"There isn't going to be any deal," a haggard voice snarled over the Combine tac-net channel. Happousai, Tarou, and Kodachi turned to see a BattleMaster standing at the edge of the woods, a crushed recon lance Stinger dangling limply by the neck in its massive left fist. The Cameron Star of the Star League Defense Force was painted upon its charred and muddy hull, and the double- barreled PPC in its right hand glinted with wordless malice as a ray of sunlight broke through the cloud bank to illuminate the dreaded assault 'mech. Steam and wisps of smoke swirled from the Black Rose battlemech as Ryouga tossed it to the ground before him with a heavy thud. "Who do you think you are?!" Kodachi demanded of him. "...Ryouga..." Tarou grunted to himself. Happousai was stunned. The lost boy was alive!? It wasn't possible! Not even someone as thick-headed as Ryouga could have survived a collapsing building! "Ryouga! How did you...?" "There isn't going to be any deal," Ryouga intoned once more, the BattleMaster shaking with rage that translated from his mind to the machine it controlled. "Because *I* have the Library Core now... If you kill me, you destroy it." "Ryouga," Tarou said calmly, surprised and dismayed to see his former comrade. He had expected to in the course of the fighting, but even expecting it had not prepared him for this encounter. "I'm warning you right now not to do anything rash... Now what exactly do you want?" "I'm here to kill you, Tarou," Ryouga said quietly into the microphone. The fearsome BattleMaster raised its PPC as he took in the sight of the many Black Rose 'mechs that watched him with dread. A low and urgent tone sounded in his ears as the six-rack SRM launcher acquired its first target, and the hot smell of his cockpit filled his nostrils with its acrid fragrance. "I'm here to kill every last one of you..." ___________________________________________________________________________ J. Austin Wilde and Fission Park Press proudly present: BATTLETECH: THE SAOTOME GAMBIT PART THIRTY by J. Austin Wilde Super Critical Reactor Axe Man, Fission Park Press wildeman@gci-net.com http://www.gci-net.com/users/w/wildeman/ The characters and situations of Ranma 1/2 are the creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi and Shogakukan/KITTY/Viz Video. Battletech and its related materials are the property of FASA, inc. No infringement of copyright is intended nor should be inferred by this work of fanfiction. ___________________________________________________________________________ Chapter One The Ruins of Ryuugenzawa City 15:10 Local Time The thunderclap report of a Particle Projection Cannon filled the cool damp air as Ryouga opened fire. The bolt of lightning slammed into Happousai's Locust even as the flight of six short range missiles burst from his launcher and into Tarou's Hunchback. Both 'mechs reeled from the hits, with Happousai's Locust bursting into flames and tumbling to the muddy ground as motes of fire coruscated from its spindly, flailing legs. Happousai's yelp of surprise and alarm was cut short in a squawk of static. The Hunchback caught most of the volley square in the turret-shaped head, blasting away the armor in orange clouds of flame. Kodachi shrieked at Ryouga as he charged at her, the four laser projectors in the BattleMaster's torso flaying the armor of her black Marauder in white hot streams of yellow-green light. She answered his salvo with a double PPC blast of her own, the thunderbolts crisscrossing with the laser beams in a cat's cradle of annihilation that made the air shiver and tremble between the two battlemechs. Ryouga felt the bolts cutting into his torso armor through his neurohelmet link with the battlemech. The armor was thick, as thick as any 'mech short of an Atlas, and he knew it would hold up against the continued onslaught of Kodachi's Marauder - at least long enough for him to rip her apart limb from limb. The BattleMaster dropped its shoulder for a collision with her as she realized too late that he wasn't going to stop. The impact sent her Marauder staggering backwards, the derringer forearm weapon pods turning mad circles in the air as the Black Rose fought to control her machine. She toppled over onto the ground, knocking down several tall trees as she fell. Ryouga pivoted the 85 ton BattleMaster smartly as the rest of her troops shook off the mesmerizing carnage he had inflicted in just a few seconds, and began to bear down on him. Their beams and bolts buzzed chaotically around him as he took careful aim with his own weapons, consumed with a cold fury that meant the deaths of anyone foolish enough to stand their ground against him. He was firing every weapon in lethal salvos at his enemies, expertly maneuvering his monstrous battlemech with the determination to bring his next target to bear and then destroy it. Black Rose 'mechs staggered and fell under his onslaught, and a haze fell over the wooded battlefield from the tremendous heat released from the weapons and pouring from his heat sinks. The Black Rose forces, mostly Federated Shiratori mercenaries recruited to Kodachi's banner with the promise of easy wealth and fame, began to break and run under the barrage of the lone BattleMaster and its homicidal pilot. Ryouga pursued them, his mind lost in the moment, wanting only to annihilate his enemies before they could hurt anyone else today. Only one 'mech stood its ground, a Black Rose Grasshopper whose laser arrays were steaming with heat from wild, panicked fire. The BattleMaster's metalshod fist crushed the weakened torso armor of the Grasshopper as it tried to cover the retreat of its fellows. The arm sank into the enemy 'mech up to the elbow as Ryouga felt his battlemech's hand grasp the fiery fusion heart of the 70 ton Grasshopper, and with a savage snarl that carried over his external speakers to the entire forest clearing, he ripped the reactor from its mounts in a spray of liquid nitrogen coolant and plasma flame. The reactor fused itself into a lifeless grey lump of steaming metal in the BattleMaster's hand as Ryouga held it up for the fleeing Black Rose 'mechs to see. He turned slowly to face Tarou, who had righted his battlemech next to the burning hulk of Happousai's Locust. Ryouga grinned ferally at the handiwork of his PPC. The last time he had shot Happousai with it, on Capra, the bolt had just missed hitting the center of mass and all of the battlemechs' vital internals. This time, his aim had been true, and the Locust was all but obliterated. Tarou was in better shape, but only just. The Hunchback's head had been blasted wide open by his missiles, and he could see his former friend and companion through the