8
"Oh I'm sorry, did I startle you, brother?" The fellow asked. He was a tall very thin man, wearing similar yellow ComStar robes to those I was then wearing, his face was long and boney, with a large somewhat hooked nose, his eyes grey and friendly. I managed to mutter that I had been 'miles away' and waved off his apology hoping he'd just ignore me and change clothes or whatever and then bugger off, however he seemed to want to chat.
"Phew what a day. If we continue to have problems with those Duoteck 195s I'm going to request we get the newer Blakeswerk models ... hey you're new aren't you?" I gulped and tried to avoid turning to face him fully or he'd see my bleeding wound.
"Uhh yeah, just got in today from ... ahh ... London." I'd just pulled that from thin air, as it was one of the few Terran cities I'd remembered much history about, thankfully I'd struck lucky as he smiled warmly.
"Oh really, the good ol'LTTC eh?" My hopelessly blank look clearly confused him a little, but he smiled again and prodded; "The London Technical and Theological College?" I nodded quickly and he whittered away for a minute or two about his own time there; his fond memories of long rides through the ancient streets in the quaint 'black cabs' the Order maintained as a historical curiosity, taking tea and buttered crumpets in cosy little Covent Garden cafes, and his love of the preserved millenia old architecture; Big Ben, the Buckingham Palace Museum, and ComStar's Temple Court Chantry Building. I cursed him silently as he rambled on, but suddenly he stopped and gasped.
"By the Word! You're bleeding brother, are you injured?" The blasted busybody asked in surprise and I instinctively put my hand to the painful cut along my jaw line. My mind raced for an excuse and I mumbled something about having fallen from a repair gantry ladder and grazed my face on a sheet of ceramite plate that had been waiting to be added to one of the 'Mechs.
"That doesn't look like just a graze to me, come along let's take you to the nearest med-centre and get that patched up." I mentally cursed the thoughtful, interfering, swine and then relented and followed him out of the locker room and along the smooth ferrocrete walled corridor into the main hangar once more.
"So brother, I trust the infestation of infidels we are presently enduring, for the furtherance of the Word and the Divine Plan, does not disturb you too greatly?" He asked in a conversational tone as we strode down one of the great avenues, my eyes wide with astounded awe at the countless pristine white painted BattleMechs, which stood as if to attention on either side of us, as we made our way along. I struggled to keep my mind on what he was saying, flabbergasted as I was by what I was seeing.
"Oh ... err ... well no ... err brother ... that is ... well some of the women ain't bad." I realised with a start of fear his face had darkened immediately at that into a frown of what appeared to be annoyed distaste.
"I wouldn't know brother, I'm a Toyamanite." I had no idea at the time what he meant by that, oh of course I was aware that Conrad Toyama had been Blake's fanatic disciple and successor, but beyond that I was in the dark. It occurred to me that not having heard of Toyama having taken a wife, or mistress, old Conrad might have been one of Duncan Marik's type, a pillow biter I mean, so all I could think to say was;
"Oh I see, well each to their own. Consenting adults and all that." At which his frown changed to a baffled expression and he half missed his step, before shaking his head in confusion and then continuing on.
Now, despite the widespread deployment of the ComGuards these days, I would imagine most of you chaps still might be surprised to learn that the ComTech Order, contrary to it's propaganda, is not one big happy family united in it's rituals and beliefs. There are in fact numerous different subsects, factions, cliques, societies and potential splinter groups within it's ranks, all of whom take a slightly, or even radically, different view of the proper interpretation and implementation of the Word of Blake. Some are secret, others open and proud of their beliefs, some tolerated, some persecuted and hunted by ROM. I only really found out about all this some years later, during my time as a member of ComStar during Operation Flush in the early forties. 'Toyamanites', I then learned, are an ultra conservative faction, that believe in strict accordance with the letter of the Word, advocate stern neutrality, a suffocating adherence to the religious rites and practices, and amongst other things complete chastity for it's members.
Other ComStar subsects I later had some dealings with are 'the Shunners', who believe Blake's prophesied apocalypse is imminent and that ComStar should sever all contact with the Inner Sphere at large, retreat to the Sol System and isolate themselves completely from the rest of humanity, until the 'cleansing fires' of the final destruction have swept away the 'unrighteous', who are you and I of course. Then there are the liberal 'Reformists', who believe in a measured reviewing and re-writing, if necessary, of the Word and a softening of ComStar's religious regime generally. There's also the Terran Front, which believes only 'true-born Terrans', who can trace their ancestry four generations back, should be able to become initiated members of ComStar, and that only Terrans deserve to rule ComStar and the Inner Sphere at large. The TF is one of the forbidden sects and tends towards militarist radicalism, worryingly there are plenty of their members serving in the ComGuard across the Sphere today.
