[Ranma/Battletech][FanFic] Battletech: The Saotome Gambit Part 14

[Jamie and Bridget Wilde]

Firebase LIBERTY
Currently on the night side of Oni,
a moon orbiting Shounetsu Jigoku
Capella System, the Nerima Confederation
H-Minus 5 Hours, 6 April 3025

Air hummed softly in the cockpit, stirred by several ventilation fans
set above and behind the mechwarrior's ejector seat. The tinny whine of an
array of gas-plasma displays added to the ambient sound, as did the muted
roar of several hundred kilograms of liquid nitrogen rushing through the
flashing chambers of the battlemech's heat sinks.
Acting General Kasumi Tendo took in these subtle noises as an indicator
of her Atlas' health, in much the same way as her father had taught her when
she was little, and the way she would teach her own children - when she
finally got the chance to settle down and have some. Her battlemech was in
prime combat condition, though she could hear the coolant circulating
impellers surging, a consequence of the deep vacuum that surrounded her,
as it forced the battlemech's heat sinks to rely on inefficient radiation
rather than forced-air convection to shed waste heat. The coming battles
were going to be a problem for 'mechs that relied heavily on energy weapons.
Combat was imminent because the moon of Oni posed a strategic problem
for the Furinkan Combine that could not be ignored. The greatest threat to
them were the three underground bases for GunShips and aerospace fighter
squadrons, as they could range between the Jump Points and Nerima in search
of Combine convoys, and strike at will at their reinforcements and supply
columns. These bases had been constructed during the Age of War, in the
dimly-recalled time before the short-lived unity of the Star League. As
such, they were built to withstand the terrible firepower unleashed in
those elder days, up to and including low-yield nuclear warheads.
Prince Kuno and his Furinkan Combine were not going to be able to
simply bombard them from a distance with their far less potent weapons,
and hope to succeed. Even if they tried, the bases were protected by heavy
gun emplacements and formidable missile batteries - weapons designed to
annihilate the great battleships of the First Succession War.
Though no rival Great House had ever faced these weapons before, the
guns of Oni had duelled with a seditious branch of the Tendo Family in
the Confederation Civil War of 2802. The result of this fateful battle
was that the rival Tendos and their allies within the nobility were forced
to withdraw from the system before ever reaching Nerima, and had suffered
the loss of their pretender to the Ducal Throne when his heavy cruiser
was gutted by Naval Particle Cannon fire.
The lethal barrage had come from the very base Kasumi now occupied
with the 1st Nerima Guards regiment - on loan from Akane until she returned.
From where her battlemech stood, she could see the bowl of the large crater
Satoru Tendo's _Shokaku_ had made when it crashed. In the airless void of
Oni, such historical landmarks were frozen forever in time.
The only way Kuno and his armies could silence the guns and seize the
bases was to launch a ground attack. There were blind spots in the weapon
coverage of the firebases that would allow his DropShips to land their
battlemechs without losing them en masse to the guns. They would have to
make a long trek across the airless wastes to reach the bases, and Kasumi
would see to it that they fought for every kilometer of it.
She had three regiments of battlemechs to do the job. It was a sizable
force when considering that the entire Confederation had perhaps twenty full
regiments of active duty 'mechs, held six mercenary regiments on retainer,
and could call upon another four regiments of reserves made up of retirees
or from the nobles' personal levies. She also had two brigades of crack
Confederation Marines, a close-knit brotherhood of piss-and-vinegar
lifetakers who had been doing this kind of ugly close-quarters fighting
in a hostile environment for so long that most of the troops had permanent
rasps from breathing canned air. Even if the Combine got close enough to
the guns to destroy them, they still needed to dig out the Marines if they
wanted to get the fighter bases. No matter the outcome, the bloodshed would
be terrible.
As she considered the coming carnage, her adjutant piped in from a
secure landline plugged into a terminal at the base of her battlemech's
ankle.
"General Tendo, Deep Space Tracking reports a large force approaching
Shounetsu Jigoku. The raid count is twelve DropShips and three wings of
aerospace fighters. Estimated time of arrival is three hours and fourteen
minutes."
Kasumi regarded Colonel Mukaida on her display. The last time she had
spoken to him in this manner, he still enjoyed the use of his legs. The
battle that saw him become a paraplegic had occurred shortly after her
decision to step down as Commander of the 1st Nerima Guards. She had done
so in order to take over as Castellan of Azure Cloud Castle, and to act as
Lady Steward for the Con0federation. It was a continuing source of guilt
for her, as he had been injured while leading the regiment in the time
before Akane took over as commanding officer.
"I see," she replied thoughtfully. "What is the time to intercept for
our fighters?"
Mukaida consulted a display in the Command Center that was outside the
camera's view. One thing that hadn't changed about the colonel was that he
looked just as cramped and uncomfortable in a pressure suit as he had years
ago.
"Our 9th and 11th Attack Wings and our 13th GunShip Command should be
engaging them within twelve minutes," he declared. A voice off-camera said
something that Kasumi couldn't quite hear, causing the colonel to shake
his head in disbelief. "Those Combine fools have either underestimated the
range of our batteries, or else they're utterly insane. They're coming right
for us."
Kasumi nodded slowly. "If we fire, we'll only pinpoint the location of
this firebase for them."
"I don't think we should pass up the opportunity," Mukaida countered.
"If nothing else, our fighters might be able to take advantage of the
situation while those Combine bastards are still busy shitting in their
pants from our salvos."
She frowned at his crude but appropriately descriptive turn of phrase.
"Very well, Colonel. You may fire at will, but I want you to stop in enough
time to avoid hitting any of our approaching units."
Mukaida grinned. It was clear that despite his contempt for a staff
job, he relished the idea of commanding such incredible firepower.
"Aye aye, ma'am. I'll inform the regiment to keep their heads down."
"Thank you, Colonel."
She trained her Atlas' optics suite to the location in the black sky
where the Combine fleet lay. Firebase LIBERTY was currently located away
from the harsh glare of Capella, and the stars shined brilliantly in the
void. With sufficient telescopic zoom and image enhancement, she was
rewarded with a cluster of tiny blue flashes against the colder white of
the stars - the plasma drives of the decelerating Combine ships.

"TEN SECOND WARNING TO COMMENCE FIRE," an automated warning from the
base's battlecomp sounded in her headset. The batteries of Firebase LIBERTY
were about to shake the heavens.

Kasumi waited silently, wishing that none of this had to happen, and
knowing that as long as a man like Tatewaki Kuno commanded troops, the
Confederation would not be safe from invasion.

"ALL BATTERIES; COMMENCE FIRE! COMMENCE FIRE! FIRE AT WILL!"

Sixteen terawatt-class particle beams lanced bolts of annihilation
into the darkness. There was no sound - save for the intense crackle of
static over her radio from the electromagnetic discharge of the guns'
focusing arrays. Brilliant flashes of light strobed across the airless
wastes, creating deep shadows among the boulders and crater-raised ridges
of Oni's dead surface.
Kasumi continued to watch her display. It would take less than a
second for the bolts to reach the Combine ships, and just as long for the
light of any impacts to return.
Four bright flashes of orange and silver light lit up the display
almost simultaneously as four enemy ships were vaporized. A relatively
small DropShip was no match for the might of four Naval Particle Cannons
firing in unison. The guns would need several minutes to cool and recharge
their capacitors before the fusillade could continue, and Kasumi prayed
that the invading Combine forces would see the futility of their actions
and withdraw their attack without further loss of life.

___________________________________________________________________________
J. Austin Wilde and Fission Park Press proudly present:

BATTLETECH: THE SAOTOME GAMBIT
PART FOURTEEN

by J. Austin Wilde
Safety Control Rod Axe Man,
Fission Park Press
wild...@gci-net.com
http://www.gci-net.com/users/w/wildeman/

The characters and situations of Ranma 1/2 are the
creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi and
Shogakukan/KITTY/Viz Video. Battletech and its
related materials are the property of FASA, inc.
No infringement of copyright is intended nor
should be inferred by this work of fanfiction.
___________________________________________________________________________

