A Return of Falcons: Wings of Reflection

[JAMES_PRYDE]

from "A Rending of Falcons" by Victor Milan...

"....The Khan of Clan Jade Falcon was no coward. Not one to wait like a rabbit in a hole to be dug out by a badger. But if she was brave as a Falcon should be she was also arrogant. Too arrogant in her moment of triumph to be as suspicious as she ought after the shattered Black Rose apparently out of control, had conveniently disappeared into a tumbling hunk of wreckage.

Now the two battlemechs were joined together by Black Rose's locked claw. And Malvina came, indeed, to dig her foe from her hole. The taller woman wore a form fitting green and yellow pressure suit over cooling mesh and vest. Malvina's space suit was black and silver. Neither was armoured to an appreciable degree; a Battlemech was a suit of armor, after all.

Jayna Pryde was long and strong. Malvina was quick as a weasel. She snatched the laser pistol from Jayna Pryde's grasp as it loosed a futile red blast into the void.

Then holding it before the faceplate of her enemy's pressure suit Malvina Hazen crushed the weapon in her prosthetic hand. Which inside its glove was black as the space around them. Floating free of the immobilized Battlemechs, the two warrior women grapples inside the shadowy half hull. Jayna Pryde's strength told first. She pinioned Malvina's legs with her own, forced her arms to her sides. Futiley Malvina tried to head butt her; Jayna Pryde merely hugged her close with the chin on top of Malvina's pressure hooded head. Had they not been forced to wear faceplates it would have exposed her throat to the madwoman's sharp teeth. As it was, the Khan held her foe helpless.

Malvina struggled wildly to break free. "And so it ends, " Jayna Pryde murmured, through jaws tight shut to prevent Malvina's breaking them with a quick head bob. "You might have been a worthy sucessor. But you could not wait."

Malvina strained her head upward. Jayna Pryde locked an arm around her throat, flowed behind her, caught her in a head lock.

"Good bye little Hazen", Jayna Pryde said, twisting the smaller woman's head to break her neck. "Your bloodline is overdue for a Reaving."

Malicious laughter rang in her ears...."

There, Falcon sight possessed Jayna, quickly in thought, in the thrill of almost having done away with this little blood foul, and the threat to her Clan. She could think not to be arrogant, as she had underestimated Malvina countless times in the past, and disaster had followed. Why the laughter ?, there had to be more to it. There, out of the corner of her eye, Jayna quickly saw Malvina's prosthetic "arm of death" quickly reaching up. During the struggle of the fight she had not noticed it, but now she did, her scared and traditional combat knife, embossed with the marks of Elizabeth Hazen, and the founders, with Turkina over seeing all of them. Malvina's sinister came, using its un-natural strength, to start removing Jayna's arm from Malvina's throat. Jayna grunted in a mixture of surprise and anger, as the arm twisted savagely, torquing her elbow from its socket.

Malvina legs scissored open, and by doing this, sent Jayna into a small spin, as Malvina moved in for the next pinning move with her legs. "I toyed with you", Malvina said arrogantly over the public channel, "to make your failure sting the worse."

As Malvina's flesh and blood hand grabbed Jayna out of the spin she was in, and lined her hand of death to smash her faceplate, Jayna thought "time to end this, you little witch !". As earlier in the fight, the knife had gone astray and disappeared from immediate sight, and it was only thanks to Malvina, for breaking Jayna's arm and socket, and sending in her into a little spin, that she was able to grab the knife with her good arm, and as Malvina came for the killing blow, Jayna Pryde, rammed the founders knife into the throat of the she devil, the so called "Chingis Khan" and then violently slashed sideways.

Malvina struggled drowning in blood, still raged to try and choke Jayna with her last dying breaths, Jayna thought "this witch is determined, I will give her that. Time to put the sting into her death !", and with that taunted her saying "go join your brother in hell, blood foul !" this had the desired effect of enraging Malvina further, to hasten the blood loss and fading oxygen from her slashed suit. Her grip on Jayna's bad arm loosened, then finally her face went even more white that it was, and her eyes reddened, Jayna rammed the but end of the knife into her faceplate, shattering it, and watched her finally die for good, grabbing her to kick her away from herself with a double kick, backward into the debris, just then noticing amongst the zero gee pool of blood around Malvina and the immediate area, a single floating synthetic "Black Rose", she crushed it in her hand as the corpse of the blood foul, and one of the most darkest chapters in the history of Clan Jade Falcon, came to an end...

[JAMES_PRYDE]

Hammarr, Sudeten
Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
4 April 3136

Khan Jayna Pryde’s dropship finally touched down at the space port of Hammar. She was glad, in order to keep the positive after effects of her crushing the little she devil in quick succession, like a good Trial should be, not dragging its feet, she had ordered 1 and a half G acceleration back to Hammar, after depart from the badly damaged Warship Jade Aegis , she had been annoyed with it, ever since leaving the docking collar, as her broken arm under the stress of 1 and a half G of acceleration had not fared well. “Hah” Jayna thought “A small price to pay for my victory”

The dropship finally touched down, with her vanguard assembled, and her line officers meeting her at the space port, especially some of her most loyal officers, throughout the rending, Hastur Chistu and Erik Chistu, all saluted and stood to attention as she walked down the ramp. Loremaster Julia Buhallin met her, bowed, and Jayna returned the bow.

“Congratulations my Khan, on behalf of the Clan, you have asserted and kept your claim to your rightful office.” Julia said in her “official loremaster” tone, that Jayna had become quite fond of.
“Well met” Jayna replied, and nodded. Her and Julia paired up and started walking towards the APC, and its escorts, with line officers and vanguard in toe. All en route to Falcon’s Perch in the centre of Hammar, where Jayna had  rganized a planet wide broadcast and a large audience of all Caste members, here in front of the public pulpit of Falcon’s Perch. Also conveniently most of the touman was mobilized too.

