3. Preparation

DFS Kilmarnock, In transit to Tharkad, Arc Royal Defence Cordon, 13th November 3068 McLaren sat in his cabin, watching a holovid of the latest news from the Chaos March. None of it was good. It seemed the Word of Blake juggernaut was unstoppable, with world after world falling to the Blakists. With all the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns' resources needed in the desperate struggle to push them out of Davion space, he wondered how Command could contemplate cutting even a regiment loose to aid the Lyrans. Technically, the Cameron Guards, as part of the ISDF, were independent of any of the Successor States' command chains, but given the current crisis, he'd expected the Defence Force regiments to be supporting the regular House Armies. He sighed. Then again, this was a perfect opportunity for the Clans to resume their invasion of the Inner Sphere, as the Wolves were proving in the Alliance. Just then his cabin door opened. Without even turning to look he knew it was Liz Montgomery. Only his Executive Officer would dare enter his cabin without knocking first. He heard her tut of disapproval. "Och, Cal, ye shouldnae be watchin' that stuff. You're supposed to be gettin' yer head right fer this mission", she said, her soft Caledonian accent conveying her disapproval and letting Callum know he'd been told off in no uncertain terms. Cal sighed and lifted the remote to switch the projector off, "I can't just forget about it, Liz" he replied. "Its our home they're invading...destroying". "Aye, but ye cannae save them all Cal. You can only do what you can. Don't forget, the Lyrans are our allies now, in this brave new Sphere...the Dracs too. The only way we're gonna beat those damn toaster worshippers, or the Clans for that matter, is to work together". Callum sighed again. He gave Liz a rueful smile. "You're right, as usual". Montgomery flashed him a dazzling smile of her own. "Course I am. Someone has ter be with you in charge". McLaren laughed. "Watch it, Captain Montgomery, or I'll have you busted back to Leftenant for insubordination". Liz pulled a face. "Ye wouldnae dare - you need me too much!" Callum waved a hand dismissively. "Hah. I could have replaced you with any one of a dozen company commanders". Her eyes narrowed and she gave him a hard shove in the chest with both hands, sending him reeling across the small cabin. He fell heavily onto his bunk, slightly winded. "Hey, I was joking - you do know that, right?" he gasped as she turned on her heel to stalk out of the room. "If you want me, I'll be in the simulator hall, puttin' the new recruits through their paces", Montgomery responded curtly, before disappearing. Callum sat on his bunk, rubbing his chest and grimacing, more from having put his foot in it again than any real pain. Liz had joined the battalion at the same time he had. They'd clicked immediately and become good friends. In the year or so they'd served together, they had hardly ever spoken a word in anger to each other, but every now and then she would get these strange moods and fly off the handle at the slightest thing. He pulled a face as he stood up. If he was honest with himself, he probably took his teasing of her too far on occasions. I'd better go and apologise, he thought. I need all the friends I have right now. Ten minutes later, McLaren wandered into the simulation chamber and made his way to the control booth, where Montgomery was overseeing the training session. "I hope you're not being too hard on the new guys, Captain" "Considering who they'll be going up against, I really ought to be tougher on them", she replied, her voice emotionless and completely professional. McLaren wasn't used to seeing her like this. He wanted to make things right between them, but wasn't sure how to go about it. "I thought I'd better come down and make sure you don't work them into the ground...looks like I was right to be concerned", he saisd, hoping a little levity might break the ice. "Better for them to find out their limitations here", Liz said, with a casual toss of her long, copper-coloured hair. "At least they can walk away from mistakes in the simulator". She turned to fix him with an icy stare. "They won't on Tharkad". Callum took a step backward under her penetrating gaze. He raised his hands defensively. "I know Liz, I know. Look, I didn't mean what I said earlier. There's no-one I'd rather have as my XO. You're irreplaceable". Not knowing what else to do, he took a cautious step forward and held out a hand. "Are we still friends?" Montgomery's expression softened for a moment and she looked almost sad. She took Callum's offered hand. "Aye, Cal - that'll never change". Callum inwardly sighed with relief. He clasped her hand in both of his and gave a gentle squeeze. "Liz, you know I'd be lost without you", he said, surprising himself with the heartfelt sincerity of his words. "Are you goin' soft on me, Callum McLaren?" said Elizabeth, a mischievous grin on her face. McLaren merely did his best to look sheepish and said nothing. Walking outside the booth and standing on one of the chamber's observation gantries, they watched discreetly as Lieutenant Josias Gomez instructed the lance commanders and mechwarriors in the finer points of Clan tactics and battle rituals. One of the newcomers in particular caught in his eye. The young warrior was the spitting image of Terri Hutchings - the pilot he had tried in vain to save on Outreach. Cal felt his mouth go dry and his chest tighten as the memories came back. She must have felt his eyes on her as she suddenly turned round in