s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

gestured toward one of the other rebels, then pointed toward Aidan. "Hold a
gun on his head," he said. "Anything happens, kill him."
Aidan was aware again of that face in the crowd. The young woman's head turned
in his direction, concern in her expression.
If there was going to be some kind of attack by his people, Aidan would have
liked to get out of this chair and lead it. A rescue attempt by Joanna's Star
might not be the best strategy under the circumstances, but Aidan was
beginning to believe there might be no other way to subdue this rebel
group. Jared Mahoney was too fixed in his ideas, too obsessed. Better
to wipe them out, rebels, innocents, and hostages, than let such ideas fester
and spread.
The young warrior looked away from him and began to walk toward the AgroMech,
away from the flow of the rest of the crowd, which was readying for battle. In
the AgroMech, the pilot gave Jared Mahoney another thumbs-up gesture, then
fired off a series of pulses from her pair of lasers. It was immediately
obvious that the woman had no idea how to pilot a 'Mech, much less an agribot
with weapons on makeshift mounts.
The children and their parents still huddled together, not having budged from
under or near the AgroMech's legs.
They all seemed full of fear, but the adults clutched the children
protectively, as though to shield them from harm.
Then Aidan saw the young warrior again. She was standing now next to one of
the AgroMech's giant rear legs.
As Diana stared down at the confused and restless children, she wondered
whether to just abandon her plan and only mutilate Jared Mahoney instead. What
kind of person would use non-combatants as a buffer between himself and
die enemy? It was true that the Clans often used old warriors in that way, but
tor useful strategic purposes, for the good of the battle or the campaign,
ultimately for the good of the Clan itself. Besides, they were old
warriors, all of whom had served well and lived a useful life; they
were not children whose chances were yet to come. Jared
Mahoney's words were meaningless if he must use children to die for them. If
he had substituted all the old people of
Vreeport for the children, Diana would have understood.
From her present vantage point, she could see the tops of four BattleMechs.
They advanced without firing, all part of the plan Diana had suggested to
Joanna. There was no point in an accidental shot setting off an explosive
chain.
The AgroMech pilot must have been getting better at handling her weaponry, for
one of her shots chipped off some bits of ferroceramic armor from Joanna's
Timber Wolf.
The 'Mechs came near the city walls, then stopped and seemed to wait there
briefly. The next moment they turned and headed back toward the forest.
Guards standing atop the Vreeport walls shouted back that the enemy was
retreating. Some desultory cheers rose from the crowd, and the people in the
square seemed to visibly relax, especially those actively with the rebels.
They lowered their weapons slightly.
Diana, however, tensed, watching the cockpit of the AgroMech. Her hope had
been that the pilot would come out of the cockpit at the sight of the Clan
'Mechs' retreat, if only for a breath of air. When she did not, Diana shifted
to her alternate tactic.
Trying to look joyful, an emotion that a Clan warrior could summon only
with difficulty even when genuine, she scrambled up the AgroMech's leg
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and leaped onto the level area next to die cockpit. Smiling and waving wildly
to the pilot, she gestured that she had a message.
The pilot flipped up the cockpit canopy. "They're truly afraid of us, aren't
they? she said with a laugh.
"They truly are," Diana replied as she reached into the cockpit and
grabbed the woman by the neck. With the twisting movement she had
practised so often on dummies during cadet training, she snapped the
pilot's neck and quickly yanked her out of the cockpit. Lifting the body up,
Diana flung the woman down into die surprised arms of a rebel warrior, who
fell clumsily to the ground when the weight of the body hit him.
Diana did not stop to watch the fall. Jumping into the cockpit and
snapping the canopy shut, she grabbed the joystick and stepped the
machine several meters away from where the children had been crouching beneath
it. Taking the gunnery controls, she whirled the AgroMech around and started
to direct fire against those rebels with weapons.
She raked a group of them with fire. At least two fell dead, while three
others squirmed on the ground, wounded.
Next, she looked around for Jared Mahoney, knowing that his followers might
quickly surrender if their leader were killed. Not seeing him, Diana blasted
another group of rebels, killing several instantly. Then she feu the
AgroMech suddenly rocked by a successful hit to its right foreleg. It
wavered a bit, but Diana was able to keep the machine upright and
still shooting. What she could not do was move it further forward.
Where in the name of the great Kerenskys was Jared Mahoney? she thought
frantically as she saw the first of her two laser weapons overheating.
Aidan witnessed the young warrior's acts from his uncomfortable sitting
position, the barrel of the guard's weapon still pressed against his neck. But
when she turned the AgroMech to fire on the rebels, with the children
and their parents now scattering through the square, the astonished guard
released the gun's pressure ever so slightly. Aidan reacted immediately. He
knocked the weapon completely away with the back of his hand, then grabbed the
guard by the waist, ramming his shoulder into his stomach. The man went limp
immediately, and Aidan hurled him to the ground.
He stepped on the wrist of the hand holding the weapon, then wrenched the
light laser pistol out of the man's grasp.
The weapon had probably come from die Vreeport arsenal. It felt cold and
probably had never been fired. He fired it now, killing his former guard with
a single shot through the temple.
Aidan had no time for further weaponry analysis. Looking around, he saw that
everyone was so panicked by the
AgroMech that his escape had gone unnoticed. Moving through the crowd, he
headed toward the big machine.
The young warrior was on a suicide mission, he thought. There were
too many rebels, too great an arsenal of weapons aligned against her,
for her to succeed for long. Only concern for their own personal safety kept
the rebels from simply blowing up the AgroMech with a well-placed shot or
grenade. He had to get her out of that cockpit. The two of them had a better
chance of shooting their way out of the settlement on foot. That strategy
was perhaps as suicidal as hers, but no better alternative occurred to him.
Nearing the AgroMech, Aidan saw someone climbing its left rear leg. The red
skin of the man's neck told Aidan it was Jared Mahoney. He stopped, set his
feet, and fired, but the shot went wide. The sights in the pistol must be off.
Well, there was no time to work out its adjustments now. Aidan picked up his
pace and reached the AgroMech, where
Jared Mahoney had climbed higher up the machine's left rear leg. It would not
take much for him to reach the cockpit.
Aidan had no choice but to imitate Jared Mahoney's action by climbing the
damaged left front leg. Halfway up, he clutched a section so red-hot that it
burned the palm of his hand. He hardly felt it as he continued to scramble
upward.
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Pulling himself onto the top level of the AgroMech, Aidan saw that Jared
Mahoney had yet to notice him. He was too intent on firing his submachine gun
toward the cockpit. Flecks of canopy were breaking off. Aidan could still see
the warrior in the cockpit, however. One of her laser weapons had fused from [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]