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53 kilometers east of Detroit Lake
Cascade Mountains
Washington
North America
30th March, 3052

Vlad was exhausted.

He had been sleeping only when sleep threatened to overtake him in the command couch of his Red Wolf. In the last three days he had accumulated no more than seven hours of sleep in total.

To Vlad even that was too much.

He knew he was close to his prey. He had almost walked right into the ComGuard column heading south a day and a half ago. He had been dozing in the cockpit of his small war machine instead of paying attention to his sensors.

The ComGuard force was far too big for him to consider taking on with his lone ProtoMech so he had quickly turned around and moved out of any scout forces sensor range.

Something had told Vlad, though, that his prey was not amongst these ComGuard forces. They weren’t alert enough to be escorting such an important cargo as the Doctor, nor would he be allowed to remain behind. He was just too important. That left only one solution.

The Doctor was ahead of the column.

Vlad had raced onwards through the trees and over foothills in his search. He was relentless and it had finally paid off. There, at the very edge of his sensor range, was a lone blip. There was the Doctor.

A wave of adrenaline brought him back to full alertness as he raced the Red Wolf forwards and to the east of the radar blip, always keeping it on the edge of his scope. He knew that no Inner Sphere machine could match the range of his sensors so felt quite safe from detection as he skirted around his prey until he was ahead of them, directly along their path of traverse.

When he was certain he had achieved a perfect position Vlad powered down his machines fusion engine to minimal levels and switched his sensors over to passive mode. Then he waited.

* * * *

The wheeled APC struggled getting through and across the rough terrain around the Cascade ranges. It had been slower going than Justin had feared it would and he knew that if they were caught in this terrain they were done for.

Several times he had considered abandoning the vehicle but its armour and turret mounted machine guns convinced him that the protection was worth the delays. Still he hated the thought of being cooped up in this rat trap should they stumble across hostiles.

The Doctor however seemed completely unconcerned by their lack of speed. He spent his time either sleeping (at least, he appeared to be sleeping) or scribbling notes and drawings on a small paper notebook.

Justin had, once, tried to get a glimpse of what the Doctor was scribbling but he had quickly snapped the notebook shut with a stern look in Justin’s direction.

“Someone once warned me against spoilers. I tend to agree with them.”

Justin, chastised, had sat back down with a grumble.

“Sir,” it was the Driver, “we’re not too far from Detroit Lake. Should we detour off that way to replenish our water supplies?”

“No, keep moving. We’ve got enough to last us another…” Justin was suddenly cut off by the wailing of an alarm.

“Contact! We have a contact at ten o’clock moving in fast. It’s a hostile, Sir, war book confirms a Red Wolf ProtoMech. Looks to be alone.”

“Damn it!” Justin cursed. “Stop the carrier! Everybody out and into cover!” thenslightly quieter, “Doctor, you stay with me.”

The APC lurched to a halt and the large infantry bay door at the rear began its descent. Before it had touched the ground the small infantry squad was disembarking along with Justin who was closely followed by his charge.

Finding a place that would give sufficient cover from a ProtoMech was going to be more than difficult in this wooded terrain so Justin simply found the densest clump of foliage he could and he and the Doctor crouched down in it.

About twenty seconds later the ProtoMech strode into sight ten meters in front of the APC. A single burst from its arm mounted energy weapon sloughed armour from the front of the vehicle and ate into the front wheels, ensuring that the APC would be going nowhere.

The click of external speakers coming to life sounded through the woods. “I am Vlad Ward, lately of the Clan Wolf. You will give me the Doctor or be destroyed.”

A few meters away a ComGuard soldier stepped out from behind a large tree with a man-portable SRM launcher swinging up to his shoulder. The Red Wolf swung and discharged its weapon once again just as a tongue of flame ejected from the back of the launcher. There was a huge explosion as the beam of energy exploded the missile in its tube, followed by a groan of wood and a crash as the tree fell to the ground. Of the soldier there was no trace.

“This is your last warning. I will kill every one of you if I have to but I WILL be taking the Doctor back to present him to my Khan.”

Before Justin even realized what he was doing the Doctor stood up and stepped out of the foliage he was hiding in.

“Your Khan, Vlad Ward? You can take me but it will not be back to your Khan. Your Khan is dead.”

Vlad laughed. “You lie, Doctor. Ulric Kerensky lives.”

The Doctors voice lowered but, somehow, everyone could hear every word as clearly as if he were standing beside them.