Chapter One

Firebase LIBERTY
H + 2 hours, 6 April 3025

Kasumi Tendo took the news from her starfighter wings with silent
despair. The Combine ships the guns of Firebase LIBERTY had destroyed
were nothing more than ancient freight-haulers - virtually space-going
derelicts. It was a clever ruse by Prince Kuno to expose the guns to
the scrutiny of his scouts, and from their observations, to determine
the best landing zones.
Now, hours later, she had even worse news.
A second flight of DropShips had landed nearly unopposed just south
of the moon's equator, and the battlemechs and troops they disgorged were
moving north towards LIBERTY. They were perhaps a hundred klicks from the
base. Even now, Combine and Confederation fighters duelled in the airless
skies over Oni, their struggles little more than tiny flashes and streaks
of light in the darkness.
The battle for the moon of Shounetsu Jigoku was joined.
"Rockstar, this is Hermit One-Five," a voice crackled over the
tactical channel. It was one of the 1st Nerima Guards' scouts. "Request
fire mission, over."
Kasumi listened intently. The projected location of Hermit One-Five
danced within an ancillary cockpit display. The scout was positioned in
the volcanic highlands of Oni's Kyushu Plateau, about eighty-five kilometers
south-southwest of LIBERTY's outer defensive perimeter. Though the moon's
vulcanism had been extinguished eons in the past, the volcanoes themselves
had formed jagged peaks and deep rifts in the soil - suggestive of a time
when the moon had borne a thin and primitive atmosphere. These geologic
formations could screen the advancing Combine troops from fighter attacks,
but would ultimately form choke points from which her forces could repel
their advance.
"Go ahead, Hermit One-Five," one of the base's officers replied.
"Rockstar, Hermit One-Five; Request fire mission at Alfa-Two-Four-Four
by Tango-Three-Six-Niner. Observing enemy battlemechs in company strength."
"Copy that, Hermit One-Five. Alfa-Two-Four-Four by Tango-Three-Six-
Niner. 'Mechs in company strength. Wait one."
Kasumi turned her Atlas' head to the east. A battery of five mobile
Long Tom artillery pieces was dug-in behind earthwork fortifications near
the base. The guns were a vacuum-ready variant of the standard Long Tom,
using an expensive binary propellant system that was difficult for current
industry within the Confederation to manufacture. In the weak gravity of
Oni, the 250mm shells they hurled could reach targets up to three hundred
kilometers distant. All they needed was something to shoot at.
She had given orders for the battery to use up all of their propellant
in this battle, as the guns were too slow and cumbersome to evacuate should
they be forced to retreat. The gunners were only too willing to oblige her,
having never been called upon in time of war from their lonely and - at one
time - secure posting within the Capella System. They would get their chance
today.
She saw the long barrels of the artillery pieces begin to elevate out
of their pits, and train on their distant targets. One of the guns belched
a silent cloud of burned propellant gas that scattered and drifted like
tiny violet flakes of snow upon the dull grey sand of Oni.
"Hermit One-Five, Rockstar; shot out!"
"Copy, Rockstar. Wait."
Kasumi knew that the spotting round was probably still climbing through
the airless sky on its carefully plotted ballistic arc. The moon's feeble
gravity would eventually tug the high-explosive projectile back towards the
surface, hopefully on target.
Fifteen agonizing seconds passed.
"Rockstar, Hermit One-Five; drop two hundred, and fire for effect!"
"Copy, Hermit One-Five!"
The shell had landed two hundred meters behind, but presumably neither
to the left or right of the advancing Combine 'mechs. The five guns began
belching more violet clouds of burned propellant as they cycled through
shell after shell. In the deep vacuum of space there was almost no
concussive effect to be had. The shells would need a direct hit on a
battlemech to do much good, although shrapnel from the exploding walls
of the ravines could cause a reasonable amount of damage. At the very
least, it would force them to spread out and seek shelter. She needed
to delay them until she could put together a strike force to go out and
oppose them directly.
"COUNTERBATTERY WARNING!" an automated prompt sounded from the base's
battlecomp. The base's radar array had detected incoming artillery!
She waited silently within her battlemech as a tangled web of data
and program commands darted through the base's defensive systems. No one
currently living understood exactly what was going on within the computers
and systems that managed the base, and if they should be forced to abandon
LIBERTY, nothing would be left for the Combine to salvage. Yet another
piece of advanced technology from a bygone age would be lost.
As Kasumi pondered this, the incoming shells were tracked, point
defense guns rose from their armored bunkers and trained on them, and
beams of nearly invisible laser light arced noiselessly across the wastes.
Only motes of dust and burned propellant refracting the beams made them
visible at all in the vacuum.
She bit her lip as shell after shell exploded with flashbulb
spontaneity in the darkness. The Combine had artillery of their own, and
were responding to the attack. They were probably safely dug in at their
own landing zones, where Combine fighters prowled in numbers large enough
to discourage a head-on attack.
She keyed her command mic, knowing that there wasn't much time to
lose.
"Break!" she cried over the tac net. "This is Mother! Override fire
mission! Shift fire to suppress hostile artillery!"
Shells that survived the point defense guns began dropping around the
base. Noiseless explosions threw clouds of rock and dirt into the void.
The interior of the base would be safe from these hits, but a 'mech would
be in trouble. A vehicle or a soldier standing in the open would be utterly
obliterated by a direct hit.
"Copy that, Mother. Shifting fire," the battery commander responded.
The guns began to train due south, and then renewed their salvos. To hit
the enemy artillery at the Combine Landing Zones would require them to use
much more propellant with each shot. Kasumi hoped the Combine's gunners
would run out first.
Prince Kuno had certainly come prepared for this battle, she noted
ruefully. It was almost as if he had in-depth knowledge of Oni's defenses.
she shuddered to think about the implications of that.
Nabiki...

* * *

Furinkan Combine Landing Zone Blue
Oni Southern Equitorial Zone
H + 12 hours

Tatewaki Kuno took in the reports of the battle from the War Room
aboard his Overlord Class DropShip _Oda Nobunaga._ His forces had managed
several landings on the surface of Oni, including a surprise attack within
striking distance of one of the cursed Confederation fighter bases. The
word from his commanders in the field was optimistic, though casualties
were much higher than anticipated.
He chafed to be within the cockpit of his battlemech, personally
handing the Confederation their defeat. Until the situation solidified
somewhat, he was needed here to direct his forces. Nabiki had not told
him everything about Oni, and his troops had earned their education the
hard way. All the more reason to have her quietly strangled when the
Confederation was at last brought to heel.
Alarm klaxons sounded then, causing his staff to cringe all around
him. The deep booming of his grounded DropShip's weapons firing at an
unknown foe somewhere beyond the cramped and dim confines of the War Room
filled the still air. The ship shook with return fire impinging on the
armored hull, but no decompression alarms sounded to warn of a breach.
"Curse those Confederation fighters," he spat. They had been
harrassing his landing zones for the past twelve hours, non-stop. The
Confederation garrison either had far more fighters than was estimated,
or else their pilots were fighting at exhaustion levels. The answer was
probably a little of both.
The fighter base his commanders were close to overrunning had already
sent its deadly flock away, leaving only hardened positions occupied by
Marines and artillery modified for use in vacuum. He ordered the attack to
continue, for to leave the base unmolested was only asking for the fighters
to return when his back was turned. He would give them no quarter, and no
place to rest and regroup.
As he pored over the situation displays it became clear to him the
center of the Confederation's resistance was a base known only as LIBERTY
to his staff. Nabiki had been especially vague about its capabilities,
though his SIGINT (SIGnal INTelligence) group had determined that the
eldest daughter of the Grand Duke was personally directing its defense.
He smiled warmly at the thought. Though it was not the fair and fierce
Akane Tendo, he felt that Kasumi Tendo would make for a worthy opponent.
He would have to lead the charge on LIBERTY so that he might get the
opportunity to challenge her.
Alarms sounded once again, and once more the _Oda Nobunaga_ shuddered
with weapon hits upon its hull. This time a second alarm shrilled in his
ears, filling his staff with dread.
"Hull Breach on Deck Eight!" the 1MC crackled. "Emergency bulkheads
on Deck Eight indicate shut!"
Tatewaki seethed. These Confederation dogs were relentless! He would
have to see them properly chastised.
"Prepare my battlemech," he ordered his aide-de-camp. "Have my
battalion commanders assemble in the Ready Room at once! It falls upon
the Blue Thunder of the Furinkan Combine to smite the foe!"

* * *

Confederation Main Line of Resistance
At the base of the Kyushu Plateau
H + 12 hours

