* * *
The DropShip _Palomino_
Ian Cameron Starport
14:50 Local Time
"Red Leader, this is Eyes Front, respond please!"
Akane reached for her radio remote as the techs finished loading
Genma's Orion. Doctor Tofu had opted to take out one of their reserve
Centurions rather than reload his damaged 'mech, and now stood beside
Kasumi's Victor, ready to go. He had apparently told the eldest Tendo
daughter of his feelings for her, and judging by the way they stuck
together next to the DropShip, she had received his declaration
favorably. Akane felt pleased about that. As far as her feelings on the
matter went, Doctor Tofu and Kasumi were good for each other.
"This is Red Leader, go ahead Eyes Front," she said absently.
"Ma'am, we've located Lieutenant Hibiki on our sat-scans," Davidge
told her. "He's not answering any hails, however."
"What is his position?"
"South of the DropShip, approximately fifteen kilometers. He is
approaching the ruins of the colony town." Davidge let out a gasp. "Wait,
there's a break in the cloud cover. Scanning..." A curse quickly followed.
"There's a whole battalion headed our way, ma'am, and Red Two is right in
their path."
Akane looked to her father before responding. He gave her a solemn
nod in return. "We're on our way."
They scrambled for their 'mechs, knowing that time was running
against them. As if to punctuate that thought, a bolt of hell thundered
down from orbit from the Orochi satellite. The particle beam bolt lashed
at the fuelling complex that Akari and her techs had worked so hard to
restore two days ago, and the reinforced concrete structure exploded in
a brilliant fireball of burning hydrogen. The sound and shockwave of the
orbital blast and following secondary explosion was numbing, driving
everyone not protected by a battlemech or the DropShip's hull to the
ground.
Akane picked herself up from the wet concrete and looked at the
_Palomino,_ now doubly vulnerable to attack with the Orochi network taking
potshots from orbit.
"Report on the Orochi!" she cried to Davidge over the tac-net.
"Unit Three is engaging the _Tautog,_" Davidge returned tersely.
"That last shot was a stray bolt aimed at them, believe it or not."
Akane wan't sure she could. "That random shot came awful close to
us," she said in reply. "Tad, what is the countdown status?"
Captain Grant came on line instead of Petty Officer Howard. "We're
commencing an emergency reactor start up right now, ma'am. I can get us
off the ground in fifteen minutes."
"I hope so, Captain," Akane said to him. She tucked her remote in
her shorts as she climbed up the side of her Warhammer. Grand Duke Tendo
was preparing to move out with Genma's Orion on point, followed by Kasumi,
Ukyou, and Doctor Tofu in a wedge formation.
She quickly rejoined the rest of the 'mechs as they stomped across the
tarmac to the south. Several lines of black smoke were visible against the
gloom, and beyond, ragged streaks of sunlight filtered down. Ryouga was
taking on an entire battalion of the Black Rose's troops by himself!
Why wasn't he answering hails? she asked herself. And where the hell
is Ranma?
"Red Leader, _Palomino_; urgent medevac requested by Red Eagle Deuce
at map reference Mike-Four-Four by Oscar-Five-Eight. Red Eagle Trey is down.
Cutting tools and Type-B whole blood are especially needed."
Akane heard Doctor Tofu's voice break into the tac-net. "What is the
nature of Sayuri's injuries?" he asked.
"I don't know, sir, but Captain Saotome specifically requested those
things," Tad replied.
Tofu's face was grim.
"Red Leader, Red Five; request to answer medevac."
"Granted," she responded, her heart pounding. Ranma was with Yuka and
Sayuri out there. "I'll come with you."
"Stay with the lance," Soun commanded over the net. "Saotome; you and
Mechwarrior Kuonji remain on point. Doctor Ono; you and Kasumi respond to
the medevac."
"Daaaad!" she protested.
"This is no time for your emotions to get the best of your good
judgement," he returned. "We'll need your firepower on the line if we're
to hold the Black Rose back in time to let the _Palomino_ lift off."
She saw his point. Still, she needed to have words with a certain
jerk who had been ignoring her ever since the battle had been joined.
"Red Eagle Lead, this is Red Leader; respond."
There was a harsh crackle of static, followed by the sound of an
irate and female Ranma cursing. Red locks of hair tumbled down her brow
on the display as she maneuvered, and the grey sky above her cockpit
canopy was streaked with piercing rays of sunlight that made her
blue-grey eyes flash with intensity.
