05 March 3081
Both challenge battles went well for the Saber Cats, but neither were easy. Indeed, the new clansmen learned some lessons about their allies and how different fighting highly trained Inner Sphere opponents could be.
In the ground battle on the Dusal Training Village, the twenty four Saber Cats formed up into four full points with the remainder being short one. Once training sensors were applied and the rules of the battle gone over, the new clansmen set off into the village, confident in their ability to handle the out-numbered defenders…
The defenders were not idle here as their pre-game prep involved discussing how offensive they were going to be. Given they were outnumbered, the now eighteen members of the Spirits (a last second add of the newest and most unexpected member was done literally as this was setting up) parceled themselves into four groups. Three were full five-man squads and the remainder teamed with the acting leader for the exercise.
And that leader, the normally retired Shariff Hassan bin Saud, planned on being rather direct with the two newest Spirits. Indeed… the plan was to get inside the Elemental heads as fast as possible and taking the fight to them from the start would help with that.
He did not expect to win (though it was possible) but he did expect to give the new Elementals of Saber Cat a lesson or three in not underestimating one’s opponent…
**
Squad Grey One advanced into the village and all of them looked about. To a man, the point of Elementals were certain their suits would be more than up to the task of dealing with light power armor troopers, no matter how well trained they were. Grey One was made up of the finest genetic material the Clans had, and it had not been their fault that they had lost on Barbados… or were traded to Mongoose from their respective clans.
They would deal with these spheroid troops and show the rest of Saber Cat that life in the Inner Sphere had taken their ability… That the new blood would give them new ability to dominate all who opposed.
The problem was…. That no one told the Spirits they were supposed to be dominated. Or that the members of Grey One forgot to look up.
**
In the Observation area, Chaplain MacKenzie and Bonita Dusal stood watching the live images from camera drones overlooking the battle area. They had a side bet going as to who would draw first blood in this match… and that answer was shortly coming.
**
On the monitor that was following Grey One, a shadow appeared above them and within a second, a Hunter-class Elemental suit in the colors of the Spirits landed in the middle of the elemental point.
A heavy machine gun spat Sim-munitions at the elementals around him and sensors registered the hits as they came, the shots hitting vital locations on the clan-spec powered armor. Within three seconds, two of the Grey elemental troopers were declared dead by the computers as the impacts at that range slammed home into areas that were considered vital on standard Elemental suits.
The remaining three all turned and lit up the trespasser in their midst, gaining hits of their own even as the Hunter elemental went to leap out. As the defenders scored their first kill of the match, a Nighthawk suit charged out from the shadow of a building- armed with a pair of specialized vibro-katanas used for non-lethal training like this.
Mind you, while they should not puncture Elemental Armor, being hit by one was no joke as they were designed to deliver an electrical discharge that a sensor net would register and record the theoretical damage that would have occurred with a live blade. That said, the small trooper elected to make her presence known in a very direct way and leapt.
The first moment they noticed the suit was when one of their members cried out after being struck by a pair of booted feet in the middle of its back followed by five strikes in rapid succession to the suit’s power unit which rendered the suit out of action. Instantly, one of the remaining two suits snapshotted its anti-personnel auto shotgun at the rapidly moving target, clipping it as it swiped at another in the team.
The hit was not considered a killing shot, but it did stagger the armored figure. As the elemental who had been fast enough to shoot went to step forward, a second Nighthawk appeared out of nowhere and delivered rapid pin-point strikes to him using a vibro-sword of its own, shutting down the elemental’s suit. It was followed by a simunition shot to the faceplate, rendering the trooper down.
The last elemental charged the single-sword suit, attempting to overbear the smaller trooper. And was promptly amazed when the Nighthawk trooper simply stepped out of the way and struck him several times on the way by. The attacks hit the knee joint (which actually stung through the suit’s protection) then a power cable.
