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GSS Lei Kung
Zenith Jump Point, Sheridan
July 18, 3030

Lei Kung and Cage’s Pride thrusted in towards the star at the center of the Sheridan system, a half-dozen Adder ships providing escort, while the remainder of the Hellions and Scorpions sat at the Jump Point under the guns of the still more Adder WarShips.  Perhaps thirty minutes had gone by since the challenge had been made and accepted, and a vast distance of open space put between the Adder’s Station and the two battlewagons.

“Have the Elementals acknowledged their orders, Gunthar?” David asked as the two massive McKenna class ships drew closer and closer to the point in space where their duel would begin.

“Aff, saKhan,” answered Star Captain Henriquez.  “Star Colonel Gorga requests permission to leave at least one star to provide security for Lei Kung,” the again went unsaid.

“Neg.  This ship carries twice the number of Elementals that our brother and sister Clans normally assign to Marine details—three times those aboard Hellion ships.  All of our Marines are to board shuttles and prepare to take that ship by storm.” The Star Admiral grinned.  “If the Hellions try and board us, it will remain the duty of those Warriors remaining to repulse them.”

Gunthar only grunted in reply as he watched the icons on his screen steadily close the range.  Six strobing signals suddenly broke off, keeping station relative to the star and the station.  “The Adders have reached the observation point, saKhan and have ceased their advance; Star Admiral da Silva is requesting to speak with you.”

“On screen.”

The auburn haired woman’s face appeared in the midst of a communications screen.  “You know both of you are probably going to take more damage than that convoy is worth, quiaff?”

“Aff.  But not more damage than the honor of my Warriors is worth, Star Admiral.”

She snorted, and then slowly nodded.  “Fight well, Scorpions.  Whether you live or die, a true record of the events here today will be presented to the Grand Council.  This I swear.”

The screen blanked, and David bared his teeth as Lei Kung slowly slid towards the initial point.  “Bring all weapons on-line; prepare to launch all aerospace fighters and shuttles upon my command.  Maneuvering, upon my order go to maximum military power on the drive—we will take these Hellions on the run.”

A chorus of voices answered the old man, who kept his eyes glued to his instruments.  “NOW!” he barked as the icon of his flagship shifted from blue to green, and the icon representing Cage’s Pride began to strobe crimson.

The old battleship quivered as her port launch bays began spitting out aerospace fighters and boarding shuttles—but unlike the Hellions, the Scorpion fighters were only emerging on the far side of the battle, shielded by the bulk of Lei Kung.

“Trinarys Alpha, Gamma, and Delta are clear!”

“Roll ship 180-degrees to port, launch starboard Trinarys.  Weapons free.”

On the monitor, David watched as Cage’s Pride altered vector away from him, trying to keep the range open as her sixty aerospace fighters bored in towards him.  The Scorpion saKhan snorted in derision.  “He thinks we are going to play his game, letting our fighters engage his—prepare the anti-fighter battery to engage that incoming strike!  Alter heading 15-degrees to port, keep that ship in range, Maneuvering!  Guns, load flak shells in the NAC-40s—target those fighters.”

“Secondary battery is on-line and tracking the fighter strike, saKhan,” Gunthar reported.  “Flak loaded and ready to engage.”

The Clan WarShips were—for the most part—the same ships used so long ago by General Kerensky against Amaris in the Liberation of Terra.  Oh, their armor had been replaced with more effective plating, and—on rare occasion—some weapons had been upgraded with newer modern systems, but by and large, many of the Clan capital ships retained the old paradigm of combat of the SLDF.  But not the Scorpions.  Each of their ships had added four twin turrets of large pulse lasers to each and every firing arc, with but one purpose in mind—to kill enemy aerospace fighters.  And rather than keep the old armor plating at the specified levels, the Scorpions had decreased their cargo holds slightly to thicken their armor plating to the maximum the ship’s structure allowed.

Few other Clans had noticed—on a 1.95 million ton WarShip, these changes reflected less than a single percent of the total ship’s mass.  But that lack of perception would cost the Hellion’s dearly today.  As the Hellion fighters bored in on their attack runs, a score of pulse laser turrets opened fire, along with four AR-10 launchers spitting capital missiles. The unexpected hail of fire caught the Hellion pilots by surprise, and a dozen (twenty percent of their number) exploded immediately.  The precise Star formations split into individual points as the Hellion pilots weaved and dodged, and their weapons spat flame and fury in reply, hammering the sides of the Lei Kung with a deluge of light weapons fire that should have penetrated.  But the reinforced armor plating held, and then the big NAC-40s opened fire.

Normally pure anti-ship weapons, the big guns were firing special purpose flak shells instead.  Of little use against capital vessels, the flak rounds were proximity fused and released a cluster of sub-munitions that tore through the heart of the Hellion fighters in a dazzling chain of explosions—even as the pulse lasers continued to swivel, track, and spit cyan bolts at the hapless aerospace pilots.

But none could deny the courage of the Hellion pilots as they bore in through that maelstrom of fire; shattered Stars and individual Points swarmed around the Scorpion ship, firing again and again into her thick armor plating, and Lei Kung shuddered under the impacts of their lasers, and missiles, and PPC bolts, and autocannon bursts, and gauss slugs.  Then Lei Kung heaved, as two of the fighters plunged into her bridge, sacrificing themselves in an attempt to win the battle.

 David smiled grimly.  Fools, he thought, from the confines of the real bridge within the armored core of the battleship.  They think we Scorpions do not read history?  The original bridge was merely an observation deck—all actual ship operations had been transferred, decades ago, to the deeply buried former CIC at the ship’s core.

“Cage’s Pride is coming back in, saKhan Ben-Shimon,” Gunthar reported.