"I'm busy!" she barked. An explosion rumbled over the speakers, and
whorls of black smoke swirled around her canopy.
Akane bit down on her lip to keep from shrieking at him in anger.
"Where have you been?!"
"Around!" Ranma shot back. "Can this wait?!"
"I was worried about you, that's all!" Akane spat angrily. "Excuse
me for caring about you!"
"I'm with Akane on this one, honey," Ukyou added, jumping into the
conversation. "You've got us worrying sick about you."
"I'm okay," Ranma hissed back, her face contorted by acceleration
forces that made the sky spin around her. Another explosion sounded over
the tac-net. "At least for the moment. Things are getting a little hot
right now."
Akane understood. She looked to the _Palomino_ to see that one of the
_Dragonfly's_ cooks was already running down the ramp from the Mech Bay
with four half-liter bags of precious blood taken from Sick Bay. A tech
followed after with a saw-zaw and a pouch of spare abrasive wheels. Doctor
Tofu relieved the two of their burdens, then clambered back up into his
Centurion to respond.
"Red Five moving out," he said over the tac-net as the 50 ton 'mech
started south.
Akane tried to move her throttle to maximum, only to find that it
was already there. "We're on the way," she said to him, worry creeping
into her voice. "Just hold on, Ranma."
"I'll do that," she grunted. The shriek of turbojets filled the
dead air that followed her voice, then the rapid cycling of pulsed
medium lasers. "Akane..."
"What is it, Ranma?"
"I'm a little on edge right now," she said in a clipped voice.
"Sayuri's hurt real bad. I don't think she's gonna make it."
Tofu's Centurion was already as far ahead of them as was safe,
his battlemech peeling away from the lance formation as he closed on
the rendezvous site. Kasumi followed close behind, covering his dash
from tree to tree with her heavy autocannon. They were doing everything
they could to save Sayuri.
"Ryouga's south of me," Ranma added. "The whole freaking colony
town - what's left of it anyway - is coming apart, from what I can see.
I don't know what's going on, but it looks like Kodachi's trying to
start a firestorm there."
"Is Ryouga in the town?" Ukyou asked worriedly.
"No, he's mixing it up just north of the ruins. The moron won't
answer his radio."
"Sounds like some other blockhead I could name," Akane retorted.
"Oh, ha ha. It is to laugh," Ranma growled. "Now if you'll excuse
me, I'm gonna go find out what the hell is going on." Her face faded
from their commo displays.
Akane checked the tactical display. Black Rose 'mechs were moving
in force from the south. If they didn't do something to slow their
advance, they would overrun the _Palomino's_ position before it could
lift off.
* * *
"Please hold," Akari prayed as the main coolant header slowly
pressurized. Two of her techs monitored the pressure meters in the
Maneuvering Room while the DropShip's Engineer completed his
preparations for liftoff in the spaces.
"Maneuvering, report status of lift off preps," Captain Grant
ordered over the 2MC intercom circuit.
Akari picked up the intercom microphone to respond. "Header pressure
rising to the green band," she told him over the muted scream of the
cryogenic plant scroll-compressors. "Pre-injection coolant temperatures
at one hundred fifty degrees Kelvin."
They were introducing the supercooled liquid to the system gradually
to minimize thermal stresses, but this also limited the speed with which
they could start the fusion plant. The magnetic bottle that contained the
plasma required that its attendent electromagnets have sufficient cooling
to allow superconductivity under full load.
"Keep me posted," Grant finished, and signed off.
Akari brushed aside a sweat-matted lock of hair and sighed. The
ship was not ready to go anywhere, and yet they had no choice but to
leave. She had felt the blasts of the Orochi from deep inside the reactor
compartment, and the Musk Dynasty was approaching unchallenged from the
west.
Chapter Four
SLDFS _Coronet_
14:47 Local Time
"Attention on the Bridge!" Johann Hauptmann declared to the new
crew of SLDFS _Coronet._ "This is Captain Hauptmann, and I have the Deck.
Captain Ninomiya retains the Conn."
"Helm, aye!" the _Tang's_ former Helmsman replied. The rest of the
stations acknowledged in turn.
"Chief of the Watch, aye! The ship is rigged for space and manned for
Battlestations."
"Astrogation, aye! Main Computer online."
"Communications, aye! Contact with Eyes Front established. Datalinks
online."
