Chapter 6:
Baiting the Jaguar
(cont...)

The tanks held, and Sinclair shifted his cross hairs over the remaining enemy to unleash the Orion’s full fury.

His heavy launcher spat out its flight of missiles, most of them drawing a straight line of gray contrail smoke to their target where they erupted in a storm of fire and armor shrapnel. One set of missiles slammed into the Orion’s head, wreathing the cockpit canopy in flame and debris. Others worried the armor over chest and arms. His medium lasers carved deeper into the chest, but failed to penetrate the thick armor protection. The lieutenant had nearly resigned himself to another exchange of weapons fire, and one more chance for the Clan warrior to rupture the tanks. Then his autocannon spoke a throaty roar as it drilled a long burst of depleted-uranium rounds directly into the head behind the damage his missile flight had caused. The ferroglass canopy shattered, and the wide face of the head assembly sagged inward under the onslaught. The BattleMech toppled backward, slamming into the ground, a smashed ruin of its former strength.

"On your right, Lieutenant!" Dominic’s warning announced the arrival of the remaining Elementals, who had lagged behind the charging BattleMechs but were no less motivated in carrying out their final orders from Star Colonel Ratache Osis.

After the two ’Mechs, picking off the five remaining battle-armor troops seemed to present an easy challenge. It was only when one made it close enough to score the tanks with a laser that both Damocles Commando warriors realized the game at which they still played. Fire intensified for a few seconds, and then Dominic was putting down the final Elemental with his paired medium lasers.

"That should be the last of them," Sinclair said with relief. "We’re clear."

And apparently none too soon for Dominic. "Can we get out of here now?" the other MechWarrior asked.

A burst of static heralded another transmission from Osis. "Gamma Base! You will respond." The star colonel was still looking for verification that the commando had been stopped for good.

Dominic’s Shadow Cat pointed lasers and gauss rifle at the ceiling, as if he could target the star colonel wherever his command center might be. "I’d like to respond, all right. Now they’re willing to kill their own civilian workers to get at us? Whatever happened to the old Clan idea of honorable combat?"

Sorenson answered the question with frank seriousness. "When your back is to the wall, Dominic, people do what they can to survive. Corbett is wearing under the strain of a dying Clan. Now Ratache Osis is feeling the pressure from above as well."

"Gamma Base!"

"I could transmit a report to the Eclipse on an open frequency," the corporal offered. "Let him know he’s failed again. Clan officers tend to take that kind of news rather hard."

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