blackened rents and streamers of smoke. The rest of the 'mech was hardly touched, however, and the Tomodzuru autocannon was aimed right at him. "Damn you," Tarou said to him, his voice wracked with pain, and taut and drawn with smoke inhalation. "Is that all that you have to say to me, Tarou!?" Ryouga returned. "'Damn you?'" "We could have worked something out," Tarou replied with a cough, the Hunchback moving slowly to circle the BattleMaster. Ryouga rotated to follow the 'mech, not trusting his one-time friend for a moment. "Happousai was my enemy too, or have you forgotten that?" "You were ready to cut a deal with him!" Ryouga shot back. Tarou laughed bitterly. "Do you think for one moment that I would have honored a deal with that inhuman piece of shit?" "I guess you're right," Ryouga said evenly. "But then, you didn't keep your promise to Akane either." The Hunchback tensed for a moment - a mental flinch translated through Tarou's neurohelmet to his battlemech. Ryouga noted the reaction with a scornful grunt. "That's right," Tarou admitted at length. "I've always looked out for Number One, Ryouga. I've never hidden that fact about me from you." "There was time when you were my friend, Tarou," Ryouga returned, his voice losing some of its scorn for a softer, regretful tone. "We may not have seen eye to eye on things, but we always looked out for each other on the battlefield. Were you looking out for 'Number One' then, too?" Tarou was silent for a moment before responding. "What do you think, Ryouga?" The BattleMaster, its hull blackened and trailing wisps of smoke from its savaged armor plating, wavered for a moment. "I want to believe that there was a time when you actually cared about someone other than yourself and your petty revenge," Ryouga replied. "Don't talk to me about petty revenge!" Tarou snorted. "You were ready to tear Saotome's head off over a stupid bread feud when we ran into him on Capra! How long did you nurse that grudge, Ryouga? Seven years?" "I got over it!" Ryouga snarled back, his fingers tensing on the weapon release triggers the way he knew Tarou's must have been. "I've made my peace with Ranma, and worked to make the Expedition a success! You sold us out the first chance you got! You broke your promise to Akane, and by bringing the Black Rose to Ryuugenzawa, you've hurt and threatened people I care about!" He almost expected Tarou to fire in that moment, and with his weapons aimed at the Hunchback's head, the exchange would have been instantly fatal to both of them. Instead, the Hunchback lowered its arms and stood silent before him. "It doesn't have to end like this, Ryouga," Tarou said quietly. "If you and Kodachi leave this planet, it won't," he returned. "We can still make a deal," Tarou pressed. "You need us to fight off the Commonwealth. If we join forces, we can still escape the system with the Library Core. Think about it, Ryouga." Ryouga wanted to squeeze the triggers, but his fingers wouldn't move that last millimeter. He did not see that Kodachi's Marauder had risen to its cloven-hoofed feet behind him, the forearm weapon pods poised to strike him down in twin bolts of particle beam fire. Tarou, however, did. "Aim for the legs!" he cried, throwing his Hunchback clear as Ryouga realized too late that Kodachi was behind him. "We need that Library Core intact!" The bolts slammed into the backs of the BattleMaster's thighs. The armor held, but the double impact sent him staggering forward, the aft- mounted medium lasers of his 'mech firing wildly at her in return. He twisted as he stumbled forward, bringing his own PPC to bear on Tarou, as more bolts of particle beam fire struck him in the back. His guns fired at Tarou, striking the Hunchback square in the chest and just low of his intended target - the head. Then he was toppling over to fall face-first onto the ground. He fought his controls as he tried to roll upright and continue the struggle, all with Kodachi cackling maniacally in his headset. "What's the matter, dear?" she chortled with mock-sweetness. The Marauder loomed over him as he rolled onto his back, the twin weapon pods aimed low at his battlemech's torso and the vital gyroscope mount that maintained his stability. "Did we fall down?" "Give us the Library Core," Tarou added. "It's all we want. When we get it, we'll lift off and never visit this mudball again." "Speak for yourself, lover," Kodachi snorted. "As long as I'm here, I want to kill Akane Tendo." "Never," Ryouga spat before Tarou could rebutt his Combine mistress. "You'll have to kill me." "If necessary," Tarou returned. "Let's be done with this," Kodachi sniffed. "He's caused more damage to my regiment than I care to think about." She dropped one of her weapon pods down at the BattleMaster's bulbous cockpit canopy until it was touching the clear polycarbonate armor, the medium laser mounted just beneath the PPC emitter aimed squarely at Ryouga's lower cockpit seat. She could burn through the canopy and fry him without risking harm to the armored strongbox in the other seat. "Don't you touch him!" a girl's voice cried out over the tac-net. The voice was followed by the staccatto crackle of a heavy pulselaser, and brilliant flashes of coherent light slamming into the hull of Kodachi's Marauder. The Black Rose pivoted on her heels to face Ranma in her Super Phoenix Hawk LAM. "Do I know you?" Kodachi asked her, her voice dripping with menace. "That's Saotome!" Tarou cried. "Kill him!" "Ranma Saotome?" Kodachi asked incredulously. The voice she heard over the radio sounded nothing like the man who had defied her attempt to kill Akane Tendo on the planet Capra. "Are you joking, my love? THAT'S Ranma Saotome?" "It's him!" Tarou confirmed. "Trust me!" Ranma goosed her jets, her LAM leaping into the air as Kodachi hesitated. She soared overhead to land behind the Black Rose, and hammered her once more with pulselaser fire from her engine/weapon pod. Tarou let fly with a wild shot from his autocannon, the depleted uranium dart clipping a chunk of armor off the pod before sailing on uselessly downrange. "You okay, Ryouga!?" Ranma asked worriedly while hosing pulselaser fire back at Tarou. "Leave Tarou to me, Ranma!" Ryouga snarled, drawing his BattleMaster up to its full height, and stomping towards the misshapen battlemech while it was busy fending off Ranma's barrage. "No argument, man," Ranma returned. "Good to see you're still alive." Kodachi interrupted them with a long burst from her autocannon, the shells howling around Ranma's Super Phoenix Hawk as she juked and dodged wildly to avoid them. As she gained altitude in Airmech Mode, she saw that the rest of Kodachi's forces were rallying near the