"Engineering, aye! The ship is on internal power. The Main Engines
are ready to answer all bells!"
"Tactical, aye! Orbital simulation routines linked to Orochi System
BattleNet."
"Sensory, aye! All active and passive arrays online."
"Fire Control, aye! Main Gun in Preheat Mode. All batteries indicate
ready."
Hauptmann turned to Hinako. "Take us out, if you would please,
Captain."
Hinako gave him a curt bow and turned to the Communicator.
"Signal the Drydock to open the forward and aft doors."
"Open forward and aft doors, aye, ma'am."
The drydock doors began to open slowly as the lone _Tang_ crewman
remaining on the station commanded them to operate, and then made a beeline
for the connector tube that linked the drydock to the cruiser. There was
no need to conduct an extensive pumpdown, as the facility had been in
vacuum for decades.
"Drydock doors coming open," Sensory announced. "Drydock doors are
open."
"Petty Officer Cruz is aboard," Commo added.
"Main Airlock hatch indicates shut," the Chief of the Watch declared.
Hinako looked to the Chief of the watch next. "Chief of the Watch,
cast off all lines. Retract the docking tube."
"Cast off all lines, retract the docking tube, aye." He flicked a bank
of switches at his station. "All mooring lines released. Docking tube is
retracting into the ship... Docking tube indicates stowed. Armored shutters
indicate in position."
"Very well, Chief of the Watch," Hinako acknowledged. Now came the hard
part. "Helm, All Ahead Easy."
The Helmsman turned around to seek clarification from Captain Hauptmann,
who refused to interfere in Hinako's operation. He didn't like the idea of
having co-captains on the ship, but that was what they had come down to.
Hinako outranked him, being a full Captain while his rank was only that of
Commander, but he had all of the combat experience that she lacked and the
ship needed to succeed. Hence, she maneuvered the ship, while he fought it.
He didn't want to think about what might happen if he needed to countermand
one of her maneuvering orders.
"Ma'am?" the Helmsman finally asked Hinako.
Hinako waved her hands at her. "There's about five meters of clearance
on either side of that door. This isn't going to be like pulling your dad's
car out of the garage, and we have no tug support, so move us out nice and
easy."
The Helmsman turned back to her panel and bumped the throttle control a
tiny amount. If she could skip a corvette off the surface of a moon without
destroying the ship, she could pilot a cruiser out of drydock. "Aye aye, ma'am.
Maneuvering answers All Ahead Easy."
The ship trembled imperceptibly as the Main Engines fired for the first
time in two-hundred years. A thin streamer of plasma spilled from the aft end
of the drydock as the cruiser began to edge forward.
"Two meters per second forward way," the Helmsman announced. She focused
on the narrow opening Hinako had described, knowing full well that a ship as
big as the _Coronet_ would not be able to turn the way the tiny _Tang_ could.
They were going to cut it close. Hauptmann felt himself pulling to one
side, as if trying to will the ship to follow him.
The Helmsman was already on it, her fingers caressing the attitude
thruster controls with the pluck and skill of a concert harpist. _Coronet_
began to roll and yaw, then its bow broke the plane of the drydock doors.
The widest part of the starship passed through an agonizingly slow minute
later, and then they were clear. Sunlight from the Ryuugenzawa primary
shone undiminished on the gleaming armored hull for the first time in two
hundred years, the ten meter high Cameron Star of the SLDF glittering on
_Coronet's_ bow in precious silver paint.
"The ship is free to navigate," Astrogation announced.
Now it was Hauptmann's turn. "Mark bearing and range to closest Orochi
satellite. Use active sensors." They didn't have time to play around with
the lengthy process of gathering data from passive arrays.
Sensor data filled the holotank as the ship collected information on
all objects in orbit.
"Conn, Sensory; Contact Romeo One, bearing zero-three-five plus one-
zero. Range: ten thousand kilometers. Contact Romeo Two, classified as
Balao Class Corvette, bearing zero-three-eight plus zero eight. Range:
ten thousand kilometers."
"Olivera's in trouble," Hauptmann observed with preternatural calm.
He could see the tiny corvette fighting to stay out of the Orochi's weapon
arcs, and slugging desperately at in in return. "Fire Control, designate
Romeo One as primary target, and slave the Helm. Prepare to fire the Main
Gun."
"Fire Control, aye."
"Helm, aye. Helm slaved to Fire Control."
