(c)1991 Craig A. Reed Jr. and Robert Madson

Snake Dance
by
Lt. Gordon R. Wozniak

You've heard people talking about where they were when the
Clans first hit. You've heard the wild stories about single
pilots in Stingers taking down Clan heavies. You've heard
the stories of single Clan 'Mechs devastating Inner Sphere
companies. Well, some of it's true, and I saw a lot of it.
You would have too, if you were with the Headhunters.

Mallory's Headhunters are the house regiment of House
Mallory, a small holding in the Federated Suns. Officially,
we're stationed on Antietam, but I haven't seen Antietam in
over a year. We specialize in anti-piracy tactics,
counterinsurgency, and dirty jobs nobody else wants. Not
many people have heard of us, and that's just the way we
want it.

When the Clans hit, Second Battalion was assigned to Toland,
a cold, dry world on the edge of Rasalhague space. The
locals had been complaining of pirate raids, and we were
detailed to handle the situation. What we got, though, was
not a normal pirate raid in any way.

A regiment of the 12th Star Guards had been assigned to
cover the capital city. Our assignment was at the planet's
biggest mining complex, about 40 klicks to the north. We
figured the mines would be the primary target, but the
Guards commander thought the city needed more protection. In
any case, we figured we were more than a match for any
raiding party.

The first sign that something was wrong was when the
Aerojocks went up to repel the enemy Dropships and came back
with their tails between their legs.

The second sign was when the raiders called from orbit to
ask who was on the planet. The Guards commander thought this
was funny, and transmitted his entire force roster just to
show the pirates what kind of trouble they'd jumped into.
When Major Ryan, our battalion commander, got the same
message, he told the raiders where they could put their
request. We figured the raiders would get all the
information they would ever need when we pounded them into
scrap.

About 0900, word came that raider 'Mechs had been spotted 10
klicks south of the capital. Major Ryan sent Charlie Company
to observe and report. We clustered around the
communications tent to hear the news as the Guards closed on
their targets. The raiders had put down about a battalion
and a half against an entire regiment. With that kind of
mismatch, we figured the Guards would get a light workout
and be back in town celebrating in an hour.

Boy, were we ever wrong.

By 0930, the Guards had been pushed back into the city. By
0945, everybody in the city was either dead or running for
his life, including the Guards. Our Charlie Company had
gotten caught up in the battle covering a retreating Guards
unit, and had lost four 'Mechs and two pilots for its
trouble.

About 1015, Charlie Company and the remains of a Guard
battalion straggled into camp. After they were sorted out,
Captain "Happy" Hart, our company CO, walked over to our
lance's parking area, her usual scowl on her face.

"Lieutenant Wozniak!" she barked.

"What's up, Happy?" I queried.

Happy's scowl got even deeper. She's a good commander, but
her sense of humor is like Takashi Kurita with a toothache.

"Charlie Company's recon lance lost its lieutenant and lance
sergeant. The Major's borrowing Sergeant Johnson from your
lance to take over Charlie Recon."

I was silent for a moment. I'd known Hansen and Flynn pretty
well, and I'd grieve for them later. For now, though, their
loss had left a hole in the command structure, and Johnson
was the best man to fill it. I wasn't happy to lose him from
my lance, but I could see the need.

"Johnson's doing maintainence on his 'Mech. I'll go get
him," I said.

"No, I will," replied Hart sharply. "You've got a mission
briefing in five minutes." She strode off toward the
maintenance area, and I rounded up Mikki and Tony, the other
members of my lance.

The mission briefing was given by Major Ryan himself.
"According to the Guard survivors, some of their units
withdrew into the Remagen Canyon to regroup. The Guard
Dropships are relocating to our position to pick up
survivors, but they aren't sure they can contact all of
their remaining units. Your mission is to search the canyon
for survivors and lead them here."

"Are we bugging out?" I asked with a surprised tone in my
voice.

"Yes, we are. Our opponents obviously are not a normal
raiding party. They appear to have superior weaponry and are
well organized. The fact that they inflicted enormous losses
on an entire regiment of the Star Guards means that we would
have little or no chance against them." I could see in the
Major's face how much he hated the idea of running from a
fight. "We will do more good by retreating and warning the
Commonwealth of this threat than we will by dying in a
useless defense. We will leave the planet at 1500. You have
roughly four hours to complete your mission and return. We
can't wait any longer than that."

