BattleTech Legends: Legend of the Jade Phoenix Trilogy by Robert Thurston

Author:Robert Thurston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Catalyst Game Labs

Horse wished Aidan would return. MechWarrior Prent, whom he had sent out for Joanna, would follow his orders to move slowly, then pretend to have encountered obstacles along the way. It was a stalling maneuver, but he had not known what else to do. Because of the communication difficulties, he could not contact Aidan for orders, so he had to stall Joanna until the real officer came back to give real orders. He did not mind giving her a wild goose chase until then.

Lanja was as good as her word. After ten grueling kilometers through the muck and mire of Blood Swamp, half-carrying, half-dragging Aidan all the way, she set up her communications gear and carefully aimed the parabolic antenna toward Glory Station. Within minutes, Kael Pershaw’s face appeared on the diminutive screen.

“You said you got your idea for the diversion from some book,” Kael Pershaw said to Aidan. “A book? Where does the likes of you find a book?”

Aidan almost said that he had found it during his days in the sibko, but then he remembered that, as far as Kael Pershaw knew, he was freeborn and never was anywhere near a sibko. Not wanting to confess his secret cache of books in the freeborn barracks, he tried a lie: “I think, when I was a child, a woman used to come to my house and care for me when I was sick. I believe she brought the book with her. Took it away again later, for that matter.”

“And this was what kind of book?”

“A great book, written in poetry and full of battle.”

“So you are asking me to perform a diversion based on, as it were, battle intelligence from centuries ago. And written in poetry, at that.”

“That about sums it up. We need the diversion so that the other part of the plan will work.”

“What has made you think I would even consider a plan that comes from a stinking freebirth?”

“Because, Star Colonel Kael Pershaw, I know you are a master strategist who can see the merit in anyone’s plan, even a freebirth’s.”

“Even a freebirth wearing the dark band, whom I am encouraging to talk much beyond the small liberties permitted by it.”

“With all due respect, sir, I do believe the rites of the dark band should be suspended during a battle. They interfere with—”

“Yes, yes, Jorge. But, when I do allow you to talk, it is difficult to shut you up. How do you expect me to do what you want? It is quite a logistical monstrosity, your plan.”

“But it can work.”

“It worked in a story. Anyway, I will do as you say. Short of retreating all the way to Glory Station and allowing Clan Wolf to overrun us, I am out of schemes to use in this battle. Lanja!”

“Sir?”

“I think this plan will work better if we use your Elementals. Can they squeeze into such a small area?”

“It is large enough for two or three of them.”

“Two will be sufficient. And can they find their way across the field without being detected?”

“I cannot guarantee it.

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.