Hauptmann cast a glance at Hinako, who was busy crossing her fingers.
The spinal mount would soon get its first test. The _Coronet_ maneuvered
in space to put its bow directly on Orochi Unit Three in preparation to
unleash a few quadrillion joules of hell.
"Conn, Fire Control; Main Gun aligned with primary target. Ten
seconds to firing sequence completion."
"Alert Engineering," Hinako ordered her Engineer, the _Dragonfly's_
Lieutenant Fulton. There was no telling what would happen down there when
the spinal mount fired.
"Very well, Fire Control," Hauptmann replied. He wished his own XO
was on board to share this moment with him, but the man had family, and
had been selected by Commodore Tanaka to stay behind with the remainder
of the _Tang_ crew that had not accompanied the Grand Duke.
"Contact Romeo One is reacting to our presence," Tactical warned.
With the codes and frequencies supplied by Hinako's Number One down in
the Orochi bunker, they had an inside look into the processes that guided
the network.
"Fire Control, match bearing rates and fire the Main Gun as soon as
you are ready," Hauptmann ordered.
"Fire Control, aye. Firing the Main Gun!" A strident alarm hooted
three times in warning, and Hauptmann and the rest of the crew found
themselves wondering what in the hell they had just gotten into.
The lights flickered for a moment, and the ship trembled as a
terrifying beam of energy belched forth from the cavernous muzzle in
the cruiser's bow. The particle beam reached out across the void to
strike the Orochi satellite amidships, haloing it in a golden ring of
plasma that expanded out for a hundred kilometers before fading.
Secondary explosions rocked the orbital battlestation, and it began to
glow with the heat of something coming apart disasterously within.
"Neutrino emissions from Contact Romeo One becoming erratic," Sensory
advised. "It's leaking x-rays like a sieve."
The Orochi satellite obliterated itself in a spectacular thermonuclear
explosion a moment later. The blindingly bright blue-white sphere of plasma
expanded into nothingness as instruments onboard the _Coronet_ squawked in
protest.
"Goddamn..." Hauptmann breathed. "Was that a lucky hit, or is this
gun that damn powerful?"
"A little of both, I think," Hinako replied.
The lights failed as soon as she had spoken, and alarms began to wail.
"Conn, Engineering; The Main Reactor has quenched on a containment
field instability fault. The backup Nuclear-Heated Gas Turbine Reactor is
commencing an automatic startup, but we will be without the Main Engines
or primary power for at least ten minutes."
"Conn, aye," Hauptmann replied. "Shit!"
"The gun," Hinako added. "A magnetic accelerator as powerful as that
must wreak havoc on a reactor's containment fields."
Hauptmann nodded grimly in agreement.
"Well I understand now why the Star League never went for humungous
spinal mounts."
* * *
Furinkan Combine WarShip _Imperator_
Ryuugenzawa High Orbit
14:50 Local Time
General Prince Tatewaki Kuno was beside himself.
"What manner of vessel is that!?" he wondered aloud to his staff as
the Orochi satellite's deathlight faded on the telescope monitors.
Kyle was the first to respond. "Milord, the ship appeared from the
SLDF space station in geosynchronous orbit. From our preliminary Warbook
interpretations, the vessel appears to be the SLDFS _Coronet,_ a light
cruiser class WarShip."
"THE _Coronet?_" Tatewaki cried in astonishment. "Kerensky's own
flagship?"
"Yes, milord. We believe it used its Spinal Mount particle beam to
destroy the Orochi satellite that had been bombarding the planet. Based
on their neutrino emissions, they currently seem to be suffering some
sort of reactor malfunction - perhaps a side effect of firing their main
gun. We know that such super weapons were historically plagued with
reliability issues."
"This vessel," Tatewaki said slowly. "To whom doth it swear allegience?
Be it my hated sister's churlish rabble, or could it perchance be to our
mutual enemies, the thrice-damned Amazons of the Commonwealth?"
Kyle consulted the data that scrolled across his Operations displays.
"Indeterminate, my lord Prince," he replied. "While the ship did attack
the Orochi satellite which was bombarding the Commonwealth landing zones, the
communications protocols we've intercepted appear to be based on ancient Star
League Defense Force codes."
Tatewaki looked to Hikaru Gosunkugi, who floated pensively by his
side. The Heir to the League of Five Nails was carrying an armload of
occult paraphenalia, ostensibly to ensure both the success of the Combine's
mission, and to break whatever foul hold Ranma Saotome had on Akane Tendo
and the Pig-Tailed Girl.