Those strikes proved enough to render the elemental out of action and the two surviving Spirits faded into the buildings, leaving five declared dead Saber Cat and the lone Spirits elemental to sit in place until the exercise was over.
**
After witnessing the lightning quick exchange (which lasted all of ten seconds) Bonita turned to Duncan and placed a twenty C-bill note into a waiting open hand. “Grrrrrr….. they were unlucky.” She growled out. “They at least got one of yours though.”
Duncan nodded as he pocketed the money. “Aye… That they did. But exchanging five for one isnae a good exchange rate.”
A sigh. “No, it is not. And I did not know Shariff is that talented.”
Duncan shrugged. “Thae Old Man is good when he has tae be,” he said. “And he wanted to be part of this; said the Children needed to learn to never assume size is king or age means slow. Said it might help Krog with any havin’ ideas…. The All-Father knows he is going to feel it after this; I know I would.”
Bonita eyed the older Spirits leader. “Aff , he likely will. And he may be right- the lessons being handed out today may stick. I am certain there is one among them who might think they are better than he because of Youth. Your discussion with Krog on Psychological Warfare was not lost on him, I assure you; I imagine you saw his introduction speech?”
A laugh. “I did. It was right proper theatrics and well done…”
**
Initial exchanges between the three teams and the rest of the Elementals, while not as brutal as the first one, were equally sharp with losses on both sides. But the direct nature of the attacks had a desired effect as the remaining fourteen Elementals became far more cautious.
These Inner Sphere armored commandos were bold… and the Saber Cat mentor had been far too correct; the suits were hard to detect by anything other than sound or the eyes. Other things pointed out in the discussions before this were also ringing true- there is no glory in being dead. Team Work was a key component in how the Inner Sphere fought and the remaining Elementals realized this.
Pride is as much a powerful motivator as it was a tool in the right circumstrances and it was never more apparent than now. Clansmen tended to be prideful and arrogant where the Inner Sphere was concerned; these new members of Saber Cat were no different. However, the initial losses served to remind them that they were facing really skilled commandos… and they needed to be smart.
They knew teamwork would do the job but none of them had really expected to need it here. Those initial losses… shot that notion dead and remaining Elementals stowed those Cake Walk thoughts…
Over the next hour to ninety minutes, the remaining skirmishes were more sharp and evenly matched, with the superior armor of the Elementals able to weather the Spirits’ fire and the Commandos took far more losses.
In the end, the last one’s standing was Shariff and Argyle who wound up surrounded by the five remaining elementals…. And like something out a twentieth century movie, the last two Spirits came out of their cover weapons blazing in a suicidal charge.
**
In the observation area, Duncan looked over at Bonita. “Think they learned anything?”
She smiled. “Aff…. At the very least, not to underestimate your people.”
A chuckle. “I’ll take it…”
***
As this challenge was wrapping up, the space one was in mid-fight.
The Bondsman Commander in charge of this force, a former Star Adder named Clarice, was already a fairly open-minded thinker and had figured out that perhaps they should go with the cut bid right from the start.
She had participated in a hostile boarding action back in home space when the absorption of Clan Burrock happened… and knew that two points was no where near enough. Even if it was a derelict ship. Hell, the full star she had for that pummeled McKenna class, Second Coming assaulted above Tanis had been barely enough. And that ship had been shot to hell…
As a result of that mission, she had taken an interest in engineering… something not encouraged among the Star Adders or Mongoose for that matter. Here with Saber Cat, if the Khan and saKhan were to be believed, she might be able to indulge in that interest more… but that was a later problem. Her problem right now was taking this ship.
Against two platoons of defenders, two points was nearly suicide even with live weapons. No, she was going to recommend they use all three… and stress being smart about every action. She did not think there was a rush to take the ship like there had been when she did this for real… And given her experience with both boarding actions and McKenna’s, the other point commanders agreed. Clarice was the expert here… and ranking officer, bondsman or not.
