enemy unsure about their exact location.

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.