"Soothsayer," he addressed the frail scion of the House of Gosunkugi.
It pleased him to think that he had such an important man for a personal
servant. "Speak of the omens and portents surrounding yonder vessel? Should
the Blue Thunder attempt to capture the ship, shall he make it his own?"
Hikaru consulted the best augury he had on the matter, a small black
sphere that had served him well in the past.
"'Signs point to yes,'" he intoned gravely.
Tatewaki's eyes lit up in delight. "Captain Kyle, dispatch a company
of Marines with fighter escort to seize yonder starship. It shall become
the Prize of Tatewaki Kuno, First Lord of the Star League, and he shall
rename it _Bin Sen!_"
"At once, my lord Prince," Kyle responded, then after a diplomatic
pause added, "What of the Orochi satellites approaching our positions, my
lord?"
Tatewaki made a dismissive wave of his hand. "Dispose of them."
He narrowed his eyes at the prospect. "Thy orders are to shake the very
heavens, Kyle. Is that clear?"
"Perfectly, sir. We're running simulations now, and the results look
promising."
Tatewaki looked on as his ships assembled into formation to attack
the first of the Orochi subunits. He had assembled the entire complement
of the Furinkan Combine's WarShips in a bold gambit to ensure success in
taking Ryuugenzawa for himself, and now had no regrets with his decision.
Shake the very heavens indeed!
"Prepare my landing force," he told Kyle. "The destruction of the
Orochi network is an operation for the Fleet. The destiny of the Blue
Thunder of the Furinkan Combine awaits him upon the surface of the planet."
"It is done, my lord prince," Kyle replied. "Though I must recommend
caution in approaching the planet within range of the Orochi units."
Tatewaki whirled upon him, incensed. "Thy job, Kyle, is to ensure
that those cursed automatons are occupied solely with this fleet, ere
their total destruction!"
Kyle bowed his head, abashed. "Yes, lord."
Hikaru turned away from the two men and tried not to snicker. The
Mystic Eight-Ball in his hand reflected the true prophecy, the one he had
not given to his oppressor. Glowing faintly in the dark blue fluid, the
oracle's response was an answer Tatewaki would not find so inspiring.
'MY ANSWER IS NOT ONLY NO, BUT HELL NO,
SO DON'T BOTHER ASKING ME AGAIN LATER.'
His oracular inquiries had made it very clear that he was going to
be very close to Akane Tendo soon, and he had no intention of having the
situation come to pass as Tatewaki Kuno's servant. The more trouble the
Furinkan Combine prince encountered, the better it suited Hikaru Gosunkugi.
Now all he needed to do was find a way to the planet, where he was sure to
find Akane.
"My lord," he called to Tatewaki, his voice quavering with a mixture
of fear and anxiety. He hated his oppresser, and yet he had great need of
his favor.
"Speak," Tatewaki ordered him.
Hikaru prostrated himself before the Prince of the Furinkan Combine,
no easy feat in free-fall. "I beg to accompany you to the surface, my lord."
Tatewaki gave him an indulgent nod. "Of course. I shall have need of
thy services. Prepare thyself at once."
Hikaru raised the armload of scholarly and occult materials, most them
prepared to inflict the maximum amount of harm upon his captor, but there
was no way for a neophyte like Tatewaki Kuno to realize this. "I have all I
need, my lord." He tried not to smirk as he said it.
Revenge!
Chapter Five
Musk Dynasty Regimental Headquarters Company,
Approaching the western perimeter of Ian Cameron Starport
14:55 Local Time
Mechwarrior General Herb strode purposefully over the low chain-link
fence that segregated the starport from the surrounding woods. His Grand
Dragon mirrored his mood in its motions; it was cool, alert, and full of
importance. He was taking the entire Star League complex under his control,
and as soon as Prince Kuno and the Orochi network wiped each other out, he
would be master of this world.
How soon he would be able to parley his victory into more substantial
terms, he did not know, nor did he particularly care. It was enough that
the Orochi satellite that had been bombarding his positions had been
distracted by a small spacecraft, presumably of Combine origin, and that
he now had a free hand in his operations. Cologne was teetering on the
brink of her rule's end, and in the mad scrabble by the Elder Council to
fill the inevitable power vacuum, his Musk Dynasty would quietly grow
strong enough to topple them all.