burning ruins of the colony town, and were starting their return to the fight. "We've got more company on the way," she cautioned Ryouga. Ryouga didn't respond, because he was busy attacking Tarou. The Hunchback bobbed and weaved to avoid his blasts meant for the battlemech's vulnerable head, and in turn Tarou was handicapped by the need to cripple his foe without risking the destruction of the library core. The two 'mechs spiralled around each other, firing madly as they went. "It ends here, Tarou!" he barked. "I've worked too hard for this to let you stop me!" Tarou returned fiercely. A shell from his autocannon slammed into the BattleMaster's knee, blasting apart the armor and damaging the actuator. The assault 'mech staggered with the hit, but not before the final missile volley from its six-rack SRM launcher slammed home into the Hunchback's torso. Both battlemechs went down, obscured by smoke and flames. Ranma cried out Ryouga's name, and was answered only by another burst of autocannon fire from Kodachi. The shells spanged off her armor, gouging craters in the precious ferro-fibrous plating that protected her, and haloing her in a nimbus of golden sparks. "That's about enough outta you, sister!" she yelled at Kodachi, and put her LAM into a power dive. Kodachi raised her derringer weapon pods to blow her away with a double PPC barrage, only to lose an arm at the elbow joint as the Super Phoenix Hawk swooped overhead, grabbing the limb, and ripping it out of its ball-and-socket connection. "How dare you!?" Kodachi shrieked indignantly at Ranma. "Assaulting the Black Rose of the Furinkan Combine?! Such impertinence!" The Phoenix Hawk LAM cast the severed limb aside as it banked for another pass. "Yeah, what do you think I was gonna do, lady? Let you shoot me?" Kodachi was wroth, and it showed in her voice. "It's the least you can do, peasant!" "Man," Ranma snorted. "You sound just like your idiot brother." Kodachi gasped in disgust at the idea. "You horrible creature!" she cried angrily. "To think that I once desired you!" Ranma tried to suppress a cold shiver at the notion that Kodachi wanted her. It was too sick to think about. The Black Rose fired another long burst at Ranma with her autocannon, which succeeded only in chewing up the forest around the agile LAM as it boosted clear. "Hold still, you!" she cried impatiently. "At least try to die with some dignity and grace!" Ranma gave her a wet raspberry over the tac-net as she raced away from the battle in the hopes of drawing the Black Rose away from Ryouga and Tarou. The BattleMaster didn't look like it was up to a two-on-one confrontation. She did not see how the two combatants had knocked each other over as she fled with Kodachi in hot pursuit. * * * "Hold on, Sayuri," Yuka begged her friend, who was growing paler by the moment. The thump of heavy battlemech feet made her look up with a mixture of hope and dread. A Centurion burst through the trees, its heavy autocannon probing for the enemy. When she saw that it was Doctor Tofu and not an enemy, Yuka waved and yelled frantically for its attention. Tofu dismounted at once with his medical kit and a portable cutting torch in hand. A Victor stomped into the small clearing formed by the crashlanding Phoenix Hawk LAM, and took up the job of protecting them while Tofu went to work. He blanched at the sight of what had happened, and understood the need for the cutting tools. "How bad is it, Doctor Tofu?" Kasumi called over the external speakers. "I might need your help, Kasumi," he replied. "I'll be right there." Yuka hovered over the doctor as he checked Sayuri's vital signs and pronounced her condition as grave. He dug into his kit for the bags of whole blood and his transfusion apparatus, knowing that he needed to replace her blood volume now before any attempts could be made to cut her free. More than the whole blood though, he needed lots of blood plasma for Sayuri to keep her pressure up, a commodity he did not possess. There were other concerns, for the shard of metal had clearly pierced her left lung, and she risked aspirating blood into the uninjured right lung if he could not drain it and repair the damage. "One step at a time," he told himself. If he didn't stabilize Sayuri, and soon, none of his other concerns would matter. "Set up that cutting torch," he ordered Yuka, more to keep her out of his way while he did his work than anything else. Kasumi's gasp of horror at the grisly sight of Sayuri's injuries was his first indication that she was there. The fear that he would seize up when Sayuri needed him most gripped him, but to his surprise he found that with something urgent to occupy his mind, he could function normally. "I need you to elevate this for me, please," he told the woman of his dreams, and handed her the bag of precious type-B whole blood. "Of course, Doctor Tofu," Kasumi replied coolly. "Do you think you can save her?" Tofu caught the worried look in Yuka's eyes and nodded. "I haven't lost a patient on this expedition, and I don't plan on starting now." The transfusion started, he began assessing the situation. The best way to release her from the piece of metal that impaled her was to cut it from both ends and remove her from the cockpit with the rest still inside. He didn't have the facilities to try and remove all of it safely in the field. "Start about five centimeters back from the point of penetration," Tofu advised Yuka. "The metal will act as a heat sink for the torch, but under the circumstances, it should work in our favor. Any cauterization caused by it will slow the bleeding until I can get her to Sickbay on the _Palomino._" "I don't know if I can do this," Yuka said uneasily. "Then hold this," Tofu told her impatiently, taking the bag of whole blood that drained into Sayuri's vein from Kasumi and handing it to her. "Kasumi, I need you to steady Sayuri while I make the cut." "Of course, Doctor," she replied quietly. The crush of heavy battlemech feet made the ground tremble slightly, and she wondered if she was really serving them better by standing here, and not in her Victor. It was awkward having to work in such a narrow space as the gap in the canopy afforded, and he wasn't the most experienced hand with a cutting torch. He struck the flame and edged carefully into the cockpit as Sayuri emitted a low gasp of pain. He drew the plasma torch over the section of wing as quickly as he dared, trying to vaporize as much metal as possible without dribbling molten drops of it onto the girl's legs and torso. He was mostly successful, and the pressure suit's ablative lining helped with the rest, but she was probably going to have a few small burn scars when all was