Chapter 25

We had fortified Kallinlaella to the best of our ability, evacuated the civilian population to various other towns, and concentrated all of our available forces in Kallinlaella over the five days it took for Redjack Ryan to gather his forces and blow past our ambush to the North. All told, we had eight combined arms regiments of varying strength and levels of veterancy, along with three Wings of Aerospace Fighters. Arrayed against us were Seven Combined Arms Regiments, two of Ryan's Rebels, and the rest a mix of Mercenary Units that had been paid a handsome amount, half of which was up front, and given rights of salvage and various other perks. The Enemy also had one Aerospace Wing to cover for them, though they had to fly all the way from the Raider's Roost, which meant that our Wings at the Yonker Oasis Airbase could intercept them en route to Kallinlaella.

We had a numbers advantage and a technical advantage. It wasn't enough to ensure overwhelming victory, however, not by itself. The fortifications we'd put in place would help, as would our Elites, but it would still be the largest battle I'd been in yet. Of course, a battle with a total of fifteen regiments participating from both sides would barely be considered worth noting in the meat grinder of the Succession Wars, but for the Periphery? It was a concentration of force that most periphery states didn't have. Usually, something like this would only be seen from the larger states, the Taurians or Canopians down in the Rimward Periphery or the Oberon Confederation or Outworlds Alliance up here in the Coreward Periphery. People would be watching the outcome of the Second Battle of Kallinlaella, and it was that attention, more than the battle itself which made me nervous.

True, I'd planned for some level of attention. The Lyrans and Dracs already had sent embassies, and Hendrik Grimm had as well, but something like this would go beyond the notice of powers who bordered this section of the Coreward Periphery. People like the Davions and Mariks would hear about a battle this size, if only because it's a curiosity. So would ComStar, and that might invite questions that I didn't want to have to answer. Not from ComStar at any rate. Questions such as, where did you get all of that Rim Worlds Republic Equipment, and how can you build replacements would be asked. It would make me a target for their sabotage and espionage. I'd seen the effects of that in my dreams and had it confirmed by my father's datachips. If a Holy Shroud operation was coming for me, I'd have to pull out all the stops in order to prevent it, which would come with its own issues.

Regardless, things were in motion, and as my forward scouts called in to let me know that the enemy was advancing and would arrive within the next forty-five minutes, I had to banish those thoughts from my mind. It was time to focus on winning the battle in the here and now first. I could worry about the aftermath once I'd actually won. I commed over to our artillery post, set up on the ridgeline leading into the Groaning Peaks Mountains, and gave them the go-ahead to begin phase one of the battle plan. The Long Toms and Snipers boomed out, belching a cloud of Thunder Shells that would lay mines directly in the path of the enemy advance.

We'd had the location zeroed-in in advance, forcing the enemy to advance over our artillery-laid minefield, go through the rugged terrain of the foothills, where we had another surprise for them, or bridge the lake that gave Kallinlaella its name, which translated to net town in Finnish, thanks to the fishing nets that would be laid in the lake to provide much of the town's early food supply, back in the days before the Ziegensdadt Terrace Farms were up and running. With that done, we settled down to proceed with the next part of phase one.

We just needed the enemy to arrive first for that to happen. . .

XXXX

Captain Trystan Llewelyn was the commander of the Recon Company of the First Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Insect Brigade. The third son of a Minor Baron from Colchester in the Federated Suns, the sum total of his inheritance was his Stinger-Three-G, ten thousand C-Bills, and a Mechwarrior's education. Somehow, he'd managed to parlay that into a fairly successful career as a mercenary, signing up with the Insect Legion and rising through the ranks. He'd come pretty far, going from a simple Mechwarrior to a Captain, and he hadn't gotten so far by ignoring his gut instincts. Right now, his gut instincts were telling him that something was up.

"Captain Llewelyn, what's the hold-up?" Came the Voice of his Superior, Major Nicole Silber, in command of First Battalion, over the comms unit.

"Something doesn't feel right." Informed Trystan.

"Elaborate." Prodded Major Silber, the slight German accent betraying her Lyran Origins.

"Up ahead is a perfect choke point, with the lake on one side and the foothills leading into the mountains on the other, but I'm not seeing any enemies here. I have to wonder why that is. My hunch is that it's some kind of trap." Explained Trystan.

"Hold tight, Captain. I'm relaying your hunch to command. Maybe we can go around the lake." Answered Major Silber.

"Will do." Confirmed Trystan.