Kasumi watched as the Combine Ostroc a hundred meters in front of her
position exploded under the hit of her main gun - A Class 20 Autocannon
with enough punch to annihilate a light 'mech in a single shot. The pilot
of the 60 ton Ostroc, hammered by missile fire from her rapid-firing LRM-20
rack, was not used to operating in a reduced gravity well, and had attempted
a clumsy break from cover. He found himself haloed in her gunsight a moment
later. The hypervelocity depleted-uranium shell shattered the already
cratered center torso armor, punched through the musculature and foamed
aluminum internal structure, and then rammed straight through its missile
magazine.
Missiles corkscrewed crazily out of the glowing wreckage of the Ostroc
as the ammunition cooked off. Kasumi was enough of a realist to know that
even though the shell had not struck the fragile cockpit, the ammunition
explosion had finished the pilot just as surely as a direct hit through
the armored canopy.
There wasn't time to say a prayer or to ask forgiveness. The Combine
was pouring down from the plateau to the volcanic floodplain of hard,
glassy lava that marked the southern extremes of LIBERTY's defensive
perimeter. Their axis of attack was along three narrow fronts, into which
an entire regiment of battlemechs was being thrown. The understrength 1st
Nerima Guards and a battalion of the 3rd Tomobiki Hussars under Lieutenant
Colonel Mendo was all she had with which to bar their way.
A barrage of missiles exploded into one of her wing companies on the
left. Warning shouts and explicatives crowded the airwaves for a moment as
the bombarded Confederation 'mechs sought cover and attempted to return
fire. Another wave of high explosives rained down on them, and Kasumi saw
one of the Lance Commanders fall into the churned grey rock, his Griffin
holed through-and-through with missile hits.
Searching for their attackers, she found a line of Combine 'mechs
setting up a defilade on a nearby ridge. They were artillery units for
the most part; Archers, Crusaders, Trebuchets, and Riflemen, with some
Hunchbacks and Centurions for close support. From their position on the
ridge, they could overlook the entire lava plain. In the weak gravity
and lack of atmosphere, weapon ranges were ten times longer than normal.
They could clobber almost anything they could see.
Kasumi scanned her tactical display. As she had feared, the company
of Tomobiki 'mechs detailed to protect the approaches to the ridge had
been driven back from their positions with heavy losses. She had been too
busy dealing with the enemy Ostroc to notice.
"Rockstar, this is Mother," she called over the command channel.
"I need Close Air Support five hundred meters south of my position. Enemy
battlemechs in company strength at Charlie-One-Zero-Four by November-Five-
Eight-Eight."
Colonel Mukaida handled her request personally, popping up on her HUD.
"Copy, Mother. Close Air is unavailable at this time. All units are
either engaged or rearming."
"When can I get some air?" she returned. "We have a serious problem
out here."
Mukaida scanned several situation reports at his station. "Nothing for
the next fifteen minutes, and probably more like twenty-five before they
can reach your position. I just don't have any fighters free and armed at
the moment."
"I see," she said tersely. There was no long range artillery left to
call for, as the guns had run out of propellant. The Combine unit was laying
down a tremendous barrage, pinning her units. She could already see other
Combine lances slipping through the choke points and making a break for the
open lava plain.
Her Atlas surged forward towards the ridge. The hundred-ton death
machine shook the ground as it stomped ponderously on, crunching through
the glassy lava rock to leave deep rectangular craters in her wake. Other
Confederation 'mechs turned to see her walk out into the open, their pleas
for her safety over the commo net falling on deaf ears. Instead, she was
giving orders.
"First Battalion, advance by companies on enemy held ridge bearing
south by west. Second Battalion, maintain position and provide supporting
fire. Third Battalion and the Cavalry mop up the stragglers that get
through."
It did not matter that they were breaking cover to attack. She knew
that they needed to hit the Combine assault head on and turn it back with
pure ferocity. Her enemies had marched several hundred kilometers across
an airless waste, while enduring attack after attack by her scout units,
platoons of ambushing Marines, her handful of LAM Light Cavalry, and of
course, the fighters. They had to be tired and at the low ebb of their
morale by now. One good charge could throw them back and send them into
retreat.
The Combine fire company on the ridge did not notice her advance at
first, as they were trading salvos of missiles with her forward-positioned
One-Charlie Company as it broke cover and began to rush the ridgeline. Her
main gun trained slowly from her 'mech's hip onto the closest of the enemy,
a Rifleman that tracked the black sky above for a sign of the Confederation
fighters. The range indicator on her HUD slowly ticked off into the amber,
then the green.
Kasumi squeezed the trigger, and felt her Atlas pivot slightly at
the waist from the recoil. The dull slamming sound of the feed mechanism
loading another round carried through the 'mech's internals to her cockpit,
confirming that her weapon had fired. As she noted this, her armor-piercing
shell struck the Rifleman in the right torso.
The pristine gull-grey armor plate was spalled off in an instant, huge
chunks of aligned-crystal steel flying apart in a spray of molten metal
sparks. She watched as the enemy battlemech twisted crazily from the force
of the impact, the pilot losing control of his machine. It fell backwards
to crash into one of the Trebuchets - knocking it over as well.
Now they knew she was there.
A volley of missiles from two Archers streaked into the sky, eighty
high explosive warheads ready to pound her flat. They never made it that
far, as an alert Jagermech in her Support Lance trained its light Mydron
Model-D autocannons into the sky, and with its formidable Garret D2j radar
and aerial tracking system, began trap-shooting the incoming missiles.
Their premature detonations filled the void with shrapnel, and the rest
of the missiles in the volleys fell to fratricide.
This prompted the Combine units to shift their fire into the offending
Jagermech - before it rendered their bombardment useless. A rain of light
and armor-piercing depleted-uranium slammed into the Confederation 'mech,
obliterating it in a flash of silver plasma. Stifling a cry of horror and
anguish at the sudden end to her comrade, Kasumi returned fire with
everything she had, and her weapon strikes ripped apart a Centurion limb
from mechanized limb.
Laser beams and autocannon shells zipped around her as she approached
the halfway point to the ridge. The intensity of their attacks was growing,
for they knew what an Atlas was capable of at point-blank range, and they
could not miss seeing the large blue and white Ducal pennant extended on
one of the 'mech's antennae. Kasumi bit down on her lip and continued on.
As the beams and bolts of the enemy exploded around her mighty Atlas with
little effect, she was reminded of General DeChevallier's assault on the
palace of Stefan the Usurper at the end of the Reunification War.
Her troops began to cheer and shout their encouragement over the tac
net. Those that were not presently engaged in close combat continued to
throw a barrage of suppression fire at the ridge, forcing the Combine
'mechs back from the cliffs and away from the lumbering Atlas. Her plodding
charge went on, churning up a wake of glassy debris behind her.
As she closed the range, she set her LRM launcher to fire in automatic
on the ridge line. The unique nature of her launcher was that five launch
tubes disgorged four missiles apiece within the ten seconds it took to
throw each volley, the net effect being a nearly continuous bombardment
of the enemy position for as long as the ammunition held out - about 120
seconds.
Such an outpouring of firepower left her free to concentrate on the
handful of Combine 'mechs that had broken through, and now ran from position
to position before her. The jagged peaks and piles of boulders that marked
the boundary of the Kyushu Plateau and the lava plain gave them plenty of
cover, and forced her to keep a close watch. More than once her finger
tensed on the trigger of her main gun, only to hold back at the last
instant when her target ducked behind the cover of solid rock. She only
had eight rounds left for her massive autocannon, and she needed to make
them count.
Her Headquarters Company had taken up a loose wedge formation behind
her. It was a dangerous prospect, for her Atlas had become a fire magnet,
but as her personal bodyguards, their duties were clear. They swept the
flanks for her as she advanced, and she could hear the grunts and gasps
of close combat across the entire battlefield in her headset. More than
once she heard the tell-tale crunching sound of a 'mech cockpit
depressurizing as it was hit.
She refused to let it affect her. Not here. Not now. She had a job to
do, which was throw the Furinkan Combine off this miserable moon, and she
was going to do it.
The ridge loomed before her, a graceful sweep of basaltic rock littered
with pyroclastic spurs that was too fragile to exist in a place with weather
and stronger gravity. The stark beauty of it was also too fragile to exist
under continuous bombardment, as chunks of rock and glassy lava were blown
free of the sandy grey soil to mingle with the bits of armor and machinery
from fallen battlemechs. Her proximity made it impossible for the Combine
'mechs at the top to fire at her, but the reverse was also true. She could
not hit them either.
She wasn't sure if the steep cliff of the ridge would support her
battlemech's weight in a climb. The rock was brittle, and had been subjected
to high explosives. The alternative was to approach from the rear, but that
meant a dangerous path into what would certainly prove to be a Combine
shooting gallery, with herself as a prize target.
Not wanting to prolong this battle any further, she dug her Atlas'
hand into the rock. It seemed to hold the weight of the war machine, and
she followed with a foot. It too held. Encouraged by this, she began to
climb the ridge in a careful, deliberate fashion - mindful that one stray
shot could blast her off without warning.
Her troops saw her climb, and eased up their barrage as she neared
the top of the ridge. The loss of suppressing fire was certain to bring
the Combine 'mechs back into position. Kasumi was counting on it.
With one more cycle of movement to go, she spied a large metalshod
foot step precariously close to the edge. Her Atlas reached out and grabbed
the battlemech's ankle, its massive fingers crushing through the weak armor
of a Trebuchet and snapping the actuator. The Combine war machine jerked
instinctively away from her grapple, but the Atlas was too strong to resist.
Kasumi thought her 'mech through the complicated series of motions necessary
to wrench the hapless Trebuchet off the cliff, and was rewarded by the flash
of a Furinkan Combine pineapple insignia painted on its torso as it flew
over her shoulder and crashed against the jagged rocks below.
The Trebuchet began to thrash violently on the lava plain, impaled
by a lance-like piece of basalt, and a victim of a slowly brewing ammunition
explosion. Kasumi was too busy clambering up the cliff to notice.
She was rewarded for her efforts by a dozen Combine 'mechs freezing
up in terror at the sight of her. The Atlas brought down a huge armored
fist onto the closest 'mech - a Hunchback. The 'mech tried to dodge the
well-aimed blow that was meant to knock out its powerful Tomodzuru Type-20
autocannon, and landed instead on the turret-like head. The Hunchback
staggered over, the arms flailing out of control as the mechwarrior's
dying neural spasms gave them commands they could not properly interpret.
A Centurion within arm's reach was the first to regain its composure,
and tried to gun her down with its autocannon. A 155mm shell gouged a crater
in her left torso armor before she caught the cannon-arm in an elbow lock
that was a specialty of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, and
wrenched it effortlessly out of the socket joint at the shoulder.
Using the inert cannon-arm as a club, she then proceeded to bash the
Centurion into a very expensive pile of scrap, ignoring the feeble beams of
medium and light lasers from the other 'mechs as she did so. If she showed
any mercy, it was only because she did not aim for the Centurion's head.
The other Combine 'mechs, being mostly walking platforms for long range
missile launchers, and therefore lacking a significant secondary armament,
now began to panic.
She took full advantage of this, stomping inexorably towards them
with the battered club held high. The grinning death's head of her Atlas
had been engineered to be as gruesome and frightening as possible, and the
sight of a 'mech that could literally rip any other battlemech apart with
its bare hands was enough to give even the bravest mechwarrior pause.
They were good troops, brave and dedicated, but they weren't stupid.
Kasumi let them run, sending volleys from her SRM launcher to speed
them on their way. On the floor below the ridgeline, she could see her
forces throwing back the Combine advance on all sides. Confederation
Eagles, Transgressors, and Hellcat IIs streaked without warning across
the starry sky, their hulls scarred and blackened, and their guns rippling
fire at their enemies.
Kasumi let out a deep breath, knowing that they had won this time,
and knowing that the Combine still had plenty of fight left in them. This
was only the beginning.

Chapter Two

The War Room of Azure Cloud Castle
Planet Nerima, the Capella System
Nerima Confederation
H + 19 Hours, 7 April 3025

"I'm afraid it doesn't look good, your Grace."
Grand Duke Soun Tendo spared another glance at the report and agreed.
Despite their best preparations, the Combine was winning the Battle of Oni.
Two of the main bases had already fallen, their squadrons of fighters and
GunShips making a desperate retreat to the remaining base, or to the small
installation on the hostile surface of Shounetsu Jigoku. There was no word
from his eldest daughter, though she was reported to be holding the vital
approaches to the remaining base.
"Casualty reports are coming in," an aide announced.
"How bad is it?" Soun asked.
The aide gave him a stoic look. "You should see the other guy..."
Soun nodded. It was true that the Combine had paid a very dear price
for their victories, but they also had far more troops to lose. Every
Confederation loss was irreplaceable.
"I'm afraid that we've underestimated the Combine's fighting strength,"
he said to his assembled staff. "Unless a miracle happens, the situation on
Oni is untenable."
There were various murmurs of agreement.
"Keep trying to get in direct contact with General Tendo," he added.
His faithful Kasumi, shouldering the burden that he should have reserved
for himself! "Order her to make preparations to evacuate Base LIBERTY and
return with all remaining troops to Nerima. We'll make our last stand in
orbit and on the surface of the planet."
"Your Grace," one of the officers broached in the silence that followed
his pronouncement. "Shouldn't we take this opportunity to get you and the
rest of the General Staff out of the system while we still have enough
escort ships to fight our way to the Jump Point?"
Soun frowned. "What are you saying, Captain?"
"Well, your Grace, we know that Prince Kuno has leapfrogged directly
to the Capella System with the intention of taking you prisoner, and
extorting the surrender of the Confederation from you. If you were to flee
the system, we could continue the fight from a new headquarters and force
him to keep looking for you."
The Grand Duke nodded slowly. "I agree that your proposal has merits,
but the time is past for fleeing. The Combine has enough fighting strength
to conquer the Confederation no matter what happens to me. If we must fight,
and I believe that we must, it is better that we spare the other systems of
the Confederation from further bloodshed and destruction."
He gave them all stern looks.
"We fight here."

