A Question of Survival by Bryan Young

Author:Bryan Young [Young, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs

CHAPTER 20

FELDSPAR

QUARELL

RASALHAGUE DOMINION

06 NOVEMBER 3151, 0920 HOURS

Alexis could not believe she was sitting in a BattleMech, ready to defend the vacant city of Feldspar and surrounding areas.

Their stunt in the last event had given them enough points to make it to second place and knock the Porbjorns down to third. That meant the Mektid Bears from Lothan were in first place, and would be laying siege to the city.

All Alexis had to do was defend the city. That was it. But she had no idea which direction they would be coming from—and she would have to coordinate the defense with Daniel.

Thanks to her performance in the stealth game, Alexis had been chosen to be one of two commanders; unfortunately, Daniel was the other. As one of the commanders, she got assigned a heavy ’Mech—an ancient 70-ton Grizzly. Daniel went out in a 60-ton Mad Dog Mk III.

That the Den Mother kept shoving Daniel into a leadership position after each subsequent mistake and loss was laughable. It did not matter how much the other Ursari argued that Daniel was not worthy of that position; the Den Mother insisted. His command of the other Star was a compromise between all the Bearclaw Ursari and the Den Mother to allow Alexis to even compete in the final competition, let alone command one of the Stars.

The Grizzly rumbled beneath her. The town of Feldspar was hers to defend, and there was nothing the Den Mother could do about it at that point.

“Bearclaw Cubs, report in,” Alexis said.

“Cub One here,” Thomasin said. Thomasin and Sophie both chose raptor-legged Lobos. The Lobos were good long-range fighters and boasted anti-missile systems. “Nothing on my scope yet, Cub Leader.”

“Cub Two, same,” Sophie said.

Lewis and Anna filled out the rest of the Star in a pair of Solitaires. Essentially mobile laser cannons, the Solitaires were capable medium-to-long range fighters, and then could take hits while dissipating their heat.

“Cub Three here, nothing to report,” Lewis said.

“Cub Four checking in, it is quiet as a tomb out there,” Anna said.

They had been patrolling for a solid thirty minutes since the official start of the exercise. Feldspar was small, wedged into a little valley and surrounded by hills. Two main roads led into and out of the small town, and there was no guarantee the Mektid Bears would use either of them. Alexis had studied their favored methods of attack, and found them very traditional in their thinking.

She had positioned all of the ’Mechs in her command on the hills, watching for any attacks from all directions. “Cub Three and Four,” she said, knowing their Solitaires were the fastest ’Mechs at her disposal, “I want you to keep scouting, head from hill to hill. The second you see something, hit it at long range and then fall back to the city.”

“Aff!” they both said.

The colored dots that represented them on her HUD zoomed from one spot to the next, looking for anything that would even remotely resemble the Mektid Bear assault.

“Cubs One and Two,” she said to Thomasin and Sophia, “I want you to keep closer to the city and patrol.

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