There was one issue that he needed to address right away, and that
was Mousse's inexplicable desire to abandon his regimental command duties
in order to search the wilderness in the northern portion of the Proving
Grounds. It was unlike him, since he was the type of creature who followed
orders to the letter, knowing how tenuous his claim to mechwarrior status
was with his poor eyesight. In fact, Mousse had only ever disobeyed him
once before.
The realization stopped him cold, and the other 'mechs in his personal
guard spun around to face him, expecting trouble.
"<Shampoo...>" he whispered. Somehow, he has discovered that Shampoo
is here on this planet. Or at least has reason to believe it....
Could it be possible? he wondered. Of course it was possible, another
part of his mind answered for him. The only question that remains is Mousse's
motivation.
Was the fool overcome by her again? He did not know, but he suspected
it. Shampoo was a most alluring, magnificent, and dangerous animal, as he
well knew. He had risked Cologne's wrath quite needlessly by trying to keep
her posted to his garrison on Lightoller, and all because of the desire she
had stoked within him. A weak-willed man like Mousse was simply putty in her
supple hands.
"<Captain Mint,>" he said over the tac net.
"<My lord!>" Mint replied.
"<Take Lime with you, and find Mechwarrior Colonel Mousse,>" he ordered
the little man, whose eyes lit up at the veiled implications behind that
order. Herb did not disappoint him. "<If by chance you should find him with
Shampoo, arrest him at once. If he resists, kill him.>"
Mint raised an eyebrow at the mention of Shampoo.
"<And if I should in fact find the lord colonel with Shampoo, most
exhalted one, what shall I do with her?>"
Herb hardened his heart. He wanted to possess her body and soul, he
wanted it deep within his being, both for the pleasure of it and for the
agony it would bring to Cologne, but he knew how dangerous Shampoo could be
to his ambitions. She had destroyed Mousse with her beauty, had turned him
against his oath of loyalty to the Commonwealth, and if she had turned him
against his new master in the Musk Dynasty, then she had destroyed him twice
over. He did not need such a poisonous influence close to him, no matter
how much he desired her.
"<You are to kill Shampoo on sight,>" Herb replied, then added, "<Do
not hesitate in your duty, Mint.>"
Mint's teeth gleamed over the tac net display.
"<I shall obey, my lord General!>"
* * *
The Ruins of Ryuugenzawa City
15:01 Local Time
Happousai waited inside his Locust as the ruins burned. Tarou was
destroying what was left of the town, and with it his source of concealment.
In spite of this, he snickered to himself as he sucked on his pipe. In
trying to smoke him out, Tarou was playing right into his hands.
The fire and smoke would screen him from prying sensors, allowing him
to slip out with being detected. Once he reached the edge of the town, the
superior speed of his Locust would see him swiftly past his enemies. It was
almost too easy.
He extinguished his pipe with a swat from his hand upon the bowl and
shrugged back into his seat straps. A Black Rose Wolverine roared past him
without pause, and he waited to see if any others would follow. When no
other 'mechs did, he advanced cautiously out of the burning hulk of the
school building.
The street was completely engulfed with flame, making his heat sinks
ineffective. He would have to go easy with his laser should he need to use
it. Fortunately for him, that meant Kodachi's troops would be likewise
impaired.
He made his way through the tortured ruins of the former colony town
carefully, mindful not to stumble into any Black Rose 'mechs that might be
searching for him. The fires were fully involved now. When they were finally
extinguished, there would be absolutely nothing left but char marks and ashes.
At last, he reached the smoldering outskirts of the town. He throttled
up his Locust and made a break for it, stomping for all he was worth to reach
the line of trees that marked the southern edge of the woods cordoning the
starport.
"It's about time, Happousai," Pansuto Tarou's voice echoed over the
tac-net. "I was ready to go in after you."
A depleted uranium long-rod penetrator howled over the top of the
Locust as Happousai spied his nemesis waiting for him in those very same
sheltering woods. Kodachi's black Marauder was by her lover's side, and
she laughed shrilly at the sight of him.
"You think you're so smart," Happousai barked, putting his Locust into
an abrupt turn as more Black Rose 'mechs opened up on him. It was harassing
fire, meant to turn him back towards Tarou, but he had no illusions about
them sparing his life if he pressed them.
So be it, he decided. Time to teach the little punk a lesson in
respect.