“The man you know as Ulric Kerensky is gone, Vlad. All that is left of him is the body that now serves as the host for Fenric. You know this, don’t you? You’ve seen it.”

There was a brief few seconds of silence then the whir of actuators as the weapon arm of the Red Wolf moved, pointing directly at the Doctor.

Inside his cockpit tears were streaming down Vlad’s face. Ulric was right, I am no Wolf. Wolves do not shed tears! What has happened to you, Ulric? His mind echoed with the Doctor’s words. Host for Fenric.

What did that even mean, Vlad did not know. The Doctor was trying to trick him, to confuse him, but he would not be fooled.

An image passed through his mind then, the image of Ulric standing in the ruined reception area, his eyes ablaze with evil and his fingers ablaze with energy, energy that reached out to Vlad and that could easily have killed him there and then. What has happened to you, Ulric?

On his heads-up-display the targeting reticule hovered over the form of the Doctor, pulsing the gold of a target lock. Vlad’s finger was tense on the trigger. He could end this all now. He could strike the Doctor down with a lance of energy from the hand of his machine, just like…

Ulric.

There was a sudden clarity in his mind. Him, Vlad Ward, sitting inside his machine, controlling it just as there was something, this Fenric that the Doctor spoke of, sitting inside Ulric and controlling him. Vlad realized then what had to be done.

The Doctor stared into the dark muzzle of the weapon waiting for the blast that would never come. With a whine of actuators the Red Wolf’s arm lowered.

“Can you help him, Doctor?” came Vlad’s voice from the speakers. “Can you bring Ulric back?”

The Doctor stared up at the war machine with sadness and pity in his eyes. “No, I’m sorry, Vlad. I can’t bring Ulric back but we can save the honour of Clan Wolf, if you will help me?”

There was another pause as Vlad thought about what the Doctor had said.

“If the man cannot be saved, if all that is left is his name and his memory….then that is what we must save.”

Wolf Compound WC-217-Epsilon
Olympia
Thurston County
Washington
North America
4th April, 3052

Star Colonel Darren Fetladral stared at Vlad with a dumb-founded look. “What you propose is treason!”

“What I propose,” Vlad countered with a snarl, “is the survival of Clan Wolf! You have seen what Ulric has become. Whatever he is now he is not even human, let alone Clan.”

Darren shook his head, struggling to comprehend what Vlad was saying. “You speak of aliens like we live in some cheap holo-vid science fiction world and you expect me to not only believe you but follow you into battle against our Khan? You have lost your mind, Vlad Ward.”

“Darren, look at me. You know me, we were raised in the same sibko. We have fought against and beside each other. You have seen Ulric, you know what I say to be true.”

Confusion was plain on the Star Colonels face. “I will admit that Ulric is… has changed…”

“Changed?” Vlad said in exasperation. “Ulric is gone. What we see walking around is nothing more than puppet controlled by this thing that lives within him. Explain this energy that Ulric can wield?”

Darren shook his head. “I cannot. You are right, it is not natural. But an alien? Even if I did believe you how would we convince all the others?”

Vlad smiled. “We do not need all the others, only some. Two stars from your units, two stars from mine. That is all the force we need.” Vlad knew that he next statement was the deal breaker. “The ComGuard will do the rest.”

Darren flinched away from Vlad then. “You filthy dezgra traitor.” Darren spat at Vlads feet. “You will leave this place now before I kill you with my bare hands. You are no better than a Dark Caste.”

So it had come to this. Vlad suspected it would but had quietly hoped that he could convince Darren Fetladral of the truth. There was only one course of action left.

“Then I challenge you, Star Colonel Darren Fetladral, to a Trial of Grievance. If you win I will leave Terra and you will never see me again. If I defeat you, you will follow me to Unity City.”

The Star Colonel smiled. “Bargained well and done. We will fight unaugmented.”

Vlad nodded sharply. “Our combat ground shall be outside the main building. One hour from now.

“Aff.” The site of your previous defeat; where you allowed the Doctor to escape. You hope to erase the stain of that dishonor.

Vlad turned and walked away to prepare for their Trial. As he moved away Darren Fetladral’s head followed him and the smile slipped away from his face.

“I pray that you are wrong, Vlad Ward.” He said to himself under his breath. “For if you are right this could spell the death of Clan Wolf.”

* * * *

The clansmen of the Wolves had gathered around outside the building forming a circle roughly six meters wide in which the two men stood. Vlad knew Star Colonel Fetladral well, knew his tactics and his preferences in combat. He expected Darren to come at him quickly hoping for a swift victory without drawing the fight on. Vlad was not disappointed.