"Can the Aerospace guys help us search?" asked Tony.

"Negative. We have to conserve our remaining fighters to
cover our retreat." The Major made "retreat" sound like a
four-letter word.

"What are our rules of engagement?"

"We believe there may be raider forces in the canyon
attempting to hunt down the remaining Guard units. Avoid
combat if possible. Remember that your primary mission is
search-and-rescue."

As we returned to our 'Mechs, Happy had one final comment.

"Remember, the Major defined this as a search-and-rescue
mission. Avoid combat if possible. If not possible, avoid it
anyway. IS THAT CLEAR?"

I have an undeserved reputation for getting into trouble.
"Roger, Captain, will do. Save us a seat on the Dropship,
huh?" Hart decided my comment wasn't worth a reply, and she
stalked away. I strapped into my 'Mech and switched the
tacomm to the lance channel.

"Tony, Mikki, are you ready for this fishing expedition?"

"Roger, Woz," was Mikki's reply.

"Lead on, Boss," said Tony.

We moved out to the southeast. Although we were a 'Mech
short, we were still the best unit for this kind of mission,
a search-and-rescue in hostile territory. Our Rattlesnake
'Mechs look like normal Jenners. Inside, though, they're
stuffed full of high-tech upgrades. They have almost twice
the armor and firepower of a Jenner, and they're even more
maneuverable. We could cover a lot of ground fast, and deal
with almost anything that might try to stop us. We weren't
looking for trouble, but no matter what Captain Sandra
"Happy" Hart thought, we were ready to make trouble for
anyone who wanted it.

Twenty minutes later, we entered the Ramagen Canyon. The
Canyon is a dry riverbed, and one of the great tourist spots
on the planet. It's not quite as big as the Grand Canyon on
Terra, but searching it one valley at a time is still a long
and painful process.

We'd been winding our way between the sheer granite walls
for nearly an hour when Mikki's voice came over the tacomm.

"I've got a moving MAD contact at 10 o'clock, range 2500,
and it's a BIG one!"

"IFF reading?"

"Negatory, Woz. If it's one of ours, he's not advertising
the fact."

"Might be one of the locals, but it could be a hostile.
Let's check it out. Mikki, behind me; Tony, you take the
rear."

"Roger."

"Rog."

We closed cautiously with the contact. At about 1000 meters,
we came to the mouth of yet another box canyon, much like
the dozens of others we'd already checked. The floor of the
canyon was uneven, with small clumps of tired-looking trees
growing between rock-strewn patches. The canyon was about
1000 meters long, with jagged 200-meters cliffs on either
side, and an even taller cliff at the far end. We'd seen the
same features over and over again.

The thing that made this canyon different was the 'Mech at
the far end. A chill ran down my spine as my battle computer
confirmed what I'd already guessed--this 'Mech wasn't
anything I or anyone else had ever seen before.

It was scanning the walls, as if it was looking for
something. It had a podlike body, like a Stalker, with an
armored shield over the top and a missile rack on the left
shoulder. The heavy forearms had multiple gunbarrels instead
of hands, and the legs bent backward like a Marauder's.

Tony said it all: "What in blazes is THAT!?"

"I don't know," Mikki said, "but I wouldn't want to meet it
in a dark alley."

"I've got news for you," I replied, as I activated my
targeting system and gun cameras. "That's what we're doing
right now."

"Boss, you always did look at the bright side of things,"
came Tony's response.

"Can the chatter for now. Spread out, pattern Delta."

Mikki started edging her 'Mech toward the left wall of the
canyon. "We're not going to have a lot of room to maneuver
in here, Woz."

"It's the best way to go up against heavy armor," I replied.
"We'll have to substitute cover for distance." As Mikki
continued her move on my left and Tony mirrored it on my
right, I switched my tacomm to the company channel.

"Bravo Leader, this is Rattler Leader requesting immediate
assistance. One enemy assault 'Mech of unknown design
trapped in a box canyon. I'm transmitting video over the
data channel. Please acknowledge, over!"

Happy's voice came over the speakers. Even through the heavy
static I could hear the resignation in her tone. "Rattler
Leader, this is Bravo Leader. Roger on receiving video. We
are not in position to support you. Reinforcements cannot
arrive in under two-zero minutes. You're on your own."

"Understood, Bravo Leader," I replied. I didn't really
expect any help, but it doesn't hurt to ask. I switched my
tacomm back to the lance channel.

