BattleTech: Paid in Blood: The Highlander Covenant, Book Two by Michael J. Ciaravella

Author:Michael J. Ciaravella [Ciaravella, Michael J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2023-02-08T00:00:00+00:00

11

“Citizens of Northwind, this is Tegan Shea with a breaking news announcement. We have received word of an explosion aboard one of the Draconis Combine DropShips, and Capellan and Combine aerospace forces have engaged in space over the planet. We will continue to update you as we receive more information on this breaking story.”

Tegan Shea, Northwind Today, 9 December 3150

CAPELLAN ALLIED COMMAND CENTER

HPG COMPOUND

TARA, NORTHWIND

REPUBLIC OF THE SPHERE

9 DECEMBER 3150

Upon hearing the alarm klaxons going off within the compound, Lindsey shot up from her desk and was halfway to her office door when her wrist comm began beeping.

“Status report,” she demanded.

“We are registering a massive explosion on the Kuritan flagship,” Newsom responded. “It has suffered extensive hull and stabilizer damage, but the crew managed to regain control.”

Once inside the command center, she headed down to the main command well. “Comms, can you raise Mr. Cheng’s shuttle?”

“No response, sir,” Newsom said from his console. “Our sensors readings show the explosion was near where the shuttle had docked.”

A half-dozen possibilities ran through her mind in a moment. Did the Republic forces somehow manage to sneak a bomb onto Cheng’s ship to negate our intelligence advantage? If this was all a coordinated counterintelligence action, the recent attacks on Sang-shao Qiao and the gao-shiao-zhang needed to be considered in a completely different light. Was this all an orchestrated effort to behead our command structure?

Or was it a step further? If the shuttle exploded, it might have killed Ikeda and Cheng, vital parts of the Capellan and Kurita leadership. Such a step might have meant a deathblow for both of the allied forces in the system and allow the Republic the opportunity to strike at them when the losses left them disorganized.

Lindsey pulled herself free from her thoughts and turned to Newsom. “Send a message to the Kuritan forces, see if they require assistance. While we await their response, launch the Cap Fives. I want them in the air and tracking the Kuritan DropShip.”

“No response from the Blistering Wind, Sang-shao.”

“Then get me the commodore.”

Newsom made the connection. From the grim expression on the face in the holovid transmission, Commodore Xio, the senior naval commander for the Capellan expedition to Northwind, had already been tracking the situation from his DropShip, which was berthed at Tara’s spaceport. “Sang-shao, we are reading an explosion in orbit, but have only limited data. Can we get an update?”

“That was on the Kuritan flagship,” Lindsey replied. “Can we get assistance to them?”

“I have one of the DropShips spooling up right now. It is going to be tight, but I believe we can intercept before they hit the ground.” The commodore’s expression was taut. “If not, we can be there for search and rescue.”

Lindsey was already in motion, ordering the command channel opened to the other Capellan force leaders. In rapid succession Centrella-Tompkins, Qiao, and Garzon appeared on the main screen.

“We just recorded an explosion on the Kuritan flagship,” she told them, “and it is currently on a minimally controlled path to the ground.

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