Darren flew towards Vlad’s head with a leaping round-house back kick, looking for a one hit knock out. Vlad’s instinct and reflexes immediately kicked in and he ducked under the kick but felt the Star Colonels leg brush his hair.

From his crouched position Vlad swept his legs around, taking out Darrens legs as he came down and knocking them out from under him. Darren had expected Vlad’s riposte, however, and went into a roll avoiding most of the impact. There was still an audible grunt as he went down.

Vlad was on in feet in a second and stepped in to Darren as he was gaining his feet. A quick right hook to the side of Darrens head laid the Star Colonel out on the ground. Vlad place one boot on his mid-back and grabbed his hair in one hand pulling his opponents head back painfully.

“Do you yield, Star Colonel?” Vlad asked. He had barely even broken a sweat.

“Argh! Aff!” yelled Fetladral, then quieter added, “I yield.”

Vlad smiled to himself. “I am sorry, Star Colonel. I did not hear you?”

The anger in Darren’s voice was apparent as he yelled back. “I yield!”

Vlad let go of Darrens hair, dropping his face to the ground, and stepped off his back. “In accordance with the outcome of this Trial, my cause is just and you will accompany me, along with two Stars of warriors to Unity City. We will leave immediately. I shall meet you at the ProtoMech bay, quiaff?”

Star Colonel Darren Fetladral got to his feet, calmer now and accepting of his fate. “Aff, Vlad Ward. I will gather my warriors.”

Jade Falcon Sector
Unity City
North America
Terra
6th April, 3052

The battle had been raging for only thirty minutes but the carnage was already of significant proportions. Star Colonel Marthe Pryde piloted her Summoner OmniMech down one of the many main streets in the Jade Falcon district, leading her star in search of the ComGuard forces that had assault the city.

Marthe piloted one of only two OmniMechs in her star, the other three positions were made up with Roc ProtoMechs refitted with the new energy weapons. Marthe herself hated the new ProtoMechs. They certainly more economical to produce but they did not befit the status of a trueborn Clan warrior in her opinion.

Still, the Rocs had acquitted themselves well taking down a ComGuard Flashman and Hunchback that were threatening to circle into the rear of her star. Now, the battle was starting to move away from her position towards the League central district so Marthe was leading her warriors in pursuit.

“All points, form up on me. We must regroup with the rest of the Jaegers.” Marthe commanded into her mic.

Four affirmative replies were immediately received so Marthe wasted no time in moving off down the street, eager to get into the heat of the battle once again. The ComGuard force measured almost two companies of Mechs with a smattering of support vehicles. Most of the conventional armour was lying behind them in smoking ruin but they had done their job and bought precious time for the ComStar Mechs to break through the Falcon lines and push into the city center.

She listen carefully to the radio chatter and quickly learned that Elias Chrichell, her Khan, had engaged an assault lance of ComStar Mechs. Elias, like Marthe, was not enamoured with the ProtoMechs, choosing instead to pilot his own Summoner OmniMech. However, he also insisted that the warriors of his command star pilot Mechs so, given that no OmniMechs had been converted to carry the new weapons, he did not have the knockout punch that other stars had. That and the fact that his star had already seen some savage combat put him on a perilously even footing with the lance he now faced.

“Alpha star, get to the Khan to relieve his position. Make best speed!”

The ProtoMechs leapt forward on their jump jets quickly out distancing her Summoner and the Hellbringer of Star Captain Nori.

“Nori, advance with me. The Rocs can negotiate these streets easier due to their…Hold! I have a contact. Are you seeing this?”

Nori responded in her typical less is more manner. “Aff, Star Colonel.”

Marthe turned her Summoner to face the star of contacts approaching from her six. The Summoner’s computer tagged them as Red Wolf ProtoMechs, a design unique to Clan Wolf. She opened a broadband channel.

“Clan Wolf star, this is Star Colonel Marthe Pryde of the second Falcon Jaegars. Identify yourselves.”

The radio crackled briefly before the reply came back. “I am Star Colonel Vlad Ward. You will let us pass.”

Marthe frowned in confusion, something was not right here. “To which unit do you belong, Star Colonel Ward?”

“I command the 1st Terran Striker Cluster.”

Now Marthe was convinced that this Star Colonel was lying. “There is no such unit. You will stand down and remove yourselves from the Jade Falcon sector.”