"Cap? You smell a trap?" Came the voice of Lieutenant Barnaby Jones, another of the officers in the Recon Company.

"If it is, none of our Stingers or Wasps are going to be able to deal with it." Commed Back Trystan.

"So we're not moving ahead then?" Questioned Jones.

"Not till we hear back from Command. The Major's trying to get command to agree to go around the lake and come at Kallinlaella from the west." Hedged Trystan. They waited for ten minutes before Major Silber's voice came back over the comms unit. It wasn't the news that Trystan was hoping for, though.

"That's a negative, Captain. The Client wants us to hit Kallinlaella as quickly as possible, so going around is no good. You're to head through the choke point and try and see if we can't spring the trap. I'm moving the assault company up to hit any enemies that pop up." Relayed Major Silber.

"So we're bait, then?" Frowned Trystan.

"Afraid so, Captain. Stand by while Captain Sanders arrives with the Assault Company then proceed as ordered." Intoned Major Silber.

"Fucking pirates, I knew we shouldn't have taken this contract." Grumbled Trystan.

"Better than facing down the Sword of Light on Kirchbach. Plus, we might actually get some Star League-era salvage." Pointed out Jones.

"Maybe." Admitted Trystan.

Twenty Minutes later, Captain Ty Sanders and his Assault Company made their way up the line to them. Like all mechs in the Insect Brigade's Four Mech Battalions, they piloted bug mechs, though the Assault Companies had relatively heavier Scorpions and Cicadas. They were still bug mechs, though, and thus not great. Not for the first time was Trystan soured on the theme of their Mercenary Command. Granted it was mostly out of a lack of funds, but that was what this contract was supposed to begin fixing. He still hoped he was just being paranoid about the trap, though. Unfortunately, there was nothing for it. They had to spring the trap and hope Sanders' Company could pull them out once it was sprung.

As the Recon Company moved forward, they did so slowly. For a few moments, nothing happened, and Trystan began to wonder if his paranoia was just that. Then Jason Forrest's Locust stepped on a mine and went up in a massive explosion, proving to Trystan that his paranoia was founded after all.

"It's a minefield! Everyone hold position!" Ordered Trystan.

The Recon company did so, stopping their march in their tracks while they tried to figure out a way to get out of the minefield they were now in without any more casualties. They could try jump jets, but they had four other Locusts in their Company who had no Jump Jets, so that wouldn't work unless they were willing to sacrifice almost half the company. Unfortunately, holding position to figure out how to escape their predicament was the wrong move and played right into the enemy's hands. Trystan heard a ripple of thunder from a few kilometers up ahead.

Then the sky fell down on them with fire and smoke. . .

XXXX

Colonel Hannah Kelly watched as the enemy blundered right into the mine and artillery trap that the Baron had ordered laid down. She took a long toke on a joint to steady her nerves at the sight of two whole mech companies getting chewed up in a storm of destruction. Technically, she shouldn't have it with her in the cockpit, but Hannah hadn't ever really cared too much about regulations. She came from a long line of folks who didn't give a shite what the regulations were so long as they could get things done. It was what'd gotten her Grandad drummed out of the St John Militia and thrown in a Drac Penal Camp for a decade. The family had moved out to the periphery after his release. As she exhaled and watched the show, she could only say one thing.

"Better them than us." She nodded.

Her Regiment, the Fourth Baronial Guards, was waiting in the foothills to spring an ambush on anyone trying to bypass the trap by going through the foothills. Tomas Kadlec and his Third Baronial Guards were with her, acting as her reserve to lend firepower to her in the event of a major dust-up. The Baron himself along with Colonels Frankowski and Lindqvist were waiting on the other side of Kalin Lake, with Colonels El-Fadil and Oivo back in Kallinlaella as the strategic reserve. As she watched two companies get chewed up by mines and artillery fire, Hannah reckoned she wouldn't have to wait long for an attempt to bypass the trap. She'd be proven right not half an hour later as a company of mixed Light and Medium Bug Mechs, along with Combat Vehicles and Mechanized Infantry steered its way off the road and into the foothills.

"Tomas, are you seeing this?" Hannah called Colonel Kadlec over the Comms.

"I am. It's just like what happened in Immortal Warrior Two with the Ambush on Icar." Answered Colonel Kadlec.

"You and your Holovid Obsession." Chuckled Hannah.

"Hey, it's a better way to pass the time than drinking." Offered Colonel Kadlec.

