BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Player Boards => Fan Fiction => Topic started by: HFC05 on 22 April 2020, 14:31:28
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Forward: I recently got back into Battletech, mostly because of the new games, and many nostalgic hours on Sarna.net. As a kid in the 80s I was fascinated by the giant 'Mechs, the detailed miniatures, and the gigantic galaxy. Now that I'm older I appreciate the universe with it's complex political intrigue and extensive mythos, and I still love those giant 'Mechs.
Like many of you I find myself with more time on my hands so I decided to write a fan fiction, but I wanted to focus on a few individuals that had to survive in this wonderful and lethal galaxy. I hope you enjoy it, and if there is interest I'll keep posting.
A Warrior's Family
Chapter 1
August 3029
Klathandu IV
Leftenant Harold "Haphazard" or "Hap" Calahad eased his Griffin over the hill. He could see his Lancemate Corporal "Joker" Cameron moving his Firestarter down the hill carefully using the forest for cover. Hap and his lance were, on the books, a pursuit lance for the Raman Draconis March Militia or RDMM, but at that moment Hap suspected he was leading the lance of misfits that had been tasked to screen while everyone else was fighting.
Hap checked his scanners again. There was no enemy, and from the looks of the smoke they were east of most of the fighting. On his scanners Hap could see his other lancemate, Sergeant "Tuna" Kam'achi just about hundred meters behind him. Hap knew Tuna was trudging up the hill in his Hunchback. It wasn't as fast as Joker's Firestarter or Hap's own Griffin, but it brought a lot of firepower, and it was better armored than either 'Mech.
Hap searched a moment for his fourth lancemate, and then remembered Corporal "Lucky" Tirado wasn't there. He earned his handle during an ambush where he jumped his Javelin behind a Panther, but he didn't see an enemy Enforcer following the Panther. When the Enforcer leveled its autocannon nothing happened. After his lancemates recovered from the shock of the weapon jamming they blasted the Enforcer to pieces, and Corporal Tirado would forever be called "Lucky".
But it wasn't just that one incident, if everyone was getting sick on the beef rations, Lucky would have happened to have gotten chicken. When Sergeant Major planned the worst field problem, Lucky contracted some local flu that had him on light duty just long enough to avoid it. One time the barracks weekly poker game had a pot worth several months of pay and Lucky won it with a pair of 3s. That was Lucky, when it came to chance he always came out ahead.
That all changed yesterday with one stray particle projection beam. One minute Joker and Lucky were arguing about characters in a holovid, and the next minute the head of Lucky's Javelin had evaporated. Hap didn't even see where the shot had come from. It was so random and shocking. The worst part was the fight between the RDMM and the 9th Benjamin Regulars was going so poorly there was no time for a memorial, and his 'Mech was cannibalized for spare parts. Now it was a day later, and here they were screening for an enemy that wasn't there.
A light flashed on Hap's radio, and he switched channels. "This is Hooligan four" Hap said as his mind drifted from his musings back to the present.
Hap's company commander, Captain Holman, broke the static. "Hooligan four, this is Hooligan six. Hap, where the hell are you?"
"Sir, I'm on the east ridge screening just as the intel-"
"Yeah, intel got it wrong again. Move to hill 182. Our Fire Support Company is getting their asses handed to them. The recon element you were supposed to be screening came from the west."
"Acknowledge sir."
"Hurry Hap, seconds count. Hooligan Six out."
Hap switched to the lance's radio channel, "Tuna, Joker, we got to move to hill 182. Looks like intel got it wrong again."
"Man, I gotta get those guys in a poker game." Joker said as he turned his Firestarter around, and used the 'Mech's jump jets to send it flying into the air over the tops of trees and onto the side of hill by Hap's Griffin.
"Yeah bro, we'd take them for all their money." Tuna replied with a chuckle. Hearing the big husky Polynesian man's laugh made Hap smile. This was the first time since Lucky's death that any of them had dared to really laugh.
Hap hit the jump jets on his Griffin and turned in mid-air as he sailed over the hill and landed in the forest on the other side. Joker's Firestarter made another jump jet assisted leap over the trees as Hap checked his balance and then prepared to jump again. He glanced at his Heads Up Display (HUD) and saw that in the time it had taken him and Joker to turn their 'Mechs around Tuna was, again, nearly a hundred meters behind them, now trudging down the hill. Not only was the Hunchback slower than the other 'Mechs, it also didn't have jump jets.
"We gotta hurry Tuna. Captain H was clear that, 'seconds count'." Hap said as he watched the Hunchback's indicator on his HUD slowly crawl down the hill.
"It's like my neighbor used to say about the police, 'when seconds count, help is minutes away.'" Joker laughed.
"I got the throttle open all the way." Tuna huffed
"Captain H is going to make me put you in a faster 'Mech." Hap said as he weighed out how he liked having the Hunchback's large auto cannon, but hated that when he had to move his lance the Hunchback was always lagging behind.
"Yeah it's going to have to be a big 'Mech, for Tuna. I heard when he was in training they put him in a Locust and the legs snapped." Joker again laughed at his own joke.
"That wasn't me that was your mom." Tuna quipped.
"Oh you want to talk about moms?" Joker sounded agitated.
"Quiet down and stay sharp. Slow it down Joker we need to arrive quickly, but together." Hap told his subordinates. He knew if he let them continue they'd be arguing and insulting each other all day, even in the middle of a fire fight. Hap cursed to himself thinking how he would have just headed off the argument by sending Lucky and Joker on ahead as he and Tuna took up the rear.
Hap settled his throttle at a speed Tuna could keep up with and started to work the route to the hill. His mind drifted again. He was a young Leftenant, but he knew the campaign to hold Klathandu was going poorly. The local militia only had tanks and jump infantry but they had managed to keep the Draconis Combine's 9th Benjamin Regulars at bay until the RDMM could get there. After they arrived the tank commander had briefed the entire Regiment that part of the militia's success was, in his opinion, that the 9th Benjamin Regulars didn't take the militia seriously because they lacked 'Mechs.
When the RDMM arrived on planet the 9th was taking them dangerously seriously. The landing was contested, and part of the RDMM's leadership were killed before they were even on planet. Somehow the RDMM managed to hold the 9th long enough for the Federated Commonwealth leadership to send in the First Federated Commonwealth BattleMech Regiment. The First FedCom was a new regiment and they arrived with shiny new 'Mechs. Most of the RDMM troops were excited, until they realized they were untested Subalterns straight from the Davion and Steiner military academies. As if having a regiment full of the most junior of junior officers wasn't bad enough, Hap had even heard rumors some of them were still cadets.
The First FedCom was led by a pompous son of a noble that put them on vanguard duty or other simple, and relatively safe, missions. The First FedCom had some easy wins, and that just made the young officers more arrogant. Hap didn't blame them though, a few years back when he left the academy he was the same way. Today the First FedCom was in their first real fight with the 9th and from what Hap had heard over the radio it was going badly.
Hap's lance was now close to the hill. The fastest way looked like a narrow pass in the high cliffs. It was the perfect place for an ambush. Joker was already there and had his 'Mech looking up at the top of the cliff. It looked too tall for Hap's Griffin to jump to the top of it, but the Firestarter might just make it.
"Joker you see something or are you trying to figure out if you can jump it?"
"Jump it, but It's too high for me. Guess we gotta just risk it." Joker replied.
"I'll go first" Hap replied as he walked his 'Mech into the path going between the two high cliffs. He felt claustrophobic as his 'Mech scrapped against the side. "Tuna it's going to be hard to turn in this passage. You might want to go into this backwards, if someone catches us-"
"I'll make it real unpleasant for them, boss." Tuna finished
Hap started up the pass. It was level at first, but after a hundred meters it started to slope up the hill. Within another hundred he was high enough that he could jump onto the cliff top. Hap pulled up his long range sensors. He could now see the indicators of two friendly units and several smaller enemy 'Mechs engaging them. Hap felt sick in his stomach. He knew the Fire Support Company had been reduced due to causalities, but it should have been more than two. Hap flipped his radio to the Fire Support lance's channel.
"This is Hooligan four" Hap had to stop for a moment to remember the company's radio designation, "Spear element, are you there?"
"This is Spear six, where the hell are you?"
"Coming up the cliff pass."
"I needed you here yesterday, Hooligan four." Spear six replied angrily.
Hap's HUD started to receive updates from Spear six's 'Mech. He could see the enemy was a lance of Jenners and a Cicada. Hap knew these were fast 'Mechs, but poorly armored. He locked onto one of the Jenners that had its back to him, and sent a salvo of ten long range missiles flying in its direction. Hap was hoping to distract or slow the 'Mech down, instead to his surprise his computer marked a kill.
"Good shooting Hooligan four. You hit his magazine. Now if you had just gotten here before these bastards tore my company apart that would have been some real help." Spear six snarled, it sounded like he was going to say more but there was the sound of missiles hitting his 'Mech.
Hap switched back to his lance channel, "Joker get up there now, we'll catch up."
The Firestarter jumped over the Griffin and started running up the path between the cliffs. In a moment the Firestarter was in the fight, and the Griffin and Hunchback followed a few seconds behind. Hap could see they were too late. The hill side was littered with broken and battered 'Mechs. There was an RDMM Trebuchet and Catapult still standing, but they were being harassed be the smaller and faster Cicada and Jenners.
Both RDMM 'Mechs were in bad shape. The Catapult was missing the missile pod on its right side, and smoke and sparks were pouring out of multiple holes in its armor. The Trebuchet was in similar condition and was clearly favoring one leg.
Hap sent another salvo of missiles at one of the Jenners. The missile spread went wide and only two connected, doing little damage. He then shot his Particle Projection Cannon (PPC) at the 'Mech and that melted through the 'Mech's arm, and the blast bit into the torso. Joker put two medium lasers into the breach, and hit the engine shielding of the 'Mech. It stopped mid stride and then exploded.
The 'Mech's of the Fire Company had few close range weapons so when the smaller faster 'Mechs closed with them they were in trouble. Hap realized his Griffin had the same problem but he also knew he could just punch the enemy or perform the dangerous Death From Above attack.
As if he here thinking the same thing the Catapult pilot sent his 'Mech flying into the air then landed on one of the Jenners. The Jenner twisted and contorted under the weight of the heavier 'Mech. For a moment the Catapult stood over its fallen enemy, then the remaining Jenner hit it with a barrage of missiles and lasers. The Catapult fell forward and somehow Hap knew he wasn't getting back up.
Tuna shot the Jenner with his large autocannon and the shot passed through the 'Mech's left side and into its center. Tuna followed it up with his medium lasers and the Jenner exploded. Hap changed his focus to the remaining enemy 'Mech. The Cicada was trying to get behind the Trebuchet and the Trebuchet was slowly turning to prevent it. It seemed the 'Mech's gyro was damaged as well as its leg.
Joker jumped his Firestarter down next to Cicada, and fired everything he had, machine guns, medium lasers and flamers. The Cicada dodged part of the Alpha Strike but couldn't dodge the spray of fire the flamers put out. Even so the Cicada continued and when it had the angle it wanted it fired on the Trebuchet with its PPC and machine guns. The shot hit one the Trebuchet's ammo bin and the barrage of machine gun fire set off a chain reaction in the center torso.
Hap cringed as the last member of the Fire Support Company exploded. In unison Hap and Tuna fired their weapons and destroyed the remaining enemy 'Mech. Hap paused for a moment feeling the rush of emotion and adrenaline. It took him a moment before he was ready to report. He switched his radio to the command net.
"Hooligan six, this is Hooligan four, over."
"Hooligan four, Report"
"We weren't fast enough, sir. The Fire Support Company has been destroyed, but we neutralized the enemy 'Mechs. Over."
There was a pause, and Hap imagined Captain Holman cursing, then the Captain was back on the net. "The enemy broke through our lines, and we're pulling back to Rendezvous Point Zed. Get any friendly you can, and proceed to the rendezvous point."
"Understood, sir." Hap's mouth went dry. Rendezvous Point Zed was a military star port. This meant the RDMM was probably in full retreat.
"Hap, one more thing, the First FedCom is getting the shit kicked out of 'em. We're probably going to lose the better part of that year group of officers. If you see any of them, bring them along. Hooligan six out."
Hap switched back to his lance's channel, "Tuna, Joker, check for any friendly signs of life, and then we're pulling back to rendezvous point Zed."
"Way ahead of you boss" Tuna replied, "We're negative on life signs. This fight was pretty fierce."
"Alright let's-" Hap stopped mid-sentence, there was a light flashing over the emergency guard channel. "Wait one."
Hap switched to the guard channel, and heard a female voice. She sounded controlled, but stressed, "Requesting immediate assistance or evac. I repeat, this is Cadet Valois. I'm isolated, and being pursued by a heavy lance. Requesting immediate assistance or evac."
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Keep writing. Enjoyed it.
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Please keep writing, good stories are needed in this time!
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Enjoyable read, i was a bit put out when you said that the Hunchback was a 100 kilometres behind.
But that was probably to keep us on our toes. ;) :thumbsup:
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TAGged!
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(...snip...)
Hap checked his scanners again. There was no enemy, and from the looks of the smoke they were east of most of the fighting. On his scanners Hap could see his other lancemate, Sergeant "Tuna" Kam'achi just about hundred kilometers behind him. Hap knew Tuna was trudging up the hill in his Hunchback. It wasn't as fast as Joker's Firestarter or Hap's own Griffin, but it brought a lot of firepower, and it was better armored than either 'Mech.
(...snip...)
Like someone else pointed out ... but hey, that's one bigass radar, able to process that info! :D
Otherwise nice writing! Looking forwards to the follow ups!
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Sorry about the kilometer thing. I'm not sure what I was thinking there. I went ahead and fixed it. More chapters coming up, and thanks for being constructive.
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Chapter 2
August 3029
Klathandu IV
The cadet started to request assistance again, "This is Cadet Valois. I'm-"
"Cadet, this is Hooligan four. Where are you, and can you move, over?" Hap interrupted her.
"I'm in the vicinity of Pheasant Run and moving south, but I'm being chased by a Quickdraw and a Thunderbolt."
A Quickdraw and a Thunderbolt were serious firepower, and Pheasant Run was, again, minutes away when second's counted. Hap prepared to start his lance moving, but then remembered the cliff leading up the hill, and how it was ideal for an ambush. Hap patched the guard channel into his lance's channel.
"Cadet, acknowledge you are being pursued by a Quickdraw and a Thunderbolt. Do you think you can get to hill 182, over?"
There was a pause. "Yes. Hooligan four."
"How does a Thunderbolt chase anything?" Joker asked.
Hap was about to tell Joker that "now wasn't the time", but the Cadet replied, "It has jump jets."
"Who the hell puts Jump Jets on a Thunderbolt? Those things are bigger than Tuna's mom." Joker responded
"Hey!" Tuna barked.
"Stow it Joker." Hap snapped, then softened his tone, "Alright Cadet. I need you to try and approach hill 182 from the east."
"Acknowledge." Cadet Valois replied coolly, she sounded calmer.
Hap could see a friendly Valkyrie just on the edge of his long range sensor range. A Valkyrie was a light 'Mech, and a little slow for its size, but still faster than Tuna's Hunchback Hap noted. A Quickdraw could keep pace with it, but she should have been able to outpace the Thunderbolt. This area was heavily wooded and with the forests and jump jets the Thunderbolt could probably keep within weapons range.
"Cadet I'm going to coordinate with my lance. I'm going to take you of our lance channel, but I'll still be monitoring the guard. Just keep moving to hill 182."
"Acknowledge all." She sounded confident again.
Hap took the guard channel out of the Lance's channel. "Alright Gents, we're not broadcasting to everyone in the clear. She's bringing two heavies our way, but we can use that pass in the cliff to-"
Joker interrupted Hap, "Hey Tuna was that the Princess?"
"What?" Haps asked
"Yeah, I think so. I mean I don't know till I see her, but probably." Tuna replied.
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Hap asked impatiently.
"We were in the galley one day and there was a bunch of First FedCom Subalterns and Cadets there, and hand to god truth, there was this cadet that was the most drop dead gorgeous woman we had ever seen. Lucky tried to ask her out, but when he talked to her she just stared at him, said 'no' and then left. One of the Subalterns told him that was the princess, aloof and concise. Lucky said Princess was embroidered on her name tag."
Hap almost asked why he wasn't with them, but he knew he was probably in a staff meeting. "And you think this was the same MechWarrior?" Hap asked
"Well Lucky said she was a Valkyrie pilot." Joker replied defensively
"The First FedCom is all Valkyrie, Centurion, and Enforcer pilots." Hap replied looking at the cliff and thinking how he wanted to set up the ambush.
"That's true bro." Tuna added.
"Yeah, but she sounds pretty hot, next time you talk to her ask her callsign." Joker said.
Hap was exasperated, "Look I don't care if she's Miss Federated Suns or Martha UrbanMech, we need to help her survive and take down the Quickdraw and Thunderbolt. Joker, light up the trees near the pass and hide in the fire and smoke. Tuna use the heat and smoke to hide but try to be close to the pass." Hap directed the other two 'Mech warriors.
Hap could see the Quickdraw and Thunderbolt on his scanner now. The Quickdraw was a heavy 'Mech with a big engine that meant it traded speed for armor. It was about as fast and jump capable as the Valkyrie, and he was trying to follow the same path as the Valkyrie. Hap didn't have a computer lock, but he could guess where the Quickdraw pilot next jump. He watched the Valkyrie jump, and targeted the same area. He launched a brace of missiles and saw them impact the Quickdraw just as he landed behind her.
Hap flipped the radio to the guard net as he moved his 'Mech to the end of the pass. Hap picked a good spot with plenty of trees and a good view of the pass. Tuna and Joker were in position now. Joker was facing Hap. When he jumped into the pass he would try to get behind the enemy so facing backwards made sense.
"What's your status cadet?" Hap asked
"Almost there. Good contact on the Quickdraw. Thanks." She replied.
Hap glanced back to his tactical display, the Quickdraw was now alternating its path, this was slowing it down, giving the Cadet more space. Hap tried to guess the Quickdraw's next move, but he was wrong and the missiles completely missed. Hap figured this was fine, it would keep the enemy guessing.
"There's a cliff here Hooligan four." Cadet Valois reported
"Yeah there's a pass to the south, proceed through the pass." Hap replied.
Hap saw the Valkyrie's icon move a few 'Mech paces south and hesitate. She probably felt the same way he did, it looked like the perfect place for an ambush. Hap's computer reported laser fire and missile fire from the vicinity of the enemy 'Mechs, and the Valkyrie started moving again. The Valkyrie came into view as she sprinted into the pass and then up to the Griffin.
As she was turning her 'Mech Hap could see Joker was holding up a piece of paper to the view port of his 'Mech. Hap cringed trying to think what crude joke he was going to play on the Cadet. Hap magnified the image and saw it was the lance's net information. Hap flipped his radio back to the lance net, still trying to guess what Joker was up to, and how he was going to discipline him. The cadet must have seen the paper because in a moment Hap started receiving data from her 'Mech.
"Are you 'Princess'?" Joker asked
"I hate that callsign." Princess said coldly. "Please just call me Valois."
"Anything you ask Princess" Joker replied cheerfully.
"Shut it Joker." Hap almost yelled. He would have to warn Princess the worst thing you can do with a call sign is show you hate it, but before he could say anything the Quickdraw entered the pass. Hap's computer reported the Quickdraw was peppered with missile shots, more than he had launched. Princess must have been putting down good fire as she retreated.
Princess shot a medium laser at the Quickdraw the moment she had a clear shot. Hap backed her up with a PPC shot and a salvo of missiles. The PPC struck the 'Mech's left breast and a few missiles hit the cliff, but the most of them struck the 'Mech. The Quickdraw responded by jumping deep into the pass and sending a barrage of lasers and missiles at Hap. The trees absorbed some of the damage, but armor melted from the right breast and arm of the Griffin.
Joker gracefully jumped into the pass and landed behind the Quickdraw. He bathed the enemy 'Mech in fire and followed up with lasers and machine guns. Hap knew that would probably not overheat the Quickdraw, but force the pilot to be careful with his lasers. The Quickdraw jumped out of the pass and spun backwards trying to target the Firestarter. This is when Tuna stepped out of the smoke and shot the Quickdraw in the back at point blank range, destroying the 'Mech.
Joker jumped his Firestarter out of the pass, just as the Thunderbolt entered. As the Firestarter sailed to safety Hap launched another volley of missiles and Princess joined him in hitting it with her laser, but the Thunderbolt ignored them. Tuna also shot him with his powerful cannon but it didn't seem penetrate the 'Mech's thick armor.
The Thunderbolt moved like something from a nightmare. It unleashed a barrage of missiles and lasers at the Hunchback as he stalked through the pass. Tuna was taken aback by the onslaught, and started to steady his 'Mech and prepare for another shot, but the Thunderbolt kept coming.
Princess shot her 'Mech's arm mounted medium laser again, but it only superficially melted some of the armor on the Thunderbolt's chest. Joker jumped behind him and performed another alpha strike, but the Thunderbolt pilot seemed unconcerned. The cannon on Tuna's Hunchback belched out another pitiless blast. This actually seemed to put a hole in the armor, but it didn't stop the Thunderbolt.
Hap sent another wave of missiles into the monster, but they failed to hit the breach that Tuna had created. The Griffin's PPC stabbed at the armor of the 'Mech's chest, but only managed to melt off the armor below the smoking hole in its right breast.
In a brutal display the Thunderbolt raised its fist overhead and brought it down on the Hunchback. The large shoulder mounted autocannon blocked Hap from seeing where the blow landed, but the Hunchback fell backwards with the force of the blow. Joker hit him again with everything his 'Mech had, and more smoke came out of the holes in the 'Mech's armor, but it still seemed fully functional.
Hap worried the Thunderbolt would turn on Joker or give Tuna a coup de grace, he wished he knew how to get the Thunderbolt to focus on him. The Thunderbolt turned and raised its right arm and pointed its large laser at Hap, and trained the missile pod on him. "be careful what you wish for" Hap thought as he fought the sense of panic and manually aimed his weapons trying to target the smoking hole.
Princess shot her laser and launched a salvo of ten missiles. The laser struck the gap in the Thunderbolts right torso and most of the missiles hit in and around the crack in the armor. The right side of the 'Mech separated in an explosion and the 'Mech's missile pod and right arm went flying away.
The breach in the armor was hard to miss now and Hap launched missiles as his PPC's azure beam slipped into the smoking hole and into the center of the 'Mech. Missiles followed the beam and then there was another explosion and more smoke and sparks poured out of the holes and breaches in the Thunderbolt's armor. The Thunderbolt staggered backwards then slumped drunkenly onto the side of the cliff.
Hap looked at the broken remains of the Thunderbolt. He had been in dozens of battles, but this was probably the biggest 'Mech he and his lance had taken on. He knew the Quickdraw was about the same tonnage as the Thunderbolt, but it was different. Hap shuddered, there was something about the way the Thunderbolt had moved, and the casual indifference it had toward everything his lance threw at it.
"I'm out of missiles." Princess said quietly and matter-of-factly. To Hap it was almost a quiet whisper, it took a moment for it to register with him.
Hap shook his head and focused. He glanced at his own ammo counter. He had about a dozen reloads remaining. He had been a little liberal with his missiles, but the Griffin carried two tons of missiles so he could afford it.
"Good copy Cadet." Hap said, debating what to call her Princess, Val, or keep calling her 'Cadet'. As he weighed his options he pulled up tactical information on Princess's Valkyrie. Her 'Mech seemed to have taken damage all over, it was all superficial, but she must have been in quite a fight. She had also emptied her missile magazine, which meant she had launched twelve salvos. Val seemed like a cool customer so Hap assumed she had shot each salvo with a purpose. Between this, the timely laser and missile shot on the Thunderbolt, and her disdain for a girly callsign like "Princess" Hap was starting to respect Cadet Valois.
As he scanned the Valkyrie he remembered that the Hunchback's autocannon rounds were also pretty limited. "Tuna, how much ammo do you have?"
There was no response. Hap glanced up and Tuna's Hunchback was still flat on the ground. Without looking Hap switched the scanner to the Hunchback. He glanced down and saw the cockpit was critically damaged and there was no life signs for Tuna. Hap swallowed hard and reminded himself damage to the cockpit could prevent the Hunchback from reporting the 'MechWarrior's life signs.
Joker was already moving toward the prone 'Mech. Hap walked his 'Mech over as well. Joker stopped his Firestarter and then starting howling, "No, no, no." Hap could see now the head of the Hunchback had been bashed in and there was a grizzly pool of blood around the smashed cockpit. Joker kneeled his 'Mech down and popped open the cockpit of his 'Mech.
"Hooligan four, we need to move." Princess said quietly.
Joker hadn't disconnected his neurohelmet when she spoke, and Hap could see Joker pause and look in the direction of the Valkyrie, "Go to hell princess." He snapped.
Hap knew he needed to correct the corporal, and in his gut he knew that Cadet Valois was right, but he wanted so badly for Sergeant Kam'achi to be alive. Joker slipped out of his 'Mech and ran to the Hunchback's head. He was carrying a survival axe rescue tool that he used to pry off the sheet of crushed safety glass.
Hap watched as Joker tossed the glass away and when he saw into the crushed remains of the cockpit, and his heart fell. Joker dropped the axe and his hands moved like he was trying to think about some sort of medical of first aid that could help, but it was obvious the body was too badly mangled.
"We are being cut off." Princess said quietly.
Hap looked at his scanners and didn't see anything. "I don't see…" before he could finish a 35 ton 'Mech showed up on his scanner, then two more.
Hap activated the external speakers, "Joker. We got company coming."
Joker still didn't move. "Corporal Cameron, get in your 'Mech." Hap ordered.
Joker finally started to move. He reached down for his axe, then noticed something in the broken Mech. He pulled out a skinny black bag, threw it over his shoulder and began to jog back to his Firestarter.
Hap looked at his scanners again there were about half a dozen light 'Mechs headed their way moving at different speeds. Hap knew the Draconis Combine tactics well enough to guess they were a mix of Panthers and Jenners. The Jenners would catch them and tear them apart with lasers and missiles at close range while the Panthers would blast them to pieces from a distance with their PPCs.
Hap watched as Joker put his neurohelmet back on. He shut off the PA, and keyed the lance net, "How did you see those 'Mechs before they showed up on my scanner?"
"My father owned an electronic company that makes advanced sensors and scanners for 'Mechs and aerospace fighters. My noble mother arranged for me to receive this 'Mech, and he had it outfitted with some of his company's best electronics." Princess spoke quietly like she was confessing a mistake.
Hap didn't say anything, maybe she was a spoiled little Princess whose parents could ensure she got a top of the line 'Mech fully kitted out. Of course if her 'Mech's advance gear kept them alive Hap wasn't going to complain. "Is there a clear way to Rendezvous Point Zed?"
There was a long pause and then Princess replied, "No."
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Chapter 3
August 3029
Klathandu IV
"What's the plan, boss." Joker said as he stood his 'Mech back up. His tone was cold, and he sounded like he was ready for a fight.
"We need to get to the rendezvous point, but there's a reinforced lance out there." Hap said as he glanced at his scanners. The six enemy 'Mechs were moving in a searching pattern, but they didn't seem to notice them yet. Then one started moving in their direction, followed by two more, then all of them.
Hap started to assess their situation. The RDMM was likely preparing to leave the planet, so they needed to get to the rendezvous point quickly, or risk being left behind. If they ran they'd be caught in the open, pinned down and then flanked. They had a defensible position, but they were low on ammo. Also they could be overwhelmed if enough 'Mechs tried to pour through the pass, or had the jump jets to clear the cliff. Also if the enemy had artillery or air support there was no good cover.
Hap watched as two 'Mechs waited just out of view at the other end of the pass. They were likely waiting for their lance mates and preparing to try and leap frog through the pass en masse. To Hap's surprise he started getting data on one of them and his long range missiles showed an option to lock.
"I have a sensor lock on one of the Jenners, and I'm sharing the data." Princess reported
Hap launched missiles on the target, with any luck that would compel the two 'Mechs to start into the pass early.
He could see the 'Mech take damage, but instead of running into the pass and charging it moved away and took cover in some trees. Hap's heart sank, these were disciplined soldiers, and to keep shooting would waste missiles. To make matters worse a warning tone notified him he was now sensor locked.
"I just got sensor locked." Joker added
"That's odd." Hap replied, "Panthers and Jenners don't have indirect weapons." Hap knew that in most circumstances a sensor lock would be followed up by a hailstorm of Long Range Missiles (LRMs), but neither of those 'Mech types had LRMs.
"Three 65 ton marks just entered my long range sensor range." Princess replied. "Likely Catapults or Archers."
"Hey boss, if she doesn't want to be called Princess, I'm thinking we change her call sign to 'Bad News'." Joker laughed, then added, "That is if we survive."
Hap's mind started to race. To stay here was death, to run didn't look much better.
"I've also been sensor locked." Princess said, then after a pause, "Hooligan 4, it's been a pleasure." Hap hadn't noticed it before, but Cadet Valois didn't put a lot of emotion in her voice, he sort of liked that about her. Maybe it was because Joker was always complaining.
"I'd like to say the same, Princess." Joker said, "but honestly, it really hasn't been."
"I agree." Princess deadpanned, "but I take comfort knowing that we're probably not going to the same place."
"Move into the pass." Hap said, "It might make it a little harder on the missiles and we'll still keep the light 'Mechs from swarming us."
"Yeah Princess, we might not go-" Joker started to stay then paused, "Wait, what are you saying?"
A light on Hap's radio flashed again letting him know someone was broadcasting on the guard channel. Hap didn't have time for another lost Cadet, but maybe it was someone he could ask for help.
"Griffin pilot you and your lance hold your position." A man with a thick Irish accent said.
"We've got indirect fire inbound." Hap said, as he tried to think who in the RDMM had an Irish accent.
"Aye. Just hold, and prepare for hot extraction."
Hap patched the guard channel back into the lance net, just as Princess reported, "Hooligan 4, there's a Leopard drop shuttle inbound for our position. They've painted the whole hill top as a DZ."
"Roger. They want us to wait here." Hap couldn't dare to hope, finally something might go right today.
Hap could see the Leopard on his scanners too. It was moving toward them at break neck speed, and it looked like the Jenners had noticed as well. Two of them had entered the pass and were sprinting toward them. Hap leveled his PPC at the Jenner he had a sensor lock on. The shot melted off its arm and two of its four medium lasers. Joker and Princess shot one of its leg out from under it causing it to trip and fall. The other Jenner had to make a wild jump to avoid tripping over its companion.
As the Jenner landed a barrage of lasers reduced the Jenner to scrap. Hap looked up to see the welcome underside of a Leopard drop shuttle. It was generally rectangular, and looked like an angular 'Mech garage with wings and weapon turrets. It had four 'Mech bays with two each on the port and starboard side. The inner sphere had made some truly gorgeous and elegant air and space crafts, the Leopard was not among them, but right now this was the most beautiful thing Hap had seen all day.
The Leopard pilot brought the drop shuttle down to about 100 meters above their heads and let it slide sideways as it burned off speed and momentum. As it glided around the hill it shot at some of the advancing enemy 'Mechs. Then it came to land on the southern corner of the hill.
"We're not stoppin' long children, ye need to hurry." The man with the Irish accent said on the radio.
Hap, Joker, and the Cadet quickly ran to the Leopard as the crew opened up three of the four Mech bays. Within seconds they were loaded on the drop shuttle, and it started to lift off before the bays closed.
As doors closed Hap started the shutdown procedures. The lights in the 'Mech bay started to warm up and Hap could feel they were taking off. A tech walked up on the gantry way and knocked on the armored glass. Hap popped the cockpit locks and the tech helped him push it open.
"Are you okay? Do you need any medical assistance?" The tech asked with a bored tone.
Hap took off the heavy Neurohelmet and started to remove the various neuro transmitters. "No, I'm fine." Hap didn't recognize this tech, and his uniform didn't look like an RDMM or First FedCom uniform. However he had just received an unrequested aerial evac. He assumed his commander had declared Planet Fall and he was lucky that someone stopped to grab him and the rest of his lance on the way out.
"Anything particular I should know about your 'Mech, or anything that happened in that last battle?" The tech was looking around at the cockpit, looking for damage or anything out of the ordinary. Hap could see he was going down the checklist on his clipboard.
"I didn't take any internal damage, but I lost some armor on my right flank. Also, I spent about half my missiles."
The tech was all business, and wrote a few notes on his clipboard. The tech pulled out a flash light and began inspecting the outside of the 'Mech as Hap finished disconnecting cables, and shutting down the Griffin.
Hap sat for a moment trying to figure out what to do next. The tech wrote a few more notes and without looking at him suggested, "Shouldn't you go check on your lancemates?"
Hap felt a pang of guilt as he wondered if Cadet Valois was hurt. Her 'Mech had a lot of damage, and he didn't know what had happened to her before she got to the hill. A stray laser or missile to a 'Mech's head might cause cosmetic damage to the armor, but usually gave the MechWarrior a concussion. The Cadet's mech had taken damage all over. Hap grabbed his kit bag and coveralls from the small storage area in his cockpit. As he pulled on the olive drab coveralls Hap felt the burden of responsibility for the Cadet, like he was for Joker, or Tuna or Lucky. The pang of losing Tuna and Lucky hit him again.
He put his pistol belt on, and slung the bag over his shoulder as he jogged to the ladder. He really hoped the Cadet was okay. Maybe he could keep her in his lance for a while. Her Valkyrie was complimentary to his Griffin. She was a good 'Mech pilot and gunner. He liked how she traded insults with Joker. That sensor package her 'Mech had paid off too. He put his hands and feet on the outside of the ladder and slid all the way down to the main deck. He just needed to make sure she was okay.
His feet hit the deck and he turned in the direction of the Valkyrie ran into a young woman. He started to fall but he managed to catch himself and steady the woman by putting his hands on her shoulders. Hap stood there starring at her with his hands resting on her shoulders.
She was the most gorgeous woman Hap had ever seen. She was about a meter and a half tall, had creamy white skin, and reddish chestnut hair that slightly curled and went past her shoulders. She had a small nose and green eyes. Her black coveralls were tailored to fit the curves of her trim athletic body. She also had a pistol belt across her right hip with a low slung laser pistol resting on her left thigh. On the right breast of her coveralls was a leather patch that had a silver silhouette of a Valkyrie on the side and "Anastasia Valois" written in clear silver letters, below her name in big pink letters was "Princess".
Hap didn't know what to say. Anastasia cocked her head to the side and locked eyes with him and smiled. After a long moment, she dropped her gaze down to the leather name patch on his coveralls. "Leftenant Harold Haphazard Calahad, You're Hooligan four?"
Hap was still in shock. "Yeah, I mean yes. I am. My friends call me Hap. Actually everyone calls me Hap. You can call me Hap." This was strange for Hap. He didn't usually have trouble with woman.
"May I call you Harold?" She asked.
"Sure. Yes." Hap said and realized he had to pull himself together. "I'm sorry, you're just very beautiful."
"I know." Anastasia replied. There was a tone of regret in her response, and Hap immediately understood. Most of the women around her probably hated her, and most men likely had the same problem tripping over themselves just trying to talk to her.
Hap was starting to compose himself. For all her beauty she suddenly looked lonely and vulnerable. "You don't have a lot of friends do you?"
"No." Anastasia replied, "and before you ask, I don't have a boyfriend either."
"I wasn't going to ask" Hap said sensing her bitterness. He took his hands off her shoulders but still stood close to her. Hap's experiences and training had taught him how to read people. She had mentioned her mother was a noble and her father owned a business. Her family had wealth and title, and she had beauty. This meant she had to pick her friends carefully and that would make her seem aloof which would add to the problem.
To make matters worse a place like a Davion military academy has a lot of nobles and their sycophants competing on every level. If you weren't careful it was easy to get betrayed. Hap's family wasn't nobility, and he had to work hard to earn his commission, but he had seen some of the weird and messed up things the nobles would do to each other just to get ahead.
Hap had also just seen Anastasia lead two 'Mechs that out-classed her 'Mech on a multi-kilometer chase. Money and title couldn't give her that skill, or composure. She clearly worked hard, and was smart. Something that would also make her a target of her peers. They probably goaded her by giving her an entitled and demeaning feminine call sign. Like most good call signs, it was a clever but cruel joke. She clearly knew she had to embrace it, but she had also made it clear that she hated it.
The door across the bay opened and a man that Hap didn't recognize was walking toward them with Joker at his heels. Hap and Anastasia only had a few more seconds of privacy. Hap turned back to look at her, he genuinely liked her and wanted to help her. She was looking him in the eyes with a curious expression.
"I want to be your friend, but I'd bet a year's salary you've been tricked or betrayed by people claiming to be a friend. But, until someone tells me different you're in my lance, and I take care of my lance."
Anastasia looked confused, "Okay."
He leaned in close to her, "You don't want to be 'Princess' anymore?"
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, "No, and if you could help me get rid of that name-"
"Trust me." And with that Hap grabbed the leather patch on her coveralls and ripped it off. Before Hap could slip the patch into his pocket Joker and the older man walked up to them. The old man was short but wiry. He was dressed in green military pants and wore a khaki shirt under a camouflage jacket. He looked like he was in his fifties or sixties, with silver gray hair and large mutton chops, but a clean shaven face. His blue eyes twinkled and he had the air of a mischievous grandfather. He had a wood and ivory pipe in his hands.
On the breast pocket of the Jacket was an embroidered logo with a triangle made of three overlapping Celtic knots. The top knot had a gold harp in the center, the right knot had a skull and the left knot had a three leaf clover. Above the triangle was "McFinnigan" and underneath was "and Sons".
The old man cleared his throat. "Are you the Griffin pilot?" He asked in the same Irish accent.
"Yes sir." Hap replied, "I'm Leftenant Harold Calahad, this is Cadet Anna Valois, and I believe you've already met Corporal William Cameron."
"Aye, and I'm Kelly McFinnigan. Owner, Operator, and Commander of the McFinnigan and Sons Mercenary Company." McFinnigan looked over Hap and his eyes narrowed as he saw his name tag. "Haphazard?"
"I have a reputation for being a little unorthodox in some of my strategies, not careless, just a little unpredictable." Hap said with a mock humble shrug.
"I like unorthodox and unpredictable." McFinnigan smiled. He turned to look at Anastasia and whistled quietly. "My yer a looker. Not prettier than Mrs. McFinnigan. If she asks, I expect you all will tell her that I said that. I'd dare to wager you've broken your share of hearts."
"Not really" Anastasia replied.
McFinnigan shrugged, "If ye say so. Still ye got the looks that make fools do foolish things, and sadly I have to admit I've employed a few fools." He glanced over at Joker, then back to Hap and Anastasia. "As ye probably know they make good MechWarriors, but can be trouble out of the cockpit."
Hap spoke up, "Commander McFinnigan if you can return us to the Ramon Draconis March Militia, I'll take my fool and my little heart breaker and we won't trouble you anymore."
"Aye, and that's something we need to discuss."
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One. Ping. Only.
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nice writing and idea. a few things to point out. ejection seats would have been used for the ammo and engine going boom. unless you kill the head most pilots survive the mech unless to do six points of damage to the pilot. talk about leaving lots of salvage on the field they left behind. Night also want to look at the rules for aerodrome dropship for landing. can not remember if they can hover like that. the leopard also has her bays each by them selves. so the mechpilots would not get out to they left atmo they way they where running. just trying to help get the world and setting better for you.
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a) Some of us like "larger than life" fiction, some of us love gritty realism, but it's all personal. Love the Warrior trilogy myself for all its flaws.
b) Ejection seats can be turned off, and often are by people playing the game.
c) When bugging out before superior forces, yes, salvage is often left behind.
d) Not entirely sure the Leopard is out of atmosphere.
e) Rule of Cool rules ;)
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a) Some of us like "larger than life" fiction, some of us love gritty realism, but it's all personal. Love the Warrior trilogy myself for all its flaws.
b) Ejection seats can be turned off, and often are by people playing the game.
c) When bugging out before superior forces, yes, salvage is often left behind.
d) Not entirely sure the Leopard is out of atmosphere.
e) Rule of Cool rules ;)
I'm wondering if the author's writing style is based on what he's seen in Battletech PC? That might explain the 'irregularities'? :)
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Can't explain Stackpole's 'irregularities' ;) Still, enjoying it.
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fun so far
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Hey Everyone, thanks for reading, and generally being patient with me.
I have to confess I haven't played tabletop BattleTech since the early 90s (3050-ish era), but I have played the 2018 HBS/Paradox Game (you'll see a few references later in the writing) which is part of how I got back in. So I may not always be spot on in my interpretation of the rules, some of it's ignorance, some of it's just plain misunderstanding, some of it's inspired by the games, and some of it might be poor or unimaginative writing.
I want to tell a good story, and if I'm being honest, I will likely err on the side of story telling over strict rule interpretation (I'm that sort of Dungeon Master too). However, that doesn't mean if I'm grossly ignoring a rule or aspect of the game I want to remain ignorant, so please do point these things out.
As several of you mentioned Stackpole wasn't always in line with the rule books, and even some of the background/universe building materials were contradictory (i.e. if you have an Original TR 3025, and read the Notable Pilots under the Shadow Hawk on page 66 it references a pilot with a bionic left arm, like it's no big deal. However, one of the driving plot points for Warrior En Garde is a loss of limb makes Justin Allard unfit for service). I bring up this very trivial example because I think it points out just how big and hard it is to always know what is "canon" and what is "apocryphal". Even Sarna doesn't always make things clear. To make matters worse when I was playing in the 80s it was some of those "fluff pieces" that really inspired my imagination about BattleTech.
As my story progresses there will likely be more times when you'll have to suspend "rule book" disbelief, but I'll try to keep things in line with the rules as I understand them. There may also be times, where I'm implying something like a critical hit occurred, but I do a poor job of writing it clearly. And, I won't lie, there is probably going to be times where a scene is just too good in my mind (like that having a Leopard "gunship" in on it's way to the DZ). Please bear with me, but if you think I go to far, let me know.
Thanks again for reading.
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Chapter 4
August 3029
Klathandu System
"Did something happened to the RDMM?" Hap asked
"They've gotten themselves into a prolonged fight that is probably going to end in a bit o' guerrilla warfare, if they're lucky. I had a disagreement with yer commander and Lord High-ass Marshall Sandavol, and when they discovered who was actually paying my contract and what it entailed, they kicked me off the planet." McFinnigan explained.
Hap looked shocked, "You're not under the employ of the Draconis Combine?"
McFinnigan laughed for a moment then he wiped his eye, he looked at Hap, "Oh. Ye weren't kiddin'. Sorry. No, no. Takashi Kurita doesn't hire mercenaries, he kills 'em." McFinnigan took in a deep breath to try and stop laughing, "No. We were hired by some nobles who felt their cadets were 'press ganged' into the First FedCom. We were there to help train, assist, and generally shepherd the wee lambs."
"I don't remember seeing any of your 'Mechs, or any mercenaries." Anastasia said
"Well our employers arranged to have their precious little ones all moved to one company, so we probably weren't watching over your company. Also we figured the best approach to defending the little bastards was going on the offense. If those cadets were on a mission we ambushed any OpFor that took the field. We let something small or wounded through for them though" McFinnigan laughed, "to build their confidence."
"So what was the problem?" Hap asked
"Well it was a couple things. First yer commander was getting ready to close the spaceport. My contract had a stipulation that in the case of a siege or planet-fall we would extract the noble's children. Of course the First FedCom and RDMM leadership didn't like the idea that we would be taking 'Mechs and manpower away from them. This led to a bit of an argument with me, and the General and Marshall."
"So are you not going to get paid?" Hap asked
"Oh no, we'll get paid." McFinnigan again laughed. "We do a job, we get paid. But this leads to the second problem. See, we're not kidnappers and we made sure the contract specified the cadets had to choose to come with us. I explained the situation and the General and the Marshall marched all the cadets into the office and explained to them that if they chose to come with us they would be charged with desertion, branded traitors and cowards, and their families would likely lose their titles and land. So none of the cadets chose to come with me." McFinnigan shrugged.
"Once that was taken care of then General asked us to stay and help them with their plans for an insurgency. I quoted him my price for that, which he refused. So I told him we were leaving, and he told me I had till sundown to get the hell off his world." McFinnigan said.
"You're not taking us back, are you?" Anastasia asked
"Well like I said, I'm no kidnapper, but the spaceport is closed. I have my XO trying to get a line on another job, but given the conversation I had with the Marshall, it probably won't be around here. In a couple weeks I could probably drop you off at a major star port, but I'll have to charge you for passage. It won't be cheap. You may have to pay with yer 'Mechs."
"I'd prefer not to lose my 'mech and be disposed, or be branded a deserter or traitor." Hap replied.
"Would you prefer to be dead?" McFinnigan snapped, "What good is honor if it gets you left on the side of some nameless hill to die?"
There was an uncomfortable silence as McFinnigan pulled a small cloth bag out of his jacket pocket, filled his pipe. He put the bag away and pulled out a match, before he lit the pipe he pointed its stem of at Hap. "We were halfway off world when I watched this young vixen skillfully flee like a fox from hounds, and just when they almost got their teeth on her you guided her to bait an ambush for two mechs that, by all rights, should have destroyed your lance. Then I watched you turn the tables on both of them. All the while doing your damndest to keep everyone alive." McFinnigan's voice almost dropped to a whisper as he added, "I was cheering for you lad, while your commander forgot about you."
He brought his voice back to a normal volume, and his tone was frank, "Know this, Your brother was crushed by that Thunderbolt while your command packed up their papers and coffee cups and proceeded to a new fortified bunker. Your general was getting into his nice staff car to go for a ride to the spaceport while you were choosing the place to make your last stand. Do you know what I'm telling you? You didn't desert anyone, they deserted you." When McFinnigan finished he lit the match, and started to work on lighting the pipe.
Hap glanced at Anastasia she shrugged and with a shake of her head wordlessly communicated, "He's not wrong."
Hap looked back at McFinnigan, "So what choice do we have?"