Oh and of course there are the so called Knights of Sandhurst, also known as the Holy Order of Sandhurst, a more shadowy group of extreme militarists based as their name suggests in ComStar's foremost military training centre. They are perhaps the worst of all the radical sects, partly because they believe in outright ComStar military intervention across the Inner Sphere, but more importantly because, unknown to most, the present Grand Mistress of the Knights is none other than Primus Myndo Waterly herself. I had some fearsome run-ins with this bunch during my time on Terra during Flush and I can assure you they are a nasty lot, quite ready to kill and murder to forward their insane faux-religion.
All that aside, as I say, back in '28 this was all unknown to me and the only thing was on my mind was getting away from this pompous bloody vicar turned grease-monkey, who was prattling away at me again.
"I was speaking with a Gamma Adept of my acquaintance today," He began, trying once more to make conversation, "And he advised me that the Fundamental Branch have had to rewrite most of the seventh canticle, to cater for so many infidels treading upon the Sacred Heart at one time."
I looked blankly at him and a slow grin spread across his features, I couldn't think why he was smiling, then it occured to me that he must be making some kind of deuced obscure joke, so doing my best I forced myself to laugh out loud. It must have sounded more like a cat being strangled, but he seemed pleased, so I suppose I must have been right...makes you wonder about ComStar humour if that's what they consider a rib-tickler don't it?
I was itching of course to quiz the Tech Adept about the numbers of 'Mechs here, and whether ComStar had other such vast stockpiles, however it seemed very risky to confess not knowing that kind of thing, as it was presumably common knowledge to the Techs who worked here and just the sort of thing I would be expected to know.
"So who did you study under at London?" He asked genially and my belly did a flip. Jerome, but this was the kind of thorny question I'd been dreading. Who knew how much this Tech Adept knew about the staff at this London college, it could be a little or a lot ... I decided to make up a name and pray this guy, who looked as I say to be middle aged and presumably a good way beyond his studying years, would accept it was a tutor who'd arrived recently. However suddenly, at that very moment, a loud male voice bellowed from behind us;
"Hey you two, hold it."
My heart stopped and my blood froze, as my companion and I turned to see three MechWarriors jogging up to us. They were wearing lightweight looking white torsotube cooling vests, over skin-tight blue-white uniforms of a silk like material, their soft-soled boots were apparently made of a composite cooling mesh of some kind, they had personal monitoring systems built into their belts and they carried very compact looking neurohelmets under their arms. All in all they looked to be decked out in at least Star League levels of lostech MechWarrior gear, and I'd have certainly paid very well for one of their helmets alone.
"Here we go, arrogant Epsies I'm afraid, brother." My Toyamanite friend murmured to me as we waited for the trio to catch up to us, he was referring to the ComStar branch designation 'Epsilon' I believe, which is used by their MechWarriors. The three consisted of two young men and a woman, it was the woman, a handsome full breasted gal I registered despite my gut-churning state of terror at the possibility I was about to be revealed, who spoke first as they halted before us.
"You two, we need two
Guillotines and a
Flashman prepped and ready to run in five minutes. We are due to try out in the Atlantis Grotto Gauntlet and we don't want to be late." She spoke in that typically high handed manner we MechWarriors reserve for slovenly Techs and I must say it stung me a bit to be on the receiving end of it for a change. To my suprise however my companion however bristled even more.
"I apologise Acolyte, but as you can surely see our brother in the Mysteries here is injured and I am taking him to Med-Centre East. Duty Master Tech tonight is Adept Zeta IV Kransky, I suggest you consult him about your requirements. Now, we must be on our way. Blake be with you." With that he put his hand on my shoulder and started to steer me away from them, but the MechWarriors were unhappy with that.
