Author Topic: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic  (Read 195993 times)

Chris OFarrell

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #900 on: 02 November 2024, 14:50:28 »
Click-Click

Hollywood loved the 'Hello-Click' trope.

In reality (or so I had been told by instructors at Sakahara in my Force Protection classes); a real professional with such a weapon would have it ready to go long before pointing it at someone's head and they would be rather unlikely to 'click' it for you to hear. Ergo, you needed to be rather more aware of your surroundings then I clearly had been right now.

But in all honestly? I think that the sound was even more of a universal language than Star League English. The noise that rippled through my left ear, the distinct sound of an auto pistol being chambered right beside my head communicated excruciatingly clearly that I was probably moments away from becoming a dead man as I froze.

"Turn around - slowly - Leftenant" a distorted voice asked, and I somehow forced my frozen legs to shift, turning slowly as instructed to come face to face with an image out of primal human nightmares. The monster in the darkness we all feared as children made manifest in all its terrifying majesty.
Roughly my height and only about five metres away, I could barely make out more than the vaguest of outlines as it emerged from the foliage. The figure seemed to draw the shadows around itself like a cloak, wavering and blurring in subtle ways and I recognized in no small amount of trepidation (verging towards outright terror if I was being honest) that whoever this was? They were wearing a full-blown sneak suit. A mimetic stealth suit that was blending this person into the light and shadows so well that even at point blank range it was like looking a smudge in the air more than anything else.

Now, there was no way in hell the Northwind Highlanders had access to this kind of kit. No Merc unit - except possibly the Dragoons 7th Kommandos - had this kind of gear. And while all five Successor States -and probably ROM- had access to at least a few of them, by far the largest single user was…

"Konbanwa, my Ninja friend" I managed to snark out lamely at what could only be a DEST commando. One sent to do God only knows what as I screamed mentally at myself for tempting Murphy AGAIN with that whole 'magical Ninja' quip earlier! "I may have to recheck the guest list for tonight's little party, but I did not see any members of the ISF on it at last check."

"This is true," the figure agreed in that same flat electronic voice that made identifying anything about them impossible, tilting its head very slightly as we conversed … but the non-reflective pistol with a silencer on the end pointed directly at my chest didn't move a nanometer.

And neither did I, wondering if this was finally it.

"And" the distorted voice continued (and oddly he sounded a lot like Kylo Ren in that stupid helmet of his, to my mind) "the unit of commandos who will shortly be attacking to kill Melissa Steiner - and as many of the Northwind Highlanders as possible - I presume do not have one either … but I doubt that will stop them. And unless you listen very carefully to me and do what I tell you, we will not be able to stop them before it is too late."

That … what? What?!

I kept staring for a few seconds more at the wraith in front of me, trying to make the words just given to me make sense, but for some reason my brain kept shorting out. My mouth opened and closed a few times as I tried to say something, but I found myself rather unusually tongue tied. And after a long awkward silence and a hiss of static that sounded suspiciously like an exasperated sigh, the figure in front of me clearly decided to cut to the heart of things and reached with their left hand to grip the edge of the mask and pull it up and off…



Okay. So, the only other time I had felt this stunned had been when my Battlemech had been kicked onto its back on New Avalon. I felt my jaw crack open for a long moment as shock and anxiety started to war in my chest.

Because this revelation meant the situation had to be far worse than even my worst-case scenario.

"Good, you clearly know who I am, which will make this easier" Justin Allard coldly stated as clipped the faceplate of his helmet to his upper thigh one-handed. The man's expression made my skin crawl for how frigid it was. As if the very act of talking to me, an officer of the AFFS rather than pulling the trigger on the weapon was bringing him genuine physical discomfort. And that it would be best for my continued life if I did not push that discomfort to the point where it drove him to apply just that tiny bit of pressure to the trigger in his hand.
A distant part of my mind was in awe of how completely I wanted to believe this man was suffering physical discomfort simply because I was wearing an AFFS uniform in his presence.

A larger part concerned with my survival however pushed me to swallow and take a deep breath before nodding my head very slowly.

"Alright Allard - sorry, Xiang" I corrected myself quickly as his eyes narrowed and I remembered he had denounced his family name. "You have my attention" and after a moment where the man's eyes drilled into me and I genuinely felt he might just shoot me for using his original name, he too exhaled through his nose, the gun lowering to point at the ground as he took a half step forward.

"You were out here tracking the movements of Captain Corwin Jaffray, correct?"

"Yes" I said - catching myself as I was about to desperately blurt out things that I damn well could not blurt out without being absolutely a hundred and ten percent sure no-one was able to overhear us. Or listening in over a microphone Justin had turned on or something.

No, I had to play this absolutely straight - until I was absolutely sure we could talk without anyone else hearing.

"His dissatisfaction with the Highlanders was noted" I said carefully, lifting my chin slightly as if I was starting to find my feet again, hardening my face. "And when he falsely claimed he was going to be involved in the scheduled entertainment tonight and left heading for these Mech hangars, I decided to have a look and see what he was up to."

"Then turn around, through the door behind you - and be quite silent - and you will have your answer" he nodded past me and after a moment, as if weighing my options before deciding I had no choice, I slowly turned around edging past the end of the berm I had reached to take in the back of the giant hangar. It was quickly clear what door he meant, there was only one in front of me leading into what looked like a loading dock attached to the back of the hangar and I moved slowly and quietly to the door, climbing the couple of steps up to it. Hoping to hell Justin knew what he was doing, I gripped the long metal handle of the door … and to my lack of surprise, the door opened easily, its electronic lock clearly not working and no alarm sounding as it should have. It was pitch-black inside, but I stepped forward a few metres holding the door open, the air smelling a bit off. The smell of tools, various fluids and other things that had become permeated into my brain from all the time I had spent around Battlemechs … mixed in with something rather unpleasant.

"Step forward" Justin instructed me from behind and I did so a few metres carefully into the darkness as I heard the door behind me the door close-

I managed not to throw up as the lights immediately came on.

And I think that was quite an accomplishment.

As I fought the bile that pooled in my throat for a second, I stepped gently to the side, having been about ten centimetres away from putting my very polished boots onto a man's face. The source of that unpleasant smell was a pile of bodies strewn around the floor.

Dozens
of bodies.

Some in Highlander uniforms, some many clearly civilians, all having fallen to the ground in front of a large shipping container whose side was pockmarked with the unmistakable splatter and gore pattern from projectile impacts, the bodies themselves horribly torn open. And in the middle of the pile, one of the faces that was intact was unmistakably Corwin Jaffray.

Some part of me on another day might have made a comment that the man had gotten exactly what he deserved. But the larger part of me, coming face to face with someone who, as far as I knew, had lived for years, married, had a kid and died in peace ending up dead like this because of the butterflies I had introduced?

With some effort, I managed to get the bile down my throat so I could breathe again through a burning larynx

"This is your work?" I managed to get out, trying to keep a calm level tone as I looked across the horrific slaughter - and seeing now that there was a red pool of blood covering half the floor that had leaked out from under the corpses.

This was cold blooded murder. Nothing more or less.

"No" the response was cold and flat as I turned back around to face the man - and I prayed to God he wasn't lying to me. Because if a deep cover Davion agent officially working for Capellan Intelligence just wacked a bunch of Highlanders…

"Captain Jaffray and his men, tragically, trusted the wrong people for the very best of reasons. His loyalty to the State was repaid only with treachery, which I am here to avenge" Justin didn't quite grind out to me, his eyes cold. "Make no mistake Lieutenant, saving your Child-Archon is simply a necessary step to take in this act – but one that means that our goals are, for now, aligned."

