The Black Tigers: Through A Mirror Darkly
Book One
Beginnings
“I am not a leader of men, because I prefer to followâ€
Nickelback Leader of men
Chapter 1 Beginnings
Historians will look back at the Star League and say it was a golden age. A paradise some will say. Maybe, but it’s gone now. To say Stefan Amaris ruined it is too simple. The truth is we, in our hubris, lost sight of what we had. It’s an old story, repeated time and time again. Our story is what came after.
Bruce (Free Falling over Manhattan Island.)
Combat drops are always unnerving, I mean there’s something wrong about being dumped blind out of a perfectly good DropShip. Something really wrong when you consider the other guy is gonna do all he can to bring you to a sudden, permanent and messy marriage with the ground. Still there is a certain malefic beauty to it all. When the drop cocoon splits away and your ‘Mech comes alive around you the sky is alive with a fireworks show few ever get to see. Above me the SLS Tiger Claw and SLS Farragut filled the sky with fire as their area denial barrages kept our drop corridor clear of Amaris SAM s and the bulk of his fighters. Skimming around like deadly fireflies, careful to keep clear of the big cruisers firing solutions the Rapiers and Hammerheads of the Rakshasha’s flew MIGCAP and ground strike missions. Beautiful until you realized those fireworks were Captain Matos’ command lance being picked apart by Amaris Corvin heavy fighters. And that big ball of light was the Fortress class Mangenot taking a mixed battalion to a fiery end.
Hussy’s threat warnings lit off as a ground based radar began to track the big Marauder. Despite the millions of drop pod fragments and other chaff floating about it’s almost impossible to miss a 75-ton fusion powered beast with all the radar cross section of a T-Rex. My HUD began tracking two Arrow VI surface to air missiles homing in on me. Hussy however, wonderful bitch that she is, could do more than be a sitting, or rather falling duck. SAM’s throw off enough heat from their engines that my sensors could track them even at several miles. The real question was, could I aim and shoot without throwing my ‘Mech out of control.
Shifting gently in the linear frame that controls my ‘Mech, I brought the blocky right vambrace that made up Hussy’s left forearm. At two klicks out I let go with whip slash from the Magna Hellstar PPC encased within. The nice thing about the particle cannon is that you don’t have to actually hit dead on. It’s basically a lightning bolt you flick like a whip throwing off spurs that seek out large metal objects and electromagnetic energy sources. Like the delicate seeker head of a SAM. The first missile didn’t so much explode as simply spiral out of control. The second however came on looking just like a damned flying telephone pole. And its’ twisting spiraling flight took it out of my sights.
Fuck me I thought, it’s pucker time.
Then at 300 meters the missile burst into incandescence. And a sleek steel shark blew by at almost the speed of sound. A Hammerhead ground attack fighter from Gold squadron had swatted the missile with its’ massive 30mm gattling. Of course the big fighters’ passing whipped my ‘Mech around and off the thrust pillar provided by the strap on thrusters.
Bite me Mr. Murphy, I thought.
Sarah (On the ground, Ten Klicks below Hussy’s feet.)
Sarah Elizabeth Davion, 12th in line to the Federated Suns throne, daughter to Duke Paul Davion, unofficial ambassador to the Amaris Empire, was scared out of her wits. Unable to escape from Terra during the Usurpers campaign she had grown up during Amaris rule on Terra. Her father’s shipping concerns and connections had made him perfect to handle the constant under the table lines of communications that even the worst enemies shared, while his family status made even the worst Rim World troops pause. Going to school with other non-Terran notables her life had seemed unchanged. There was of course the undercurrent of fear. No one talked about of course, that was Just Not Done. When her best friend Talia had disappeared, they’d told themselves she’d moved away, when the 22nd Regulars had executed a thousand “rebels†in Madison Square Garden, well, they must have done something wrong, even the children. These are the things you tell yourself to get by. Then suddenly everything changed. The “rebels†became real, strikes at the Amaris military, and the assassinations of collaborators became a daily occurrence. Word from her father’s sources told of Star League fleets and armies striking within one jump of Terra. Sarah’s school had been closed and a squad of Amaris regulars came to “safeguard†them. These hard cruel men terrified her, especially their leader, Major Dupre. Soft voiced and cultured, Sarah knew he’d served time for murder before his father, one of Stephan Amaris’ supporters, had bought his position. He’d been strictly professional since day one but the way he looked at her…
Speak of the devil, Sarah thought.
Instead of his usual immaculate duty uniform, the Major was in full battle dress, a wicked subgun slung under his arm. Striding in with the rest of his squad, Dupre found himself face to face with Sarah’s aunt Gladys. Gladys Maribeth Davion 70 year old matron of the family, veteran of the 3rd Davion Guards, had been a fixture in Sarah’s life for most of her nineteen years. Sharing her rich red hair but having her father’s stout build, the elder woman stood in the Major’s path.
“Major Dupre, what is the meaning of this?†Gladys tone held a note of command that even the Rim Worlders had respected.