The Locust hopped away from the sizzling beams of laser fire and turned
back toward Tarou's Hunchback.
"Think you've got enough friends to back you up?" he taunted his enemy.
"They're only here to keep you from running away, Happousai," Tarou
growled back. "Now it's time for you to pay for what you did to me on
Lightoller, and then Capra after that."
"Capra?" Happousai asked shrilly.
The Hunchback stepped out of the woods. "Don't play games, old fool,"
Tarou said icily. "Do you really think that I wouldn't guess who had sold
us out to the Commonwealth? You were their agent, Happousai, and you knew
we were on Capra."
Happousai remembered his offer to give up the two to Cologne.
"So what?" he shot back. "Nothing came of it." He brought his Locust
to a halt at a distance of a hundred meters to face Tarou.
"No thanks to you," Tarou intoned.
"You already took your best shot at me, punk," Happousai returned.
"I fondly recall the feel of your knife in my back. I'd say that makes
us even."
"Hardly."
The Hunchback fired its Tomodzuru autocannon, but Happousai, mindful
that the 'mech had an automated bracing routine for its myomer bundles to
contain the weapon's massive recoil, was watching for the sight of it
tensing up. The ultradense projectile slammed into the ground well behind
him as he hopped clear.
"I don't see why we're fighting," he observed as Tarou's arm-mounted
lasers sliced the air around his Locust to no effect. "I'm willing to make
you a deal."
"You have nothing to offer me!" Tarou cried, advancing his Hunchback
menacingly. "Nothing at all but your death!"
"You knucklehead!" Happousai shot back, swiping at him his turreted
medium laser. "I have the most valuable treasure on this entire stinking
mud ball in my possession! Do you think I just sat here for a week and a
half waiting for you to show up?!"
He judged by the momentary pause in the Hunchback's motion that he
had struck a chord with Tarou, and eased his thumb off the firing stud
for his remaining twin-rack SRM launcher.
"How about it?" he asked, making a wary circle of the 50 ton
battlemech, which stood silently in the clearing between the burning
town and the woods.
"Depending on what it is," Tarou began slowly. "I might consider it
worth the price of letting you live a little longer."
The Locust stopped behind the Hunchback, its turreted laser pointed
between the 'mech's shoulders. Kodachi levelled her Marauder's twin
derringer weapon pods at him from the woods, ready to annihilate him
should he prove untrustworthy once again. The laser slowly lowered in its
mount to the ground, and she relaxed.
"At last you're being reasonable," Happousai purred.
"Start talking," Tarou replied, pivoting to face the Locust once
again.
"Can you trust him, lover?" Kodachi asked in the pregnant pause
that followed.
"No," he replied. "But he knows when a situation is untenable.
Happousai is the Inner Sphere's premier survivor - no matter how many
bodies he has to step on to do it."
"I'm flattered," Happousai said sourly.
"You have seconds in which to live," Tarou growled back. The
autocannon trained squarely on the Locust. "Spend them wisely."
Happousai tsk'ed. "It so happens that I've come across an intact
Library Core," he said diffidently. "For safe passage off this mudball
and an end to this ridiculous vendetta of yours, I'm willing to cut you
in on half the profits I'll get in peddling out the data to the highest
bidders."
"Comstar would kill to keep that kind of information to themselves,"
Tarou muttered. "I'm not certain that I want that kind of attention, old
fool."
"I'll make you and the lovely Princess Kodachi my silent partners,"
Happousai said greasily. "Comstar doesn't have to know a thing about you."
"It *is* a tempting offer," Kodachi put in, thinking about how such
extravagant wealth would go a long way towards replacing the day's mounting
losses, to say nothing of buying enough favor with the Daimyo to make her
immune to her brother's wrath and allow her return to the Furinkan Combine.
"As you said, time's running out," Happousai added. "What's it gonna
be, Tarou? Shall we let bygones be bygones and enter into a fresh start
between us, or would you rather risk the chance of dying for nothing?"
Tarou snorted contemptuously at the notion of perishing at Happousai's
hands.
"Convince me that you have this thing," he said coldly. "And I'd be
willing to overlook your past transgressions. Pop your hatch and show it
to me right now."
"I don't have it on me!" Happousai replied. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
"Do you take for some kind of fool!?" Tarou countered. The Hunchback
began to tense up.
"Mellow out, already!" Happousai shrieked. "I hid it somewhere safe."
"Where?!" Tarou demanded.