said and done. Her tiny hisses of pain through her unconsciousness were enough to tell him that. When he was through with the first section, he wrenched at the canopy, shoving it clear and giving him more room to work with. The section of wingtip that had penetrated through her body and into the seat came free, and Sayuri pitched forward. The section that had penetrated her back was much shorter than he had feared, and Tofu decided to leave well enough alone. "Let's get her out," he said to the two women, and lifted Sayri gently out of her cockpit seat. "Which 'mech should we transport her in?" Kasumi asked. "Yours, I think," Tofu replied. He turned to Yuka. "Ever pilot a battlemech before?" Yuka rubbed at her temple, relieved that her friend was no longer pinned into her wrecked fighter. "Once. I wasn't very good at it." "Consider this a second chance," the doctor told her. "The neurohelmet is in the cockpit." Yuka nodded reluctantly, and started for the Centurion. Tofu, holding Sayuri in his arms as Kasumi took back the blood transfusion, gave her a gentle look. "I don't want to lose anyone, Kasumi," he said quietly as they walked carefully towards the Victor. "But I know it might be too much to hope." "I know, Doctor," she replied, thinking about the suffering she had witnessed on Oni. "All we can do is try, and I admire you for not giving up on anyone." He blushed at this, and tried not to drop his precious charge in his delirium. It was difficult, because hearing such a thing from Kasumi made his heart leap in his chest. * * * "Ranma! Where the heck do you think you're going?!" a certain Tomboy cried out over the tac-net as Ranma's Phoenix Hawk LAM evaded Kodachi's weapon fire. "Why are you asking me such dumb questions?" she retorted. "Akane Tendo?!" Kodachi shrilled before Ranma's fiancee could muster up a scream. "Is that really you?" Akane's face appeared abruptly on the Black Rose's display. She was wrathful and grim, a combination that the Combine princess found quite unsettling. "It's me, Kodachi. I'm three hundred meters north of you right now, so if you want to finish what we started on Port Said, I'd be happy to oblige you." "Done and done!" Kodachi cried happily in spite of her misgivings. "May we fight in all fairness!" "Oh no!" Akane shot back. "I'm not falling for that again." "Why, you detestable little trollop, whatever do you mean?" Kodachi said, her voice dripping with malice. "You know what I'm talking about, you crazy witch!" Akane cried angrily. "For every crime you've perpetrated on the people of the Confederation, I'm going to pay it back with interest, and I'm going to do it in spite of your dirty tricks!" "You and what army, harridan!" Kodachi trilled. "I don't need an army, Kodachi. Remember what I did to you on Port Said!" Akane pointed out gleefully. "You couldn't retreat fast enough from me!" "How dare you accuse the Black Rose of cowardice!?" "It's easy: I just tell it like it happened!" Kodachi let out a strangled gasp of rage and frustration, and then abandoned her pursuit of Ranma to attack Akane. Ranma watched the two close with each other at full speed. "And people say the two of *us* bicker?" she remarked to herself. Akane was ready when Kodachi's Marauder bore down on her. As the black battlemech cleared a row of trees that separated them, she let her enemy have it with both Donal PPCs. The weapon arms spat forth twin arcs of blue- white lightning that tore into the Marauder's leg armor. She corrected for her low aim as her father positioned his Warhammer for a shot of his own against the Black Rose, and Ukyou triggered her Hatchetman's jump jets to attack from behind. "Kodachi's mine," she growled to them. "Help Ranma and Ryouga!" "If you insist, hon'," Ukyou replied, and maneuvered in mid jump to put her closer to the dueling BattleMaster and Hunchback. Soun moved past the two combatants at a distance, followed by a wary Genma Saotome in his battle-scarred Orion. "Your confidence amuses me," Kodachi chuckled, and returned fire with her autocannon, blazing streams of armor piercing shells that spanged off the Warhammer's torso in flurries of red and gold sparks. "Though it is completely without merit." "I beat you once," Akane returned. "I'll do it again." "A fluke," Kodachi sniffed. She slowed her advance to bring her remaining PPC to bear. "I shall defeat you with only one arm!" The PPC fired, and the thunderbolt crashed into the Warhammer as Akane triggered her six-rack SRM launcher. Fingers of electricity crackled from the impact point of the particle beam, reaching out to caress the stubby missiles as they sprang from their tubes. The missiles began to explode right in front of the Warhammer, engulfing it in a fireball. Kodachi shrieked laughter at her sudden windfall, and charged in to attack in the confusion. As the fireball blackened into a column of oily smoke, the long armored tube of a Donal PPC appeared, clouting the Marauder across the snout-like cockpit with a resounding impact. "Wicked strumpet!" Kodachi cried indignantly, reaching up underneath her neurohelmet to rub her temple, sore after getting rattled in her cockpit. Akane's Warhammer stepped through the smoke with the other arm coming up to deal a second blow. "You cheated, making me think that you had exploded so conveniently!" The Black Rose turned it aside with the stump of her Marauder's right arm, and followed through with a backhanded bitch-slap across the Warhammer's cockpit visor with her remaining derringer arm. The Warhammer reeled from the blow, but its low center of gravity kept it from toppling over. Kodachi then hammered away at point blank range with her Whirlwind autocannon, one of the few weapons she could use effectively this close. Then, receiving a sudden flash of inspiration, she shifted her fire into the trees behind the Warhammer, cutting them down and sending them crashing into the battlemech. The Warhammer staggered under the hits of ancient hardwood trees, and was engulfed in their green foliage. The gun-barrel PPC arms swiped madly at the branches in an attempt to clear them away from her blinded sensors, but lacking actual hands, the task was less than successful. Kodachi blasted her with her remaining PPC while she struggled, chortling over the external PA with her victory. "Now who's the cheat!?" Akane snarled accusingly. She wiped at the thin line of blood that trickled from her lip where she had bitten down on it with the force of Kodachi's slap. As she moved, the weight of the trees dragged them off her hull, and finally cleared her view. She began to backpedal, moving under a hail of 90mm shells and the assault of Kodachi's maniacal laughter, to give