"Join my company." McFinnigan inhaled deeply then exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "I had sixteen 'Mechs when I came to Klathandu IV, now I have thirteen. I need you as much as you need me, and what I saw down there tells me you three will fit right in with the family."
"Where do I sign up?" Joker asked, "I've been trying to figure out how to get out of that chicken shit outfit for a while now."
McFinnigan gave Joker a sideways glance, "Well the fool has spoken." He nodded to Anastasia, "what says the little trouble maker?"
"I'm not sure." Anastasia asked.
"Aye. That's fair. Listen, ye keep your 'Mechs, I'll pay you fairly, and I'm planning on giving young master Haphazard there all my new potential discipline problems. So don't worry, ye can stay with yer friends." McFinnigan smiled as he took another pull on his pipe.
"Alright boss, we're keeping the Princess." Joker flashed Anastasia a smile as she gave him a cold stare.
Hap ignored Joker for a moment, and glanced at Anastasia, she was looking to him questioningly. She barely knew him, but she looked so uncertain what to do she was probably going to follow him. The burden of leadership felt uncomfortable for Hap. "You promise to take care of us?"
"Promise? Lad, it's in the name of my company. You'll be one of my sons. I assure you, you fight for me like you did down there and you'll be well compensated. Lead my other children like you did, and you'll be helping me take care of the rest of the family." McFinnigan thrust his hand, "Now take my hand, look me in the eye, and join my family. You won't be sorry."
Hap was reluctant, but he couldn't stop himself from reaching for the man's hand. "I'll join."
"Me too." Anastasia added almost immediately after Hap. McFinnigan gave her a deep smile and let go of Hap and gave her a warm hug. Hap could see her eyes just over McFinnigan's shoulder. He couldn't tell if she looked uncertain, overwhelmed, or terrified.
McFinnigan released Anastasia and stepped back. He looked at them and smiled broadly, "Welcome to the Family. It will take a few days before we'll join up with the rest of the Family on the Tir A Nog, but we can get your contracts signed, I'll have the flight surgeon give you each a look over. By the time we get to the jump point, you'll be a McFinnigan."
McFinnigan led them out of the 'Mechs bays and toward the crew decks. Hap and Joker had been on enough Leopards to know they were going toward the galley, but when they entered they were shocked to find themselves in what looked like an Irish Pub. It even had a bar with a sign declaring "Llewyn's Pub" over the bar.
"Here is an appropriate place to talk some business." McFinnigan smiled, "Pull some pints while I call down my lawyer."
Hap played bar tender while McFinnigan used the ship's intercom to page his lawyer. The four settled into one of the large booths. McFinnigan toasted each of them as they drank.
Anastasia looked at her cup, "This is good."
"This is Timbiqui Dark, best beer in the sphere, Princess." Joker told her.
"Actually. It's not." Hap corrected him. "It's a stout like Timbiqui, but this is deeper, smoother, and richer. Also most Timbiqui Dark I've had is nitro injected, and I had to pump the cask."
McFinnigan clinked glasses with Hap again, "Aye, family recipe, McFinnigan's Archon Imperial Stout. You know a few things about beers."
"My dad used to home brew. He taught me the art, and to know a good beer." Hap said as drank.
McFinnigan smiled, "Oh you'll fit right in indeed." McFinnigan looked at Anastasia, "So it's obvious why this one is called Joker, and I'm content to wait till later to learn more about Haphazard's unorthodoxy, but I'm wondering what's yer handle, darlin?"
"Sir, she's a cadet, she hadn't really-" Hap started to say
"Oh don't let him fool you. She's royalty" Joker said with a laugh.
"That true?" McFinnigan asked with his eyes narrowed.
"Not exactly. My mother is a Countess." Anastasia said quietly.
McFinnigan looked at her carefully, "Well there's only one title that matter in this company. Mine, and it's 'Father', cause you're all now a McFinnigan and I won't have what some lord telling anyone that one of my sons or daughters is worth more than another. Yer all equal." He almost roared, then dropped his voice "Though I do pay some a little more for certain skills or responsibilities."
The door opened and a young blonde woman wearing a gray business suit with the "McFinnigan and Sons" log on the pocket.
McFinnigan stood, "Well yer all equal, except this one, this is my actual daughter, Roweyna. I won't lie, I like you, but I love her." When she got to the table he introduced his daughter to the new mercenaries. "She's also my legal counsel so she also gets paid a lot more than you." He laughed, "Even draws hazardous duty bonus when she enters a court room."
She smiled good-naturedly and started passing out pens and thick contracts. She had an Irish accent like her father and quickly explained the specifics of the contract. All three Mechwarriors were given the same base salary, but there were other pay options, bonuses, and entitlements that would take effect after their thirty-day probation period, and first combat operation.
Joker quickly signed or initialed wherever Roweyna pointed. Hap scanned the document, and had to admit even with just the base pay he was making more than twice what he got as a Leftenant. What he saw looked good, or at least looked pretty common for a contract. He felt confident signing.
Anastasia had several questions. She also appeared to be able to read the document with a quick glance. Roweyna answered most of Anastasia's questions to her satisfaction. The one item that Anastasia noticed that Hap had ignored was a section on maternity leave and child care.
"Well if ye find yourself in a family way we still take care of you." McFinnigan answered, "Though I'd hope the father would be responsible. Still I'll take you out of active status, put you on a base pay salary and as long as you travel with us you get free room, board, and medical. After you've weened your new child we'll figure out child care and get you back on duty."
"Travel with you?" Anastasia asked as Hap flipped a few pages back and saw the long explanation on child care.
"Aye. The family travels together. I don't think you understand, 'MechWarriors, techs, wives, husbands, children, and all the rest of the family. They're all on the Tir A Nog. Are you pregnant child, or planning to get pregnant?"
Hap glanced over at Anastasia. "No. I was confused." She paused. "My parents hired personal security and their contracts didn't have half these entitlements, contingency packages, or agreements. If they were injured in the line of duty they, or more likely their next of kin, got a onetime pay-out."
McFinnigan snorted, "Family takes care of its own, not one time."
"Speaking of 'child care' reminds me of another portion of the contract I'd like to draw your attention to." Roweyna began to explain, "You'll note on page 17 that while your expected to maintain your physical fitness and martial skills on interplanetary voyages or while in garrison. However, you're also expected to help out with any skills you have, such as cooking, cleaning, vehicle maintenance, teaching-"
"Beer brewing." McFinnigan added.
"Oh! We got another brewer, which is it?" Roweyna actually looked excited.
McFinnigan nodded to Hap, and Roweyna gave him on appraising look and a smile. "Very good." She gave him a wink and then returned to the contract, "So again part of your duties is to use skills like that to help maintain the company's ability to deploy 'Mechs and have ready and able cadre of MechWarriors capable of performing high intensity combat operations as prescribed by our clients."
Roweyna went over a few more sections of the contract, answered a few more questions and then collected the signed and initialed contracts. They refilled their glasses and she drank a pint with them while McFinnigan explained more about the company.
McFinnigan and sons was a reinforced company of sixteen battlemechs divided into four lances. They had a command lance, a pursuit/raid lance, a fire support lance, and a recon lance. Most of the family was currently on the Tir A Nog an Excalibur class drop shuttle. The Leopard, the Phaidin, was used for various things depending on the mission. On some drops it was the command vehicle, on other drops it might be used to insert a team away from the main group, or perform a quick raid.
They didn't own their own jump ship so traveling between systems had to be done by either military transport or a civilian company.
McFinnigan and sons was founded in 3010 after Kelly and Llewyn McFinnigan had served their time in the Donnogal Guards, salvaged two additional mechs for their sons, and managed to gather enough money to buy the Phaidin. They worked hard doing a lot of high risk raids for anyone that would pay them. The McFinnigan's had been employed by every major house and several of the Periphery lords though they preferred to work for Steiner or Davion. Along the way Kelly built them up to the reinforced company but lost his brother and son to combat related deaths.
As McFinnigan explained the unit's lineage and heritage Hap looked around the bar and saw the various mementos and souvenirs of the things McFinnigan was telling them, and pictures of the family members in good times, and bad, and portraits of the ones that didn't come home.
McFinnigan also explained the unit motto was "Gnó Teaghlaigh" Irish for "Family Business". The logo had the celtic knot and harp that represented Ireland on old Terra and the Donegal. The skull was to represent that their business was generally death and destruction, and the three leaf clover in the McFinnigan logo was the stylized club-clover of the Donnagal Guards, where Kelly and Llewyn McFinnigan got their start, and Kelly said they had great respect for the unit.
They finished another round of pints and then McFinnigan excused himself to go and attend to business, and Roweyna gave them tour of the crew decks, showed them where their berths would be, and took them by the armory to secure their weapons. She also took them to the supply locker to get them linens and a few McFinnigan and Sons T-shirts, patches, and another set of coveralls. Finally Roweyna took them to the flight surgeon. The flight surgeon gave them each a clean bill of health, and released them to move freely about the ship.
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Chapter 5
August 3029
Klathandu System
The mechwarriors returned to the berthing area. The berths were simple rectangular sleeping cells built into the ship. They were about two meters long and a meter wide and a meter deep. They had a roll up door that could be locked from the inside or outside. There was also floor to ceiling wall lockers built into the bulwark. There were four berths in the section with two on one wall and two on the other.
Joker picked the bed above Anastasia and Hap chose the bed across from her. Hap set his bag down on his bed, but before he could open it Joker nudged him. "Hey I grabbed Tuna's bag before I got back in my 'Mech, you want to go through it?" Joker showed Hap a long black bag. It had blood stains and was ripped and had a few jagged pieces of metal and broken glass embedded in it.
Hap nodded, and suggested they go to the lounge attached to the berth area. The lounge was designed to be part ready room and part lounge, so it could be used mission briefs, debriefings, or just relaxing. It had a table and a few chairs, a large semi-circular couch in front of a viewing screen and a bar. In front of the couch was a circular coffee table. There was also a door that led to a shared head and showers.
Anastasia followed Hap and Joker into the lounge. Joker started emptying the contents on the bag onto the coffee table. In the sides of bag there was a war club and an axe. Joker pulled both of them out then opened the bag. There was dozens of food pouches marked with "Tuna", "Protein Paste, Tuna" and "Fish flavored protein." There was a wood box that had stylized fish engraved into it, a pouch marked, "Environment Suit, 24hour, X-Small" a water bottle with a water purification system, a paper wrapped parcel that had a wad of bills rubber-banded to it, a flare gun, a shot gun and an extra-large pistol belt fully extending. The pistol belt had pouches all over it including a large rear pouch. Joker opened the large pouch and pulled out three Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS) rations all marked, "Menu 13, Steak, Tuna, Teriyaki flavored – Melcher Food Corps".
Anastasia sat down on the couch, "Is this how he got the call sign 'Tuna'?"
Joker handed the paper parcel to Hap, "Sorta, but this isn't the half of it. If we asked Tuna where we wanted to go it was either a Sushi place, or a fish restaurant, and he'd order Tuna rolls or a Tuna steak."
Hap pulled off the rubber band and looked at the wad of Davion bills, "He had pretty good taste, but there was this one on Sushi restaurant where at least one of us seemed to get sick when we ate there."
"That was the one Nanni worked at." Joker said as he opened the wood box and revealed a fishing pole. "You want his fishing pole or his war club?"
"I'll take the pole, it reminds me how he always told us, 'if you can find water, you'll live.'" Hap said, "The parcel is addressed to his mom and sister. Is there a letter for Nanni?"
Joker searched the bag and pulled out a few more pieces of broken glass and metal. "No."
"What are you doing?" Anastasia asked, "This feels macabre."
"Cadets are worse than boots." Joker said to Hap.
Hap ignored Joker looked at Anastasia, "We made an agreement a while back, if any of us died, the survivor would send this" Hap held up the parcel, "back to whoever it was addressed to. If there was any money left over it was to buy drinks and celebrate the man, then we all take one thing to remember him, and then the rest goes back to family."
Hap looked over at Joker, "We're Mercenaries now. She's not a cadet, and she doesn't want to be called 'Princess'."
"Whatever you and Princess say, boss." Joker replied.
Hap sighed and held up the paper wrapped parcel. "I'll make sure this is sent back to his Mom and sister. It has a few personal things for them and a message Sammy wrote. Knowing Sammy it probably thanks his mom and sister for everything, has instructions on how to get his life insurance, and it probably forbids his sister from dating Joker in the unlikely event they ever meet."
"From the grave, man that's cold." Joker said with a head shake.
"Clearly he was a good brother." Anastasia quipped
Hap nodded, as he set the parcel down. Things got quiet as Hap and Joker sorted through the contents of bag. Hap picked up the axe. "Do you have one of these?" He asked as he handed it to Anastasia. "We got these about a week before we shipped out to Klathandu IV. It was a new issue item."
Anastasia shook her head as she took the axe. It was lighter than it looked, and the handle ended in a pry bar tip. In the axe head were two cut outs for hex bolts. The axe head itself had a large broad head on one side, and the other was a sharp spike. Anastasia tried to return the axe, "I can't keep this".
"Why?" Hap asked, "It's a good tool, made of titanium alloy. The hex bolts were supposed to be the two most common found on a mech's emergency access port, and the spike can puncture armor or safety glass. Most of us were skeptical enough to complain about it, but none of us turned them down."
"Worked good for me." Joker added as he continued to sort items.
"It's not that. I hardly knew 'Tuna' and this is this is all an agreement your lance made before I came around. There is nothing in my E3 bag you would want."
"E3 bag?" Joker asked
"Escape, Evade or Egress bag. What do you call them?" Anastasia asked.
"Go-bags, Princess. Man you really are a boot. What did you have in your little 'E3 bag'." Joker sneered
"Water, a few rations, a toiletry kit, underwear-" Anastasia replied
"Oh! I'd take your underwear." Joker interrupted.
"To wear or are you a pervert?" Anastasia asked, and gave Joker a look that made Hap wonder if she wasn't about to hit him. Hap was suddenly concerned about giving her the axe.
"You don't want to know. " Hap replied as he shot Joker a warning look. Hap sat down next to her "You're part of this lance now. You have to join in our traditions. Keep the axe, and take anything else you want. We're probably going to have to get rid of all this one way or another."
Anastasia nodded, "Okay. I'm fine with all this, except if something happens to me, I don't want Joker to get my underwear."
"You'll be dead, you don't-" Joker started to protest
Hap held up his hand, "I'll make sure your underwear is properly destroyed and Joker won't get it."
Anastasia smiled at Hap, "Thank you Harold."
Hap didn't like his first name, but when Anastasia said it, and smiled, he didn't care. He forgot what he was about to say and then Joker mockingly said "Thank you Harold" in a falsetto.
Hap and Anastasia both looked at Joker as he held up pistol belt, "Hey Princess, need a new pistol belt."
"Are you calling me fat?" Anastasia gave Joker another withering stare.
Hap threw a tuna package at Joker, "Damn it Joker stop making her angry. I'm worried her face is going to freeze in one of those looks."
Joker laughed as the packet bounced off his shoulder and he started to strip the pouches off the belt.
Anastasia tried to make her expression more neutral as she picked up the extra small environment suit. "I never met Tuna, but with all the food and that equipment belt it seems unlikely he would fit into this."
Joker looked at the silver envelope she was holding, then laughed. "Oh yeah, we were doing some lunar training and we were all told to draw an environmental suit, but by the time Tuna got there x-small was all they had left. Sergeant Fritz told them they were all baggy fit, but made to stretch, so he'd be fine."
"Baggy, but stretch? That makes no sense" Anastasia said.
"That's Sergeant Fritz" Hap remarked dryly as opened the wooden box and examined the fishing pole.
"So Tuna and Fritz got into an argument and when Sergeant Major McWilliams came he sided with Sergeant Fritz."
"Of course he did" Hap interjected. "Hey I'm taking the butt pack, unless you want it." Hap said as he closed the wooden box, and pulled the large pouch to him.
Joker nodded as he continued, "So Sergeant Major told Tuna if he didn't eject it wouldn't be a problem, and he didn't want problems, so Tuna shouldn't make problems."
Hap looked confused, "Is that how Sergeant Fritz got the black eye?"
"No that was Reynolds. The exact same thing happened with Reynolds except Reynolds told him to just keep the suit, but Fritz told him turn-ins were only on Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's when Reynolds grabbed him and slammed him into the supply room bars."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Tuna was a gentle giant, and I never heard why Reynolds got busted down to private. When I went to the XO and tried to get Tuna a new suit, he told me flat-out, everyone got what they were issued, and the topic wasn't up discussion. Then he kicked me out of his office."
They talked for another hour. Hap and Joker had dozens of stories about the big man and soon Anastasia felt she almost knew Sergeant Sammy "Tuna" Kam'achi. They also told her about Lucky and some of their general misadventures. When they had started to go through the bag Anastasia thought it was selfish and macabre, but she saw this was as close to a funeral as they could give their friend and brother-in-arms. She didn't know it, but she was also starting to feel like part of the family.
Hap carefully took a small finger size of shard of 'Mech armor. He pulled a blue cloth out of his pocket and opened it up to reveal another armor shard. He added the new piece and then wrapped them both up and put them back into his pocket. Anastasia noticed, but didn't say anything. They all chose to keep one of the rations, not to eat, because menu 13 was a notoriously terrible ration, but just to remember "Tuna". As they started to clean up Roweyna found them.
"Oh, Aye, that's a lot of Tuna packages."Roweyna said.
"We were going through our friends gear." Hap started to explain
"Very good. I noticed that that Anastasia had marked on her contract that she could cook. I was getting ready to prepare our evening meal and wanted to see if she would help."
Anastasia nodded, and said, "I'd love too." As she smiled and started to collect her things
Roweyna and Anastasia started to leave and then Roweyna stopped, "If you all aren't going to eat that fish, may I add them to the ship's larder?"
"Yes. Certainly." Hap replied
As Roweyna and Anastasia started to collect the tuna Joker whined, "Why'd you do that, now we're having tuna for dinner."
"Not tonight, Father already told me he wanted he wanted beef stew. And honestly I have no idea what to do with all this tuna, although there is enough to feed everyone."
"How many is 'everyone'?" Anastasia asked.
"Oh about twenty-five." Roweyna replied, "Have ye ever cooked for that many?"
Anastasia seemed to think, "yes, and I know what to do with the tuna. So I'll make dinner tomorrow."
"Oh. Wonderful." Roweyna replied, "I have to do all my reports with the Mercenary Review Board so I probably won't be able to help."
"Don't be surprised when I don't eat whatever you make." Joker told Anastasia.
"Knowing that I'm not cooking for you actually gives me greater joy in my work." Anastasia replied
"What?" Joker asked as Roweyna stifled a laugh.
"She's telling you she's happy not to cook for you." Hap replied as the woman left the room.
There was a pause before Joker asked "What do you think my chances are of with Princess?"
"Remember that one time you and Lucky took all your money and told Private Godfrey to buy you guys as many lottery tickets as he could get, and instead he somehow managed to lose that money betting on his team in the post-wide basketball tournament?"
"Yeah?" Joker answered.
"Your chances with Anastasia are much worse." Hap told him.
"You think yours are any better?" Joker asked.
"If I do it's because I listen to her, and try not to provoke her every chance I get." Hap replied
"Yeah but you treat everyone that way. What's to make her feel special? Now treat her like shit-"
"Has that ever actually gotten you anywhere with any woman, ever?" Hap asked
"Well no, but I think you gotta wear a woman down for awhile and then-" Joker started to say
"Good lord. Part of the reason I signed up was to protect the universe from you. You really need to tone down a little with Anastasia. I was worried she was about to go at you with that axe." Hap said.
"Yeah she's given me a lot of cold stares, but that one was evil. I may have gone too far." Joker admitted
"You think? You were talking about taking her underwear after she died and doing terrible things with it. I think you need to lay off calling her Princess for a while." Hap told him.
"I'll try to give her less crap, but that's her call sign, and the fact she hates it makes me love it."
"You know call signs can come and go when you get to a new organization, and I know she looks like a spoiled little rich girl, but she's a good 'Mech warrior. I'm going to talk to her about how she presents herself, but if you could help by not calling her Princess. I'd appreciate it." Hap said.
"I don't know, boss, maybe if she talked to me. I think her and I can work something out." Joker said.
Hap's eyes narrowed "I'm probably going to have to kick your ass before this is all said and down."
Joker laughed, "I knew you liked her, and not just like how you like me, but you really like her."
Hap blushed, "I just met her, and by all appearances she is way out of my league. All I really know is she's in our lance, and I have to keep her from killing you. Just help me keep the peace."
"I'll do what I can, boss."
"Besides there is reason why fraternization is forbidden in military law. It's just bad business to date people in your lance. Just too much of a risk." Hap added.
"Whatever you say, boss." Joker added as he laughed. "Of course, for a Princess, it's worth the risk."
Hap didn't say anything, but he did consider that, Princess or not, she was probably worth whatever he thought he might be risking.
-
Great start, to your Family tale.
The Mech battle is well paced, and paints a great picture as read. Have a talent for clear concise storytelling.
The last chapter #5 was enjoyable to read, but the personal interaction was off a little.
I reread the chapter and can not say why it felt off.
Some of the interactions seem cumbersome, compared to your battle scenes. Possibly mention of the adrenaline crash after heavy combat and rescue from the heavens, to cover the initial meet up after exiting their mechs.
...... and that said I really like the story, thank you for sharing with us.
-
Chapter 6
August 3029
Klathandu System
The next morning Hap, Joker and Anastasia were woken by a ship wide call announcing 0800 ship board time. They went to the galley to find several other crew members getting their breakfast, or dinner depending on their shift. They had their breakfast and then went to the bays to perform some calisthenics in the area marked off as a basketball half-court.
After lunch they went back to the 'Mech bay and helped the techs strip armor and performed basic level maintenance on their 'Mech. On the Leopard there were only four 'Mech techs. The master 'Mech tech for the whole company was Erik Heilezberg. He was a tall man with broad shoulders, shoulder length gray hair and neatly trimmed silver beard and mustache. He had two twin daughters, Maja and Taja, that were in there late teens or early twenties. They were tall women like their father, identical with long straight black hair and pleasant faces.
Hap had already met the fourth tech, Mike Elison. He was quiet and all business, and Hap suspected he would have preferred not to have the 'MechWarriors around, but Erik seemed happy for the help.
As the afternoon wore on Anastasia asked Maja and Taja if they could help her with making dinner. They told her if it wasn't pre-packaged they couldn't prepare it. Anastasia tried to explain she just needed someone to help cut a few things, and stir pots while she did most of the work. The girls politely refused.
"I'll help." Hap offered, "I know how to cut things, and I can manage to stir a pot." Hap looked over to Joker but he was suspiciously trying not to look at either Hap or Anastasia.
"Thank you Harold." Anastasia said and flashed Hap another smile.
"Joker you-" Hap turned to look at Joker
"I think you and I can make do." Anastasia said before Joker could respond.
Hap followed Anastasia as he figured it was probably for the best that it was just him and her. He needed to talk to her about how to be less "rich-girl-Princess-ey" before they met the rest of the mercenary company. He'd also need to talk to her about how to handle Joker.
Hap turned to glance at Anastasia. She was still smiling, which made him smile. "So, what's for dinner?"
"We're making tuna noodle casserole, and if we can find enough stuff we might make another casserole without the tuna."
"Joker will appreciate that." Hap told her.
The smile disappeared "When I mentioned my plan to Roweyna, she told me she didn't think her father would eat it and she was concerned about some of the other crew members. Even though, she thought it was the best thing to do with all that tuna."
Hap noted that she had responded without even mentioning Joker. Talking about him might have to wait. He also was curious about her culinary knowledge, "Anastasia, where'd you learn to cook?"
"My parents hired a woman from the planet Sierra. She migrated into the Federated Suns to cook for the rich and nobility. My parents weren't around a lot and she liked me. She even had me call her "Abuela". I liked being in the kitchen and she would generally put me to work, so I learned to cook."
Hap couldn't help himself, he chuckled, and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but tuna noodle casserole is something I'd eat, and I was the son of a 'Mech tech and a supermarket cashier. How often did a Countess and her successful business owner husband have tuna noodle casserole?"
"Mother and Father? Never." Anastasia declared, then laughed, "You have to understand we had a huge estate with maids, a butler, grounds keepers, drivers, even Abuela had another cook that helped her, well besides me. Most of the staff lived on the estate, so there were usually two menus. One menu was the gourmet food that my mother and father requested, and the others was the food the rest of the staff wanted or Abuela decided to make. When my parents traveled I told Abuela I'd eat whatever she was making for everyone else."
They were at the kitchen now, but before entering, Anastasia looked around like she was about to tell Hap a secret, "I have to be honest with you, if I had a choice between beef tar-tar or a thick juicy hamburger, I'm taking the hamburger."
Hap laughed and squeezed her shoulder as the smile came back. They walked through the door and she pointed Hap toward the vegetables and told him to chop a couple onions. She got to work on gathering ingredients as Hap found a knife and started to work on the first onion.
"You know if we're going to keep you from getting another Princess like call sign I need you to channel more of that girl that eats hamburgers and less of the girl whose parents bought her a new 'Mech. Also I think it might help if you went be Anna or Ana instead of Anastasia.
"No." she said from across the kitchen.
"You do know, Anastasia is the name of a Princess from an old Terran story." Hap replied.
Anastasia set her mixing bowl down and walked toward Hap, "Yes, but it's my name and I like it."
"Look, I'm trying to help you lose your call sign, 'Princess' but when you insist on being called-"
"my name" She interjected
Hap continued, "The name of a Princess doesn't help. Anna is a fine contraction of your name."
"Do you want to be called Harry?" Anastasia asked
"No, do you want be called Annie?" He shot back
"No Harold, I do not." She told him with a very formal tone. "I understand what you're trying to do, but it's not that simple."
"Fine Anastasia." Hap was frustrated. He was trying to help her, but she was being difficult. He turned back to the onion, but after making another slice Anastasia stopped him.
She slid under his arm and put herself between him and the counter. Hap was surprised by her forwardness. He didn't expect her to just enter his personal space. She laid her hands on his hands. "When you cut an onion you should do it like this" she said as she started guiding him in the proper way to cut an onion. To her it seemed like this was nothing, but Hap's heart started racing.
"And as far as the part about acting more middle class and less wealthy nobility it doesn't work." As she spoke she let him cut, but kept her hands on top of his. Hap was trying to figure out if this was some form of flirting, or if Anastasia was clueless as to how this looked and felt.
Anastasia continued to explain, "I tried exactly what you said when I got to New Avalon Institute of Science (NAIS). I lived in a normal dormitory with a girl that was not nobility and there on scholarship. We got along fine the first semester. I had private tutors growing up and didn't have a lot friends, I knew I was socially awkward, but we got along quite well." As she spoke Hap started to cut again, apparently wrongly, she gently adjusted his hands again.
"I was majoring in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in communication technology and working on a dual minors in Political Administration and Military Science. My roommate and I did a few things together, went to some games, and campus activities. She was trying to get me to double date with her and her boyfriend, but I wasn't interested. All the guys I met just seemed to be interested in sex." Her voice had a bitter or annoyed tone. To Hap's surprise her hands just rested on top of his.
"Then something happened with the Military Science department and word got around that my mother was nobility, and my roommate hated me. She yelled at me about how I was some noble pretending to be normal as a joke, and accused of me knowing about all her money problems and other issues that I could have used my parents influence or money to fix. I really didn't realize how bad things were for her. I offered to help, but then she got mad because I was 'throwing my wealth and privilege in her face'."
Anastasia paused for a moment, "To make things worse people that I was happy not to know suddenly either wanted to be my friend, or ruin my life me because I was somehow competing with them. I got a single room, avoided anyone I didn't have to speak to and just worked on my studies, personal projects, or spent time in a 'Mech Simulator."
She seemed to be holding back tears, and she took in a raspy breath. "So one way or another that wealth and influence comes out, and then everyone treats you different. It's better to just be myself and let people make their choices about me when they meet me."
Hap wasn't sure what to say, his instincts told him to hold her and reassure her, but he knew that was a dangerous and slippery slope, at least for him. "Listen, if someone walks in, I'm just going to tell them you were trying to teach me to cut onions."
She nodded and he felt her weight on his chest. He put the knife down and gently spun her around so he could look her in the eyes, "You're free of this now though. Given what McFinnigan told us about the other cadets, it sounds like we're nothing to the Federated Suns now."
She shook her head, "You don't understand, my father died a few months ago, and mom fell apart. She's a strong woman who nearly ran a planet on her own, but she is almost mad with grief. Our family lawyer contacted me and told me my mother was so bad that he had already arranged for me to receive a doctorate in Electorate Engineering because some of the research I had done for my dad, and the white papers we had co-written. I don't even have a bachelor's degree, so I'm pretty sure my family probably gave a huge grant to NAIS. Also, our lawyer is really good."
"I would have lost my commission, but received a doctorate, and be home to help my mother. Selfishly, I refused, I wanted to really earn my degree. I wanted to prove something, maybe to myself. A month later, all the fourth year cadets were told we were deploying. That's how I ended up here."
"When we get to a planet with a Hyper Pulse Generator I have to contact my mother. I can't let her think she lost her daughter, too. Once our lawyer hears what happened to me, he'll have me back in good standing with whatever lord or general is going to try and charge me with desertion."
Hap nodded, "I'd do the same thing. If my parents were still alive I'd feel awful until I talked to them."
"I love my Mother, but the funny thing is, my Mother and I were never that close. In addition to be being a spoiled little rich girl, I'm a daddy's girl." She tried to laugh but it came through as a half sob, half chuckle. "I know you're trying to help me, and I'm being difficult, but I don't feel like I have a choice."
Hap nodded, "My Dad used to say sometimes the truest freedom is having nothing to lose."
Anastasia nodded and looked at Hap and smiled, she daubed her eyes with her sleeve. "Thanks Harold, I appreciate you listening to me, you're a good friend." Before he could stop her Anastasia hugged him. He pulled her close and enjoyed the moment, until she saw the clock. "Oh, it's almost dinner time. We have to hurry!"
The next half hour was a blur for Hap. Anastasia ran back to the other side of the kitchen and yelled out instructions to Hap as she worked. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing for half of it, but soon Anastasia was directing him to open all the tuna packages while he was sautéing the onions and toasting bread crumbs.
He turned around and she had two giant bowls of cheese and noodles. She put the tuna in one bowl and then split the onions and bread crumbs between the two bowls and put them in the oven. They opened up a few cans of vegetables and had them heated just as members of the crew started filing in for dinner.
The Tuna noodle went over very well and both bowls were completely emptied. Joker joined Hap and Anastasia, and all three sat with the McFinnigans. They explained the origin of the tuna and the McFinnigan actually seemed interested in Tuna. He told them about a 'MechWarrior he knew that a similar obsession with a certain canned ham product. McFinnigan was a masterful storyteller and everyone was entertained as he told about his old companion.
After the meal, Anastasia, Hap and Joker returned to their berth area. As they were walking Joker turned to Anastasia and said, "Thanks for making the noodles without tuna. Tuna was probably my best friend, but I just never much cared for fish. My mom used to make tuna casserole till we were sick of it."
"You should have tried the tuna casserole, it wasn't anything like what my mom made. It was much better." Hap told him, but also mouthed 'thank you' to him.
Anastasia was nearly beaming as the men complimented her cooking. "You're very welcome Joker."
"So you were happy to prepare food just for me?" Joker asked.
"The bowl without tuna wasn't just for you. It was something Roweyna suggested." Anastasia said
"Sure, sure, I know deep down you really like me. It's fine you don't have to be shy." Joker said
Hap glanced sideways, Anastasia was no longer beaming. "Joker, why do you have to be like this?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Joker said innocently.
"Joker is clearly trying to bait me to say that I like you and not him." Anastasia said, "and I'm not going to give him the pleasure."
"You're no fun." Joker mumbled as they arrived at their living area.
Hap opened up his bed compartment and sat down to take off his boots. Anastasia sat down next to him and almost slipped off the bed. Hap had a camouflaged blanket as the top blanket of his bed. She caught herself and ran her hand on top of the blanket noting its smooth, almost silk-like, feel. "What is this?"
Hap rubbed his hand on the blanket "That, my dear, is a poncho liner. And if you can get ahold of one, you will have the lightest warmest coziest piece of kit any military developed ever."
"I wasn't issued one of these." Anastasia said as she ran her hand back and forth across the blanket.
"Me neither, I won this is a high stakes poker game. This had belonged to a jump infantry trooper. He had been a 'MechWarrior that had lost his 'Mech and was trying to build a new one. I was in the game because I had a refurbished gyro for my Griffin that just wasn't quite right and somehow I learned that one of the guys in the game had a spare gyro."
Hap pulled off his boot, "I had a good hand, and the gyro was up, and I was pretty sure I was going to win. The dispossessed warrior was out of money and then he pulled out this blanket. I wasn't going to accept it, but the infantrymen swore it was worth as much as some of the 'Mech parts. Also these sort of games are illegal because AFFS regs don't allow for hoarding or stockpiling 'Mech parts. So I accepted it because I didn't want any trouble. When it was all over, I got the gyro and this."
"So is it worth as much as a good gyro?"
"If you're an infantryman and this is all that's between you and a cold night, yeah, I could see why'd you say that. It's warmer than it looks and super light-weight. It's made of two pieces of parachute silk and then has some ultra-light insulator in the middle. It seems to always keep me the right temperature, and it fits neatly in my go-bag."
Anastasia got her boots off and she and Hap exchanged good nights as she slipped into her bed and closed the door for privacy as she changed her clothes. Hap bid Joker good night, and Hap got into his bed chamber and shut the door. He drifted to sleep thinking of Anastasia, and how stupid it was to let her get that close to him, and wondering when they would do it again.
-
Chapter 7
August 3029
Klathandu System
Hap was jolted awake by the sounds of explosion followed by small arms fire. There was a small intercom speaker and a few lights in the sleep compartment. If the ship was under attack or if something had happened normally a warning light would be on or there would be announcements over the intercom. Hap tested the door, and it was unlocked. Another safety feature on some ships was that the beds would lock to protect sleepers against explosive decompression.
As he opened the door Hap could see strange lights coming from the lounge room. He leaned out of his bed looked into the room and saw the view screen was on. He immediately understood someone, probably Joker, was watching something in the lounge.
Hap rolled out of bed and realized it was a little cold for walking around in just his shorts. He grabbed his poncho liner and walked into the lounge. As Hap walked over to the large semi-circle couch he could see Joker laying on his side under a silver emergency blanket. He glanced up at Hap, "too loud?"
"Too loud." Hap replied as he sat down on the opposite side of the couch from Joker.
Joker turned down the volume, "I found some John Stallion movies, and I couldn't sleep."
Hap nodded, he figured he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon so he got comfortable. The movie had just started and he had only missed the cold opening. The theme song started to play as Anastasia walked into the room. She was wearing an oversized black McFinnigan and Sons T-shirt that she was apparently using as a night shirt.
Anastasia walked to the side of the couch were Hap was slouching under his blanket. "Oh John Stallion."
"The Princess knows about John Stallion?" Joker asked looking at her.
"Sure. We got Hauptman Commonwealth's Uber HoloVideo Marathons every Saturday. He seemed to play a Brock Armstrong or John Stallion marathon once a month. Sometimes Father would take a whole Saturday off just so we could watch it together."
Hap smiled, "I remember watching Haupman Commonwealth with my dad too."
"You look a little cold, you want to join me?" Joker said as he flung his blanket back revealing that he was only wearing his shorts.
"I'm not that cold." Anastasia replied
"You sure Princess? I can see the tips of your royal cream puffs poking under your shirt." Joker laughed.
Hap glanced up at Anastasia. as she put her arms across her chest and was now giving Joker another murderous look. Hap cleared his throat, and pulled his blanket aside and nodded next to him. "You want to join us. He's usually pretty quiet during John Stallion movies."
She wordlessly sat down and pulled the blanket to cover her chest, which left Hap's side exposed.
Hap moved a few inches closer to her. "The one problem with the poncho liner is that it's made for one." He pulled the blanket back toward him, but she only let him have a little as she tried keep her chest covered.
"So you and your Dad would watch Haupman Commonwealth marathons together?" Hap asked trying to change the subject.
"If it was a John Stallion or Brock Armstrong Marathon He'd usually make time. Brock Armstrong was our favorite." Anastasia said with a faint smile.
"Brock Armstrong is good, but he's no John Stallion." Joker mumbled
Anastasia pulled the blankets again, "Yes, and that's to his credit. Brock Armstrong makes superior movies"
"No he doesn't" Joker said as he sat up. "John Stallion movies are way better."
Hap pulled the blankets back to him again, but moved a little closer to her. Hap had to be careful here. He might need to talk to her about boundaries. Having her in his arms earlier today was a little intoxicating. He wondered if she knew the effect she was having on him.
"John Stallion movies tend to be unrealistic and full of plot holes. They're fun, but Brock Armstrong is usually more believable and realistic." Anastasia explained as she tugged on the blanket.
"Name one unrealistic thing in a John Stallion movie." Joker challenged her
"Please don't" Hap said. He pulled back on the blanket. The only way they could both be comfortable was if they were next to each other, or if she was in his lap. In Hap's mind as long they weren't touching sharing the blanket wasn't a problem. It was purely plutonic he told himself.
"Well this is the 'Galaxy is Not Enough', and it has the infamous scene where he pilots a Shadowhawk that manages to shoot the LRM launcher off of an Orion with one magic bullet from its autocannon." Anastasia replied.
"Well now you've done it." Hap said grimly. It seemed they were finally comfortable though.
"It's perfectly realistic, that was a prototype Shadowhawk with a type 10 autocannon, and-"
"That weapon system is too heavy for a Shadowhawk. You'd have to strip off all its other weapons and jump jets or some armor to accommodate that autocannon." Anastasia interrupted.
"and, and, you can clearly see the bullet pass into one of the LRM ports which hit a missile and that obviously sets off a chain reaction that would blow the whole right torso off of an Orion."
Before she could refute what any MechWarrior should know is nonsense, Hap leaned over and whispered to her, "He will go on like this for days, please, just let him have this."
Anastasia made an uncertain nose, but nodded.
"I'll tell you something else too." Joker started
"After the movie." Anastasia said as the opening theme ended and John Stallion walked into a bar.
Hap had seen this movie a dozen times, but he was enjoying it. After the last two days this felt like normal and reminded him of simpler times. He was with his lance mates, watching a movie, and he had already headed off the first argument. As he started to get into the movie he could feel Anastasia adjusting herself then pulling on the blanket again. He responded by gently pulling back.
Anastasia seemed to finally get comfortable, but during the next scene she started moving and pulling on the blanket again. Hap held onto his blanket and she eventually stopped pulling. When the scene ended she once more adjusted herself, and tried to get more blanket. This time Hap got annoyed and reached over and grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her into him. She let a surprised "hey."
Hap immediately regretted pulling her into him. He knew he shouldn't take such liberties with her, and he knew this was going to come up when they had the necessary talk about boundaries. He was pretty sure he was about to receive one of her cold stares. He looked down at her and she was smiling but conspicuously looking straight at the view screen.
"Comfortable?" Hap asked her as he started to take his arm off her shoulder.
"Only if you don't move." She whispered, then added, "Shh. I'm trying to watch a movie."
Hap pulled the blanket up to her neck and left his arm across her shoulders. She tucked her feet under her side and pushed herself more into Hap. She was soft, and warm, and he could smell the sweet exotic fruit of her hair shampoo. Again it was intoxicating, and exciting, and he also knew very stupid.
Hap had been married once. He was a Subaltern straight out of the Albion Military Academy. Shortly after reporting to Raman, he met a girl at a bar, and married her a few weeks later. Six months later they divorced. The day he put on Leftenant was the same day he moved into the Bachelor Officer's Quarters.
The first month was fantastic, then they started to have disagreements about little things, money, time he spent working, housework. When he got home she wanted to go out dancing, he wanted to stay home. They tried counseling but that just brought out bigger problems. She wanted to have kids now, he wanted to wait. He wanted to change units which would take them off Raman, she wanted to stay with family. They realized they got married before they knew each other, and the differences seemed too great. Hap promised himself he wouldn't make the same mistake again, or try harder to make it work.
Hap convinced himself he would have find time tomorrow to get Anastasia alone and really discuss their relationship. Make sure she understood that they had to take things slow, and keep the physical contact to a minimum. Figure out how they were going to operate as Lancemates first, and ensure they were always professionals inside their 'Mechs. He tried to craft exactly what to say as he watched the movie. Hap was slightly distracted by the movie, and really distracted by how good it felt to hold a woman.
The lighting changed as the black cast screen rolled and dramatic music played. Hap woke up with Anastasia's head resting on his chest. He carefully turned to see Joker was asleep. He gently nudged Anastasia.
She murmured something, and seemed to push herself tighter into him and went back to sleep. Hap realized they were also holding hands now too. He detangled his fingers and gave her another gentle nudge, "Anastasia you need to get up. We need to go to bed." Then he added "our own beds."
She stretched and adjusted herself, "Why?"
Hap nodded toward Joker. Anastasia nodded, stood up and wrapped herself in the blanket and started to leave the room. Hap turned off the video screen, he adjust Joker's blanket so it covered him better, then followed her.
"Tomorrow we need to talk about us." He told her quietly, as they stood in front of her bed.
Anastasia nodded, she started to pull the blanket off her shoulders, then flashed Hap a mischievous grin. "Can we also talk about this blanket? Because you were right about how great it is. I need to know what it's going to take to get this from you."
"You're not going to get my poncho liner from me." Hap tried to make it sound definitive, but he knew that if anyone could bargain him out of the poncho liner it was her.
"So you and the blanket are a package deal?" She asked as she looked at him thoughtfully. "I think I can work with that."
Hap put his hand on the blanket, "Go to bed, we'll talk in the morning."
She nodded but kept the blanket wrapped around her as she tried to pull it out of Hap's grasp and climb into bed. In one smooth motion Hap reached down and swept her off her feet, rolled her into her bed and snatched the blanket from her before she could react.
"Good night Anastasia." He said as he rolled up the blanket while keeping it out of her reach.
Anastasia was trying to look hurt, but she was smiling and almost giggling, "If you had asked-"
"You would have given the blanket back?"
"No, Harold. I would have let you stay with your blanket and me." Anastasia flashed Hap a smile that further weakened his resolve.
He stopped rolling the blanket and thought about it for a moment. "We'll talk in the morning." Hap said as he shook his head, things had already gone too far and he had no idea how to reign it in.
The next morning started off similar to the previous. The 0800 bell woke them up. Joker asked them if they enjoyed the movie and Anastasia made the mistake of telling him it would have been better if it had been a Brock Armstrong movie. The walk to breakfast, breakfast, and morning calisthenics were filled with Joker detailing all the reasons why John Stallion was the greatest action-holo actor of the age.
Eventually, Mike the 'Mech Tech, overheard him and started to explain that anyone who thought John Stallion or Brock Armstrong were better than Phelan McQuaid knew nothing.
When Joker heard the tech mention Phelan McQuaid he dropped the cans of auto cannon rounds they were using for weights and began walking over to him while deriding a movie where McQuaid played a COMSTAR secret agent.
"When will this end?" Anastasia asked Hap.
"It won't." Hap shrugged as he started to put away the ammo cans. "Lucky and Joker had been arguing about this very thing since before I knew them." It pained Hap to remember this was what Joker and Lucky and were discussing when Lucky was killed. "You gotta understand with soldiers they have these arguments that actually have no end. Also congratulations, you're now part of the lance."
"At least it kept him from talking about last night." Anastasia said with a shrug.
"Yeah, if you need to distract Joker this is a way to do it." Hap told her. He felt anxious as he added, "And speaking of last night, let's find some where quiet to talk."
"You mean how you're going to give me that blanket? I promise to let you snuggle under it with me while we watch Brock Armstrong movies."
"Yeah that's part of it." Hap was looking around the 'Mech bay. They were on the side with Joker's Firestarter and a Highlander. "It looks like all the techs are over here, let's go to the other bay."
Hap and Anastasia walked into the hallway that led between the two bays and were met by Erik.
"Ah just the MechWarriors I wanted to see." He said with a big mischievous grin.
"Good morning Erik." Hap said, sensing there was a problem, and it had something to do with them.
"You." He said looking at Anastasia, "need to work on your armor repair work. I looked at what you did yesterday and it all needs to be redone."
Hap looked at Anastasia confused, "I was starting to think you were good at everything."
"Oh, there's actually a pretty big list of things Anastasia can't do." Anastasia told him.
Hap put his hand on her shoulder, "Come on I'll help you, and then we can talk."
"No. She needs to learn to do simple repairs to maintain her 'Mech, and she's going to learn by doing. As a Master Technician teaching is part of my job, as a 'MechWarrior breaking things I fixed is your job. So I got another job for you. Also, I looked over your armor repairs, and they're up to standard." Erik said.
"My father was a 'Mech Tech and he made sure I knew how to turn a wrench." Hap said.
"Yeah Mike said your welding 'didn't look like a bag of ass', which is a high compliment from him."
"So what do you want me to do?" Hap asked.
"Old man Kelly wants to know why it looks like he has a bunch of AFFS 'Mechs in the hold of his shuttle. That's his way of saying you three need to repaint your 'Mechs. Everything you need is there." Erik pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Includes a paint guide. I'd recommend the Tartan."
In spite of Hap's best efforts the day was spent either repairing or repainting 'Mechs. Erik had Anastasia replace several armor pieces before he was happy with her work, but he told her that she needed to keep practicing. Joker and Hap got their 'Mech's repainted, but Hap didn't get a chance to talk to Anastasia alone.
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Great conversation flow throughout this update.
The personal interactions moved along well enough I never had to reread a passage to follow along.
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Nicely done. More?
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Chapter 8
August 3029
Klathandu System
After spending the day in the 'Mech bays Joker, Hap and Anastasia returned to the berths to clean up and then went to dinner. As they were eating McFinnigan sat down with them. "Tomorrow we will link up with a Jumpship and transfer over to the Tir A Nog before the jump. So tomorrow ye meet the rest of the family. Before we do that though, we got one more thing that I like to do with new hires. I'd like to play a few hands of poker with you. I think it's best way to get a feel for who I'm employing."