Just then, the 'Mech at the end of the canyon turned to face
us, its arms bringing their weapons to bear on us. We stared
at each other for a few seconds, each side sizing up the
other. Then, without warning, a gravelly, distorted voice
came over our supposedly secure tacomm.

"I am Corlin of the Jade Falcons. Who do I have the honor of
meeting in combat?"

Tony's muffled curse told me that I wasn't hearing things.
How could this guy tap into our scrambled communications? I
took a couple of seconds to recover my wits and decided to
play by the book for a change.

"This is Lieutenant Gordon Wozniak of Mallory's Headhunters.
Deactivate your weapons and open your canopy, or we will be
forced to open fire."

Even with the distortion, I could hear the contempt in the
raider's voice as he replied, "I do not yield so easily,
Lieutenant. Prepare to defend yourselves!"

"Switch to scramble India, guys," I called into the tacomm.
India is our "unauthorized" lance channel. We use it when we
don't want our own side to know what we're doing. Hopefully,
the raider only had our standard unit scrambles and wouldn't
be able to break this one right away. I punched the new code
into the tacomm. "This guy not only has our scramble codes,
he's got a serious attitude problem. What do you think we
should do about him?"

"Happy told us to stay out of trouble," said Mikki. "But
then again, when have we ever been able to stay out of
trouble?"

"I don't think we should just walk away from this," replied
Tony. "After what they did to Hansen and Flynn, I'm not in
the mood to let some self-important assault jockey
intimidate us."

"It's your call, Woz. Do we take him?" asked Mikki.

I bit my lip and thought for a second. The MAD gave this
guy's mass at 100 tons, and the invaders were ton-for-ton
nastier than anything we'd ever run into before. Our
Rattlesnakes were worlds better than standard Jenners, but I
had almost decided that discretion was the better part of
valor when the other guy made our decision for us. A flight
of LRMs ripped out of the launcher on the raider's shoulder.
Although the missiles fell far short, they made his
intentions clear.

"Mikki, Tony, if anyone asks, remember he shot first. If
this guy wants a fight, he chose the wrong people to have it
with. Let's take him!"

We tore down the canyon at full speed, Tony hugging the
right wall, Mikki the left, and me charging right up the
middle. Delta is our favorite tactic for taking on big
'Mechs. The idea is basically to avoid giving the enemy a
shot at any single target for more than a few seconds. As
one 'Mech draws the enemy's fire, the others go for the weak
back armor. Done right, Delta means that at least one 'Mech
will have a back shot all the time. It isn't the ideal way
to fight in a canyon, but we didn't have time to develop new
tactics.

The raider wasn't much for fancy tactics either. He came at
us head-on, as if he expected to crush one of us with a
single volley. With a standard Jenner, that might work. This
guy wouldn't be the first one, though, to be surprised by a
Rattlesnake's armor.

As I closed, I could make out the insignia on the 'Mech's
chest: a green bird holding a sword in its talons. The ID
computer came up with zip on the insignia. I had just enough
time to register that fact before a barrage of laser fire
erupted from the raider's Mech.

This guy might have been arrogant, but he was good enough to
back it up. At 600 meters, he didn't have much of a chance
to hit a target moving at 80 klicks an hour. Still, the
lasers flashing all around me were way too close for
comfort. "Watch out!" I called, as I launched my 'Mech into
a 200-meter jump that took me out of the line of fire. "This
guy's almost as good as he thinks he is!"

"I see it, Boss," replied Tony as he finished his end run
and begin to approach the raider from behind.

"Me too," said Mikki, as she mirrored Tony's move on the
other side.

The raider turned to keep his weapons aimed at me, but his
move exposed his rear armor to Tony's fire. Armor vaporized
from the left arm, but there was no obvious damage.

Instinctively, the raider turned toward the immediate
threat. By turning toward Tony, though, the raider had left
his back exposed to Mikki. More armor puffed, this time from
the right leg. Then it was my turn.

Rattlesnakes are heavily armored for light 'Mechs, but they
aren't designed for stand-up fights with assault 'Mechs,
especially one that has more firepower than any two Atlases.
My job was to get in the enemy's face and distract him while
my lancemates chewed on him from behind. With a bit of luck,
I might survive. With a lot of luck, I might even do some
damage.