herself an effective field of fire with her twin gun clusters. She raked the Marauder with laser and machinegun fire, tearing into the two turbine-driven cooling pods on either side of the battlemech's cannon. The intakes caught a stream of fire that disintegrated the thinly armored intake screens and then proceeded to blast apart the turbines. The Marauder twitched spasmodically at her hit, nearly falling to its knees. Akane fired the six-rack SRM launcher once more, and without a particle beam bolt to interfere with her shot, was rewarded with the sight of all six missiles hitting. The black Marauder's steeply-sloped armor made the hits less than effective, however, as most of the explosive force was spread out along the long curved sweep of the battlemech's flanks. Head-on fire at the torso wasn't going to work; she needed to hit it from an oblique angle at the every least, and directly from the sides at best. At least her gun clusters had been effective. She could see the expanding waves of heat mirage coming from Kodachi's radiators, and knew that without the turbine fans blowing tons of air across them, her ability to dissipate heat was going to be greatly diminished. Hopefully, she'd think twice about firing her remaining PPC. "Where do you think you're going?" Kodachi demanded in a shaky voice as Akane moved her Warhammer away in a flanking attempt. "Running away already, are we?" Her autocannon pivoted on its mast-like mount to continue spraying the Warhammer with fire. To hear fear creeping into the Black Rose's voice made Akane's heart swell. Kodachi had done so much damage to the Confederation in the past, ended so many innocent lives, and terrorized entire planets. Now she was alone, fighting to the death in a battlemech that was half-crippled. Now the debts she had accrued against the Confederation would be repaid. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you," Akane retorted, and let Kodachi have it with both Donal PPCs. The twin thunderbolts gushed from the tube-like weapon arms with deafening reports, and dashed against the Marauder's broad expanse of torso flank. The chattering of the autocannon stopped abruptly, followed immediately by the stacatto flashes of ammunition cooking off within the weapon's magazine. The force of the blast ripped the intact left arm off at the shoulder joint, venting catastrophically from the torn armor, and flinging blobs of bright green tracers in lazy arcs into the remaining trees. The Marauder toppled over and crashed in a twisted heap. Long plumes of black smoke poured from the carbonized hole in the torso armor, and small fires burned within. Akane brought her Warhammer up to inspect her fallen enemy, and noted with satisfaction that the Marauder remained as silent and still as death. She sank into her ejector seat with a long, drawn-out, and weary sigh. This was the ending that should have happened on Port Said six months ago. Kodachi Kuno, the Black Rose of the Furinkan Combine, was defeated. * * * "I'd watch those damaged knees if I were you," Tarou observed sardonically as he maneuvered through dense woods to evade Ryouga's particle beam riposte. "They'll be the death of you." Ryouga knew it without needing a reminder from his enemy. The actuator damage his 'mech had suffered was slowing him down. He was at full throttle and only managing cruise speed in his pursuit. Another good hit would tear off a leg, which he was sure was what Tarou had in mind. He was as obsessed with the library core as Happousai had been. He also knew that Tarou was almost out of shells for his Tomodzuru autocannon, and that when they were expended, he would be down to a pair of medium lasers for his armament. Ryouga still had his formidable array of lasers, plus his PPC. That came out to a significant advantage in a fight. Getting Tarou to use those last two or three shots without being hit was the challenge. The battered Hunchback turned around the copse of trees to come back at him. He responded with all four of his medium lasers, the beams crackling through the air at the battlemech, and cutting four black swaths through the torso. Sparks flashed from the rents in Tarou's armor, and for a moment Ryouga thought he had set off the autocannon's ammunition. The depleted uranium dart that crashed into his torso was proof enough that he hadn't. The impact staggered his 'mech, and spoiled his aim with the hand held PPC. His armor was practically gone over his right torso, the last hit gouging a crater in the thick plating with a diameter big enough for a man to stand inside. How many of those do you have left, Tarou? he wondered angrily. The patient and loving work Akari had invested in his Battlemaster was being destroyed by that terrible weapon, and he wasn't going to stand for it. "I'm going to finish this, Tarou!" he cried. "Now, stand and fight it out, Monster-boy!" "Be reasonable and eject!" Tarou returned. "Or if you're so eager to die, at least eject your rear seat and spare the library core!" "I'd rather see it destroyed than have you or Kodachi get your hands on it!" Ryouga put his 'mech into a charge, intent on running down the Hunchback that he out-massed by thirty-five tons. Tarou stopped short and fired another shot from his autocannon that crashed into the center of the BattleMaster's torso. Armor spalled off in waves, and curled up into steel shavings at the red hot edges of the crater, but the plating was at its thickest there, and it held - barely. "You're forcing me to kill you, Ryouga!" Tarou answered, hosing laser fire at the BattleMaster's legs. "I've tried to avoid that so far, but you leave me no choice!" Ryouga triggered his lasers again, the beams slicing apart an arm in clouds of ionized gas. "I won't allow you to profit from your betrayal!" He could see the Hunchback tense for another autocannon shot and knew that he wouldn't reach it in time to ram. One more hit from that thing would be enough to destroy him, and if Tarou's aim was true, he would lose a leg, and his enemy would win. The shot did not come, nor did he hear Tarou's scream of frustration over the din of his own war cry. The BattleMaster crashed into the smaller Hunchback, forcing it up into the air as its massive limbs grappled. Still yelling his lungs out, Ryouga wrenched the Hunchback up over his battlemech's head before throwing it down with all his might. The BattleMaster's myomer bundles groaned in protest over the load as he exerted them to their very limits. The Hunchback hit the ground with a crash, bits of metal and clods of dirt flying from the huge divot it made. Ryouga spun his BattleMaster around, kicking the fallen 'mech with a full power blow. The Hunchback's