"Injured? That looks like just a scratch to me. Why you Techs need to toughen up, if the hallowed day ever comes then you'll likely have to put up with far worse wounds than that." Said one of the men in a French accented voice. His friend agreed;
"That's right, come along now, jump to it and then you can take your casualty there over to the Med Centre." For a moment I thought I might have to try to prep the 'Mechs after all, which wasn't a happy prospect as it would have meant dredging up my very scant and rusty Tech knowledge, however thankfully ComStar military politics were in my favour and my trusty Toyamanite Tech rounded on the MechWarriors, whom I suddenly realised he outranked, and lashed into them;
"Listen you posturing bucket-heads, you may think you're somehow above us in the scale of things, but let me assure you you're not. We are not infidel mechanics to be ordered around by you, we are ComTech Orderial Adepts, initiated into both the Outer and Inner Mysteries, we are proficient in the maintenance and care of these sanctified machines, and without us your most devout supplications and prayers would not rouse them to the furtherance of the Word or the pursuit of the Divine Plan.
Now, if you don't stop pestering us, I'll report you to your commanding Precentor and see to it he gets you transferred to complete your training in the Australian desert ... do you understand me?" The trio looked mighty aggrieved, but the mention of Australia which judging by their appalled expressions must be a hell hole, seemed to give them pause and they muttered under their breath, but turned and stamped off.
It struck me at the time that, even if a Tech strictly speaking outranked a MechWarrior in an Inner Sphere army they'd never have dared speak like that to the vaunted BattleMech pilots. I suppose it's not surprising a technology worshipping cult like ComStar values it's Techs more than the rest of us though.
Anyway, after seeing off the MechWarriors my new friend chuntered away cheerfully, clearly most pleased with himself, until we reached a metal staircase running up the side of the cavern-hangar wall.
"Here you go brother, follow this up to sublevel 1, the highest floor below ground level. I look forward to working with you. The peace of Blake be with you." I smiled back at him, shook his hand.
"And with you brother." With that I was off, after about five minutes of quick progress up the seemingly endless stairs, and naturally having flown straight past the signs for 'sublevel 1', I was out through the ground floor door. The door swung and locked shut behind me, and I walked past two black uniformed security guards, who ignored me beyond a cursory glance ... they were presumably watching for people trying to break into that place, rather than out of it after all.
I soon realised I was in the 'training building' we'd eaten lunch upon the roof of earlier that day, God that seemed like an age ago! I realised I could find my way back to my chalet from here, but first needed to ditch the ComStar robes somewhere they'd not be found any time soon. So I ducked around and down the side of the building and off into the wooded undergrowth to the south, keeping the sea to my left.
* * *
After shedding and burying the yellow robes in a particularly scrubby little wood of oak trees, I darted from bush to bush, trying to keep as low and stealthy as possible, but I was so desperate to get away from that damn 'training building' I was pretty loud I guess. It was in a wooded area near to a low cliff bluff, not far from my chalet, that I hit trouble again, I was crossing a small clearing, desperately casting about for a landmark from which I could navigate my way safely back home, when there came the distinct sound of a twig cracking, as if someone had stood upon it, up ahead of me in the shadows of a stand of oak and pine trees.
Stopping, I squinted desperately into the dark trying to see if anyone was there ... and at that moment a shadowy figure very skilfully swept my legs out from under me from behind and I smashed down onto my back. A boot came down pretty hard onto my throat pinning me painfully in place, the shadowy form of my attacker an ominous black outline against the night sky.
Jesus and Jerome spare me, I sobbed to myself, would this terrible ordeal never end.
"Darius?" My attacker suddenly gasped in a surprised and blessedly familiar voice.
"Morgan? Morgan Kell? Yes Morgan old man, it's me, it's me!" I gasped over and over, as the boot came off me, and Morgan knelt down beside me. Lean, commanding and smiling, Morgan Kell eased me up, he was dressed all in black, his long hair loose, with what looked like black camo paint smeared across his face, though I think it was actually charcoal, his friendly eyes were bright and smiling at me in amazement.
"Good lord Darius, what on Terra are you doing sneaking about out here?" I noted that two other shadowy, black clad, figures were gliding out of the wood where I'd heard the twig snap. Morgan caught my gaze and glanced over his shoulder at them too.
"We've come across a friend, nothing to worry about." He called quietly to them and the two figures seemed to relax a little. I quickly recognised them amazingly to be Jaime Wolf and Yorinaga Kurita! Seeing Morgan was still waiting for me to explain my presence out there, looking beaten up and bleeding from a wound on my face, I took a deep breath to steady my voice and then answered carefully. I didn't think it would put me in good standing with Hanse if I blurted out my amazing intelligence about ComStar's secret 'Mech army in front of a beloved cousin of Takashi Kurita, so I decided to slip into my familiar acting role.