******.

Okay. So, bodies on the ground, Melissa was in no ****** shit danger and there was nothing but me standing in its way. There was no way Justin Allard would be here and trying to recruit me like this, using the angle that Melissa was just a side consequence to avenging Jaffray if that was not the case. Which in turn meant I didn't have the time to ****** around here but if I blew the man's cover by - hey, that might work!
Inspired, I stepped carefully to the side. Feeling Justin's eyes on me like targeting sensors I just gestured at a pen and logbook that had been sitting amongst a lot of other bits and pieces on a shelf just next to the door. Flipping it open, I tore off a corner of the page that was there and picked up the pen - oh thank God, the pen worked! And hoping I was ****** spelling this right, I wrote a very brief message as small as I could while still being legible.
With that done, I turned around to meet Justin's eyes and offered him the paper silently … and kept offering it awkwardly as he just stared at me and I tried to implore him to just read the damn thing with my eyes … and with an impatient flare of his nostrils he snatched it out - thankfully not damaging it - as he took a half step back out of range, clearly making sure I couldn't use this as a diversion to do something stupid.
Which would have been critically stupid of me given that his pistol was still in his hand and still aimed in my general -if not exact - direction, but I remained as still as I could with my hands held openly trying not to wilt under the intensity of his annoyed gaze before he glanced down for a heartbeat and back up, clearly not willing to lose track of me-

Then, he blinked.

He blinked again. His expression shifted and he glanced back at the paper again, this time for a good two seconds, before snapping his gaze back up to me. And in the way his jaw fell open slightly and his expression went from a cold killer ready to end my life right the ****** now to sheer bewilderment, confusion and shock …

I knew I had to do something really really nice for his father the next time I saw him.

But pushing that to the side, I reached up and with a pointed glance and tilt of my head, tapped my ear a couple of times and Justin shook himself out of it - understanding my meaning as the gun dropped back to his side as he shook his head sharply.

"I'm not on Comms - I'm here alone except for an extraction team from the local tongs who smuggled me onto the planet and are going to smuggle me back off" he explained, his eyes focused on me in disbelief and bewilderment. "Who in the hell are you Smith that you know this?" he said, holding up the tiny scrap of paper with the three words written on it.

Sic Semper Tyrannis. Or in English rather than Latin; 'Thus ever to Tyrants'. Justin Allards recognition extraction code - and a plot twist I had not seen coming when I had read Warrior: Coupe the first time, much younger than I was right now. As far as he was aware, now, only he and his father knew those words - and even when it was going to be used. It was supposed to be used by Justin identifying himself to his extraction team entirely by said code phrase.

So, he had a right to be shocked - but ****** it, he had shocked me enough tonight that he deserved it. And speaking of tonight…

"Major, my file is probably the only one classified even darker than yours in your father's desk" I pushed past the moment with a shake of my head. "But that can wait for later. Sir, what is the threat and what do you need from me?" I asked and my question snapped Justin out of it, the man considering me for a moment before nodding as his expression shifted into one of determined focus with just a hint of relief, snapping his silenced pistol onto some kind of sticky holster on the outside of his sneak suit, gesturing me around the sick gory mess towards the hangar before ripping the tiny piece of paper I had passed him into tiny fragments and dispersing them around in fragments no-one could possibly put together again.

Especially as some of the chunks scattered into the pool of blood around the corpses. God this was a horror of a mess.

"Alright. Please tell me you have a comm unit or phone with you?"

I suddenly wanted to imitate a turtle, or an ostrich sticking my head in the sand so I wouldn't have to meet his formidable gaze as I was forced to shake my head, causing Allard to work his jaw for a second in frustration as he huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"The Commandos who did this have compromised the base communications network and are monitoring it. So, I need you to head back to the party and raise the-"

Justin's voice cut off as he looked up, his eyes shifting around - and a second later I heard what he clearly also had heard. The terrible, unmistakable sound of a military fusion reactor powering up in the Battlemech hangar behind us - and then another.

And another.

"Change of plans then" he muttered before jerking his head in a clear order for me to follow and I fell in with him as we headed at a jog through another door, up a flight of stairs one story and down a long corridor running along the very back of the main hangar building, just above the loading dock. The pistol was back in Justin's hands, at the ready, as we made it to what I think was an emergency exit from the hangars back corner - locked of course, but Justin skidded to a halt beside it and took out small compact noteputer I recognized as an incredibly rare security bypass kit from the Star League era. Twisting the plastic shell of the card reader off from the lock with a snap and attaching several alligator clips from the lock breaker to the wires inside.

"They're stealing Highlander Battlemechs?" I hazarded a guess in a low voice, trying to keep a lookout down the long corridor as I heard another fusion reactor coming online - ******; that was at least a full lance of the 31st centuries most powerful war machines up and running in the hands of the bad guys.

And what the ****** were we going to do - could we do!- about them exactly?

Challenge them to a children's card game and pray we summoned Exodia?

"It's considerably easier than bringing your own if you have people on the inside" Justin explained in a matter-of-fact way without looking up as he worked with utter focus on his task. "And if you want to slaughter hundreds of people gathered in a single building in a hurry…"

My spine turned to ice at that statement, at the revelation of what was going on here.
Gods above, if these Mechs marched out looking like part of the entertainment … and then opened fire at the function centre…

They could -would- wipe out the Northwind Highlanders inside a minute. And if they had even a battalion or more of troops on standby ready to jump in at a pirate point? They could seize Tara City in the aftermath. Or even just land a raiding force to grab every Battlemech and every bit of equipment not nailed down from the Highlanders and take it back to Sian well before reaction forces could jump in. It would be a ruthless and bloody business and a plan I could see the Confederation taking …

Except for one thing. Assassinating Melissa Steiner?!

Maximilian veered from crazy to crazy as a fox, sure. But he still mostly understood the red lines, even his Hanse double plan had been subtle, with layers of deniability that would not exist in this kind of scenario! And while assassinating Melissa would possibly derail the Federated Commonwealth? That would be cold comfort for the Capellan Confederation as Hanse and Katrina would have to make sure they joined the Rim Worlds Republic and Terran Hegemony in the history books in retaliation; their peoples would settle for nothing less then maximum murder back at them.

As in House Liao sharing the fates of Houses Cameron and Amaris.

Max was smarter than that. And for that matter, Justin wouldn't be here like this if Max had ordered this hit as he would have been in on the planning from the start and found a way to either abort the operation or get word out in warning. And if that was the case, then-

"This is Romano's work, isn't it?" I spat as the obvious answer struck me like a thunderclap and Justin glanced up for a second from his noteputer in genuine surprise, nodding before turning back to his work.

"Correct. She was most … displeased to lose Highspire when the Highlanders left for Northwind and had been looking for a way to punish them for it – it was sheer luck that I was in the region and her sister was able to get word to me and organize what resources she had to get me in position to stop this before she doomed all of House Liao to extermination" he explained then his computer beeped and he ripped it clear of the door control, reaching out to press on the long bar across it …

No alarms went off and it opened smoothly.

"But we can discuss that later" he added in a low tone as he looked in and up the middle of the stairwell carefully, tucking the computer inside his suit before turning back to me and gesturing to the door. "Close this, quietly, then join me at the top" he ordered and with that he was off, moving up the stairs on cat-like feet that made almost no noise as he vanished out of sight, his weapon out and clearing the way. I pressed the bar down on the inside of the door and carefully, slowly, eased it shut, before releasing the pressure with the minimum of noise and then moved to follow him hastily, cursing silently how loud my boots were despite my best efforts as I side-stepped up the floors. It still took me a couple of minutes to make it to the top of the hangar eight stories up, where Justin was at work hacking this doors card reader -

And then it opened.

Except Justin had not been the one to open it. That had been the action of the man on the other side, a tall man wearing little more than shorts and carrying a Mechwarriors cooling vest and Neurohelmet who looked rather surprised to see us here.

I froze.

Justin - and the man - did not.

The Mechwarrior jumped back like lightning, the helmet and vest falling to the ground as his hand darted to draw a pistol from a holster but Justin moved and seized the others wrist - and with a sickening crunch, a scream of agony was ripped from his opponents throat and the gun dropped to the floor. It didn't seem to slow the other down much though as he spun and flung Justin clear against the wall to the side, charging after him with murder in his eyes as he barked out something that didn't sound terribly friendly, his non mangled hand crashing out against the padded wall and sending a cork board flying in pieces, just barely missing Allards face and ignoring the vicious left-right to his from Allard as he attacked.