"I'm sorry, Sir, but I don't have any money." Hap said. He really wanted to talk to Anastasia and the poker game wasn't something he was really interested in.
"We'll give ye each a 200 C-bill advance." McFinnigan answered as if he was anticipating this.
"I don't know how to play poker." Anastasia said.
McFinnigan smiled, "Well this will be interesting, perhaps one of yer friends can help you."
Roweyna came with a metal cash box. She pulled out chips and handed her father an old deck of cards as Hap explained the basic rules and how betting worked to Anastasia. Hap then started to go through list of hands telling her that a royal flush beats a straight which beats, four of a kind, which beats a full house Anastasia stopped him and remarked, "So it's all math, the least probable hand wins?"
"No. Math has nothing to do with this. It's all about you against the other players." Joker corrected her.
Anastasia eyed him shrewdly, "I'm going to enjoy taking your money."
"You're both right." Hap said. "Probability generally determines the winning hand, but you can always bluff, and try to outsmart the other players."
McFinnigan nodded, "Aye. Let's get started." He said as he started shuffling, he turned to his master tech. "Erik, usually I have Fletch help me with this part of the interview, but he's not here. You want in?"
Erik nodded and pulled a chair up to the table as he told his daughters what to lay out for tomorrow's maintenance. As he gave Roweyna a wad of bills which she exchanged for poker chips as McFinnigan started passing out cards. When everyone had five he said, "Oh! One more thing." He looked to the bar, "Rowena, bring me a bottle of fine Irish whiskey and six glasses."
As she walked to the bar McFinnigan leaned over the table and said, "No one can leave the table till we finish the bottle, I also like to see how you hold your liquor."
Roweyna set a glass down in front of everyone including herself. He smiled as she uncorked the bottle and poured everyone a generous portion. Hap saw the bottle was still half full, and realized he probably wasn't going to talk to Anastasia tonight.
"I love being a mercenary" Joker said as he reached for his glass.
Hap glanced over at Anastasia, she was looking at her full glass of whiskey. She glanced over at him and mouthed, "that's a lot." He nodded in response.
McFinnigan picked up the glass, and everyone, including Roweyna did the same, then he called out "Gnó Teaghlaigh" and Roweyna and Erik replied, "to the family."
Everyone took a drink. Hap felt the burn and suppressed a cough as he set his glass down. He looked over at Anastasia as she coughed and gasped. He could already feel the warmth down his throat and into his gut.
"Irish truth serum?" Hap said trying hard not to rasp.
"Oh, no. Hap. This is no interrogation, just a friendly game." McFinnigan replied with mock innocence. Hap could see Roweyna nodding vigorously to him behind her father, as he added. "Though I do find sometimes you can see the truth of a man or woman after they've been in their cups."
They quickly settled into the game. Hap was not a great poker player, but he could usually hold his own. He strongly suspected that McFinnigan and Erik were probably much better than him, and if he walked away with half his C-bills it would be a miracle. He knew how to play against Joker. Joker had an obvious tell if he was bluffing he would generally make himself more obnoxious. Of course you had to know him to know when he was being extra obnoxious, but Hap could usually figure it out.
Roweyna didn't play but sat next to her father keeping the glasses filled, and participating in the banter as her father peppered Joker, Hap, and Anastasia with questions.
Hap had to admit that McFinnigan created a relaxing demeanor and it was hard not to like talking to the man. As he spoke to them he'd joke and tell them stories, but he seemed to be able to ask insightful and intrusive questions in the most unassuming ways. Hap had gone through several psychological evaluations and lie detector tests in his career and they were nothing like this, but this seemed to be a much more effective way to really know and understand someone.
Hap found himself learning things about Joker he had never known. Joker's father had died in the Third Succession war which was why his mother had to raise him alone. He had also been schooled on one the Jumpship Vagabond Schools. There were a few other details about Joker that Hap had guessed but it was strange how easily McFinnigan got him talking about himself, and not making stupid jokes.
McFinnigan turned his attention to Anastasia for a while. Hap found himself very excited to learn about her. Anastasia had decided to become a 'Mech Warrior almost by accident. She had gone to NAIS to study technology, specifically communications, so she could help her Father with his business. Her mother insisted she study political science, so, for her mother, she took it as a minor.
During the first week of her freshman year they School of Military Science had 'Mech simulators down at the student center and convinced nearly anyone walking by to give it try. This was supposed to be the way the Mil Sci department recruited for all the branches of service. A student would try the 'Mech simulator and then the recruiters would try to get them to take a few Mil Sci courses and the cadre would figure out if they had what it took to be a MechWarrior, or an Aerospace Pilot, or push them toward Infantry or Armor.
Since Anastasia was trying to come out of her shell and be more of her own person she tried the 'Mech Simulator. She loved the freedom and feeling of power. There was one problem though, she was terrible. During the few minutes she was in the simulator she fell down continuously and couldn't hit anything she aimed at.
To make matters worse, aside from her lack of inherent skill, Anastasia barely made the height requirement to be a MechWarrior, and she was 16 years old. She also knew her beauty wasn't exactly what you pictured behind a fierce combat vehicle. So the cadet recruiter told her that AFFS wasn't really looking for "cute little girls to pilot war machines, but if she wanted to be a MechWarrior's girlfriend he was personally looking for one of those."
Anastasia responded by calling her mother and then the Countess called the Corps of Cadets Commandant and wanted to know exactly why his cadets were using expensive military training equipment to solicit dates. He explained that it was a recruiting drive, and that's when the Countess demanded to know why her daughter was turned away from his program. Anastasia would later learn that her mother had given the General such a brutal verbal beating the Commandant was forced to agree to let Anastasia into the program, discipline the cadet that had harassed Anastasia, and retrain all his recruiters.
This would cause more problems for Anastasia than she could have ever imagined. The NAIS cadre had to ensure she became a MechWarrior while at the same time maintaining the high standards of their MechWarrior program, or convince the Countess they did everything they could. They made Anastasia the personal project of one the senior cadets and told them both that everything would be documented and Anastasia would either meet the standard or be washed out of the program. It was also implied that Anastasia's failure would reflect poorly on the senior cadet. After the discipline actions, additional training and the fact that one of the senior cadets was personally responsible for her meant nearly every cadet in the MechWarrior program hated her.
Anastasia felt guilty that her pride might hurt someone else. She worked herself to the bone during fall semester, and got better, but her gunnery and piloting scores barely met the standard. By spring semester her roommate wasn't talking to her, so she put more time in the simulators. During the summer break her parents got her a MechWarrior tutor and she spent most of that summer in a cockpit. When she returned to the school she was ahead of her peers.
During her second year she received awards and Commandant Recognition for her abilities. During her third year she managed to beat the cadet that had called her "a cute little girl." Unfortunately there was still enough cadets around to know how she got into the program which made her a pariah. Also in spite of her hard trained skills there was always a rumor that she was made a MechWarrior because her mommy ordered the Commandant to make her one.
For a while being in a Mech was liberating in. She wasn't a 'cute little girl' she was another MechWarrior, her mother might have gotten her the opportunity but she earned the right to stay in the program. Her fellow cadets didn't see it that way. They assumed her skills and abilities were because the Cadre made her equipment more likely to score a hit, less likely to get hit, or other things. The Cadre and Anastasia knew she was good, and the Commandant was relieved he didn't have to face her mother's wrath, and Anastasia had learned to be very careful about using her mother's clout.
In the science department she had some respect, but they also thought of her more as the "gorgeous beauty with brains" and not someone that would make a scientific breakthrough. The Political science department were full of people that were competing to be lords or ladies and they were openly polite, obviously covetous of her brains, beauty, and the fact she was MechWarrior, and behind her back they were constantly plotting ways to ruin her. For Anastasia, getting deployed to an active combat zone seemed like a welcome change to her three years at NAIS.
The game had gone on late into the night, and Hap had done alright. He had won a big pot, but lost several hands. He still had over half his money, so he figured he was doing fine. Anastasia was doing well. Hap wondered if it wasn't beginner's luck, but she seemed to know when to fold and when to bet large. Hap tried to figure out what her tell was, but she didn't seem to have one. He took another sip of his whiskey and wondered if the alcohol had dulled his senses.
Anastasia took in a large pot with a straight, and McFinnigan commented, "For a new player ye seem to be doing well."
"Beginner's luck" Joker snorted.
McFinnigan shrugged, "I have to confess. Most people have a tell when they bluff. Someway you know they're lying." He nodded to Joker, "This one gets more obnoxious, and that one." He dipped his head to Hap, "cracks the knuckles on his thumb."
Hap cracked his thumb knuckle, looked at his pair of 7s and then set the cards down, "Think I'll fold."
McFinnigan laughed, "Sorry, lad." Then he looked back to Anastasia, "but you darlin' I haven't figured your tell out yet."
Anastasia shrugged and took another careful drink of her whiskey. "Think I'll try to keep it a secret as long as I can." She was blushing but Hap wasn't certain if it was from the whiskey or just her trying not to betray herself.
Hap thought for a moment. Anastasia tended to fold if she didn't have anything better than a straight, so she had some strategy. The cards were also old and badly beaten up. He had seen McFinnigan flip a couple cards over probably to hide an obvious mark on the cards, but he doubted she would know how to count cards. She was able to quickly reason out that hand values were based on probability, but poker hands were also pretty common examples in any mathematics probability class. Still she had a big pile of chips in front of her. She had to be counting cards, or calculating the probabilities of hands, or both. Either way Hap knew, "You don't bluff."
Anastasia looked like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She glanced at Hap like she was trying to muster up a cold look, but instead she burst out laughing, and put her hand on his shoulder, "Harold, I'm very disappointed that you wouldn't help me keep my secret."
"Sorry. I've been drinking." Hap shrugged.
"Me too." She replied, and leaned heavily on him as she turned to the rest of the table. "But it's out there now. I was raised by a business man and a countess. They taught me if I wanted something articulate it clearly. I learned how to bargain, how to compromise, but I never got the hang of lying, even in the good business sense."
"Well can ye believe that? McFinnigan chuckled, "A woman that can't lie. I mean I know my own Roweyna would never lie-"
"No never, father. I'm an honest and virtuous woman like ye raised me." Roweyna said with mock innocence.
"If it's anything noble and virtuous it came from your mother." Erik corrected her.
McFinnigan laughed, "Aye it's true. Mrs. McFinnigan is a saint." As he spoke Roweyna and McFinnigan toasted each other and drank.
-
Chapter 9
The game went on as Hap found himself the center of McFinnigan's attention. He started by asking about Hap's call sign. At Albion Hap had the odd reputation of turning left when everyone went right. On one notable exercise he was given multiple land navigation points and instructed to plot the most efficient course. The exercise was actually meant to be a "React to Ambush" drill, but Hap's course circumnavigated the ambush area. To the instructor's frustration, he had accidentally found an efficient course that went around an obvious choke point. Since he had made tactically and technically good choices they couldn't fault him.
Another time he was given the mission brief for the wrong exercise. He was told to perform a "Movement to Contact" of a highly mobile enemy that was actually a fortified bunker complex. Even though they were unprepared and had the wrong 'Mechs Hap managed to change tactics and destroy the bunkers with acceptable loss, all in spite of being unprepared. At the end of the semester one of the instructors wrote in his evaluation, "Cadet Calahad's greatest weakness is that he just haphazardly wonders through life, his greatest strength is that his haphazard attitude allows him to adjust to everything, improvise, and survive." Somehow word got out and the name "Haphazard", or "Hap" stuck.
As he spoke Anastasia looked at Harold. He was tall, almost two meters. Like most MechWarriors he kept his dark brown hair short on the sides, and had a short undercut on top. It gave him an unruly mop of hair he was always brushing to the side or back. He had a square jaw and hazel eyes. She knew he shaved every morning, but by the end of the day it looked like he hadn't shaved in days. His skin was slightly tanned, which made his few scars more obvious, and made him look more rugged. His mannerisms, easy going nature, and appearance made him seem haphazard to some, but not her.
Anastasia remembered how he was in combat. He seemed sharp and quick to her then. He had a calm voice guiding her south while he organized his Lance to create a trap for her pursuers. She parked her 'Mech next to his and watched his genius strategy take apart two 'Mechs that nearly killed her. As far as she was concerned he was clever, unassuming, and the man she wanted next to her in a fight. She knew it was a girlish crush, but she also wanted him next to her all the time.
Hap finished his story and Anastasia was still looking at Hap and thinking about him and her when McFinnigan set the deck next to her and said, "Your deal lass." She couldn't shuffle cards so, like she had all night, she passed the cards to Hap. He shuffled for her and she dealt. As she passed out cards Joker whined, "Aren't you going to make something wild?"
"Hadn't planned on it." Anastasia answered. She had been counting cards and calculating probability, so wild cards made it harder for her, and the whiskey wasn't doing her any favors.
"It makes the game more fun." McFinnigan told her with a wink, like Hap he had suspected she was counting cards, but he didn't care because he was doing the same thing. Except he was just trying to maintain the parity of the table and keep everyone in the game.
Anastasia nodded, "Fine, Aces." Anastasia said as she flopped back in her chair. She had finished her whiskey a few hands back but Roweyna then served everyone beer. She was halfway through hers, and realized she needed to stop. She looked at her cards. She had three aces. She exchanged cards for everyone, then exchanged two for herself. She pulled another ace and the King of Fists.
"So what did you study at Albion?" McFinnigan asked Hap.
"Psychology. I figured if the whole MechWarrior thing didn't work out, I'd go back to school and become a Psychologist." Hap said as he looked at his cards.
"Yeah, you already work with crazy people like me. So why not?" Joker snorted.
"Actually I think I'd try to go into family counseling." Hap told him.
"I've heard every officer come out of Albion has a 'Mech charm. Got one?" Erik asked.
Hap nodded and after throwing a few chips into the center of the table he reached under his shirt and pulled out a slender finger length piece of jagged metal attached to an ID tag chain. It was made of dull metal. The sharp edges were grounded down, but the long edges were rubbed smooth.
Anastasia watched as Hap passed the charm to Erik. He weighed it in his hand and rolled it in his fingers then gave it an appraising look like jeweler with a diamond. "Feels like Durralex light. Was it a Wasp?"
Hap nodded as Erik offered it back to him, but Anastasia took it from him instead. "Durralex light? So this is 'Mech armor?" She asked.
Hap nodded, "Cadets at Albion like to keep a piece of the armor from the first mech they get shot out from under them. We call it a 'Mech Charm. If you give it to someone it's supposed to keep them safe."
"Hey whose bet is it?" Joker asked.
"Yours." Hap replied.
Joker threw in a large stack of chips, then looked over at Hap, "So a piece of twisted and broken armor from a Mech that got destroyed is supposed to keep someone safe? How does that make sense?"
"It's like how your lucky rabbit's foot isn't lucky for the rabbit." Hap shrugged. Erik matched Joker's bet.
McFinnigan pushed in a stack of chips. "So how'd you lose the Wasp?" McFinnigan asked.
Hap smiled, "It was the classic 1 on 3 training scenario. Everyone goes with a Chameleon, overheats it, and get blown to pieces when the emergency shutdown starts. I thought I'd try it with a Wasp."
Anastasia raised as she replied, "I used the Chameleon, and followed doctrine."
"How'd that work out for you, Princess?" Joker asked sarcastically
"It worked fine. Like I said, I used doctrine. I fixed the fastest mech, stayed mobile to prevent being flanked, and prioritized the most dangerous mech. Finally I closed with the remaining 'Mech and overwhelmed it. Of course, I don't have one of these." She said as she held up the charm.
Joker squinted at her, "What do you mean by doctrine?"
Anastasia looked annoyed, "Armed Forces of the Federated Suns Combat Field Manual 17- 10 Tactical BattleMech and Armor Operations."
"Never heard of it." Joker replied with a shrug, "I still don't understand anything you just said."
Anastasia sighed, "I destroyed the Locust at long range while falling back to prevent the other 'Mechs from flanking me. I then targeted the Wasp since its missiles had better range than the Stinger's machine guns. I focused on the Wasp's ammo magazine which forced the pilot to eject. Then I closed with the Stinger and destroyed him with my superior fire power. I was careful to manage heat and only use the large laser at distances greater than the medium lasers range, and kept the smaller mechs outside the range of their point blank weapons. "
"Some of those cadets might have hated you for reasons other than your Mom throwing her weight around." Erik said as he adjusted his glasses and looked at his cards.
Anastasia shrugged, "Yes. I learned that always volunteering the right answer in class usually didn't endear me to my peers, but they hated me anyways so what was the point?"
"Yeah, so that's the text book doctrinal answer," Hap sighed, and matched Anastasia's wager. "I'm told that about 60% of the cadets that try that will finish the scenario successfully, but Anastasia is one of the first I've ever met that managed to do it."
"But when you're Haphazard ye don't follow doctrine." McFinnigan said with a roguish grin.
"You sure don't." Hap said as they clinked glasses, "Instead of doctrine, I ran like hell to the forest while snapping off shots at the Wasp. I thought like Anastasia, his short range missiles were the same range as the medium laser, so I forced the pilot to eject by aiming for the missile magazine. The Locust couldn't keep up with me and the Stinger in the woods, so he ran around the forest and tried to flank me while the Stinger kept trying to close and maneuver me into exposing my back to the Locust."
Joker pushed all his chips into the center. "I think the Princess is trying to bluff, but she doesn't know it will break Hap's heart to think that his Princess is liar."
"So what happened?" Anastasia ignored Joker as she continued to toy with the charm. Erik looked at the chips in the center of the table, licked his lips and pushed in another large stack of chips.
"I rushed the Stinger, and he jumped on my head." Hap said nonchalantly.
Anastasia looked at Hap wide-eyed. "NAIS would never allow a DFA attack in a training exercise."
"Albion had the same policy. When I got out of the hospital I learned the Cadet had been removed from the academy. He did me a favor though, I was out for so long that I got a guaranteed passing grade in all my classes. Which was perfect, because I would have failed astral physics."
McFinnigan laughed as he pushed chips into the center, "Once more haphazard carried you through."
Anastasia made a show of counting the same amount of chips that Joker had pushed into the center. She smiled smugly as she pushed them into the center, then added another large stack.
"Oh come on." Joker howled.
"I told you I was going to take your money." She replied
"Hap, I gotta a good hand, and I can pay you back. Spot me the money." Joker said.
"I don't think I have the money, to keep myself in the game." Hap said looking at his meager chip pile.
Anastasia leaned over Hap as she told Joker, "If you want to stay in, all you need to do is write on a sheet of paper that you will never call me "Princess" again."
"This is getting weird, Commander." Erik said.
"Aye. Anastasia, what is this all about?" McFinnigan asked.
"Princess is her call sign, and she hates it." Joker said, "Damn it. Someone please get me some paper."
"I've heard much worse call signs, missy." McFinnigan said as Roweyna handed Joker a pen and paper.
"You don't understand. I was the cadet that had a call sign the first time I walked into my first Mil Sci class. It was on my desk, where everyone else had their last name. When I got issued a Neurohelment it was hot pink and had Princess painted in gold. Everyone knew I was the girl that was only in the MechWarrior program because her noble mother made it so. For three plus years I was reminded that no matter how hard I tried, how good I was, or what I said or did, everyone thought I was the spoiled rich noble girl whose parents money and influence allowed me to 'play' MechWarrior."
"Well from where I sat most of the kids from NAIS, Nagerling and Albion were spoiled little rich noble children pretending to be MechWarriors at least until they survived first contact." McFinnigan said, "But I get yer point. You've proved to be a skilled enough MechWarrior to survive. Erik you think she's a spoiled little rich girl?"
"I made her spend the morning welding and gluing armor plates, she isn't too spoiled to work when it matters, she's bad at it, but not spoiled." Erik said as he crossed his arms and leaned back.
"She was happy to help me in the kitchen." Roweyna added.
"So Erik and Roweyna say you're not very spoiled, and you're clearly a MechWarrior, so depending on how this wager go, maybe you can earn yourself a new handle, or everyone will just call you by name."
Joker held up the folded piece of paper, "Done."
Anastasia snatched the paper from him and read it as Roweyna looked over her shoulder. "Does this look good to you?" Anastasia asked her.
"Well intergalactic law isn't exactly clear on written informal contracts used as wagers in games of chance." Roweyna said sarcastically, "Though some of the bandit kingdoms do allow you to remove fingers for unpaid debts, so perhaps that would apply here."
"That'll work." Anastasia replied, "I've wanted to cut him a few times now."
McFinigan cleared his throat, "Anastasia you can't hurt him to the point he can't pilot his 'Mech. Joker, if you can't keep your word and she hurts you, it's not a 'combat injury' so no compensation for lost limb."
"I agree to this." Anastasia said as she laid the paper in center of the table.
"Hey! Wait a minute. Since I'm risking fingers, I think this whole thing is worth more than what's in the pot." Joker said.
Anastasia's eyes narrowed, then she stretched her arm to Hap, "Hold my sleeve, please."
She pulled her arm into her coveralls and rolled and contorted her shoulders as her hand moved around her back. After a moment she reached into her coveralls with her other arm and pulled out a black lacey bra that had finely embroidered flowers and leaves in black silk thread on the cups.
"I'm out." Erik said as he pushed his cards forward.
"Aye. Same." McFinnigan said, "I can't be part of a game where those are wagered. If Mrs. McFinnigan-"
"We'll tell her you bid us good night before this happened and reminded us to go to Sunday school in the morning." Hap said as he looked up at the center of the table and back to the full house in his hand.
Roweyna laughed, "Oh she'll never believe that. He's been calling the pub 'Church' for so long, she'll think he was up to something else."
McFinnigan laughed, "Aye, but I like where your head is at lad."
Hap looked at his cards and cracked his knuckles. He had promised Anastasia that he wouldn't let Joker get a hold of her underwear. It also really bothered him to think of Joker having her bra. He looked over at Anastasia, "I promised you I wouldn't let him have that, can I stay, if I go 'all in'?"
"This will do." Anastasia said as she tossed the 'Mech Charm into the center.
"I think I'd rather go all in." Hap replied looking at his 'Mech charm on top of her bra.
"No, I think you should save that money so you can spend it on me later". Anastasia said with a smile.
McFinnigan laughed as Hap blushed. His talk with Anastasia couldn't come soon enough.
"Well Joker?" Anastasia said.
"I'm really more interested in what goes in your bra, and I thought it would be bigger."
Anastasia smirked, "Well it's as close as you're going to get to anything under my shirt."
"And it's a designer bra." Roweyna added like she was trying to sell it.
Anastasia looked at her incredulous, as McFinnigan said, "Aye. I don't know much about bras, but it doesn't seem like something you'd want to wear under a cooling vest."
"It's not. When I was packing my e, I mean, go-bag it was the bra I happened to grab." Anastasia replied. I meant to grab a sports bra, but I don't know, it was clean and I was in a hurry." Her voice dropped, "and it's sort of my favorite."
"You're such a boot. Go bags need to have important survival gear." Joker told her.
"Oh! A good lacy bra can be a key piece of survival equipment." Roweyna corrected him.
McFinnigan gave Roweyna a shocked wide-eyed look. She parodied his look and replied, "I don't know how you expect to get grandchildren."
McFinnigan pulled out his pipe and shook his head, "You all just tell Mrs. McFinnigan that I left before the bra came off, and all of ye should go to Sunday school tomorrow."
-
Chapter 10
Hap laid down his hand, "I have a full house. What do you have Joker."
"Oh what do I have? Let's see." Joker started to slowly lay down his cards. He revealed a 10 of Fists, the Jack of Fists, and finally the Queen of Fists. He looked up at Anastasia, "I'll tell you what, Princess, you can see where this is going. I'll let you keep Hap's charm, because I'm hopeless romantic, if you don't make me reveal my cards. It's sort of one last gamble."
Anastasia smiled wolfishly, "Why would I do that?" she started revealing cards, "I have the King of Fists, and the Ace of Fists, and the Ace of Suns, and Ace of Eagles, and the Ace of Dragons. At best you have a flush, but I doubt you even have that."
Joker looked very annoyed as he revealed a 10 of Suns and a 3 of Dragons. Anastasia raked in her winnings. She gave Hap a sly grin as she put the 'Mech charm on, and flipped her hair over the chain. She shoved her bra in her coverall pocket. She carefully folded the paper as she grinned. She placed it in another pocket. She stood up and pointed at Joker, "And now you can't call me Princess."
"And you can't call me Princess." She said to Erik
"I didn't sign any paper." He replied. "But I won't call you Princess to your face."
"And you-" She pointed at McFinnigan, "I actually work for you."
"Aye. You do." McFinnigan looked at Roweyna. "Is Anastasia the Princess that forgot who she was and had to find her family?"
"Aye. You read me that story when I was a lass." Roweyna answered.
"I like that name, child, why would I call you anything else?" McFinnigan said with a shrug.
"Thank you, Commander." Anastasia replied, and gave McFinnigan and hug and a kiss on the forehead.
"Roweyna you've always been really kind to me." Anastasia said as she gave Roweyna a hug.
"Aye. Thank you, Anastasia."
Anastasia turned to Hap and took a step, "And you Harold-" She laughed and fell into his lap.
Hap stood up carefully and supported Anastasia as they both got to their feet, "I think it's time you went to bed." As he spoke he looked over at McFinnigan who was gave him a slow and certain nod.
"Wait what about the money?" Anastasia said as she put her arm around his waist.
Roweyna opened up the metal lock box and starting exchanging the chips for C-Bills. Anastasia stuffed the bills in her coverall pocket with her bra. Roweyna gave Hap a crisp 100 C-bill note. He didn't stop to wonder how, but he was happy that he had kept half his money. Anstasia and Hap bid everyone a good night and he half dragged, half pulled Anastasia back to the birthing.
"Hap, when you said you were going to help me get rid of the call sign 'Princess' I didn't imagine this would be how we'd do it."
"Neither did I."
"Also I've never drank this much, or gambled. It's very excited."
"It can be." Hap replied
"You've been wanting to talk to me all day, we're alone now. What did you want to talk about?"
"Us, but not now. Not while you're drunk."
"What about us?" Anastasia said happily.
Hap sighed, he knew better, but he said, "I think we need to slow down."
"I think so too, you're almost dragging me. You're not trying to rush to some lonely part of the ship where you'll-"
"Definitely Not!" Hap interrupted, "I'm going to put you to bed, then get in my own, but that's what I mean. Our relationship needs to slow down."
"What are you talking about?" Anastasia asked
"I like you, a lot-"
Anastasia interrupted him, "I like you too, Harold. Listen, I've only been on a few dates, and those men had only one thing on their mind. You're not like that. You genuinely care about me."
"I do." Harold hadn't realized it, but he did feel he had a strange connection with her. "But I've only known you for three days."
"Right, but I've met men that wanted to make love on a first blind date."
"Anastasia, I'm trying to explain something. I was married once, I rushed into that relationship, we were married in weeks, but after a few months I learned we didn't really know each other, and had a lot of problems that we couldn't solve. I don't want to make the same mistake."
"You had a wife?"
"Yes. I had a wife and it seemed like we fought all the time."
"You want a better wife? I'll fight with you only half the time."
Hap looked at her in disbelief. "This is exactly-" Hap could see she was trying not to smile, "You're playing with me." He said.
She shrugged and smiled, "Maybe. You ever think about calling my bluff? You never did tonight."
Hap looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant since he knew she couldn't bluff, "You're a cocky little thing when you're drunk."
He put his arm around her and started half-leading, half carrying her again. She put her head on his shoulder as they walked the decks.
When he got her back to their berthing area, Anastasia looked up at him, "Let's play one more game."
"Anastasia, you're drunk, and you're feeling very self-confident. You should quit while you're ahead."
"No. I really want your blanket."
"You won my 'Mech charm, haven't you taken enough from me."
"If you're first wife didn't manage to take it from you-"
"Anastasia." Hap warned
"Where's your cards? Do you have some in your go-bag?" She excitedly interrupted him
Hap nodded as he opened his locker, reached into his bag and pulled out a deck of cards. Anastasia snatched the cards tried to shuffle, then she remembered she couldn't and passed them back to Hap. As he shuffled she said, "Okay. High card, If I win I get your blanket."
"What do I get?" Hap asked her
Anastasia frowned, she hadn't thought of that. She shook her head and smiled, "Just imagine the most wonderful thing that I could give you. But you don't have to say anything, because I'm going to win."
Hap held out the deck of cards to Anastasia and she took the top card. She flipped up the Jack of Suns. Hap took the next card and flipped it over to reveal the Queen of Suns.
Anastasia suddenly felt very sober, and a little sick. She let out an "Oh." And then after a moment, "So, what do I owe you?" She remembered her roommate talking about all the degrading things that her boyfriend would ask her to do or, worse, talk her into. Harold didn't seem like that sort of man, but he was right, they really didn't know each other.
Hap looked at his 'Mech charm for a moment. Her zipper was low and he could see the charm nestled between her breasts. He considered asking for it back, but he liked the idea that she had it. To ask her for any sexual favors was inconceivable, she was drunk, and he did want a relationship with her, and she was going to be in his lance. His ex-wife would have been offended that he was not trying to seduce her, of course she was also constantly trying to pick fights with him. This was all too complicated.
Hap raised his vision to look her in the eyes, "Let's talk tomorrow." Hap said, then added quietly, "I don't know what I want."
Anastasia felt relieved that he wasn't asking for something disgusting, but she had noticed he stared at her chest and the 'Mech charm. She wondered for a moment if he was thinking about asking for her charm or something else. She was starting to feel slightly nauseous.
Hap put his cards away and started to take off his coveralls. Anastasia turned around, and unzipped her coveralls and quickly put on her oversized nightshirt. As she pulled off her boots and stepped out of the coveralls she felt sick and dizzy. "Harold, I feel sick"
Hap grabbed her hand and pulled her into the bathroom. She managed to keep from vomiting until she was at the toilet. He held her hair as she regurgitated everything she had. After a few minutes Anastasia was sure she had nothing else to vomit. Hap gave her a cup of water and then walked her out to the lounge where she promptly collapsed onto the couch. He walked back to his wall locker and then went to the bar and poured her another cup of water and dropped a large tablet into the water cup. As the tab hit the water it immediately dissolved and bubbled. He made a second glass for himself.
"Drink this." He said offering her the glass. "It's an electrolyte vitamin tab. It won't make you sober, but if you can drink all this, and keep it down, you probably won't have too-bad of a headache tomorrow."
Anastasia nodded, and took a drink. It tasted salty and slightly fruity. She was sick, and dizzy, but it didn't make her feel worse. "It feels like the shuttle is pulling a hard starboard turn, under full thrust."
Hap nodded, "It's not. You're very drunk. I think the whiskey caught up with you" Hap sat next to her.
"I just want to lay down." Anastasia told Hap as she leaned on him.
"Keep drinking the vitamin water. It's the only way to avoid a nasty hangover. I also want to make sure you don't get sick again."
Anastasia took another drink and pulled Hap's arm over her. She was feeling cold, and sick, but she appreciated that Hap was taking care of her. "Why aren't you drunk?" Anastasia asked.
"I am, but I have about 40 kilograms on you, and I had seconds on dinner, and I've been doing this for a long time, like while I was at the Academy." Hap said "See I had friends, and there were parties. I can't quote doctrine, but I can keep you alive after a night of drinking with mercenaries."
Anastasia groaned, "NAIS needs to change their curriculum."
After a few minutes Joker came by. "Hey Hap, you got any of those vitamin tabs"?
"Yeah. In my go-bag. Grab my blanket too." Hap told him as poured himself a glass of water.
Joker never returned, but an hour later he walked into the head. After he went back to bed Hap nudged Anastasia and asked her if she needed to go. She immediately got up, and Hap waited for her. He saw she had only drank half the water so he finished it. Anastasia staggered out of the bathroom and Hap helped her get to her bed chamber, then went to use the head before climbing into bed himself.
Hap stretched out on his bed and thought about how badly his conversation with Anastasia had gone. "Hey Anastasia last time I ruined a relationship with a woman was because I just rushed into things with her." "Great Harold, I hear you, but let's rush into things anyways." Then there was every time she called him Harold and how his heart melted a little. He shook his head, they had to work on getting to know each other, and being lancemates. He tried to not think about holding her again.
He also realized if Joker heard about him having a drunk Anastasia that owed him some unspecified debt he would never hear the end of it. Of course, by being a good guy and treating Anastasia with some respect he managed not to have her get sick in his bed. Once more he haphazardly came out ahead.
-
*claps, with a big smile* Excellent Sunday Morning reading...
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I'm reminded of why my wife - who's not into sci fi, let alone giant robots - loved Robotech. Come for planes with feet, stay for the story ;)
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Interesting very interesting, I hope there is more to come
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Good Story. Whats a Lancer the mech Lucky died in?
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Good Story. Whats a Lancer the mech Lucky died in?
I'm sorry. Lucky's 'mech was a JVN-10N Javelin. I'm not sure why I wrote Lancer. I'm going to correct that. Thank you for reading.
Also more updates are coming soon. I had to slow down, and I've had a few things going on this week. I will have a few more chapters up this weekend.
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Chapter 11
August 3029
Kalathar System jump point.
To her surprise, Anastasia woke up with only a mild headache. She dressed quickly and looked down at the 'Mech charm. She stayed in the private cocoon of her bed chamber and thought about the events of last night. She probably owed Harold an apology for a few things she said, particularly the "better wife" comment. She also considered that maybe she was being a little too forward. She liked being close to Harold, and thought he felt the same way, but he seemed uncomfortable. Now she knew it wasn't that he didn't like her, he just wanted to get to know her before things got too serious.
Anastasia sighed, Harold was a class act, he'd been looking out for her since they met, and last night was an amazing display of constraint and kindness. He even held her hair while she was sick. If Harold wanted her to slow down she'd try, but it was going to be hard for her because she liked to be held, and snuggled, and put her head on his big muscular shoulder. When they were watching the movie and he had pulled her into him that was exactly what she wanted, which was why she was trying to pull him over to her when it happened.
She heard something large hit the deck and knew it was Joker jumping out of the bed above her. She waited a moment. She wasn't ready to deal with him yet. He enjoyed tormenting her, and she had taken his money last night. She also wanted to ask Harold if she owed Joker an apology for anything she had said or done. There were parts of last night that were a little foggy for her.
She opened up her bed chamber and found Hap sitting on the edge of his bed putting on his boots. He looked up at her and gave her a concerned look, "Hey. How are you feeling?"
Anastasia smiled, "Good morning Harold. I'm fine, just a mild headache." She said as she pushed herself off her bed. She wanted to sit with him and talk, really she wanted to get him into his bed compartment, close the door, and curl up under the blankets with him, and figure out their relationship. She was starting to understand how much she really didn't understand about relationships.
She rarely saw or interacted with anyone her own age growing up, and most of her relationships at NAIS were, at best, rivalries. She knew how to keep someone at arm's length. She saw how her parents interacted and they had a wonderful and healthy relationship. Anastasia had no idea of how to go from just meeting someone to what they had. She had also watched her freshman year roommate throw herself at men, get abused, and wonder why her "man of the month" didn't respect her. Anastasia knew her roommate was a fool, but now she knew she was doing similar things with Harold.
"May I sit with you?" Anastasia asked
Hap looked at her confused, "Yes. Of course, you don't have to ask."
She grabbed her boots as she stepped across the hall and sat down next to him. "I think I may need to apologize for some of the things I said or did last night."
"We were both drunk. I don't think either of us are going to remember last night too clearly. We might have said some things we probably shouldn't have, but I doubt there is anything to apologize for."
"Do you think we 'need to slow down'?"
Hap nodded, but instead of saying yes he asked, "You think you could be 'a better wife'?"
Better than the contentious shrew that hurt him and made him hesitant to take a chance on her. Oh easily, Anastasia thought to herself. She nodded, but said, "I probably shouldn't have said that."
Hap smiled, "You're not saying it, but I can tell you definitely think you could be a 'better wife'."
Before Anastasia could say anything Joker entered the hallway.
"Good morning Anastasia!" He said nearly shouting "How are you doing? Last night you weren't looking too good." She knew he was talking loud trying to aggravate her headache.
"Good morning Joker." Anastasia said quietly.
"Take it easy on Anastasia, Joker. She had a hard time sleeping last night." Hap said, "She had that big wad of poker winnings to sleep on."
"Some of that was your money." Joker huffed.
Before they could start fighting Hap suggested they get breakfast. McFinnigan was glad to see Anastasia up and moving. He was concerned she might have had too much to drink. Hap apologized for how the poker game ended and McFinnigan laughed. He reminded Hap the purpose of the game was to get to know them, and he certainly learned a lot. McFinnigan told them that they still had a few hours before they docked with the Jump Ship and he mentioned that would be enough time to repaint the Valkyrie.
Hap got the hint and took Anastasia and Joker down to the 'Mech Bays and got the Valkyrie painted with McFinnigan tartan colors before the ships docked. They cleaned up, packed their few belongings and met McFinnigan and Roweyna at the main hatch.
The Drop Shuttle docked with the Jump Ship and they started to get warnings and information from the Jump Ship. They had about 45 minutes to move between Drop Shuttles. It was a quick trot across several decks of the Jump Ship. but they made it with several minutes to spare.
At the main hatch for the Tir A Nog they were met by a lanky man smoking a cigarette, and a woman that looked like a slightly older and slightly taller version of Roweyna. Unlike her daughter her hair was red with blonde or silver streaks. She gave everyone a warm smile as McFinnigan introduced his wife to everyone and them to Mrs. Elinor McFinnigan. She was extremely likable and gracious. The man was James "Fletch" Fletcher. He was the XO for the mercenary company. He had a no nonsense demeanor and as McFinnigan started walking Fletch went down a list of various business matters.
Elinor and Roweyna started talking like mother and daughter as Joker, Hap and Anastasia followed behind. Anastasia noticed that the mother and daughter began whispering and Elinor gave Harold a few strange looks. Anastasia wondered what Roweyna was telling her mother.
Within a few minutes they found themselves in the galley of the shuttle. It was, like the other drop shuttle, setup like an Irish Pub, except this one had "Fiddler's Green" over the bar. It was full of people. There were families, children, Anastasia even noticed a cat on the bar.
When McFinnigan entered the room it got mostly quiet, a baby was cooing and there were a few young children running around but everyone else was still. He smiled at everyone and shook a few hands as he moved to the dais with its own table at the front of the bar.
The ship's public address system warned the jump was imminent. Hap, Anastasia, and Joker sat at a table in the center of the pub that happened to empty. The ten second count started and parents grabbed children. Roweyna picked up the cat as she sat on the bar stool. There was a low hum and everything started to shake, then everything seemed to stretch and suddenly there was a loud clap. Everything returned to normal. Anastasia had a momentary feeling of sickness, but it passed quickly.
McFinnigan stood up. "As some of you may know we're on our way to Monhegan. We're going to protect the planet's star port for a few weeks so the planet garrison can enjoy the holidays. It'll take a couple weeks to get there, but it will also be easy duty." As he spoke there were cheers from the crowd.
"And no cadets or new lieutenants?" Someone across the pub called out, and there were more cheers.
"We need to talk about that" McFinnigan held up his hands to calm the crowd, "I'm sure most of you have noticed I brought strangers with me. I know some of you are thinking, 'oh no the old man found another stray like David Lee'." There were a few laughs, and Anastasia saw commotion at the table next to them. There was a young Asian man sitting at the table and his table mates were nudging him.
McFinnigan continued, "Well I think we can all agree, David Lee's proven to be a valuable member of this company." There was a few cheers from the table next to Anastasia, "But let me show who I found."
The lights dimmed and wall mounted view screens flicked on. The screens were black but their speakers were on and everyone heard, "Commander, were getting a distress call on the guard channel."
McFinnigna's voice came next, "Aye. Push it into my chamber."
Anastasia heard her voice, "This is Cadet Valois. I'm isolated, and being pursued by a heavy lance. Requesting immediate assistance or evac."
"Do ye have a visual?" McFinnigan asked.
A picture popped up on the screen it looked like it was from a satellite or high altitude recon vehicle. The screen showed a large sweeping forested plain. The screen zoomed in and Anastasia saw her Valkyrie being pursued by the Quickdraw and the Thunderbolt.
Erik's voice came next, "This is a rabbit hunt. We know how this will end, the hounds will rip her apart."
McFinnigan replied, "Aye, perhaps." And they didn't speak for a few moments. Anastasia watched as she tried to out run the two 'Mechs. Instinctively she reached for Hap's hand as she remembered this moment. She was trying to lose the 'Mechs in a heavily forested area by jumping as far as the 'Mech would take her and every few leaps she'd spin around and launch a salvo of missiles at the Quickdraw.
Between the spinning and firing she accidentally jumped into a clearing and the Grasshopper went full throttle and closed the distance with her. As she tried to leap way he fired every weapon he had at her and at the same time the Thunderbolt hit her with his large laser and long range missiles. Although a few of the Quickdraw's lasers missed, and several of the missiles sailed past her, the barrage caught her mid-air. The lasers and missiles melted and blasted armor from all over her 'Mech and the sudden loss of weight and impact from the blows to make her 'Mech start to tumble in mid-air.
"I think that's it commander. She's gonna fall and they'll tear that her apart."
Anastasia's mouth went dry as she remembered her panic trying to keep the 'Mech upright. The Valkyrie landed hard on her left foot and the right foot swept backwards like a ballerina. The Quickdraw kept running and Valkyrie hit him with her own missiles and then with a snap of the arm the Valkyrie's medium laser shot a beam right into the Quickdraw's head. It wasn't powerful enough to breach the cockpit but it made the Quickdraw pilot pause.
There was a cheer from the tables around her as the Valkyrie started moving again and the Thunderbolt's laser missed her. Anastasia couldn't believe they were cheering for her.
"Looks like the rabbit hunt is still on." Erik's voice said over the monitor
"That's not a rabbit, that's a fox. It has some teeth and claws, and I dare say the hounds will remember next time they try to corner her." McFinnigan said. It was clear he was excited.
Anastasia heard her own voice start to request help again but this time it was interrupted by Harold. She squeezed his hand and felt the same reassuring pressure. The room full of Mercenaries laughed at the banter between Tuna and Joker as Hap directed Anastasia and yelled at his subordinates.
"Why do you think they aren't moving to help her?" Erik asked.
"Not sure. The FedCom and RDMM were in full retreat to their marshalling point. The fact anyone is still out here is a bit of a miracle."
The screen changed to a tactical view of a topographical map. In a moment it highlighted seven blue triangles and dozens of red triangles. The screen zoomed in on three blue triangles moving west from Anastasia's position. The computer reported it was a Commando, a Phoenix Hawk and a Vulcan.
"I think this is the fox's lance. They seem to have abandoned her. Those damn cadets, why'd they leave her?" There was anger in McFinnigan's voice. The screen zoomed back out then zoomed in on the other blue triangles. It identified the Griffin but the second triangle disappeared a few times before the system marked it, "unknown 35 tons". It struggled with the third triangle before marking it "unknown 50 tons".
"So these are the ones that are trying to help the Fox. That canyon looks like a good place for an ambush. I suspect Hooligan four and his lance are real soldiers, pity those damn bastards that left their lance mate can't see how real professionals work."
The view switched back to the live view. Anastasia watched as the Quickdraw was closely following her Valkyrie until a barrage of missiles hit him just as he landed. The Quickdraw started to deviate its path and the Valkyrie started to get further away from him.
There were more cheers as the recorded McFinnigan laughed, "Aye. They're pros."
There was a third voice. "Looks like the lance moving west is headed toward another drop zone. I have another Leopard on my scanners."
"Aye Hawkins. I should have guessed we weren't the only ones paid to pull these royal ass pains out." McFinnigan said annoyed.
Harold and Anastasia started talking on the radio again, and Anastasia saw herself pause in front of the cliff. The Thunderbolt and Quickdraw shot at her and she ran into the narrow crack in the stone. Just as the Valkyrie got in position next to the Griffin the Quickdraw entered the narrow canyon. Joker's Firestarter jumped out of the smoke and fire and attacked the Quickdraw from behind as there was a low murmur from around the room. When the Quickdraw turned to address the light 'Mech the Hunchback stepped out of the smoke. There was claps and cheers and someone yelled, "That'll teach you to pick on someone your own size."
"Hawkins, I'm looking at the tactical display, these poor bastards are good, but their cut off. Do we have enough fuel to burn to go and grab them?"
As he spoke the Hunchback destroyed the Quickdraw. There were more cheers from around the pub.
"Already made the calculations Commander." Hawkins replied
The camera lost the view of the battle field as the Leopard changed direction. When the canyon came back into view the Hunchback shot its main cannon at the Thunderbolt, but it seemed unphased.
"A Thunderbolts a hell of a machine," Erik said, "With it's thirteen tons of Ryerson 150 armor it can take a couple hits from the Hunchback's AC 20 before the pilot has to worry."
"Aye. It looks like the Firestarter harassed him though so that'll keep him from using his main-" McFinnigan stopped mid-sentence as the Hunchback shot the Thunderbolt again and the Thunderbolt responded by raising its fist overhead and bringing it down on the Hunchback's cockpit. From the higher angle of the Leopard's cameras it was obvious the head was crushed and the pilot was certainly dead.
There were curses and gasps around the room. Anastasia felt Harold squeeze her hand this time. She glanced over at him but his eyes were fixed on the screen, but she could see him blinking away a tear.
The battle continued as the three remaining 'mechs destroyed the Thunderbolt. As the right side of the Mech exploded there was more cheers. The way people reacted made Anastasia felt like they had just won a Solaris VII match. The Leopard dropped altitude again and the camera lost the view of the hill. The screen switched back to the topographical map. There was only three blue triangles now, but there seemed to be more red triangles.
"Commander, they're massing light 'Mechs on their position and bringing in indirects." Hawkins said.
"Aye, Patch me into the guard channel."
The screen went blank and lights came back up.
A dark haired young woman was walking between tables passing out cold pints of dark beer. She set out three in front of Anastasia and her lance mates. As Anastasia looked around she could see several of the men and woman were looking at her and her friends with respect. She got a couple nods and lifted glasses she grabbed her glass and returned the gestures as Harold and Joker did the same.