* * *

"I'm very sorry, Miss Tendo, but your access to this area has been
rescinded."
Nabiki Tendo gave the soldier a cross look.
"On whose authority?" she demanded.
"Lady Kasumi, ma'am," the man answered coolly. "My orders are quite
explicit. I'm going to have to ask you to leave at once."
She might have known.
"I'm the goddamned Chief of Intelligence!" she protested. "She has no
authority to restrict my access to the War Room."
The soldier unslung his weapon.
"Ma'am, my orders were countersigned by his Grace, the Grand Duke. I
have no obligation to inform you of this, but given that you're family, I
thought you should know. Now, will you leave or do I have to make you?"
Nabiki grimaced. This was not entirely unexpected, but a nasty
experience nonetheless. She had counted on having a little more time to
gather current data on the defense of the system. She was not going to
turn it over to Kuno-chan wholesale, however. She wanted him to pay for
his victories, that he might better appreciate her assistance when the
time came to offer it. Knowing what was going on in the war was important
for her sense of timing.
"Put that thing away," she said to the soldier, gently pushing the
muzzle of his rifle down towards the floor with her finger. "I was just
on my way out."
She would have the last laugh, she thought with a smirk. I'm ready to
act as soon as the time is right. And Kuno-chan is right on schedule.

Chapter Three

Dragon of the Black Pool Fortress
Planet Tau Ceti IV, Tau Ceti System
The Jusenkyo Commonwealth
5 April 3025

Shampoo paced her small dungeon holding cell, awaiting her escort to
the starport. She had not slept the previous evening, and her eyes were
red and puffy with weariness. Those who would see her march to the DropShip
would think that her red eyes were from weeping, but she hadn't been able
to produce a single tear.
It surprised her, to feel so miserable and yet be unable to cry. Had
she crossed over some threshold of pain without realizing it, or was this
merely the numb acceptance of fate said to come over the doomed in their
final hours? She had no answers, only tears that could not be spilled.
She had spent much of the night thinking about her execution. It
would take at least a week to reach Jusenkyo, leaving her with nothing but
time to anticipate the end. Why had Herb chosen the capitol, when he could
have had the sentence carried out immediately, here on Tau Ceti?
One reason might have been that there would have been few Joketsuzoku
willing to step forward into the Fated Circle to carry out the will of the
Council. Tau Ceti remained a system loyal to her great-grandmother. It was
a plausible reason, but one that did not explain why Herb hadn't chosen a
system under his administration, like the Epsilon Indi System, which would
not only have provided sufficient executioners, but also satisfied his
penchant for irony.
The only reason she could think of that seemed to fit Herb's motives
was that her death was meant to bring home the disgrace she had earned her
family. Her great-grandmother had exercised a great deal of influence among
the Council to grant her a second chance. To have her failure flung back in
Cologne's face must have been delicious to Herb.
The sounds of doors opening and closing down the hall made her tremble
inside. They were coming for her. As her escorts approached, she wanted to
damn Ranma Saotome for her miserable fate, but that too would not come. It
was odd, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that he
wasn't really responsible for her failure. It was her decision to respond
to the security breach in such a way as to violate procedure. It had been
her sloppy pursuit that had allowed them to get away on Lightoller. If she
had tarried even a few minutes to investigate the wreck of the ATV, she
would have discovered that both Saotomes had survived in time to finish
the job.
Her failures had truly been hers, she realized. Though the disaster
on Capra had been hung neatly on her shoulders, it would never have been
necessary to go there had she done what was expected of her on Lightoller.
Kima would still be alive. As would Joyful Cloud. Laughing Orchid too,
though perhaps she would have found another way to cross Pink. As the
sound of footsteps echoed down the dungeon halls, she came to accept the
judgement of the Council, and in turn, the sentence of death that awaited
her. It made her no less weary, anxious, or frightened, but at least it
gave her a way to find some dignity in the whole sad affair.
She would enter the Fated Circle. She would fight with all her skill
and might. If Death came for her, as it likely would, then the story of her
glorious end would be remembered within the clan for all time, and serve as
a just atonement for her shortcomings in life.
Perhaps it was this belief, unrealized until now, but deep within her
subconscious, that had kept her from weeping, she mused. She had not only
accepted her doom, but embraced it, and in so doing had made peace with
herself and the universe.
The sound of keys rattling in a lock grated through the steel door,
which slid open with the creak of hinges that hadn't been oiled in years.
"<Shampoo?>"
She turned at the sound of Mousse's voice. It would have to be Mousse,
wouldn't it? she noted to herself. His face was drawn and pale, with dark
circles under his eyes that spoke of his own sleepless night. He was alone,
which surprised her.
"<Go away, Mousse,>" she told him quietly. There was none of her usual
venom.
"<I brought you a change of clothes,>" he said, offering her a duffle
bag.
She brushed at her full-dress cheongsam. "<I'll go dressed as I am,>"
she told him. "<My rank and station have not been taken from me, no matter
the sentence I face.>"
Mousse shook his head.
"<You don't understand,>" he returned. "<I'm here to free you.>"
"<What are you talking about, Mousse?>"
"<You're being used as a pawn against Cologne by Elder Peony and some
of her allies on the Council,>" he explained. "<I'm here to help you escape.
Cologne sent word to the Castellan of the Fortress to see to it that you
were to be allowed to escape before you could be shipped to Jusenkyo. You've
got to believe me, Shampoo.>"
Shampoo considered it. It sounded like one of Herb's traps. Rather than
grant her the opportunity to redeem herself in death, he could heap further
disgrace upon her by having her shot in an escape attempt. Poor, dumb,
hopeless Mousse would be easy enough for Herb to dupe into making it happen.
"<Why?>" she asked him. "<Why go against the Council for my sake? I'm
guilty of the crimes that I'm to answer for.>" She gave him a stern look.
"<I'm not afraid to die, Mousse. I'm ready to accept my fate as befits a
warrior of the Joketsuzoku. I won't bring further shame upon myself or my
family by running from my death.>"
"<Shampoo,>" Mousse said quietly, his voice pleading. "<You've got to
understand... This is for your own good. It's the only chance you have left
to redeem yourself without dying for it.>" He looked at her through his
thick and wavy glasses, his eyes trembling and watery. "<Don't you deserve
another chance?>"
His words stung her resolve. She did not want to die. She had resigned
herself to it as the only possible salve to her wounded honor, but she did
not want to die.
"<I don't understand how escaping from here will solve anything,>" she
replied cautiously.
"<Commonwealth agents in Comstar have intercepted a communique from a
Confederation Consulate in the Federated Shiratori,>" Mousse explained,
reciting what Herb had instructed him to tell her. "<The Saotomes are stuck
in the Palatine System for weeks, pending repairs to their JumpShip. If we
can get there in time, we can fulfill your orders from the Council to seize
the information regarding Ryuugenzawa, and to kill the Saotomes. If you do
that, then Cologne will have the leverage necessary to intercede on your
behalf to the Council. You won't just be exonerated, you'll be a heroine
to the entire Commonwealth.>"
Shampoo frowned. Mousse's story sounded awfully convenient.
"<And she sent *you* to tell me this?>" she riposted.
Mousse nearly shook with frustration. "<It isn't just me,>" he said
to her. "<Who do you think is letting me walk out of here with you? The
Castellan of the Fortress and Cologne have been friends for more than a
hundred years.>"
Shampoo set her hands on her hips. "<General Herb put you up to this,
Mousse. He fooled you into thinking you could help me, just so he can have
me shot for trying to escape.>"
Mousse blanched for an instant as she declared her belief in Herb's
responsibility for the escape. When she continued with some nonsense about
assassinating her instead, he gave pause. It was possible, but then why go
to all the trouble of this ruse when he could have her 'shot while trying
to escape' at any time during the transit? In the split second such thoughts
took to cross his mind, he decided that Herb's plan as outlined to him was
genuine. He really did want the secrets of Ryuugenzawa, and talk of finding
out through other sources was just a smokescreen. Herb needed them, not just
to further his own ends, but as a way to distance himself from Peony at the
same time as he appeared to be doing her bidding.
He needed to take another tack to convince Shampoo.
"<Don't you even care about what happens to Cologne?>" he hissed at
her. "<I wasn't kidding when I said that Peony and the Council are using
you against her.>"
Shampoo arched an eyebrow at him.
"<Now what are you talking about?>"
"<Peony is going to oust Cologne from leadership of the Commonwealth!>"
Mousse cried. "<Cologne has angered enough members of the Elder Council with
her favoritism of you to allow a vote of No Confidence in her leadership.
If you don't succeed with this mission, then out she'll go, and the rest of
your family with her!>"
Shampoo's eyes grew large. What Mousse said to her made a twisted kind
of sense. She knew of Elder Peony's hatred for Cologne, and figured the
elder to be the chief advocate of her death sentence. Still, there were
loose ends with Mousse's story.
"<So how is escaping from here going to do my great-grandmother any
good in the eyes of the Council?>" she challenged him.
"<It delays the process,>" Mousse replied, grasping at straws. "<Until
you can actually enter the Fated Circle, your ultimate innocence or guilt
remains uncertain. They can't go after Cologne unless you die in the Circle
- proving your guilt, and Cologne's irresponsibility for giving you a second
chance.>" He had to hand it to himself for coming up with such a convincing
explanation on the fly.
Shampoo's resolve wavered further.
"<Supposing you're right, and Herb isn't just duping you,>" she began.
"<What then?>"
Mousse recited his briefing from Herb to her.
"<There's a ship due to leave the planet in less than an hour. It's a
Covert Operations ship masquerading as a Free Trader. They'll get us to the
Palatine System. After that, it's all up to us.>"
"<Us?>"
"<I'm coming with you,>" Mousse said firmly. "<I have all of the
contact information, the code words for sending messages through Comstar,
and the credit cards for our expenses are under my name and thumbprint.>"
Shampoo winced. Mousse had gone out of his way to make himself
indispensable.
"<Are you going to do something about this?>" Mousse pressed. "<Or are
you just going to go off and die - and let Peony win?>"
Her blood began to boil at his accusation. Mousse may have been a fool,
but his words made a great deal of sense. If there was a chance to redeem
herself, and her great-grandmother as well, she would take it. It was an
extremely risky proposition, but it was better than taking a dive.
She opened the duffle bag. Within the bag was a small blanket and a
squeeze bottle of water.
"<I don't understand,>" she said to him, holding up the bottle.
"<You can't just walk out of here, no matter how you're dressed,>" he
explained. "<Use the water to change into your Jusenkyo body, then get in
the duffle bag. I'll carry you out the same way I brought the bag into the
prison. There's mesh on either end so that you can breathe. Hide under the
blanket in case someone actually bothers to search the bag. Once we get to
the starport, you can be just another stray cat.>"
Shampoo looked at him. "<How do you know what I turn into?>" she asked
him sharply. "<I've never told anyone. Not even Doctor Gaido.>"
Mousse began to blush. "<I-- I uh, well...>"
"<You spied on me,>" she accused.
"<It was unintentional!>" he protested. "<An accident! Really, Shampoo,
I swear!>"
She gave him a dubious look. "<Never mind that,>" she said at length.
She took the squeeze bottle and pointed the nozzle at her face. "<Turn
your back,>" she told him. "<I don't like the idea of someone watching me
change.>"
Mousse did so. For a moment she contemplated clocking him on the head
and continuing on without him, but checked herself. What were the odds that
Mousse actually had on his person all the information she needed?
Instead she closed her eyes and gave the bottle a squeeze. A cold jet
of water splashed into her face, and she was hit with a sudden wave of
vertigo. She knew that this was because she was rapidly shrinking into her
cat body, but the experience was no less unnerving for knowing why.
She meow'd for Mousse's attention. The heavy embroidered silk of
her cheongsam surrounded her, and she was unable to free herself without
resorting to her claws. Mousse lifted away the folds of the dress and
picked her up into his arms. He stared at her for a moment in wonder,
and drew a sharp hiss from her to get on with it.