right arm was torn away from the elbow joint, leaving it completely defenseless to his attacks. He laid into Tarou with everything he had; punches, kicks, stomps, and more. Sparks flew from his battlemech's hands as they smashed apart armor, foamed aluminum skeletal components, and magnetic-piston actuators. He continued pounding on the Hunchback in a rage, long after it had ceased to be a battlemech; it was now nothing more than an ugly, formless lump of steel and composites that smoldered and leaked nameless fluids from the folds and rents. "Ryouga!" Ukyou called to him. "That's enough already!" He didn't hear her as she again called to him to stop. It took a mechanized hand on his cocked fist to get his attention. "You got him," she said quietly. "Trust me on this one, honey." His throat was raw from screaming, and it took him a moment to find his voice. It unnerved him to think that he had become so mindless and insane in a battle, even one on which so much depended. "Okay," he panted finally. "You're right." He turned to see the Warhammers of Akane and her father, Commander Saotome's Orion, and Ranma's Super Phoenix Hawk LAM standing in a line, watching him worriedly. "Are you okay, Ryouga?" Akane asked. "Yeah," he gushed. He did not want Akane to see him like this, not like some wild animal that needed to put down for its own good. "I'm all right... Wha-What about the rest of Kodachi's troops?" "Makin' a run for it," Ranma replied. "It seems you scare the piss outta them, Ryouga." The Super Phoenix Hawk's head inclined in Akane's direction. "And with the cavalry coming like it did, they totally lost their nerve." "Great," Ryouga huffed wearily. "What now?" "Musk Dynasty forces are approaching the _Palomino's_ position," Akane replied. "There's no chance of us getting back there in time to stop them, even if we had the numbers to do it, but I just spoke with Captain Grant, and he says they're ready to lift off." "So we headin' to the bunker then?" Ranma asked her. She was all for leaving the planet as soon as possible. "Just as soon as we link up with Kasumi and Doctor Tofu," she confirmed. "I only hope Sayuri can hold on a little longer." "Let's move out," Soun said to them. "We can't stay here." Akane's Warhammer set a PPC arm against Ranma's Super Phoenix Hawk LAM as the rest agreed and turned northwest. "Stay with me on the ground for awhile, Ranma," she said to him. The battlemech cocked its head at her, aping the gesture Ranma made within her cockpit. "What for? You'll need an eye in the sky if you want to avoid those Musk jokers." The Warhammer emitted a puff of steam from its heat sinks, an autonomous heat dumping function that was utterly coincidental with Akane's mood shift. Ranma's 'mech edged away nervously from her anyway. "I just wanted to see you," Akane said to her through clenched teeth. "You worry me half to death with your wandering off and not reporting in, then you take on a force ten times your own without so much as a simple request for help, then you... Oh, nevermind." "All right already," Ranma replied. "I'll stick around for a few minutes if it'll make you feel better. Jeez..." The two 'mechs began walking together, leaving Ryouga behind. The fanged mechwarrior took one last look at the ruins of Pansuto Tarou's Hunchback, and tried to forget the years they had been comrades. Though those days had been anything but idyllic, they represented a simpler time that was now forever lost to him. "Goodbye, Tarou," he said to the pile of burnt scrap. "Coming, Ryouga?" Akane asked him over the radio. He nodded his head, looked over his shoulder at the armored strongbox that contained the library core, and let out a sigh. "On my way," he replied. Chapter Two The DropShip _Palomino_ 15:18 Local Time "Kick the tires and light the fires!" Grant yelled to his crew while stepping onto the Flight Deck with his pressure suit helmet under his arm. "We've got less than ten minutes before this position gets overrun." He wanted to give Lady Akane and the others more time to return, but the Musk Dynasty wasn't allowing it. "Commencing reactor start-up," the Co-Pilot declared, punching in the commands to his board. The DropShip's computer acknowledged the command with an automated warning over the ship's 1MC intercom circuit. "Ignition in five... four... three... two... one... mark!" The lights flickered for a moment. Displays shifted and danced on the Flight Deck as vital systems prepared themselves automatically for activation. "The reactor is online. Fusion plant power indications stable and ranging within normal variances," the Co-Pilot announced. "Port cooling loop pressure holding steady. Shifting the power distribution system to a normal full-power line up." "Main Engine sequence start," the Pilot added. The massive engine turbines in the Port Atmospheric Manuevering Engine began to spool up with a deep drone well aft of the cockpit. The DropShip shifted slightly on its landing gear, as if anticipating its coming leap into the sky. "Main Engine induction pressure rising. Main Engine low induction pressure alarm clear." Captain Grant nodded coolly for them and then turned back to face Tad and the two Gunner's Mates. "Status of weapons and sensors?" he asked them. "Fire Control is green. All weapon mounts indicate ready." Petty Officer Howard gave him a 'thumbs up.' "All active and passive arrays are green. Request permission to radiate with active radar." "Hold off on the active radar," Grant cautioned him. "I want to make certain we can get off the ground before I advertise our presence. With Yuka and Sayuri down, we have no air support." "Main Engines ready for lift-off," the Pilot announced a moment later. "Good," Grant rumbled. "Inform Lady Akane that we are lifting off, and that we will meet her and the rest of Red Lance at the secondary rendezvous point." "Aye aye, sir," the Co-Pilot acknowledged. "Take us up," Grant ordered. The Pilot throttled up, and with a roar of fusion heated turbojets, the _Palomino_ began to rise into the air. A cheer went up as the Pilot rotated the ship ninety degrees to put it on the proper heading, and then began edging forward slowly so as not to overtax the engines. "Quiet!" Grant barked. "We're not out of this yet! Tad, you keep your sensors peeled for the bad guys. We know they're close." Tad was already hunched over his displays as the DropShip picked up speed. "Aye sir, scanning now... Captain, I'm picking up ground based search radar, Garrett-type air defense sets." He bit his lip nervously as he punched in several command functions into the sensory gear. "Bearing two-two-six, relative; range is real damn close, sir!" "How close?" Grant demanded. "I