Clarice’s experience with the McKenna class would pay off handsomely and unexpectedly as the challenge progressed as she had time to think… When the defenders allowed them to board uncontested, she had been initially confused. Were it her, she’d have messed with them as they boarded, tried to hamper their assault. It was what had happened the last time she did this.
It was then she remembered that Inner Sphere Marine platoons were smaller than the usual, at not much more than twenty men. With that thought, Clarice realized the defenders were conserving their numbers… and likely holding the three objectives.
And it was only those marines- there was no crewmen helping them as there had been when she assaulted the Second Coming with a full reinforced Star. So, in letting the Elementals come to them, the defenders would be able to concentrate their fire on specific points she and her teams would have to assault through.
It was actually pretty smart, she realized, and she gave her enemy counterpart credit. Even with forty troops, dividing them between three points AND trying to contest boarding would have been foolhardy. There was no guarantee initial defense would have stopped enough of them and having troops for a Last Stand defense was the best option. Especially when there was no one else to defend with.
Granted, this was a known mission with no collateral damage to be worried about. After all, they were using Simunitions and non-lethal. But still, train like you fight or so the merc training manuals she had read said…
No, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Whomever was in charge was choosing to defend the objectives, letting the attackers come to them. It was a bit of a psychological fuck-you to her fellow elementals in waiting to be ambushed and she could see value in it. It even made her want to meet her counterpart… because, trying mental games like that was pretty inspired thinking.
Some of her fellow troopers didn’t think about much other than breaking things; when denied a chance, it could make them headstrong or rash in action and therefore likely to rush into a trap… If that was her counterpart’s plan, Clarice was pretty sure not pressing them was deliberate and not a mistake. Mind games were a thing and a part of war; if that was their thinking, this was going to be fun.
It also made her wonder if her personal knowledge about this sort of ship was going to be an even bigger edge in this trial. Clarice was pretty sure they didn’t know as much about a McKenna like she did…
She had learned a great deal about the class courtesy of her first clan’s naval technicians and being able to dig around the one she had assaulted. As a result, she had learned a fair amount of information on those ships and old SLDF ships in general. This information included Engineering Passcodes for accessing Ship Systems and how some aspects of Damage Control worked.
It was this knowledge that made her think of a new plan for this assault. A plan that, provided the surat Word of Blake had not messed with the deck plans or the old chief engineer controls, would make this capture that much easier.
Clan naval engineers had not changed the base administrative passcodes since the Star League; perhaps that laziness carried over here. Or the Word didn’t know about them. After all, warships were not terribly common in the Inner Sphere, at least Star League era designs.
Detailing the other two points to go to non-engineering objectives, she led her point for the Engineering spaces. She knew the stock codes to access computers on Clan ships (which were old League era craft) and was pretty sure her idea would work as this was the same era ship, if the Blakists didn’t change anything. However, with the limited power here, finding an active terminal was proving difficult.
Knowing there would likely be active stations on the Engineering Deck, it became a priority to find one- especially when she unlocked a maintenance access hatch with the old code. If the codes worked on the hatches, they may work on the rest… and she informed the other points of her discovery and gave the codes to use for locked doors.
This might not be a messy battle after all… well, it would be messy but not in terms of carnage.
**
Up on the bridge, the defenders were entrenched inside and the doors locked. Confident they’d hear anyone trying to break in from any of the accessways, they were not prepared to have the doors unlock and then be opened up by the attackers. And these attackers were armed with grenades.
Boarding Grenades (aka- flash bangs) went off and the Elementals surged into the Bridge a half-second after, relying on their suits being resistant to such devices. Even with the grenades, the twelve defenders were difficult to dislodge here, and the Elementals lost two of their number in the process of tagging eight of the marines.
The remaining four surrendered- none of them having a desire to tossed by an elemental into a wall.
**
The computer core station was far easier to take by point two, as it was only defended by eight marines. The plan of this point was something a little old school and would cost the point one trooper who had offered himself as bait. When the assault was initiated, said trooper launched himself into the space of the computer core rooms to draw fire.