Shaking off my shock I jumped into the room and snatched the pistol the man had dropped from the floor, recognizing it as an Earthwerks GW-3 needle pistol, standard issue to Capellan Mechwarriors as their personal defence weapon - and a favourite of their covert action teams. Flicking its safety off I spun around and took aim - Justin seeing me and dropping to the floor to clear both my shot and the huge fist that just barely missed putting itself through Justins face-
The head of the man disintegrated into chunks as the plastic fletches tore through him and splattered against the wall with a sickening squishing sound before the body unceremoniously flopped down to the floor, Justin barely rolling out of the way of the stream of blood spurting from the ruined neck like some ****** crazy horror movie for a few seconds as the heart frantically beat before giving up.
I barely noticed though as the training beaten into me (quite literally) by Kym held true, pivoting to sweep the rest of the small control room with my weapon just in case, somehow, I had missed another killer hiding here.

There was not anyone else alive, but there was a body on the floor. Another Highlander, this time dressed in Mechwarrior combat boots, shorts and a singlet - who was missing most of his face, almost certainly courtesy of the very needle pistol I was currently holding. And who I presumed the cooling vest and neuro helmet belonged to as I stepped up probably pointlessly to check on him and found he was very dead given the way his face had been torn open – a pile of discarded tactical clothing next to him that I presumed belonged to the man I had just killed, too heavy to wear inside a Battlemech cockpit when things got hot…

"Clear" I called grimly as it was clear the room was clear of hostiles and as I took a shaky breath, it was only then I heard a familiar siren inside the bay and walked back up to the console and windows that overlooked the hangar, carefully poking my head up past the edge to take a look…

The nightmare scenario we were facing now fully crystalized.

Eight
Battlemechs lined the walls, all in standard field paint scheme of the Highlanders rather than the dress paint that the participants for tonight should be done up in. I could see most had their cockpits open but even as I watched, their cockpits started to close one after the other and the gantries around them started to disengage. The security locks that would have forced the MechJackers to spend very noisy and long minutes ripping the Mech free from the cages around them had clearly been disengaged from this console in front of me and with the last restraints retracted, the Mechs shuffled out to start lining up with parade ground precision inside the hangar, two by two.

Oh and down next to a Hermes II, I watched as a man pitched the corpse of a half-naked man off the gantry to thump to the ground, like discarded rubbish, before picking up the cooling vest and nerohelmet he had no doubt taken from the person he had just killed and started to get dressed. There were another half dozen bodies scattered across the bay floor in their own pools of blood too now that I looked, also dressed in Mechwarrior shorts, singlets or sports bras - but pointedly without cooling vests or neurohelmets.

"Well, that confirms how they got the Mechs activated so fast" I observed in sick understanding of how things must had played out. The Commandos had forced - or more probably tricked this group while the rest of their comrades were eliminated outside - these people into powering up their Battlemechs, then executed them. And with the security locks on the Mechs disabled, any Mechwarrior with the right training could step in to reprogram it - or even just swap out the profile chip in a couple of minutes if you were properly equipped, as your simplified 31st century Mechs didn't have anything like the kind of computer security my old Royal Marauder used to have to prevent that kind of work.
Shifting back from the window, I examined the console, feeling the seconds ticking down to catastrophe as I searched for any options here. Re-engaging the security locks was pointless with all the Mechs gone – and would give us away as sure as standing up and waving. The hard phone built into the console was dead when I checked it and while the radio looked live, the computer it was attached to was demanding a username and password I could not provide so that was useless too.

"Can you get this online?" I asked, hoping the SuperSpy would be able to do just that with his little hacking computer. "I have a phone number I can call to get through to Melissa's staff at the Castle - or I have the radio channels the other Highlander units will be on tonight to call for help?" I suggested and Justin didn't even look up as he shook his head.

"Not a chance - not fast enough anyway" he said, shaking his head as he finished checking the body. "The closest radio we're going to get access to will be in this man's stolen Mech. Now ditch that jacket, fast" he ordered and after a moment to realise what he was suggesting and another moment to reflect that this was probably the single worst idea yet this evening, I swallowed and ripped the breastplate of my dress uniform off.
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

  • Warrant Officer
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  • Posts: 613
Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #901 on: 02 November 2024, 14:51:17 »
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My skin was crawling at the moist and sticky sensation around my neck from the borrowed cooling vest. But I tried very hard to ignore that as I pushed open the door to Gantry-Level-2 and marched out with purpose and speed, shifting into a jog as soon as I was clear - and damn near tripping over as the heavy neurohelmet on my head unbalanced my stride before correcting and moving forward, praying silently but incredibly loudly in my head for no-one to look too closely at me.

Dressing up as the enemy like this was ****** James Bond stuff and rarely worked in real life. But, in the dim light and with the helmet on my head (which was a bit suspicious as most people didn't like to wear the heavy things longer than they had to) and the black/grey trousers that the man had been wearing prior to stripping on? If they didn't catch more than a brief glimpse at me…
The Battlemech waiting for 'me', the last one still in its cradle as ahead of it the Stinger moved out, was a Hunchback. Probably salvaged from the Free Worlds League at some point over the last couple of centuries and I reached its gantry and took the ladder-like steps as quickly as I dared up to where the movable gantries had been fixed to provide access to the cockpit, feeling the eyes of every other Battlemech in the bay upon me as I struggled up to the cockpit-

"Move your ass Kumar" a harsh voice ripped from the external speakers on one of the Battlemechs, despite facing away from me their 360 degree sensor systems clearly letting them spot me as I moved to the Mech and I gave a thumbs up in the gesture of the voice as I dove into the dubious safety of the cockpit and out of immediate sight of the other Mechs … and then immediately worked on lifting the heavy helmet off, grunting as I dropped it next to the pilots seat before starting to rip off the vest, entirely unable to believe that had actually just worked.
A blur moved through the air as I managed to pull it off and the hatch started to close, Justin killing his suits stealth mode capabilities and accepting the vest I handed to him. He threw it over his head in an economy of motion before sliding past me into the ejection seat, ripping and discarding the mask and cowling of his stealth suit as he sat down, which let me in turn pick the neurohelmet up from the floor and lower it on his head, grabbing the two floating curly cords from the side and plugging them into the helmet as he worked to snap the coolant lines into his vest.
With that done, Justin hastily strapped himself in, disdaining the life support sensor pads as his hands blurred across the controls like only the most elite of Mechwarriors could, the Battlemech shuddering around me as he took it out of the standby state up to full military power.
"Get strapped in" he warned, and I had to grip tightly to the back of his chair for a second as the Hunchback took a step forward, moving to join the last unit in the two-by-two line.
Looking around I finally found the jump seat - it was a fold-out style version - and I locked it down into place and strapped in as fast as I could, snatching the headset off to the side and slipped it on, hitting the intercom button on the panel as I dug my papers out of my pocket.

"Justin?"

"I've got you" Justin confirmed, the Mech shifting into position with the rest around me as I reflected how weird it felt to be in a moving Mech without a neurohelmet. The lack of its feedback as someone else moved the Mech was almost like an itch I just couldn't scratch, but I pushed it out of my mind to focus on the paper, which annoyingly was a bit hard to hold steady as the cockpit rocked. "Right. What frequency do you need?"

"One Niner Eight decimal five five" I said after checking the paper carefully, blessing whichever person had written it out with all the details, including the command frequencies for each of the Highlander units who would be playing parts on this stage for coordination purposes.
Because Jaffray might not know about this surprise, being kept as it was from most of the Highlanders. Which meant these people he had snuck into the base might not be monitoring that radio frequency either.
And while that was still too many 'might's for me to be at all happy, it was all I had to work with. And as I saw the hangar doors were opening swiftly ahead of us over Justin's shoulder…

"You're live on button two and I've tied you into my primary loop" Justin called out to me over the headset and the second of the six 'hot' communications frequency buttons lit up yellow and I punched it, turning it green before squeezing the transmit button on the headset cord, swearing a little as I tried to not get tangled in the short cables as the Hunchback rocked, silently cursing the lack of a full restraint setup and ejection seat.