Of course she is; her Warriors are dying and she thinks she has deprived me of command, David thought as beads of cold sweat began to emerge from his forehead.

“Release the fighters and Elementals, Gunthar,” he ordered, having to pause to catch his breath, wincing as he felt a deep stabbing pain in his left shoulder.  “Secondary batteries remain focused on the remaining Hellion aerospace assets—bring the mains to bear on Cage’s Pride.  Let us give our Warriors covering fire on their approach.”

“Aff, saKhan,” the tactical officer answered gamely.  “Bring the N-PPCs on-line,” he repeated, “target the Cage’s Pride, and fire for effect.”

Twenty-four massive iridescent bolts streaked away from Lei Kung:  half of them missed the Hellion battleship, but the rest went true.  Cage’s Pride staggered as her nose armor shattered as the composites absorbed and dissipated the tremendous energy contained.

With the order to engage now given, the Scorpion aerospace fighters exited the shadow of their mothership and streaked towards the Hellion vessel, their tightly spaced formations covering the vulnerable shuttles behind them.

David watched as they charged forward—and Cage’s Pride sent salvo after salvo of missile into their formations, but the Scorpion fighters served their purpose and only a single shuttle died before its kin latched onto the sides of their foe.  Fourteen Scorpion pilots perished to buy the Elementals their chance, but now the tide had shifted.

*****************************************************************

The hull ruptured in an explosion of flame and steel, and a stream of Scorpion Elementals rushed onto the Hellion ship.  Star Captain Mira Scott lifted her right arm AP Gauss Rifle and fired a short burst into three Hellion Warriors that were pointing SMGs in her general direction, and she began to advance through the corridors.  “Gamma-Three, secure engineering!  Gamma-Two, the armory!  Gamma-One, our objective is the bridge!  Follow me!” she bounded off down the wide corridor, twenty-four more Elementals following in her wake.

Her radio crackled.  “Delta and Epsilon moving to secure weapons stations.  Zeta,” minus the twenty-five Elementals of Zeta-Two, either dead or wounded in deep space, “is heading for CIC and communications.”

“Gamma elements,” she added, “don’t give them time to think—press the attack home!”

Her Elementals zoomed along the corridors, not pausing to check their flanks, instead throwing a few grenades to the left, a burst of Gauss slugs to the right.  So far, her Warriors had not met any of the Hellion Marines; their only opposition had been the Warriors assigned to the crew—with pistols and perhaps an SMG against full-up battle armor:  the lightly armed and completely unarmored Hellions had no chance against the fast-moving Scorpions.

But her instincts screamed a warning as she approached the corridor junction just outside of the main bridge, and Mira raised one armored gauntlet—her Elementals slowed and ground to a halt as she extended a sensor probe around the bend.

There they were, and a hail of gauss slugs tore apart the sensor head.

“Full Star of Hellion PA(L),” she informed her men.  “Crew served weapons—I need a volunteer.”

Twenty-four voices barked out “AFF!” in reply, and Mira grinned.  “Jean, missiles.”

“Aff, Star Captain,” the young warrior answered, and he gathered himself and threw himself forward, first one and then the second of his short-range missiles streaking away towards the Hellion, even as his APG barked flame and fury.  But he wasn’t the only one firing and a hail of Hellion slugs shattered his armor, and his vital signs flat lined on Mira’s HUD.

Two massive explosions shook the corridor, and Mira yelled, “GO!” And her Elementals rounded the curve in the corridor and stormed the hard point, APGs ripping apart the Hellion infantry stunned by the concussion of warheads designed to tear apart BattleMechs.  Mira moved quickly to the hatch that sealed off the bridge and she activated the cutting torch in her left arm.  A second Elemental also began to work on cutting through the armored hatch, as the rest of her Elementals formed up into two security points and an assault team.

As her cutting torch exhausted its power cell, Mira stepped back, and another Warrior took over the task.  She pressed the comm stud set beside the hatch.  “We will be in there in a few moments, Hellions.  Now is the time to request hegira, if you are willing to acknowledge your defeat.”

No answer.  She shrugged as the plasma torches drew completed the circle, and then she kick the door in and her Elementals swarmed the bridge of the Cage’s Pride.

The Hellion Warriors, led by their Star Admiral fought ferociously, but none wore armor, and in short order the bridge was secured.

*****************************************************************

“SaKhan,” Gunthar reported from his station.  “We have taken the ship.  The surviving Hellion senior officers are requesting hegira.”

David nodded, but he couldn’t speak—his chest was tight and he had no breath.

Gunthar looked up at the saKhan of the Clan, and he cursed.  “Get a medic to the bridge!  NOW!” he yelled into the comm.  He rushed to David’s side, and loosened the old man’s collar.  “Help is on the way, Star Admiral.  Take this,” the Star Captain said as he shook two pills into his hand and placed them on David’s tongue.

As the nitroglycerin tablets melted into David’s bloodstream, his chest suddenly relaxed, and he sat back.  “Inform the Hellions, we grant their request for hegira, Star Captain,” he whispered.

“We can deal with that later, Sir,” Gunthar whispered.

“Now.  Star Captain.  Secure,” David winced again as he grabbed his chest against the sudden pain, “secure our victory!”

Gunthar stood back, and he nodded.  “Aff, saKhan.”  He turned away from David who still sat in his command chair, although his head was resting against his chest.  “You heard his orders, Warriors.  Secure his victory.”

David tried to nod his head, he tried to speak, even as the bridge hatch opened and a white-uniformed medical tech rushed to his side, but everything was going dark, fading from view.  My life, he thought before his eyes closed, has not been wasted.  My Scorpions, my Scorpions, they will regain the promise we once knew.  And then the Star Admiral, the saKhan of Clan Goliath Scorpion slid into eternal night on the bridge of his victorious flagship.