Vlad sighed. “I cannot do that Marthe Pryde. I must get to the League district and you are in my way. Let me pass, I do not wish to kill you nor your star mate.”

Marthe’s anger flared. “Arrogant Wolf!” she yelled as she crushed the trigger on her Mechs right joystick.

Vlad was caught off guard for a second as a hail of depleted uranium rounds spewed out of the autocannon on the Summoner’s left arm. The deadly shells caught his small ProtoMech on the right arm, ripping it away from the shoulder.

Vlad fought against gravity at the sudden change to his machines balance. He won but only barely, his Proto stumbling slightly to the right. His four star mates immediately leapt forward, swarming towards to the pair of Falcon Mechs.

“Go Star Colonel,” came the voice of his second in command, a young Star Commander named Franz. “We can hold these Falcons.”

Suddenly faced with a pair of ProtoMechs each the Falcon warriors attention had shifted away from him. Vlad hated to run from a fight but knew that it was more important that he get to Ulric before Justin in his Lancelot did.

“Aff”, was all he said as he raced his Red Wolf down the street towards the centre of Unity City and the Great Repository where, somehow, he knew that Ulric would be.

The Great Repository
Unity City
North America
Terra
6th April, 3052

It was not far from the battle but the silence at the Great Repository was eerie.

Vlad entered the square with two other Wolf ProtoMechs following closely. Star Colonel Fetladral’s own Red Wolf had fallen a couple of streets back but he had urged Vlad to keep going, so he did.

A solitary figure stood a few meters from the entrance to the pyramid, beside him stood a strange blue box that Vlad did not recognize. Through the magnified vision of his ProtoMechs display he could see Ulric smile as Vlad’s machine drew into sight.

Vlad activated his external mic and speakers. “Khan Kerensky. I have come to help you.”

Ulric threw his head back and laughed. “Help me, Vlad Ward? Why do you think I would need help?”

Vlad’s confusion seeped into his voice. “You are not well, my Khan, but I have brought Wolf warriors. I can help you, the Doctor can help you.”

“Ah, my poor young Wolf. You have no comprehension of what it is you face. I do not need your help and the Doctor wishes only to destroy me. All you have done is created a division within the Wolves, a division that will weaken them. So weakened the Jade Falcons, Smoke Jaguars and Ghost Bears will strike at you weakening themselves and the Wolves even further. Then the way will be open for the Daleks to either take full control or wipe you out completely.”

With those words the door of the repository opened and a dozen red Daleks swept out of the building. They were closely followed by the Blue Dalek. The two Wolf warriors behind Vlad stepped forward into defensive positions.

Vlad felt his hopes sink. “These abominations should not even be here, Ulric. We can destroy them now and return things to how they should be.”

The grating voice of the blue Dalek assaulted Vlad’s comm. unit. “More Daleks will follow. We will be victorious and all of humanity will be enslaved. The Empire of the Daleks will come to pass.”

The look on Ulric’s face told Vlad that he was far beyond being reasoned with. “So this is where it ends?”

A fourth voice joined the conversation then. “On the contrary, Vlad, this is simply where things get put right.”

“Doctor?” Vlad checked his sensors and saw a lance of BattleMechs, all in ComStar colours, enter the area. A rare dual-seat Battlemaster lead the small force in and was followed by a Stalker, a Lancelot and a Rifleman.

“Impeccable timing as always, Doctor!” Ulric stated. “You can now witness the rise of the Daleks to their place of supremacy.”

“I’ve defeated the Daleks before, Fenric, I can defeat them again.” The Doctor snarled.

Ulric smiled triumphantly. “Not this time, Doctor. Not while I protect them!”

With those words the Daleks shot forward and started firing at the assembled human forces. One of the ProtoMechs guarding Vlad went down almost immediately. The remaining Mechs scattered and opened fire at the small alien machines. The Lancelot scored a direct hit with one of its large lasers but the Dalek was unaffected. Instead a blue haze surrounded the alien dissipating the lasers energy.

“They’re shielded from our weapons somehow, Doctor!” Justin called across the comm. Desperation gave his voice an edge of panic.

“It’s Fenric, Ulric. He’s shielding them somehow.” The Doctor responded.

One of the Daleks strayed close to Vlad’s one armed ProtoMech, not seeing it as an Immediate threat with its only weapon gone. The Red Wolf reached out as the Dalek sped by and grabbed it with the Mechs left hand. With a yell of pure anger Vlad threw the Dalek through the air to smash against the wall of the Repository. The alien machine exploded in a ball of flame.