"Ah, it's a little delicate actually Morgan, an affair of honour you might say. Here help me up there old fellow, gosh but that was a nasty move you hit me with, you'll have to teach me that one." Morgan helped me up to my feet, while Jaime leaned in and nodded to me, Yorinaga meanwhile hung back, but I could practically feel those blasted glass like black eyes of his on me.
"Err, if you don't mind me saying so Morgan, Colonel Wolf, I'm more than a little surprised myself to run into you chaps out here ... especially with him." I jabbed a finger at Yorinaga. Morgan shrugged and smiled softly down at me.
"You go first Darius, then I'll fill you in on our story." I affected to consider, then shot a beautifully acted belligerent glance at Yorinaga, before turning back to Morgan and Jaime.
"Well Morgan, so long as it goes no further than us here?" They all nodded, though Yorinaga was watching me with thinly veiled contempt. "So be it, I'm out here, on my way home as it happens, after just having fought a duel against one of that bastard's war criminal comrades." I nodded in Yorinaga's direction and was gratified to see Morgan and Jaime adopt expressions of true surprise.
"I know Morgan, I know, I risked violating the truce and bringing ComStar down upon us in retribution. But ... well blast it all, you don't know what the particular Kuritan savage in question did to me. I couldn't just let it stand, just sit still while Zak- ahh well his name don't factor-, just sit still while he sips champagne, makes small talk and dances with the ladies, like he was a civilised man like you or I.
Besides he was as keen as I was, so the risk to the truce don't really stand. We were both guilty. Though naturally I'll understand if you report me to Hanse, I knew the risks when I arranged the affair. My honour has been satisfied. I'll happily face the music." Morgan and Jaime both shook their heads in what looked to me like amused resignation, Wolf spoke first;
"Darius you're the damnedest hothead I ever met. I take it you won, with that new cut there to add to your romantic image?" I nodded, glancing at Yorinaga's black shape at the edge of the clearing.
"Well I won yes, I suppose you could say that. Though the bugger ain't dead, he'll just be limping for some time to come." Morgan breathed in relief at that;
"Good, then no real harm done. We shall say no more about having come across Darius out here. Agreed
Tai-sa Kurita?" Yorinaga didn't stir, but his calm voice came out of the darkness he stood within in reply;
"This man before us is known to me. Perhaps better even than he is to you. I have seen his heart. He is the Fox's Monkey, he is of no importance to me and is certainly not worth a moment of my thought or time to gossip about him. We should be on our way. The trail grows cold." Jaime and Morgan both looked pained to hear Yorinaga insult me so, but to be honest I was just glad that was all the Snake swine said ... let's face it he could honestly say a lot worse than that about me. However I was obliged, for my reputations sake in front of the lads, to make some response, so feeling pretty safe in the company of Kell and Wolf I piped up.
"Coming from a man like you, a man who fires from the safety of his
Warhammer at a chap carrying his wounded commander, you'll forgive me for not giving two pennies for your opinions." Yorinaga simply snorted, but Morgan came between Yorinaga and I, and waved me down in a placatory manner.
"Easy gentlemen. Darius you've already been in one duel tonight, we can't afford to have you leaping into another.
Tai-sa Kurita, please we are all allies here and now, for tonight at least.
Okay Darius here it is, we're helping
Tai-sa Kurita there find his son Akira. Akira has apparently set out on a foolhardy one man mission to break into a ComStar building which lies in the direction from which you've just come. He's putting himself at great risk and we need to catch up to him as soon as possible.
Did you see any sign of him back there?"
"Not a sign." I answered honestly. "Why in the Sphere would he be so foolish as to break into a ComStar building?" I wondered aloud, while considering to myself the possibility Brahe might be on the trail of the secret I'd stumbled across a short while before, Morgan shrugged.
"We're not sure, but it has to do with something he learnt earlier today. Okay Darius, look it's best you get home and get some kind of dressing on that wound." That was just what I wanted to hear from him of course, but I decided I should risk a little of my instinctive acting and affected a thoughtful stern expression.
"You sure it wouldn't be better if I came along? You might need another man if you run into toaster trouble." Morgan shook his head quickly.
"No Darius, you've had enough fun for one night by the sound of it." Little did he know I thought. But grinning inwardly, I grudgingly muttered agreement and they pointed me off on my way. The last I saw of that deuced odd trio was as they melted into the shadows, away on their mission to track down Brahe.
A few minutes later I burst through my chalet door, collapsed onto a sofa and just lay there breathing deeply, my heartbeat slowing. It was then that I realised, despite all the horror and fear of that night, I was now in possession of the biggest secret in the galaxy and a slow smile spread across my face.