McFinnigan was back on the dais. "So now you know the caliber of the three MechWarriors I brought into the family. Before I introduce them, let's take a minute for their lance mate. I only saw him for a few moments, but he died a warrior's death. He held his position, fought next to brother and sister, stacked skulls, and gave his enemy hell. Somedays I think it's the best any of us can hope for."
Someone in the back yelled, "Gnó Teaghlaigh" and there were more shouts of the same.
McFinnigan smiled wryly, "Aye that's the Family Business." He drank and everyone followed. "To the family." He said as everyone drank again, "And the ones who can't be with us tonight." He added. Everyone finished their pint and again the dark haired girl was rushing between tables exchanging empty glasses for full ones.
McFinnigan accepted a fresh pint and motioned to Harold to stand. "This is Harold 'Haphazard' or 'Hap' Calahad. He piloted the Griffin. He tells me his strategies tend to be a little random or improvised, but I assure you he has a good head on his shoulder." Hap gave a small wave to the room before sitting down.
McFinnigan motioned to Joker. "This is William 'Joker' Cameron. Ye talk to him for a few minutes and you'll know why they call him Joker. Ye heard him on the radio transmission too. And you can see, like any good prankster and nuisance he's a good Firestarter pilot."
"Hap assigned me to a Firestarter, so I could be just as big a pain-in-the-ass to the enemy as I was to him."
"Aye, and that should tell ye all you need to know about Joker." McFinnigan said. "Now sit down."
As Joker sat down McFinnigan motioned to Anastasia, "Now I know how ye all loved working with the Federated Suns and the Commonwealth's finest cadets and new officers."
There was a collective groan from around the room.
"Aye, and as a good patriarch, I decided we should have one to keep." McFinnigan said magnanimously
There was laughter all around, and the loudmouth in the corner called out, "At least it's a cute one."
Anastasia blushed as McFinnigan replied, "I didn't hire her for her looks, or because she gave some sob story, Brendan. This is the Valkyrie pilot that eluded, harassed and, in the end, led two greater 'mechs and probably more experienced MechWarriors into an ambush. She might come from one of those elitist and entitled schools, but I assure you, she's a hard worker and has a place among us. This is Anastasia Valois. Now, welcome your new brothers and sister into the family."
Everyone was on their feet in an instant and Anastasia felt overwhelmed as men and woman from all over the galley came up and introduced themselves, congratulated her and Harold and Joker, and shook her hand or gave her a hug. She couldn't keep track of half the names or who the people were. There were also lots of children of all ages. It was the most bewildering thing for her.
-
August 3029
Edwards System
Eventually food was served, it was classic fish and chips with squishy peas. The various groups broke off to their regular spots, and Anastasia, Harold and Joker found themselves alone for a moment. Joker poked at his peas with his fork, "It looks like someone forgot to add water to the pea soup concentrate."
Before Hap could answer Fletch sat down at their table. He had a pint and a cigarette in one hand. "Let me personally welcome you to the family. I'm James Fletcher the company XO. Everyone calls Fletch."
"Hello Jimmy-" Joker started to say.
"Shut up." Fletch snapped. He took a drag of his cigarette then continued, "The old man probably spent the last few days filling your heads with ideas that this family of his is damn near a charity that runs on kindness and home brewed beer, and everyone bakes each other's bread and sometimes we fight if someone offers us enough money.
Fletch's tone somehow got more serious, "Let me assure you, this is a professional mercenary outfit that has a notorious reputation for audacious lightning raids, and high risk, high intensity combat operations. We've worked for every major house, and if we're offered enough money there isn't too much we won't do. Are any of you going to have a problem with any of this?"
"No Sir!" Hap replied for his Lancemates.
"We'll see." Fletch said as he took another drink, then leaned forward again. "The Commander said-"
Fletch stopped and looked over his shoulder. There was a man with a blank look staring at Anastasia.
"You want something Dillon?" Fletch barked
"I wanted to ask Anastasia to dance." Dillon replied
Fletch looked up and cocked his head to the side, "There's no damn music, Dillon."
"Well I wanted to be the first-"
Before Anastasia could say "No." Hap held up both their hands and said, "She already has a dance partner." Anastasia wasn't sure what to make of that. She appreciated the gesture, but she had a great deal of practice telling men, "no".
"Uh, what about the second-" Dillon started to drawl.
"Get the hell out of here Dillon." Fletch yelled. Fletch took a long pull on his cigarette sighed heavily. He looked annoyed as he said, "Like I was saying the Commander said you" He pointed the two fingers that held his cigarette at Harold, "were going to be the lance leader for his recon lance. I want you to know that he doesn't usually let a new hire command a lance."
"Noted. Thank you sir."
"Stop calling me sir, and stop sitting up tall. You're not a Lieutenant or Leftenant or officer in the AFFS, you're a Mercenary, grow a beard. I see you've already decided to make mistakes with this one." He pointed at Anastasia and then took a long drink. He gave Hap a smirk "Don't look so shocked. I married into McFinnigas's Armored Circus. Let me set you straight on a few things"
He looked around the room and then spoke in fluent Russian.
A tall blonde modelesque woman walked up to the table and sat down on Fletch's lap. "This is my wife Tatyana." Not only was Tatyana gorgeous, she was wearing a plaid skirt and a low-cut blouse that was tailored to snugly fit around her thin waist and ample breasts.
"Hello" She purred with a thick Russian accent and gave everyone at the table a warm smile.
Tatyana took Fletch's cigarette and started smoking as he continued, "I used to be a fast tracking officer in the LCAF. Any of you ever remember General Horzdof? No. It was about ten years ago, probably before your time. He got caught accepting bribes and giving preferential military contracts to companies he owned stocks in. I was a Lieutenant Colonel and his Aide De Camp. When he went down I was pushed out of the military. I wasn't part of his schemes, so I kept my pension, but I was out."
Fletch took a drink, "I had plans to make general myself, and never made time for a life, and only had a few friends. All I knew was how to pilot a 'Mech and work LCAF bureaucracy. When they kicked my ass to the curb I was at a loss. Then one day I meet the she-wolf, here, at a bar."
"I am Volchitsa." Tatyana told them, as she exchanged Fletch's cigarette for his beer.
"Sorry. Her call sign is Volchitsa, Russian for she-wolf. So I meet her, thought at first she was some type of honey pot for Capellan intelligence. Shows you how desperate I was. We start talking and one thing leads to another and she re-introduces me to Kelly."
Fletch paused to light up another cigarette. "We'd hired McFinnigan to do personal security for the general when he wanted to tour the front. So I asked Kelly if he could use a disgraced LCAF Sr. Officer. He signed me on the spot. Even stranger Tatyana wasn't a spy, she just liked washed up bitter old men."
"Dah. I have a thing for bitter old men. Reminds me of my father." Tatyana said as she returned his beer.
Fletch shrugged, "A little while later I asked Tatyana to marry me." She laid her head on top of his, and for a moment Fletch appeared less mean. "My point is fraternization rules in a house army is a good idea, you don't want senior leaders pressuring junior subordinates into things, but now you're in a mercenary company with a pretty flat hierarchy. As long as you can keep your domestic disputes outside the cockpit, and not piss off your lance mates, no one really cares what two adults do. "
"I go put Sophia in bed now." Tatyana said as she kissed Fletch and gave him a tender squeeze.
He leaned back and watched her go, then looked back at the three of them, "Having said that, here are things you can't do. Don't screw around with anyone's wife or husband, or cheat on yours. Kelly and Elinor are serious Catholics, and they don't put up with that shit. Honestly, it's corrosive to the unit too."
He took another draw of his cigarette, "Don't use drugs unless the doc gives them to you. Also I know it looks like we're all alcoholics, but you need to stop drinking eight hours before mission time. Don't get caught lying, cheating, or stealing either, once the old man feels he can't trust you, he's going to release you from your contract." Fletch finished his pint and held it up to catch the eye of a bar maid.
"So fight hard, be a good family member, help out, and avoid adultery, drugs, lying, cheating, stealing, and drunk 'mech piloting and you'll make good money here." Fletch took another long draw on his cigarette, "Screw up, and I'll come down on you like an Atlas's fist."
There was a pause, then Hap asked "Is anyone going to have a problem with me getting a lance?"
"Mostly no. Like I said, usually the old man makes you earn the right, but you've already led half your lance in combat, and you were an AFFS officer. They saw you in action, they know you got the chops."
He received a new beer and stood up. "Now for the moment I've been looking forward too." He looked around and saw a crowd around a table in the corner. He motioned for them to follow as he started walking. When people noticed Fletch they cleared a space for him, he still had the air and bearing of a senior officer and even in this wild bunch it commanded respect. In the corner they could see a tall burly man sitting across the table from a short young woman with olive brown skin and silky black hair that was in a neat bun pinned to the back of her head with what looked like large steel pins.
The woman was wearing black track pants, and an olive drab tank top. On her shoulder was a tattoo of the Cerillos flag. She also had "La Familia" tattooed in script on one wrist, a cross on the other wrist, and the Virgin Mary could be partially seen on the back of her right shoulder. On the table were several large bottles one half filled with a clear alcohol, dozens of shot glasses, and a substantial pile of C-bills.
"Grizz, Mags, why don't you two call it a night?" Fletch suggested.
"What are they doing?" Anastasia asked
Grizzly, the burly man, carefully picked up a full shot glass. He looked at it blearily eyed, "Well we were going to scorpion wrestle, but the doc and the load master wouldn't let me bring scorpions on the ship." He said as he threw the shot back, and swallowed hard.
"Because they're candy asses." Mags said as she carefully lifted a shot glass and drank it. Then slowly set it down. For a moment it looked like she was about to lean out of her seat, but she caught herself.
"No, because no one wants to travel across the galaxy in a ship infested with scorpions." Fletch said.
"Then why the hell do we have a cat?" Grizzly asked
"One, because I can't trust you ****** not to try and bring shit like scorpions on a ship. Two, because it's Rowena's cat and the old man can't tell her no." Fletch replied
"Oi! What's this about me?" Roweyna called from across the pub.
"Just talking about your cat, we all think it's a lovely beast." Fletch called out as Grizzly slammed down another shot of alcohol.
"Very good." Roweyna sang out and went back to talking to her mother.
The man next to Fletch giggled, "Oh! Yer talkin' 'bout the boss's daughter's pus-."
"I swear to god I'll throat punch you Smitty." Fletch threatened.
Mags took another drink. Slammed the glass down and then pounded her fist on the table as she tried to swallow. Once she got the liquor down she smiled wide at her table mate.
Grizzly took another glass and threw it back. He choked it down and gave Mags a toothy grin, and promptly collapsed under the table. Mags smirked and held the table edge as she carefully looked under it. Satisfied she had won she took the money and shoved it into her bra as she gingerly stood up.
A few people exchanged bills and started to pull the big man out from under the table as an old man with a large khaki military bag that had a faded cross painted on it kneeled down beside Grizzly. He pulled out an IV bag as he looked over his shoulder at Fletch, "This shit has to stop," He then looked around the crowd, "one of you idiots is going to get alcohol poisoning and then I'm going to in act the three drink minimum again."
There were groans around the room and Joker whined, "Oh man, even in a mercenary outfit, one guy shits his pants and everyone has to wear diapers."
Fletch sighed, "Well it's not one guy, and the Doc is right. I should have stopped it, but sometimes they need to blow off some steam, and it's fun to watch." Fletch took another draw on his cigarette and then pointed at Mags, then pointed at the ground in front of him.
She looked sullen as she slowly walked over, "Yes, Fletch."
Fletch smiled like a cat that had caught a mouse, "Oh Mags, I think I finally found the solution to one of my biggest problems, which is you."
"Who are these fools?" She glowered at Hap, Anastasia and Joker
"Well this is Joker and Valois, they're your new lance mates. And this is Hap, he's your new your Lance Leader. Hap, Valois, Joker, this is Marietta Maria Rose "Mags" Camacho."
"No f'n way. Commander McFinnigan said I was just going to be on my own spotting for Hammer lance."
"Yes, until we found a new recon lance. Which we did, so it's your lucky day. Actually it's my lucky day, because now you're Hap's problem." Fletch laughed evilly.
"I saw the video. They pilot slow ass 'mechs." Mags nearly shouted.
Anastasia and Hap exchanged looks. "You know were right here, and our 'mechs aren't that slow."
"They are compared to my Jenner." She snapped then looked at Joker, "What are you looking at?"
"I think I'm in love." Joker said.
"Did your 'mech take too many hits to the head?"
"Oh it's a like a match made in heaven. I feel like one of those dating services." Fletch cackled, "Mags, show your new lancemates to their berths. Which I hope you cleaned out like I ordered you."
Mags turned took a few steps and almost fell over. Joker caught her and she said, "Hey what are you trying to do? Cop a feel or steal my money? Either way I'll cut you."
"Fantastic" Fletch said as he walked away chuckling.
"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Anastasia asked Hap as they followed Mags and Joker
"An Armored Circus" Hap said shaking his head.
-
*LOL*
-
Well Mags and Joker are either going to endup besties or 1 of them ends up with a crushed throat.
Either way well done
-
Chapter 13
Hap had never been on an Excalibur class drop shuttle. As he followed Mags he was surprised how big it was. Hap had been on Leopards and Union shuttles, but those were small cramped vessels. They had already passed several decks designed for infantry squads and vehicle crews. Mags mentioned most of the families and couples had the larger suites. She eventually led them to their berthing area. Like the Leopard it was a series of sleeping chambers built into the walls. Mags took them to the last four chambers near a T juncture. She drunkenly motioned around her while mumbling this was their section.
Mags started to undress and Hap instinctively looked away. He glanced at Anastasia. She was looking at Mags in disbelief. "Pardon me, Mags, where's the ladies head?"
She motioned to the hallway and the left. Anastasia took her go-bag and turned left at the juncture. Hap choose a bed chamber and found clean sheets and blankets in his wall locker. He busied himself making his bed and not looking at Mags as she completely undressed changed clothes and climbed into the bed above Hap.
Joker had been watching Mags as she changed. He also started undressing in the hall. Anastasia returned with one arm strategically covering her chest.
"Hello Anastasia." He said as he turned to face her.
"You're a pervert." She eyes flashed as she walked around him.
Joker turned to keep facing her, "I might be a pervert, and you might be a little prettier than Tatyana, but she has those legs that won't quit, and that huge rack, so she'd beat you in a beauty contest."
"Rack?" Anastasia asked as she opened her wall locker.
"Boobs. Her boobs are bigger than yours." Joker laughed as he pantomimed holding large melons.
Mags pushed open her bed chamber, "Hey dumb ass if Fletch hears you talking about Volsheyka's tits, he's going to throat punch you."
Joker laughed, "Good looking out, lancemate. And just so you know your boobs are pretty nice too."
"When I'm sober, and there's only one of you, I'm going to cut you." Mags groaned.
"Mags, are you going to be okay?" Hap asked as he stopped making his bed to look at her.
"I've been drinking for a long time. I just need you all to shut up so I can sleep." She growled
Joker walked away toward the male head whistling. Anastasia turned to Hap, "I'm starting to understand now what it means to be part of this unit, and I'm not sure if it's good or bad." She turned around and put her things into her wall locker. As she opened her bed chamber she let out a hurt gasp. Hap couldn't see her bed chamber but he could sense whatever it was had immediately gone too far.
Hap stood up and looked over her shoulder. On her bed was part of a 'Mech's hand welded to form a rude gesture. Leaning against the Mech was a strangely dirty looking stuffed rabbit holding a sign that read, "Screw you Jerry". There was also soiled laundry spread all over the sleeping chamber.
"Who's Jerry" Anastasia cried quietly as her shoulders drooped.
Mags started laughing uncontrollably, "Oh my god, I forgot all about the middle 'mech finger joke with Jerry and Crow, and I wondered what happened to Mr. Fudgeypants."
Hap looked at the mess on the bed. Mags confirmed this was between two other MechWarriors and had nothing to do with Anastasia, but she was still in the middle of it. He didn't want to touch the laundry or the stuffed rabbit. The 'Mech hand looked heavy, and he wasn't sure he could lift it. Joker came back around the corner.
He saw the look on Hap and Anastasia's face, and then looked at the bed. He immediately giggled. "Wow Anastasia, we've only been here a few hours and already someone's sick of your shit."
"But I'm not Jerry." Anastasia answered.
A red headed 'MechWarrior with a red beard and clear blue eyes jogged up. "Oh. I'm sorry. Yeah, this is my mistake. When we heard we were getting new Mechwarriors I should have cleaned all this up."
"Why would you do this?" Anastasia asked.
"Well, see this started a while back with me and Jerry. I'm Eugene Harrison, I pilot the Catapult in Hammer lance, which is the Fire Support lance. Call sign is Crow. So one time Jerry and I-"
"Eugene or Crow." Hap interrupted, "I'm Hap, nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll laugh about this in the morning, but right now we all just want to get to sleep. So why don't you help me clean this up-"
"Yeah we're going to need an Ammo cart to move the hand, its super heavy. The Mech techs probably won't let us have one until the morning." Crow replied.
"Where am I going to sleep?" Anastasia asked.
"You can sleep in my bed." Crow offered.
Hap didn't need to look to feel the cold stare that Anastasia was giving Crow.
"Oh, no. Sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I was gonna…see there's an observation deck on deck 2, it has a bunch of recliners, we call it the 'Dog House' for when a husband needs a couch to sleep on because he upset the misses. I guess wives could sleep there too…" Crow started to ramble.
"Crow, brother, stop. Anastasia can have my bed, and I'll sleep in the dog house, but first thing tomorrow you get this all cleaned up, and get Anastasia a new mattress." Hap said firmly.
"Yeah, yeah sure man." Crow said and then held out his hand. As Hap shook hands with him Crow looked at Anastasia and shrugged, "Sorry, about this whole thing. Good to meet you." He told her.
Anastasia sighed, "I accept your apology, just please clean it all up tomorrow."
Crow nodded and left, and in a moment Hap was the only one in the hallway as Joker climbed into his chamber, and Anastasia got into Hap's bed. Hap opened his locker and started putting his things away. He glanced at Anastasia sitting on his bed with cross legged. She was looking up at him.
"Can we talk for a moment?" Anastasia asked
Hap nodded as he sat down, "That little joke seemed to really effect you, at least for a moment."
"It reminded me of some of the jokes they played on me on the academy. I thought I was passed all that, I could already tell some of the mercenaries were crazy, but I didn't think them cruel. Then I saw that hand, for a few seconds I felt like I was back at NAIS. It took a moment to realize this wasn't about me."
Hap nodded, "I thought the same thing, but it was a pretty mean trick. Are you going to be okay?"
"If I say 'no' will you stay here, tonight?" Anastasia asked.
Hap looked at her, "I don't think that's a good idea Anastasia." Even if it was something he wanted.
"Harold, I've been looking forward to some peace and quiet all day. I'm sure you have too. You don't want to sleep in 'the dog house.' Let's just agree to keep our hands to ourselves, and we'll be fine."
Hap hesitated, then said, "I have been trying to get you alone and talk for the last couple days."
Anastasia smiled, "See. It's perfect, we can talk tomorrow, and we'll be rested, sober, and all alone."
"The all alone part is what I'm afraid of." Hap sighed, "Promise to be good?"
Anastasia smiled and nodded eagerly, "I'm always good." Hap noted something mischievous in her tone
Hap shook his head, "Let me change and get ready for bed." He quickly prepared himself and in a few minutes they were enclosed together in the bed chamber, under the same blankets, back-to-back and comfortable. Anastasia was pleased with herself. This was exactly what she wanted, Harold all to herself. Tonight they'd sleep close to each other, and tomorrow they'd figure out their relationship.
As Anastasia started to fall sleep Hap adjusted himself, rolled onto his back and pushed Anastasia closer to the wall. Anastasia got comfortable again and then Hap started snoring. This irritated her, mostly because his snoring hurt Anastasia's idea that Hap was the perfect man. She tried to sleep but he was too loud. Obviously there were ways to fix this, so it wasn't a deal breaker, but it was annoying.
Anastasia tried to elbow him, but he didn't stop the snoring. She rolled over and gave him a good shake, and pushed him back over toward his side of the bed. Hap responded by rolling toward her, wrapping his arms around and pulling her to him. For a moment Anastasia wasn't sure what was happening,
Hap slipped on arm under the pillow to support her neck and the other arm rested on her side. In the confusion she had one arm on his waist, but her other arm was pinned between them. Harold seemed to go back to sleep almost immediately. Anastasia wasn't sure if he had even woken up.
Other than her pinned arm she was very comfortable. Anastasia certainly liked being held close, and he had stopped snoring. Anastasia decided not to disturb Harold. She was happy, and felt content. She slept for a little while, but woke up as her arm went numb. She was trying to adjust herself and move her pinned arm, when Hap pulled her closer and said, "We should make pancakes for breakfast."
"How about crepes?" Anastasia answered without thinking as she continued to get comforteable.
Hap shook himself awake and asked in surprise, "Anastasia?"
"Harold, how many woman do you bring into your bed?"
Hap exhaled, "Sorry. We agreed to keep our hands to ourselves." He helped her turn around and for a moment Anastasia was disappointed to think that Hap was going to turn away from her again, but then he pulled her back into his chest. He laid his arm on top of hers and intertwined their fingers and wrapped their arms around her waist. She had to stop herself from cooing in delight. She felt secure, comfortable, and very special, but her heart was beating like she was sprinting for a fitness test.
Hap's head was right behind hers, "It's been a long time since I shared my bed, Anastasia. I guess I was half asleep and holding you made me think I was holding my ex-wife. When I was married there was a time when Kasara and I would make up from a fight, make love, hold each other through the night, then the next morning make breakfast and spend the day together. Maybe we'd have a picnic, or go out to the theater or dancing. Then we'd be fine, like we were just married again. But, a few days later we'd be fighting again, and the fights got nastier and it took us longer to make up."
"Oh." Anastasia replied, "I'm sorry I asked."
"Don't be." Hap said, "but it's why I want us to take thing slow. Which is sort of ironic right now."
"Yes, it is ironic. What happened to keeping our hands to ourselves?" Anastasia teased, she was so comfortable and happy, even hearing Hap talk about his ex-wife was just a minor annoyance.
She could feel Hap shrug as he said, "It wasn't working. It's a small space, so I either need to go-"
Anastasia pulled on Hap's arm so that he was hugging her tighter, "You're not going anywhere Harold."
"-Or we're going to have improvise something else." Hap said. "But we should sleep now."
Anastasia was too excited to sleep, "What did you and your ex-wife fight about?"
"Same thing most couples fight about, money, time, sex, kids. Somedays it was just whatever we found."
"Really? You seem so easy going."
Hap groaned, "When you really know someone, you'd be surprised how easily you can provoke them."
"Joker seems to excel at that." Anastasia said
"Joker tends to figure out ways to annoy people, but what he does is mostly at a surface level." Hap squeezed Anastasia, "Over the last couple days you've been trying to snuggle up to me or hold my hand. I suspect you're the sort of girl that likes to be held. It's a way you know you're adored and cherished."
Anastasia had never thought of that before, but he was right. She was certainly feeling cherished at the moment. "Aren't most women?"
"Kasara wasn't. She preferred quality time, and experiences. She was also an extrovert and wanted to be out with her friends. That's not to say she didn't like being held, but she was happiest when we were doing things together, especially the things she wanted to do, outside the house."
"Okay. Can we not talk about your ex though?"
"I'm trying not too." Hap paused, "My point was, you like being held, now imagine you married a man that refused to hold your hand, or sit next to you, or let you sleep in his arms. How would you react?"
"I would…" Anastasia was puzzled. She pushed herself more into Hap, and pulled his arm around her tighter. "I wouldn't accept that, or I'd resent that. It would be like you were saying you didn't love me." Anastasia paused for a moment, then asked, "You didn't do that to your ex-wife did you?"
"Not on purpose." Hap said reluctantly, "I've had a lot of time to think about some of my mistakes. If I had been smart, or paying attention, I could have avoided some of our problems, or just not have married her. But, back to us. I've only known you a few days, I like what I've seen so far, but I hardly know you. I don't know your middle name, birthday, your favorite color, or favorite food. Which is why-"
Anastasia interrupted, "It seems a little trivial, but Maria, March eighth, burgundy, and croquet madam with onion soup, and what about you Harold?"
Harold meant to tell her they should get to really know each other before things got physical, instead he answered, "Fredrick, September ninth, blue, I guess, and probably a good thick steak with a baked potato with sour cream and chives, and grilled broccoli."
"Mmm, There is nothing like a good rare steak. What about desert?" Anastasia liked this game.
"I'm not much a desert guy, but my mom used to make this apple pie from scratch. One of the few times she'd go all, and it would take her all day to make. That has my favorite desert. What about you?"
"A good apple pie is delicious. Abuela would take tart apples and mix them with a cheese cake the she wrapped it in a tortilla and fry it, and coat it with cinnamon and sugar. For me, though, I love a good chocolate fondant, especially when it doesn't melt on your plate but just dissolves in your mouth."
"I was thinking you were going to say something gourmet with some expensive and rare ingredient."
"Like crème brulee on top of a kincha compote?"
"Yes. Exactly. Isn't kincha addictive and illegal?"
"Have you never had it? It's so good you won't care how addictive or illegal it is." Anastasia said excitedly.
"Considering it only grows on one planet that is hotly contested between the Free World's League and the Capellan Confederation I've never seen or had it. Even imitation kincha is too expensive for me."
Hap could feel Anastasia settling in and for a moment He thought she was going to sleep, but she said, "You're worried we won't be happy because I'm high class, expensive, and I sound pretentious."
"Not pretentious, you told me you like hamburgers over steak tar-tar, and you made tuna noodle casserole into something I could crave, which I guess was a little fancy, but-I'm just, I'm just getting to know you, and I still like everything about you. We really should continue this in the morning."
"Agreed, but I want you to know, that I may like some of the finer things, but I don't need those things, there are other things I need." She said as she squeezed his arm. "Good night Harold."
"Good night" Hap mumbled as he held her close and enjoyed the smell of hair, and her warmth and softness, he even liked the soft murmurs she made as he squeezed her. He also knew if he didn't put a stop to this soon, that they wouldn't have much choice in how things would go, and he could only hope it wouldn't end in disaster.
-
Chapter 14
Hap heard a loud bang and felt Anastasia jump. It took him a moment to remember why Anastasia was in his bed, and what was going on. He felt the rush of mixed feelings for how he wanted to get to know her before things got physical and the enjoyment of holding her, and wanting to be more intimate.
As he sorted his thoughts, Hap could hear voices talking in the hallway outside his chamber, he figured it was Crow taking care of the mess on Anastasia's bed. He was partially relieved to know she had a place to sleep and disappointed at the same time.
Anastasia moved Hap's arm so she could read his watch, then carefully tucked his arm back around her.
"What time is it?" Hap asked
"Just after 0700." Anastasia replied as she pulled the blankets around her tighter.
Hap tried to reach up and turn on the light, but Anastasia held tightly onto his hand. He pulled harder and she grabbed it with his free hand. In a moment they were wrestling and Hap was surprised that Anastasia was stronger than he would have guessed. She giggled as he struggled, but eventually Hap managed to pin her arms with a bear hug and get his hand free and flipped the lights on.
Hap loosened his grip and Anastasia pushed herself onto her side. They looked at each other eye to eye for a moment. Hap noted that her hair was disheveled, and there were streaks of red mixed in with the chestnut and dark brown hair. Her brown eyes were soft and doe like. He could faintly see brown freckles across her cheeks and nose. She was gorgeous and everything about her was soft and inviting.
Anastasia blew a few stray hairs out of her face "Was that really necessary?"
"Manhandling you, or turning the light on?"
"The lights." Anastasia said. "The manhandling was fun."
"I thought you'd want to get up and start your day. I think your bed just got cleaned off."
"I heard, but I'm happy here, Harold." Anastasia said as she laid her head on Hap's chest.
Hap rubbed her shoulder and enjoyed the moment then asked, "Why do you insist on calling me Harold and not Hap?"
"When we first met, I thought 'This man saved me, and he's handsome.' You had your hands on my shoulders, and I was waiting or hoping you would sweep me off my feet. When you said your name was Harold, but everyone calls you Hap. I didn't want to be like everyone to you, I want to be special."
"Then a few seconds later you were annoyed with me when I asked you about your friends."
"Mmm, yes, I was a little mercurial at that moment. In my defense, I was going through a lot that day, and my lack of friends is always a sore subject, but I thought we had a connection, I still think that."
"We have a connection, and you want to be swept you off your feet? I don't want to make fun of you, but you sound like a sappy drama holo."
"Harold, if I tell you something, would you keep it to yourself?"
"Certainly." Hap said. If it were anyone else he'd have been joking, but he really did want her trust.
"I like romance novels. I know they're terrible, and only slightly better than fan fiction, but when I get tired of reading technical things, I just relax with a horrible Harlequin novel."
Hap looked at her confused, "You're kidding. I can't believe you enjoy something so…tawdry."
Anastasia shook her head. "It's not that, it's romance, and relationships, and love at first sight-"
"And heaving chests and quivering members." Hap added
"Yes there's that." Anastasia agreed sheepishly, "but there's more. It's the happily ever after. I know it's foolish but I like them. When I first saw you, you smiled, you put your hands on my shoulder, and for a moment it seemed like one of those scenes. I don't know if that makes me foolish, or a hopeless-"
"A paradox." Hap said. Anastasia raised a questioning eyebrow, so he explained, "I understand you crave intimacy but you are careful who you let close. I also understand you don't want to be pre-judged by a call sign, especially when you can quote military doctrine better than the instructors I had at Albion."
"There's a reason why NAIS is considered a better school." Anastasia said with a smirk.
Hap chuckled, "I'd bet you're better than some of the instructors at NAIS, but it isn't just that. You work hard, and study hard, you're intellectual. The paradox is you're secretly enamored with romance novels, and you fantasize about unrealistic relationships with people you hardly know."
"First, not people, you. That's important. Second, you are just as enamored by action holos as I am of romance novels." Anastasia corrected. "And we both know they are just as stupid and unrealistic."
"You're just as enamored with action holos as I am, and besides they're great cinema." Hap replied
"They are, in fact, terrible pieces of cinema. I enjoy them, but I'm not enamored."
"Well then I'm not enamored either." Hap quickly replied
"Too late you already admitted it."
"Damn" Hap said sarcastically and squeezed her.
"Third, I'm a young women, I'm allowed to read dumb novels where people fall in love at first sight, get swept off their feet, have witty repartee, and have whirlwind romances that end happily ever after."
"Alright, but you were fantasizing all of that about a total stranger, you hardly knew me."
"Hardly knew you? I had known you for a good hour, or at least thirty minutes."
"And it took you four days to get into my bed? That's a lifetime in those books you read."
"Oh? So you're an expert on Harlequin novels now? When did you stop reading Harlequin novels?"
"Very clever. Really what's important here is I don't want a relationship based on first encounter feelings. In my experience, those don't last. You want a relationship that lasts right?"
Anastasia sighed, "I do, but I also want a relationship with more of this, more of you holding me."
"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. I think we need to work on other things first."
"I've read a lot of books and seen a lot of movies, usually the other things are-" There was a commotion outside the sleep chamber and Hap and Anastasia could hear Joker and Mags arguing. "I don't want my first time to be where everyone can hear us, or know what we are doing."
Now Hap raised a questioning eyebrow, "You need to read different books. I wasn't referring to that. I was talking about how relationships have emotional and psychological aspects. If it's all physical, then that's all you have, but if you want it to last you need the emotional and psychological connections."
Anastasia frowned, but before she could respond there was a banging on the door. Hap rolled it up to find Joker squatting beside his bed. "Hey Ana-Oh. Hap, I was looking for you." He tilted his head to see Anastasia, "Good morning Anastasia." As he smiled and laughed. "Fancy, meeting both of you here."
"Good morning Joker." Anastasia said as she threw herself down and pulled the blankets up to her chin.
"I thought you told me fraternization was a bad idea boss." Joker teased
"Well people gotta sleep somewhere Joker, and her bed had that mech hand in it." Hap answered
"Yeah, Crow just hauled that thing off, and all that other stuff. So are you and Anastasia-"
"What did you need, Joker?"
"Crow mentioned we should get breakfast, and that Fletch would probably be looking for us. I tried to get Mags up but she told me to 'Eff off'."
Hap nodded. He turned over to Anastasia, "You want to change in here, or are you going to the head?"
"Here. Could you get my things, please?" Anastasia answered. "They are on third shelf of my locker."
Hap slipped out of the bed and stepped across the hall to Anastasia's locker. He found her coveralls folded, and a gray sports-bra laid out on top. Everything in her locker was neatly folded and laid out on the various shelves. Hap was still living out of his bag, and he knew Joker's locker looked like someone had tossed a grenade in it. Hap handed Anastasia her clothes and closed the berthing chamber door.
Hap banged on Mags door. The door was instantly thrown open, and a sleepy-eyed Mags angrily looked around then saw Hap. "What?"
"We're getting ready to go get breakfast."
"Eff off." She said as she started to close the door.
Hap caught the door. "Hey, if you're not feeling well, I understand. You drank a lot last night. If it were me I know I'd be feeling pretty bad."
She looked at him cautiously, "What are you saying?"
"Joker can grab you a breakfast plate." Hap said with a nod in Joker's direction.
"Why do I have to bring her breakfast?" Joker complained.
"Don't whine Joker, If you were feeling weak because you drank too much I'd-" Hap said
Mags sat up with a wince and a groan, "Who are you calling weak?" She asked
"Yeah, and what are you saying about me whining?" Joker added
"Shutup puta." Mags snapped as she jumped off her bed. "I'm not weak, no one has to bring me shit." She told Hap. She then turned to wall locker and cursed under her breath as she grabbed a bundle of clothes and a hygiene bag and headed toward the ladies head.
Joker looked at Hap, "What's a 'puta'?"
Anastasia opened up the door to Hap's berthing chamber, gave Joker a mean smile and said, "female dog." As she walked past him and brushed up against Hap on her way to the head.
Joker looked at Hap quizzically, "Female dog? Does that makes sense to you?"
"Puta means bitch, as in Mags was calling you a bitch." Hap explained
"Mags is a bitch." Joker replied, "Why is Anastasia so happy." His eyes got wide as he looked at Hap, "Did you and her work out some of your sexual frustrations?"
"Remember when I said, 'before this is all over I'm probably going to have to kick your ass'?"
"Maybe you and Anastasia didn't do anything, because you still have some frustrations." Joker said, "What do you think of Mags?"
"Well she's a tough girl that wants to prove she's better than all the men around her. The real question we need to be asking is if she actually means it when she says she's going to cut you."
"Yeah I think Mags is cute too." Joker said.
Hap sighed, "I got my hands full with Anastasia, she has a high school girl crush on me, and I'm trying to figure out this new life as a mercenary. Do me a favor today and try not to annoy Mags or Anastasia. I could really use the time to straighten out things with Anastasia, and get our lance together."
"Not piss off off Anastasia? It's so easy, I mean just now she didn't even curse. I gotta mess with her."
Before Hap could answer Mags and Anastasia returned. "We need to hurry, they only serve breakfast till 0900, and it's almost 0830." Mags said as she tossed her bag on her bed and kept walking. Joker quick stepped to get beside her and Anastasia and Hap followed behind.
They arrived at the galley with a few minutes to spare. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, porridge and an arrangement of breads, cold meats and raw fruits and vegetables. Hap and his lance mates were joined by Crow and another MechWarrior named Rolph Horsteng. Rolph was in his 40s had been a 'Mech tech until somehow he managed to collect the parts to a Trebuchet. Rolph was short but stocky. He had short curly gray hair, a handlebar mustache and steel blue eyes.
Both men were friendly and Hap found himself in an easy conversation with them. Joker and Rolph even teased each other. Mags quietly ate her breakfast and, in spite of her act everyone knew she was hurting, but her general demeanor made them just leave her alone. Anastasia was quiet and seemed to be deep in thought. Hap caught her eye a few times, but she just shrugged.
The conversation went on and Hap's mind drifted to Anastasia. She was naïve, and young, and beautiful and she was clearly infatuated with Hap, and Hap would be lying if he wasn't also infatuated with her. He didn't want to push her away, but it was going to be hard to not let anything get any more physical, and his concept of being a professional Mechwarrior made him question if this relationship was a good idea. On the other hand if he had to spend every waking minute with someone he'd rather it be Anastasia than Joker.
Fletch came up, he had a large cup of coffee and cigarette in one hand. "Crow, Rolph, take our new recon lance to the training deck. I want to familiarize them with our equipment and run them through a few drills." Crow nodded and stood up as he finished his coffee.
Hap couldn't believe this mercenary unit had that sort of tech. "Does the unit have training simulators?"
"Sorta." Crow replied as he scratched the back of his head, and started walking.
"More like we took a bunch of broken mech cockpits and wired 'em to holo viewers." Mags explained
"They work fine." Rolph defended, "Besides I like to think we took the skulls of our enemy and made them into something useful."
"Daddy and I almost built something like that, but Mother told us to just find a trainer with a 'Mech stable, instead of wasting time and money on a 'science project'." Anastasia quietly told Hap as everyone started walking out of the galley.
-
Chapter 15
They went down a few decks and entered a large vehicle bay. There were several ground cars and trucks, a large recovery vehicle and a few random 'Mech and vehicle parts, plus several large storage containers. All were chained down or locked into anchor points on the deck. Near the back end of the deck was an assortment of command couches, partial cockpits, power cables, tables, holo projectors, a large cylinder marked "Lennox 60" that had dozens of power cables plugged into it. The couches and tables were arranged in a circle around the cylinder. It was noticeably warmer on this part of the deck.
At the table was an assortment of computers, computer parts and screens. There was a skinny young man and a teenage girl dressed all in black with electric blue hair and too much makeup. Crow led them up to the table. "Hey Codey, Mal, these are the new Mechwarriors."
The young man stood up. He was tall, lanky, wearing baggy clothes and had a short hair and a scraggy mustache. Hap introduced Anastasia, Joker and himself. He nodded to Hap, "Hello. I'm Codey, the master electronics tech for McFinnigans, and this is Malicious Logic, but we call her 'Mal', she's our main programmer." He motioned to the young woman.
Mal turned to look at them. She was wearing lipstick that matched her blue hair. Her black clothes, heavy eye-liner, makeup and hair made her skin look paler. She gave them a quick wave said, "Hey" and turned back to her screen.
Next to them was a table that was bowing under the weight of a large holo viewer and a group of large screens behind it. There was a muscular dark skinned man standing by the holo. Hap remember him from last night, he was Yorik Tomax. The holo projector next to him showed a map with four blue triangles, and a four red triangles. Hap glanced around and could see four teenagers sitting in some of the simulator cockpits.
"Alright, alright. Form up. Noah, get in that square formation." Tomax yelled, "I swear to god, I'll make MechWarriors out of you even if it kills you." Tomax spoke like a Drill Sergeant.
Tomax watched as the blue triangles started to form into a loose square. "Alright let him have it." He said quietly to Codey and Mal and the red triangles moved to engage the blue triangles. The young MechWarriors yelled and tried to coordinate with each other.
Tomax looked over to the new MechWarriors, "Let me finish with these younglings, then we'll get you guys in there. Mal can start loading your 'mechs into the system while these boys get schooled."
Tomax looked back at the tactical display, then switched one of the sider monitors to display technical information on one of 'mechs. "Conner, you're left side is nearly blasted to hell, turn your 'mech."
As Mal loaded the new Mercenaries 'mech configuration into the system Codey explained the cockpit configuration and how it simulated their 'mech and the holo projector in front of the cockpit would generate an exterior view. The system could be configured to allow the warriors to fight each other or could generate Opposing Forces (OpFor) or friendly forces for different scenarios. The computer generated 'mechs were AI driven, but Mal and Codey could give them some direction, or tell them who or what to target, seek, or avoid.
Once Hap, Anastasia, Mags, and Joker were comfortable Fletch showed up and started putting them through drills. Crow and Rolph also participated and Tomax allowed the younglings to watch how the new Recon lance responded to their scenarios. Hap was glad to hear Tomax compliment their activities to the young trainees.
Fletch kept them busy for the whole day with various drills and scenarios, and a few inter-lance match-ups. Throughout the day other MechWarriors in the company showed up and ran through some of the same drills or fought them.
Fletch and Tomax felt the lance looked good, but each corrected Mags for running ahead of her lance mates. She preferred to go fast, be aggressive, and use her 'Mech's speed and agility to its greatest advantage. Hap tried to explain they needed to stay together, mass firepower, and wait till the right moment to use her 'Mech's superior swiftness to flank, or pursue an enemy. She didn't agree but after Fletch and Tomax yelled at her she at least complied during the training.
Through the day the new mercenaries learned the basic structure of the company. McFinnigan and Sons was arranged into four lances. The main lance was Dullahan lance. It was a pursuit and raiding lance that consisted of Medium and Heavy 'Mechs that had the ideal balance of speed and firepower. It was similar to Hap's recon lance, except the Mechs were bigger, and slightly slower. The pursuit lance was McFinnigan's main lance because raids were their core business.
Crow and Rolph were part of the Fire Support lance, it consisted of 'Mechs that had indirect fire weapons as their primary weapon systems. Everyone referred to them as the hammer lance. They would stand at the edge of the battlefield and rain down missiles on the enemy. One of the roles of Hap's recon lance was to spot for Hammer lance.
The final lance was the command and assault lance. All the Mechs in this lance weighed 80 tons or more and were generally used for defense or full scale assault and destruction. They rarely took to the field, but when they did it was for jobs where point defense, or overwhelming damage and devastation were a contractual requirement.
Fletch and McFinnigan would also organize Mission Tailored Force Package depending on a contract or a specific mission. Fletch pointed out to Hap that his Griffin was a pretty useful 'Mech so he shouldn't be surprised when he was mixed into one of these packages.
They finished at dinner time, and Hap was happy they had met and worked with most of the MechWarriors from the company. He now knew most of the men and woman he would be fighting with and he was feeling better and more confident about his decision to join the mercenary outfit.
After dinner Crow invited them to play Spades. They led them down to a lounge on the same deck as their berths. Like poker, it was something Anastasia had never played. Hap explained the basic rules to her, and they paired off against Crow and Rolph.
Crow and Rolph proved better than Hap and Anastasia and after a few hands they decided to sit out. Joker got Mags to be his partner and they were better competition for the members of the Hammer lance. Hap decided to watch because he enjoyed the general trash talking and camaraderie of the spade game. Anastasia sat next to him, and leaned on him while they watched the game.
David Lee, the company's other Valkyrie pilot, tried to talk to Anastasia about the model of 'Mech they shared. Anastasia gave him a few succinct answers until he decided to leave her alone. Hap wasn't sure if David was trying to flirt with Anastasia or if he was just being friendly. He also wasn't sure if Anastasia was being awkward or if she didn't want to talk. Hap suspected David was being friendly, but Anastasia was so used to pushing people away she didn't always know when or how to make small talk.
When Hap announced he was going to bed Anastasia did the same. They started back to their berths, but being new to the ship they got lost. As they retraced their steps Hap asked, "What do you think?"
Anastasia shrugged, "Most of these mercenaries are pretty good, or at least competent. I wish Mags would listen and stay in formation, or just stay within optimal LRM range of the lance."
"She'll figure it out." Hap replied. "I used to have the same problem with Joker. I'd pair him off with Lucky and tell them to stay within a few hundred meters of Tuna and me. Just so I could cover him, and we could quickly close when they found the enemy. We usually found ourselves in a lopsided square."
"A 'lopsided square' like a parallelogram? That's not doctrinal." Anastasia said.
"Yeah, a parallelogram. It was terrain and 'mech type dependent, so technically that's doctrinal."
She pursed her lips, and gave her head a small shake, "Not really. What we really should do is form a wedge. Place me on point with my advanced sensor package, have you and Joker behind me, and then have Mags trailing behind you."
"That sounds good, except I think I should be on point, because my armor is heavier." Hap said.
"No. Your Griffin's weapons are all long range so my medium laser makes up for your lack of short range, and give you that extra standoff to keep your PPC effective. Joker and Mags have highly maneuverable 'Mechs so they can quickly flank the enemy while we fix them at range. The wedge formation allows us to adjust to terrain and quickly bring our maximum fire power to bare."
Hap could see her point. "Why didn't you bring this up earlier?"
"Because Joker would have made some glib comment, and Mags would argue that her 'Mech is fast so we should keep up, or tell me to find better tactics for her 'Mech's speed. It's just giving them an opportunity to mock me, but if you suggest it, they won't question it." Anastasia said.
Hap was quiet for a moment. "You want to be my assistant lance leader?" Hap asked
"Giving me some title isn't going to make them listen to me."
"I know, but I actually need an assistant lance leader to give me advice, and more importantly to do the things I don't want to do, like fill out paperwork."
Anastasia's eyes narrowed, "We're in a mercenary company, how much paperwork can there be?"
"Doesn't matter because you're my assistant lance leader now, so you'll be doing it."
Anastasia shrugged, "The jokes on you, I actually like filling out paperwork."
Hap chuckled, "of course you do." They turned a corner and found themselves in their berthing area.
"Does assistant lance leader come with any perks, like private meetings?" Anastasia asked suggestively
"Uh…if it's necessary, yes." Hap said as she stepped into his personal space.
"Good, because if you're going to off load unpleasant tasks to me, and if I have to put up with Joker's terrible jokes, and Mag's threats I'm going to need some time alone."
"Okay, that's not a problem." Hap replied as he sat down on his bed.
"With you." Anastasia said as she sat down next to him.
"Anastasia, we'll spend time together. I do want a relationship with you, I just want to make sure we let our relationship grow in more ways than just the physical. And, you really need to figure out how to be friends with Joker and Mags. Honestly you might have it easier than me getting past Mags tough-girl exterior. Maybe you should talk to her and see if you two don't have something in common."
"Like shoes or clothes?" Anastasia said sarcastically, "I hardly think she knows what good shoes are, and her style, such as it is, could charitably be called 'tactical'."