The raider swiveled toward me, took one step forward, and
then the world lit up like a nova, his laser barrage backed
up by autocannons. My canopy quickly polarized, but not fast
enough to keep me from being dazzled by the glare. I slammed
down on the jump jet controls and the laser triggers in the
same convulsive motion and vectored to the right, landing
heavily. A quick scan of the monitors showed heavy damage to
my 'Mech's left arm and torso, but no malfunctions. Tony's
voice cut through the static.

"You all right, Boss?"

"Nothing hurt but my pride. You take decoy. I'll work on him
from here."


"Roger. I'll...Mikki, break left!"

The raider had turned his attention toward Mikki. As she
dodged to the left, he triggered another massive laser
volley, throwing in the LRMs for good measure. Mikki avoided
the worst of it. Even so, enough connected to strip the
armor off her right leg and torso.

"I'm still ticking," called Mikki, before either of us could
react. To prove her point, she triggered a retaliatory
salvo. Four of her lasers scored, cutting deep into the
damaged armor on the raider's right leg.

I moved forward and triggered all my lasers as the raider
reacted to Mikki's fire. Five of my shots chewed deep into
the raider's torso, but not in time to prevent him from
firing a second volley at Mikki. This time she was ready and
jumped clear.

"Tony! Keep him busy!" I yelled as I pushed my 'Mech to full
speed. "Try to cover me, I'm going to do something really
stupid." From the front, this bogey could ace any of us in
three volleys. So far, though, he hadn't fired anything to
the rear. Maybe he didn't have anything back there to
fire--I was about to find out the hard way.

I ran my Rattlesnake right up behind the guy; I couldn't
have been more than 10 meters away. At this range, he was
even uglier from the back than from the front, but nothing
shot at me. As Tony dodged yet another volley, I triggered
every weapon I had. If I had a slingshot, I would have fired
it, too. Eight eye-searing beams lanced from my 'Mech into
the bogey's rear, cutting jagged holes through layers of
torso armor and into its vitals.

There are few mobile objects that can ignore that kind of
damage, and this 'Mech wasn't one of them. He tried to spin
around and shoot at me, but one of my shots must have
creased his gyro. He managed to turn about halfway, then
staggered forward half a step, trying desperately to turn
his back away from me and stay standing at the same time.
Tony's Rattler came flashing in, adding his lasers to the
barrage, and Mikki added some more. The raider scored a
couple of hits on Tony, but then the raider must have lost
it. He started firing wildly, sending shots in every
direction, but not hitting anything but the canyon walls.

I screamed into the tacomm, "We've got him! Go for the
damaged leg!" as I slammed another volley onto his back.
Mikki and Tony fired almost simultaneously, carving deep
furrows through the damaged armor on the raider's legs. This
time, he couldn't keep control, and the enemy 'Mech
collapsed onto its face, sending a cloud of dust into the
air.

As we closed in for the kill, a hatch popped open on the
head of the raider Mech, and the pilot jumped out, landing
hard in a pile of rocks. He slowly climbed to his feet, his
hands raised in surrender. As we moved in to cover him, just
as the tension of battle was starting to ease, our MAD
detectors lit up with multiple targets, no more than 300
meters away, directly behind us.

The three of us spun as one to face the new threat. It took
us several seconds to realize that the 'Mechs at the canyon
mouth weren't an avenging group of raiders. These 'Mechs we
recognized, and underneath the maze of scorch marks and
battle damage on their armor we could make out the Star
Guards insignia. A heavily-scarred Thunderbolt stepped
forward, and a clipped voice came over the general
frequency.

"I say, we seemed to have missed all the fun. Might I
inquire which of you chaps is Leftenant Wozniak?"

"That would be me," I replied as I tripped my IFF beacon.
"And who are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah. I'm Major Lethbridge, in command of what remains of the
Yorkshire Battalion, Twelfth Star Guards. Your Captain
Hart--delightful lady, I must say--informed us that you
might be in a spot of trouble. I'm frightfully sorry we're
late; the echos from the cliffs confused the signal from
your transponders and we were misled into the wrong canyon.
I'm delighted to see that our help was not required, but
rather disappointed that you've finished without us."

"Sorry," I responded. "Our friend here doesn't seem to want
to play anymore."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. The lads and I were quite looking
forward to a second go-round with these blighters. He's your
prisoner of course. You'd best accept his surrender before
he changes his mind."