A selfless act… but then, no one was supposed to get truly hurt with non-lethal weapons. He’d take the bruising if it would help make this challenge a win….
The defending marines fell for it too, cutting loose with their weapons as the elemental trooper flew in… and in turn were taken down by the other four using controlled aimed fire- and one thrown fire extinguisher with the handle crimped open as it was tossed, making a cloud…
Twelve seconds later, the core was captured and the (dead) marines could only laugh. The Elementals laughed with them and the Point Commander noted that had this been a real fight, the tactics may not have been different, just more lethal.
**
Down at the Engineering Deck, Clarice had her point pause before heading for the engineering spaces. Finding a maintenance terminal, she looked over the controls and tried the ancient administrator passcodes. When she was able to access the system with them, a giggle nearly escaped her mouth.
She searched her memory for the right places to look and typed in commands half remembered. She was rewarded for her efforts, finding the fire suppression system monitor app. After checking to see if they had been used on this deck, she immediately started refining her plan… especially when she could access the cameras in the spaces.
Knowing the secondary mission had not been triggered yet, she used the cameras to scan for The Very Important Person. Once found, Clarice passed the command to shoot to disable ONLY and where to look for targets. She then had her people spread out in pairs to the doors. There was about eighteen troopers in the space defending and they needed to be super accurate for this to work with only five.
Just as she was about to initiate her plan, two of the computer core point showed up to assist… which gave her another idea. A silly idea it was too, but there was a large amount of silly going on so what was one more thing?
Clarice decided she was going to exercise Command Privilege and target the senior man for herself… She was going to do it with the Elemental Slingshot tactic, something normally used for getting on taller buildings in assaults…. But should also work for getting across the deck faster.
Her thinking was If she took him out, the remainder might just surrender. Especially if she didn’t get taken out herself in this trick.
Six elementals coming from outside at two different entry points and one inside taking potshots might do the trick -especially if the defenders were distracted by being covered in firefighting-foam….
**
Major Farquharson knelt behind his barricade in the engineering spaces. What he had thought was a solid plan should have been had he been against normal opponents, even normal clanners… but this Elemental commander was not buying into the bait. Which was annoying as hell.
He’d already heard about the core falling and the battle on the bridge. That both fell fast was troubling but that couldn’t be helped. Sometimes the best laid plans fell apart for reasons no one ever knew about. At least whatever happened here, he’d be able to find out how his idea fell apart… It was what training was for, after all. Granted, this was more than just a training operation…
This Trial Challenge was going well for the Saber Cats with their capturing the other two locations. At least he was still upright and uncaught. If he could stay that way, it would be a win for them and a win for him.
Privately, he was somewhat relieved he might only be taken out. He knew about the bounty placed on him and could still only shake his head at it. Perhaps he may have badgered his friend over being part of this too much, he concluded… and suspected the Wolverine Khan was in on it. Hell, the man had a very dry sense of humor about him… and might have even agreed to this just to see what would happen. Getting captured would suck but with the other two sections taken, it might make whomever was assaulting here sloppy.
Just as he was looking about the compartment again, he could hear a clanking coming from the hallway outside the spaces. “Get Ready, lads! Th’ Sassenach bastards are aboot to breach!” He called out. As he lifted his carbine, he was ready for the assault…. What he wasn’t ready for was what came next.
All of a sudden, the strobes of the fire alarm activated, with a piercing klaxon sound accenting it. Then the fire-suppression system began to spray….
**
Outside, Clarice tapped another control, and the doors unlocked. “NOW!” she yelled and immediately stepped over to the new arrival elementals. It was time to get tossed….
**
Inside, the defenders cursed up a storm as the foam got everywhere and drew them out of position. About three seconds or so after the sprayers started, the doors opened allowing the elementals to race in shooting, their suits helping them ignore the suppression system emissions.