"To be fair all I've seen you in is boots, military coveralls and an oversized T-shirt."
"That's because it's all I had in my 'Mech or what I could get from the Company store." Anastasia replied, "When we get to a civilized world, I assure you I'll dress differently. Although I don't really follow fashion trends. At least not the current wide shoulder nonsense. It looks ridiculous on me."
Hap laughed at Anastasia's annoyance, and gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. Hap said, "This is our unit now. Joker is a pain in the ass, and Mags is undisciplined, but when the fighting starts I'm sure they'll have our backs. Besides the company is more than just Joker and Mags. Crow seems nice."
"The guy that put a mech hand in my bed?" Anastasia replied
"That was a misunderstanding, and he apologized. What about David Lee, he's seems friendly?"
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look, "I'm not sure if he's being friendly or trying to be more than a friend. Either way conversations with him are awkward, even for me."
Hap shook his head, "Dillon also seemed to try and talk you up."
"I don't want to be mean, but Dillon's a…he's a simpleton. He's also made it clear that I still owe him a dance. I'm a little surprised he's a MechWarrior, but he seemed capable in the simulator."
"His lance leader was in the simulator next to mine. Fiona coaches him, not anything excessive, but she tells him which target to engage, and where to stand. His Dervish is mostly indirect fire, so it works."
Anastasia nodded, "So, are you going to be like Mother, and tell me that I need to make more friends?"
"Well not after you say it like that. No. However, I was impressed by everyone we met today. Usually Mercenaries have a reputation for being undisciplined, psychotic, and poor quality warriors. Everyone today, even Dillon, seemed pretty good. I'm also sort of enjoying the family atmosphere."
"I preferred the big bureaucracy of the AFFS, an organization spanning galaxies that a girl could get lost in. Everyone here wants to talk to me, and I just want a quiet place to read, or talk to you."
"Yeah, but no one is calling you Princess."
Anastasia shrugged, "That's true, I suppose. On a different subject, I still owe you something."
Hap looked at her confused, "What?"
"We had that wager. I lost when we played highest card to see who would get your blanket."
"Oh that. Yeah, I almost forgot about that."
"I really don't like being indebted to anyone, even you. Please tell me what I owe you. I could bake you something, or if you want some of my winnings from that night, just name it. If it were anyone else I'd be worried you'd ask me to do something degrading, but I know you're not that kind of man. "
Hap gave her a strange look, "What do you consider degrading?"
Anastasia gave him a startled look, "Harold, no. Just no. Whatever you're thinking the answer is no."
"I'm just curious. You don't use obscene language, but I know the books you read. So I have to wonder."
"I read 'those books' occasionally, and I think you know what is, and is not, degrading."
"One person's degrading sex act, is another's good time." Hap replied, as Anastasia gave him a sour look. "What if I got a luxury hotel room with good room service, and invited you to a topless weekend?"
Anastasia's eyes narrowed, "Would it be both of us, or just me."
"How about if I were just as undressed as you were?"
"If we're alone, and it's something you're willing to do, it's probably not degrading." Anastasia said. "Is that what you want? You want to see me nearly naked? That seems counter to what we talked about."
"I do want to see you naked, but I'm willing to wait, I'm not going to trade in this debt for something that I'll probably get eventually if I play my cards right. That would be foolish."
"What's foolish is if you keep talking about what degrading things I might or might not do."
"Alright Anastasia, I'm not going to take advantage of you. I was just taking the opportunity to learn about you and what you think about certain things, like sex, and how I should treat you."
"I like to be held, and cuddled. I don't like to talk about degrading sex acts."
Hap nodded, "Alright, I'm sorry. I thought I was being clever, but I may have gone too far."
Anastasia nodded, and her tone and looks softened, "Harold, I know you're not someone who would risk our relationship for a few moments of base pleasure, but I don't want to think about this." She sighed and added, "I'm just going to bake you some cookies tomorrow. Do you like chocolate chip?"
"Well actually I prefer chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips, but I didn't agree to accept that for the wager. I think we really need to talk more about what is or isn’t degrading.” Hap teased her.
Anastasia looked at Hap for a long moment before saying, “You’re getting the cookies, and I’m going to bed now. Next time we wager, I’m going to make some stipulations, like an expiration period, and limits. We’re not doing this again. Good night.”
-
Chapter 16
October 3029
Monhegan System
It took over a month to get from the Klathandu system to Monhegan system. After completing the last jump they still had a three day trip from the system jump point to the planet Monhegan. In the month of jumps Hap, Anastasia, and Joker were assimilated into McFinnigan and Sons. They continued to train with the other mercenaries daily, and during their chores they worked with other members of the family, everyone from techs and spouses, to children and other MechWarriors.
Hap thought having the children and families around was a little crazy. He asked Fletch about it and he replied, "I know it looks asinine, but it keeps a lot of costs down and it gives the Company a lot more reach and sustainment than Mercenary units that are twice or three times the size. There has been some harrowing moments where the drop ship has come under fire, or our supply dump got overrun, but we all agree having our families around is worth it. Makes the boys and girls fight a little harder too."
Hap couldn't argue with any of that, and he knew that between the home cooking and things like the training modules he was enjoying a lot of luxuries he didn't usually have on a deployment.
Hap was integrated into the leadership as well. McFinnigan's staff meetings were actually poker games. Kelly swore he had learned this from the great Patrick Kell himself. When anyone asked Kelly how or when he met the leader of the Kell Hounds he couldn't give a straight answer, but the poker game staff meeting was an institution for the McFinnigan and Sons mercenary company.
During the poker games Hap got to know the company's leadership. The Hammer Lance leader was Fiona "Angel" McFinnigan. She was Kelly's younger cousin and didn't have the same accent as the rest of the McFinnigans. Also, unlike her cousins, she was tall, and had black hair. As the Fire Support lance leader she believed that combat should really be based on the skills of meticulous long range professionals, not brawling belligerents punching and kicking in the mud. Hap found her to be a sarcastic professional.
The Pursuit lance leader was Kelly's nephew Patrick "Shillelagh" McFinnigan. He was the other founding member of the Mercenary Company. He was nearly forty and came across as cynical and war-weary. Hap could see the family resemblance between Patrick and Kelly, except Patrick was slightly taller and broader of chest. Patrick also had a long scare running down the left side of his face and his right shoulder and arm had large burn scars. He didn't say much, but Hap noticed he certainly could drink.
During the games Hap learned that Tomax was a retired Sergeant Major in the AFFS. Retirement didn't suit him and so he signed on with McFinnigan to pilot an Awesome. When Kelly learned Tomax had been an AFFS drill instructor Kelly made him the mercenaries lead trainer.
The staff was rounded out by Jessica Lan. She was a sixtyish year old short stocky Asian woman from the Capellan Confederation. She had a broad face, an easy smile and her once black hair was now silver and gray. She came across as kindly older aunt or grandmother type and served as the primary purchasing agent and negotiated supplies and equipment for the company. Hap initially thought she was only a purchasing agent, but she also piloted an 85 ton Stalker. Her call sign was Ahjumma.
Fletch, Elinor, and Roweyna were also in attendance for the staff meeting. Kelly held them weekly with the topics of discussion ranging from supply issues, training, crew morale, gossip, the company's status with the Mercenary Review Board, and new contracts. Like everything McFinnigan did the meetings seemed chaotic and ad hoc, but were somehow remarkably effective.
When Hap wasn't in meetings his time was divided between training, getting to know the rest of the mercenaries, and Anastasia. Their relationship was progressing slower than Anastasia had hoped. Anastasia had to concede that Hap was correct about boundaries and how they really couldn't sleep together without getting more intimate and she made it clear she just wasn't ready for that, yet. Hap was balancing learning to be friends and trying to be as close as Anastasia liked. They also struggled to find quiet spaces where they could talk and spend private time together.
Anastasia found the ships library and raided it for books on dating, marriage, or anything on maintaining an intimate relationship. When Hap was in a staff meeting or pulled into a game of chance Anastasia would usually sit in the corner of the lounge reading her books and ignoring the mayhem around her.
After weeks of travel Anastasia was struggling with the changes in her life. First she felt that her and Hap weren't getting enough quality time together, and they never had any privacy. Second, she didn't feel particular close to her lancemates, and third, she was very worried about her mother.
Today was especially bad. Anastasia had missed an easy shot in the simulator, and her lance failed to complete its objective. Joker and Mags ensured she knew it was all her fault all day long. After dinner she ended up stuck cleaning all the dishes, and it was a staff meeting night so Hap would be gone.
On top of this she was also annoyed with the dating book she was reading. She decided to take a shower and go to bed. She had also found a Harlequin novel in the library, so she decided to indulge in her guilty pleasure in the privacy of her sleep chamber, rather than being teased or annoyed by her fellow crazy mercenaries.
She found the berthing area completely empty, and Joker had left his locker open. When Anastasia tried to close it for him the leg of his coveralls got in the way. Anastasia folded the leg in, and noted the terrible mess of his locker. Clothes and hygiene items were everywhere, He had also acquired some pornography that he had taped inside the door. Anastasia shoved everything in, and slammed the door closed quickly.
Anastasia gathered her things and went to the shower. She took her time to dry her hair, braid it, and debated if she would risk going back to her bed without a bra. She remembered her first night with Hap and Joker and decided it wasn't worth it, but she figured she could get away with just her long night shirt. She stepped into the hall and heard voices.
When she came around the corner she was surprised to find half the MechWarriors of the company. Mags and Joker were sitting on Mag's bed, and David Lee and Dillon were sitting on her bed. Crow and Grizzly had brought their camp chairs into the crowded space, and Rolph was leaning against the wall. Anastasia was glad to see Hap alone his bed, but a little dismayed by everyone else.
Anastasia pulled nervously on her braid. She had gone through multiple psychological and personality tests at NAIS and knew she was an introvert. It never occurred to that it might cause problems for her until she was in situations like this. She knew she had to work through this. Anastasia mumbled a greeting to everyone as she crossed the hall to Hap's bed. She felt self conscious in just her sleepwear so she grabbed his poncho liner and wrapped herself up in it. As she sat down Hap pulled her close to him.
As Anastasia settled in she realized she had walked into the middle of a "the best recon 'Mech" argument. This was another long running and endless source of debate for her peers. She wasn't sure where it started, but as she got comfortable Grizzly looked up at Mags and scoffed, "If the Jenner is the perfect recon 'Mech, then why was your daddy able to take one down with an infantry weapon?"
"Because my father was a badass." Mags replied matter-of-factly, "and twice, no three times the man you are. That's how. He shot that Jenner up with infernos till the cowardly pilot ejected. That's how he won a 'Mech and became a 'Mechwarrior again. When he couldn't fight any more he gave it to me."
Anastasia laid her head on Hap's shoulder. She was annoyed to see everyone, but being next to Hap almost made up for it. She was tired, and wished everyone else would leave so they could be alone.
Hap chuckled, "I'll bite, How did he shoot that many infernos to overheat a Jenner?" As he spoke he tugged at the blanket and Anastasia put part of it around his back. Hap and Anastasia adjusted themselves so they could comfortably share the blanket. She felt less annoyed and got comfortable as Hap found her hand and held it.
Mags jumped down from her bed, "My father was a MechWarrior when he was young, but his 'Mech was destroyed and not only was he disposed he was taken a prisoner by the Capellans."
Grizzly interrupted her, "Let me make this short. After a couple of years as a Capellan POW he gets back to Cerillos to find his wife dead from the plague, and his little girl well on her way to woman hood. Well actually I'm sure what he found was his sweet little piggy-tailed chicka had become a brooding teenager well on her way to the violent, cursing, and undisciplined psychopath you see before you."
"Shut the hell-up Grizz or I'll cut you." Mags bawled. Her tone returned to normal. "Like usual Grizz is half right. My father tried to raise me, but being a MechWarrior is all he was good at, so he does the only thing a man in his position can do. He signs back up with the Free World's Leagues Military, leaves me with Abuella, and joins the jump infantry. Then one day, no shit, there my old man was at an ammo dump refueling and reloading."
"No shit? Well now it's a story." Hap said quietly to Anastasia. Anastasia was glad to at least have this time with Hap. Unfortunately this was emblematic of how the last couple weeks had been.
Mags continued "As he's getting his jump pack refueled this Jenner jumps out of the woods and starts shooting. So my old man loads an inferno round in his SRM launcher and hits the Jenner with it. Then he ran behind a smoking crate of missiles-" As she talked she pantomimed shooting and running.
"Just stands behind a burning box full of high explosives like it's nothing." Grizz told everyone
"Shutup, you weren't there, and yeah, he stands behind the box like it was nothing to him, 'cause he has cojones, unlike you. So he reloads and pops off another inferno. By now the poor bastard is trying to locate my dad, but my old man was quick and cunning. Dad loads up another inferno and hits the Jenner again. The Jenner pilot goes crazy and starts shooting everything. That is when my dad hits him one last time, and the pilot panics, ejects, and when the battle was over, Dad got the Jenner."
"So the Jenner is the best recon 'Mech, as long as you don't overheat it?" Hap asked
"Yeah. Can you think of a 'Mech that is as fast and heavily armed as a Jenner?"
"You forgot the toilet paper for armor." Grizzly added.
"You didn't need armor if you're fast." Mags replied
"Hey, what was your dad's original mech, the one he lost?" Joker asked, as he reached out to help her onto her bunk.
"An urbanmech." Mags said quietly.
"An urbanmech? The worst mech every made!" Joker howled and almost let go of her hand.
"Now wait" Rolph said, "An urbanmech can kill you just as dead as any mech. In the city, or canyons, or tight terrain, an Urbanmech pilot can be the king of death mountain."
"Joker you know this from working with Tuna and his Hunchback. If we could get that monster's autocannon into the right place and he'd blow an enemy to hell. That's how we took down that Thunderbolt and the Quickdraw." Hap told him
"Yeah, for the price, the Urbanmech is a good mech for defense ops." Rolph replied.
"Alright fine, so what do you think is the worst mech?" Joker asked
"I think every 'mech is good if you put it in the right role." Rolph replied. "But if I had to say… never liked the CGR-1A1 Charger, more than half its mass is taken up by its fusion reactor, it has less armor than a Marauder, and it's only armed with half a dozen small lasers. I get it's supposed to 'charge in' and start punching but it only has 10 tons or armor so it's going to be torn apart before it closes to melee range."
"Yeah, but isn't it just as good in the city as an Urbanmech?" Griff asked
"Not for that cost. I heard the HRB fixed it with the -SB Challenger refit, but the 1A1 is too specialized."
"Hey, back to recon 'Mechs." Joker said, "I think the best is the Phoenix Hawk LAM 'cause it's a 'Mech and an aero fighter. I mean imagine a mech where you can find the enemy, hit 'em, then fly off."
"Land-Air-'Mechs aren't real man." Crow said shaking his head.
Anastasia mind drifted as she wondered if she could convince Hap to spend some time with her, maybe if she could talk him into a "plutonic slumber party". She thought it would really turn her bad day around if they could spend a couple hours talking, then have him hold her through the night.
"Anastasia you seem to know a lot from your studies at NAIS, what do you think?" David Lee asked.
Anastasia was surprised to hear her name mentioned, she had to think for a moment to remember what they were talking about. "Land-Air-'Mechs? They're real, or at least they were. They had a display of a Phoenix Hawk LAM in its hybrid state at the Heroes of the Federation exhibit at the New Avalon national museum. The LAM on display had been part of a raid on Tybalt in the 2990s."
"Yeah brother, and I heard the CO for Crescent Hawks piloted one. Of course no one has heard from him since Pacifica got invaded by the Kuritans." Grizz told Crow.
"I've seen a lot of mechs man, and I've never seen one that can turn into an aero fighter." Crow replied.
"One day, back at Albion, we asked one of the instructors about LAMs and he said, 'why would someone want to pilot a 'mech that's bad at being at being a light mech and bad at being an aerofighter'. Then he ordered us out to the parade field and made us do extra drills for 'wasting his time'." Hap said.
Everyone laughed and then Hap said, "Rolph you seem to know a lot about mechs."
"Yeah, Rolph fixed a lot mechs long before he cobbled together his Trebuchet." Grizz said.
"So what Mech would you pick if you could have any Battlemech?" Hap followed up
"Anything?" Rolph asked with a whistle, "I mean if anything it's probably a Highlander HGN-732."
"A Highlander, like the old man pilots?" Grizz asked looking surprised
"No. A 732 is the original Star League era Highlander. It was a deluxe version the Commander's 'Mech. The 732 had double heat sinks, protected ammo bins, and instead of an AC 10 it had a Gauss rifle. It was a beast of a machine."
"The old man's Highlander is a beast even without all that." Grizz replied.
"What's a Gauss rifle?" David Lee asked.
Rolph's eyes lit up, "It's an autocannon, but it uses magnets, so it's super heavy, but it packs a punch like an AC 20, but it has the range of an AC 2. Oh! And, it doesn't generate any heat."
"Man that has to be bullshit." Grizz replied, "What makes you think something like that was ever real?"
"One of my 'Mech tech buddies had signed on with the mercenary company from the Aurigan Reach area. They discovered a star league cache and found an old Star League era Highlander and sure as shit, it had a Guass rifle. He was asking me about how to fabricate ammo."
Grizz laughed, "Really, your 'buddy'? Hap, Anastasia, you gotta understand, Rolph knows a shit ton of things about a shit ton of 'Mechs, but sometimes he gets tricked with bullshit like this."
Anastasia shook her head, "A gauss rifle is considered LosTech, but it's certainly real."
"How are they real? How do magnets make an autocannon shell go?" David asked.
"The theory is pretty simple. A gauss rifle doesn't fire a shell. It fires a solid slug, about the size of a rugby ball made of iron alloyed with something else magnetic like cobalt or nickel." Anastasia replied, "The rifle has a series of magnets to draw the shell. When the rifle is fired the magnets are activated in sequence and the round is propelled at near hypersonic speeds. The muzzle velocity was greater than a class 20 autocannon, and the size of the round was so large that it could nearly sheer off a ton of armor."
Everyone was quiet for a moment then Grizzly looked at Dillon, "Did you understand any of that?"
"Yeah. Magnets shooting rugby balls made of iron." Dillon replied. Everyone laughed including Anastasia. She knew Dillon was one of Kelly's "charity cases". He might be a simpleton, and lack the prerequisite intelligence to pilot a 'Mech in most house armies, but he seemed capable. He was also a loyal member of the family, and they took good care of him. Anastasia had to smile at the joke Dillon made at her expense, of course no one was sure if he was joking or trying to sound smart.
"I don't want to hear any more about weird aero 'Mechs, or have the Professor lecture me on LosTech miracle weapons. Anyone up for some poker?" Grizzly asked as he stood up and started folding his chair. There were murmurs of agreement and everyone except Hap and Anastasia started to leave.
-
Chapter 17
Everyone left the berthing area and Hap turned to Anastasia, "You want to join everyone for cards?"
"No, not really, I'd rather spend some time alone with you. Can we do that?"
Hap nodded as he took off his boots. While taking off his coveralls he asked, "How's your day going?"
Anastasia got comfortable on the bed, and replied, "Badly. All my missiles went wide when I targeted the locust, which made us fail our mission. Then I had to do all the dishes, and the book I'm reading implies our relationship is doomed."
Hap cozied up next to her, "So now you think our relationship is doomed?"
"The book said statistically first love romances between teenagers end in breakup. " Anastasia said
"We're not teenagers" Hap said as he pulled her back so they could rest their backs on the bulkhead.
"I'm nineteen, but you're right it's not the age. Really the problem is the book said the same thing you told me about taking things slow, building a relationship, ensuring we know each other and want the same things in life." Anastasia said with mock sorrow as she got comfortable.
"What's wrong with that?" Hap asked
"Nothing really, but it shows how impatient I am." Anastasia said. "I want a whirlwind romance."
"No you want a relationship that lasts, but you want it right now." Hap told her.
"I'm not sure if I like how much you hear what I mean, and not what I'm saying." She said sarcastically.
"So are you annoyed with yourself, or everything around you?" Hap asked.
"Little bit of both. I'm annoyed we haven't had more time together. I feel our lives have been on pause for weeks, and I'm worried about my Mother. Do you think we've been reported MIA or AWOL?"
Hap thought for a moment, "It's hard to say. Unless we got tracked leaving the planet, we're probably considered MIA. That assumes the RDMM is sending out reports though, they might not be."
Anastasia nodded, "They've likely gone comms silent, either way I'm certain Mother is worried sick."
"When we land at Monhegan we can send her a message and let her know you're okay." Hap said, then flashed a wolfish grin "and you can also tell her about all the new friends you've made recently."
"Mother would love to know I actually have friends." Anastasia said thoughtfully ignoring his sarcasm.
"Even if they are psychotic bloodthirsty mercenaries." Hap said with more sarcastic excitement.
"That's almost how she describes most lobbyists and politicians, and she's surrounded by them every day." Anastasia replied. "Although I don't really feel that close to anyone except you."
"Just so you know, In spite of your hard work, you're generally well liked. David was commenting last week how you've stopped giving him cold stares and now you actually talk to him. Crow and Rolph think you're a pretty good MechWarrior. Mags and Joker like you as much as they like anyone. Oh, and Dillon is still convinced you owe him a dance, so you got that to look forward too."
"I remember he asked me to dance our first night on the Tir na nOg and I guess I didn't give him a definitive 'no'. Would you just tell him I'm your girl?" Anastasia pressed herself closer to Hap.
"I tried to but he said, 'after me and Anastasia and dance, we'll see'."
Anastasia sighed contentedly and put her head on Hap's shoulder, "I wouldn't worry too much about him. I don't think one dance is going to change my mind about how I feel about you."
"But I shouldn't let him get a second dance with you?" Hap said
"Oh I wouldn't." Anastasia replied with a laugh. "Seriously though, I probably won't have too much to say to Mother about anyone except you."
"I thought our relationship is doomed." Hap said with a chuckle.
"You know it isn't. You and I are going to make this work, because where else would you find someone as charming and attractive as me?" Anastasia teased
"I hear the Canopus Magistracy has girls that…"Hap stopped as Anastasia gave him a warning glance. "Yes Anastasia, we're going to make this work, but one of these days we're going to have to talk about why around everyone you're quiet, but when it's just you and me your…suddenly very confident."
"Harold, it's not that I get more confident, rather I'm always thinking these things, but when it's just us I feel comfortable enough to say them." She said, then grinned and added, "Now hold me."
"Our relationship may not be doomed, but I'm starting to worry I am." Hap put his arm around her.
"I have this book you should read. It has a chapter about how long term committed relationships are not 'mutual pain and suffering death pacts'." Anastasia said.
"Yeah, you can't divorce your way out of a death pact." Hap joked.
"It also has another chapter about how marriage is a 'no fail mission'." Anastasia said.
Hap gave Anastasia a bemused look "What sort of books are you reading?"
"Anything I can find on relationships. That particular book was the 'Warrior's Guide to Marriage'. It's really a relationship self-help book. It didn't have anything unique, but it put everything in a pretentious context of war or battle." Anastasia told him with a laugh. "Most of the books are pretty derivative, but there was a book you might like is the 'linguistics of love' it talked about some of the things you mentioned. How everyone says 'I love you' or how they want to be told 'I love you' in their own way."
Hap nodded, "After the divorce someone recommended that book. I read it, and realized I studied psychology, but I never tried to learn anything practical. After the divorce I started to work on how to improve myself and how to understand relationships. That book was good, but I'm curious about all the information you had the gauss rifle, do you have a lostech technical readout?"
"No. At NAIS I had access to the Halstead Station library and the Helm memory core." Anastasia said.
Hap couldn't believe she had casual access to two sources of rare information on lost technology. "Can any NAIS cadet access those things?"
"Not exactly. It required special permission from the Dean of the College of Engineering, and a professor had to sign off on what I wanted to research. Normally it would have required an extensive background check too, but my father's company was one of several that had been approached to attempt to recover the gauss rifle for the Federated Suns."
"I thought your Dad's company just made advanced sensor packages."
"Dad's company is…complicated. He would tell you it is a practical R&D company. Dad had an odd way of looking at problems and finding strange solutions. For all his brilliance though, he usually looked for simple problems that people took for granted and tried to make things that could easily turn a profit."
"So, what's the story with the advanced sensor package on your Valkyrie?"
"You understand how standard sensors work?"
"Sure, the sensor broadcasts an energy wave and interprets the interference for the targeting system."
"Right. The sensor antenna is designed for a specific wavelength based on some ancient star league standard. Some mechs are designed to be hard to scan, and there are ways to jam it. So Dad removed the antenna on my Valkyrie and replaced it with struts that he embedded with a grid of wires that would work as antennas. He programmed the system to energize the right amount of "antenna" to scan an object based on the optimal wavelength for the range. It has the advantages of about 20% greater range than most standard sensors, it can't be jammed, and it can give the same fidelity of information at any range. He also fixed the Valkyrie's 'quirky' sensor problems, and he made it a refit kit for several mechs."
"Alright, I'm not sure I understand all that, but I'm starting to see your Dad's genius. I wouldn't have thought money was a problem, though. I assumed your mother's title came with wealth and riches."
"It does, she can tax her holdings as she sees fit, and she is also the sole landlord for some major portions of Hazelhurst's starport and capital city, and we have investments that go back centuries. My family was granted holdings on Hazelhurst after it was taken from the Outworld's alliance."
"So why did your Dad focus only on projects that would 'turn a profit'?"
"He was looking to subsidize his real project, which was to make a competitive technology to ComStar's Hyper Pulse Generator network, and that's extremely expensive."
"Okay, now I'm starting to suspect your Dad was one of those eccentric genius types."
"Look at it from his perspective, what do you think ComStar is?"
"Never thought about it, but I'd say they're an intergalactic telecom that flirts with being a techno cult."
"First, problems that people 'never thought about' were the ones Dad was looking for. Second, ComStar is a techno cult that has a side business as the only intergalactic telecom. Dad would often tell me everything about that situation was wrong. He didn't trust ComStar and suspected they used their access to everyone's messages to meddle in the affairs of every major house."
"That sounds a little conspiratorial. I mean if that were true wouldn't someone catch them at it?"
"What could you do if you caught them? They have a monopoly on intergalactic communications. Even if you're a powerful House Lord, you have to use them to control your empire. This is why Dad thought some competition would make them honest. He was also a patriot for the Federated Suns, so if the government wanted to pay him to develop it exclusively for the Federated Suns he would have been happy to do that too. Which is the other reason he wanted to work on government projects."
"What did your mom think of your Dad's theories?"
"She loved her eccentric genius. Mother spent most of her time around the political elite, which were, as she put it, generally a bunch of back stabbing sycophants and liars. Dad just wanted to solve problems, and make things better. I think he also liked solving puzzles. Mother loved him, and found his conspiracy theorizing to be part of his mad scientist charm."
Hap laughed as he asked, "So were you and your dad able to recreate a gauss rifle?"
"No, and it wasn't just us, we were part of a team. There were members of Team Banzai, scientist and engineer fellows from NAIS, and a few professors and grad students. The military even pulled an ancient Fury tank out of some vault so we could see its gauss rifle. Team Banzai was more interested in the tank's C2 computer system so they mostly focused on that, but the rest of us were working on the rifle."
"So is the team about to bring the gauss rifle back into production?"
"Probably not. Dad and I were working on the massive capacitors needed to store the energy for the magnets, and the magnetic coil mechanism. We also had to ruggedize everything, since most 'Mech warriors find themselves using their weapons as clubs when they run out of ammunition."
"It's a proven technique."
Anastasia rolled her eyes, "Once you go to all the work to build one of these weapons, you start to realize how dumb that is. Anyway, Dad had contacted me and told me he had a new idea and wanted to send me the data to have the team start making composite materials. Before he sent the data he…"
Anastasia got quiet and Hap gave her a few moments before asking, "How did your father die?"
Anastasia shook her head and breathed in a wet sob, "There was an accident in his workshop." She took another moment to control her voice. "It was a large explosion. Mother said there was almost nothing left of the workshop, and half the windows in the house were blown out."
"Did your dad keep a lot of explosive or flammable materials in his workshop?"
Anastasia could only shake her head as the tears slid down her cheek. Hap knew it was time to stop asking questions. He pulled her close and she buried her head in his chest. Hap held her as she quietly wept. He could feel her tears soak through his t-shirt.
"Not so overconfident now am I?" Anastasia said with a laugh as she used a dry part of Hap's shirt to dab her eyes. "I wasn't able to go to his funeral because of the deployment to Klathandu. I cried myself to sleep every night for weeks, and I thought I was over this." She sighed, "Does this pain ever go away?"
Hap shook his head "When my father died my sister made all the arrangements for the funeral, because I wasn't there. I made it though, and then afterwards all his fellow techs and friends threw him a wake at his favorite bar. I drank with them through the night and they told stories about my Dad, told me how proud my Dad was of his MechWarrior son and they gave me a ration of shit because they were techs and I was MechWarrior."
Hap's eyes misted over, "I broke down a few times that night too, but after that I thought I'd be good. I mourned the man, I celebrated his life, I thought that would be it. About a week later I wanted his advice on something and then I remembered he was gone. The day I won the gyro in that game, I wanted so bad to let him know. When I got promoted to Leftenant he was the only person I really wanted to tell." Hap let out a ragged breath of his own, "I don't think it ever really stops hurting."
Anastasia gently wiped a tear away from his cheek. She looked like she was about to say something, but instead just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. After a moment she reached over and closed the sleeping chamber door.
Without speaking they got under the blankets and continued to hold each other. This time Anastasia made sure not to let her arm get pinned. After a few minutes she sat up, modestly removed her bra under her shirt, and then laid back down with her back to his chest. Hap pulled her close to him in a comfortable embrace. As she sighed Hap thought she whispered, "I love you."
Hap wasn't sure what he heard, and jokingly thought to himself, "you wish she said, 'I love you'". That is when he realized he truly loved her. Obviously she was in his bed, and they weren't having sex. He remembered his dad telling him "the only women you'll ever share a bed with and not make love, is your wife." Hap thought it was joke when his Dad said it, but he learned how it can be true. Hap knew this wasn't sustainable for very long. Anastasia had told him she wanted her first time to be special, Hap wondered if that meant her wedding night, or if they just needed a nice comfortable private space.
Hap tried to imagine a future with Anastasia. She was certainly one of the smartest people he knew, but not like an insufferable know-it-all, well some times she was, but it was tolerable. A few weeks ago Hap had pointed out she was naïve about relationships and her response was to read and learn everything she could in the meantime. Hap figured this was something she learned from her intellectual father, or maybe she was just inherently curious.
He wondered about her relationship to her mother. If the Countess told her to come home would she? What would Hap do? He had signed a contract with the McFinnigans, he thought he should honor that. Of course he had also sworn an oath of loyalty to the Federated Suns. Even though his options were limited to death or capture, he could be still charged with violating his oath and other military crimes.
Hap recognized that was beside the point. He and Anastasia loved each other, they needed to figure out what they were going to do about that. Of course Anastasia had made it clear that their relationship was a foregone conclusion to her. She was going to be Hap's 'better wife' and if his Dad's cynical joke was any indication, she was well on her way.
This brought up another point, Anastasia had proved to be pretty determined and Hap assumed once she made a decision he'd have to go with it, or it'd be a fight. He wondered if he could put up with that. Hap started to wonder about a dozen other things he thought were charming now but might annoy him later. Hap realized what he was doing and forced himself to stop souring himself on their relationship.
Hap hugged her and wanted to tell her how he felt. She murmured something unintelligible, but it sounded happy. Hap had no idea if she was awake, but he didn't care, they would talk in the morning, and settle everything once and for all.
-
Too much sex, not enough violence. Been several chapters since anyone got killed.
-
Too much sex, not enough violence. Been several chapters since anyone got killed.
It's a struggle to move people across these systems. K-F drives only let you jump 30 light years, and then wait a few days before you can go again, and we're moving from the Draconis March to the Capellan March. We're getting there, but it is a bit of a journey.
I had to choose between using narration to instantly put them where they're going, or try to build the relationships along the way. I went with the relationships, maybe that was a bit of mistake. I'm also trying to develop a bigger plot line and story, these conversations work into that. Once we get to Monhegan I don't plan to move them, like this, for awhile, and there will be more Mech combat.
It's still a couple chapters before we get back in the 'Mechs, so be patient, or just check back in a couple weeks. Either way, I appreciate the comment and thanks for reading.
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Odd, I didn't mind the character development. Different strokes for different folks i guess.
I was concerned that I'd missed something when Anna went to a "birthing" chamber, but then i realized you were probably trusting spell check too much. Not a big deal.
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Like the story. Battletech is just not battles!
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Thanks XaosGorilla and Shadowdancer, that's good feedback too. I was worried I was losing my audience. I went to bed last night looking over my notes, and what I had written so far and debated extensive re-writing or reshuffling of certain scenes.
I had been concerned about the pacing of the story, but like I wrote, the space travel mechanics of the Battletech universe creates an interesting constraint/opportunity for anyone creating stories and scenarios in the game universe.
Last week no one commented on the chapters, which had been atypical of previous posts. However, we're all busy, and maybe no one saw anything to comment on. I tend to be a bit of a lurker myself, so I wasn't too concerned. I saw the view count increase. This meant several people were looking at the story. I just wasn't sure if it was a quick scan, and them saying, "boring" or if they were just waiting for more. I really do value the feedback.
As always I'm grateful that anyone has the patience for my typos, grammar, and spelling problems (I'll fix the birthing typo). That anyone is indulging me at all is a little humbling for me. For those that are still reading, thank you so much. If you're waiting for me to make more war and less love, be patient. If your more interested in the relationships and characters stick around, I like most of them and will keep building on to them.
Thanks again.
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Soldiers, warriors, support staff, civilians - they're all people. MechWarriors (and tankers and pilots) aren't Space Marines - and we like it that way :thumbsup:
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Keep writing good stories like this and some of the Lurkers will come out of the shadows, dark corners, and do it long enough even have comments from the grognard who live in the walls.
Although you mentioned gauss rifles so that may have scared them off.
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I'm liking the story as well. Given the character development is a little focused but then it's still very early in the story.
Would like to see a TO&E of the unit as well, if nothing else than an easy reference to go back to for the readers.
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I like the story, just not much for romance. Guess I'm in the mood for some serious violence.
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Thanks XaosGorilla and Shadowdancer, that's good feedback too. I was worried I was losing my audience. I went to bed last night looking over my notes, and what I had written so far and debated extensive re-writing or reshuffling of certain scenes.
I had been concerned about the pacing of the story, but like I wrote, the space travel mechanics of the Battletech universe creates an interesting constraint/opportunity for anyone creating stories and scenarios in the game universe.
Last week no one commented on the chapters, which had been atypical of previous posts. However, we're all busy, and maybe no one saw anything to comment on. I tend to be a bit of a lurker myself, so I wasn't too concerned. I saw the view count increase. This meant several people were looking at the story. I just wasn't sure if it was a quick scan, and them saying, "boring" or if they were just waiting for more. I really do value the feedback.
As always I'm grateful that anyone has the patience for my typos, grammar, and spelling problems (I'll fix the birthing typo). That anyone is indulging me at all is a little humbling for me. For those that are still reading, thank you so much. If you're waiting for me to make more war and less love, be patient. If your more interested in the relationships and characters stick around, I like most of them and will keep building on to them.
Thanks again.
Sometimes we don't want to flood the story with unnecessary BS (like posts like mine). I for one, like the details between...
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Your writing a story about a unit, they don't go into battle everyday of their lives.
Enjoying your story, keep up the good work. :thumbsup:
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I like the story, just not much for romance. Guess I'm in the mood for some serious violence.
Well I figure since the story has been good, the battles should be pretty good too.
If not, we can tar and feather HFC05. :beatdown: :beatdown:
(NOTE - just kidding as long as the story continues it's all good ^-^ )
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Sorry most of the time I am a lurker. I have followed the story every time you have posted something new. I enjoy reading but am not one to make any comment. I have played Battletech since 1985. Have most of the source books and novels. A lot of half stories from the Catalyst fiasco. Part of the reason that I have stayed with it is the rich stories about the whole Battletech universe. Romance battles and all!
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Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) McFinnigan and Sons
Mercenary Unit: McFinnigan and Sons
Unit Symbol: Celtic knot with three loops around a Harp, a Skull and a Mace
Company Motto: gnó teaghlaigh (gaelic for Family Business)
Unit Size: Reinforced Battlemech Company (4 Lances)
Jump Ships: None
Drop Shuttles: Excalibur class "Tir na nOg", Leopard class "Phaidin"
Unit Leadership
Unit Commanding Officer: Kelly McFinnigan
Unit Executive Officer: James Fletcher
Lance Leader (Assault Lance): Kelly McFinnigan
Lance Leader (Pursuit/Raid Lance): Patrick McFinnigan
Lance Leader (Fire Support Lance): Fiona McFinnigan
Lance Leader (Recon Lance): Harold Calahad
Medical Doctors: Jackson Morgan (MDMS), Leslie Morgan (MDGP)
Master Pilot: Matthew Mitchellin
Master Mech Tech: Eric Heilezberg
Master Trainer: Yorik Tomax
Quartermaster: Jessica Lan
Legal and MRB Relations: Roweyna McFinnigan
Assault Lance "Anvil"
HGN-733 Highlander - Pilot: Kelly McFinnigan
CP-10-Z Cyclops - Pilot: James "Fletch" Fletcher
AWS-8Q Awesome - Pilot: Yorik Tomax
STK-3F Stalker - Pilot: Jin-seon Jessica "Ajumma" Lan
Pursuit/Raid Lance "Dullahans"
DRG-1G Grand Dragon - Pilot: Patrick "Shillelagh" McFinnigan
WVR-6M Wolverine - Pilot: Gerald "Grizzly" Villon
KTO-18(Modified*) Kintaro - Pilot: Tatyana "Volchitsa" Fletcher
VLK-QA Valkyrie - Pilot: David Lee
Fire Support Lance "Hammer"
JM6-A JagerMech - Pilot: Fiona "Guardian Angel" McFinnigan
CPLT-C4 Catapult - Pilot: Eugene "Crow" Harrison
TBT-5N Trebuchet - Pilot: Rolph Horsteng
DV-6M Dervish - Pilot: Dillon "Big D" Rowel
Recon Lance
GRF-1N Griffin - Pilot: Harold "Haphazard" Calahad
VLK-QA(Modified**) Valkyrie - Pilot: Anastasia Vallois
FS9-H Firestarter - Pilot: William "Joker" Cameron
JR7-D Jenner - Pilot: Marietta Marie Rose "Mags" Camacho
*KTO-18 Modifications:
- Removal of LRM5 and Ammunition
- Additional Jump Jets to left and right torsos
- Additional Armor to front left and right torsos
**VLK-QA Modifications
Original Sync Tracker Targeting and Tracking system and Lynx-Shur communications system replaced with: Vallois Solutions experimental Agile Adaptive Aperture (AAA) Synthetic Radar Array, Vallois Solutions Targeting and Tracking systems, and Vallois Solutions Comms package.
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Thanks everyone for the outpouring of support. I apologize for not posting a TO&E earlier, I had seen those in other people's stories, and not put two and two together.
Also I didn't mean to call out all the lurkers, obviously I want to put out a story people want to read, so it's good to know that people are enjoying it, or what they're thinking about it, but now I also know that no response (with an ever increasing view count) is probably a good sign as well. I'm still new to this community and learning, but from what I've seen I do like how everyone has been very positive and supportive (even when they crave more death and destruction).
If the "clutter" of comments and conversation is distracting for your enjoyment of the story I'm on Archive of Our Own and Fan Fiction dot net. It's the same story title and the same author's name. If you can't find me, send me a message I'll reply with the links. I generally update all three about the same time.
Again, thanks for reading. I'll get back to writing now so we can hopefully get to the "good bit" (whatever that is for you) sooner rather than later.
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So Anna Dad was taken out by Comstar Holy Shroud operations I see.. Them Bastards.
So I wonder if the Mad Scientist had a hidden "data" dump that he used, after all he already didn't trust Comstar.
Also can we have a "CBT" breakdown of exactly what the Vallois Solutions Electronic Hardware does in her Valkyrie. I know you fluffed it earlier, but those of us following what to know how good it is on the "table top"
And I like that we see how this "Family" is coming together, will make the next losses more hurtful.
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The Agile Adaptive Aperture (AAA) Synthetic Radar Array concept is based loosely on work done by real world Georgia Tech. (Search for "Agile Adaptive Antenna George Tech). They describe a muti-band, multi radio antenna in a box, ideal for software defined radios, but I've seen some applications of their work that imply it has significantly more uses.
From a "classic" board game perspective I would also probably give a +1 to hit or +1 on the Missile table (or both). However, this could be used similar to a Guardian ECM suite (block or jam a NARC Missile Beacon or Beagle Active Probe), but I would generally make that an ability the 'MechWarrior has to choose to perform. If they are jamming something they can't fire weapons that turn.
Keep in mind too this is 3029, the technology renaissance of Inner Sphere is about to happen, but not quite yet. So there is a lot of nascent technology ideas out there, that may not pan out (assuming COMSTAR lets them grow at all). So this system is a rudimentary ECM suite as a side effect, but generally it's just an enhanced Targeting and Tracking suite.
I've been playing the 2018 PC BattleTech (perhaps you've noticed the references) where you can detect mechs outside your LOS, and sensor lock them. I would say the AAA would increase your range to detect by 20% or 30%. I'm not sure what variation of BattleTech that game mechanic is used. (Back in the 80s if you had LOS and they were in range, you took the shot).
I'm hesitant to go into too much detail because I haven't played the board game in awhile so I'll throw that out there and let your imagination run with it. In the story so far you can see where Anastasia can detect mechs before everyone else. There is also another scene I'm working on where she scans a lake bed, but she has to "tune" her AAA to do it.
Also I don't plan to use this like a "sonic screwdriver" or a "main deflector dish" but I'm going to stop talking about it now, just in case I write myself into a corner and need to use this thing as an amazing and totally not convenient and contrived solution.
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Check out the Beagle Active Probe on www.sarna.net - that's the canon "improved sensor" system. While not up to the functionality of the HBS game, it does allow spotting hidden units, which is not necessarily a bad thing ;)
It's also entirely probable that people were working on different systems at the time - they may never have seen full production due to reliance on expensive & hand-built parts, unsuitability for being whacked about by enemy fire, or the unexpected death of the project leader ... :-X
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I would give it the "Improved Sensors" quirk -
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Design_Quirks#Improved_Sensors_.5BBT.2C_AS.2C_SBF.5D
And perhaps the Variable Range Targeting quirk
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also if you are looking for idea see Sigil story about his primary Mech
and I might be 1 of the people who not into HBS so those reference points aren't there for me. I do remember if you can see them, you can try a shot at them if you got range and ammo to waste
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Iron Grenadier and DOC_Agren, thanks. I was not familiar with the "Design Quirks" System. I'd seen it referenced, and assumed it was part of one of the BTech system add-ons, but wasn't sure which (Apparently it was Strategic Ops). That Sarna article is very helpful.
Conversations like this make me think, "Damn. I need to do more research, or maybe I shouldn't be writing for this universe, there's always some other rule, addition, or something else I'm ignorant of." That's not necessarily bad, it's just I mean need everyone to be more patient with me.
The Improved Sensors Quirk or Improved Communications is probably what the AAA would fall under. If I had to choose one I'd go with Improved Sensors.
Although the JagerMech and Rifleman both have spinning wave guides that I always assumed were part of a Synthetic Radar Array, and they get "Anti-Aircraft Tracking" as a quirk, although the Rifleman does get Improved Communications too.
I think I'd go with Iron Grenadier's recommendation of Improved Sensors Quirk.
Also in my previous post I wrote it would give +1 to hit, I should have wrote -1, I forgot how Battletech's To Hit system works (I might have been playing this other game system where +1 is always good, and probability is based on a D20, rather than 2D6). That's if you choose to go with just very classic BTech, or let it act as a Beagle Active Probe.
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Conversations like this make me think, "Damn. I need to do more research, or maybe I shouldn't be writing for this universe, there's always some other rule, addition, or something else I'm ignorant of." That's not necessarily bad, it's just I mean need everyone to be more patient with me.
No worries at all. The basic knowledge is there, and the story has been good quality.
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And you can write, which is more than I can do ;) You'll pick up the lore. Sarna's a great way to lose hours.
BTW, the original Unseen Rifleman had the spinning propellor beany. The JagerMech, and the Reseen Rifleman, had fixed arrays. So they're not unknown.
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Thanks again Iron Grenadier and Worktroll. I can attest how easy it is to lose hours on Sarna, truthfully a lot of the reason I'm writing this is I was playing the PC game, and then I was reading on Sarna, and I got me wondering about a lot of the things I'm writing about or trying to explore through Hap, Anastasia, Joker and Mags.
Also the depth of the battle tech universe is so profound from sensor quirks to Operation Holy Shroud sometimes it's not about losing yourself down the wiki rabbit hole, rather it's knowing the right things to search for (The old, "to get the right answer, you must ask the right question" paradox).
Still, the more I learn the more I enjoy this universe, and I've been enjoying the friendly and collegiate attitude of the community. Thanks for writing and helping out.
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I will say you write an interesting story, why we are all asking questions and viewing it
Now may I present my take on your Vallois Solutions experimental Agile Adaptive Aperture (AAA) Synthetic Radar Array, Vallois Solutions Targeting and Tracking systems, and Vallois Solutions Comms package.
Using quirks
Improved Communications
Improved Sensors
But to also represent the extra hardware shoved into the head
Cramped Cockpit
Difficult to Eject
Difficult to Maintain
and now my reasoning:
You pointed out better Comms and Sensors, so that was a given. I also looked at replacing the Improved Sensor with a Variable Range Targeting system, but felt the Improved Sensors was a better fit.
Now Anastasia fully understand the Vallois Solutions hardware in her mech, but the average Tech is going to have issues keeping it all working correctly. And that cockpit is a tad more cramped then normal now so a bit harder to pilot and when/if she has to eject without bouncing off things is harder.
