BattleTech Legends by William H. Keith Jr

Author:William H. Keith, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs
Published: 2016-11-22T08:00:00+00:00

Alex crouched in the cover provided by the Pegasus hover tank and a portion of the keep’s outer wall as explosions continued to boom and rumble across the compound. Most of the parked vehicles on the far side of the compound were flaming piles of wreckage now. There were perhaps a half dozen vehicles on the near side, though, including the old Pegasus. It would be nice to take them out too before the raiders left. Wilmarth would be a long time rebuilding his military infrastructure after tonight!

Next on his scheduled list was the barbican and the gate leading out of the Citadel’s walls. He could see the entrance from here ... standing open on the courtyard side, though the outer gate was closed. Snapping a fresh clip of ten microgrenades into the receiver of his autolauncher, he chambered the first round, raised the weapon to his shoulder, and squeezed off a long, chattering burst directly at the open inner gate.

The inside of the barbican lit up brighter than day with a popping, rippling chain of flashes. Windows blew out, and a larger, more massive secondary explosion blasted out a portion of the gate tower wall as some vehicle or ammo store inside detonated. Dust and smoke boiled from the gaping scar in the tower’s face, but no return fire came from the walls or the upper windows. Just to be certain, Alex reloaded again, then fired carefully aimed, deliberately placed microgrenades through individual windows and firing ports. Flames were licking from one open window at the parapet level, but still there was no sign of life from the barbican defenses.

Raising up higher behind his patch of shelter, Alex surveyed the rampart walls to either side of the gate tower. Both autocannon turrets appeared to be out of action, their fire control circuits fried or damaged, their gun barrels cocked at odd and useless angles. In the courtyard itself, bodies lay everywhere, mingled with wrecked equipment and scattered rubble. A few of the bodies were those of Wilmarth’s victims, his courtyard trophies, but those few were far outnumbered by the carnage Alex had wrought in just the past few minutes.

Some of those sprawled human forms were still alive, too, and the sounds of their screams added a chilling and surreal background to the scene. Alex raised his right arm and lasered one man who might have been wounded, but who’d been cradling a laser rifle in his arms. There was no room here for gallantry, not when the margin between success and death was so narrow.

With the barbican and gate towers apparently secure, his major concern now was the open, fifteen-meter doorway leading into the Citadel’s heart. Wilmarth possessed at least four ‘Mechs for sure. Chances were, they were stored in a ‘Mech bay somewhere behind those carballoy steel doors and would be emerging from them any moment now. It had been several moments since Alex had detected any movement in that direction. Several bodies in the opening marked the last attempt by Wilmarth’s troopers to rush through the door into the open.

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