Chapter 6: Baiting the Jaguar

"Oh, you’ve got to be--"

"Lieutenant, you have to stop them!" Dominic’s stunned outburst was cut off as Sorenson overrode his transmission from the Mobile Field Base vehicles. "If those tanks blow, we’re finished."

Exactly what Connor Sinclair had thought the instant he heard Ratache Osis’ order. In the confines of this underground complex, rupturing large tanks of corrosive and certainly poisonous gas would ensure no one made it out alive -- warrior or worker. Inner Sphere troops would have almost certainly refused such an order -- besides being borderline inhumane, martyrdom held appeal for so few. Of course, for the Smoke Jaguar warriors, the decision would be easier. The civilian laborer-caste workers would hardly matter in such a decision. As for their own death, they relied on the clan’s eugenics program to carry on their genetic legacy -- more often accomplished after death than before. It was part of their society. All they were required to do was prove themselves, and obeying such a command would certainly weigh heavily in their favor.

But this was still not quite the Clan way. At least, not as Connor had come to understand it. BattleMech combat and glory through victory! This latest tactic showed the same treacherous promise as the laser towers which had knocked the Black Hammer from space. Another order passed down from Galaxy Commander Brendon Corbett? Or was Ratache Osis also slipping down from that "higher ideal" the Clans preferred to vaunt?

"Don’t acknowledge it," Sinclair whispered to his empty cockpit, staring at the Smoke Jaguar Shadow Cat which had pulled back while Dominic busied himself smashing the Elementals from his own ’Mech. He tried angling for a shot, but Dominic stepped into his way and there was no maneuvering in the tight alley space. "Refuse, damn you!"

"Aff, Star Colonel." The voice was heavy with one part resignation but two parts fanaticism. "Acknowledged." The Shadow Cat turned from the quarry and ran for the tunnel which connected this underground chamber to the next.

"No, you don’t," Connor said, more to himself than the phantom presence of the other MechWarrior. He moved his Orion forward, out of the alley, and set his targeting reticle at the next tunnel entrance. He would have one shot. It had to score hard.

Sinclair had forgotten to toggle off the cluster ammunition feed to his autocannon. In the heat of combat, controlling a 75 ton war avatar and trying to keep several enemy targets placed, situational awareness could be strained past the point of remembering each little detail. His LRMs missed, slamming into the cavern wall just short of their target and raining out stone chips and slivers. Following up with fragmenting autocannon submunitions would normally be a mistake, the shrapnel rounds good at sanding away armor but rarely at forcing a breach.

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