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I'd say that's probably accurate, DOC Agren. Cramped Cockpit is a good choice. This is definitely a prototype system and since the inventor is dead it would be hard for someone to go back and fix the form factor. Also Anastasia and her Father are both short (She's introduced as 1.5 meters, and his height gets mentioned in a later chapter), so this again would not be something they care about in the prototype stage.
The difficult to maintain is a good catch too. There are no moving parts to the struts, but any damage to them (even incidental shrapnel, rocks, trauma type wear-and-tear) would require some careful work to either fix a break in the grid and not create impedance, or just a complete replacement. Also the struts would be much more expensive than a regular antenna.
I think if Anastasia ever resumes her father's work she'd probably fix the cramped cockpit issue but the Difficult to Eject would still remain because you'd also have a lot more cables between the cockpit and antenna grid to support the additional power and data requirements, so that also would interfere with most ejection systems. You could argue it could come with safety break couplings in the wire, but the system is difficult to maintain, and those safety breaks don't always work, and you know there will be a tech that will bypass, or just remove the safety coupling...
Thanks for adding some negative aspects, and making trade offs. I think when things get too OP or too perfect they can be sort of boring, so nice touch.
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“ You could argue it could come with safety break couplings in the wire, but the system is difficult to maintain, and those safety breaks don't always work, and you know there will be a tech that will bypass, or just remove the safety coupling..”
You could always upgrade it, but with “ Difficult to Eject “ on a set number of 2-die6.
Currently ejection is difficult on number >6 on 2-die 6.
After Anastasia improves the mech system then > 9 on 2- die 6.
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I'd say that's probably accurate, DOC Agren. Cramped Cockpit is a good choice. This is definitely a prototype system and since the inventor is dead it would be hard for someone to go back and fix the form factor. Also Anastasia and her Father are both short (She's introduced as 1.5 meters, and his height gets mentioned in a later chapter), so this again would not be something they care about in the prototype stage.
The difficult to maintain is a good catch too. There are no moving parts to the struts, but any damage to them (even incidental shrapnel, rocks, trauma type wear-and-tear) would require some careful work to either fix a break in the grid and not create impedance, or just a complete replacement. Also the struts would be much more expensive than a regular antenna.
I think if Anastasia ever resumes her father's work she'd probably fix the cramped cockpit issue but the Difficult to Eject would still remain because you'd also have a lot more cables between the cockpit and antenna grid to support the additional power and data requirements, so that also would interfere with most ejection systems. You could argue it could come with safety break couplings in the wire, but the system is difficult to maintain, and those safety breaks don't always work, and you know there will be a tech that will bypass, or just remove the safety coupling...
Thanks for adding some negative aspects, and making trade offs. I think when things get too OP or too perfect they can be sort of boring, so nice touch.
No problem, I wanted to see if you had plan or idea before throwing something together.
Well if she continued it might end up like the Beagle Active Probe with the wgt and space factored in.
and no tech would ever change the wiring plan... he ;D :D after working in an arcade with old pinball machines who wiring match nothing in wiring plans
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No problem, I wanted to see if you had plan or idea before throwing something together.
Well if she continued it might end up like the Beagle Active Probe with the wgt and space factored in.
and no tech would ever change the wiring plan... he ;D :D after working in an arcade with old pinball machines who wiring match nothing in wiring plans
I would strongly suspect there are similarities between maintaining a centuries old battlemech and a decades old pinball or arcade cabinet. Especially since a lot of the tech dreamed up in the original Battletech looks straight out of the 80s.
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Trust me you aren't wrong.
so older machines were basicly Frankstein Machines with parts borrow from others.
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Mechs, or pinball machines, Doc? :)
It's worth mentioning that Anastasia's Valkyrie is probably shiny recent, with that 'New Mech' smell. The FedSuns have at this time one of the few fully automated production lines for Valkyries outside the Lyran facilities on Hesperus IV. So fully automated no-one understands it, and they dare not try to fix any of the problems which limit production. As long as the right parts go in one end, the shinies come out the other.
Given Anastasia's background, I'd expect it to be one of those, not an epic-hand-me-down. But the installation of her dad's equipment will fix that! Plenty of plot hooks there.
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Mechs, or pinball machines, Doc? :)
It's worth mentioning that Anastasia's Valkyrie is probably shiny recent, with that 'New Mech' smell. The FedSuns have at this time one of the few fully automated production lines for Valkyries outside the Lyran facilities on Hesperus IV. So fully automated no-one understands it, and they dare not try to fix any of the problems which limit production. As long as the right parts go in one end, the shinies come out the other.
Given Anastasia's background, I'd expect it to be one of those, not an epic-hand-me-down. But the installation of her dad's equipment will fix that! Plenty of plot hooks there.
I agree that her mech is new machine, or damm recent. Until they added in those extra features in the cockpit. Sure hope she fully understands that equipment and how to maintain it, because there no records in theory to fallback on.
and worktroll, mechs, pinball, early video games, redemption machine
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It's worth mentioning that Anastasia's Valkyrie is probably shiny recent, with that 'New Mech' smell. The FedSuns have at this time one of the few fully automated production lines for Valkyries outside the Lyran facilities on Hesperus IV. So fully automated no-one understands it, and they dare not try to fix any of the problems which limit production. As long as the right parts go in one end, the shinies come out the other.
Given Anastasia's background, I'd expect it to be one of those, not an epic-hand-me-down. But the installation of her dad's equipment will fix that! Plenty of plot hooks there.
This is exactly what I had tried to imply in earlier chapters, I think it was Hap's impression though, and not clearly stated. This was a "straight off the line" VLK-QA Valkyrie that received a prototype AAA package. Anastasia's father installed it himself, handed it over to his daughter, and, as a consummate business man, had her do a field demo for a few of the Generals at NAIS. This was the last time they saw each other before she shipped out to Klathandu.
To Doc's point about pinball machines and difficult ejections, Anastasia's install is neat and clean and professionally done by a doting father, but (given my experience with buying used cars with after market radios) not every tech or mechanic can follow a wire diagram, and some vehicles have to be made "compatible" which invites problems and quirks. Anastasia's system is not a rat's nest of wires and a potential death trap, her father wouldn't allow that, but for someone installing a AAA into a third-generation salvaged war prize, there's some potential for problems.
Regarding Anastasia's ability to maintain the system. For her it would be very easy. She was a "Daddy's girl" that spent a lot of her free time in his workshop, and went to NAIS to study Electrical Engineering (or the NAIS equivalent). Her father also taught her how to program, wire, and build electronic systems, so she could easily read his code or understand something he built. The only way she would be more familiar with this system would be if she made it herself, and there's components and code functions that she designed used in the AAA.
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Based on that feedback, I think perhaps a negative quirk might be something like
"Non-Standard Parts"
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Design_Quirks#Non-Standard_Parts_.5BBT.5D
"Prototype"
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Design_Quirks#Prototype_.5BBT.2C_AS.2C_SBF.5D
In a nutshell, she will likely be the primary pilot and tech for her ride, and finding the replacement "doohickey part Z147" could be an adventure all by itself.
Or, you don't have to give it a negative quirk at all. Sometimes, things just work really damn good.
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By definition this AAA would be a prototype. I should probably read through all those quirks.
I personally like the idea of having drawbacks in a system, because, like WorkTroll wrote, it helps with creating story hooks. Although I agree in the real world periodically you encounter those wonderful things that just work right, or that were so well designed you feel like it was made for you, I worry about putting something like that in a story.
As I'm writing I'm sensitive to accidentally creating the "universal solution" like Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver or the Enterprises "main deflector dish". That piece of kit that can be anything it needs to be when it's required. I'd prefer the characters have to struggle through, or improvise something else, than just have this amazing pre-built thing that's always a little too handy.
The other thing I'm sensitive to is balancing certain lines with the characters. First, I don't want to be like 80s GI Joe where you have this amazing team of elite special operators versus a near-peer terrorist organization but rarely does anyone get seriously injured. I've found if I'm reading a book where the characters have too many close calls, but always slip by unscathed it gets boring, because it feels they're never really in danger. On the other hand I don't want to be like George R.R. Martin where you don't really get attached to his characters, but you stick around waiting for the people you really hate to get what's coming to them.
Second there is the character personalities themselves. Is Anastasia becoming a Mary Sue or a Pollyanna. Are Hap's responses too perfect? Is Joker too much of a nuisance (well yes, but how much of that is on purpose and how much is alienating?) Is Mags just a tough girl clique? How can I give Mags more personality than just the tattooed girl that always yelling, "I'm going to cut you!"
Then on top of all this there is the actual universe rules, you have to understand it, but the actual specifics may not matter. For example, an AC-2 has 3 more hexes of long range than an LRM. 3x30 meters is 90 meters. That's not as interesting as the fact that a Blackjack could attack an Archer from just outside the Archer's engagement range. The Blackjack can only chip away at the Archer's armor, and the Blackjack is just one wrong move from 40 missiles coming down on him. Three hexes on a weapons chart make this situation possible, but so would just one hex.
As I writer I don't exactly care about three hexes, what I really care about the inherent drama of just staying outside of range, carefully trying to maintain the distance and advantage, while slowly picking apart the adversary. The drama of losing line of sight, having to re-establish contact but hope you don't accidentally walk in range. I need the rules to create the drama, and to keep things realistic, but minutia of how it all works isn't always important (at least as I'm writing), Which is more if tried to explain it, it would likely slow down the story.
When you guys asked me how does the AAA work I was a little at a loss. How exactly it worked in-game is sort of a "cart-before-horse" problem for me. I knew how I wanted it to work for story purposes (a little extra long range scanning, a little more detail scanning, later on Anastasia will figure out how to use it to use it jam other 'Mechs scans). Kinda like a Beagle Active Probe and kinda like a Guardian ECM, but not necessarily as good as either.
Quite frankly I appreciate the question, as well as everyone's help to make this thing more inline and realistic with the universe. Thank you everyone, but weather you know it or not, you created sort of a different writing exercise for me.
The Blackjack vs. Archer is a simple deduction made from looking at the weapons chart, and knowing a few basic 'mechs. The AAA was me thinking I needed a "thing" to help me with my story, but the real specifics wasn't something I put much thought into. (Back to the AC-2 example, from a writing perspective it doesn't matter if it's one hex, or five hexes, just as long as it has greater range).
I made the AAA as a writing device. It's something Anastasia's father could make to generate cash for his project. It's a scanner because Anastasia is a naturally curious person so it speaks to her character. It's also an expensive piece of kit on shiny new 'mech confirming her place as a spoiled rich girl, and all the drama that goes with that. It's useful, and it gives her lance an edge, but it's not game changing, or a wonder weapon. It's almost innocuous, but it can drive plot and reveal details, both about characters and the world around them (pun intended).
As you guys seek to clarify things with it (make me lock down those 3 hexes, as it were) I have to ask myself does change anything I've already written, or will create a problem down the line in the story as I've drafted and outlined it. So far the answer is no, but I thought I'd take a moment and lay some of my cards on the table, and if my answers to the question seemed a little evasive this is why.
This conversation as a whole is fascinating for me, again at showing the depth of the BattleTech universe, and how everyone as a fan looks at it and thinks about it.
Thanks again everyone.
Also I know it sounds like I'm downplaying the importance of the rules, or really the mechanics of how this universe operates. I'm not trying to do that. I wrote in the past that I would rather write a good story than adhere strictly to the rules, and while this is true, I don't want to intentionally create a situation that takes someone out of the story by making them think, "That's not how that works..." even though it looks like I did that in the opening chapters. Honestly, I am trying to do better, and provide an enjoyable read.
Thanks again for reading
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To Doc's point about pinball machines and difficult ejections, Anastasia's install is neat and clean and professionally done by a doting father, but (given my experience with buying used cars with after market radios) not every tech or mechanic can follow a wire diagram, and some vehicles have to be made "compatible" which invites problems and quirks. Anastasia's system is not a rat's nest of wires and a potential death trap, her father wouldn't allow that, but for someone installing a AAA into a third-generation salvaged war prize, there's some potential for problems.
Regarding Anastasia's ability to maintain the system. For her it would be very easy. She was a "Daddy's girl" that spent a lot of her free time in his workshop, and went to NAIS to study Electrical Engineering (or the NAIS equivalent). Her father also taught her how to program, wire, and build electronic systems, so she could easily read his code or understand something he built. The only way she would be more familiar with this system would be if she made it herself, and there's components and code functions that she designed used in the AAA.
I didn't include prototype because there was comments about her dad selling these kits, but non-standard parts (should have been a given). :thumbsup:
It might be a clean and professional install job, but you are still cramming extra hardware cases into places where the mech was were never to have them. All it takes is to interfer with ejection is a 286 computer unit slightly in the way. She not that big, she might not notice the "extra space" taken up but Bruce Campbell in her mech would.
If he prepped her that well, she might get a visit from Holy Shroud ROM unit, so maybe it is better they think she dead.
Still enjoying your story
Updated
Now may I present my take on your Vallois Solutions experimental Agile Adaptive Aperture (AAA) Synthetic Radar Array, Vallois Solutions Targeting and Tracking systems, and Vallois Solutions Comms package.
Using quirks
Improved Communications
Improved Sensors
But to also represent the extra hardware shoved into the head
Cramped Cockpit
Difficult to Eject
Difficult to Maintain
Non-Standard Parts
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The other thing I'm sensitive to is balancing certain lines with the characters. First, I don't want to be like 80s GI Joe where you have this amazing team of elite special operators versus a near-peer terrorist organization but rarely does anyone get seriously injured. I've found if I'm reading a book where the characters have too many close calls, but always slip by unscathed it gets boring, because it feels they're never really in danger. On the other hand I don't want to be like George R.R. Martin where you don't really get attached to his characters, but you stick around waiting for the people you really hate to get what's coming to them.
I think you've handled this very well so far. The losses of Lucky and Tuna hurt; we'd only known them for a few paragraphs, but they were people by that point, not redshirts. And casualties don't have to be deaths; while loss of a limb is almost certainly a career-ending injury at this time, there'll be burns, broken bones, concussions - and then (for example) how Hap copes with being stuck in a cast while Anastasia goes into battle ...
One note on the HBS game vs the BT game vs the fictional 'real world'. In the boardgame, one-on-one a Blackjack simply can't keep that distance from the Archer, because the Archer can close faster than the Blackjack can walk (or jump) away. That's where you, the writer, make the difference. What stops the Archer from closing? Is it defending a position? Is the terrain broken, boggy, or forested, limiting movement? Is there another 'Mech closer, and more immediately threatening? Does it have leg crits already?
I just make the comment because I see in some of the computer-game-players coming across that there should be ways to knock out opposing 'mechs without taking damage in return. But the board-game players expect to get bits knocked off - minimising return fire, but never expecting not to get hit. Which ties in well with the Succession War false-chivalry (aka the 'Forced Withdrawal' rules). Your first post had much stronger impact because of the deaths of Lucky and Tuna, and that was good. But as you're already aware, death is like hot chili - essential, but not to be overdone. Of course, the exact 'heat' level varies from person to person.
TL:DR version: write first, obey the rules second ;)
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Thanks again Doc and WorkTroll, you guys may not know it, or even see it directly, but you are keeping me honest and making me a better writer, and I appreciate it.
I need to get the next couple chapters ready to post tomorrow, so I need to "focus up" on that, but I've enjoyed this conversation.
I also see your point with the Archer vs. Blackjack, I may have to think how that could play out. I'll have to put that in my notes and scraps file to revisit it later...or I may just let a couple of my characters argue it out.
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Blackjack has the range, but if that all it got vrs the Archer, soon or later those LRM are coming hard. But if the Archer has something else to keep it busy, then light it up and hope for that Golden BB.
I have seen a Blackjack show what it could do vrs a fixed position of LRM launcher and threaten to Shell the Moon Base until the "dome" popped as the quote went.
"I have the ammo reserves and your not moving, and can't reach back to me. Think you should surrender operations now or learn to breath in space."
Now sorry we have slowed your writing down with our Tech questions, but it been a good Story. Like I said, when the next Death comes for one of these characters we have got to know, it might be a gut punch.
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And to further disrupt, are you a Strazinski, or a Martin? Do you have a "5-year-arc" in mind, or are you letting the characters loose in your playground and seeing what develops organically?
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And to further disrupt, are you a Strazinski, or a Martin? Do you have a "5-year-arc" in mind, or are you letting the characters loose in your playground and seeing what develops organically?
I'd hate to compare myself to either one, because they're pros, and I do this to relax.
I have a pretty broad story outline written out with some "must happen events", and some "think this is a good idea" events. I'm willing to let the characters wonder and if, doing research, or during one of these conversations an interesting idea comes up I'd probably pursue it. There are a few gray areas in the plot line though, and I don't think I have the same level of vision as Strazinski showed in Babylon 5.
I'd also be hesitant to wonder too far off the plot outline though. I have some incomplete works and a meandering story where I wasn't very disciplined and I introduced too many characters and the whole thing just got too complex, too complicated, and it was hard to reconcile the party's current activities with the plot. Letting my characters wonder made the story collapse under it's own weight. Somehow Martin didn't let that exactly happen with Game of Thrones, but sometimes I thought he was struggling with that too.
The other thing I'm trying (and I'm hesitant to mention this) is leave little clues to where the story is going. This also drives me to keep my eye on the end goal and incorporate future aspects of unrevealed plot points into the story. This is something J.K. Rowling is famous for, (again I'm just a hobbyist), and I found that very rewarding as a reader to go back see a small detail and realize it was referring to something important later.
Good Chess players do two things: 1) They play multiple moves ahead, and 2) They constantly prosecute a checkmate. I try to write like that. I'm willing to deviate, but constantly working toward the end goal.
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Works for me! And thanks for taking the time out to answer.
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I've been enjoying the story and looking forward to the next chapters.
Psy
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Chapter 18
Anastasia heard Hap say her name as he gently shook her. She stretched and turned over to look at him. Without thinking she gave him a warm smile, "Good morning, Harold."
Hap couldn't help but smile back, "Good morning Anastasia. I wanted to talk to you about last night. Before you fell asleep did you say something?"
Anastasia looked a little sheepish, "I might have said something as I was falling asleep. I've been told when I get comfortable I tend to say or do things I wouldn't normally say. What did you hear?" Anastasia didn't regret saying that she loved Harold, but she didn't want to get lectured on how they still needed to get to know each other and how she shouldn't say "that" word.
Hap paused for a moment, as he debated with himself, "I thought you said, 'I love you'."
"Sleepy Anastasia says many things." she said dismissively. This sounded like it was going to be a lecture. She snuggled up to him, if he was going to lecture, or call her naïve, she could at least enjoy being close.
"Whatever 'sleepy Anastasia' said it got me thinking that even if I didn't hear those words I wanted to, because I enjoy spending time with you, and getting to know you. I also appreciated our conversation last night. I, uh, it was, uh, I appreciated the emotional support."
Anastasia looked at him expectantly. This no longer sounded like a lecture, it sounded promising.
"What I'm trying to say is…" Hap paused, "This is awkward because I said we need to take things slow."
Anastasia felt bad for him, "Harold, you don't have to say anything. I know you love me. You can't hold me like you do and not love me. You're not pawing at me for sex. You wrap your arms around me and make me feel loved. It's why I said, 'I love you'. I felt loved, I wanted to let you know I loved you back"
Hap nodded. He didn't have anything else to say. He ran his hand up and down her back as she laid with her head on his chest. After a minute Anastasia broke the silence, "So where do we go from here?"
Hap shrugged, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You decided we should take things slow, I assumed you have milestones or goals for our relationship that we need to meet in a certain order." Anastasia tried to remember if any of the books she had read had some sort of timeline for relationships.
Hap shook his head, "I don't. I figure our relationship should progress naturally, it's not a process."
Anastasia got quiet for a moment then said, "I think everything is a process or at least has an orderly way to be accomplished. Anything you do in a step-by-step method is a process. It doesn't matter if it's your morning routine, or starting your 'Mech. Why should our relationship be any different?"
"Do you hear yourself?" Hap was at loss, "There is no 'do these ten things and you'll go from strangers to lovers for life'. Even if a relationship does need steps or activities you can't just race through them as quickly as possible. Time together is just as important as anything else for a relationship to grow. Honestly, you sound more like an engineer than a 'sweep-me-off-my-feet' romantic."
"Being swept off my feet implies the process can be done quicker in the right circumstances. It's actually more efficient when you think about it, which is generally the goal of engineering." Anastasia replied.
"Relationships take time Anastasia. I mean, look at you, you're comfortable with saying 'I love you', but you take your bra off under your shirt, so you're not comfortable showing me your naked body."
"Maybe I'm not comfortable with my body, and that's a different process to fix."
"Or maybe it's because you're not ready to have sex."
They both got quiet again, then Anastasia sighed, "So it comes back to time?"
"Yes time." Hap replied quietly as he squeezed her shoulder.
They laid quietly together again, then Hap asked, "So are you uncomfortable with your body, or did you just assume if I saw you naked I'd want more, and it would just lead to problems?"
"A little bit of both." Anastasia replied. She glanced over at Hap's watch, and then flashed him an impish grin, "But if you really want to see me topless, and you promise to be good-"
"I'm always good." Hap said slowly as he gave her a questioning look.
Anastasia sat up "Okay, but keep in mind, I've been told my 'rack' isn't the best."
"You were told that by a man that has never, and likely will never, see your 'rack', and generally has to pay a woman to see or touch her anything."
Anastasia nodded, "True". She slowly started to roll-up the bottom of her shirt, then stopped, "but I want to make sure you're not disappointed."
Hap's eyes narrowed. She was clearly teasing him, "I assure you I won't be disappointed."
"Promise?"
"Anastasia, what are you-" as Harold spoke he was interrupted by the morning wake-up bell.
Anastasia smoothed out her shirt, "Oh! I'm sorry Harold, it's time to start our morning processes."
Hap caught her wrist as she reached for the door. "I've been learning about more 'efficient processes'. I think I can spare a moment."
"I'm not sure I can" Anastasia smiled and freed her wrist with a quick twist. Before Hap could stop her she got her hand on the door latch and threw it open. Hap responded by sweeping off his blankets in Anastasia's direction. He managed to wrap her up in blankets, and gave her a playful shove. She responded with a muffled "Hey" as she fell over in a tangled heap at the foot of the bed.
Hap looked up to see Joker perched on on the edge of his compartment. He looked like he was debating the merits of getting out of bed. He looked at Hap and asked, "What are you two doing?"
Hap glanced over Anastasia trying to untangle herself, "We were talking about efficient processes."
"Like the fastest way to do something? Is that what Anastasia calls having sex with you?"
Anastasia pushed her head out of the blankets, "You hear efficient process, understand 'fastest way to accomplish a thing', and immediately think of sex?"
"It's all he ever thinks about." Mags said as she pulled a box out of her locker and put it on the deck.
"Sounds about right." Hap told Anastasia, "you look like you're not having an efficient time, need help?"
"No." Anastasia said darkly, as she sat up, got her hands free, and began to untangle the blanket.
Mags pulled a palm sized cylinder out of the box. She stepped over toward Hap, "I have a question. "
"What do you need?" Hap asked.
"Not you, Anastasia. I need someone smart." Mags took another step to stand in front of Anastasia.
Joker jumped down, with his stupid grin, "Ah Hap, Mags doesn't think you're smart."
"That's not what I said." Mags snapped
"That's exactly what you said." Joker replied with his characteristic irritating smile
Anastasia was mostly free of the blanket. She was feeling closer to Harold and Joker's slight at him annoyed her more than usual. "Joker, if Harold isn't smart then you have donkey brains."
"Donkey Brains? Is that the best you got?" Joker stepped closer to Anastasia and starred at her.
"Quiet donkey brains." Mags said as she pushed Joker away from Anastasia. Mags handed Anastasia a small black palm-sized cylinder. "My personal Holoviewer broke, can you fix it?"
Anastasia took the cylinder, and it rattled as she examined it. "What happened?"
"It fell during our landing on Klathandu." Mags explained. Anastasia looked up. Mags voice was low, and her expression told Anastasia this was important. Before Anastasia could reply Mags told her, "You're the smartest person I know. If anyone can fix it it's you."
Anastasia nodded and began to play with her braid. As she nervously tugged the braid she noted that it Hap's roughhousing had loosened it, and she needed to be fixed, but she was more interested in the holo and trying to solve the problem of how to repair it.
"Mag's can I ask why it's important?"
"It has holos of my family, and a video from my Father. It's important to me." Mags almost whispered.
Hap could see Joker was still staring at Anastasia, probably trying to think of some devastating insult to hurl at her. Hap opened up his locker and asked Joker, "How was the card game last night?"
"It didn't go so well" Joker looked at Mags,"because someone doesn't understand how to play spades."
"You're the one that doesn't seem to know how many total tricks there are." Mags snapped.
"Look, I could only take two. You said you would win five, but you took twice that." Joker snapped.
Anastasia examined the broken holoviewer as Joker and Mags bickered. Aside from the rattle the metal case had a large dent. The holo array appeared to be fine, so it was just the internal electronics. She could fix a lot of things, but this would likely be difficult. These things weren't designed to be repaired. They were probably made in an automated factory in Marik space and no one knew how to fix them. She sighed, if she had some tools maybe she could try something, at least salvage the memory module. The holo wasn't important to Mags, the pictures and videos were, so that gave her some options.
Anastasia put on her coveralls and slipped the holoviewer into a large cargo pockets. Soon everyone had finished there morning processes and were headed to the galley. Anastasia fell into step beside Harold. She looked over at him and smiled. It was good to talk to someone that understand how it felt to lose a parent. Since she had lost her father she had needed someone to talk to that could understand her and relate. She felt a little guilty as she wondered how her mother was coping.
Breakfast was all canned or prepackaged foods. After weeks of space travel all the fresh food had been eaten and whoever's day it was to cook had just given up and put out dried cereals, ready-made bread, canned milk, and canned fruits. It wasn't fresh, but at least it was nourishing.
Normally Fletch, or Tomax would pass out training assignments during breakfast. Today they handed out tasks for preparing the shuttle to land. There were areas to clean, equipment that had to be secured and dozens of other duties that had to be done before the drop shuttle could enter a planet's atmosphere.
Most of the MechWarriors helped the techs prepare their 'Mechs. The upcoming mission was supposed to be a garrison duty, and there was no expectation that this would be a combat drop, but just in case McFinnigan wanted the 'Mechs ready for action. He also wanted his company to look like professionals.
Since Hap, Anastasia, and Joker's 'Mechs were on the other drop shuttle they were tasked with helping Codey and Mal take apart the simulators. They went down to the vehicle bay and found the two techs already at work. Codey was pressing buttons on a terminal built into the large Leenex 60 cylinder.
"What is that thing?" Joker asked pointing at the cylinder.
Codey gave him a questioning look, "It's the power source from a 'Mech, specifically an Urbanmech. I can't believe you didn't know that. What do you think has been powering all the systems?"
"I dunno. We're on a massive ship. I just figured everything was patched into the ship's engines."
Anastasia sighed, "It has nuclear and hazard markings all over it. It's a large fusion reactor shaped cylinder, and nearly everything here is wired into it. Further, it has large air hoses going into the ship's air exchangers. It never occurred to you it might be a 'Mech's fusion reactor?"
"Anastasia, I'm not like you. There are a lot of things that never occur to me, alright?"
"Yes. I actually knew that." Anastasia replied.
Hap knew if he let them, Anastasia and Joker would argue all day. "Codey you need any help shutting down that generator?"
"Yeah I could use a hand." Codey said as he continued to press buttons on the maintenance panel.
"Mal, what do you need help with?" Hap looked to the short young woman with blue hair.
Mal had an armload of large cloth bags. She raised her eyebrows in surprise, and almost dropped her bags. "Um, I dunno. I usually have to do all this myself."
"What are you doing with those bags?" Hap asked
"The setup for the command couches are all custom work, so I have to make sure all the cables and pieces stay together. Each couch gets a bag and everything for that couch goes into its bag."
Hap nodded, "Got it. Joker, help Mal with the couches. Anastasia, you want to help Codey or Mal?"
Anastasia looked at Mal, and then saw something on the table behind her. "I'll help Mal."
"Hey why does she get a choice?" Joker asked
"Because we're here to help, and you couldn't recognize the most basic of fusion reactors." Hap replied
"Look, first of all I shut down a fusion reactor all the time, and I didn't recognize one because mine is inside my mech, where it's supposed to be. I bet you or Anastasia can't even name your engine type."
Anastasia looked up from the NAV board she was unscrewing, "It's an Omni 150."
"That doesn't mean anything! She knows everything about everything." Joker said.
"Mine is a CoreTex 275, and your Firestarter has a GM 210. I did a lot of my own maintenance, and I had to request a new engine after part of your shielding got destroyed during the 'hot drop' into Klathandu."
"Oh yeah. Well I didn't want to work on the reactor anyway." Joker said as he took a bag from Mal.
Hap walked over to Codey and helped him go through the reactor's safety shutdown checklist. Anastasia finished one couch and moved over to the one next to where Mal was working.
Anastasia carefully unplugged a target acquisition computer, "Mal, the HUD for these simulators, are they all made from personal holoviewers?"
"Yeah. This is one of my and Codey's specialties. We take a micro holoviewer, overwrite the code, wire it into the system and it works just like your 'Mech's HUD, and shows you stuff in 'the game'."
Anastasia continued to roll up cables and place them in the bag, "I see you have one plugged into your terminal at your workstation. Can you transfer data between holoviewers?"
"Oh yeah, we do that all the time. I got a whole setup over there." Mal said gesturing to the long table.
"If I had a broken holoviewer, do you think you could help me get the data off of it?" Anastasia asked
"Um…probably. Let's look at it during lunch." Mal replied. "Codey's really fussy about getting the simulators packed up before we start to land. He'll insist on sticking to his schedule."
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Chapter 19
"Remind me again why I'm looking at this broken holoviewer." Codey said as he sat down at his workbench. He unfolded the paper around his sandwich and admired the dent in the holoviewer.
"Anastasia asked me for a favor." Mal said as she sat down next to him and put her sandwich on the table in front of her, "Asked me" She repeated, "Since most MechWarriors usually bitch and yell at us to fix some piece of their 'Mech that they broke, I thought we'd reward her good behavior by helping her."
Hap sat at a loveseat near the work bench, he leaned back and got comfortable and started to eat his sandwich. Anastasia sat down next to him. She kept her back straight, crossed one leg over the other and carefully balanced her sandwich on her knee. Hap felt self-conscious and sat up a little straighter.
Codey mumbled to himself as he took a bite of his sandwich. The holoviewer rattled as he picked it up. He glanced over at Anastasia, "These things aren't supposed to rattle."
"You hear this guy Anastasia, he's a pro. Knows that holoviewers don't usually rattle." Joker laughed to himself as he took a chair next the couch. He slouched in his seat and began to loudly eat his sandwich.
Anastasia ignored Joker and looked at Codey, "I thought the same thing when Mags handed it to me. She was insistent that I try to fix it. She said it broke during the drop on Klathandu."
Codey nodded, "We lost an engine coming down. Let me tell you, that was an exciting drop even for us non-MechWarrior types. I wonder why she didn't ask me to look at it."
Hap smiled, "You know Mags. I'd say you're probably better off having her not ask you for help."
Codey mulled that over as he took another bite. He nodded and looked at Anastasia, "Yeah, he's right you're going to have to tell her we can't fix it."
Anastasia daintily unwrapped her sandwich. "I was hoping the memory module was still intact and you could transfer the data from this one onto similar model. I was also hoping, that since you used these as HUDs, I could purchase a spare unit from you"
Mal shook her head, "No need, we'll swap ya for it. We can use this one for spare parts. I like Mags, she doesn't take shit from anybody."
Codey gave Mal a questioning look and she responded with a look of her own, "Come on. It's usually the holo array that burns out, and this one looks intact, it's probably the board that's broken. It's really no big deal. Besides this is for Mags. She's usually pretty cool to us, or at least me." Mal told Codey.
"Are you and Mags friends?" Hap asked
"Sorta. She dated my brother for awhile. It was fun to watch her keep him in check." Mal set her sandwich down, "We got along pretty good while they were dating, and we still do."
"Who's your brother?" Joker asked as he sat up and leaned forward.
"Grizzly. It only lasted a few weeks. Grizzly decided she wasn't marrying material." Mal said.
Joker looked indignant, "What do you mean not marrying material?"
Mal shrugged, "I dunno, he thought she was too wild. I'd guess probably wanted a woman that didn't argue with him about everything."
"Or he didn't want his children's mother to be a woman that constantly says 'I'll cut you'" Anastasia said.
"Has she ever actually cut you?" Joker sneered at Anastasia.
"I pointed that out to her a few days ago in the showers. She replied I was lucky she didn't have a knife."
Before Joker could answer her Hap asked, "So Grizzly is your brother? How did the two of you come to be part of McFinnigan's company?"
"Dad joined up when Commander McFinnigan thought he had enough work for a company of Mechwarriors. When Dad retired Gerald, I mean Grizzl,y took his place piloting the family Wolverine. Codey's dad taught me to program and fix stuff. When Dad split Kelly offered to put me on the payroll."
"What sort of programming do you normally do?" Hap asked
"Usually it's pretty simple stuff, we got a broken system in a 'Mech, or in one of the shuttles, and then we find a similar part and I, as Commander McFinnigan likes to say, 'make it behave'. Basic stuff, modify the readout on a Targeting System to say 'Jagermech' instead of 'Rifleman', or change some of the basic configurations, sometimes I do some custom work for a MechWarrior or the shuttle pilots. Most times though, the Commander has these crazy ideas, like making these 'Mech simulators."
"You've done quite well." Anastasia said, "These simulators are very complicated."
Mal's eyebrows shot up, "Uh… thank you. Sorry, I don't often get compliments."
"What about you Codey? How did you join?" Hap asked
Codey sat up from soldering the holoviewer, and glanced over at Hap, "Oh my story is similar to Mal's. My Father signed up as an electronics expert, and eventually I took his place."
"So your dad taught you everything he could about electronics?" Hap asked.
"I wish. He taught me a lot, but not everything he knew." Codey turned back to the holoviewer and continued to solder. "My dad was a high ranking ComStar Adept that got disillusioned with ComStar and walked away. That man probably forgot more about electronics than I'll ever know."
Anastasia looked at him in disbelief, "I didn't know one could just walk away from ComStar."
"Normally one can't, or at least they usually don't. We lived in a tight little community that felt like military campus, or a prison, and we were surrounded by other ComStar members. When Mom was dying from cancer Dad needed a place to get away from it all. He found a bar he could slip away to and drink. For the year my mom was dying from cancer he'd just go and have a drink some nights. At first he thought ROM agents were tailing him, so he never talked to anyone. He stopped seeing them so he figured they gave up out of pity or boredom." Codey used a magnifying glass to inspect his work.
"So how'd the two of you end up here?" Hap asked.
"One night Dad overheard Erik and Mike talking about some 'Mech subsystem they couldn't make work." Codey passed the holoviewer to Mal, "It's your turn now. I bypassed the broken section of the board to get power to the memory module. Hopefully you can copy the data before the battery dies." Mal took the holoviewer and started connecting cables between her terminal and the holoviewer.
Codey turned back to Hap and Anastasia. "Dad told Erik and Mike how to fix their system. They talked awhile and they asked him to come to their garage. When Dad got there he easily fixed their problem. They showed him a dozen other systems that weren't working or were only partially functional, and by morning he had fixed those too. The next time he went to the bar McFinnigan offered him a job."
"Was it more money than what he got at ComStar?" Joker asked
"Yeah, but it wasn't about money, it was a way out. You have to understand my dad had a couple problems with ComStar. First, once you make it through the initial Acolyte period you become an Adept or a Precentor. According to my dad, if you were smart and showed you could figure stuff out like, like how to operate a Hyper Pulse Generator, you'd become an Adept. If you were more into the spiritual nonsense and management you become a Precentor. The Precentor Dad worked for was an idiot. He could quote Jerome Blake, and say all the right ComStar catechisms, but he was incompetent. Dad and his team kept the Hyper Pulse Generator working in spite of his boss's nonsense."
"Yeah that sort of thing pisses me off too." Joker said.
Hap looked over at Joker, "What are you talking about?"
"Uh, not you, I meant whenever I see that sort of thing." Joker lied
Hap shook his head, "Next shit detail is all yours." He looked to Codey, "Apologizes, please continue."
"Another problem Dad had was that he hated the way ComStar played Inner Sphere powers against each other, especially how they pretended to be neutral but were actually using information they got from running the HPG network. He didn't think they had the morale authority to condemn the House Lords, and thought ComStar had made themselves unworthy to bring about a new Star League.
Anastasia nodded as he spoke, "My father said the very same things."
Codey looked at Anastasia suspiciously, then shrugged, "It's sort of an obvious secret, I guess. The final thing was my mom got cancer. Dad requested a transfer to a core world so he could get her the best medical care, but his Precentor denied it. The Precentor knew Dad kept the HPG running, and if Dad left the HPG might fail. After Mom died that was it, he was done. Then Kelly offered him a way out."
"Wow" Hap said with a sigh, "Where is your dad now?" Haps asked
"Dead." Codey said matter-of-factly, then quickly added. "He was killed by a ROM agent. He had figured it would happen eventually. The real wonder was I survived and they haven't come back for me."
"I hate to pry," Anastasia said, "but, may I ask what happened?"
Codey nodded, "We were on Buckminster doing some jobs for the Lyran Commonwealth. We had set up a forward ammo and resupply point because the missions were almost back-to-back. Dad and I were working on a Range Finder when he got shot by a sniper. Everyone dived for cover and Erik called into Ops to let them know we were pinned down. Usually Ops would respond with artillery if we could call in an exact location. I was trying to see the sniper when I thought I heard Dad move. I carefully looked over the pile of armor I was hiding behind, and I saw this man's face floating in the air, and where his body should have been it looked like a rainbow of heat waves and weird colors."
"That sounds like an advanced mimetic cloaking device." Anastasia said.
"Yeah a sneak suit. ComStar has a bunch of high tech, los tech, and advanced kit. So I knew this had to be a ROM agent. It was just like Dad had warned me. The sniper saw me, and told me to come to him. He asked me if I was Codey, and wanted to know everything my Dad hold told the mercenaries."
"How did you get out of that?" Hap asked
"Well he was asking me a lot of questions about who my Dad had talked to, what sort of help he had given the mercenaries. It was a lot of stuff about tech exchange. I knew Dad was smart and a technical expert, but this guy made me think Dad knew everything about everything. He asked me about stuff I never imagined. While he was interrogating me, Mike slipped behind with that giant torque wrench."
"What giant torque wrench?" Joker asked.
"It's this two meter long adjustable torque wrench that looks like it was made for a 'Mech to perform its own maintenance. Mike and Erik are the only people I know that can even pick up the damn thing, and Mike walked behind this guy as silent as a cat and with one swing bashed in his skull."
"Damn, Hap. Didn't you say Mike hated you after working with you on your 'Mech?" Joker said.
"Mike told me my welding didn't look like a bag of ass. So I think I'm good." Hap replied.
Mal laughed, then looked around nervously, "Sorry, that just so like Mike." She quickly resumed typing.
"Mike might be a bastard sometimes, but he saved my life. The next day two people claiming to be representatives from the Mercenary Review Board came by, and asked a bunch of questions about the sniper and my dad and me. I wasn't there for the conversation but from what I was told Kelly knew something was up because they hadn't reported anything to the Review Board. Kelly gave them the body of the sniper and his gear, and told them all my dad's stuff had been burned, per his instructions.
Then Kelly convinced them that Dillon was me. Dillon's mech had taken a hit in the meat, so he was banged up pretty bad, and almost unrecognizable. Whatever answers he gave the "representatives" convinced them that I was an idiot. They left and told Kelly if he found anything odd in my dad's effects to bring it to the nearest COMSTAR office, and there'd be a reward." Codey said.
"I don't get it. Why would they care about any of your Dad's crap?" Joker said.
"Dad had some books and things that were very technical. ComStar actively seeks to prevent any high end technology from being recovered by the inner sphere House Lords. Like I said, they want the great houses and periphery bandits to destroy themselves. Then ComStar will usher in a new Star League and a new age of enlightenment, or some bullshit. The sad thing is, according to Dad, ComStar used their monopoly on interstellar comms to provoke or perpetuate the Second and Third Succession wars."
Anastasia nodded as he spoke. "Exactly. I'm sorry about your father, but, if I may, you said your Dad had ComStar books. Do you still have them? Are they ComStar technical readouts?"
"Sorta. I have several manuals on electrical engineering and communications." Codey said as he pulled a large plastic box out from under the table. "They're almost text books, and Dad used them to teach me and Mal. I still reference them sometimes." He opened the plastic container and pulled out a large black book that had Electronics Manual emblazoned in front of a Greek Alpha and the ComStar symbol.
Anastasia took the book from him and her perfect posture disappeared as she leaned back on Hap. She hands slightly shook as she opened to the table of contents. Her eyes flicked across the chapter titles and she rapidly flipped to a chapter near the end of the book. Hap could feel her almost trembling as she began to look over a chapter titled "Hyper Pulse Generator theory and Interstellar Communication"
Joker leaned over and frowned, "There's no words there, just a bunch of strange symbols and math problems. It was like the books for those math classes I wasn't smart enough for."
Hap glanced down and saw that there were several pages of mathematical equations. He couldn't tell if it was just one equation, or dozens. Anastasia turned the page as she explained, "It's similar to the equation a jump ship would use to calculate a jump between systems. Except a jump point is usually at the nadir and zenith of star's gravity well, but this equation is much more specific and complicated so that you can transmit your data as close as possible to your destination HPG station."
Codey eyes grew wide, "You shouldn't know that. You're right, but according to my Dad, Acolytes would not be taught that until they became Adapts and most Precentors were too stupid to understand that."
"Damn, if we were in ComStar all of you smart people would be working for me." Joker laughed.
Anastasia shook her head and turned a page. "I'd quit so fast it would seem like I never worked for you."
"Anastasia, how do you know how Hyper Pulse Generators work?" Codey asked.
"My dad wanted to build out his own competition to ComStar, so we read everything we could get our hands on. When I was at NAIS I had access to the Halstead Station library and the Helm memory core, so I did research for him. " Anastasia looked up for a moment, "May I borrow this book?"
Codey gave her a hard look, "That book is one of the few things I got to remember my dad, and I need it from time to time." He hesitated for a moment, "but yeah, just get it back to me before we land."
Anastasia nodded eagerly, "Certainly, yes. I understand."
Anastasia pressed herself closer to Hap. The elegance and formality were gone from her posture, she was focused on learning now. Hap put his arm across her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.
Mal turned around with the new Holoviewer. "Alright people, moment of truth, let's see if the data transferred." She flicked the power switch with her thumb and the system lit up and displayed a menu. Mal selected the most recent video and a holographic image of an old man appeared. He looked mean. He had multiple scars and was missing a tooth. His features softened as he looked into the camera and began speaking in fluent Spanish. Mal quickly paused the holo. "Oh! That's Mag's dad."
Hap nodded. "I think that's a private message. Thank you again Mal. Are you sure we don't owe you?"
"Naw, It's nice to have MechWarriors that appreciate my skills. Tell your friends." Mal joked
Codey stood up, "Well now that the charity work is over, I think we should get back to packing up."
-
When and if ROM comes a knocking they could bag multiple people of value...
:thumbsup:
-
Love it... but I'm not sold on the idea that Comstar's position on the Inner Sphere 3029 should be common knowledge or even common conjecture (outside of some circles in NAIS). I thought most rank & file IS citizens blame their nation's enemies for the tech knowledge decline?
-
not everyone
but Codey is the son of disenchanted genius Comstar Adept, who he passed on his feelings to and well Anastasia, her Dad was a genius who didn't trust Comstar.
and gee both dad died most likely by ROM
-
There is a problem when every scientist and reverse engineering team for 150 years dies. It becomes an open secret that the only ones that could do it are the phone company, because if you didn’t kill them, your enemy you just finished whaling on who couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag sure as hell didn’t kill them. Then the phone company that handles your mail and inherited those SLIC teams that killed scientist who pryed into secrets the Terrans declared Verboten and killed people in all those ways that just seem to be the exact same way all your scientists died... Well, there is only one place that higher technology and education exists, and that makes people nudge and wink about certain things.
-
Chapter 20
October 3029
Monhegan System
Hap, Anastasia and Joker met up with Mags in the galley after spending the afternoon helping Codey and Mal disassemble and pack the simulator system. They sat down around her and Hap asked, "How was your day Mags? How's the work on your Jenner?"
Mags groaned, "The techs had been doing routine maintenance on my Jenner. The missile feed mechanism was on the schedule, so I had to help them get it done. I spent the day lubricating the feed trays and linkages. I got all this lubricant shit under my nails and it takes forever to wash it off."
"I got something you can lubricate." Joker told her
"You want a lubricant gun shoved up your ass?" Mags countered
Anastasia set the holoviewer on the table, "We fixed your holoviewer."
"Really?" Mags snatched the holoviewer, and flipped the power switch. She went directly to the videos and again the image of the old man appeared. Before he could start speaking Mags paused the video.
Mags leaned over and hugged Anastasia. Anastasia gave Hap the half terrified, half overwhelmed look that she had when Kelly hugged her. Hap was bemused by this reaction. When they were alone she craved intimacy, but she seemed to dislike unexpected physical contact with friends or acquaintances.
Mags let her go and began to search through the other files on the device. Anastasia recovered from the surprise hug and explained, "We weren't actually able to fix it, but Mal and Codey were able to transfer the data from your broken system to one of their spares."
"Wow." Mags said quietly, as she played with the device "I wouldn't have thought to ask them."
"Mal was happy to help." Anastasia said, "She wanted you to know it was mostly her efforts."
"Mal really thinks pretty highly of you." Hap added.
"Yeah I dated Grizzly a while back. I think she liked the idea I'd be her sister or whatever." Mags said without looking up from the holoviewer display. "Didn't work out though."
"Yeah what happened with you and Grizzly?" Joker asked, there was an edge to his tone.
