Katarina landed heavily in the crash seat and rolled a dozen meters before the chute’s tangled cords stopped it from rolling further, even off a cliff. Barely able to believe this was happening again, she unstrapped herself from the seat and reached for the Sternsnacht.
She had just made it to her feet when an APC rolled up next to her, its machine guns pointed at her. The main hatch opened revealing two troopers: one with a machine gun, one with a flamer unit. Both were trained on her.
She sighed, then holstered and locked the Sternsnacht at her hip. She raised her hands. “You will not need those. I will come quietly. You have the word of a Bloodnamed Jade Falcon warrior.”
The two troopers exchanged looks, then the one with the flamer set it aside and approached her. He pulled a set of hand restraints off his belt as he came.
“You won’t need those, either. You have my full cooperation.”
The trooper shook his head, reaching for her hand. In a flash Katarina had caught his hand and twisted it behind his back, taking away the restraints and tossing them over the cliff.
“What part of ‘you have the word of a Bloodnamed Jade Falcon warrior’ did you not understand?
“I will cooperate with you. I will not try to escape. But I will not be bound.”
She released the trooper and walked towards the APC and the other trooper, who was standing in the middle of the ramp with his machine gun trained on her. Katarina reached the foot of the ramp and stopped, hands on her hips.
“Well: will you step aside, or do I need to take you out of my way as well?”
The trooper hesitated, then stepped aside. Katarina walked up the ramp, head held high, then took a seat inside the APC. The two troopers boarded and closed the ramp, watching her nervously but no longer training weapons on her. One of them went forward in the APC and spoke to the pilot. Katarina felt the APC moving, and sighed.
What would Sunspot ask of her? Having given her word, she would be obliged to join them on the field of battle if they requested it. But they would have to supply a mech, and it obviously wouldn’t be the Dementor. A lump caught in her throat as she thought of her beloved mech, now lying as scrap on the ground outside. To have recovered it so recently, and now to have lost it again: it was almost more than she could bear.
Towards the front of the craft she could hear the troopers reporting in, and the responses from their superiors.
“What do you mean, she won’t ‘let’ you cuff her? Who’s in charge there?”
The trooper hesitated. “Hard to say, sir. She says we have ‘the word of a Bloodnamed Jade Falcon warrior,’ whatever that means. She is cooperating in every other way, when she could obviously do some real damage if she didn’t.”
The response crackled back over the comm. “‘Bloodnamed’ Clan warrior? I heard they have some unusual attitudes about capture. Fine: let it go, for now. Just keep an eye on her.”
That was satisfactory as far as Katarina was concerned. She leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment to meditate on her state. Hopefully they would just ransom her; that would be the easiest to deal with.
Eventually she felt the APC travel up a ramp, and the noise from outside suggested they were now inside a dropship. Once the hover fans powered down she unstrapped herself from her seat and stood, walking to the hatch.
Both troopers had now risen and were training guns on her. She snorted disdainfully at them, waiting for the hatch to open. Once it did, she stepped on down the ramp it created.
Outside of the APC were four armed troopers and a young male Lieutenant. She saluted the Lieutenant and stood at attention.
“Captain Katarina Hazen, reporting as your POW, Lieutenant. What are your orders?”
The Lieutenant stared at her, taking in her expensive full cooling suit, the Sternsnacht on her hip, and her respectful demeanor.
“Captain: I will require you to surrender your sidearm and any additional weapons you may have on you. Then you will be escorted to the brig and remain under confinement until we call for you.”
Katarina unbuckled the belt holding the Sternsnacht, demonstrating the knife that had been concealed at her back, and removed a throwing blade from each of her boots.
“Careful with those,” she told the trooper behind her as he stepped forward to take them from her: “They are very sharp.”
He accepted them from her with a bit of trepidation, and stepped back. The Lieutenant waved to the doorway leading from the vehicle bay to the interior of the Dropship.
“This way to the brig, Captain.”
The four troopers with the Lieutenant turned and began walking in that direction. The Lieutenant walked next to her as she followed them, and the two troopers from the APC followed behind.
“I am not familiar with Clan customs. How far does your cooperation extend, Captain?”
She kept her eyes fixed forward. “You have my full cooperation, Lieutenant. You may command me as one of your men, and I will follow your orders.”
The Lieutenant nodded. “For now, all I require is that you remain confined to your quarters and make no attempt to escape. We will give you further direction once I have discussed your situation with my superiors.”
Katarina nodded in return. “Yes, sir. I will await your orders.”
They arrived at the brig and Katarina entered the small room, ducking her head at the doorway. The escort left without fanfare and she looked around, taking stock of her situation. With a sigh, she unzipped her coolant suit and stepped out of it. Beneath it she wore shorts and a T-shirt, just enough for modesty’s sake. The suit had become quite chilly now that she was no longer in a hot mech cockpit. She folded it into a pillow and lay down on the bunk bolted to the wall. Given the strain of battle, loss of her mech and her capture, she drifted off to sleep within minutes.
* * * * * * * *
Over the next few days she was fed adequately, questioned on occasion, but mostly ignored. That was okay with her; agreeing to follow orders did not include being eager to do so.