"This is Lieutenant John Smith, Archon-Designates staff calling Major Wallace and Major McAllister, I have a critical security threat and need your assistance, respond immediately!"

There was static down the line, and I bit my lip as the doors finished opening. Wondering if it would have been smarter to just rig this mech to self-destruct. Try to take out everyone while they were inside the Hangar?
Well, too ****** late to think of that now Smith I reflected as we strode out two-by-two and I clenched my teeth in a kind of helpless urgency as I squeezed the transmit button again as the Mechs started to march out at a slow, steady, parade like pace onto the grounds.

"I say again, this is Lieutenant John Smith, Archon-Designates-"

"Smith?" A familiar voice I had talked to only this morning came back to me then. "Aye, I hear you, this is Wallace, what do you mean a security issue lad?"

Oh thank God
I thought, my heart jumping even as I hesitated for at least half a second, wondering what the ****** I was going to say and how I was going to prove my words before deciding all I could do was tell it straight. Major Charles Wallace had seemed to have his head on straight this morning when the bombshell of his new position had been dumped on him by Chattan and myself…

"Major, we have a catastrophic security breach" I said bluntly. "Seven Battlemechs have been hijacked by Capellan Commandos from Hangar Number One and are advancing across the parade ground to get in position to fire upon the function centre. I'm in Mech number eight, the Hunchback, covertly following them out, we're probably about a minute from weapons going hot."

There was hardly a need right now to confuse the issue with Justin's presence after all.

"I need you - and Major McAllister too. The Highlanders have been compromised thanks to Captain Jaffray who is working with them, and you are the only shot I've got if we're going to save Melissa, the Duke, the rest of the Highlanders and your families from death."

There was a hiss of static. A long hiss of static.

"I was wondering what was going on with those Mechs out there" he said, his tone flat in a way that made my heart leap in hope - clearly, he and his unit in the hangar were watching things going on the parade ground right now as they had prepared to make their grand entrance alongside Major Sharon McAllister's company. At least the eight unexpected mechs in field camo marching along were not being completely ignored. "Aye, we'll power up, but it'll take a few minutes for us to remove the safety pins, and we don't have any ammo loaded" he advised, and I nodded, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see me.
"Acknowledged" I said when I remembered that fact, feeling a little embarrassed. Energy weapons were generally locked down with simple 'arming pins' in their fire control circuits behind inspection hatches to prevent any tragic accidents when a Battlemech was not at war – especially when on public parades like this. With the pins in place, the weapons could not charge from the fusion reactor but removing them was the work of a matter of seconds for a tech. There were similar safeties for autocannons and missile launchers, but they were rarely used as it was much simpler just to not load live ammo if you didn't need it.
And as finding and loading live ammo would take hours - and I knew that more than a few of the Mechs I was hoping to save us all were ammo heavy designs…but it was all we had.

"But Smith" Wallace added with a sudden seriousness in his tone, "if you are screwing around with me or making a very stupid joke here, the consequences will be … considerable" Wallace warned, managing to slip all kinds of subtext in that final word that made it clear if I was '****** around', I would get the 'find out' part shoved straight up my ass.

But as I was not ****** around, that was fine. The fact that he believed me enough to stand too was good enough. If because of my position with Melissa, my utterly overblown reputation as the 'Dragon Slayer' or just because the man was sharp and knew eight Battlemechs walking unauthorised near the biggest VIPs for a hundred light years in any direction was bad ****** news, I didn't really know or care. Just so long as he was ready.

"Copy. Power up fast but stay in the hangar and covert until we engage and can disrupt this formation. We'll only have seconds here, so when we go live, come out all guns blazing-"

"We're almost in position, twenty seconds to mark" a new voice crackled over the headset and I blinked-

"It's a Laser Link - from the Vindicator" Justin yelled back at me, and I nodded - again forgetting the fact that Justin couldn't see me - before telling Wallace to stand by as I muted his channel to listen in-

"- confirmed our exit is inbound, so go weapons hot, but remember we want - we need - Steiner alive. Killing everyone and her is the final resort and if necessary, I will give the order, but only act if I give it. The Avatar entrusted us with this and we will succeed. For the Avatar!"

There was a chorus of 'For the Avatar' over the laser link but I barely noticed as the realisation slammed into me like the fist of an enraged Assault Mech, leaving me frozen stiff in shock and horror as the revelation of the true goals of these people hit me.

"Jesus" I breathed after precious seconds. "They're not here to kill Melissa … they're here to grab her and bring her back to Romano, in chains!"

"So it would seem" Justin agreed from the cockpit, his tone refreshing like an ice-cold glass of water. Calm and controlled as he dealt with the sudden change in our situation like the incredible intelligence agent he was. "That wasn't their original plan; they must have contacted Romano and gotten their plans changed once they heard she was coming to Northwind via ComStar" - and almost at once my thoughts pivoted to recall that Precentor ****** Dieron just so happened to be on the planet right now before dismissing that from my mind for now, as Justin asked me to confirm our backup status.

"Uh, it'll be at least a minute to unsafe their weapons and they will be ready" I answered, nervously noting we were only seconds away from reaching a position precisely in front of the function centre. We'd be only a couple of hundred metres from it and thus within easy weapons range of everything on these Mechs if they went weapons hot and even if that function centres glass was armour grade, it would only be rated to take a couple of hits from Mech grade weapons - it would be about as useful as wet cardboard against this Mech line opening fire all at once. "Do we go without them?"

"...no" Justin decided, his voice calculating as he brought us to a halt and pivoted 90 degrees to face the function centre in unison with the rest of the unit, with us being the last mech in the line on the right flank. "They'll have to issue their demands first to make this work. That should give us time for your backup to get fully ready, just be damn sure they are ready to move when I do."

"Understood" I answered - before making a mental note that we would have to destroy the Battle-ROM disk in this Mech if we survived this - hell, we'd need at least a couple of minutes to get our stories straight if Justin didn't want to blow his cover, but that could wait-

"My Lady Steiner!" a voice boomed - but not over the radio link. That was coming from an external PA system on a Battlemech - the same voice I had just heard on the lasercom link moments ago and I think the same voice that had called me 'Kumar' and demanded I move faster in the hangar.

It had to be their leader. And there was clearly a very good speaker setup on that Vindicator if I could hear it through the armour and shielding around this cockpit so loudly.
"My Lord Duke, Highlanders and honoured guests. Please listen very very closely" he declared in a clear and almost pleasant voice, and I shifted as far across in my seat as I could. Glancing past Justins shoulder, I could see figures packed in the function centre's grand upstairs space even with my naked eye, with what looked like multiple tiers of tables rising upwards in an arc, no doubt with the VIPs at the very top -

"All the weapons of the Battlemechs in front of you are live and pointed directly at you. If the Lady Steiner or ANYONE in the building attempts to leave, we will open fire with our full force without hesitation and without mercy and kill every single person in the building. And to prove we are quite serious, and this is not any kind of a joke…" he added and then the Vindicator turned and extended its barrel like right arm and the Ceres PPC there spat out a blue particle beam, static electricity arcing quite spectacularly from the ground as the energy smashed into a parked truck. A civilian vehicle the PPC obliterated it in a flash of light, its gas tank cooking off spectacularly before the Mechs arm snapped back into line with the building, smoking barrel making the point very clear that the festivities had ended, and the nightmare was now beginning. "Now if the Lady Steiner would be so good as to step out from that pile of bodyguards on the upper level, put a microphone on channel nine to talk with me, both she and everyone else may yet live through the night. You have fifteen seconds to comply and again, any attempt to evacuate will result in our opening fire."

I swore and jabbed the button for Wallace.

"You heard?" I snarled not needing to explain what I was talking about. Even if he hadn't, the PPC firing a live shot should bloody well have reassured him this was not any kind of practical joke.