* * *

Mechwarrior General Herb's shout rang throughout the dojo as a bolt
of heat and pressure - conjured from within his own body - burst forth
from his hands and crashed through a stack of bricks. The pile of masonry
flew apart in a cloud of red dust as the bolt's report mingled with the
lingering syllables of his cry. The last bits of debris were still dropping
from the air as he drew himself up from his crouching posture and studied
his handiwork.
The hundred-kilo pile of bricks had been destroyed as expected, but
the exercise was, for him, a warmup at best. He would face reinforced
concrete next, knowing that its compressive strength would represent a
formidable challenge. Once he had overcome the concrete, he would move
up to a sheet of mild steel plating. The process would continue, with
each target for his chi getting stronger, harder, and heavier.
On a good day, he could work his way up to punching through a one-
centimeter-thick sheet of aligned-crystal steel battlemech armor with a
single blast.
When he saw Lime and Mint approaching with stupid self-satisfied
grins on their faces, he knew that he wouldn't get the chance.
"<What is it?>" he growled. Though he was certain that their tidings
were glad indeed, it was best in this place so closely allied with Cologne
that he keep up appearances.
"<Shampoo has escaped, my General,>" Mint reported, his face falling
with mock gravity.
"<What?!>" he exclaimed. The chi exercises were good for getting the
blood flowing, and he was certain that his face was the perfect shade of
livid red. "<When and how?>" he demanded after a suitable period of silent
rage.
"<It could not have been more than four hours ago, sir,>" Mint replied.
"<The guards were logged as making a tour of the cells then. They reported
Shampoo secure. She was discovered missing on the next watch.>"
"<I see,>" Herb muttered angrily. "<How did she escape?>"
"<It's difficult to say, sir,>" Mint said with a thinly veiled smirk.
"<There was only her dress uniform in the cell when they discovered her
missing. There was no indication that the door had been forced, and none
of the guards saw anything.>"
"<No,>" sniffed Herb. "<Of course not.>" He shook his head in disgust.
"<If that fool of a Castellan hasn't already done so, order the starport
sealed and all ships grounded until they can be thoroughly searched!>"
"<Yes, General!>"
Herb whirled about, apparently lost in thought for a moment. "<Four
hours... Four hours... How many ships have left the planet between now and
four hours ago?>"
Mint had the figures ready. "<Tau Ceti is a busy port of call for
merchant shipping, my General. At least three ships have left the starport
for the Jump Points.>"
"<How convenient...>"
Mint waited a moment before speaking.
"<Should we send ships to intercept and board them, my General?>"
Herb thought about it for a moment.
"<No. Let them go. It's likely that she's still on Tau Ceti. She
enjoys a great deal of support from the local population because of her
great-grandmother, the Matriarch. She could easily afford to wait here
until the crisis passes, and then slip away off-planet at her leisure.>"
"<What then, sir?>"
Herb's reptilian eyes flashed.
"<It is obvious that Shampoo was able to escape with help from within
the garrison of the Fortress. I would not put it past even the Castellan
herself to have had a hand in this affair. Would that I had jurisdiction
on this world, I could begin an investigation into the matter, but lacking
that, I can only report this incident to higher authority.>" He stepped
to the mat where his cape lay. Lime hustled wordlessly over to him and
draped the shimmering green silk over his shoulders. "<Give notice to the
Captain of the _Demon-God of the East Wind_ that we shall raise ship as
scheduled.>"
"<At once, sir!>" Lime and Mint scrambled to comply.
Herb pulled the frogs of his cape closed. Mousse had been a useful
tool after all, for Mint was not to have given the word of Shampoo's
escape unless it had been confirmed that she and her half-blind companion
had boarded the Free Trader as planned. Had they not, then Lime was to
have given the report. One could never be too careful in the house of
one's enemies.
There would be fallout from this incident. It was necessary for him
to keep up appearances and denounce the escape as the work of Cologne
sympathizers within the Fortress, and it was no secret that the Castellan
was a strong ally of the Matriarch. Peony would seize upon that fact like
a mad dog with a bone in its teeth, and never let go.
She would need to be restrained from rash action. He needed to keep
Cologne in power for the moment. This would require a personal intervention
on his part, meaning that they would still have to Jump to the Jusenkyo
System. Once it was clear to Peony that his army was not at her exclusive
beck and call, and Cologne was coached to make vague threats about civil
war in the meantime, he would have the impasse he needed. If Peony balked
at his sudden lack of loyalty to her, that was all she could do. He didn't
need her nearly as much as she needed him.
With luck he would have enough time for Shampoo and Mousse to acquire
the data regarding Ryuugenzawa. He had a regiment of crack Musk Dynasty
troops standing by to deploy to any part of the Inner Sphere to take and
hold the legendary world long enough to loot it of all its secrets. Then
he could finally drop his charade of loyalty to the Joketsuzoku, and usher
in a new age for the Commonwealth: the Age of the Musk Dynasty, with himself
as its first Emperor.
Though the blood of the Joketsuzoku flowed through his veins, he did
not consider himself one of them. He was a man, and as he had learned long
ago, a man had no place in a world run by women. What wealth and station
he possessed, he had taken for himself by virtue of his skill, strength,
and, as he was proud to admit, by his treachery. Beating the women at their
own game was nothing to be ashamed of.

Chapter Four

Furinkan Combine JumpShip _Imperator_
Capella System Zenith Jump Point
Capella System, the Nerima Confederation
7 April 3025