On one occasion they finally came in and asked if she would be willing to demonstrate her capabilities in a mech provided for her. She immediately donned the coolant suit again and followed them to the jeep that carried them to the battlefield. There she was presented with a basic Valkyrie to pilot.
She kept her expression unreadable, but internally sighed in disgust. She wordlessly mounted the mech while eyeing the Sentinel which sat on the other end of the field. It was a slightly faster mech, but no jump jets. It was 10 tons heavier than the mech she was in, but more lightly armored. She could tell from the fittings on the main gun that this was an Ultra version of the Autocannon 5, and that it also bore a Streak SRM2. All in all it presented basically the same profile as the Valkyrie, which left Katarina confident of the outcome of this fight.
The battle presented no surprises. Katarina jumped and ran, firing her LRMs from long and medium ranges, with no worries about heat buildup as long as she wasn’t firing the laser. Her movement was sufficient to prevent the Sentinel from landing more than an occasional shot, while her continued rain down of LRMs slowly took its toll. She landed a lucky shot, five missiles plowing into the already damaged left leg, disabling the hip actuator and forcing a fall. Now that the mech was disabled, she closed in for the kill. Within another minute it was done, the mech’s center torso a smoking ruin. The enemy pilot popped his hatch, stepping out in obvious disgust.
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Katarina turned and walked the Valkyrie back to its starting point, stopping where she had started and descending the ladder provided. The Lieutenant was waiting for her.
“An impressive performance, Captain. May I ask what mechs you have a proficiency in, to determine what we might assign you for an actual battle?”
Katarina ran off an impressive list of mechs, and the Lieutenant ruminated over it for a bit.
“Half those names I don’t recognize. I presume they are Clan mechs?”
“That is correct. You have different code names for them than the actual assigned names; I am not familiar with what you call them in your codes.”
The Lieutenant nodded. “We do have a Davion Phoenix Hawk for which we do not currently have a pilot. Two Extended Range Large Lasers, two Medium Pulse Lasers and an Anti-missile system. Would this work for you?”
Katarina smiled. “No machine guns? Excellent: I would not have to dump ammunition before entering into battle. Yes, I will pilot it for you.”
* * * * * * * *
She sat back in the wheeled APC and sighed. She was certain that Allen would pay any ransom they requested for her, but in the meantime Katarina would serve her captors as required by tradition.
Suddenly the APC crashed to a halt. Had she not been strapped in, Katarina would have been thrown to the floor. The roof of the APC was torn off and she could see the figure of a Wolverine standing over it, extending its left hand down into the APC.
“Katarina Hazen: you are being rescued. Come with me.”
The hand brushed aside the two security officers who had been sitting across from her. She unstrapped and jumped into the hand. In a moment the Wolverine was racing away from the remains of the APC with Katarina clinging to its hand for dear life.
Shots rang out from various directions, including PPC shots and missiles that struck the Wolverine. The report of the missiles striking nearly deafened Katarina, and then she swore as the Wolverine went down on one knee, and toppled over. She was thrown clear of the hand and dove into a tumble and a roll that brought her up standing and running. She got clear of the Wolverine and the barrage of missiles falling around it, and looked for another way out of this mess.
She saw an Incubus with the same paint scheme as the Wolverine approaching, and ran towards it. The Incubus knelt, extending her its left hand while firing its Large Pulse Laser from the right at the enemy. Once more she jumped in, expecting that the Incubus’ much higher speed would get them clear quickly even though the mech did not have jump jets. The Incubus could walk faster than a Wolverine could run: that gave her great confidence.
Further away she could see an LRM carrier firing its complement, but then exploding in a ball of fire and smoke. A Sunspot Wraith was now approaching at top speed, and Katarina held her breath.
The Incubus stepped backwards at nearly 100 kph, firing its lasers at the Wraith which was out of range to fire its own lasers. Katarina held her breath, recognizing the Incubus pilot’s strategy but fearful that the Wraith would eventually catch up.
Further down the battlefield she saw a Hunchback go down under a barrage of attacks by Sunspot forces. Then she saw Sunspot’s Black Knight engaging a Devastator: one she recognized as having once chewed the Dementor to pieces. So, now it was fighting on their side? And then it wasn’t, as the Black Knight fired a PPC and blew the head to bits. As the giant assault mech crashed to the ground, Katarina was not certain if she saw an ejection chute deployed. A pang of guilt hit her in the gut: all these losses just to rescue her. She would be sure to make it up to these warriors as soon as she had the chance.
The Incubus continued to hop backwards while firing at the Wraith. Finally the Wraith stumbled and fell, just as it was about to come into range with its own Inner Sphere weapons. At that the Incubus turned and began running at over 150 kph, over a ridge and beyond reach of the Sunspot forces.
The Incubus finally slowed down once it was clear that pursuit had ended, and reached up with the hand she was in to the shoulder of the mech, where the pilot popped the canopy open.
“Hello!” she called, walking along the mech’s shoulder towards the cockpit. “Who’s there? Thank you for my rescue!”