The Major ‘s pale blue eyes met her aunt’s hard gray ones.
“Lady Gladys we have orders to move you and Miss Sarah to a secure location, please come with us.â€
Sarah caught the tension in his voice and noticed the shifting looks in the men crowded in the corridor behind him.
“Surely we can wait till His Grace returns, and we must pack, perhaps if you told me…
The Majors strike was so fast Sarah almost missed it. His right arm shot up clutching his subgun. The weapons butt caught Aunt Gladys on the cheek. Despite her age, old reflexes still kicked in, and she rolled with the hit but still collapsed at the Major’s feet.
“His Grace will not be returning, Lady Gladys, nor will you need anything where you’re going.
Now do I need to repeat my self?â€
Sarah stood stunned as her aunt picked herself up and coldly stared back at the blond officer.
“No Major you do not, She turned to Sarah taking her hand with sorrow in her voice.
Come Sarah we must go with these…Gentlemen.â€
As the Amaris soldiers hustled them to a waiting armored car, a flash of light caught Sarah’s eye from above. In a daze she stared up at the shower of lights in the sky. With a growl Major Dupre grabbed her arm and shoved her into the car’s back. Looking up briefly he whispered
“Damn them, they’ve broken through.†His Rim Worlds drawl breaking through his normal accentless speech.
In the back of the armored car the soldiers whispered amongst themselves, and Aunt Gladys took the opportunity to lean over and whisper in Sarah’s ear;
“Be strong dear, remember you are a Davion.â€
But all Sarah could think of was one thing.
‘Daddy?â€
Chapter 2 The Unity Line.
A static defensive line is always vulnerable. Once penetrated in force at any point, every other post becomes moot. Its men cannot bring their arms to bear and in fact can do nothing except wait in impotence to be overrun…..
Alexander, King of Macedon
Minerva Ramos hunched down in her Mongoose’s linear frame as if that could make the six meter tall scout ‘Mech even smaller. Below the low ridge she and the three Talon Strike ‘Mechs of her lance crouched behind waited a full battalion of the Rim Worlds Huscarl Dragoons crouched like a pack of misshapen hyenas. They were prepping a strike on the rear of the 71st Light Horse Regiment. ‘Nerva and her lancemates had other plans. The lightest machines in the 90th, The three Mongoose Recon Platforms and nine Talons of Puma Company, 2nd Battalion lived up to the unit’s moniker of “Swift Clawsâ€.
“Puma Two-Six to Sherman six we have forty repeat four-zero big fish getting set to run. Request fire mission grid three five by one eight.â€
“Roger Puma two-six, Sherman six; fire mission grid three five by one eight, shot out correct as needed.â€
Over the line of sight laser commline Rolly, the company’s First Sergeant spoke quietly.
“Got a Vamp-A here his Beagle just went active.â€
“Won’t matter, Nerva growled, here it comes.â€
The Amaris Huscarl regiments represent the finest formations in the Amaris military. Well trained, with the finest equipment after ten years of access to Terran technology. Both totally loyal and utterly ruthless. A full company spread out in a formation designed to maximize their sensor arrays. Eighteen 210mm guided anti armor rounds split over a kilometer above the Huscarls. In each section of the round was guided by an AI with all the intelligence of a small rodent.
The rodent brain was programmed to seek out specific BattleMech and armor profiles and ignore the IFF signals from friendly units. While Puma company’s ‘Mechs were on idle their IFFs were shut down, but the Huscarls were, as a showcase unit, chock full of just what the little rodent minds were looking for. The Amaris troops had only just detected the rounds splitting apart when at about a hundred meters the submunitions detonated.
In side each round the rat brain committed suicide by igniting a shaped charge that turned an ingot of copper beyond molten. The slug of copper plasma slammed straight down at the Huscarl ‘Mechs. ‘Nerva’s eyes couldn’t process this of course, but the end result was enough. Each round carried six of the lethal submunitions. In a flash of red gold light the Amaris battalion disintegrated. Out of forty hostiles only five Huscarl machines were standing after the barrage.
“Okay people finish up, ‘Nerva’s c/o Captain Kevin St.Paul ordered.
Let’s open the hole.â€
The Amaris machines were one leg in the grave as the Talons went to work.
As the last machine, a Great White, went down six Ripper VTOL transports flashed by at treetop level. ‘Nerva knew they carried a detachment of the “Stealthy Tigers†the 90th’s SAS detachment. The what and why of their mission was a mystery.
Dido (Behind the lines.)
Fort Bollenger was one of the earliest of the Castle Brians built. Designed to be a key anchor in the line of ground and aerospace defenses protecting Unity City. Nearly impregnable it housed a full brigade of troops. Almost entirely underground, the batteries of antiship lasers and missiles would make orbital support costly at best. Hidden sally points provided defenders with access to vast portions of the surrounding area. To secure the surrounding area you had to take the fort in its entirety. Under the SLDF this would have been next to impossible.