her chair and looked up at the walkway, where Callum and Liz stood. Cal quickly turned to Liz, trying to hide his discomfort. "So...uh...are we going to stick around for the simulator session?" Montgomery shrugged, "If you like. It'll be interesting to see firsthand how they handle a mech in combat conditions". As they watched, Lieutenant Gomez wrapped up the training session. After a short break, the group were split up into lances and assigned separate sets of simulator pods. Callum and Elizabeth went back into the control station, where they could monitor the data feeds from each pod. Lieutenant Brennan's lance was given a recon scenario in open, hilly countryside. The lance ran into a heavy enemy patrol and were forced to pull back and call in reinforcements. Cal found himself watching the monitor showing the young warrior he had spotted in the classroom. She used her Falcon Hawk to good effect, keeping the enemy at a distance and sniping them with her PPC. However, apparently frustrated by the hilly terrain, she got drawn in to a close quarters scrap with a pair of fast heavies, with the inevitable results. At the end of the session, McLaren left the control booth and went down to the training room floor, leaving behind a bemused Montgomery. Hot, tired and dishevelled, the last thing Andrea Hawkins was expecting was to run into her battalion commander, right after a training session. She stopped dead in her tracks and snapped off a hasty salute, "Excuse me, sir...I didn't see you coming" she managed. "At ease, Lancer Hawkins", Cal replied, peering at the nametag on her cooling vest. "I don't normally intrude on training sessions, unless I need some practice myself. I was in the control booth and couldn't help noticing your performance. That was a tough scenario, but you did remarkably well, considering that was your first run". "Sir?" she replied, a little puzzled, "I got my mech blown out from under me. I wouldn't have thought that qualified as a good performance". "That will count against you quite heavily", McLaren admitted, "but you managed two kills and an assist before you went down...quite an impressive feat for a scout pilot. Anyway, what I wanted to say was, in future, keep your distance. The worst thing you can do in a scenario like that is allow yourself to get drawn in. Keep to the high ground when you can and when you can't, use the terrain for cover...especially when you're facing heavier opposition. Also, don't allow yourself to become isolated from your lancemates". "Thank you, sir - I'll try to remember that", Andrea replied, still somewhat nonplussed by the Major's pep talk. As she walked off, her lance commander came up. "Is there a problem, sir?" asked Lieutenant Maria Brennan. "No...no problem at all", Cal replied, still staring after Hawkins' retreating figure. "Just sticking my nose in where it isn't needed. Paperwork gets kinda boring after a while". Brennan gave him an unsympathetic grin, "Ah, the privileges of rank. I guess I've got that to look forward to one day", she said before heading for the showers with the others. Cal walked back up to the control station where Liz was eyeing him with disapproval. "What now?" he asked warily. "You know very well what, Major", she said, with more than a hint of anger in her voice. "Or at least you should". "I was just dispensing some hard-earned wisdom - like a good CO is supposed to", he replied, suddenly feeling a little guilty. The eagle-eyed Montgomery had probably noticed Hawkins' likeness to Hutchings and would doubtless disapprove of his interest in her, thinking it would distract him from the mission. "Aye, an' I'm Robert the Bruce", she snapped, turning on her heel and stalking out of the control room. Cal stared after her and sighed. Was it just him or was Liz starting to overreact to everything he did?

4. Hornets' Nest

DFS Kilmarnock, Zenith Jump Point, Tharkad system, Lyran Alliance, 28th November 3068 "Commander, I mark six Clan aerospace fighters on direct approach...they've spotted us!� came the cry from the sensor operator. "All hands to battle stations! Gunners target the incoming fighters�. Commander Robertson turned to his Executive Officer and added, �This probably explains why Tharkad Control isn't responding to our hails". "Sir, I'm also reading one Clan warship and one vessel of IS design...unable to ID at this point". "Keep working on it and hurry up. I want to know exactly what we've landed ourselves in here!" "Aye sir". The Kilmarnock had exited hyperspace at the Tharkad system's zenith jump point, straight into the middle of a furious battle being played out near the Lyran Alliance's capital world. Her skipper, Commander Giles Robertson, had ordered the standard messages to be broadcast to inform the Lyrans of their arrival, but had received no acknowledgement. Now he was wondering whether or not to proceed with the Shadowlancers' deployment. It had, after all, been over a month since they had left the Arc Royal Defence Cordon. Anything could have happened in that time. He had considered entering the system via a pirate jump point but, not wishing to give their allies the wrong impression by making a sneak entry, he had stuck to the original plan. He dearly wished he'd followed his gut instinct now. Although highly risky, pirate points could allow a vessel to get much closer to their destination planet, cutting hours, or even days off the journey time. It might have made all the difference, Robertson thought, silently berating himself. He turned to the communications officer, "Tell the Lancers to be ready for a hot drop. It