"I guess. Wait, here they come. Let's light 'em up!" Grinned Hannah.

As her Rampage sighted down on a Cicada trying to navigate the rugged terrain of the foothills, she squeezed off a round from her Gauss Rifle, the Ferro-Nickel Slug coring the struggling Bug Mech and causing it to light up like a Christmas tree. That proved to be the signal for the rest of her and Tomas' Regiments to fire away. Infantry popped up out of concealed positions to fire anti-vehicle rockets at enemy APCs, even as tanks engaged enemy Tanks and Mechs traded fire with each other. It was a complete massacre, the enemy not expecting another trap so soon. Hannah took out another enemy Mech herself before the enemy had lost all of its mechs and forced her to switch to targeting enemy combat vehicles.

By the end of the first hour of the Second Battle of Kallinlaella, between the artillery and mine trap and the regiments waiting in the hills, a full regiment of the Insect Brigade had ceased to be, existing only on paper and in what few combat vehicles and APCs could escape the trap. On their end, they'd only lost around a half-dozen combat vehicles destroyed or damaged, a platoon's worth of infantry casualties, and one Dragoon Heavy Mech crippled by concentrated enemy fire from three separate enemy Mechs. Bad luck, that, but the pilot, Lieutenant Birgitte Klingspor, would live. She ejected before she could take any serious wounds herself, and the Star League Era Medical Tech the Baron had dug up somewhere would see her right as rain soon enough. The next attack would be two regiments trying to force the hills, even as another two regiments would try to go around Lake Kalin where the Baron waited.

The Second Battle of Kallinlaella was only just beginning. . .

XXXX

We'd been fighting for two hours, largely against Mercenaries. Our range advantage had held up well so far, but it seemed like Redjack Ryan was using his Mercenaries as a cover to close the range. We'd taken casualties, and not just among infantry or armored vehicles either. We'd lost a Rampage destroyed and the pilot, Lieutenant Sternberg, to LRM Fire from two Orions in Monk's Marauders colors and a Griffin piloted by Sergeant Halla to a PPC Salvo from a Warhammer in the same colors. Two Dragoons had been crippled as well, though their pilots had managed to eject with only minor wounds. I'd managed to destroy the Warhammer with my Gauss Rifle and the Orions had been bullseyed by Major Rekola and Colonel Lindqvist in their rampages, but the losses still stung.

Eventually, however, we'd managed to push back the assault, taking out enough of their forces that the Monk's Marauders were down to a single battalion of effective combined arms troops. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the onslaught, as a renewed assault took place not twenty minutes later, forcing us to fall back to the boulder field just west of Kallinlaella.

I growled as I janked to the side around a pair of the large boulders we'd dragged down from the mountains to provide cover for an attack around the western side of Lake Kalin. There wasn't a whole lot of natural cover in this area so we'd had to make our own as part of the fortification efforts. So far, it was proving pretty damned useful. As the LRM fire slammed into the boulders, causing plumes of rock dust and debris to fly up, I couldn't help but thank my luck that Redjack Ryan had taken his sweet-ass time to get over here. Five days afforded us a lot of boulders, after all, and as these two crumbled to dust in front of me, I moved to another pair, firing a three-round burst from my Gauss Rifle at the enemy as I did so. One of my rounds went wide, but the other two struck a Clint dead center, coring the reactor.

I was back around cover as the response came in, another LRM Salvo from an Enemy Catapult. Thankfully, as my new cover crumbled, it took a trio of Gauss Rifle Rounds from three of Major Rekola's Rampages from Alpha Battalion of the First Baronial Guards. I popped out of cover and squeezed off a burst of armor-piercing Ultra Autocannon rounds that shredded an enemy Commando as it tried to hit me with its medium laser. Its shot went wide as it was riddled with Armor-Piercing Rounds, scoring a glancing hit on my shoulder armor, but doing little real damage. It stopped for a few moments before toppling over, dead. I slid into my new cover as a PPC Beam slammed into it from a Griffin painted in red and orange.

I recognized that Griffin as belonging to Pers Stromsky, one of Redjack Ryan's Lieutenants. Had the First Ryan's Rebels finally taken the field after throwing their mercenaries at us like chaff? I didn't have time to think about it before the PPC destroyed my Cover, forcing me to dodge by flying up with my Jump Jets. As the beam continued on underneath me, just barely missing me before it cut off, I sighted down on Stromsky with my Ultra Autocannon. I squeezed off a burst of rounds at him, but he janked to the side, taking the hits to his Griffin's left arm, chewing it up into useless metal.