Under Amaris rule a glaring flaw came to light. Plans smuggled out by partisans employed by the Rim Worlds troops revealed a major change in the way the facility’s command and control was handled. Instead of a decentralized cellular structure in which each fortress section could survive independent of the whole, command was centralized in one location. The annihilation of the 3rd Battalion, Amaris Huscarl Dragoons a week before had set up the insertion of six of the Stealthy Tiger teams. Forty two troopers, even the elite of the SAS teams may seem futile in the face of over five thousand Amaris regulars. If all went well the Tigers would do in hours what took the Rim Worlds troops two years to do.
Dido Moran led her team down the dark hole of an electrical service tunnel. Running from the edge of the town that had grown up around the fort and shared its name. The access point to the tunnel was sealed behind concrete forty feet thick. Ten years of neglect and a series of severe torrential downpours in the past three years had collapsed a section of tunnel and the RimJobs hadn’t fixed it.
Corporal Lindon had bypassed the sensors set up around the breach and the chameleon technology in the Tiger’s uniforms did the rest.
So they can’t see us Didi thought, but they sure as hell could smell us. After a week dodging patrols and hiding out in abandoned buildings and the basements of resistance fighters, showers had not been a priority. Just hope that sweet little blonde from the 71st doesn’t show up with our relief. After all a girl’s gotta’ look her best.
Making sure the unit was in the clear, Didi raised her visor. Wiping off her face she winced as her bandana rubbed against the bruise Sarah had left under her right eye. When Bruce had asked her to give his pet Davion some pointers in self defense, Didi hadn’t figured Sarah would pick up the Escrima style the SAS troops used so quickly. Leaning back against the wall she smiled at the memory. Okay so “pet†wasn’t the right word, we did pretty much adopt her.
Tommy Lindon knelt at an access terminal plugging in his pocketcomp. Didi knew he was setting up a remote backdoor to the command center’s security and surveillance system. Giving the thumbs up Tommy signaled he was done. Lowering her visor, Didi marked the new icons representing Amaris troops in the hallways just on the other side of the wall. A maintenance hatch rigged with remote sensors was all that guarded the fort.
Her team spread out into position, as the corridor cleared. Tommy typed a command into his wrist computer. The access panel slid aside and the SAS teams slid inside. Each team spread out. On her visors HUD Didi saw the icons of several Amaris troops wink out. The silenced SMG’s of the SAS teams began their work. Didi’s team headed for their goal, the central command center. Signaling the team to set up at the corner just south of the center, Didi flipped the switch to set her Colt half rifle to constant beam. Before she could give the command an alarm began to sound.
Crap, she thought, there goes the neighborhood. Rounding the corner her gun came to life. Sweeping the Colt in an arc, its beam scythed through both door guards. The door hissed open and Michael Kelso’s HK MP2 burped in response. A Rimmer officer fell back gurgling. The grizzled sergeant spat fire into the squad behind the stricken woman. Fernando Beria tossed a flash bang into the command center. Didi slipped in covering the right as Kelso took the left.
A couple of quick bursts and it was over. Joanne Kimmel and Fernando took positions by the door while August Martine patched up a burn on Kelso’s shoulder. Tommy was already at the console pulling aside a dead technicians body. Plugging in to the base’s central computer, he ran a modified diagnostic script to bypass the Amaris technicians changes. The distinctive chatter of an Amaris RAsa-77 assault rifles sounded through the door.
“Boss, Huscarl infantry, ahh fuck..â€
A burst of fire caused Joanne to duck back, and Didi leaned out and snapped a shot. The Huscarl infantry wore ceramic plate armor treated with chemical camouflage that blended in with their surroundings. Though not as effective as the SLDF troopers gear the Huscarls looked like gray wraiths in the corridor. The ceramic on the troopers armor ablated under the Colt’s intense beam. The vaporized armor caused enough force to bring the man up short. As he raised his bullpup rifle Didi pumped two more shots into the Huscarls faceplate. Dropping his rifle, the Huscarl was dead even as his hands clawed at the 2cm hole in his helmet. A 9mm round whined off the doorjamb and took Didi in then side. Knocking her back from the doorway as the antiballistic mesh in the SAS troopers uniform spread out the heavy slug’s impact.
Kelso clicked the tube under his carbine and the grenade launcher loaded a 20mm grenade.
“Hammer round up.â€
Joanne and Fernando sent a wave of fire down the hallway as Kelso swung out and pumped a high explosive armor piercing grenade down at the Huscarl squad. Much too expensive for regular use, the Hammer HEAP grenade was a smart round designed to defeat heavy personal armor like the SAS Nighthawk powersuits. At a preset moment the advanced plastic explosive detonated sending nails of hardened aligned steel that could shatter even the tough ceramic of the Huscarl body armor. As the Huscarls reeled back, Tommy called from the terminal.
“Didi we’re set.â€
Didi slammed the hatch shut, her TACCOM alive with calls from the other teams.
“Time to finish this shit, do it Tommy.â€