I've re-written this no less than six times already. I may do so again, but the effect will be the same.
Sorry for the delay.
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Fort Draconis, Dieron
Dieron Military District, Draconis Combine
25 March 3028
Minobu sat, nursing a cup of cooling tea in his hands, as he watched the recon drones' feeds.
The automated machines had been a fact of war for a thousand years, but in the last five hundred they had been too conspicuous to be used except against the most primitive of opponents. His current opponents were not primitive. But neither did they expect such simple machines.
Mentally, he commended Tai-sho Conti for deploying these drones. He is a problem-solver that prefers the most direct solutions. Minobu appreciated that the man was flexible enough to adjust. His only worry was that the man's honour would overshadow his sense of duty; so far, it had not.
The drones flew at night, close by the mountains, riding the updrafts like birds though with far keener eyes.
This sole advantage, even a night-time one, was why the 5th Sword of Light had yet to be routed. Try as he might, Warlord Tetsuhara could not help but be galled at that; Capellans had long been the military joke of the Inner Sphere, and yet one of the Combine's flagship regiments had been unable to grapple with such a minor unit that the ISF brief he had on hand hand't been updated in a decade.
I will make my displeasure known-- Minobu thought then caught himself. He barked out a laugh, startling his aides who had taken the opportunity to rest after a long day at the consoles. 'Make my displeasure known'... when did I start thinking this way?
Amused at his mind's choice of words, he almost didn't catch the brief spurt of light at the Kincade Rangers' supply base.
He called up the feed to fill the whole wall.
Moments passed, and he realized it was just a cargo truck's lights. The amplification circuits in the drones were sensitive, they had to be. A yawning tech bowed at him, already moving to make adjustments to the feed and resetting the views.
Unashamedly, Michi Noketsuna appeared at his side and placed a tray of food in front of him. Dinner had been three hours ago, but the meal facing him was freshly cooked.
He glared at his 'student', downed his tea in one boorish gulp, and picked the apple on the tray, ignoring the steamed fish and rice.
Minobu glanced up at the younger man and flashed a grin as he bit down on the apple. The tai-i, no--the sho-sa--Minobu reminded himself, sighed long-sufferingly and handed off the tray to a passing tech.
"How are the trainees faring?" Minobu asked, in between bites of the apple.
"Not well, sensei," the imp was no longer ashamed of calling him that. "The Capellans do love their long-range missiles--"
"--Which outrange our beloved particle projectile cannon--"
"--which leaves the new tanks horribly outmatched. Even the lightest minefield can disable a Tanegashima, and a flight with standard warheads can crush a tank easily enough; still, most of our losses so far have been due to tread damage not direct battle damage," Michi said, sliding down to sit beside him.
"They are frustrated," Minobu observed.
"Hai, they were trained to fight in the open like the tanks were meant to. And they are, but minefields were as not something we trained them for. At least not to this extent. The combat VTOLs are ineffective as well, thanks to the ridiculous amounts of light autocannon they wield... That leaves our 'Mechs exposed."
"I expect that oversight to be fixed for the next batch of trainees."
Michi dipped his head. "Once we figure out how, yes sensei."
Minobu gnawed on the apple core, letting his student fume for a moment. "Out with it, whelp."
"Theodore-sama's tactics are failing us!" Michi said in a harsh whisper.
The Warlord stilled himself then gave the slightest nod for the young man to continue.
"He preached combined arms; fine, we've learned the same from the Wolf's Dragoons. And yet those lessons are useless against a force we outnumber? One comprised mostly of battered 'Mechs and some infantry!"
Minobu thrust his chin forward at the recon feeds on the Mateo continent. "Do you expect the traditional ways to fare any better? There goes one of our best, and they flounder against the CCAF."
"No, sensei. But I feel that..." Michi trailed off, looking away uncomfortably.
"You did not learn any restraint from me, imp. Out with it."
Michi turned to him, frustration in his eyes. "What if what the men say is true? That we are weakening ourselves by relying on other warriors--" the young man held up a hand, "--that our lesser emphasis on BattleMechs has left our MechWarriors... well, lesser."
"The Genyosha," Minobu volunteered.
Michi bowed thankfully. "They have armour, they have infantry, even artillery. But they are superlative MechWarriors first." The sho-sa leaned back in his seat. "Even the Wolf's Dragoons would have trouble, lesser trouble since they have more jumpjet-equipped 'Mechs, but their doctrine would leave their conventional assets exposed or underused."
"Settle your nerves, whelp. I have meditated much on this and have come to the same conclusions as you."
Minobu tried not to smile as Michi's eyes watered and the younger man bowed.
It takes courage, and a certain... diregard, to approach a superior with this. You are bold, young Michi.
"The Ryuken are fine counters to the Davions, even the Steiners," Warlord Tetsuhara began, "but they are not a model for the entire DCMS. Takashi Kurita was wise to form the Genyosha and the Ryuken, both as shields and swords."
He rose from his seat, stretching as he placed his hands behind his back. "Most of the DCMS cannot follow in the Ryuken's path. They are too... integrated. I trained them to be, we built them to be." He rounded on his pupil. "However, I believe any of the Ryuken could meet and best these Rangers or Highlanders in whatever terrain they'd choose."
"I do as well, sensei," Michi added.
"Hmph. Well, it was also our mistake in exposing the Dieron Regulars to much of the Dragoons' doctrines." Minobu paused for a moment. "Ideally, I would request that a battalion of the Genyosha be transferred to the Dieron district and rove about, training what regiments it could. But the Coordinator has need of his elite troops."