As I landed, he fired his PPC at me and I was forced to try desperately to dodge. Twisting my mech sideways, I succeeded in taking the PPC beam as a glancing hit to my front armor, scoring a line across my front that broke off Ferro-Fibrous Armor plating to expose the Endosteel beneath. Another hit there would be bad, so I moved to finish this, squeezing off a Gauss Rifle round that struck Stromsky's Griffin at point-blank range, piercing into his reactor and causing a massive explosion that I just barely jumped away from with my Jump Jets, landing behind more boulders.

Another PPC Beam crashed into my new Cover, this time from a Banshee in purple and blue colors. Abel Karmak, another of Redjack Ryan's Cronies had that model and paint scheme. Instead of repeating what I tried with Pers Stromsky, this time, I dodged to the right, around the boulder even as it crumbled to Karmak's PPC. I charged Karmak, using a hail of Ultra Autocannon rounds to force him to break off his attack. He dodged to the right and fired off his own autocannon at me, but my side armor took the hits from the smaller, standard autocannon like a champ. It allowed me to turn and fire my Gauss Rifle into his Banshee at point-blank range coring the cockpit and killing Karmak inside his mech.

I was almost immediately struck by a beam from a medium laser and a trio of standard autocannon rounds. The blows finished the job that Abel Karmak started on my right side armor, exposing the Endosteel beneath before I backpedaled away hastily. A VL-Two-T Vulcan Medium Battlemech in green and yellow paint had struck the blow. Wormmel Hide, formerly of the Oriente Fusiliers had that mech in those colors, yet another of Redjack Ryan's Cronies. I fired off my Gauss rifle at Wormmel's Mech only for the smaller profile of the mech and Wormmel's skill to allow him to dodge. As he turned to fire off another salvo that would do actual damage to my Highlander, he got off a shot with his medium laser, burning into my Endosteel chassis and forcing the CASE on my Gauss Rifle Ammo Storage into action. However, I fired my Ultra-Autocannon. Wormmel broke off his attack to avoid the armor-piercing rounds, but I managed to hit him with my Medium Laser, striking his Mech's flamer and igniting the propellant.

The explosion blew his Mech in half and sent my Highlander careering back into one of the remaining boulders we'd placed for cover. Fortunately, between my kills of his three lieutenants, and the First and Second Regiments beating back his other forces, Redjack Ryan seems to have had enough, retreating as the third hour of combat began. My Highlander was a mess, with broken armor, a carbon-scored chassis, the ammo Storage for my Gauss Rifle forcibly ejected, and frayed mymoer in my right side. My Highlander was going to need repairs after this and it wasn't the only mech that would.

I rotated back into Kallinlaella and let Colonel El-Fadil take Colonel Frankowski's place on the line while Colonel Oivo took Colonel Kadlec's place on the line. Both the First and Third Baronial Guards had suffered the most casualties of the fighting, with the Third being down by roughly a fifth of its mechs destroyed or crippled and the First having lost roughly a sixth of its mechs to similar levels of destruction. Losses of infantry and combat vehicles were on a roughly similar scale. We'd return to the rear for refitting while the others took our place.

Combat continued for another hour, and I received reports the whole time, but the battle was effectively winding down. We'd destroyed the bulk of five regiments of mercenaries in the battle, between the traps and hard fighting. The Survivors could muster maybe two regiments of troops altogether after this, and they would be light on mechs. Meanwhile, Ryan's Rebels had lost a full fifth of its fighting strength, including three of Redjack Ryan's chief subordinates. I'd call that a victory, even if the loss of so many pilots felt like it was a defeat. Now we just had to wait and see whether Agnar Haggerty would prove true to form and try to stab his Liege in the Back.

If he did, then this campaign was all but over. . .

XXXX

Agnar Haggerty hadn't been expecting Ryan to get thrashed so badly, but he'd planned for just such an occasion. After all, he wasn't really one of Redjack Ryan's anyway, and Hendrik Grimm had told him that he'd had his eye on the Poniatowski Boy as a potential husband for Princess Ella. If it looked like the Poniatowski Boy was going to win, which it definitely did at this point, then King Hendrik wanted Agnar to deliver Ryan to the Poniatowski Boy, or failing that, figure out a way to get his troops off Butte Hold and Back to Oberon Six intact. Redjack Ryan was too paranoid these days for him to slip anything into his drink, so that left the second option of getting the Hell off the planet.