“We, Clan Jade Falcon, have overcome a great obstacle today, in our return to greatness. The upstart and the one who dared to go against the Way of the Clans, has been destroyed by my hand.” She would be damned if she was going to say Rending even though that was what it was as much as she hated to admit it, she continued “This “event” has shown the great corruptness of the Mongol Doctrine, by Clan, and even Inner Sphere standards. This will not be allowed to happen again. Over the course of the last month, the Clan has shown its self, that it, that we can over come what divides us. Slip / Jesse no more. The Clan has united to destroy Malvina and her forces, and thus has proven we are ready to mobilise against our foes.” Srike while the Iron is hot she thought, things would not become stagnate so to lead to another Malvina 

She continued “Over the next month, the touman and the Council will be re-organised and assessed, so better ready to deploy” Julia swallowed hard at that, thinking “what did she mean by “assessed”, and then thought of the turmoil she had started, after the Khan’s dropship left for orbit to fight Malvina.

Khan Jayna Pryde delivered the closing sentences to her victory speech. “The Return of the Falcon is here !” The crowd cheered, “Jayna Pryde, Jayna Pryde, Jayna Pryde !”
As she bowed, she steeped from the podium with Julia, Erik and Hastur in toe. She thought to her self “Time to fix the Clan, Her Clan…”

[JAMES_PRYDE]

A Return of Falcons: Wings of Reflection

Prologue…

Falcon’s Perch
Hammarr, Sudeten
Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone
6 April 3136

 The Khan of Clan Jade Falcon, climbed down from her repaired Turkina omnimech, known affectionately by the name she had given it, “Green-feather”. She took a deep breath, glad to be out of the city, and the air quality of it too. She had returned to her “throne” as the Lyran “Ambassadors” had coined it. She chuckled lightly. “Mental note to self, track down those two, as I have a special plan for them” she said, as she chuckled lightly again, reminded that despite her best efforts to find them, like rats they were excellent at being hidden. Fully with both feet on the ground now, she looked up at Green-feather, nodded with respect, nodded to the two Elementals beside her now, valiantly painted in Dark Green Falcon Camo. Then at Star Colonel Hastur Chistu in her Eyrie battlemech, and Galaxy Commander Erik Chistu in his Shrike. And finally at Loremaster Julia Buhallin as she stepped out of her APC, with full Falcon robes bearing. The “victory parade” had reached the Throne. The Elementals bowed, Jayna saluted the two mechwarriors, and motioned them off, towards a nearby guard outpost. Julia joined Jayna, as they walked toward the grand entrance of Falcon’s Perch, Green-feather was taken by a Tech to a nearby Mech bay, with the two Elementals in toe to guard.

“Glad to be back, quiaff ?” Julia said, in an almost subtly sarcastic tone. She thought that Jayna would not pick it up, as not being “politically” minded. “Aff” Jayna replied. “And if you take that tone again with me, those robes will not save you from a Trial, quiaff ?!” Jayna said sharply in a semi formal, semi playful manner. “Neg, need I remind the most prestigious Khan, that loremaster’s are above Trial.” Julia toyed back again. “I have missed you too” Jayna scoffed. As they walked the steps to the entry to Falcon’s Perch. “So, my Khan on a more serious note, where do we go from here ?” Julia said. Jayna replied “the Clan is stable for now, relatively speaking, a common foe is dead, but like Turkina and her Death from above, we must act quickly to take advantage of this, and truly iron out underlying problems before we can Return again to flight.”

Heading towards her personal office, that over looked a valley, and her favourite mountain hunting, hiking and camping grounds, Sudeten’s sun was dawning. She looked at her various art works, her easel holding a half finished art work of Falcons in a tree. A small Falcon statue in the middle of her antique wooded desk, that she had made by her self from the tree’s in the mountains, along with the table top that was passed down to Khan’s, by the Loremasters, which dated back directly to that of the Founder, Elizabeth Hazen as her war planning table during the Pentagon Wars, and the Exodus. Jayna took off her semi ceremony uniform and hung it on a hook behind her desk, next to a huge painting of the Jade Falcon crest. Revealing her combat uniform underneath, she though “Time to get to work”
 
She turned to Julia “unless there is a direct incursion into our realm, or what that little devil was planning, to crash Emerald Talon into Hammar” She had to contain her absolute rage and disgust at that, continuing on “…I do not want to be disturbed for the next month, as I work on the future for our Clan. You and my immediate commanders will handle day to day operations. Let it be known that I have retreated to plan our next move, and schedule a Clan wide transmission for the end of the month.”
“As you wish, my Khan” Julia said as she bowed.

“Now to assist me, retrieve all files, both military, biographical, historical everything about Khan Marthe Pryde” Jayna barked at Julia and her lower caste aides. They left her desk to start the assigned task. Jayna templed her hands infront of her, and took a deep breath, one that still hurt her broken arm a bit. She thought to herself… “Time to get a different perspective on how to fix the Clan, starting with one of the most successful of Khans, and of my blood house and lineage, Marthe Pryde and the more “civilized” days of the Grand Council.” She did not want to admit to herself that she had to get “political”, but that is what was required.

As she was complementing the next month, the dairy entries and resolutions for each area of the Clan that needed assessment and “fixing”, her gaze  drifted to something partially hidden behind her office door. Looking at it more, it turned out to be the half broken chair, the one she had literally kicked half way across her office in the previous months.
She tapped her intercom “Also, Tech…bring me some nails and a hammer, too” She smiled and chuckled.