Michi looked up at him. "Why did Takashi-sama create two similar but fundamentally opposing schools?"
Minobu had meditated on that question himself, surprised at the young man's keenness. "What purpose does making Hetzers serve, sho-sa, when you can build Hunchbacks?" He smiled down at the young officer, assuring him it was no trick question.
"You can have a battalion of Hetzers," Sho-sa Noketsuna ventured, "before even one Hunchback is built."
Minobu nodded solemnly.
"Successor Lords are not like us, Michi," Minobu said slowly. "Especially, a Kurita Lord. The Dragon looks at more than just the present." Minobu glanced at the drones' displays. "Takashi-sama knew a war was coming, maybe not as part of the Fox's wedding plans, but war was inevitable."
"And the Ryuken... are shields too, not just swords," Michi responded slowly to his sensei's relief. "They were meant to guard the Draconis Combine until the Genyosha could flourish--with the samurai ideal perfected."
"Close. We selected MechWarriors who didn't consider themselves samurai for entrance to the Ryuken," Minobu confessed, "and we had a large pool to choose from. And combined arms is easier to teach than... excellence."
"Then we can't let the Dragoons, and the Ryuken, influence the DCMS any further," Michi said dejectedly.
"Iie, that is not for us to decide. Coordinator Theodore is not his father," Minobu said, wondering himself if that was praise or condemnation.
Michi nodded and flicked off a switch. A barely audible hum disappeared and Minobu glared approvingly at his pupil; he didn't think to activate the white-noise generator himself, but the young man had the presence of mind to do so.
"One battle at a time, sho-sa."
Michi smiled, stood and bowed, returning to making his rounds leaving him to wrestle with the confessions. He had not voiced them until now, not even to himself.
Minobu Tetsuhara realized that he now had a plan. When this is over, I must go see the Coordinator---
The flatvid wall suddenly flared as the Kincade Ranger's base defenders opened fire at barely-visible shadows. They were chased away in minutes, fleeing back to the mine entrances they had used to sneak in. Large shadows waited for them there.
Minobu ordered the image zoomed in, spotting red BattleMechs pouring out from the larger caverns. Suddenly, the defenders were routed; thinking they were dealing only with commandos they rain headlong into the waiting guns of a 5th Sword of Light force.
The Warlord smiled as his staff cheered at the reversal.
He signalled to a commtech to dial him in with the tai-sho and frowned as the man took several minutes to track down the Sworder. When the audio link was established, Minobu instantly knew why.
Tai-sho Conti wore a neurohelm with the visor up, and answered him respectfully. "Hai, tai-shu!"
"Bold, tai-sho. Congratulations," Minobu said as the last defenders fell. The Sword of Light 'Mechs numbered less than a company but the ambush and their no mean skill shattered the unprepared Capellan defenders in a hurry. "Not so formidable without their mines, are they?"
Palmer Conti laughed. "No, Warlord, apparently not. We will hop this freighter to the middle of Aldinga, far away from their lines."
Warlord Tetsuhara nodded. "Bring some of their 'Mechs if you can, some seem to be using advanced comms--" a burst of static cut the connection briefly. Minobu glanced at his commteam who were working frantically on their terminals.
When Palmer's image returned all traces of congeniality were gone.
"--splosives! Underneath us! To the mountains! To the mount---!"
The connection died again, leaving a zoomed-in image of the DropShip quaking as the ground beneath it shifted. A lance of Kuritan 'Mechs were already sprawled on the ground, being swallowed by rattling cracks.
Minobu watched in horror as the the frantic DropShip crew lit up its engines cold. The furious power of the engines had only blackened the solid ground when it landed; now it tunnelled through the chunks of earth falling away.
For a moment, it looked like the freighter would escape. Then two of the Mule's engines burst and the DropShip fought a losing battle against gravity and sank into the tomb it carved. The sinkhole became a gaping crater as fusion-hot air expanded beneath, igniting trapped gases and melting whatever supports remained.
The freighter, The Lady's Blessings, lowered itself slowly below as the supply base fell all around it.
Minobu turned his attention to the fleeing 5th Sword of Light force, relieved to see that most had made it to the safety of the mountains and were threading their way through the mountain passes. Unbelievably, some were exchanging weapons fire with Capellan infantry even as both were fleeing. He clearly saw Palmer Conti's Grand Dragon stomp on a few infantrymen, not wasting the effort to return fire.
A tai-i motioned to get his attention then flashed the image of a satellite overhead, zoomed in on the crater. Somehow the freighter had grounded far beneath the valley, into the hollow veins dug out centuries ago. It rested, almost level, snaking fires along its hull.
It sat in the eye of a subterranean firestorm.
"They're almost a kilometer below the surface now, tai-shu," Michi said at his side, unbelievingly. "They're on the fault itself, not just the fault line..."
Minobu moved towards the wall then stopped.
The explosion was catastrophic.
The Warlord of the Dieron Military District stood and watched as the flames spread through the continent's veins like a disease.
It burned and rotted the flesh of the rocks.
In moments it reached Aldinga, the city that spanned half a continent, and the fire split the city in two as factories and power plants bled into the scar of the fault line; the Aldinga Line, had been the city's landmark.
People built tenements, restaurants, hotels, and even hospitals on it. It was safe; Mateo had long ago ceased any tectonic activity.
The firestorm bled out from the middle of the city but it didn't matter; the fault line widened into a chasm.
Seventeen minutes later the city of Aldinga had been swallowed whole.