"Aye - twenty seconds and we'll be live" Wallace answered immediately before shouting something blistering in Scottish, presumably out of his Battlemech hatch at someone. From the tone I think was something along the lines of 'just ****** hurry up you twats!' if these Scotts were anything like those from my time.
"Won't have everyone with live weapons but we'll have enough – and we'll ****** take them hand-to-hand if we have to laddy. Just tell us when!" he added and there was a genuine rage in his tone that I was pleased was not directed at me right now, that I found promising.

There was no Scotsman you wanted more in a fight - on your side - then the one filled with sheer, pure, rage after all. This probably wasn't the parade rebirth of the 3rd Kearny Highlanders and Stuart's Highlanders that the Majors and their officers had been expecting tonight, but as far as legends went, coming back roaring from histories page to save the life of the Melissa Steiner might just provide something to work with when it came to spinning this fiasco.

If, of course, we pulled it off.

"Copy, but don't wait for my word. As soon as you see me move, go" I reiterated before switching back to the intercom. "Major, they're ready in 20 seconds. Then they'll move the instant we do."

"Copy" Justin confirmed before there was a beep as the laser communications system activated again from outside.

"Sir, word from Toucan, they are five minutes out" another voice, their accent thick and odd but understandable enough. This 'Toucan' had to be their extraction plan.

"Good - ah and here she comes, excellent!" the leader spoke up, his tone thick with anticipation.

"I am Melissa Steiner" Melissa's voice rang across the parade ground, clearly channel 'nine' was for the local PA system and clearly she had taken the threats seriously – and I felt a sudden surge of pride in her that while her bodyguards would have probably wanted to just throw her down the stairs and hope the building could take the barrage long enough for her to get clear and to hell with the Highlanders, she was facing the enemy and point blank unwilling to let everyone die to cover her escape.

Clearly, Hanse Davion was being a bad influence on her – but then again, I couldn't see her mother cowering from a threat like this either.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she demanded bluntly.

"I? I am nobody, Lady Steiner. Merely a humble Guru in the service of a far greater power. And as for what I want? That is so ever simple and delightfully easy to accomplish; I want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. And to do that, I simply need you to board the dropship that will be landing behind my Mechs in several minutes to become our honoured guest on your voyage to our Jumpship and back home."

"Voyage? Voyage where?" Melissa demanded and the voice laughed lightly at her question as if it was not obvious.

"Where? Where else but Sian of course! Where you will be an honoured guest of our mistress of the cloak, the Avatar Romano Liao, blessed of Kali and favoured of Chancellor Maximilian Liao! Where you will be in the most glorious position of being able to bring a negotiated end to this destructive and horrific war launched by your husband, no doubt saving millions upon millions of lives!"

The voice paused as it waited for Melissa to say something, but there was no response. Rather understandable I think as the reality of the horror of what he was asking crashed into her. Going from an honoured guest at a dinner party with an army of bodyguards … to being put in a position to choose compliance into a fate possibly worse than death, or, the death of herself alongside well over a thousand people if she failed to comply.

And in that moment of stunned silence, the leader came back, his voice still all too cheerful … but now with an edge to it.

"Alas, if you were to reject my Mistresses offer to seize the future and end this war, I can only assume that you in fact revel in it and are in full accord with your accused husband. In which case, it would clearly be for the best if you, your child, and all the traitorous Highlanders are ended here and now. Conversely, if you have the courage and wisdom to seize this chance and come with us, then you have my word and the blood oath of my blessed Lady that the Highlanders and their families will be, despite their grievous treason against Lady Romano and the Confederation, spared."
 
My headset beeped and I stabbed the button that lit up.

"Go" I didn't quite snarl down the line, the helpless rage at this ****** boiling out from under my control and, again, making me ever so glad that perhaps the Inner Spheres greatest Mechwarrior – or at least in the top five – was at the controls of this Mech.

"We're ready and so is McAllister" Wallace said, his tone grim but determined as I realized the man and his subordinates probably had their own families under the guns of the cultists right now and that if we went guns hot, there was a good chance someone they loved was going to die.
Of course, that was probably a two-edged sword as it would also likely drive these Mechwarriors into being willing to take extreme measures to protect their people.

"Understood – again, move when I move, I won't have time to call it in" I said, getting an affirmation before I flicked back to the intercom – but listening as the kidnappers were talking again.

"So, if you look to your left My Lady you will see one of my servants, yes, that is him there who your bodyguards are oh so charmingly pointing their weapons at. Now, if you will simply allow him to handcuff himself to you - just to make sure you do not get, shall we say, lost on your way down to us here! - we can proceed calmly. Quietly and entirely without incident to leave Northwind. No deaths, no children killed, no families lost. Oh and suffice to say if anyone tries to shoot down our dropship on approach, well, that would break our trust in you rather fatally."
 
"We're out of time" I said grimly. The second Melissa was handcuffed to one of these monsters, even if we took out the Mechs, the odds of her being killed by this person if he had a suicide device or even just a damn knife, were far far too high.

"Then so are they" Justin said bluntly - and with no further warning, I was shoved to the side as I hung on for dear ****** life as the Mech under me hauled around and all but jumped forward, the massive AC/20 next to the cockpit roaring as it sent a giant '****** you and the Mech you road in on' shell downrange, with the scream of lasers joining it as the Mech rocked like a doll that some giant had picked up and shaken around me, caused I think by Justin running along the row of Mechs and lashing out with his Mechs powerful fists at them as heat flowed into the cockpit.

An overlapping cacophony of voices roared over my headset. Some I think outraged demands from the Mechs he was presently fisting in a very non-consensual way and, of all things, bagpipes, but I managed to hit the button for the external PA system of the Battlemech nonetheless and squeeze the trigger.

"TRISTAN, GET HER OUT OF HERE" I tried to yell out, hoping that Tristan Tsu the head of Melissa's detail tonight was able to hear me before a sudden vicious snap of the Mech backwards smacked my head to the side in the cramped-
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

Chris OFarrell

  • Warrant Officer
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  • Posts: 613
Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #902 on: 02 November 2024, 14:51:30 »

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- I woke up choking and coughing and at an odd angle, wildly disoriented and finding it hard to breathe.
Happily, the coughing fit passed as a strong arm eased me up to a more comfortable position and I shook my head, trying to not wince at the throbbing in the side of it as I found myself sitting in a Battlemech jump seat at a rather abnormal angle in a very stuffy cockpit … my body covered in sweat in a way it hadn't seem to be moments ago - with Justin Allard retracting the hand that had clearly held smelling salts from the Battlemechs survival kit under my nose.

The side of my head was also throbbing, and I winced as I shifted slightly in my seat as my inner ear told me gravity was ****** up, meaning we were not standing up anymore as I tried to ask for a status report, but ending up simply coughing some more.

"Easy there Lieutenant" Justin advised me, tossing the salts away and retrieving a sealed emergency water bottle which he cracked open before passing it to me. "You took a bit of a hit to the head and then it got a little bit hot in here."

I nodded and accepted the bottle, taking a few sips to let me clear my throat loudly a few times before drinking some more, feeling suddenly very dehydrated. I glanced out past the chair and after a moment realized what looked like another Battlemech had fallen on top of us, the cockpit window badly cracked and the system lights suggesting we were operating on the cockpit battery rather than the fusion reactor. "Status?" I managed to ask, not able to keep the apprehension out of my voice.

Justin simply shot me a tight smirk.

"Bad guys are dead. Lady Steiner, from the chatter I heard, was successfully gotten clear as were almost all the Highlanders and their families. Function centre took a couple of stray hits, unfortunately, as I couldn't keep all the Mechs fully suppressed, but the Highlanders you called in hit them like a bunch of berserkers once that happened. Hell, I saw a Highlander burial - a double literal one as your Major friend landed his Highlander on top of the Vindicator and they all but ripped the Thuggees apart with their bare hands once they closed."

"And their dropship?" I wondered and Justin just offered me a shrug.

"It wasn't mentioned on the channels I was monitoring but it hasn't shown up either. My guess is that when things went south, it made a run for it. Oh, they've been calling for you for a while and I didn't think it would be wise if I answered" he added, offering me the headset I had been wearing before and I nodded, accepting it but not putting it on just yet.