From one set of doors, a solo elemental launched through the air on its jets, streaking across the deck in the Major’s direction with an arm out, hand open to grapple.
The Major opened fire, his shots narrowly missing the elemental projectile or glanced off when he did connect. Way too fast, the armored trooper was upon him and as it went past it reached out and caught his upper arm. This caused him to be yanked off his feet and dragged with the jet assisted power armor. The two of them crashed into the far wall, with the good major losing his rifle in the process.
Farquharson shook off the stunning effect of the impact (he’d been in bar fights that hurt nearly as bad), then he found himself rolled over on to his back and a knee placed on his chest. As he reached for his sidearm, the barrel of an auto shotgun appeared in his face. “Shite….” He cursed as he froze in place. If that went off, it was going to hurt.
“I would give up if I were you,” the trooper intoned. “I don’t plan on shooting you in the face but accidents happen and I imagine simunition will still hurt through your armor this close. Besides, I happen to want that whiskey.”
The major sighed. Beat because this one happened to be a smart Elemental. And he couldn’t even be mad- however she pulled off activating the suppression system, having it trigger with the assault was bloody brilliant. “I give,” he said. “My momma, despite rumors tae th’ contrary, dinnae raise no fool. I also want tae know how you turned on the sprinklers…”
**
Six hours later, all of those involved with the challenges were gathered on the Mountain. The Mechwarrior and technician bonded were all trucked up to join in the celebration of both successful Challenges… and in the Cutting Ceremony.
As the various individuals milled about, Farquharson stood off to the side, nursing a glass of whiskey with his arm in a sling. It had turned out the grapple had dislocated it and when the adrenaline wore off, it had been super painful. Medics assigned to the Trial had given him something for the pain for the trip back to Centarus.
Two of the Elemental opponents, who knew a thing about such injuries, had put it back in place for him when they landed, and the sling was there to help recovery. Of all the things he’d ever done, having a dislocated shoulder put back in place wasn’t new- but having it done by Elementals was one for the books.
Tinney walked up to him, an ale in hand. “Still mad?” he asked.
“Nay,” Sean replied with a shake of the head. “I asked to be part o’things… and boy was I.”
Tinney nodded. “That you were… and no, I didn’t know they had someone who knew McKenna’s either. Trust me, Krog was surprised as hell,” he said. “She’s getting a promotion out of things because she showed serious brains.”
A snort. “Brains in an elemental… The world is weird,” Sean replied around his glass. “And good on her- if she dinnae get something out of this for it, I’d have some choice words for ‘im about it. It was fookin’ brilliant… only a fool would think not. When he asked me what I thought o’ things, I even told his Nibs that… told him to promote her ‘cause she’s that good.”
As Tinney was about to reply, a drum sounded, deep and resonating, which was the Summoning to the fire ring. The two Lancer officers moved up to the seating area and took seats. As one of the younger Saber Cats went by, Sean handed off his glass. He did not want it in hand when he went up for what was coming.
Krog had asked him if he’d participate in the Cutting, and once it was explained to him what was to happen, he’d said yes. The one who beat him, he wanted to set free…
As all gathered, the sounds of conversation died off as Krog stepped to the middle. The fire behind him crackled and soon was the only sound heard….
“SABER CAT!!!” the Khan bellowed. “Tonight, we celebrate the success of not one but TWO Trials… Two trials…. The first, the successful taking of the McKenna from the control of its defenders, representatives of Wolverine and the Phoenix Lancers. On top of the taking of the craft, there was a Secondary Objective…. Which was also accomplished…” Krog’s smile was wide as he gazed at the Elemental bondsmen off to the side.
In the crowd that was in the Khan’s gaze, several Elementals held up bottles of whiskey in various states of emptiness.