"Back at the starport. Once you secure the place, I'll show you, but
you'd better hurry, because the Musk Dynasty aims to be in charge of all
of Ryuugenzawa's real estate by nightfall."
"That's what I've been saying all along, dear," Kodachi said to Tarou.
"Shall we consider this a truce for now?"
Tarou made a low growl in his throat. It was clear that he wanted to
kill Happousai now, while he was bracketed in his sights, but the promise
of exactly the thing he had come to Ryuugenzawa for was too alluring, even
from a liar and a thief.
"You will march in file directly ahead of me at a distance of fifty
meters," Tarou said to his mortal enemy. "If you deviate from this or
exceed sixty kilometers per hour at any time, even if we are attacked, I
will blow you away without a second thought."
Happousai knew that Tarou could do it. One hit from the Tomodzuru
autocannon into the center mass of his Locust would completely destroy
the battlemech, and himself with it. Still, he liked the opportunity he
had been given, not only to live a little longer, but to learn more of
the relationship between Tarou and his new lover.
Kodachi was the unknown variable in their shaky alliance. From what
he knew of her, she was capricious with her partners, throwing them away
at the first hint of a cooling relationship. It would be to his advantage
to find out ways to gain her favor, and thus leverage over Tarou.
The problem being with that was that the Combine princess seemed
truly smitten with Pansuto Tarou. While Happousai considered himself
devilishly handsome, seducing Kodachi might not be as easy or as useful
as he might hope. He shrugged, knowing that a one-night stand with her
would be reward enough.
"You've got a deal," he replied. "Let's get cracking." A pang of
what well-adjusted people might consider a conscience wracked him for
a moment, because the _Palomino_ had not yet lifted off. In leading
them back to the starport, a confrontation was inevitable, and his two
leading lights in the Anything Goes school, Ranma - and now Akane, since
Ryouga was dead - would be in the thick of it.
Why doesn't the damn DropShip take off already? he lamented. Having
them gone would make things much easier for everyone involved, and quiet
that uncomfortable nagging in the back of his mind.
"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?"
Ryouga Hibiki; naked, battered, physically exhausted, filled with hatred
and a heartsick rage that could not be extinguished, and weary to the core of
his soul with the fighting he had endured, slowly closed his finger around the
commo 'talk' button on his control stick. The motion of his taut muscles made
an audible crackling sound over the radio channel before he drew breath to
speak, and an ominous and expectant tension filled the air. Heavy drops of
sweat splashed off his brow and down his chin to dribble down his bare chest
and then puddle in between his naked thighs, chafing him and making him grit
his teeth in discomfort. The BattleMaster's turbogenerators made a deep basso
rumble in the base of his spine, serenading him with their dark oaths to
invoke fiery death at his command.
He had not expected to meet Pansuto Tarou on Ryuugenzawa - not in a
million years. That he was in the obvious company of Kodachi Kuno, the Black
Rose of the Furinkan Combine, only meant that he had betrayed the expedition
at the very first opportunity. He was sick of the backstabbing, sick of the
betrayals and the lies, and most of all, he was sick of the suffering his
friends had been put through. He had heard Yuka's plea for assistance, and
knew that Sayuri was probably dying somewhere in the woods. He knew that if
Tarou and Kodachi were allowed to continue - with Happousai leading them -
the _Palomino_ would be destroyed, and the woman he loved with all his heart
would die too. Ranma and Akane as well, and Ukyou, Doctor Tofu... They would
all fight to the last breath. All his friends would die.
"I'm here to kill you, Tarou," he 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. The hot smell of
his cockpit filled his nostrils with its acrid fragrance. "I'm here to kill
every last one of you..."
END OF PART TWENTY-NINE
Author's Notes:
If it seems like I'm dragging this on too much, please bear with me as I
bring together about a dozen separate threads as coherently and in as
uncontrived a fashion as possible. I suppose I could have ended this much
sooner by writing a bunch of battle scenes that wiped everyone out, or
at least rendered them noncombatants for the rest of the finale, but there
are too many personal issues between the characters that should and will
be addressed ere the end, and these haven't necessarily lined up as neatly
as I would have liked. For those of you who were hoping to see more of
Tatewaki Kuno and Hikaru Gosunkugi, to say nothing of the treacherous
Nabiki Tendo, I apologize, and perhaps I can make you a little happier in
the next (and hopefully last!) installment.
Free The Nukes!