“It does not mean they are indestructible.” Vlad stated, his voice calm in comparison to Justin’s.

Vlad turned and looked once more at Ulric, noticing a flash of doubt cross his Khans face for a brief moment. Then a Dalek was upon him and he felt his Red Wolf lean sharply to the left as a shot from the Daleks gun slammed into its left knee. The ProtoMech stumbled falling to its knees and single hand. The Dalek stopped directly in front of him and elevated its gun stick to fire directly at the cockpit.

A sudden shadow fell across his vision and a massive metal foot swung out, smashing into the Dalek and send it spinning away in pieces. The world seemed to pause for a moment as the strange, amorphous creature within the Daleks shell was exposed. It’s true alien form revealed for the first time. It was that moment that Vlad finally understood the truth. There was no saving Ulric, he was as alien now as these Daleks swarming about them.

“Allard!” he called over the comm. unit. “Use it! Take out Ulric now!”

“No!” came the Doctors voice shocking them both. “Not yet, Fenric is still inside his host. As long as he remains in Ulric’s body the weapon will not work. He has to be brought out.”

Vlad slammed his fist down on his console in frustration. “How?”

The Doctors voice came back quickly but slightly lower. “Ulric has to die.”

The man that was Ulric Kerensky stood looking at the battle and, for the first time in this long campaign, he began to have doubt. He could protect these Daleks from the weapons of the BattleMechs but he could not save them from the raw physical assault of these giant machines. Five of the Daleks were destroyed and even as that thought crossed his mind two more meet their fates as first one was thrown then another stepped on by the ComStar Mechs.

Then he saw the Lancelot advancing towards his position and the little piece of the man that remained felt cold fear as the mighty war machine drew closer.

“Vlad!” Ulric called out to his protégé in desperation. “Vlad, I am your Khan! Help me!”

He saw Vlad’s ProtoMech rise to its feet and a wave of relief washed over him. A blue blur flew past him at that moment as the blue Dalek rushed out to meet the advancing Lancelot. It swept across to the right of the Mech and fired a burst that hit the Lancelot’s knee joint. Sparks flew out of the joint and the leg stiffened awkwardly. The mighty Mech stumbled but did not fall, continuing its relentless advance.

The Dalek passed by again, to the left this time, firing again at the vulnerable knees of the Mech. This time the left knee shot sparks and the Lancelot did fall. A horrendous crash shook the ground as the sixty ton machine smashed down face first.

The Red Wolf limped over to stand beside Ulric, towering over the Wolf Khan. Vlad’s machine remained motionless as the Lancelot lifted itself onto its left side, sending out sparks from the ferrocrete ground as it spun to face them.

Ulric smile to the prone machine as if it were a small child that had just learned an important lesson. “Never underestimate the bond of a Wolf Clansman to his Khan. Clan Wolf will serve the Daleks well.”

From the machine beside him Vlad's voice issued forth. “I am sorry, my Khan.”

Confusion passed through Ulric's mind a second before the giant fist of the Red Wolf slammed into him, shattering bones and nearly tearing his body in two. Ulric’s lifeless body was thrown five meters to land just before the Lancelot.

A pale blue haze began to seep from Ulric's broken body. It grew and began to form a shape above the Khan; it was a huge wolf, it’s eyes glowing red.

“Now Justin!” yelled the Doctor urgently.

The Particle Induction Cannon in the Lancelot’s right torso fired blue lightning which reached out and grasped the raw energy of Fenric in its embrace. The miasmic wolf glowed briefly, dimmed, glowed again then with a sudden and deafening roar was gone.

The Doctors voice was calmer now. “Shut it down, Justin. It’s safe now.”

Epilogue
Lootera
Huntress
Clan Homeworlds
19th March, 3052

Smoke drifted lazily across the battlefield, shrouding the carcasses of savaged Mechs that lay on the churned ground. Within the smoke dark shapes moved. They were much smaller than a Mech, closer to the height of a man.

One of the shapes drew closer and a single point of light was visible through the smoke haze. The red Dalek glided onwards and around a corner where another Dalek stood motionless, this one was black. The domed head on the black Dalek spun at the red’s approach.

“Report.”

“Lootera is now under Dalek control. All Smoke Jaguar resistance has been eliminated. Three hundred Dalek units are moving out to other settlements on the planet. The revival of the Dalek Empire is underway.”

The black Dalek swiveled it’s eyestalk back around as if planning its next move. “Very good “ it said, “Operation Revival will continue at full pace.”

End of Book Three

A very nice story!