want specifics!" Autocannon tracers lit into them as he asked, and the DropShip trembled as they bit into the thick portside armor. "Eight hundred meters!" Tad replied. "Enemy battlemechs bearing two-two-six, relative; range eight hundred meters!" "Increase speed!" Grant ordered the Pilot. "Return fire!" The *whooosh* of the port-side LRM-20 rack was quickly followed by the crackle of the twin heavy laser and point defense medium laser turrets. It was a relatively small amount of firepower, but with luck, sufficient to the task of harassing the enemy and denying them an easy shot. The _Palomino_ began to shake again as more autocannon fire struck the ship. Then two particle beam cannon bolts slammed into the aft section, sounding alarms on the Flight Deck. The gunner on the port side returned fire with all he had, and yet he did nothing to stop the onslaught. "There's a whole battalion down there," he shrieked, still firing his weapons as fast as the systems would permit. "Pressure's dropping in the port coolant loop!" the Co-Pilot added. An alarm wailed as he spoke. "Port Loop Low Pressure Alarm!" "I'm losing thrust in the manuevering engines," the Pilot intoned. "Switching to HEPLAR drive; hang on!" The DropShip's plasma drive ignited with a roar, and the sudden increase in thrust threw off the Musk Dynasty aim, giving them a few blessed seconds of relief. The _Palomino_ careened just above the verdant Ryuugenzawa forest, trailing lines of smoke from its wounds as it sought escape. "Damage report!" Grant ordered, watching as the Engineering repeater display began hemorrhaging red light. Akari's quavering voice answered for the Engineer. "We have a leak in the port loop!" she said over the intercom. "We're compensating by injecting fresh coolant from the cryogenic plant, but once we run out of liquid nitrogen..." "How long?" Grant asked bitterly. "Ten minutes at present rate of consumption, sir. Probably less than that if the leak rate increases with pipe erosion through the source of the leak." "Keep the pressure above the safety shutdown point," Grant ordered. "Strike that!" he amended. "I order you to take the Reactor Protection System console to Battleshort!" "Take the RPS console to Battleshort, aye," Akari replied. The Battleshort Mode would disable all of the fusion plant's automated safety shut-down commands. Grant intended to run the reactor into the ground if necessary to escape the Musk Dynasty. "Flight Deck, Engineering; the RPS console is set to Battleshort." Grant acknowledged Akari's report and turned to his Pilot. "Keep us in the air," he told him. "Plot a course for the Orochi bunker. We can get that far at least, and then have the _Tautog's_ shuttles pick us up from there." "I'll keep us in the air," the Pilot returned. "But I don't like the idea of abandoning ship." "Neither do I," Grant said tersely. "But we've got to keep our options open." * * * Musk Dynasty Headquarters Company Ian Cameron Starport 15:22 Local Time "" Mechwarrior General Herb said to himself as the _Palomino_ escaped. There had been no reports of Black Rose DropShips within the bounds of the starport. "" he ordered his operations section. "" The thought occured to him that the ship might in fact belong to the Confederation, that they had in fact survived the Orochi. It made the case for Shampoo's survival that much more compelling, and made him wonder again where Mousse had run off to. Lime and Mint had thus far failed to find him. "" he told his Operations Officer. "" "" the officer replied. The matter settled, he returned his attention to the starport. He wasn't impressed. The place looked as if it had been mauled a very long time ago. If there was anything of value here, he would need a lot of uninterrupted time to search for it. As his 'mechs cleared the ruined hulk of an ancient Leopard class DropShip, he spied several battlemechs standing in a line, their arms at their sides, and their systems apparently quiescent. One of them, a Centurion, had been heavily and recently damaged. The others; a Wasp, another Centurion, and two Catapults, looked pristine in their SLDF livery. "" he ordered his troops. "" We must have frightened the DropShip off with our advance, he realized. These Confederation fools obviously know where this world's treasures can be found. An officer with a hulking bear-like frame and yellow ursine eyes appeared on his display, interrupting his train of thought. "" Herb considered this. The third party in question most likely belonged to the Confederation. He needed knowledgable prisoners if he was going to make his search for lostech more efficient. "" he declared. "" "" He turned his Grand Dragon on its heels, and headed back towards his personal DropShip. He would wait there for any prisoners that were captured, or for news of the Confederation DropShip's destination. The planet was by all rights his now, all that was left was the extermination of Kodachi Kuno's rag-tag regiment, and the final disposition of Mousse and Shampoo. Tatewaki's fleet was surely headed inexorably towards their deaths at the hands of the Orochi, and he wanted to be close to his sources of information for the battle in orbit to confirm this. SLDFS _Coronet_ 15:23 Local Time "Engineering, report status of restoring main power," Captain Hinako Ninomiya ordered. They had been dead in space for over half an hour since they had successfully fired their Main Gun to destroy an Orochi satellite, an act which had quenched their fusion reactor in the process. A back-up fission plant was to have come on to provide emergency power, but it too had inexplicably failed. Lieutenant Fulton, Hinako's Assistant Engineer from the _Dragonfly,_ and currently Chief Engineer of the _Coronet,_ answered her over the intercom system. "Ma'am, we think we've got the problem isolated to a logic controller in the power distribution system," Fulton replied. His face was damp with sweat, as the engineering crew was operating without the luxury of the ventilation system to conserve the cruiser's emergency batteries. "It's holding up both powerplants on a switchgear fault, making their controllers believe that the main distribution switchgear is grounded, and keeping them offline." "What does all that mean in terms of time to restore power?" she asked him. Engineers tended to speak as if everyone within earshot understood their arcane jargon, and it had been a long time since she had attended the basic engineering courses required of prospective starship commanders. "If we swap the controller out with a spare, factor in time to load the program from the archives, and everything actually works as advertised, I'd say we can start up the fusion plant