Something about the way this man could keep his sense of
humor in the middle of disaster struck a chord in me. I
decided that the best thing I could do would be give
Lethbridge a chance to meet the enemy as a victor instead of
a victim.

"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me, sir?"

"Delighted, Leftenant."

A tall figure climbed down from the Thunderbolt and walked
to the feet of my 'Mech. As he approached, I saw a older,
gray-haired man with a neatly-trimmed moustache and an air
of command about him. I climbed down to the ground, nodded
to Lethbridge, drew my pistol, and together we walked toward
the prisoner.

He had sat down to wait for us, holding his head in his
hands. As we approached, he raised his head, but made no
attempt to stand. Lethbridge and I stared at him for a
second, glanced at each other, then looked back at our
captive. The pilot of an assault 'Mech, the warrior who had
so coldly challenged us, couldn't have been more than 20
years old!

Apparently, we weren't the only ones surprised. The
prisoner's eyes locked with Lethbridge's, and his jaw
dropped. "Gods above, you are old!" he exclaimed.

"I may not be the picture of youth, but I deserve more
respect than that from a child like yourself," replied
Lethbridge coldly, his joviality vanishing into a glare that
could shatter armor.

I moved forward to divert their attention from each other
and onto me. "In the name of the Federated Commonwealth and
of House Mallory, I require your surrender," I said, quoting
directly (I swear!) from the Headhunter's Code of Military
Conduct.

It was my turn to be stared at. "You are Lieutenant
Wozniak?"

A few good lines ran through my head, but with the state
Major Lethbridge was in I figured I'd better keep playing it
straight. "I am."

He bowed his head slightly to me. "Very well, I surrender to
you. You and your comrades are superior warriors. I hereby
submit myself to your Clan Mallory and their justice."

Meanwhile, Lethbridge had wandered away to cool off and was
looking in the hatch of the enemy 'Mech. "I say, Leftenant,"
he called out. "This machine is remarkable! I've not seen
controls this sophisticated in my entire career!"

At that moment, Tony broke in on my wrist comm. "Woz, Cap'n
Happy is on the line, and she's mad enough to chew through a
DropShip. You'd better let her know what's going on."

"Patch me through, Tony," I replied, keeping my eyes on my
prisoner.

"...olation of direct orders..." came Happy's voice, in its
usual sweet and soothing tones.

"Rattler Leader here, Bravo Leader. Good news; it's
Headhunters one, raiders zip. We have a prisoner and a
mostly-intact enemy 'Mech. Major Lethbridge from the Star
Guards says the 'Mech is something special. Any chance we
can keep it?"

"Wait one, Rattler Leader." After about a minute, Happy came
back on line. "The Major is sending a Dropship to your
location, ETA 22 minutes, to pick up the enemy 'Mech and the
Star Guards. There's enough room for your lance, but after
this stunt, I really don't care if you're aboard when it
takes off. Copy?"

"I copy, Bravo Leader. By the way, Happy, Major Lethbridge
sends his warmest regards." Tony didn't cut the link fast
enough to avoid a few choice words from our fearless leader.

For the next half hour, I had nothing to do but talk to the
prisoner. It turned out his name was Corlin, no last name
(this fact seemed to upset him for some reason). He was from
a unit called the Jade Falcons, but now, since we'd defeated
him, he considered himself part of "Clan Mallory." This was
his first combat mission, and he was upset at himself for
losing to three "overgunned garbage cans," as he described
light 'Mechs in general and our Rattlesnakes in particular.

Well, the DropShip picked us up on schedule and we boosted
outsystem at max thrust all the way. The Headhunters have a
new "special consultant" by the name of Corlin Mallory.
Turns out the 'Mech we fought was a Daishi, and Corlin was
part of the first wave of Clan invaders. We've been making
ourselves a nuisance to the Clans ever since, and we're
shipping out again as soon as we complete
repair-and-resupply.

Ever since that battle, one question has been running
through my mind. Corlin was a first-time pilot, and the
Clans gave him a brand-new assault 'Mech. If these guys are
putting green pilots in assault 'Mechs, what are the
veterans driving?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gordon Ethan Wozniak has been with Mallory's Headhunters for
five years. He was promoted to Senior Lieutenant for his
actions on Toland. The whereabouts of Wozniak, and the
Headhunter's Second Battalion, are currently unknown. They
are believed to be behind Clan lines.