"Sasuke?"
The ninja melted out of the bulkhead of Kodachi's quarters with a
smile. His chameleon suit crackled quietly in the dim light as it powered
down.
"I am here, Mistress."
Kodachi chuckled softly. Her ninja retainer was supposed to be on
the planet Nerima attempting to make contact with the turn-coat daughter
of the Grand Duke, Nabiki. She was certain that Tachi had forbidden, on
pain of death, any contact with her.
"It took you long enough," she sniffed.
"My apologies, Mistress," he demurred. "I judged it prudent to wait
until Prince Tatewaki had departed for battle, as I am supposed to be on
the planet Nerima at this moment."
Kodachi yawned absently at this. She would have preferred to escape
out from under her dear brother's nose.
"I assume you have a plan for my release?"
Sasuke nodded. "The JumpShip _Harushio_ is scheduled to depart the
system for Capra, and from there into the Combine interior. Several of the
ship's officers, including the Captain, are sympathetic to your plight."
He did not feel it necessary to mention that the reason _Harushio's_
skipper felt obliged to assist in Kodachi's escape was because one of his
brothers had been recently executed by Prince Tatewaki for the crime of
being a staff officer in the Black Rose Terror Regiment.
Kodachi waited coolly for Sasuke to continue.
"Once the _Harushio_ has reached the interior, we shall rendezvous
with the surviving elements of the regiment."
"Survivors?" Kodachi asked hopefully. Her cool demeanor had given
way to something more passionate.
"Yes, Mistress," the ninja replied. "The regiment is little more than
a battalion of battlemechs now, but they remain loyal to you alone."
A tear welled at the corner of her eye, and she brushed it away. It
was more than she had hoped for. It was certainly enough to quickly rebuild
the regiment to its old strength. She would need to find replacements for
them, but these she could recruit from within her own marches of the
Combine.
Once the Black Rose Terror Regiment had risen from the ashes of
defeat, she would need a course of action. Her dear brother would have
to pay for plotting to exile her to the Periphery. The game would go on.
How best to accomplish this?
Visiting Father in the Alpha Centauri System was an idea, but one
she quickly dismissed. Though Father would forbid Tachi to exile her to
the Periphery, he would also insist on peace between them, and that was
something neither she nor her brother would agree to. He was too close to
conquering the Confederation - and ultimately becoming First Lord of a new
Star League, and she was too hungry for revenge.
No, there could be no peace between them. Their game must go on until
she was the final winner. She did not care for the same conquests as her
brother. Her battleground was as much in the mind of her enemies as the
actual field of combat. Victory would not come until her brother was a
broken man, humbled and powerless. Defeat, though unthinkable, would come
only with her death.
She continued to ponder the matter, as she had for the last week since
regaining consciousness. Sasuke remained silent and ready to respond at her
feet.
It would be best for the moment to withdraw from the Combine, she
decided. Once she had rebuilt the regiment, they would need training and
battle experience to regain the _esprit de corps_ and the cohesion for
which her old unit had been famous. The quickest way to accomplish this
was to retire to the Federated Shiratori. Mercenaries were always needed
there to fill the ranks of the squabbling nobles who had good reason to
avoid the support of Empress Azusa's incompetent army.
Becoming a mercenary wouldn't shame her, as she had always been a
bit of a renegade and a maverick within the Furinkan Combine. The only
difference now was that she would have to take orders from someone else.
It was distasteful, but if she found the right employer, namely one who
cared for results more than methods, such distaste could be minimized.
There might be an outcry from the Combine's daimyo at her defection, but
Father would handle them as he always did.
Once the Black Rose Terror Regiment regained its fearsome reputation,
she would see about putting Tachi in his place. She had little doubt that
the Confederation would fall before she was ready to return to the Combine,
the question was whether or not he would have the dreadful Akane Tendo as
his bride.
She hoped that he would. It would make the Tendo witch's death by her
hands that much more painful to him.
Of course, if Tachi had Akane Tendo for a bride, then Ranma Saotome
would have been dealt with. Dealt with severely, knowing her brother.
Kodachi did not like that idea one bit. Her longing for Ranma had
grown more and more within her heart during her captivity aboard the
_Imperator._ Having never felt such passion for a man before, she did not
question the rationality of it. It did not matter to her that they had
met only as foes over the barrels of her Marauder's guns. What mattered
was Ranma Saotome, headstrong and handsome devil that he was, holding her
in his arms, and telling dear Tachi where he could stick that precious
katana of his.
It was imperative that she find him before Tachi did. Of course,
wherever Ranma was, his shrewish fiancee was certain to be nearby. It
would save her the trouble of tracking the Tendo harridan down.
All in good time, she thought with an inner chuckle. If she did not
escape from Tachi's flagship, none of her nebulous plans could be put into
practice.
"When do we leave?" she asked him.
The sound of a body hitting the floor outside the door to her quarters
punctuated her question.
"Right this moment, Mistress," Sasuke replied with a faint smile.

* * *

Blue Thunder Regimental Mobile Headquarters
Kyushu Plateau, the Moon of Oni
Capella System, the Nerima Confederation
H + 21 hours, 7 April 3025

"She's what?!" General Prince Tatewaki Kuno demanded over the radio.
"Your sister, Princess Kodachi, has escaped from her quarters," Captain
Kyle responded. There was a considerable lag of nearly nine minutes between
the two, owing to the considerable distance that separated them.
"Find her!" Tatewaki thundered. He had a war to win, and could not
just walk away from an important battle to deal with his treasonous sister!
Even worse, he was still almost eighty kilometers from Base LIBERTY and his
self-appointed duel with Kasumi Tendo!
"That may be difficult, my prince," Kyle responded after an agonizing
wait. "We believe she has already escaped the system aboard the JumpShip
_Harushio._ They were bound for Capra, and then the Combine interior."
Tatewaki turned a deeper shade of red. "Thou art certain of this?"
"Yes, my prince. We were able to detain one of the conspirators before
he could make his own escape. He told us enough to know that the ninja,
Sasuke, was the mastermind of the plot. He also informed us that surviving
elements of the Black Rose Terror Regiment are awaiting the return of their
mistress, and that when reformed, they would attempt to overthrow you, my
lord."
The Blue Thunder of the Furinkan Combine tensed in the cockpit of his
battlemech. Sasuke... His hands clenched around the control yokes of his
Thunderbolt. He knew then that he should have listened to the voice of
caution and had that cur executed with the rest of them!
"I have news of even graver import to tell you, my prince," Kyle
continued. "We have just received unconfirmed reports via HPG that the
League of Five Nails has launched an offensive against the Combine border.
Six systems have been hit in surprise attacks against our garrison forces.
All six systems are believed to have fallen to the League."
Tatewaki could not believe his ears! He was within scant kilometers
of seizing his primary objectives on Oni, and then this! His cursed sister
had escaped, and now Hikaru Gosunkugi had the effrontery to attack the most
powerful nation in the sum of all human reckoning?
"How can this be?" he asked himself. This news was beyond grave, it
was staggering! "Speak man," he told Kyle. "What is the nature of this
attack? What are their intentions?"
Kyle studied a hastily assembled report from the Intelligence Section,
leaving Tatewaki feeling helpless and impotent within his cockpit.
"The main thrust of the League advance seems to be directed towards
the Alpha Centauri System," Kyle replied. "Thus far, their intention seems
to be one of conquest."
"Conquest of the Furinkan Combine?!" Tatewaki cried in disbelief.
"Surely the seed of the House of Gosunkugi hath better sense? Or mayhap
he thinks that I, properly distracted in noble combat, will not pay heed
to his base deeds, that he might profit from this skulduggery!"
"Whatever his intentions, my prince," Kyle returned. "It seems our
interior garrisons are in no position at the moment to form an organized
opposition to this invasion. Most of our deployable assets are tied up
with our own invasion of the Confederation."
"Of course," Kuno snorted. "Certainly, this is what the cretinous
Gosunkugi believes."
"What are your orders then, my prince?"
Tatewaki struggled with his rage for being placed in such a damnable
position. He was so close to conquering Oni, the stepping stone to Nerima.
But his honor had been sorely wounded by this surprise invasion of his
empire by an upstart, and that he could not abide! There was also the
matter of his sister, who was no doubt headed straight for their father.
The fool would naturally take her side in the matter, and forbid him to
take punitive sanctions against her.
It was enough to make his blood boil and his teeth grate.
"It seems that we must answer this challenge to our sovereignty," he
said at length. "The Confederation is beaten; that much is obvious by our
great victories in battle this day. They shall keep for the nonce. It is
the head of Hikaru Gosunkugi that I hunger for now..."

* * *

Firebase LIBERTY
H + 25 hours

Kasumi Tendo had never considered the matter before, but the woman
who sat in the cockpit of a battlemech and gave orders that sent young
men and women to their deaths, was not the same woman who now walked the
darkened halls of LIBERTY. Out there she had to be cold and calculating,
weighing the losses versus the potential gains of any decision. Away from
the fighting she was warm and compassionate, lending her empathy to all who
suffered. At that moment she found herself wishing she were otherwise, for
there was far more pain here than one woman could ease.
The stench of death was everywhere. The wounded, mostly from the two
main bases that had fallen and their secondary bases, lay wrapped in
silvery thermal blankets in the halls. Some had enough strength to moan
in pain, others, in shock or too proud to cry out, gave her glassy-eyed
looks as she passed. The handful of doctors, nurses, and medics available
made their rounds like blood-spattered ghosts, their voices soothing and
quiet as they gave demerol to calm the ones they could save, and morphine
to the ones they couldn't.
The dead had already filled the morgue, and were now being laid out
on tables in the Mess Hall.
She stood in the doorway to the Mess Hall, looking at the many still
forms lying beneath bedsheets, blankets, even formal capes and camouflage
panchos. The steady drip of blood and other fluids echoed hollowly into
sheet pans from the kitchen that had been placed on the floor underneath
the bodies. Steeling herself, she began to walk silently among the dead,
passing a pale and bloody limb that had fallen out from under the mortuary
shroud here, or a long fall of once-lustrous green hair that reached the
floor over there.
She lifted the sheet that covered a man who could have been Akane's
age. By his unit patch and by the prancing horse tattoo on his forearm,
she knew that in life he had been a Marine with the 5th Brigade, all but
decimated after the battle for base FIDELITY. In death, well, to his
comrades he would always be a Marine, she supposed. His handsome face was
marred with the bluish tracery of ruptured capillaries - the surest sign
of death by explosive decompression. There didn't seem to be any other
injuries. One crack, one hole in your pressure suit, was all that it took.
He was one of the lucky dead, she knew. He had a left behind a body
that his loved ones could grieve over. There were many who had died out on
the dark frozen wastes that would never be recovered. There were pilots,
their fighters crippled, that had been flung into interplanetary space.
They would hold out for a few days until their life-support finally failed,
then slip away into oblivion - tiny new planets orbiting the star Capella
for all eternity.
She returned the shroud to its place and left the makeshift morgue.
The sight of so much death, so much sacrifice, was more than she could
bear. A mechwarrior the tender age of twenty-two, she had never been in
a battle so large and so costly before.