Accordingly, Agnar had only engaged briefly and only on the flank in the Foothills of the Groaning Peaks, just doing enough damage that Ryan wouldn't get wise before falling back to the reserves. It'd been a damned good thing he hadn't engaged at the Lakeside Fight too. Word was that Stromsky, Hide, and Karmak had engaged the Poniatowski Boy in duels during the fighting and all of them had gotten killed for their trouble. Word was that with Ivy dead or captured and Stromsky, Karmak, and Hide killed in battle, Redjack Ryan had promoted Tsang to the position of Baron. Tsang wasn't exactly the most competent, piloting a Grasshopper was about all he could do on the battlefield, but he was better than the Clint Pilots that Ryan Could've promoted.

"No, that's not true. He could've promoted me." Muttered Agnar to himself.

That only strengthened Agnar's resolve. It showed that Ryan no longer trusted anyone outside of the First Ryan's Rebels. Of course, it helped that the remaining Mercenaries were complaining about the losses they'd taken thanks to Ryan's tactics of sending them in first to soak up enemy fire so the rest of the force could close the range. On the one hand, Agnar saw the value, the extreme range the Poniatowski Boy's Mechs fired at was the biggest advantage he had over Ryan's Rebels. On the other hand, doing it this way basically forced the Mercs into a state of near mutiny.

At that, Agnar realized he had a way to accomplish the first goal that King Hendrik wanted him to do. All he'd need was to push the mercenaries just a bit and they'd mutiny. He'd have his men start a rumor that Ryan wasn't actually planning to pay them the rest of their pay thanks to their supposed poor performance. Then he and his men would slip back to Singlestown where their Transport, the Overlord-class Dropship Buccaneer's Pride was docked, then try and run the blockade past the Poniatowski Fleet and get to Butte Hold six, where they had a Tramp-class JumpShip, the Wayfarer powered down on that Iceball waiting for them to make a break for the pirate point.

If they got caught by the fleet, they could always tell the Poniatowski Fleet Commander the truth, that they were a secret fifth column for Hendrik Grimm in Butte Hold, and that they were under orders to sabotage Ryan's defense of the Planet. Maybe they'd be grateful enough to let them go back to Oberon Six, and even if they weren't, odds were that the Poniatowski wouldn't want to piss off King Hendrik so soon after fighting Ryan and Maria Morgraine. He had to consolidate his new planets sometime, and Ryan's ultimatum hadn't left him a whole lot of time to do it in, after all. First, though, Agnar needed to start the rumors with the Mercenaries.

It worked like a charm. Within twelve hours, the remnants of the Insect Brigade, Monk's Marauders, and Mariadoc's Malcontents were fighting the remnants of the First Ryan's Rebels around twelve kilometers south of Raider's Roost. They hadn't even waited until they arrived at Raider's Roost before mutinying. For his part, Agnar Haggerty and his men slipped away to Singlestown and were about to head back to Oberon Six. It could be at the hands of either the Poniatowski Boy or the Mercenaries, but one way or another, Redjack Ryan was finished.

And Agnar Haggerty wouldn't be there when he fell. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, the battle was the toughest yet, tough enough that we can actually see percentages of regiments as casualties on Jozef's Part. Of course, the enemy got hit a lot worse than that, but it's still a lot more than any casualties Jozef had experienced in any battle previously. The Mercenaries, meanwhile, got their shit rocked because of Redjack Ryan using them as essentially meat shields for his own forces. Five Regiments of Mercenaries went into the traps and ambushes set by Jozef and only two came out. They were already close to just saying fuck it, we tried, and pleading their case with the Mercenary Review Board that they did the best they were able under the circumstances. That was before Agnar Haggerty began playing the rumor game.

Now, Redjack Ryan is suffering a Mercenary Revolt and has Jozef coming up from the south to finish him off, all while Agnar Haggerty takes his men and tries to get off-world while he can, banking on his hidden Jumpship near the pirate point and his docked Dropship on the planet to get him there. If that doesn't work, he plans to tell Commodores about his real boss being Hendrik Grimm, and his orders to fuck over Redjack Ryan to try and get them to let him go. We'll see how well that works in a bit.

The next chapter will be a brief interlude showing that and also showing Commodore Singh, as we see how he took Sigurd for New Ålborg. Then we'll be back with Jozef for the wrap-up to the War.

Stay tuned. . .