"Right. So, presuming you have eliminated the cockpit Battle ROM…" I asked and Justin nodded in conformation that the cockpit data recorder was gone, "…Sir, how exactly do we get you clear of all this without breaking cover?"

Justin frowned at that.

"Well, my original plan was to find a way to move off to the side of the parade grounds and jump the Mech, let you take all the credit and extract without anyone knowing I was even here. But that is clearly not happening with this Phoenix Hawk lying on top of us. So, I need to convince Melissa to let me go in exchange for my saving her life rather than killing me as would be the custom for breaking my exile – and to do so no matter how much I might insult her and her husband."

"Well, on that, she is also one of the handful of people aware of your real status" I informed him, and Justin shot me a slightly disbelieving look that said he was clearly wondering what the hell had happened since he and his father had come up with his hairbrained 'Operation Intruders Communion'. "And given that you just saved her life and that of her child, she has a perfectly valid reason to just send you on your way" I pointed out.

"True" Justin allowed before offering me a grin. "But, if I'm going to keep my position intact when I reach Sian, we'll need to make sure that I leave in a way that makes my motives 'clear'…"

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I was right to distrust that smirk I sighed to myself as with a scream of tortured metal, the cockpit hatch of the Hunchback vibrated, then twisted in a way solid metal normally didn't, ripping free of where laser strikes had slagged over and all but welded one side of it to the Battlemechs frame. Blazing light poured through the hatch, and I winced a little at the glare. With the hatch removed however, I took a breath of the fresh (well fresh-er, it was still full of the stench of high explosives and burning metal, but at least it wasn't anywhere near as stuffy) air and worked my way up and out.

A hand appeared in front of me as I worked out and I took it gratefully to step up and down onto a movable cherry picker like platform actually oriented correctly to the planets gravity well, the tech carrying the 31st century equivalent of the jaws of life shifting back to make room for me – and for Tristan Tsu, Melissas bodyguard who was leading todays detail.

"You okay Smith?" he asked, and I couldn't help but snort a little at that, my head throbbing reduced a little thanks to the light painkiller tablet I had taken a few minutes ago from the Battlemechs survival kit as I reached up to run my hand over the lump in the side of my head.

"Bashed my head and passed out for a bit at the end there and got knocked out" I said, repeating the short SITREP I had given over the radio after Justin and I had worked out everything, holding onto the railing firmly as with a shudder, whine and wobble, the cherry picker carrying Tristan, myself and the tech started to slowly fold down to the ground before glancing up into his face and setting myself as Tristan quickly sent out a coded message on a handheld radio.
"Casualties?" I asked as soon as he was finished, and he grimaced.

"Our people are accounted for. The Highlanders are still getting a count on their own people but so far, it's six dead and about two dozen wounded, most seriously. The four Mechs they lost had clean ejections; beyond that I don't know."

I grimaced. Two dozen dead and seriously wounded was no small number of lives and I'd bet most of them were probably civilians. A fraction of a fraction of what it could have been of course and intellectually I knew damn well how incredibly lucky we were to get off with so few casualties when it could have been in the thousands. But…

"But what about – is she alright?" I asked the big question, without having to explain who 'she' was. And while he was about to answer, it was unnecessary as a voice cut in as we stepped off the cherry picker to the ground.

"She is a bit shaken, but both she and her child are very much alive and not on their way to Sian as a trophy for House Liao – thanks by in large to you" Melissa interjected as she stepped around from behind a parked ambulance she had clearly been impatiently waiting behind. Her bodyguards (now augmented by the quick response team in full field kit carrying enough firepower to bring down a Wasp), Chattan, Duke Stuart and a few other Highlanders flowing out with her, all of whom spread out as she stomped towards me, the military people looking at me with expressions that had no small amount of awe on their faces for what they thought I had accomplished.

Wasn't me of course, but I didn't have to bother with imposter syndrome given that the truth would come out shortly, so I just ignored it in favour of the approaching Melissa. Thankfully, the young woman had listened to my radio message that had made it clear I needed her here as soon as I got out of the Battlemech – which also explained I suppose why Tristan had been the one to pull me out of the Mech, just in case I was not who I said I was – and why wasn't she slowing down oomph!

The shorter woman – who had looked just a little dishevelled as someone who had probably been manhandled seriously during the peak of the situation would - crashed into me without breaking stride and flung her arms around me, squeezing me like a stress ball and in the way she gripped me, I could feel that for all the no doubt incredible poise she had presented to this crisis, the young woman had been probably scared out of her mind by the events that had taken place. Of just how close she had come to becoming a 'guest' of House Liao – now wasn't that a nightmare scenario and a half – and her sheer relief that she and her unborn child had avoided it.

And her glomping me like this … was exactly what I needed.

"Listen carefully" he murmured as I leaned down to her ear, no doubt everyone thinking that I was just reassuring her as I pat her on the back in an appropriate way for a close friend but no more than that. "This thing still has one last act to play out" and I felt her stiffen as she heard that, and I squeezed her back in warning for a moment. "No threat to you, but I need you to trust me and follow my lead" I said before letting go and easing back before her. Meeting her grey eyes … and after a moment, she gave an almost impossible to see nod.

At another time and place I might have taken note of the fact that I had just asked one of the most powerful human beings in the Inner Sphere to follow my lead and trust me on pure faith – and she had just agreed to it without any hesitation. But at that moment I was preparing myself for the final act on this stage. And so I took a couple of steps backward … before dropping to a knee in front of her. Earning a considerable number of confused looks … and clicks … and holy shit, there were press close by?

Seriously Mel?

Too late to stop and wonder why the ****** the press had been allowed up with Melissa into a nominal combat zone, yet it might work to our advantage as I bowed my head then look up at Melissa who had composed herself looking down at me with a well calibrated look of surprise from my gesture. And I took a deep breath, knowing I'd need to speak loudly to get past the considerable background noise of emergency vehicles, power tools and everything else you may expect. I didn't want to be misheard here.

"My Lady Steiner, your words are most kind, but not correct. It was not I who piloted the Battlemech behind you but another, still inside it. One whose skills far exceed my own and it is they that deserve the credit for holding off the enemy long enough for the Highlanders to intervene and win the day."

Taking her que from me, Melissa now took a step back to regard me with a very serious expression.

"Your humility, as always Lieutenant, is charming – if mildly vexing" she reposited, her hands on her hips and despite her slightly dishevelled appearance, her bearing was regal to the max – although she also increased the volume a little bit. "But why has this person not come forward with you – do they need medical attention?"

Oh, that would look good on the vid footage of this later.

"No, they do not, but they do need your personal assurance and authority My Lady, if I may presume to demand it of you. For you to stay the hand of your bodyguards and take my word that you are not under any threat from this person."

To my complete lack of surprise, that request had a half-dozen light machine guns and laser rifles snap up to cover the torn open hatch.
Melissa, clearly fighting the urge to huff at the reaction turned and with a look at Tristan, pointedly put out her hand and lowered it meaningfully at the ground while holding his gaze. Tristan was clearly unhappy and shot me a glance, but I gave nothing away and after a moment, he bowed and with a barked command, the weapons came back down.
No-one holstered or slung them of course, but such was the authority Melissa wielded that when she made her wishes clear, they had little choice but to obey as I stood and turned back to face the hatch as well along with everyone else, the anticipation thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Alright, we're agreed no-one is going to shoot, come on out" I didn't quite shout back into the Battlemech, my choice of words somewhat deliberate and spiking the tension just a little more from the way out of the corner of my eye I could see the bodyguards tense just a little more…

Unsurprisingly for a man who was playing one of the most challenging roles on the stage of the Inner Sphere, Justin delivered drama to the max. A blur appearing in the hatch and then seemingly drifting down the toros to the ground, fading in and out of view almost demonically until it reached the ground. A number of very naughty words were unleashed around me as the bodyguards and soldiers recognized a sneak suit in action, but no-one did anything rash as it moved towards us, fading out and then back in closer through the smoke before solidifying into the reality of the - slightly - less nightmarish jet-black suit itself as its stealth systems were turned off.