* * *

"How long have you gone without sleep?"
Kasumi looked up from her cup of chamomille tea to see the haggard
face of Colonel Mukaida staring back at her. His wheelchair was draped
with flimsies and charts. His voice had a worrisome rattle to it that
nagged at her.
"About as long as you have, Colonel," she replied.
Mukaida nodded sagely. "I'm getting word from our remaining fighter
squadrons."
"How are they holding up?"
"They're right at the limit. Fifty-percent casualties, most of them
fatalities. That's how it goes when you fight in vacuum. Another sixteen
percent of the remainder have fighters that are too damaged to go back out.
We're down to some Combat Air Patrol around our inner perimeter, a few
recon flights, plus an odd squadron or two for Close Air Support. We're
running it on a 'Push' basis."
Kasumi nodded slowly. 'Push' CAS meant that unless the 'mech forces
requested close air support on a specific, individualized basis, the
fighters were free to do what they wanted. At the moment, that meant
staying inside the base, resting and replenishing their reserves.
"What about recalling the GunShip squadrons?" she asked. They had sent
them out away from the moon to search for a possible Combine end-run around
their defenses while they were busy fighting the landing force. So far, the
Combine had decided to stick to the battle on Oni. No ships had been spotted
trying for Nerima.
"It's possible," Mukaida admitted. "We could use the firepower, but
I'm worried about Kuno sneaking past us and making a go for home plate."
"True... I guess we'll have to make do with what we have left." She
sipped at her tea. "What was the word from our fighters again?"
"The Combine is withdrawing most of their forces from the moon," he
replied. "They're keeping the regiment that's south of us in position, and
moving in some Engineer units with heavy equipment modified for vacuum to
support them."
"That's odd," Kasumi remarked. "It sounds like they're digging in.
Like they plan on staying where they are for awhile."
Mukaida agreed with a grunt. "It doesn't make much sense. They've got
us on the ropes. Why pull back now?"
"Could it be that they're just repositioning for a massed attack on
us from multiple fronts? Now that the Particle Cannons at the other bases
have been destroyed, they can move across most of the surface of the moon
with impunity."
"It doesn't look that way. The DropShips are all headed back for the
Jump Point. It's like they're getting ready to pull out of the system."
"Oh my," she breathed. "Surely they can't all be retreating. There
isn't any logical reason to simply abandon the Jump Points and let our
reinforcements get through."
"Whoever said Prince Kuno was logical?" Mukaida returned. "Anyway,
we have a respite for now, so get some sleep, all right?"
"Yes, Colonel," she said with a wan smile. "You do the same."
"Yes, ma'am."
He wheeled himself out of her tiny office. Kasumi knew the strain of
combat was taking a particular toll on her adjutant. He was too old to be
doing this, and too proud to quit.
She finished her tea and set the cup down on the desk. The office
came equipped with a couch that wasn't too uncomfortable thanks to Oni's
weak gravity. She stretched out upon it and tried to clear her mind enough
to sleep.
It wasn't easy. Colonel Mukaida's bombshell about the Combine leaving
the moon disturbed her. Being stuck on Oni meant that she was out of the
Intelligence loop - at least until they could repair the long range radio
array the Combine had bombed early in the battle, and reestablish contact
with Nerima. At the moment they depended on a shaky daisy-chain of radio
links through the GunShips, but those were line-of-sight and often tenuous
given the distances involved and the incessant Combine jamming broadcasts.
The horrendous loss of life also plagued her. Those Marines at the
other bases had fought to the last man. In the end they had been forced
to pump out the air inside the bases to reduce the effectiveness of the
attacking Combine Marines' explosive weapons. That meant that even the
most minor injury in battle could be fatal if one's pressure suit didn't
reseal. She knew those men prided themselves on their long-knife skills,
and that many a Combine Marine had probably died in a flash of cold
Confederation steel before the end.
The madness of it all made her shiver. In spite of herself, she had
to agree that Nabiki was right about the Succession Wars. They were stupid,
brutal, petty squabbles over an empire that no longer existed, and probably
never would again. She was trapped in a vicious cycle of hate and violence,
with all of the players acting out the crazed fantasies of their greedy,
ruthless ancestors.
What was the point of all of this? she wondered painfully. It was
painful because she knew that the Confederation was doomed, and that a man
like Tatewaki Kuno, as bloodthirsty and delusional as any of the original
members of the Star League High Council, was going to prevail. What would
the Inner Sphere be like with him as its ruler? Could a man like him be
satisfied with dominion over the Inner Sphere, or would he use his time as
First Lord to rebuild his armies, and press out into the Periphery as well?
He likely would, she reasoned.
And when the Periphery was his? Well, there were legends of early
settlers moving beyond even the Periphery in search of habitable worlds,
and what of General Kerensky's Exodus? Surely their descendents still lived
somewhere far out beyond what was considered Known Space. Would he try to
conquer them too? Would people completely innocent of the madness of the
Succession Lords have to suffer for Tatewaki Kuno's glory?
This was the paradox which encompassed her. Fight and kill and die
for a tired, centuries-old conflict, or submit and let a madman like Kuno
export his dreams of conquest into virgin space. How many more like that
boy in the Mess Hall had to die before someone was finally satisfied?
It was too much for her to take all at once, and she broke down into
tears, her body trembling with exhaustion and wracked with sobs.

Chapter Five

Eight Shining Pearls Fortress
Planet Jusenkyo, Jusenkyo System
The Jusenkyo Commonwealth
8 April 3025

Cologne took in the setting sun with a weariness she had never before
experienced in the many decades of her considerable life. She had seen
through Elder Peony's plot from the very moment of its inception, but her
rival had carefully chosen the time to act, and in fact there was little
Cologne could do to stop her - short of a civil war. That, she was reluctant
to do, but the necessity of it in light of the Furinkan Combine's siege of
Capella was obvious. Kuno may have had his hands full with the sons and
daughters of Nerima for the moment, but the final outcome was never in any
doubt. Once the Confederation fell, the League would crumble, and then the
Furinkan prince would turn his hungry eyes towards the Commonwealth.
Peony could not manage the country by herself, and her faction in the
Council was represented by the incompetent remnants of a power-clique
Cologne had snubbed a hundred years ago when she became the Matriarch. They
and their descendents had been nursing their grudge for just as long, and
it had festered into a thing of blind hate with a life all its own. They
sat on the Council by virtue of their ancestors, and their sole purpose in
life seemed to be opposing her in all matters.
Cologne had perhaps four votes on the Council, and all of these were
family or allies of her family from the earliest days of the Star League.
Their support was unswerving, but not enough to oppose Peony and the
remainder of the Council who were fence-sitters - jackals who scented the
shifting winds of fortune and positioned themselves accordingly. Any
support for her from these opportunists was hollow so long as Peony stood
a chance to topple the Matriarchy.
The temptation to have Peony and her ilk assassinated weighed heavily
upon her. It was an act that might very well provoke the civil war she
wished to avoid. As the sun sank lower into the Jusenkyo sky, mirroring
the sunset of her own reign, she looked back upon the bright morning of her
rise to the Clan leadership.
It would have been better to have removed them then, and installed her
own people in the positions Peony and her cronies now occupied. She realized
that had she been a spiteful woman in her salad days, this dilemma would not
have come to pass. She was stronger then, politically and physically, and
better able to ride the shockwaves such a brutal act would have caused.
What would Happi have done? she wondered idly, knowing full well that
the Happousai she had known many years ago had never cared for power so
much as he did the pleasure that came with it. He would have thrown all
caution to the wind, and had Peony's faction rounded up and killed without
a second look back.
That was an answer in itself, she decided, and one which vindicated
her decision to hold no ill will against the defeated factions the day she
had become the head of the Council. She had gone far in life by *not* doing
what Happousai would have done. She nodded grimly to herself. Civil war was
not what she wanted to be remembered for.
In truth, the entire fate of the Commonwealth rested upon the hybrid
shoulders of General Herb. He was backing Peony's bid for the Matriarchy
with his army - an army loyal first to him, and then to the Commonwealth.
Peony's fiscal improprieties in the general's favor had not gone unnoticed
by Cologne, and she understood what Peony hoped to gain in making Herb
such a powerful and nearly independent force within the Army. What troubled
her most was how Peony could possibly believe that she could control him?
Was it hubris, or was it naivety on a simply staggering scale?
Herb was the unknown variable in the equation of the Commonwealth's
power politics, that much was clear. He could, and would, go whichever
way offered him the most advantage, and at the moment Peony was in the
ascendant. As far as Cologne saw things, Herb had two options.
He could continue to support Peony in her bid for the Matriarchy,
and bide his time until the opportunity to betray her was at hand. Unlike
the hereditary Joketsuzoku core of the Commonwealth Armed Forces, his Musk
Dynasty was a populist movement. It was true that the core of his army was
comprised of male hybrids of considerable skill and power, but on the whole
they were inferior warriors when compared to the Joketsuzoku females. What
made them a threat to the stability of the Commonwealth were their numerical
advantage, and the many worlds under Commonwealth dominion where the common
men chafed under matriarchal rule. Herb was probably strong enough to form
a breakaway state within the Commonwealth even if total conquest eluded him.
His other option was less likely, but had an ironic twist to it that
she knew he might not be able to resist. He could always wait until the
struggles within the Council came to a head, and then approach her - knowing
that she might be willing to offer up certain concessions in exchange for
his loyalty. If she said no, then he backed Peony as planned, and in the
end he would still win. Cologne did not like the idea of needing Herb's
dubious offer of loyalty, and in particular because she knew what his
demands would be.
Herb wanted more territory under his personal administration to
increase his power base, and he wanted greater rank within the Army. It
was not enough to be a male general in an army run by women. He wanted the
rank of Field Marshal at the very least, and if he thought the clan would
let him get away with it: Commander in Chief.
The thought made her frown. She had wanted that position to go to
Shampoo. Granted she would have needed many more years of experience before
she was qualified, but Cologne had planned to be around long enough to see
that she got it. It was a bitter disappointment to realize that her favorite
great-granddaughter had been the very instrument of her downfall.
Had she really been blinded by her love and devotion to Shampoo?
Blinded enough to miss the obvious danger of giving Peony something to
use against her? She had called in many old favors on the Council to give
Shampoo a second chance, only to see the expedition fail miserably, and
Kima slain. It was the opening Peony and her cronies had needed for over
a hundred years, and Cologne had practically gift-wrapped it for them.
Perhaps I've grown old and senile, she thought bitterly. This would
not have happened even ten years ago. I was stronger than that. Harder.
I should have hardened my heart to Shampoo and sought my heir in another
child.
The sun, now huge and red, dipped below the horizon, casting rays of
orange and purple into the hazy sky. Though the day had passed on, Cologne
drew herself up and stood proudly before the approaching darkness. Shampoo's
fate was being decided on Tau Ceti, but her own trials were yet to come.
Peony would find that her old rival still had tooth and claw.