within forty-five minutes." Hinako slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. A look from Captain Hauptmann at the Fire Control station confirmed her misgivings. "Fulton, we don't *have* forty-five minutes. There are six troop carrier shuttles on their way to take this ship as a prize." Fulton grimaced at the news. "I don't know what to tell you, ma'am. This process is pretty straightforward. There really aren't any corners to cut, but we'll do our best." Hinako sighed wearily and signed off. Captain Hauptmann waved her over to the Fire Control station. Passive sensor data was displayed for them, showing the six Furinkan Combine ships on an intercept course. "ETA is nineteen minutes," Hauptmann declared. "If we don't get our drives back before then, we're in trouble." "That's probably not going to happen," Hinako told him flatly. She had been against firing the Main Gun, but not for the reasons she now regretted. "What are our options?" "The _Tautog_ is having its own problems right now, so we can't expect any help from them in the near future. Olivera says they are at bare minimum combat capability, and their current orbit has them drifting over the planetary horizon in ten minutes. They won't come back around for another two hours and twenty-five minutes." Hinako had to agree that this was not good. "What can we do from our end?" Hauptmann pointed at the fire control panels. "The primary gun batteries won't fire without main power, but we have our secondary turrets. Those can operate off the emergency battery, and if we use the lasers sparingly, we shouldn't drain too much juice." Hinako considered it. "It's probably more than enough firepower to stop those shuttles," she replied. "But what then?" Hauptmann cocked his head at her. "It buys us time to get this crate back to full capacity. I don't want to be anywhere near when the Orochi Network and the Combine fleet go at it hammer and tongs." He shrugged. "If you have a better idea, Captain Ninomiya, I'm all ears." A smile lit up Hinako's face. "Something just came to me," she said. "I'll need everyone you can spare to meet me in the shuttle bay." Hauptmann looked at her questioningly. "What exactly do you mean by 'everyone I can spare'?" "The absolute bare minimum to navigate. One person at the sensors. One person at fire control. The minimum watchstanders in Engineering. The Chief of the Watch can handle commo from his station." "What for?" Hinako crossed her arms over her breasts. "You'll have to trust me on this, Captain Hauptmann." * * * "Captain Hauptmann," the Chief of the Watch called out. "The Furinkan Combine boarding party demands that we surrender our vessel at once." Hauptmann punched the intercom for the shuttle bay staging area. "Our guests are about to arrive, Captain Ninomiya. Are you ready for them?" "You betcha!" a child's voice chirped back in reply. Hauptmann shook his head gravely and turned to the Chief of the Watch. "Tell them that we surrender. Open the shuttle bay doors to receive them." The Chief of the Watch did so. "Aye, Captain. Shuttle Bay doors indicate open." "This had better work..." Hauptmann muttered. * * * "Spread out," the Furinkan Combine Marine sergeant barked to his men in the Shuttle Bay. "Don't bunch up! We don't know what kind of welcome we're going to get on the other side of that door." The other five shuttles started to disgorge their troops, until there were sixty heavily armed and armored Marines waiting to charge through the airtight door and into the interior of the ship. They were armed with machete-like short swords, two-meter long boarding pikes, nailguns, and laser pistols for close combat within a fragile starship. They didn't expect much resistance from the crew, but that would be of small condolence to anyone who ended up dead. When the airtight door suddenly slid open with a hiss, the Marines were ready with every weapon they had. They were not ready, however, for the sight of an eight-year-old girl in the ill-fitting uniform of a Confederation Navy Captain. "Hello everybody!" the girl cried happily to them. "What is this, sarge?" one of the Marines hissed to the sergeant. "Some kinda joke?" The sergeant gave a noncommital grunt. "It's the lieutenant's problem now. Keep your heater on the door and your eyes peeled." "Is everyone here?" the girl asked them, skipping up to the center of their ranks. The Combine Marine lieutenant stepped forward to greet Hinako with a look of reproach. "Look here, little girl. I don't know what your parents think they'll accomplish by sending you to us, but it won't work." He raised his voice to the open airtight door. "I demand to speak to the master of this vessel at once, that I may accept his formal surrender!" Hinako tugged at his armored hand. "I'm right here," she pouted. He brushed her off. "Go away, little girl." He affected an irritated look for his sergeant. "Sergeant, take this child to the shuttle at once." "Hey!" Hinako cried shrilly. "I'm NOT a little girl! I'm the Captain of this ship! One of them, anyway..." The lieutenant looked to the open airtight door, feeling that there was something wrong about this situation. Something horribly wrong. What kind of barbarians would send a child into the ranks of their enemy if they intended to resist? It came to him as a Marine scooped up Hinako and carried her screaming towards a shuttle. They were planning on resisting, and this was their way of ensuring that she didn't get hurt. Clever bastards... "Sergeant, have the first squad advance through the door," he ordered. "They have premission to fire without warning." Hinako's wailing ceased abruptly, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the deck of the shuttle. In the tension of the moment, all the lieutenant noticed was that the child's crying had mercifully stopped. "Yes sir," the sergeant grunted. "First Squad up!" "Hello boys," a sultry voice called to them from the shuttles. The Marines turned as one to see Hinako Ninomiya in her two-sizes too short miniskirt and extra-tight red turtleneck uniform sweater. Jaws dropped appreciatively as she raised a fifty-yen coin between two fingers and leveled it at them with a smile and a wink. "Surprise!" * * * "Captain Hauptmann, Captain Ninomiya reports that the Shuttle Bay is secure, and that the prisoners are in custody," the Chief of the Watch declared proudly. Hauptmann and his Helmsman traded looks. Neither had much faith in Hinako's plan, but they were happy in this instance to be proven wrong. "Ask the Captain what she plans to do next." The Chief of the Watch relayed the question. "She says that depends on the outcome of the battle between the Orochi and the Combine fleet."