Tristan moved up next to Melissa, a machine-pistol pointed down but cradled firmly, glaring at the unknown as Justin slowed to a halt perhaps five meters away from Melissa.

Melissa herself however, showing a most remarkable courage (or blind faith in me perhaps) took a step forward to close the distance, seemingly indifferent to the tension around her that spiked as she did so, staring up into the mask before her without any hint of fear or nervousness.

"So, I take it that you are the Mechwarrior responsible for superlative piloting that saved my life and those of so many of the Highlanders this evening?"

God damn she sounded like her mother right now.

"I am" Justin agreed with a tiny tilt of his head – and again, damn, that distorted voice really sounded like Kylo Ren.

Was BROB screwing with me or something?

"Then you have my thanks and my debt" Melissa said, shooting a split-second glance at me as if looking for a que on what to do next, but I simply stood stock still and did nothing as she felt her way forward carefully with her words. "If you have any boon to ask for in exchange for saving my life, I-"

"I did not come here tonight to save your life. Or those of the Highlanders. Or their families" Justin cut her odd with enough ice coming across even in the electronic tone that Melissa looked slightly taken aback as he raised a hand to his face. On Solaris, Justin had proven he had an exquisite sense of showmanship, and he played it to the hilt now as the cowl and mask were gripped and in a single move, pulled off-

The only thing that would have made this more perfect would have been the Ron Jones score from 'Best of Both Worlds' leading up to Rikers infamous 'Mister Worf; Fire' line.

The sound of power tools and hustling activity suddenly fading away after the gasps and shouts from the people around me was its own kind of statement though, as the entire parade ground seemed to freeze in shock at the revelation of the identity of the mysterious man in the sneak suit.
That also included one of the Banshee-X-FCs of Melissa's military escort that had arrived at some point, the seventeen meter tall titan off to the side actually pivoting and sending tremors through the ground as it turned to face Justin with its gigantic array of guns (not that the Mechwarrior would be, I hope, dumbass enough to squeeze the trigger when Melissa and I were standing this close)…
Allard, of course, didn't even look slightly intimidated by any of this activity as his stone-cold face stared at Melissa for several long moments … before he offered her a fractional incline of his head. A kind of minimal bow that offered her very little - but offered it none the less.

"Understand Lady Steiner, my purpose here was to try and protect a group of Highlanders. Soldiers under the hero Captain Corwin Jaffray who were seeking to return to the Confederation and who had been betrayed. Nothing more or less than that. I allied myself with your Lieutenant Smith to destroy these dogs", he vaguely gestured behind him without looking as the ruined Battlemechs, "who deserved nothing less. That doing so saved your life, your child's life and the lives of the traitor Highlanders in the process" and I could feel as much as hear the boots stomping as Chattan and a couple of the Highlander officers shifted forward, before a gesture from Melissa without her breaking eye contact halted them in place – "is merely incidental."

"I see" Melissa muttered – and given the way all activity had come to a halt as everyone watched and listened to this shocking plot twist playing around, she was none the less heard clearly as she shook her head once and looked up. "Nonetheless, perhaps you could clarify how Captain Jaffray and his men were 'betrayed' precisely?"

Justin worked his jaw as if debating the issue before his nostrils flared as he exhaled and gave Melissa a flat stare … which mutated into a ghost of a smirk as he glanced past her for a second at Chattan.

"Jaffray contacted people he thought he could trust in the Confederation to discuss the possibility of a return to Capellan service for many Highlanders who were rather unhappy with being in service to House Davion. And convinced those people that with the right public demonstration and guarantees of citizenship, landholds and titles, a great many more Highlanders would renounce Northwind and return home-"

"That, is a lie" Chattan said in a very low, incredibly dangerous tone, her fists balled at her side and her face the kind of raw emotion that would have made a hardcore Smoke Jaguar Elemental at least pause to reconsider if a fist fight was in their best interests.

Again, Justin didn't react … and I again secretly marvelled at his utterly dismissive poise as he took in the woman's fury, then simply ignored it, turning back to Melissa.

"Jaffray was informed that a delegation would be sent to Northwind, where they would put a generous and public offer to the entire unit" he continued without missing a beat. "However, this was a deception. There was no offer authorized by the Chancellor – who did not even know of the communications as it had not been brought to his attention. This was all a trap by a third party-"

"By which you mean Romano Liao" Melissa interjected coldly, crossing her arms on her chest and here Justin paused for an exquisite heartbeat, as if he was trying to find some way to say something or spin this in a way that wouldn't have Melissa pointing out the commandos themselves had name dropped Romano several times using loudspeakers.
I'm sure Justin was secretly delighted that Melissa had publicly thrown that name out there and I risked a glance to the side to confirm that the vid cameras from the press were locked onto this scoop of a lifetime like TAG designators before returning my attention to the showdown as Justin seemingly just gave up and moved on.

"… third party" he continued, "who was greatly displeased with the Highlanders betrayal. However, it seems when it was discovered you were visiting, their orders were changed to kidnap you – and then to kill every Highlander as traitors to the State once you were safely in their custody. My instructions" he continued, ignoring the noises of shock and anger made by the people around us, "were to eliminate these rogue agents before they could make contact and to then extract Captain Jaffray and everyone else willing to return to the Confederation after doing so. However, I arrived too late to prevent them from executing the first phase of their plan and so enlisted your Lieutenant Smith - who had come to investigate Jaffray after finding himself suspicious of him for some reason – and moved instead to avenge Jaffray and his people. Your life and those of the other Highlanders was his overriding concern, not mine."

Melissa looked across at me and I gave a single clear nod (for the sake of the cameras as much as anything) confirming Justins story before she turned back and took a subtle breath in and out to focus herself before turning again to face down Justin, crossing her arms against her chest in consideration.

"Which leads us to the question of what we are going to do with you, Justin Xiang?" she put the elephant in the room out there and I shifted slightly at that, clearing my throat.

"My Lady, Justin stands under an edict of exile by the personal orders of the First Prince" I pointed out, something probably known to everyone in earshot given that Justins story had been broadcast to most of the Inner Sphere by now – but it needed to be said. "You alone on this planet, as per the Federated Commonwealth accords, hold the authority to speak on your husband's behalf and on this … issue" I said with some delicacy and Melissa offered me an arch expression.

"You're suggesting that I lift his exile and welcome him back for saving all our lives?" Melissa suggested, the smile on her face at me verging at ironic before she looked at Justin. "I have a feeling that Agent Xiang would decline such an offer if I made it."

Justins face shifted. It was tiny, it was subtle … but honestly, it was mildly terrifying the way he was smiling at her right now.

"Whereas you, my Lady Steiner, may have found joy and delight in your mother whoring you out to be the brood mother of a Tyrant" he observed and I found myself improvising a step forward at Justin in response, hissing and mutterings of rage from the crowd around us rising – but halted at the slap of Melissas arm coming across my chest to check my progress without her even looking at me; "I have no interest in crawling back to kiss Prince Davion's feet, that would be correct."

Silence reigned for long, long moments as the tension crackled between Melissa and Justin as I stepped back a pace. The two not giving up anything to the other … until Melissa glanced down and rubbed her stomach, as if reminded of the child she was carrying before meeting Justins gaze once more.

"I take it you have a ship available to extract you from Northwind?" she shrewdly guessed, and Justin inclined his head, causing Melissa to offer him a shallow nod. "Then call it to come pick you up – here and now" she demanded and after a long moment of consideration, Justin reached into his suit, and retrieved a cylinder-shaped object that he twisted, causing several lights to illuminate and then he held it up and held a brief coded conversation before closing it down and putting it back on his belt and nodding. "It is done."

"Good" Melissa said before turning to spear Duke Stuart with a look. "Make sure it is allowed to land and depart for its jumpship, unmolested" she ordered, stressing the last word and the Duke grudgingly bowed before turning to Colonel Chattan who in turn nodded her understanding of the unsaid order, pulling a radio from her belt and starting to issue clipped orders as I turned back to the Duchess and the Double Agent.