Mags continued to scroll through menus and files, "Nothing. He just wanted sex all the time." Mags shut off the holoviewer, "Jefe, you need me for anything tonight? I'd like to just go back to my rack."
Hap nodded, "Yeah, I understand. We don't have anything planned. If I need you I'll come find you."
Mags gathered up her holoviewer, but before she left she thanked Anastasia again, and then nearly jogged out of the galley. Joker watched her leave then turned back to Hap and Anastasia, "That's weird."
"Yeah, did she call me Jefe?" Hap asked as he adjusted his plate of schnitzel and spätzle mit kasse.
"It means chief. Maybe Mags has decided to be a team player now that we did something nice for her."
"That's not what I meant. Mags and Grizzly are weird. I wonder what they did together."
"Had sex apparently." Anastasia said nonchalantly as she cut into her schnitzel.
Joker looked up from scrapping Mags food onto his plate, "You're not funny."
Hap took a bite of his spätzle, "So you like Mags?"
"Yeah, maybe. It's not a big deal, you and the pri-uh-professor have each other."
Anastasia gave Joker a hard stare. "pass the mustard, please."
"You've been with a few girls, what's wrong with Mags having a past relationship?" Hap asked
Joker handed Anastasia the mustard, "First, don't threaten me with good manners, it's just weird. Second, it's not her past relationships, I'm cool with that, it's just that it's Grizzly."
"Thank you" Anastasia took the mustard, "Are you intimidated by Grizzly?"
"You shouldn't be, most women like men that are like their fathers, and Mag's dad looks like a skinny squirrelly bastard, which is a lot like you. Of course he looks a hell of a lot meaner." Hap said.
Anastasia pursed her lips and shook her head, "That not true. I'm very attracted to you, Harold, but my dad was a short balding little intellectual with a goatee. That is nothing like your clean shaven, tall, broad shouldered physique. Further you've made improvising, and exploiting the incalculable into a lifestyle. That is the polar opposite of my process driven, highly organized, scientist of a father."
"Damn, I think she just insulted you." Joker said.
"No, I'm telling you that not all women model their life partner after their father. This is actually fortunate for you because everything Mags says about her father implies he does not share your terrible sense of humor, he is, as some would say, a stone cold killer. Quite frankly, he is your opposite."
"Well they both love Mags." Hap responded.
"Whoa, I didn't say I loved her. Why are you two throwing around 'L' words like love and life-partner?" Joker spoke through his mouth full of food. "Mags and I are just getting to know each other."
Anastasia gave him a reproachful look as Hap asked, "What do you like about Mags?"
"First she's not uppity." Joker said returning Anastasia's stare. "and she's kinda cute. She's fun to be around I guess. Doesn't spend all her time reading." Joker smiled, "She also has a nice rack."
"You like Mags because she is completely unlike me?" Anastasia asked.
Joker swallowed his food, while smiling and nodding, "Yeah, I guess she is."
Anastasia's eyes narrowed, "One of the things I like about Hap is how he is unlike you."
"Of course he isn't like me, I'm one-of-a-kind." Joker laughed as he shoveled more food into his mouth.
"There is, of course, a lot more I like about you." Anastasia told Hap.
"I'm sure you've made a detailed list." Hap told her with a chuckle.
"I haven't, but I could make one." Anastasia said as she dug into her pocket for her pen and notebook.
"Don't" Hap reached across the table and putting his hand on hers. "Just tell me later."
"Yeah, Mags would never make a list about me. That's one more thing I like about her." Joker said.
Anastasia chose not to respond and dinner passed quickly. Afterward they returned to their living spaces. Mags bed chamber was closed but the other mechwarriors were sitting on their bunks talking. Joker asked them if wanted to play cards, but they weren't interested. Anastasia sat down on Hap's bunk and started to read the ComStar electronics manual.
Hap sat down next to her, and smiled as he teased. "So you only like me for my good looks?"
Anastasia frowned for a moment then she looked at Hap in surprise, "Oh Harold, I didn't mean to imply that. I was trying to say you weren't like my father, not in intellect but in process versus improvisations."
"I know Anastasia, I'm just giving you a hard time."
"Harold, our relationship is important to me. For the last three years I was generally trying to push everyone away, and I suspect I've probably learned several anti-social behaviors that I'm trying to stop doing. If I say something hurtful or offensive, please tell me, and know I probably didn't mean it."
"Okay, that's fair. If you say something that sounds intentionally offensive I'll talk to you about it. Is that just for you and me, or everyone?"
"Probably should be everyone." Anastasia said as she settled in close to Hap and rested her head on his shoulder, "Unless it's Joker."
"Yeah, I figure you're usually trying to offend Joker." Hap said as he rested his head on top of hers.
Fiona stormed through the berthing area. She briskly passed Hap and Anastasia and stopped at the other end of the hall. "Eugene, tomorrow I want your 'Mech repainted. No excuses. Get it done." She spoke authoritatively and Anastasia and Hap leaned forward to watch.
"Aww Fiona, but that's the last joke Jerry is ever going to play on me. Can't I leave it?" Crow pleaded.
"No. There is a large poorly painted penis on the side of your 'Mech. Fix it tomorrow." Fiona demanded
"But…"
Fiona interrupted, "Take a picture of it, we'll hang it in the galley. Then repaint your damn 'Mech."
Crow reached into his locker and produced a framed picture, "I hung it in the galley and Elinor came by and started shouting that she didn't want any pornography in the pub. She even gave me the look."
Fiona nodded and her voice softened, "Yeah even as a girl when Elley gave you 'the look', you were done. If you can get Kelly drunk enough he'll tell you how he was going to break up with her, but she gave him that look and next thing we all knew they were at the altar. But that is beside the point. Eugene," Fiona leaned forward to look him in the eye, "repaint your damn 'Mech."
"But what about Jerry?"
Fiona's shoulders dropped and her voice softened, "He's gone. We have to move on. I know you and him were best friends, or worst enemies." She sighed. "Honestly I never understood why Jerry tormented you. Look, there is a staff meeting tonight, but if you want, we can talk afterwards."
"Come by your room?"
Fiona nodded, "Bring a bottle of wine, it'll be like old times." She spun around on her heels. "Hap you hear all that? Kelly is convening a staff meeting."
"Um yeah." Hap said, he looked over at Anastasia and gave her a shrug. She nodded as he stood up and followed behind the Fire Support lance leader.
"We need to hurry Hap, or we'll be late." Fiona told him as she proceeded down the hall.
They started to quicken the pace as Hap asked, "Are you and Crow together?"
"We were awhile back. It's a long story, but after everything that happened on Klathandu I've been thinking we should get back together. Eugene is a good man, and he can be a calming presence."
"Was your relationship with Crow a problem with other members of your lance?"
They started to climb the stairs to the command deck. "You live with the mutants in my lance, what do you think? Dillon is just smart enough to do what he is told. Old man Rolph doesn't care about much as long as he gets the parts he needs to maintain his 'mech and time to pump iron, and Eugene's more laid-back than you. Eugene can also separate the bedroom from the cockpit. So no, it wasn't a problem."
Hap was quiet for a moment as they kept climbing the steep stairs of the drop shuttle. Fiona slowed and looked over her shoulder at him, "Hap, if you're concerned about you and Anastasia, I'd remind you that you're a mercenary now. The Ares Convention is just something House lords accuse the other guy of violating. All is fair at love and war, and you'll learn pretty quick it's all the same. You two clearly like each other, and life is short. Don't over think it.
"I'm trying not to, but I want to get my lance together before things go too far with us."
Fiona shook her head, "I'm telling you it doesn't matter, Mags might bitch, but she is always looking for something to complain about. I don't know about your pal Joker, but he probably won't care either."
"As long as Joker doesn't think I'm being hypocritical he's usually fine." Hap said, pulled himself up the stairs. He really didn't want to talk about him and Anastasia. "What is the story with Jerry and Crow?"
Hap could sense Fiona tense up a little. She stopped walking, "I don't know if you've noticed, but Eugene is the guy you want on your team. He is easy to get along with, and when things get hard he usually looks around and tries to make things easier for others. Jerry was...not that way. He was selfish, mean spirited, complained about everything, and his practical jokes often got out of control."
Hap nodded, "Joker can be like that sometimes. Crow is easy to like. Do you think Jerry jealous?"
"No." Fiona said quickly, "Well, actually" She thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. I will tell you that Jerry perpetuated a 'friendly' feud with Eugene. Maybe it was out jealously. I will tell you the feud wasn't something that Eugene was good at, I always thought that was Jerry's real joke."
"Really? That 'Mech hand seemed clever. It had Mags and Joker howling, but it nearly broke Anastasia."
"See, what I mean by, 'out of control? The story there is Jerry requested fire support, but Eugene's magazines were dry, so he told Jerry he was "Winchester, and returning to the munitions point". Jerry turned his Shadow Hawk around and flipped him off. Then the one-in-a-million shot happened and the OpFor blew the hand off of Jerry's Shadow Hawk."
She started walking again, "After the mission the techs couldn't fix the 'Mech's hand. Erik made a hook for him until we found another Shadow Hawk arm, but Jerry liked it and opted to just keep it.
"Is that the weird curved thing on the wall in the galley?"
She nodded, "Yes. We kept it after his 'Mech was destroyed. However, when he was alive Jerry took what was left of his 'Mech's hand and had the techs make a rude gesture which he put in Eugene's bed."
"What about the toy rabbit and the laundry."
"You don't want to know, let's just say you made the right call by having Eugene replace everything that touched that terrible rabbit. I had him space it." Fiona shuddered as she thought about the rabbit.
They continued up the stairs quietly for a few minutes, until Hap broke the silence. "So what do you think this meeting is all about?"
"Since we're in system I assume Kellly has been in contact with the client. He probably just wants to tell us what to expect, and make sure we off load like professionals."
"Sounds like it should be a pretty quick staff meeting."
"It should be, but Kelly will keep us around half the night trying to take all our money."
"Yeah, I like the informality of it all, but, no offense, I'd think I'd rather spend more time with Anastasia."
"Oh you're not alone. There is only so much of Fletch's sarcasm and Patrick's drinking I can take."
"And you got a night of reminiscing with Eugene about a guy you didn't really like." Hap pointed out.
Fiona gave Hap a wicked grin, "We're not reminiscing. We're going to polish off a bottle of wine, and he's going to forget about that jackass. Tomorrow we'll be back together, and he'll repaint his damn 'Mech."
Hap gave her a perplexed look, "Why get back together with Eugene now?"
Her grin disappeared, "Klathandu was a hard contract. Normally we drop on a planet, destroy whatever or whoever our client paid us to destroy, and get to the DZ before sundown. If we spent more than six hours planet side, we either made a mistake or were getting paid a fortune." Fiona swallowed hard.
"The ReeCee lance leader, Danny, got killed on the initial drop. Jerry took his place and led them into an ambush a week later. I had a resupply truck with ten tons of ammo. We launched everything we had, overheated our 'Mechs, and still couldn't save them. After that deployment I had to take some time for myself and think. I've decided life is too short, and I want to get back together with Eugene."
They finally reached the command deck. As they approached the officer's lounge Hap asked, "So you're telling me not to waste time, and if I'm going to start a relationship with Anastasia I should just do it?"
"You're a grown ass man Hap, do what you want, but me, I'm not wasting time anymore." Fiona told him as she pushed open the door to the lounge. "But if I were you, I'd start acting smarter."
-
Chapter 21
Now that McFinnigan and Sons were days from landing the preparations for their new job were non-stop. Every time Hap thought they were done with one task there was something else to clean, secure, or prep. At dinner the night before they would land Hap was assigned the additional duty of being the Officer In Charge (OIC) for the single warrior's barracks.
Kelly explained the contract included housing and accommodations for the Mercenary company. There were apartments for the married couples and families, and a barracks for the single mercenaries. Hap's main responsibility was to ensure the mechwarriors kept the barracks clean, didn't cause irreversible damage, and stupidity was kept to a minimum. Hap went to Roweyna and requested the details on the barracks. She was able to find the plans, and make him a copy.
Hap looked over the designs as he walked back to the berthing area. He recognized it as a standard AFFS barrack design that went back centuries. Hap could already see the rectangular three story concrete building made for housing a 'Mech battalion. Each company would have its own floor, and the floors had six double occupancy rooms, a shared latrine, a day room, and a suite for the commander.
As Hap entered the living spaces he was surprised to find Anastasia and Mags sitting on his bed. Mags was showing Anastasia pictures from her personal holo viewer, as Anastasia braided her own hair.
"This is another one of my cousins, Freda, and her children." Mags said
"How many cousins do you have?" Anastasia asked
"I don't know, when we had family reunions it felt like the whole planet of Cerillos came out." Mags flipped to a picture of an elderly woman. "That's my Abuelita."
"Oh! I have an Abuela. She's not my grandmother, she was actually our cook, but she insisted I call her Abuela. After my grandmother died she was the closest thing I had."
Mags scowled, "She was your family's cook? Did she ever hit with her shoe?"
Anastasia looked confused, "No."
"Then she wasn't your Abeule."
"She taught me Spanish and how to cook. What does hitting me with a shoe have to do with anything?"
Mags grumbled "la chancla" and some more Spanish as she changed the picture. "Here is Abuelo's farm. I mean, it's the family farm. Uncle Rex actually runs it now, but it will always be Abuelo's farm to me."
Hap walked over to where he could see the projected image of a few bison like animals in a dusty field with a reinforced steel fence. "When was the last time you were home?" Hap asked.
Mags thought for a second and counted on her fingers, "Oh shit! Jefe, It's been six years. Yeah, we've done a lot of drops, but I haven't been home since I was thirteen."
"I thought you hadn't seen any combat yet." Anastasia said.
"Doesn't mean I wasn't on the ship when it went down to a planet. And this bitch gets shot at, sometimes. But yeah, the Commander pulled me off of reserve status after the whole ReeCee lance got smoked. Still, I've been on every drop since my old man called me out here."
Hap sat next to Anastasia, "Where is your dad, now?"
"One day he started to get the shakes." As Mags spoke she held her hand out and shook them violently "The doc called it aster-aster-rickets or something.
"Asterixis" Anastasia said, "It means your father has liver damage, likely from drinking."
"Yeah, that's what the doctor said. He also wouldn't clear Dad to pilot a 'mech anymore. He decided to go back to Cerillos, and leave me with the Jenner and Commander McFinnigan." Mags turned off the holoviewer. "So he's retired now, but a man like Raul "Macho" Camacho, that'll kill him."
"He still has his daughter to carry on the family name and do him proud." Hap said.
"Yeah and lucky for her, he left her a Jenner and not some piece of shit Urbanmech." Joker said. Hap glanced up to see Joker reclining in his bed looking at a porn magazine.
"Hey, Urbanmechs aren't shit!" Rolph yelled from down the hall.
Joker turned the magazine sideways and unfolded the center poster. "They're sure as hell not great."
"I'm going to bed before Joker starts another argument." Mags sighed
"I'm not starting arguments." Joker said, then leaned over and shouted down the hall, "I'm just putting out truth that some people can't handle."
Anastasia looked at the papers Hap was holding, "What do you have there?"
Rolph started walking toward Joker's bed chamber, "When you start saying truth, you let me know."
"I'll be the OIC for the Mechwarriors Barracks. I need to assign rooms, make cleaning rosters," Hap said as he watched Rolph stalk toward them "may as well start requesting supplies to fix damages too."
Anastasia took the paper from Hap, "Oh! Let's go assign rooms and make duty rosters."
Joker leaned out of his berthing, "I'm telling you truth right now. The overly specialized 'Mech you love so much is crap, except for when it can slip up behind someone in a dark alley."
"Overly specialized 'Mech! This from a Firestarter Pilot!" Rolph howled
Hap could see Anastasia was genuinely excited to help, "Okay. Let's go find a quiet place to work."
"Are you saying my Firestarter is overly specialized?" Joker was yelling now.
"It's in the name donkey brains." Mags said quietly as she pulled her hygiene bag out of her locker.
"See your girlfriend gets it, Donkey Brains, Firestarter, it's made to start fires." Rolph said.
"Hey! Only she calls me Donkey Brains." Joker yelled as he slid onto the deck.
"Not his girlfriend, never going to be his girlfriend." Mags said as she walked down the hall.
"What?" Joker asked as he chased after her.
"Hey, don't walk away from me." Rolph said as he followed them.
"We should go before they come back." Anastasia said
Hap nodded and stood up, "Yes. Making duty rosters suddenly sounds fun."
Hap and Anastasia walked down the hall to the MechWarrior lounge. Dillon, David, and Grizzly were there watching an animated holo.
"Why are three grown men watching a holo made for children?"
"This is based on a Manga. It's is high art from the Draconis Combine, Anastasia." David said
"Yeah Professor, there's a lot of complex themes here, and the animation is highly stylized. I'd think someone as sophisticated and intellectual as you would know all about this." Grizzly said
"It's not for children, either. The girls get naked when the monsters catch them." Dillon added.
Anastasia looked like she was searching for the words as Hap gently turned her around, and led her back out the hall, "Perhaps we should try the observation lounge." He told her.
As they walked Anastasia looked at the floor plans, "What exactly were you assigned to do?"
"Single Mechwarrior barracks OIC, we get the second floor. Techs on the first, air crew on the third. It's most of the single Mechwarriors, plus the Saint twins." Hap replied
Anastasia cocked her head to the side, "Who are the Saint twins?"
"John and Mark Saint. Those tall red headed twins that seem to work half the jobs on the shuttle. They're not Mechwarriors. Kelly calls them his "roustabouts." They do whatever odd job Kelly needs done. I've seen them maintaining and testing the shuttle's guns, or working in the shuttle's engineering section. Today they were walking around making sure everything was strapped in or locked down."
"If they aren't 'Mech warriors why are they staying with us? I don't mind, I'm just curious."
"They apparently run the Ops center when we're conducting military operations. Kelly likes to keep them close to the Mechwarriors, so everyone knows and trusts each other. It sort of make sense."
Anastasia shrugged, "Well they're twins so they'll can share a room."
They found the observation deck empty. Hap chose a recliner with a small end table near a large window and Anastasia dragged an overstuffed chair next to the window and placed the floor plan on the table. "This should be pretty simple, we have the suite plus six rooms, and how many mechwarriors?"
"You, me, Mags, Joker, Grizzly, David Lee, Dillon, Rolph and Crow, plus the Saints. I think everyone else is either taking an apartment or a town house. Whatever is available I guess."
Anastasia pulled out a small notebook and pencil, and started writing. "If we put you in the command suite, and generally keep everyone together by lance-" She looked up, "We'll have a spare room."
"Yeah I noticed that too. Kelly suggested we let Rolph and Grizzly use it for a weight room. If they have a place to work out it apparently keeps some problems from happening."
Anastasia made a note, "Alright I think I got it, Mags and I will share a room for obvious reasons."
"You want to share a room with someone that constantly threatens to cut you?"
"I'm starting to think if Mag's ever cuts anyone she probably won't tell them first. Besides, ever since we transferred the data on her holoviewer, she's been much more pleasant. We don't have much in common, actually outside of this unit we have nothing in common, but we're fine. It's a little odd."
"That's a soldier's life. One of my lancemates back at Albion is like a brother to me. We have nothing in common, except the miserable times we shared at Albion. If we had met outside the academy I'm sure we would've hated each other, but you spend enough bad times with a guy it makes a bond. "
"Is Joker like a brother to you?"
Hap looked at her seriously, "Yeah, the little brother I never wanted." They both laughed.
"That sounds right." Anastasia got quiet and went back to her list, "Returning to the task at hand, we can put Rolph and Crow together, because they are almost always together."
"Sounds good."
"I guess Grizzly and David are the next logical pair, which leaves Joker and Dillon."
"Switch David and Dillon." Hap said, "Joker's not necessarily mean, but sometimes when he thinks he's funny he can't see what a jackass he is. I don't want Dillon to get caught in one of those moments.
"If you want to maintain lance integrity we could trade Crow or Rolph for Dillon."
"No I think Crow is probably going to end up with Fiona in her apartment before it's all said and done. I'd prefer Rolph get his own room. Rolph has seniority over everyone in the barracks."
Anastasia started writing on the copy of the floor plan. "Mags mentioned Fiona and Crow were together awhile back, what makes you think they're getting back together?"
"Remember when Fiona was telling him to paint his 'Mech, and then they talked about Jerry and she invited him to her room? On the way to the staff meeting she was telling me that she had decided life was short, and she wanted to get back together with him. Since then I haven't seen him much."
Anastasia looked puzzle, "I saw him...oh! I don't remember the last time he was in our berthing area."
"Yeah, I'm not sure what happened with them in the first place, but I hope it works out."
"Fiona didn't tell you why they broke up?"
"No, just that Klathandu was a hard deployment and it made her really think about her life. She also told me I shouldn't overthink our relationship."
Anastasia looked up from writing, "Oh, I've always liked Fiona." She reached for Hap's hand.
"Yeah, she told me I needed to be smarter." Hap said as he squeezed her hand.
From the window in front of them Hap and Anastasia could watch the shuttle pass near a gas giant with several moons. They quietly watched the moons slowly flow out of view. After a small molted blue and green moon passed by Anastasia got up and sat down in Hap's lap. Their combined weight was enough to activate the recliner and the back of the chair tipped back.
As they settled in Hap asked, "Are we done making rosters and assignments?"
"I'll get an AFFS Form-6 or something similar and just line up names to cleaning duties later. It will be random and everyone will hate it. Which is how cleaning rosters always work anyway."
Hap enjoyed the moment of holding her. She sighed contentedly as they both watched the moons slowly pass by. It was strangely soothing. If Hap had thought to bring his blanket, they'd sleep here.
"How did we find ourselves here?" Hap asked her as she gently rubbed his chest.
Anastasia watched the moons orbit around the large planet for a moment, "Same way you and I find ourselves in any situation. You were wondering around trying to figure things out, and I thought about what I wanted and planned a way to get here."
Hap wasn't sure if she was teasing him, or if she was being blunt. He carefully glanced down at her face but she seemed engrossed with watching the moons float in space. "You had a plan to get us to the observation lounge so you could share a recliner while we watched the planets drift by?"
"No. I had a plan to spend to spend time alone with you, it just happened to end here."
"Did your plan also include Grizzly and David and Dillon watching a dirty movie in the lounge?"
"Harold, I make plans so I'm prepared, but no plan survives first contact fully intact."
"That is where I come in." He was now sure she was being candid.
"That's where you excel." She nuzzled him under the jaw, "Which is very lucky for me, because sometimes I'll want to make a perfect plan, when improvising is best."
Anastasia got quiet and Hap let his mind drift as he considered what she was saying. She was right. Her strength was in planning and organization, his strength, or general strategy for life, was just taking what he had and making it work. As tactical leaders they're strengths were very complimentary and he could see how letting her do mission planning would significantly help him. He'd just execute her plans, or when her plan got crippled by something unforeseen, he'd improvise their way to victory.
This was great for them as lancemates, but as lovers, this was going to lead to some friction. His "make-it-up as we go along" attitude would constantly rub against her "let's make a plan" personality. In an hour or so they'd likely go back to the berthing area. He'd have to choose between insisting she sleep in her own bed chambers, and then trying to sleep alone thinking about her. Or he could just curl up with her in his own bed and spend a delightfully uncomfortable night holding her. Staying here was an option too, he supposed, they were pretty comfortable.
Hap realized he was overthinking things again. It struck him as ironic, the one thing he was good at, improvising to success, was the one thing he couldn't seem to do when it came to Anastasia.
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WRITER'S NOTE: We'll be back in the 'Mechs next week, I promise.
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That's fine. In our crazy times now in RL, dreamy interludes are essential.
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That's fine. In our crazy times now in RL, dreamy interludes are essential.
I wish this forum had a thumbs up function.
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:thumbsup:
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I wish this forum had a thumbs up function.
but it does :thumbsup:
and write at your own pace my friend, it still all good. You brought them to life for us
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I like this 8)
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:thumbsup: Thanks Doc, Snakespinner, and cklammer.
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Still a great story without mech destruction.
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"I'll get an AFFS Form-6 or something similar and just line up names to cleaning duties later. It will be random and everyone will hate it. Which is how cleaning rosters always work anyway."
Hap is wise in the ways of admin. Totally arbitrariness is often the quickest way to fairness.
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an AFFS Form-6 The ban of every AFFS 1SG since the star league crashed.
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It's my humble belief that military bureaucracy, like the other great religions, was carried with mankind into the stars, and that AFFS would, as they had with other Northern American and European ideals, enshrineg the holy text of things like a DA-6 into their own library of forms, regulations, pamphlets, and field manuals.
And EAGLE7 there likely are many angry 1SGs sick of filling that damn thing out, but there are also several 1SGs amusing themselves as they borrow the CO's white board so they can figure out how to "randomly" give the guy they hate the worst detail the most amount of times.
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“And EAGLE7 there likely are many angry 1SGs sick of filling that damn thing out, but there are also several 1SGs amusing themselves as they borrow the CO's white board so they can figure out how to "randomly" give the guy they hate the worst detail the most amount of times.”
Nope 1SG’s have a special ap for excel to cook the DA-6, for well deserving soldiers. It is handed from one 1SG to the next as part of change of responsibility ceremony.
Company DA-6 is easy, it is a BDE duty roster that was a nightmare. The number of “exempt from duty personnel” at BDE level is ridiculous. Other than the so called exempt pax DA-6 is an equal opportunity hate machine to everyone.
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Chapter 22
October 3029
Monhegan
Hap guided his Griffin to the shores of a large clear blue lake. They had only been on Monhegan for a few hours, and were already conducting their first patrol. Hap's lance had just enough time to stow their gear, fire up their 'Mechs and start marching around the roads and area outside the star port. They had been patrolling for about an hour when they found the lake southeast of the star port.
The lake was idyllic, surrounded by a large thick forest that was bright with the colors of autumn. Behind the lake was a tall ridge that sloped down to touch its shore. Hap could see the voids and bare spots of trails winding through the forest and going up the ridge. Behind it were mountains with dark rock and white trickles of run-off from icy peaks. Hap already knew where he wanted to spend his time off.
He brought his Griffin next to Anastasia's Valkyrie. Joker's Firestarter and Mag's Jenner were moving around the far side of the lake. The 'Mechs seemed out of place against the wild natural beauty of bright fall leaves, dark green pines, and clear blue sky reflected in crystal water. Even in the heat of his cockpit Hap could almost feel the cool air and smell earth and leaves. He thought of hunting trips with his dad.
"There is something in the water." Anastasia's calm voice interrupted Hap's thoughts. Hap glanced over at Anastasia's Valkyrie. His Griffin was a few meters taller and he could look down into her cockpit. It looked cramped, even for a light 'Mech. He watched make adjustments to her sensors and write on her knee board. The Valkyrie's head was slightly down and appeared to be staring intently at the lake.
Hap switched his radio to the channel he shared solely with Anastasia. "What's going on over there?"
"I'm trying to scan something in the bottom of the lake. It may be a Leopard class drop shuttle."
"You got enough space over there?" As Hap asked as he watched Anastasia look around her cockpit.
"The advanced sensors are a little bulky." Anastasia shrugged, "It's not too bad though."
"Yes, you're also shorter than the average mechwarrior too." Hap shot back.
Anastasia shook her head, "My mother and my ballet teacher told me I was the perfect height."
"Very good, finish what you are doing." Hap knew that Anastasia loved to solve problems, and they had time since he had Joker and Mags manually mapping out the lake area.
The light for the lance channel flashed. Hap toggled channels to hear Joker ask, "What's wrong with the Professor's 'Mech?"
"I'm scanning something at the bottom of the lake." Anastasia said, "Likely a leopard class drop shuttle."
Mags 'Mech was near edge of the lake, "The lake is pretty deep, but I can see something down there."
"Well if you think a shuttle crashed in the lake we could just ask ops." Joker suggested, "Just like we could have asked ops for topo maps."
"Or we could link into satellites and download maps, instead of stomping around." Mags added.
"I think we need the training, and since this is the first chance we've had in nearly a month in our 'Mechs, I thought you'd be happy to 'stomp around' and stretch your legs." Hap replied
"We've also been planet side for only a few hours." Anastasia said, "Given the choice, I would prefer to find a shop, purchase clothes, find the ComStar office and send a message to Mother."
Hap was used to having to inspire or motivate Joker and Mags, but if Anastasia turned on him it was going to be a long patrol. He glanced at his watch, it was 1500 local. "Alright, Mags, get up on the ridge line see if there's anything interesting up there and mark a Target Reference Points. Anastasia, try to finish up and we'll get back to the base, get into town in time to for dinner, shopping, and-"
"And Anastasia can call her mommy." Joker interrupted.
"What's wrong with that, donkey brains? I'm going to send my dad a note, and some money." Mags said
"I'll tell you what's wrong. We barely land and old man McFinnigan is telling us we have to do the first patrol. That's some bullshit. We barely had time to throw our shit in the barracks." Joker whined.
Hap watched Mag's 'Mech rocket into the air, for a moment he thought she had stepped on a mine, but he could see the flame and trail of smoke from her 'Mech's jump jets. The Jenner sailed in a high arc, and just as it looked like it was going to crash into the ridge, Mag's managed to land heavily on her feet.
Hap keyed his mic, "We're the junior guys in the outfit Joker. You know how this works."
"New guys always got to do the shit work. How do you not know that? Mags asked, "Always complaining about everything, you need to man up, and stop bitching like a new recruit."
"Hey, I'm not a boot, I'm just speaking up for the little guy, which is us. You should be complaining too. Also I've been in real combat, I'm seen some shit." Joker started yelling.
"Commander McFinnigan is doing us a favor by having us conduct this patrol." Anastasia said coolly.
"Getting out and doing a pointless patrol, when I could be spending my pay check on whores and liquor doesn't seem like a favor to me." Joker replied as he trudged around the lake.
"We're are on probation status until we complete an operation in support of a contract, which this patrol constitutes" Anastasia said. Hap watched as she kept adjusting her scanners and making notes.
"Yeah what's your point, Professor?" Joker asked.
"Once we complete this patrol we'll no longer be on probation status and we can receive our full entitlements. Which means more money for you…to put in your pocket."
"My old man would tell me he liked working for Commander McFinnigan, because he takes care of his people." Mags said, "Jefe, what am I looking for up here? I don't know what a target reference thing is."
"A Target Reference Point is a terrain feature used to adjust artillery fire, or a location the enemy is likely to loiter. It can be a hill top, a building, an intersection or chock point on an avenue of approach, or an obvious fighting position, like a hill's military crest." Anastasia said without looking up.
"Okay. There's a road here, but no intersections." Mags said as her Jenner shuffled around.
"Wait one." Anastasia said. Hap watched as she straightened up in her cockpit, and the 'Mech seemed to stand up straight and tall in response to her posture.
Her Valkyrie took a few steps forward before it rocketed into the air as plumes of fire and smoke erupted from the legs and back of her 'mech. The Valkyrie rose a dozen meters in the air and then almost skimmed over the lake to gracefully land in waist-deep water. In an instant her 'mech was rocketing again toward another shallow spot in the lake.
A few minutes ago Hap's computer reported the rough features of the lake, but Anastasia scans had revealed the lake's ridgeline with a steep ten meter drop off that sloped to almost twenty meters to the side of the lake connecting to a river. Hap could even see the drop shuttle's silhouette at the deep end.
The Valkyrie landed deftly next to the Jenner. Anastasia took a moment to look around, "Okay Mags find the highest point, and…Oh that's odd. Hap, there are tank defilades up here."
"What? Freshly dug tank defilades?" Hap asked.
"Not freshly excavated, but there are three vehicle fighting positions that have definitely seen use. They have rutted dirt roads, there's even some gravel. I don't recall any reports of battles or skirmishes in this area, but the star port is only a few kilometers due north, artillery could easily range it from here."
"Mark them, and I'll call them into ops." Hap said, then added, "Mags move about 60 meters north. From here that looks like the top of the hill. Mark that spot too."
The Jenner took a few tentative steps. "Yeah it's a nice flat spot, and you can see the whole valley."
Hap could see multiple cross hairs appear on his topographical map display. "That's enough for today, form up in a wedge on me and we'll start back to base." Hap said as he turned the Griffin around and started toward the road. "Anastasia you take point."
He switched over to the command net. "Ops this is Hap."
"Aye, go ahead, Recon Lance." The voice sounded young and feminine and had an Irish accent.
"We have Target Reference Points to mark." Hap said as he tried to place the voice.
"Oh, ah." There was a pause, "let me get Hammer Lance on the net, and you can pass the data through."
Half of hammer lance were backing up the patrol in the unlikely event they needed fire support. Hap heard Fiona's voice, "This is your Guardian Angel, Hap you got some business for me?"
"Just Target Reference Points" Hap waited for the data link light to flash, and then hit the send button.
"Oh TRPs, that's what Ops meant by targets." Fiona sounded impressed, "Kelly's going to be happy to have professional- Hap these are within 200 meters of each other. I think one would suffice."
"Yeah, one is the highest point on ridge line by the lake, so that is for adjusting fires. The others are tank defilades. Keep in mind I'm training my lance."
The radio went silent, "I'm looking at the satellite imagery." Fiona told him and the radio went quiet again, "I see what you're talking about, those are definitely tank defilades. Alright. I got the solutions programmed in and all TRPs labeled. I'll pass the data to the rest of my lance and the Tir na nOg's guns."
"Anastasia mentioned the defilades looked like they had been built a while back but there were dirt roads leading up to them, like they've been used a lot. We're not sure what that's all about."
"It's probably the local militia's training area. They likely come back to the same spot for every field problem or exercise. The Lexington Combat Group may know something. Ops, are you still on the net?"
"Aye, go ahead."
"Kitty call the LCG's Ops and see if they know who trains in the vicinity of, oh what's this? Topaz Lake."
"Aye Aye."
Hap felt foolish, "Fiona, if you think this is just a training sight we can just use the one TRP."
"No. Those look like good positions. Anyone with decent artillery could range the star port from there. If we start taking indirect fire I'd rather have it all pre-calculated. Military history is full of smart people ignoring an obvious advantage their enemy could use, and suffering for it. Let's be smarter, Hap."
"Good copy." Hap replied. That made sense and he felt less conspicuous about all the TRPs.
"I see Hammer lance is going to have to shadow the patrols from the fence line to cover some of the patrol route. I think this is enough for one day. Bring your lance back in. We'll be doing patrols regularly for the rest of this contract so we'll figure it out."
"Roger Fiona. Break, Break. Ops, we're returning to base."
Kitty came back on the radio, "Copy that Recon lance."
As the recon lance was formed up around him Hap considered how this conversation with Fiona was similar to other talks he had with her, and other members of the mercenary company's leadership. As a young officer he was told mercenaries were undisciplined violent psychopaths who would do anything for money. Most AFFS officers considered mercenaries at best, a necessary evil, and at worse the most base of warriors that would prostitute themselves rather than fight for honor and noble ideals.
Aside from their corrupt motivations it was a "well known fact" among most AFFS officers that mercenaries were inferior. Of course, there were certain exceptions like Wolf's Dragoons, the Kell Hounds, and Eridani Light Horse, but those were "special cases". Hap was finding this prejudice to be unfounded, at least in McFinnigan and Sons. The veneer of professionalism may have been lacking but the quality of warrior was, for the most part, as good or as bad as what Hap had seen in the RDMM.
The Recon lance was now formed up into a wedge with Anastasia leading, Joker and him behind her and Mag's behind Hap. Hap switched to the lance net "Take us home Anastasia. Just follow the road."
"Certainly, Harold." She said as her 'Mech started to walk to the embankment and everyone followed.
"Hap, I was thinking," Joker started, "McFinnigan and Sons has Hammer Lance for fire support, Anvil Lance for the command lance, and the raiding lance is Dullahan Lance. I don't know what a Dullahan is-"
"Dullahan is a headless caballero in Irish myth, I think he's some demon of death." Mags interrupted.
"Patrick told me the stories" Hap said trying to remember, "Dullahan is a headless horseman and if he shows up at your house it means someone that lives there is about to die. So, yeah, what Mags said."
"Yeah, so there's hammers, anvils, and headless death guys, but we're just the Recon lance."
"You think our lance needs a name? You got a suggestion?" Hap asked. In AFFS unique company names were normal, but it didn't usually go down to the lance level. McFinnigan and Sons kept things special.
"I don't know, I tired of being 'the Recon Lance'." Joker replied, "Maybe we could be Hooligans again."
"No, that was Major Holman's thing. Besides the normal convention it's something with the same letter of the leader's last name." Hap replied
"We could be Calahad's Chasseurs." Anastasia suggested
"What's a chop-shower?" Joker asked
"Chasseur" Anastasia said it slowly "Chassuer a cheval is French light cavalry, which is what we are."
"We're not French Anastasia." Joker said.
"We come from the Federated Suns which is founded, in part, on the French principals of-"
"I'm just going to stop you right there Professor, I honestly couldn't care because I'm a mercenary now and I think French is a weak language, and didn't they kill all their nobles a couple hundred years ago?"
Anastasia sighed heavily, "Joker, the French Revolution was nearly 1,200 years ago."
Mags chimed in, "If you think French is weak, we could use Spanish, how about Calahad's Caballeros?"
Hap had thought naming their lance was unnecessary, but it seemed important to everyone else. "How about Calahad's Coyotes? They're wild and unpredictable pack animals, but they're notoriously clever."
"That" Anastasia sounded like she was about to argue, "Actually, that sounds like us."
"I like Coyotes. My uncle would tell me stories about how the Coyote spirit was a trickster that sometimes helped, but sometimes would confuse or lie to a young warrior." Mags said.
"I don't know, I was hoping for something more like Hooligans, I'd settle for Hoodlums." Joker said.
"So it sounds like everyone is good with Coyotes." Hap said. He really didn't care, but if the ladies were good with it and it annoyed Joker it was at least worth the amusement value for the hike back to base.
"I'm not good with that. I didn't agree to shit." Joker replied.
"I think I'll get a coyote tattoo." Mags said.
"Harold, we should get coyote lance shirts made up." Anastasia sounded pleased.
"Is my mic not working? Hello. Comms Check. Can anyone hear me?" Joker yelled.
"We hear you Joker. I'm not running a democracy, but if three of us agree, I'm not likely to fight it" Hap said. "Anastasia, that sounds good. Let's do that. Mags, can you make a stylized Coyote for us?"
"Yeah. I think I know what I want my tattoo to look like. I can draw up something for all of us."
"Guess we're Calahad's Coyotes now." Joker said glumly.
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Chapter 23
Monhegan
October 3029
Hap and his lance completed their first patrol and returned to the star port without incident. During the patrol Anastasia passed the data she had from scanning the lake to the Ops center and asked about the Leopard. Ops took down everything and promised to have something by the time they returned for their debrief. Joker tried to convince the lance to choose something besides "Calahad's Coyote's" but Mags and Anastasia were adamant, and Hap enjoyed Joker's annoyance.
McFinnigan and Sons had taken over several buildings on the back end of the Star Port. The Ops center was located in one of hardened building closest to the Tir na nOg. They also commandeered a large hardened hangar next to the Ops center. This hangar was used as the primary 'Mech bay and repair facility. The life support area with the housing and barracks was a short ten minute walk away from Ops.
The Ops center was located in a windowless room with screens showing multiple maps, views from orbiting satellites, a few different local and intergalactic new feeds, and some of the screens were off but had paper taped to them that said things like, "Aviation Tower Feed", or "Weather satellite feed". Codey was working behind one of these monitors attaching wires.
In the center of the room was the large holo display from the simulator. It was now displaying a three dimensional map of the star port and the adjacent area where Hap and his lance had just conducted their patrol. Kelly and Crow were standing by the holo display discussing the lake and ridgeline area.
On one side was a terminal that displayed several of systems for the Tir na nOg. The weapon systems were currently highlighted. Seated at the terminal was a young woman with short curly red hair, and Fiona stood behind her. As Hap passed them he overheard Fiona explaining how to program TRPs into the Tir na nOg's fire controls.
There were a few other members of family in the Ops center, most of them were teenagers, but there was a middle aged man with a clipboard standing near Crow listening as he spoke to Kelly. Hap didn't know the names of most of the people in the ops center. Hap assumed this again was another of Kelly's use of family members to cover down on the essential non-combat tasks.
Kelly nodded to the recon lance as they entered, and motioned with his pipe for them to come to him. Hap led the way to the holo projector. Kelly smiled at all of them, "Good work today on your patrol. We made some calls after you left the lake. Kitty what did you learn?"
The red head at the terminal looked over, "That leopard shuttle crashed a few hundred years back in that lake. It's now mostly used by salvage divers to practice exploring wrecks. It's no good for anything else, but the local militia was impressed we found it on our first day."
Kelly nodded and motioned with his pipe, "And what else?"
"Ah, the militia confirmed they used the hills over the lake for training, and they said if we needed additional fire support and the planet was under attack, they could have their artillery ready within a few hours and would be more than happy to 'service our targets'." Kitty added.
"Does the militia have a standing ops center? Most planetary militias don't." Fiona said.
Kitty shook her head, "No I called the Lexington Combat Group, they told me they were minimally manned and didn't have time for me, but they gave me the militia commander's phone number, so I called him. He was more than happy to talk. He told me about the lake, the training area, the shuttle, and everything." Hap could hear that Kitty had, what the McFinnigans called, "the gift of the gab."
Kelly nodded, "As you can see, while you were out you made some work for the Ops center. Which is fine, it's what they're here for, and now we have access to more artillery support. This got me thinking" Kelly pressed a button and the holographic map zoomed back, "I want you to start exploring this region here" He pointed to a pass through the mountain chain that connected the lake's ridge line, "and here" he indicated a swampy area north of the star port. "We have good maps and hi-res sat images, but the data you gathered is much better. I want to know everything about how to move through these areas."
Hap nodded, "Yes sir. Too easy."
"But that'll wait. For now, I want to congratulate all four of you, you've completed your probation period. So go get cleaned up, find Ms. Lan. She'll see you're paid." As he spoke a few people in the room actually clapped. "Go enjoy yourselves, but be back for the 0900 work call."
They turned to leave but McFinnigan stopped them, "Ah, wait a moment, have ye given any thought to a name for your lance? I prefer if the four of you had one name I could call you all by."
Before Hap could speak Joker said, "We're thinking Coyotes. They're wild dogs, but they're smart."
Kelly smoked his pipe as he looked at the four of them. "Coyotes?" He nodded slowly. "Unpredictable, cunning, wild, pests." As he spoke each word he looked in turn at Hap, Anastasia, Mags, and Joker. "Aye, Calahad's Coyotes. Kitty, make note. Make sure it's in the pass down log. Coyotes, off ye go."
On the way down the stairs they saw a sign indicating the Admin offices. They found more people unpacking boxes, and moving furniture. Jessica Lan was attaching the top to her massive mahogany desk while she told two tall teenage boys which corner to put her large safe.
When the short Asian woman saw the Coyotes she came out from behind her desk, and pointed them to a folding table along the wall with a large metal case and a ledger. "The Commander told me when I saw you to that you will have finished your probation period, and should be paid in full." Ms. Lan said.
"Yes Ma'am, he told us to come and find you." Hap motioned to Mags to step up.
Ms. Lan opened the case and pulled out an envelope that had, "M. Camacho" written on it and strange block characters beneath it. Before she gave Mags the envelope Jessica asked, "Are you going to send some money to your father?"
To Hap's surprise Mags nodded respectfully, "Yes, I'll write him a note and send it first thing tomorrow."
"Good." Ms. Lan smiled as passed Mags the envelope. Jessica opened the ledger and pointed to a line with Mag's name. Mag's signed her name as Ms. Lan handed an envelope with A. Vallois to Anastasia.
Anastasia thanked her as she signed in the ledger. Joker was next. Jessica gave him a shrewd look, and held up an envelope marked W. Cameron. Ms. Lan asked, "William Cameron, right?"
"Yeah, Jessy but I prefer Joker, now give me my money I got places to be." He tried to grab the envelope, but Ms. Lan kept it out his reach.
"It's Ms. Lan, to you." she snapped. "If you want to get paid, you're who I say you are. Now, sign my ledger, William."
Joker huffed, signed, and then snatched his envelope. Hap was surprised Joker didn't have a nasty response, but Jessica Lan had the air of an aunt that wouldn't think twice for punishing a child that acted out. She offered Hap an envelope with H. Calahad written in neat script and more odd block characters.
"Thank you, again, Ma'am." Hap said as he found his name and signed. He saw the amount next to his name and still couldn't believe how much he was being paid.
"Don't thank me, Hap. You earned it." Jessica's eyes narrowed, "You have to put with the Joker."
Hap glanced over to see Joker was too busy counting his money to hear the insult. Hap politely excused himself and his lance, and they started walking to the barracks.
"Why do you think Jessica Lan is such a bitch?" Joker asked as they walked.
"I was trying to figure out why you had to piss off the pay master." Hap said.
"Yeah, donkey brains, you shouldn't mess with Jessica Lan. One time Grizzly thought it would be funny to call her Mama-san, and she grabbed his nose and threw him across the room."
"How does a woman half his size throw Grizzly across the room, and isn't her callsign something like Mama-san? I remember hearing it and thinking it was Capellan or Kuritan sounding." Joker said
"The best way to answer all your questions is for you to go and call her 'Mama-san'." Anastasia said.
"I'm not trying to pick a fight with her. Damn, I just want to know why she's so mean." Joker said.
"She has a case of money that contains over a million c-bills. She is responsible for making sure about a hundred people get paid exactly what they are due. She probably feels the need to make sure that people like you understand she is no one to trifle with." Anastasia said.
"Trifle with? Why do you talk like that? You should say F-"
"She also has a sawed off shotgun in her vest." Mags interrupted, "Dad sawed it down for her, he told me if someone ever tried to steal from her, 'it'd be a life changing event'."
"Joker, this one time, please, for your own sake, be polite to Jessica Lan. You call her Ms. Lan or Ma'am when you see her." Hap said.
"Fine, whatever, I'll be polite to Miss Lan. I don't even care. For this much money, I can be nice to her once a month if I have to." Joker said.