Krog continued. “The Second Trial, was also something of a Trial of Possession as well as the original Trial of Ability.” A pause as a small murmur rippled through the crowd. “The Phoenix Lancers offered up land on Tolkien… For settlement and for basing as we grow. I offered to take it in Trial because it is how The Clans do such things… and they accepted, with a wrinkle to the agreement. The three hundred square kilometers offered were tied to the results of the second Challenge…”
“And now it is claimed, by us. The terrain is mountainous, but it is untouched by any save hunters, ready for settlement when we are ready.” He stepped off to the side. “For now, discussions on what to do with the land are Tabled… as there are Cords to be cut and a Promotion to be given… Bondman Commander Clarice, Bondsmen Elementals… step up.”
Clarice and the rest of the elementals came out of the collection of Bondsmen and quietly organized themselves by point, with Clarice standing in the center of the double line. All of them turned to face the rest of the Clan.
Krog stepped in front of them. “Before you are Bondsmen… in some clans, lower than Civilian Caste…. But not here,” he said. “They are members of this clan, without proper roles save as what we expect of them to act and be. As a result of the events of today, they are bondmen no more… and are now Warriors as well as whatever else they wish to become.”
Krog pointed at Shariff and Sean, who in turn motioned the others to follow them up. Almost together, the Spirit commandos moved up along with Shariff and took up a position in front of their opponents from their battle. Sean and a number of the marines did the same for their opponents, with Farquharson going in front of Clarice.
In this role, they were acting as Krog’s proxies… and to the older members of Spirits and the marines present, all of them had an idea how important this was. And none of them were drunk for this…
When every elemental had a person in front of them (some of the Marines went over to back the Spirits in this), the cord-cutters looked to Sean. With a deep breath, he reached out and grasped the cord. The others up here all did the same, everyone producing a blade of some kind as they followed his lead. Once everyone had the cord in their hand, Sean looked to Krog and nodded.
“Bondman Commander Clarice, you and the rest of your fellow Bondmen Elementals, by my Authority as Khan of Saber Cat and your Bondholder, you are no longer isorla… a bondsman… and are now truly abtakha.”
Sean and the others cut the cords and once severed, handed them to the former Bondsmen. Stepping away, he faced her and rendered the best proper respect he could give in that moment, a parade-ground salute.
The rest of the cord cutters followed his lead as cheers broke out among the rest of the Clan. Sean held the salute as the former bondsmen realized the need to return it and once returned, the cord cutters dropped the salute and silently stepped away off focus, leaving the newly freed to be fully visible.
Krog stepped forward and the cheering subsided. “All save Commander Clarice, may be seated.” As the rest of the elementals moved to be seated, Krog stepped over next to the remaining elemental.
“Commander Clarice, based on your performance and the recommendations of your opponent commander, your experience combined with your ability best exemplify what I as Khan of Saber Cat look for in those who lead us upon the field of battle…” he paused as he turned to look at the crowd. “No matter what the battle may be. It is because of your actions and your leadership… you no longer shall hold the rank of Star Commander. From this day forward, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Star Captain of Saber Cat.”
Krog motioned Farquharson back up and after handing him a rank pin, the two of them changed out her Commander pins for the new rank. After it was done, he gestured to Sean to return to his seat and smiled as he gazed at the new officer. “Congratulations, Star Captain… may you continue to shine.”
A pause as he stepped away from her, leaving the Star Captain as the center of attention. “Seylah!!” he called out.
“Seylah!!” the gathered called back then the applause began and resonated for a minute.
As it died down Krog stepped forward and spoke into Clarice’s ear. A laugh and she departed the speaking area to rejoin her elemental companions. The Khan watched her go then looked to the crowd again. “To all… Enjoy the evening… Tomorrow begins a new day and new work for all…”
With that, he departed the speaking dais and walked over to the Lancer leader and the Khan of Wolverine (who had arrived as the ceremony began). There was planning to do with his allies and a lot of it to get in motion.
In the back of his mind, the Khan had a feeling something was coming for one of them… and he needed to be ready for it.
Musings of a Gamer 