"You have saved my life, the life of my child and the lives of many other people this evening Justin Xaing" she said after a moment's consideration. "Even if that was not your intent, it was what you accomplished. Thus, I will spare yours. You are free to depart in peace – but I do pray that you come to your senses and realize that staying in service to a house that would gladly execute this" she said, gesturing around us to take in the battle zone that the parade ground had become, "is sheer madness."

"Coming from a woman whose husband brought her a full-scale war as a wedding present? I will take that as an amusing calibration of the scales of sanity" Justin replied with a cold smirk before turning to me and nodding his head. "Goodbye Lieutenant, you have proven most … useful this evening."

I stared at him for a long moment as if trying to think of something snappy to come back at him with, failed and simply offered him a curt nod. A moment later Melissa turned on her heel and stalked away swiftly and once she was a few steps away her bodyguards with almost unseemly haste folded in around her to shield her from the still very much armed Justin. Tristan and I did not follow immediately, waiting until Justin too spun on his heel and stalked away towards the undamaged and open parts of the field, without a backwards glance.

"That man" I muttered to Tristan as we watched Justin walking away, "has serious daddy issues."

That actually got a snicker of a laugh from Tristan before he patted my shoulder and jerked his head back at the function centre.

"Come on, we need to clear before his ship arrives" he pointed out and I nodded at that. Getting roasted by fusion thrusters would be just too much I think, and I hurried after the crowd to the function centre as I started to hear the whine of a ship approaching.

I followed the group through the doors into the function centre as the distant whine of the approaching ship deepened in the roar of a fusion thrust and made my way out of the crowd to get a clear view as a K-1 long range drop shuttle slewed to a lateral halt in the air above us, at which point it fell like a stone. I opened my mouth to yell a warning but held off as its engines re-ignited at seemingly the last second to shed its speed, setting down neatly. Its descent was tracked by several lances of Battlemechs around the perimeter of the parade ground, but no-one opened fire as it settled into place. Twenty seconds later it roared back into the air and vanished into the smoke, the glow of its engines visible for a few more seconds before that too faded away and I let out a slow breath, now really feeling the impact of the insanity of this little dinner party starting to catch up with me.

With a sigh I turned away from the windows and made my way carefully into the messy and slightly chaotic interior, wondering if I was lucky and some of the food for the banquet might be around somewhere … because I was bloody hungry enough to eat haggis right now…
"I, the Baron of Strang, care not for your new names. Clans? Jade Falcons? I call you by your true name: Scum of the Star League, traitors of free will, persecutors of the Periphery come back to lord it over freedom-loving people. Come ahead, you steel-eyed robots! Come ahead and taste what a million like-minded people think of you and your damn Clans!"

-Baron Stepan Von Strang

shadowdancer

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #903 on: 02 November 2024, 15:00:27 »
Glad to see you back!!
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worktroll

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #904 on: 02 November 2024, 15:15:42 »
Welcome back! And bad luck with the whooping cough. When adults get it, it doesn't sound like whooping, does it? And a great drop, thank you again!
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
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Daryk

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #905 on: 02 November 2024, 16:05:26 »
AMAZING!!  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better!  I can't WAIT to see how the private conversation goes! :D

Kwic

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #906 on: 02 November 2024, 16:24:58 »
It’s a Chris mass miracle!

Well written as always. 

Devoured in minutes.   And the wait begins anew for more. 

idea weenie

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #907 on: 02 November 2024, 17:53:11 »
Captain Moltjoner is going to be kicking himself for months after this night.

mikecj

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #908 on: 02 November 2024, 18:04:32 »
Brilliant!  Absolutely brilliant!
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
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Trace Coburn

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #909 on: 02 November 2024, 18:30:13 »
Captain Moltjoner is going to be kicking himself for months after this night.
  He humoured Smith’s ‘paranoia’ for the sake of form, then blew it off so he could go back to the party.  Except it wasn’t paranoia, because people really were out to get the Archon-designate.  Moltjoner’s next promotion is either going to take years to come through, way behind the normal curve... or it’s going to take him to ‘command’ of a corrosion-control detail out on Filtvelt!  His name is mud right now.  And the 5th DLC are going to get some piercing looks, too, if this is the quality of officer they produce.

  And... whoa.  That chapter was a ride:shocked:

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #910 on: 02 November 2024, 20:45:53 »
Well, hell, that was quite a return.  :evil:
"Does anyone know where the love of God goes / When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"
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FedRatCowboy

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #911 on: 02 November 2024, 21:15:41 »
One heck off of a return. I actually was excited and said "Oh fecal matter!!". Glad to hear your recovery was successful!!!

Welcome back!!!
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Sir Chaos

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #912 on: 03 November 2024, 04:44:23 »
Captain Moltjoner is going to be kicking himself for months after this night.

Don´t worry, there´s going to be plenty of others who´ll be happy to do that kicking for him.
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Grognard

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #913 on: 03 November 2024, 21:13:06 »
 :smilie_happy_clapping: :smilie_happy_clapping:  OOOOHHH-RRRAAAAHHHHH!!!!!  :smilie_happy_clapping: :smilie_happy_clapping:

So VERY glad to have you and your story back with us!

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DOC_Agren

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #914 on: 05 November 2024, 00:13:56 »
It is back!!
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

EPG

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #915 on: 07 November 2024, 08:39:08 »
Excellent!

R4360

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #916 on: 07 November 2024, 10:27:24 »
Great to see this back.

Daryk

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #917 on: 08 November 2024, 19:15:41 »
Just finished re-reading the whole thread... it flows SO well!  I can't wait for more! :)

Red Pins

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #918 on: 10 November 2024, 20:35:47 »
Hurry up and give me my fix, Chris!   :evil:
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Clan Devil Wasp * Clan Carnoraptor * Clan Frost Ape * Clan Surf Dragon * Clan Tundra Leopard
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mikecj

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #919 on: 10 November 2024, 23:20:00 »
That was a nice touch, the ceremonial resurrection of the two regiments
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Seydlitz

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #920 on: 17 November 2024, 22:28:57 »
After reading the new Force Manual Davion, I had an interesting suggestion. As it has clearly been stated John will elevated to the nobility at war's end,(to whatever degree Chris has planned) Hanse being the magnificent bastard he is, during rewards ceremony on the spur of the moment decides, in addition to whatever Battlemech John has received from his mysterious benefactor, gifts him his brother Ian's Atlas.

Picture it. John Smith, "The Dragonslayer" the MechWarrior who defeated the dreaded Yorinaga Kurita and avenged the death of First Prince Ian Davion while simultaneously saving the life of his younger brother and successor First Prince Hanse Davion from certain death at the hands of the same man who slew his brother at cost of his of exceedingly rare SLDF Royal Marauder and nearly his own life is gifted the late Ian Davion's Battlemech, who died fighting a rear guard action buying time for his troops to withdraw, as a personal token of appreciation and gratitude.

Even if John never actually takes it into battle, the symbolism alone is a PR Goldmine. And whatever superstitions that hangover the Mech, most Davion citizens will likely be of the opinion that John is the only MechWarrior(alongside his disdain for mystical BS)both worthy of it, and able to exorcize any lingering demons.

thtadthtshldntb

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #921 on: 06 December 2024, 22:15:56 »
so my last entry was in the early phases of almost 2 months in the hospital... and I had no practical access to this site there

I finally get home and catch up on this wonderful fic... and it was an excellent comfort of home... albeit online.

EAGLE 7

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #922 on: 06 December 2024, 23:38:44 »
  thtadthtshldntb Glad to hear you are free of the hospital gulag. Hope you recovery is painless and quick.
“ My Clan honor is bigger than your Dragon honor, and comes in 18 clan flavors.”

thtadthtshldntb

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #923 on: 07 December 2024, 12:36:59 »
thanks!

advise to all. If you are ever hospitalized in the Hudson County NJ area of the USA and they want to send you to a rehab facility named Hamilton Park... don't go. It is more appropriately Hamilton Hell

Rift_Knight

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Re: This Was Easier on the Tabletop - a Battletech SI Fic
« Reply #924 on: Today at 12:09:57 »
Rehab is never fun. But some places are definitely better than others.

 

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