looks like we're going to have to do this on the fly. Have our own fighters launch to provide cover for the dropships". "Aye sir" The tech seated at the communications console broadcast a ship-wide message. "All Shadowlancer pilots to your mechs. Major McLaren contact the bridge as soon as you are ready to go. All dropship crews, man your vessels and call in when you are ready for launch. Fighter pilots to your craft and prepare for immediate sortie". Originally, the operation had required them to make a standard planetary insertion. Consequently, the sudden change of plan caught everyone unprepared. Organised chaos reigned throughout the Kilmarnock as crew members raced to their battle stations and the pilots of the warship's fighter company dashed to the fighter bays. Caught in the middle of all this were the dropship crews and mech pilots who began a frantic scramble back to the drosphips, to make their own preparations for battle. On the Kilmarnock's bridge, things were scarcely any less chaotic. "Sir, the Clan fighters are in range!" The call came just as the first bursts of laser fire hit the ship. The explosions sent thunderous reverberations through the hull but did little damage. The Kilmarnock's gunners began returning fire with the ship's large pulse lasers. Though not capital scale weapons, they could do plenty of damage to relatively fragile fighters and were the best weapons the ship carried for hitting fast-moving targets. "Are the fighters away?" asked Robertson. "Aye sir, should be engaging any time now", replied the fighter controller, pressing his headphones to his ears as he listened to the pilots counting off as they launched. As the Commander turned to look at the large holotank in the centre of the bridge, he saw twelve blue blips that denoted the Kilmarnock's complement of aerospace fighters, fly out to meet the Clan fighters. "Please tell me you've ID'd the other two warships!" he barked at the sensor operator. "Aye sir, the Clan vessel is the Rogue � a Congress class frigate!" called the crewman, sounding more than a little scared. "The other one is the Anastasius Focht - she's a Com Guards cruiser!" Now the officer sounded perplexed. Giles knew how he felt. What the hell were Comstar doing here? He wondered. He didn't have time to think further as the Kilmarnock was rocked by a series of explosions along her starboard side. Robertson grabbed the nearest handrail as the impacts buffeted him, litfing him off his feet and causing him to drift slowly across the bridge. Working in zero gravity was a double edged sword. While it sometimes stopped you having damaging collisions with other objects, it could still find ways of surprising the careless and unwary. He heard the screech of rending metal and felt the ship lurch to port under the onslaught. "Sir! The Rogue has opened fire on us!" came the panicked cry of one of the junior techs. �I doubt it was intentional � I think we just got in the way�, Robertson replied through gritted teeth as he tried to pull himself down towards his command chair. The Kilmarnock�s appearance at the jump point hadplaced her directly between the two larger combatants. With lasers, cannon fire and missiles criss-crossing the intervening space like a fireworks display it was inevitable they�d catch some stray fire. However, it wouldn�t do to hang around too long. "Helm, make your heading two-five-zero - flank speed! Weapons, starboard batteries target the Rogue and engage when in range! Damage control - begin checks and report back!" Robertson barked as he settled himself back into his seat and strapped himself in. There were answering cries of "Aye sir!" from the various members of the bridge crew, who repeated his orders to the crewmen who would carry them out. Robertson had chosen a course that would take them out of the firing line and put sufficient distance between them and the combat zone, to allow them to offload the dropships in relative safety. He felt the deck shift under him and the increased vibration from the engines as the ship responded to the helmsman's commands. "Commander! Incoming transmission from the Com Guard vessel!" came the call from the communications officer. "Put 'em through", replied Robertson, plugging his headset into the console on the arm of his command chair. He punched a button to activate the com link. The message, when it came through, was marred by static but audible, "This is Demi-Precentor Martin Kylstra of the CSS Anastasius Focht to unidentified vessel at zenith jump point. Please identify and state your intentions". "This is Commander Giles Robertson of the DFS Kilmarnock. We are here as part of a relief force sent by the ISDF to aid Archon Peter Steiner-Davion. What business does Comstar have in the Lyran sector?" "We are here for much the same purpose. The Primus has decreed that we must combat all threats to the Inner Sphere and that includes the Clans as much as our misguided brethren in the Word of Blake. We deployed a regimental combat team less than an hour ago, as part of our efforts to stall the Clan Wolf offensive. Our orders were to maintain station here to prevent the Wolves landing reinforcements". "Well, Demi-Precentor, its good to know we aren't on our own out here. Do you think you can keep those Clanners occupied while we deliver our passengers?" "Certainly - although if you could have your fighters engage their Wolf counterparts, it would make our job much easier". "Consider it done, sir". Robertson turned to the comms officer. "Contact the dropship crews and let them know we'll be commencing launch in one minute".