The pilot nodded, waving her to the crash seat behind him in the cockpit. “Lieutenant Richards, Captain. You can call me ‘Devil.’”
Katarina smiled at the callsign. “Thank you, Devil. Call me Turkina. Do you know where Allen is?”
“Not here, Ma’am. We’ll get you to him as soon as we can!”
She was slightly disappointed, but understood. He was probably in his Warhammer, battling Sunspot with the assistance of this other mech company. She climbed in the back of the cockpit and fastened her seatbelt.
“So, Devil: I seem to recognize this paint scheme. We have met in battle, have we not?”
“Yes, Captain,” Devil replied: “It was a while back. We were recruited by a Major O’donnell for a war of liberation. Your Andurien Avengers opposed us, and took him out. We were impressed by the fact that you barely attacked us at all: just the Major. That earned you our respect.
“We have been following your reputation since then, and heard of your capture. We decided to do something about it.”
Ahead, Katarina could see a Union Class dropship. Devil climbed the ramp and parked the Incubus, popping the cockpit for Katarina to climb out. She got out on the gantry, then descended in the lift. As she did so, she saw the Wolverine that had previously grabbed her entering the mech bay and setting down an officer it was carrying in its hand. The officer looked a bit the worse for wear, like he had just rolled through the mud on the battlefield, but he waved up at the Wolverine’s cockpit.
“Thanks, Don Quixote! I owe ya!”
A cadet approached and sprayed the officer down until he looked a bit more presentable. Then he and two MPs approached at doubletime towards Katarina. When they arrived and stopped, the officer saluted her.
“Captain Hazen: Commander Haskell here, callsign 'Fumbles.' Welcome to Fubar Company. We will be returning you home shortly, but your husband is not here right now. This was a private operation; we heard you were captured and wished to assist with your liberation, for reasons of our own. Allow me to escort you to your quarters.”
Katarina was not quite pleased with this state of affairs, but was prepared to cooperate with her liberators. She nodded and followed the Commander, with the MPs falling in behind her. Haskell led her to another lift up to the officer's quarters. A room had been reserved for her, and she sighed with relief at being free.
The Commander paused at the door. “Please understand, this ship is our Base of Operations. There are sections we would prefer guests not to see. The MPs outside your door will escort you to the mess hall or any other section of the ship we have open to you, but will let you know about any restricted areas.”
Katarina nodded. “Understood. There are sections of the Purple Onion we would prefer not to have civilians or non-Avengers see. I will comply with whatever directions your MPs give.”
She closed the door and sank down on the bed. In moments she was fast asleep.
* * * * * * * *
Just a few hours later she woke to the sunlight, got up and checked the chest at the foot of the bed and the closet. She found underwear, a t-shirt, socks and a uniform in her size, and dressed quickly.
Just outside the door she heard the changing of the guard. She waited until the night guard had clearly left, then opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.
“Good morning, officers. Could you direct me to the mess hall?”
“Right this way, Captain. Down the corridor this way to the lift.”
She followed their directions, proceeding down in the lift with them and on to the mess hall. Other troopers were there taking breakfast, and she joined the line. Curious glances were thrown her way, given that her uniform showed no rank and that the MPs remained standing behind her at attention while she ate. She took it all in stride, finishing her breakfast and pushing the tray away.
“Thank you. And now, when am I scheduled to meet again with your Commander Haskell?”
One of the MPs checked in on his wrist comm, and reported back.
“Commander Haskell is available to meet with you now. Follow me, please.”
He led the way while the other MP followed her, back to the lift and to another floor. Shortly they arrived at the office for the Commander. He cut a much better figure this time, in a clean uniform. He stood from the desk and saluted.
“Captain: welcome to my office. Please, have a seat.”
Katarina returned the salute and sat across from the Commander.
“Thank you. I appreciate all the hospitality. Now, allow me to ask: what can I and the Andurien Avengers do to repay you for my rescue?”
Haskell smiled. “Direct, and to the point. Allow me to state that your reputation is well known throughout this sector. We are anxious to have the support of such a renowned warrior in an upcoming battle: and that of your Company mates as well.
“I do not know if you have heard, but Word of Blake forces have been attacking planets and devastating them with nuclear attacks, then sending down mech Companies to wipe out any survivors. For whatever reason, they are choosing wholesale destruction of any forces not aligned with them anywhere. This holy war of theirs goes beyond a crusade: it is being called a Jihad.
“We wish to resist their attack on our base planet of Melandria II, for which purpose we are calling in all favors available to us. Your rescue is just one of many efforts we have made to gather forces to our side. We expect an attack shortly, as the invading wave has been pushing quickly in this direction.”
Katarina nodded. “Of course. The full assets of the Andurien Avengers will be at your disposal. We will be happy to assist you.”
Haskell nodded again. “We deeply appreciate that. I am certain your assistance will be invaluable on several fronts. Please feel free to contact your Company as soon as possible, and direct them to Melandria. In the meantime, please consider yourself our honored guest.”
Katarina smiled. “I thank you for your rescue and your hospitality. And I will get in touch with Allen ASAP.”