* * *

The Jusenkyo Labs
Planet Lightoller, Epsilon Indi System
The Jusenkyo Commonwealth
8 April 3025

Doctor Gaido was feeling better than he had in years. It helped that
his sinister landlord, General Herb, had left the system for Tau Ceti. Not
having the hybrid general breathing down his neck was a liberating feeling.
The data for Saffron stood before him on the little computer display
in his office. The hybrid represented the crowning achievement of the
Commonwealth's Breeding Program, a being of incredible power and physical
perfection. His ability to control his chi was innate - very little training
had been required before he was capable of projecting devastating blasts
of thermal energy generated by his own fighting spirit.
General Herb's own ability to do so was considerable, but if the data
was accurate, Saffron eclipsed Herb's might by a full order of magnitude.
The Chief Scientist of the Commonwealth knew that Saffron represented the
future of the Armed Forces; warriors who were just as dangerous outside
their war machines as within. Once the hybrid reached full maturity and his
power could be fully established, the production of whole legions of his
kind would begin.
These others would, by necessity, be less powerful than the original,
but no less fearsome against the troops of the Inner Sphere. Saffron would
be their general, and, if the Council could be trusted in this, fully under
the control of the Elders.
Gaido wasn't as confident. General Herb was the only example he needed
to justify his wariness. Though Saffron's indoctrination was being conducted
with great thoroughness, how long would it take before he realized the power
he possessed, both within himself and within the ranks of his hybrid army?
What if Herb, ever the calculating player in the games of power and politics
within the Commonwealth, somehow got his hands on Saffron, and added a
little conditioning of his own? The Musk Dynasty could not receive that
kind of boost to their ranks if the Commonwealth was to survive.
He knew that Saffron was supposed to be Cologne's weapon against Herb,
but now he heard vague rumblings of a schism within the Council that
threatened her ouster. Whose finger would rest upon Saffron's trigger then?
Most likely Herb, if the rumors of collusion between the general and Elder
Peony were to be believed. The fact that Herb had rushed from the planet to
the Tau Ceti System on Council business seemed to confirm in Gaido's eyes
that the rumors were to be believed. Herb didn't jump through hoops for
the Council unless he was getting something out of it, and Cologne would
not be throwing the general any bones.
He switched off the display. It was time to take matters into his
own hands. Cologne respected his opinion, and she needed to hear his
reservations about Saffron firsthand. Before it was too late.

Chapter Six

Kanehoe Beach, Maui Atoll
Planet New Hawaii, Alpha Centauri System
The Furinkan Combine
9 April 3025

Hikaru Gosunkugi tramped across the firm wet sand of a beach, enjoying
the cool night air and the fresh salty breeze provided by the tradewinds.
He was surrounded by his soldiers as they fanned out across the expanse of
Maui Atoll in search of their quarry. The atoll was too small and weak to
support battlemechs, and in any event, careful observation from orbit had
indicated that there were no Combine 'mechs anywhere on the watery planet.
The warm glow of a campfire suffused the darkness ahead. His men were
already close to the site, their armed and armored silhouettes darting to
and fro against the light. As he neared the scene, he could hear the sound
of music and singing.
"Tell the men to exercise restraint," he hissed to one of his officers.
"There's no need to go in guns blazing. He can't escape."
"Yes, sir," the man responded with a salute. He passed on the
appropriate commands to the troops via the radio.
"It was good to get off the ship," Tetsuo Gosunkugi observed from
nearby. Hikaru agreed with his cousin. They had spent entirely too much
time on miserable spaceships getting here. He must have lost another vital
kilo or two to free-fall sickness during the trip.
"We have the area surrounded, sir," the officer reported. "We're ready
to move in on your command."
Hikaru nodded and continued on. There was no hurry. The man was making
it easy for them.
As they reached the cordon of League infantry, the crackle of the fire
was soothing, and the music was clear and proud. Hikaru pushed his way past
the troops and through a stand of leafy saltwater shrubs. His men followed
right behind him.
"Aloha, bruddahs!" a husky voice greeted them as they stepped into the
ruddy light of the campfire. "You been expected!"
Hikaru turned to the voice and saw the Shogun of the Furinkan Combine,
dressed in a floral print shirt and bermuda shorts, casually strumming on a
ukulele. Exotic dark-skinned beauties in grass skirts danced a hula, their
graceful hands and arms undulating in time to the music. More girls appeared
with wreaths of colorful tropical flowers, and set them around the necks of
Hikaru and his infantry - giving them each a kiss on the cheek as they did
so.
"When you been lei'd, den come over here and siddown. We gotta whole
lotta pig to eat tonight, eh bruddahs!" Shogun Kuno told them happily. A
chorus of burly men in loincloths and brightly colored capes agreed with
their Shogun - or was it Kahuna? - their large feathered hats bobbing with
raucous laughter.
Hikaru turned to his cousin, who looked back at him with an expression
of equal bafflement. The two shrugged in unison and returned their attention
to the father of Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno. There was no doubt about it,
weirdness ran wild in their family.
"We're here to take you as a hostage of the League of Five Nails, your
Eminence," Hikaru told the Combine Shogun in his most assertive voice.
Kuno gave the leader of the League forces a big grin.
"Sure whatever, brah," he said laughing. "But first we gonna have us
a luau!"
Hikaru looked once again at Tetsuo, who once again shrugged. It
*sounded* like he was agreeing to surrender to them...
"Uh, okay," he told the leader of the Furinkan Combine. He had heard
stories about how whacked in the head the guy really was, but until now had
never really believed them. He did seem friendly enough, though, and the
whole atoll was surrounded by League troops. "Where do we sit?"
"Anywhere you like, brah," Kuno said graciously. "Dis be your party,
eh? Siddown, grab one o' dese pretty wahines dere, and eat! We gonna party
all night, no shit!"
Again, the burly men laughed loud and heartily in agreement. Hikaru
figured that even one of them could eat an entire pig by himself. He then
blinked in surprise as two young lovelies of Polynesian stock approached
him with bashful smiles, their grass skirts whistling as their hips swayed
with the music. It occured to him then that the nights on New Hawaii lasted
about twenty hours at this latitude and time of year. As the girls sat down
on either side, and as a healthy portion of roasted pig, a bowl of poi, and
a tray of assorted pupus was set before him, it also occured to him that he
didn't really mind. It was all so surreal that the only way he could deal
with the situation was to accept it.
After all, they had days before Kuno could disentangle himself from
the Capella System and Jump all the way back to Alpha Centauri, and how
often did he get to attend a luau?

END OF PART FOURTEEN

Author's Notes:

1. The star Capella (alpha Aurigae in the constellation Auriga; visible in
the Northern Hemisphere of Earth) is known to the Norse as "Asar Bardagi"
or "Fight of the Aesir" - and is synonymous with the legends of Ragnarok.
It is a fitting name for a star where such a desperate and hopeless battle
is waged.

2. Let me explain my views on the Commonwealth's idea of capital punishment.
This is something I made up for the story, and has no grounds anywhere in
the Ranma 1/2 canon regarding the Chinese Amazons.

First of all, a trip to the Fated Circle isn't granted to everyone. Usually
only mechwarriors are afforded this priveledge, and usually in cases not
involving outright treason or cowardice - where you are simply shot or
pushed out of an airlock after your trial.

In principle, the Fated Circle itself is the ultimate trial, judged by the
gods and by one's ancestors. It is similar to the traditions of duelling
and the Middle Ages European Trial by Combat. The executioners are those
who feel the accused is guilty of the crimes or failures she has allegedly
committed. They are willing to set their lives against their beliefs in
personal combat to the death.

Now this is not to assume that the accused faces them in single-combat.
The adjudicator of the trial may feel free to stack the odds in any way
he or she sees fit. The whole point is, if the accused is innocent, then
she will win no matter what. Furthermore, if there is doubt among the
accused's peers as to her guilt, the chances are good that she will not
have many of her peers volunteering to fight her to the death over an
issue in which they have few convictions. The more dubious the charges,
the less likely anyone who doesn't have a personal grudge against the
accused is going to step into the Fated Circle, and the fewer opponents
she will have to face. In theory, this means a better chance of proving
her innocence through deadly combat.

3. A question some of you might have is why the Furinkan Combine hasn't
been able to conquer the weak Nerima Confederation when it has so many
more troops at its disposal?

The answer is based on the following assumptions I have made. Some of it
is based on Battletech source materials, and some of it is based on
discussions from the Solaris 7 Battletech webpage on the matter of
troop dispositions in the Inner Sphere (circa 3060, so I had to tweak it
a bit.)

1) The Furinkan Combine has about eighty battlemech regiments of regular
forces, about fifteen mercenary regiments on retainer, and can muster about
ten regiments of reserves including civil defense 'mechs, retirees, and
so-called Category-B battlemechs which are damaged or obsolete. As I
mentioned in the story, the Confederation has about a quarter of the
Combine's military strength.

2) The Furinkan Combine shares two large borders with belligerent nations:
the Federated Shiratori, and the Jusenkyo Commonwealth. Given the disdain
of the Federated Shiratori by Tatewaki Kuno, and the relative incompetence
of Azusa's troops, the Combine details about ten regiments to garrison the
entire border march, and most of these are probably mercenary units.

The border with the Commonwealth is another matter. The Commonwealth has a
large and skilled battlemech force and only one hostile border to guard
since they are so cozy with the League of Five Nails. I assume that Kuno
would need at least thirty regiments within the Commonwealth border march
or held in ready reserve in the interior. Between the border guards alone,
that's about 40% of his available battlemechs.

3) The Furinkan Combine requires an internal garrison to protect against
deep enemy raids and to discourage the country's daimyo from any attempts
at a coup against the ruling Kuno family, and from any other internal strife
between the nobility. This requires another ten to twenty regiments, given
the vast amount of territory held by the Combine. Now we've tied up around
half to 60% of the Combine's available strength.

4) Not every regiment will be at effective strength, given the attrition of
combat and the slowly dwindling reserves of spare parts. (The present day
doctrine affirms that any unit at 50% strength or less is considered non-
effective.) I posit that at least one regiment in ten will be moved to the
interior for repairs, replacements, and training, as well as for rest and
relaxation after a difficult tour of duty. That's another eight to ten
regiments that are unavailable for a campaign, or about 60-70% of the
total strength.

5) That leaves only thirty to forty regiments at the *very most* that are
available for a campaign against the Confederation. Given the small size
of the Confederation, their handful of regiments becomes more significant
than mere numbers suggest, and the narrow front Kuno has available to
attack through means that they can concentrate their forces even more.
Add the home field advantage and the fact that they're fighting for their
lands and families, and the twenty or so regiments of the Confederation
become the fighting equal of the invading Combine forces.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!