They found themselves back at the barracks. It was an ugly three story rectangular concrete building. The sun was starting to set and the building looked dark and empty. It seemed everyone had gone into town to relieve stress and spend their money, and Hap knew his lance wanted to do the same. "Let's get cleaned up and meet out here in ten minutes." Hap said before they entered the barracks.
The lance climbed up to the second floor, When Joker turned on the lights they were met by curses and a demand to "Shut that light off".
A tall red headed man with countless freckles and brown eyes poked his head out of the door to the nearest room. "Hey! We're trying to sleep, we got watch at 0600."
"Sorry." Hap said trying to figure out if this was John or Mark Saint, "We didn't realize you two were trying to sleep. Give us a few minutes, and we'll clear out. Why don't you close your door?"
The other twin came out into the hall, "No doors man."
"Why are there no doors?" Anastasia asked as she looked up and down the hallway
"Older barracks design." Hap sighed, he hadn't noticed this before, but he could see there were only doors on the latrine and the stairwell. "Allegedly it was supposed to inspire trust between MechWarriors, but really it was so leadership could ensure that their warriors weren't drunk or high. I wondered why LCT gave us perfectly good barracks, odds are good none of their people wanted it."
Anastasia sighed heavily.
"Well at least we'll know that Joker isn't across the hall abusing himself." Mags said
Joker laughed, "Oh don't think no doors is going to stop me."
John and Mark groaned as they turned to go back to their beds.
"Let's hurry Coyotes, The Saints need to sleep and we need to find dinner." Hap said. They went their own ways to get ready. Hap's room was larger and had a separate head with a shower. It wasn't very big but it was all his. The barracks came furnished. It was mostly standard military issue beds and wall lockers, but whoever the previous occupants were had fully furnished the day room with couches and an entertainment center. Hap's room also had a futon and a holo screen. This likely meant the barracks had belonged to a unit that had gone to war and didn't return. One more reason the LCT gave them up.
Hap stripped down and got into his shower. He thought Grizzly or Rolph might want the suite, but they both laughed and told him if he was going to deal with Yorik over keeping the place clean, he could have it. Considering the door situation he'd start earning the room sooner rather than later.
As Hap showered he wondered if they could just build their own doors. It wasn't the easiest piece of carpentry, but he knew enough from helping his dad around the house. After thinking it over he figured it would be better to take a collection from everyone and just pay someone. Then he started to wonder if he could do the same thing with a cleaning service for the barracks.
Hap stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. He glanced at the empty towel rack and realized he hadn't pulled his towel out of his go-bag. He glanced up to see Anastasia conspicuously looking down. Her face was bright red and she was nervously playing with her braid.
Hap quickly grabbed his dirty clothes and covered himself, "Can you hand me my towel? It's in my bag."
Without looking up she nodded and grabbed his bag. After a moment she gave up and walked the bag over to him, still keeping her head down. "I'm sorry, I came to see if you were ready."
Hap reached in and took out his towel. She turned around as Hap started to dry himself, "I should've knocked, but there's no doors." Anastasia said.
"Yeah. I'll talk to Yorik, maybe we can get doors installed, we'll probably have to pay for it though."
"I'll gladly pay to have a door installed in your room if you let me use your bathroom and shower."
"Are the shared facilities that bad?" Hap wondered if Joker "accidentally" walked in on her and Mags.
"They're fine, but it's been a long time since I had my own bathroom."
"You'd be sharing it with me."
"Yes, of course, but still I'd have the luxury of not having to keep all my toiletries in a bag."
Hap found the cleanest clothes he had and turned his back to Anastasia to put them on. He wasn't sure why he felt embarrassed about being naked in front of her. He had been with other women and knew he had nothing to be ashamed of. He had also slept next to her a few times. They had been almost as intimate as they could be. Even now they were talking about sharing a bathroom, but he felt conspicuous about getting dressed in front of her.
As he zipped up his coveralls he thought of how to solve this problem between them, but he knew Anastasia would be unwilling until his room had doors, and probably a lock. He also occurred to him they had never kissed. That would also have to wait till they had some privacy. He opened up his pay envelope. "What are our plans for tonight?"
"I'd be very pleased to get some civilian clothes, and then have dinner. I suspect the ComStar office is closed for the day, though, so we'll have to go back tomorrow."
Hap nodded and started to pull out a crisp 500 ComStar bill. "I could use a new pair of blue jeans, and some t-shirts. It's getting cold, I should buy a coat. Damn I'm gonna miss my leather jacket."
She pulled more bills out his envelope, "You're going to take me nice places. You'll need slacks, a sports coat, button up shirts, and some nice shoes. We should just plan to buy you a new wardrobe too."
Hap placed the significantly thinner pay envelope into his wall locker. "If you're going to start dressing me, I'm a little surprised you're not just claiming my shower for yourself."
"I was trying to help you maintain the 'good order and discipline' of our barracks. I figure if you let me use your personal facilities, then you'll have to defend why you won't let everyone."
Hap led her out of his room "I think they'll assume our relationship is why you get special treatment."
"Harold, if you're offering to share your private shower, I accept." She said as they walked down the hall
"Once we get doors and can enjoy some privacy, we should discuss sharing more things."
"Fair enough." Anastasia reached for his hand, "so when are you going to talk to Yorik?"
"Tomorrow probably." Hap opened the stairwell door with his free hand.
"You're going to wait that long?" Anastasia asked.
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*claps* I was laughing at so many places in the story so far...
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I see you have a democracy, the women vote and the men accept. :thumbsup:
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A grand update :thumbsup:
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I see you have a democracy, the women vote and the men accept. :thumbsup:
I need your address to bill for new keyboard
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First things first. I love the story. Better written than several official BT novels I have read. The Merc unit is believable and you appreciate the diverse characters instead of it being just mechs with random faceless pilots. Even the bad ones sound cool. I feel committed to these people.
Following this, here come a bunch of random notes I took when reading the story.
I think Harold is out of his league when it comes to Anstasia, and he can come up as an ass regarding her. This is great. His fear of failure shows all around. And it throws a wrench in his way of approaching things, putting him at odds with himself. Being so slow Hap is risking failure with a bad plan. Clearly planning is not his thing, yup. She is asking for something and he is failing to provide a big part of it. He got some slack from her due to her crush, but she might get tired.
I feel like Anastasia should get annoyed at his slower than slug pace speed in relationships after a while. This is the only poi t int he story where I disagree with the story so far. She just allows him to stop her too much. She does not accept that from any other subject or matter, and this is clearly her priority. He is acting too purposefully and this should fail. I do not buy that Anastasia is not ready for sex (appeared in chapter 18 or so, before she gets tangled in the bed sheets). That or she is so insecure that is getting best Harold in just. Theoretical way, and when he pushes for actual sex she should panic. Can work, but I think she should be annoyed by now.
A good scene would be for one of them to become drunk and make a scene that puts a chink in their relationship. It can be either of them.
Anastasia going out and having sex with someone else due to frustration and drinks.maybe) would be a cool twist and put some pressure on a playbook relationship.
Anastasia is 19, but how old is Harold?
I would love for the 2 mavericks in the unit to develop a stormy relationship, one of those cheesy high emotional ones that appear in Anstasia's novels. And she can get envious of them at the same time as find it preposterous.
Anastasia's mech should not be that bad in terms of drawbacks. Non standard parts would do it. How they procure them? Do they have to create them themselves probably. Difficult to maintain if you want, but since she is there she compensates it herself. A techie scene about the techies needing her to repair the mech and not liking this special thing would be cool. Maybe they become excited when they realize what the AAA really can do, since they are machineheads after all. Liking the AAA and still considering it a pain to work with would be a thing.
I was thinking that the new Coyote lance is better for exploration than before (even if it is on the slow side of things for a recon lance due to the Griffin and valky) but that they would not stand a chance in front of the 2 Heavies of the first scene now. A Jenner has strong firepower, but cannot compete with a hunchie in decisive kick. That made me smile.
I would have liked to see a combat simulator scene. Or a combat scene that just happens to be a simulator one, so you can I termini with more relationship development later on. Might satisfy both "killer vs lover" parts of the audience. It would also have helped in envisioning them developing a lance spirit. Minor thing here, since things are going great anyway.
Ah, I can see both mavericks having flaws of their own that hey cover with the aggressive exterior. Strong but brittle persons are quite common. And they can come stronger if they open up at some point. Lots of options there, from past hurts to life frustrations or just awkward ways of trying to fit in society without knowing any better.
Please, keep on writing for our collective enjoyment. Greatly appreciated. You approach is changing the way I will approach my owb next piece of fiction/RPG recap. I just read this thread in 2 very enjoyable days. Keep it coming!
Now I am just waiting for some rough guys to put a real leopard on top of the wreck, loaded with mechs and catch someone unawares....
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Elmoth, Wow! Thanks. There's a lot there. I really appreciate the compliments. It's always nice to know people are enjoying my writing, it's humbling to think that my writing is something that makes you want to "change your approach" to writing. I look forward to seeing what you write.
I'm generally hesitant to comment on people's suggestions, or when they clearly have figured out some future story arc (I swear I think a couple of you are somehow reading my notes, and you should stop it, or at least write SPOILER ALERT).
Some things you've suggested I probably won't incorporate, because it's not in the character or story arc, but some of the other things you've said, I think I've laid the grown work for, or you've guessed where things are going. I'm not sure if that's because I'm relying on concepts like chekov's gun, or I'm really predictable, or some of you are just super smart (This has proven to be one of the politest fan communities, why wouldn't it also be the smartest?)
As the story continues I still hope continue to find the characters compelling or at least interesting, and enjoy the story.
Thanks again for reading.
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Glad you appreciate the fedback.
Restating my question, how old is Harold?
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Glad you appreciate the fedback.
Restating my question, how old is Harold?
Hap just turned 24.
He would have had a birthday during the voyage to Monhegan. (this is an "oversight" I hope to address in a later chapter, but it keeps getting edited out. I have strict rules on my chapter size, and I'm fighting against what I perceive is a pacing problem)
For an additional point of reference Hap entered Albion at 18, graduated at 22, spent his 6 months as a Subaltern, and made Leftenant just before turning 23. (I think I edited this out)
In case your curious Anastasia entered NAIS at 16 because she was tutored at home and completed her "high school" education early. She received a waiver to enter the Corps of Cadets her freshman year. She found herself, as a Cadet, on Klathandu at 19 between her Junior and Senior year of school. (I think she explains this somewhere in Chapter 8, during the poker game)
(EDIT NOTE: I had originally written Hap's age as 25, but it should be 24)
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Chapter 24
Hap and Anastasia met Joker and Mags outside the barracks. Anastasia, Hap, and Joker were still wearing their coveralls. Mags was wearing tight fitting maroon pants and a tan cropped shirt. The pants had strategic rips that exposed some of her tattoos. Mag's also wore a leather jacket, and ankle boots.
"You all are just going to wear your coveralls into town?" Mags asked as they started walking.
"It's all we have." Hap explained, "So first order of business is to get some new clothes, at least for me and Anastasia. What were you hoping to do?"
"I want to check out the tattoo parlors, see who does the best work." Mags said.
"I thought you were still working on your coyote design." Anastasia said.
"I am. I just want to find a good artist, so when I'm ready I know where to go. I also want a good restaurant that has fresh salsa. I don't need clothes though, maybe I'll go on my own."
"Hap, I think I'm going to help Mags find a new tattoo guy and some food, but if I give you money can you grab me a pair of blue jeans and a couple t-shirts?" Joker asked.
Hap started to reach for the money, but Anastasia gently pushed Hap's hand down, "We won't be shopping at a place where you just purchase clothes on the rack."
"Oh." Joker said as he put the money back in his pocket, "Mags, I think I need to stop by a W-mart or some other place that's open twenty-four seven where I can get new clothes."
Mags shrugged, "We'll find something, I guess."
"You know you don't need designer or name brand everything." Hap said to Anastasia, "Maybe we can pick up a few essentials with Joker and Mags."
Anastasia gave a noncommittal sound as they walked past the ops building and headed toward the access control point that separated the high security portion of the star port from the civilian side. They showed their security badges to the contracted security guard. Hap was about to ask them if they could borrow their phone to call a taxi just as one pulled up.
Fletch, Tatyana, and their young daughter, Sophia, emerged from the taxi. Fletch and Hap exchanged greetings, and Anastasia and Mags waved to Sophia who adorably waved back. The Coyotes loaded up into taxi and asked the driver to take them to the shopping district.
A few minutes later the taxi stopped in a busy metropolitan area. The sun had fully set but bright street lights were coming on, and business signs helped illuminate the area. Crowds of people hurried along on their own errands and activities. Hap paid the taxi and Joker agreed to pay for the next one.
As they got their bearings Anastasia saw a promising department store and grabbed Hap's hand. Before he knew what was happening they were in the men's department and Anastasia was pointing out what she thought would look good on him. A young salesman approached and Anastasia explained what Hap needed and the styles and colors she preferred as she pushed Hap toward the changing area.
A few hours later Anastasia came to collect Hap. She was wearing a wine colored silk blouse, with a thin black skirt. She carried a brown suede jacket trimmed with silver fox fur draped over her arm. She found Hap dressed in khaki's with a blue button up shirt and trying on brown leather shoes. She looked him over and smoothed out his collar, and rested her hands on his shoulders. "Harold, I like this look."
Hap put on his shoe and looked up at her. He had never seen Anastasia like this. Her hair was down and had been styled in large curls, with have of it over one shoulder. Her fitted blouse suggestively hugged her curves and the skirt had a graceful sweep as she walked. It gave her an attractive feminine aura that her coveralls had concealed. It was hard to imagine Anastasia piloting a 30 ton war machine.
Hap stood up. "You look gorgeous. I mean you were gorgeous before, but now, you're even more…" Hap stopped himself, he wasn't sure why she still had this effect on him. "You look amazing."
She smiled and whatever mind bending power she had was amplified, "Thank you Harold. Ready to go?"
Hap decided just to nod as he walked over to the counter. He got his wits about him again, "I think I got everything I need, but I'm not sure how we're going to get it back to the barracks."
Anastasia waived dismissively, "That's simple enough, they'll deliver." She approached the counter, and smiled at Hap's salesman. He immediately stood up straighter and looked attentive at both of them.
"Yes Madame, what else can I do for you?" The young salesman asked.
"I believe we've gotten everything I need." Hap laid the shoe box on the counter.
"Did you get a coat?" Anastasia asked
"Perhaps you would like a leather jacket, sir. We have several styles ideal for a mechwarrior-"
"He'll take a woolen pea coat. Let's try one of those." Anastasia pointed to a display of jackets.
"The lady has good taste." The salesmen walked over to the display and looked for the right size.
Hap gave Anastasia an irritated look, "You know I wanted a new leather jacket."
"Yes, but there is an AFFS Military Clothing Sales store over near the LCG's compound. We'll get you a standard issue leather jacket and you can have all your patches and badges sewn and pinned on it and you'll be much happier with that than an expensive name brand jacket that isn't exactly standard issue."
Hap nodded, she was correct. He did want a jacket like his old one. He tried on the charcoal colored woolen jacket, it felt heavy and bulky but once he got it on it seemed lighter. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked like a different man, he could also see Anastasia's reflection in the mirror. For most of this shopping trip Hap had felt that Anastasia was pushing him around, but all her choices did look good on him, and the look she was giving him now made his annoyance evaporate.
As Hap and his salesman started to work through Hap's bill, a young woman carrying a large paper bag with the store's logo emblazoned on it approached Anastasia, "Madame Vallois you forgot your old clothes, or were you hoping I'd burn them?"
Anastasia smiled, "No, Portia, sadly, I'll need those tomorrow, but it's generous of you to offer."
Hap glanced over, "Can I get one of those bags? I'll need one for my boots and coveralls."
"I'll attend to it, sir. Are your clothes in the changing room?" Portia walked toward the changing rooms.
"Yes, Thank you." Hap glanced at the total bill. It was more than he had wanted to spend, but he could afford it. He reminded himself he needed new clothes, and these were quality.
"Sir, the additional tailoring and hemming will not be done tonight. Where shall I have your clothes delivered?" The salesman asked as he typed on his terminal.
"Same address as mine. The address should be under Vallois." Anastasia replied.
The salesman nodded. "Mr. Vallois, you and your wife's clothes will arrive tomorrow afternoon."
Hap almost corrected the salesman when Portia returned, "Here Mr. Vallois, it all fit in one bag."
Hap looked over to Anastasia. With a smile and a shrug she suggested he just let play along.
"Thank you both." Hap looked over at Anastasia, "My wife and I appreciate your help." Hap buttoned his coat, took the bag of their old clothes, and escorted Anastasia out the exit. She put her arm through the crook of his. As they walked it began to snow. Hap glanced at her and she was still smiling.
"You didn't tell your sales woman we were married did you?" Hap asked
"Certainly not Harold. I think it's obvious to any casual observer the chemistry and affection we have for each other, though. Also I would have ensured she somehow implied that I was your 'better' wife."
"More like they saw how you completely ran that operation and I was letting you push me around and they thought 'these two have to be married, otherwise why would he let her to do that?'"
"I wasn't domineering, I was helping you with direction. Besides you look good. You should thank me."
Hap glanced at their reflection in a dark store window. She certainly wasn't wrong. "Thanks."
"You're quite welcome." Anastasia said magnanimously. "Now let's find somewhere to eat."
They walked aimlessly for a few minutes, the wind picked up and the gentle snow became blinding. Anastasia spied a warm looking café and pulled Hap to it. As Hap reached for the door they could see "Le Petit Café" painted in gold on the frosted glass. "Do you think it's a French cafe?" Anastasia asked.
Hap closed the door behind them and looked around. It was a small café with an assortment of random chairs and tables a few booths with an eclectic mix of pillows and cushions. On the walls were stylized illustrations of women wearing high fashion, and a few sketches of the Eiffel tower, and Parisian streets. There was a door leading to the kitchen in the rear. Anastasia smiled as she looked around. A young man with a white shirt, black slacks and a stained apron stood near a counter looking at them expectantly.
"Bonjour" Anastasia said, and followed up with a string of something Hap couldn't follow but he was certain had to be French. The waiter looked at them confused and motioned around the café.
"I guess we can sit where we like." Hap said quietly to Anastia. "Would you like a booth?"
Anastasia nodded as she led him to the booth in the corner. Hap helped her remove her jacket as the waiter offered them menus. Without thinking Hap asked, "Can we get two Cappuccinos?"
"Deux Cappuccinos s'il vous plait" Anastasia told the waiter as she adjusted pillows.
The waiter nodded before Anastasia was done speaking and disappeared into the kitchen.
Hap hung up their jackets on a hook near their booth. "Are you sure you speak good French?"
Anastasia's eyes flashed, "My French is flawless."
Hap sat down, "I only ask because the waiter seems a little confused when you speak."
"He's probably surprised at how well I speak it." Anastasia said, "Harold, French is the language of the Vallois household. One of my maternal grandmothers nearly made it the official language of Hazelhurst. At NAIS I tested out of French and received enough credits for both my language and humanity requirements. My officer record brief lists my French proficiency as 'native speaker'."
Hap reached across the table and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "I apologize. I'm not sure what's going on with our waiter."
As if on cue, the waiter returned from the kitchen holding two saucers each with small mugs, spoons and sugar packets. Hap sat up and moved his hands so the waiter could set the drinks in front of the couple. The waiter retreated to the counter near the kitchen.
"Do you know what you want?" Anastasia looked over her cup as she sipped her cappuccino.
Hap poured sugar into his drink, "I chose the drinks, I'll let you choose the meal."
"Okay, but you can't accuse me of 'pushing you around' when you let me order."
Hap looked sheepish, "That's fair, and maybe I was being a little over sensitive at the store."
Anastasia started to reach for the menu, then smiled, "Actually I know what is perfect on a cold evening like this, and a good French cafe must have it." She waived to the waiter and he hesitantly approached.
"Serveur, deux soupes a l'oignon, et deux croques madame s'il vous plait." Anastasia told the waiter
Hap glanced up to see the waiter's confused look. Hap held up his hand, "Wait, what are we having?"
"Onion soup, and Croque madame, my favorite sandwich. I wanted you to try it."
Hap nodded, "That sounds good, I'd love to try your favorite sandwich, and hot soup sounds perfect."
The waiter nodded and looked relieved as he again disappeared into the kitchen.
Hap watched Anastasia elegantly sip her cappuccino as she observed the blizzard outside. There was a comfortable silence between them, and a sense of intimate familiarity that required nothing from either of them, but just being together. She set down her mug and caught him looking at him. She smiled like she was thinking the same thing. Hap asked, "Are you having a good evening?"
Anastasia looked around, "I really am. I got new clothes, we've found this lovely café. We're together and alone. Tomorrow we'll send a message to mother. I don't know if I could be much happier."
The waiter returned with the soup. It was a viscous brown beef broth with thin slices of onions and topped with a thick layer of bread and broiled cheese. As Anastasia predicted, the soup was comforting and delicious after walking in a blizzard. As they ate they watched a man outside struggle against the wind and wet snow. "I think we might have to call for a cab to get back the star port." Hap said.
"Agreed." Anastasia said as waiter set down plates with a fat toasted sandwich that a poached egg on top. "Merci beaucoup." Anastasia told the waiter as he took the empty soup bowls.
Hap eyed the egg on top of his sandwich suspiciously, "I'm guessing you don't pick this up to eat it."
"No Mon cher, you should use a knife and fork like a civilized person." Anastasia gracefully cut into her egg and bread and let the runny egg yoke spill out over the sandwich.
Hap used his fork to cut off a corner. The sandwich had a gooey center of cheese and warm ham, and the bread had a sauce that had been fried in. It was rich and buttery. After a few bites Hap looked up at her, "This is really good. When I saw a French café I was worried we'd be eating snails."
"Escargo depends on the snails and how the chef prepares them. Sometimes it can taste like buttered dirt, and sometimes it's too much garlic. It's one of those dishes that gets too much attention, and you never know what you'll get. Croque Madaam is a consistent pleasure. Much like French wine."
"You want a glass of wine?"
Anastasia nodded, as Hap replied, "Let me try." He caught the waiters eye and held up two fingers as he said, "Two, pardon, deux Cabernet Sauvignon." The waiter nodded and opened the cabinet beneath the counter revealing wine shelves with dozens of bottles. He selected a bottle and poured two glasses.
Anastasia took her glass and gave it a gentle swirl. She sniffed it and smiled, "Good choice Harold. I would have gone with a white, since we're eating ham, but I do like a good Cabernet." She lifted her glass, "To more evenings like this."
The glasses clinked as Hap returned her gesture and sipped the wine. The food was good, and he couldn't think of better company. They finished their meal and Anastasia excused herself to the ladies room as Hap approached the waiter. Hap pulled out his money clip, "You don't speak French do you?"
"No man, your wife was killing me. I've gotten in trouble for being a little sarcastic with the guests, so I didn't want to show any disrespect, but I was really struggling. Thanks for figuring it out."
"She's not my-" To Hap's surprise the bill was significantly less than he thought it would be. He gave the waiter a few extra c-bills for a tip. "Thanks for being a good sport. Can you call us a cab?"
The waiter nodded as he looked at his tip. When Anastasia returned Hap helped her put on her coat and explained how money was a universal language and he was able to pay without speaking French.
As they started to leave Hap looked around. He was walking out of a quaint café where he had enjoyed a gourmet meal and wine with the most attractive woman he knew, and he was wearing designer clothes. If it wasn't for Anastasia he would have been at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant or dive bar with Joker and Mags drinking beer and wearing whatever he found at the twenty-four hour super store that specialized in affordable goods. He had been annoyed a few times tonight with Anastasia, but he still considered it a good evening. He saw how this relationship would change him, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it.
Anastasia gave Hap a look similar to the one she had given him at the department store, "Harold, what are you thinking about?" Hap still couldn't tell what that look meant, but he liked it.
He considered telling her the waiter couldn't speak French, or that he was worried he was going to lose himself. The cab pulled up as he led her out. "I was thinking how different things would be without you."
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Chapter 25
October 3029
Monhegan
At the 0900 work call Kelly explained the Company would be on light duty for the next week. It would be minimal manning in ops and maintenance, and one daily patrol alternating between the Coyotes and the Dullahans. Everyone would need to stay close, but he wanted people to relax a little after Klathandu and the long voyage. Kelly told them starting in November they'd start to retrain, re-hone their martial skills and he'd find some side work, but for the next week everyone should try to relax, a little.
After the morning brief Hap found Yorik and Fletch, and explained the situation with the lack doors in the barracks. Yorik told him the contract did not allow for making modifications to the building. They could put up shower curtains with tension bars, but anything permanent would be violate the contract. Fletch explained that when Hap was in AFFS his life was guided by military regulations and general orders, now that he was a mercenary contracts generally replaced regulations. Hap got the message.
Hap returned the barracks and found most of the mechwarriors there. The Saints were running Ops, so he'd have to go and talk to them later. Hap explained the situation with the doors and everyone seemed to just accept it. Anastasia wasn't pleased, and Hap suspected the Saints would be annoyed. The mechwarriors had returned at all hours last night and when the Saints got up at 0430 they got ready as loudly as possible as their own form of revenge. Hap would have to talk to them about that as well.
Hap reminded everyone they had to share the space and when they had more missions and night operations it would be more important to be respectful of everyone's schedules. To Hap's surprise everyone seemed receptive. Kelly had told Hap that if anyone really gave him problems there were fines, and ways to dock pay for problematic behavior, but Kelly didn't think it would come to that. He explained most of the mercenaries were hand-picked. Kelly intentionally tried to hire people that could work and live together. Hap's job was to give polite reminders, not be a drill sergeant to conscripts.
So far that seemed to be holding true. Mags and Joker probably were the most problematic of the mercenaries, but Hap assumed that was more an age and experience problem. When he was a Leftenant he had seen and heard about situations from other companies of discipline nightmares, and extreme interpersonal problems. Hap realized he actually had a pretty good group to work with.
After talking to everyone Hap returned to his room. He hadn't fully unpacked, and he hadn't figured out the entertainment system left to him. He also had to get ready for his new wardrobe. As he re-arranged his meager possessions in his closet Anastasia knocked on his door frame. "Harold, may I come in?"
Hap half closed his wall locker door so he could see her, "Sure."
Anastasia sauntered in wearing the same blouse and skirt from the previous night but her hair was in a loose sloppy bun. "Since we don't have a patrol today, I thought we could go to the ComStar office, send Mother a message, and then get some lunch. We can also pick up some of the other essentials, such as shower curtains, privacy screens." She glanced into his bathroom, "and towels."
Hap nodded, "Yeah, I'd love to, just let me get changed."
"No rush, I was hoping to use your bathroom to put on makeup."
"Help yourself" Hap started to change, "You're putting on makeup to send a note to your mom?"
"Not a note, a video message, so yes. Also I like to look good when I'm out, and I like to look good for you, and I hope that's a sentiment you share." Anastasia said from the bathroom
"Like you to look good? I certainly do. However, I have to say you tend to always look good." Hap said
"Thank you. But you know what I was saying. I like you to look good, which I why I went through all the trouble dragging you kicking and screaming and pushing you around that store last night."
"It was an experience I won't soon forget." Hap pulled on khakis and tucked in his T-shirt.
"Good, and just so you understand. We will be sending a video message to mother. You will be in it, because I want her to see you. You don't have to say much, really just a simple hello. We need to keep the message brief, but it will be from both of us." Anastasia's tone was almost patronizing.
Hap ignored her tone as he buttoned his shirt "How much does it costs to send a video message?"
"We'll be using my mother's diplomatic account. Father and I learned that if you can keep a message under two minutes it's not too expensive, but you have to use ComStar's equipment to record your message. Their video compression system is optimized for hyper pulse transmissions. Even though they charge to use their booths, it's still much cheaper."
Hap slid his belt into the khaki's belt loops, "I thought your father didn't trust ComStar."
"Daddy was certain ComStar was meddling in political and government affairs. He was just a businessman refining existing products. He assumed they wouldn't take much notice of him until they learned of his plan to build competitive HPG technology, but we were years from even a prototype."
"When you researched HPG tech for him at NAIS, how'd you get him the information?" Hap asked.
"He came to NAIS every couple months as part of the weapons research project. I'd just give him what I had then, or sometimes when there was a military or government transport headed to Hazelhurst I'd send things in a diplomatic pouch. Either way we avoided using ComStar to talk about it."
"Is that what you did for the weapons research too?" Hap smoothed his shirt adjusted his slacks.
"Mostly. There'd be a few things we'd send over the HPG net, but we used the project's code words."
Hap brought his shoes to the futon to put them on, "Cody was telling us how ComStar suppresses discovering or rediscovering technology. Wasn't your Dad afraid they'd 'suppress' him?"
"No, but several of the other researchers and Team Banzai members wanted him to move to NAIS's secure campus. Their concern was the intelligence agencies of the other houses might try to kill or capture the research team members. Daddy thought he was insignificant to the grand designs of most intergalactic powers. He was just a business man who specialized in electronics working on magnets and capacitors as far as anyone outside of NAIS and the AFFS weapons project team was concerned."
Anastasia continued, "Mother, on the other hand, as a lady of state and the leader of a planet, has some enemies. She retains a Personal Security Detachment to guard us, the house and grounds. Daddy assumed if anyone attempted anything Mother's PSD would stop them. Either way he wasn't worried."
"Do you think Cody's right? Does ComStar suppress technology advances?" Hap leaned back on the futon and glanced over at Anastasia. The top of her blouse was unbuttoned, and she had pulled it back loosely around her shoulders. She was leaning over the sink and using a brush to apply concealer.
"It's hard to say. Daddy often noted we've been at war for centuries, but technology has been regressing. He doubted it was by chance." Anastasia moved her head and continued applying concealer.
"I'm not sure I understand, war is inherently destructive" Hap stood up and walked toward her.
"Harold, outside of exploration, mankind has known no greater catalyst for innovation than waging war." Anastasia started applying blush. "And it hasn't exactly been 'total war'. Technology centers are generally preserved, and irreplaceable things, like jump ships, are protected. There should not be constant technological regression, especially not with the Ares Convention and Honors of War."
Hap leaned against the door post. Anastasia's makeup kit was spread out on the sink's counter, and he suspected it would likely stay there. He was annoyed as he felt she was encroaching on his space, but he reminded himself that he had offered it to her. He glanced at her décolletage and his eyes continued to drift downward. He considered how relationships were about give and take, including sharing space. He noticed his 'Mech charm on the chain with her blood chit and ID tag neatly tucked in her lacey bra.
Anastasia looked at Hap's reflection and smirked, "Although it could be argued trying to impress the opposite sex has spurred some creativity and inventiveness. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yeah, I was just…uh…I noticed your…Do you always wear my 'Mech charm?"
Anastasia put the finishing touches on her cheeks, "Certainly. Since I acquired it I haven't been in any mortal danger, so of course I always wear it. But, I suspect that wasn't what you were staring at."
Hap shrugged and grinned sheepishly as Anastasia stood up and adjusted her blouse to cover her better. She pulled out the comb that was keeping her hair in its tall loose twisty bun. As she took out the pins in her hair it slid down her back and hung below her waist. "Rather than stare awkwardly at me, may I suggest you make yourself useful? Can you braid hair?"
Hap shook his head as she pushed a brush into his hand, "Well at least brush it out." She said
Anastasia neatly organized her makeup on the left side of the sink. Hap tried to brush her hair, but found it difficult because of the length. "I don't think your hair was in regs when you were a cadet."
Anastasia shrugged, "You'd be amazed at how a few tiny subversive acts can raise morale."
Hap laughed, "Don't let Joker hear you say that." Hap noticed several red triangles and red blotches in the dark brown silk. "Were you trying to color your hair?" He held up a section with red triangles.
"No that's where the sun bleached my hair, but it was in a braid. This, and freckles, is what happens when you leave your Anastasia out in the sun. Which reminds me, can you see any freckles? I don't want mother commenting about 'too much sun'. It wasn't my fault I just kept getting stupid outdoor duties."
Hap studied her reflection in the mirror. "You look flawless."
"Thank you." She turned around, "We should get you a haircut, but I sort like you're your scruffy look." She smiled mischievously as she messed up his hair, and combed it with her fingers.
Hap pushed her hand away, "If you want me to finish, you're going to have to turn around."
She gently pushed him back and reached for the hair brush, "It will be faster if I do it myself."
Hap kept hold of the brush and they struggled and laughed, "I can't learn if you don't let me try."
"You were doing it wrong, and it didn't feel very nice." She giggled, but tried to look angry
"I'll try to be gentler." Hap raised his the brush high over her head.
She grabbed his arm, and tried to pull it down, "It wasn't that. You need to use a smoother full stroke."
"The problem with my stroke is I need more room." Hap struggled to keep the brush out her reach.
"Just let me show you how I prefer to do this." Anastasia pulled on his arm with her full weight.
"Hey! What are you two doing in here?" Joker rushed in and looked around expectantly.
"Damn it! knock before entering," Hap snapped, "We could've been changing or something."
"I know. That's why I rushed in. I was hoping to catch you two making little princesses."
Anastasia snatched her brush from Hap, rushed Joker, and hit him on the shoulder while yelling, "Out. Get out."
Hap tried to stop her, but she dodged him and hit him with the brush on the backside, "You too. Go away and let me finish getting ready." Hap laughed as she pushed him and Joker toward the door.
"Damn. Mags and I were going to catch a cab, and wanted to know if you wanted to join us." Joker said.
Hap turned to watch Anastasia return to his bathroom sink. "Yeah, Anastasia and I wanted to go to the ComStar office, and find some type of temporary doors. What are you guys doing?"
"Mags wants to send money to her dad, and I like to get out." Joker said as he stopped in the hallway.
"What did you guys end up doing last night?" Hap asked.
"We found a good bar with hot wings, lots of beers, and holo screens with every major sports game and several of the Solaris VII leagues. We hung out with Grizzly, Dillon, and Rolph watching games. We saw an Solaris VII Assault League match-up. That was brutal. We also caught part of Albion game.
"Football or Basketball?" Hap asked
"Football, and before you ask, it was also brutal, but not in Albion's favor." Joker told him
Hap grimaced, "They haven't had a good year in a while."
"And their match-up with NAIS, is coming up." Anastasia called out cheerfully.
"Are you ready yet?" Hap snapped
"Almost." Anastasia replied sweetly. "You want to make wagers on the NAIS Albion game?"
"I haven't seen NAIS play, but from what I saw last night, I'd bet on NAIS." Joker told Hap quietly.
Mags walked into the hallway. "What's Anastasia doing?"
"Her hair." Joker replied.
Mags shook her head and leaned against the wall, "We'll be here a few minutes."
"I see Joker found new clothes. Did you find a good tattoo parlor?" Hap asked.
"Not really." Mags said.
"What was wrong with the second place we went?" Joker asked.
"The one with the naked woman in the window? I talked to her. All her good tattoos were by the artist up the street. I didn't like him though because he told me I needed all my tattoos touched up."
Hap glanced at the tattoos on Mag's wrist and leg, they looked good to him, but they did have the common fade of a time, "Is there a reason you wouldn't want your tattoos touched up?"
"The way he talked, I knew he didn't respect the other artists that had given me these tattoos. I choose my tattoos very carefully, Jefe, and the artist too." She held up her arm with the cross, Hap could see there was a delicate scroll with a name and two years wrapped around the cross. "My cousin did this one after my Mother died." She held up the other wrist with La Familia, "My dad did this one when McFinnigan agreed to let me be part of the Company. Dad has one just like it."
She took off her jacket and rolled up her sleeve, "I got the flag after I joined Dad. We were on shore leave and it took three days to find the right artist. Part of the payment was one of the bottles of Cerillos extra Anejo Tequila that I brought for Dad from Cerillos. The artist, my Dad, and I drank the bottle as he worked. I was seventeen and it was the first time I really drank. I think Dad carried me back to the ship."
Anastasia entered the hallway. Her hair was in a braided and coiled bun, "Everyone ready?" She said.
"Yeah, like five minutes ago." Joker replied, "Although I think if you had given us another five minutes, Mags would have shown her some of best tattoos, the ones near her saucy bits."
Mags scowled, "You just want to see me naked."
"What if I promise to look but not touch?" Joker asked as they started to walk.
"Why don't you just look at your dirty magazines?" Mags replied
"I get bored with them, and I was lying, I was going to touch." Joker laughed.
Mags shook her head, "You just keep your porn, and touch yourself."
"I saw the pictures of naked guys in your locker. I'm not the only one touching myself." Joker said.
"We might want to find our own cab." Anastasia said quietly as she put her arm around Hap's waist.
Hap shook his head, "Mags, what's your favorite Phelan McQuaid movie?"
"Los Lobos of Cerillos." Mags said, "It's the best action movie made about the third Succession War."
"That's bullshit." Joker howled as they started down the stairs and left the barracks. "John Stallion's First Blood is a way better."
-
*howling in giggles*
-
You know, I really enjoy this story :thumbsup:
And the start of it, with the shopping stuff and the small cafe very much reminded me of a similar day I had with my girlfriend. Only it was italian she spoke to the poor waiter... ;D
't was back in the day, before I took an Urby in the knee on Megrez against the Elsies 3018
-
Chapter 26
October 3029
Monhegan
Joker and Mags quarreled most of the walk to the cab. Hap wasn't sure if Mags had ever had to listen to Joker's tirade on why John Stallion was the greatest actor of any age. Eventually Hap suggested a movie marathon to prove which actor made better movies. They liked the idea so much they even agreed to let Anastasia pick a movie, if she paid for the pizzas.
In the cab, Joker Mags and Anastasia worked on their list of movies and Hap found himself just enjoying the moment. He liked being surrounded by lancemates, they were his family within the family. He realized he had been so preoccupied with his relationship with Anastasia he had missed some of the growth of them coming together as a team.
Mags had really come around. When Hap first met Mags, he assumed he would have to put up with her tough girl act, just like Joker's annoying sense of humor. Instead she slowly warmed up to the lance during the trip to Monhegan. Hap felt guilty he hadn't noticed the subtle changes that happened as they worked together in the simulators. Hap was certain Anastasia fixing Mag's holoviewer is what brought Mags out of her shell, but it probably wasn't just one act, again, it was time. Based on yesterday's patrol she now seemed trainable and like she wanted to learn.
Hap also recognized that Mags was very competitive. When they were doing drills in the simulator Mags tended to try and outdo Joker. Hap had originally thought she had decided not to compete with Anastasia because Anastasia usually got perfect marks on her gunnery. It was clear Anastasia's hard work, extensive training at NAIS, and a private tutoring made her an exceptional Mechwarrior. Even Hap, with all his training and combat experience, had to work to keep up with Anastasia.
Hap thought back to Joker's comment about the posters in Mag's locker. Anastasia had mentioned Mags put those up after Joker had put his own posters of naked women in his wall locker back on the Tir na nOg. When Hap first saw all this, he had figured Mags had her posters and Anastasia had her books. Now Hap wondered if Mags was competing with Joker on a different level or trying to tell him something.
Anastasia shifted in her seat and accidentally hit Hap's side. Hap nudged her back, and she smiled as she playfully returned the gesture. Hap's thoughts turned to their relationship, as she pressed herself into his side while happily discussing movies with Joker and Mags. He had spent weeks trying to make sure she was in love with him, and not infatuated with her idealized 'white knight' from Klathandu. After nearly two months, they had gotten to know each other and she had seen he was far from a white knight, but she still joked about being his "better wife."
Hap put his arm over her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze, and she smiled as she reached for his hand. For all the things she did that annoyed him, Hap loved her. He loved that she was a problem solver, and found satisfaction in fixing things. He loved that cool voice on his comms channel that gave him important information he didn't notice or didn't have on his tactical display. As much as it sometimes irritated him, he also liked how she challenged him and pushed him to be better.
The cab stopped in front of the grandiose ComStar office for Monhegan. It was a tall and imposing square concrete building with a large dome roof. It was in the middle of the Starport, surrounded by other buildings, but there was over twenty meters of steep marble and granite stairs leading up to it. Hap knew little about architecture, but he always felt that ComStar used a style designed to make a person feel insignificant. Inside the effect was amplified. To Hap it felt like a mix of a bank and a church.
The main gallery was a large room with more granite and marble. It had a lofted ceiling going up to the dome. In the back was a large stained glass window with the ComStar symbol, and around the sides of the building were more stained glass windows with images of various ComStar leaders and other arcane symbols or iconography. Along the sides were small rooms and booths. Along the back wall were two staircases leading to the lower levels.
There were neat rows with terminals surrounded by chairs that, if it were a bank, Hap would have thought would be where you'd discuss a loan, however here it was where you discussed what you wanted to send by ComStar's HPG network. Cloaked and hooded members of ComStar performed their duties, helped customers, or came and went to the lower levels. The Coyotes got into the main que behind a few other people and waited for their turn, but no one talked as they waited.
When Harold and Anastasia got to the front of the line a hooded figure standing in the center of the room motioned for them to approach. "What may the blessed order do for you, my children?" He asked.
"I would like to send a video and a note to Hazelhurst." Anastasia said
The hooded man nodded, and with the subtlest of gestures motioned to another ComStar member, "Brother Hyek will assist you, please follow him." Quickly, but silently, Brother Hyek came to them and wordlessly gestured for them to follow him. He was wearing a white hooded robe and looked young.
He led them to one of the desks and sat on one side while Hap and Anastasia sat on the other. Anastasia pulled sheets of paper from her purse, and laid them on the desk, "I need these sent to Hazelhurst for the Countess Valois, and I also require a video booth to record a short message for the Countess."
Hyek adjusted the monitor on the desk and began to type. "This day, at this time, in the great celestial network of our blessed order, by Blake's wisdom, we find that a message from Monehagan will take five to eleven days to reach Hazlehurst. But, the great Jerome Blake had foreseen, in his wisdom, a way that a message could be sent in five days or less. It will, however, require a greater contribution to our holy order and our sacred work to maintain the vast systems that unites mankind through communication."
"The five to eleven days is fine." Anastasia said dismissively, rejecting his attempt to upsell.
Brother Hyek looked disappointed, "Very well." He picked up the sheets of paper and fed them, one at a time, into a slot built in the desk. After they were scanned he passed the sheets back to Anastasia. "I shall now take you to the place where you may record a message that will then be sent, through the stars, by our blessed order, using the methods and technology that the great Jerome Blake, in his wisdom, has built to unite mankind, so that one day we may once more have peace in unity."
Brother Hyek stood, and motioned to one of the rooms along the side. Anastasia and Hap followed him into a small video studio. He motioned to chairs that were strategically placed in front of a large metallic engraved Comstar symbol hanging from the wall bordered by the Monehegan and Federated Suns flags. As Hap and Anastasia got comfortable Brother Hyek adjusted the camera and gave them lapel mics.
Hap watched Brother Hyek do strange hand motions over the camera and the systems it was plugged into. Anastasia pulled another sheet of paper from her purse. She smoothed out the paper on her knee and said to Hap, "I need you to tell me when I've talked for 90 seconds. I'll introduce you, you'll say hello, then I'll sign off. You'll have twenty seconds."
"I have twenty seconds? It would have been nice if you had told me that before now." Hap said
"You work best under pressure, mon amour." Anastasia said with a wolfish grin.
"What?" Hap said.
"Just practicing my French, Harold."
"Why are you practicing French?" Hap asked
Brother Hyek cleared his throat, "The equipment is prepared and the rituals are complete. When you are ready we can began recording-"
"I'm ready now." Anastasia said
Brother Hyek politely nodded, counted down from three to one, and then pushed a button on the camera. A red light on the camera blinked, and Anastasia began speaking in fluent French. Hap glanced down at his watch, then over to her notes. They were also all in French. He tried not to look annoyed or confused as she spoke in a language he couldn't understand.
Hap watched the second hand swiftly move. He had about sixty seconds now. He had no idea what to say, he also was trying to remember back to his "charm school class" on military and noble etiquette. Should he call her "Countess Valois", or was it "My Lady", or "Lady Hazelhurst." Hap didn't even know if she had an official title that went with Countess. Anastasia always referred to her as "mother." If this relationship didn't work out, Hap promised himself he'd never get involved with a noble again.
Thirty seconds. He had no idea how to greet the woman, nor did he know what he was going to say. He hadn't worked out a way to signal Anastasia when her 90 seconds was up. He glanced sideways. She was happily saying, god knew what, to her mother. Hap swallowed hard, ten seconds. He took a deep breath, and put his arm across her back and gently squeezed her shoulder.
Anastasia glanced down at his watch, then held up a hand to let him know to wait, she finished her sentence then motioned to him, "Mon Cher 'Arold Cala'ad."
Hap looked at the camera, "Hello Ma'am, I'm Harold Calahad." He glanced over at her, "It's been a pleasure to work with Anastasia, and get to know her."
Anastasia gave Hap a look that wordlessly communicated "And?"
"and? I" Hap looked back at the camera, "I'm quite fond of your daughter."
Anastasia shook her head and laughed as she said, "Il est timide et ne peut pas dire que je t'aime". Anastasia said a few more things in French, then looked past the camera to brother Hyek. She pointed to him and nodded as he hit the camera's off button.
Brother Hyek opened the door and motioned to the desk, "If you would like to wait out there I will perform the sacred shutdown ritual and prepare your video for its great and wonderful cosmic journey."
As they walked Hap said, "I felt very unprepared for that. I wish we could have rehearsed, or that you would have warned me that you were going to be speaking French."
"I told you French was the official language of the Valois household." Anastasia shrugged.
"Telling me that, doesn't translate to, 'if we send a video to Mother, I'll be speaking exclusively French'."
Anastasia smiled coyly, "You're calling her Mother now, Mr. 'Fond of your daughter'?"
"I'm quoting you, and I'm a little annoyed. I feel like you really put me on the spot." Hap told her.
Anastasia sensed she had gone too far, "I'm sorry. You were fine, and Mother will enjoy that, and I thought you would prefer to just 'improvise'. Can I make it up to you with lunch? You choose, I'll treat."
"Some of this is my fault. I should have asked what your plan was when you said 'we' would be sending a message to your Mother." Hap realized he was 'feeling annoyed' a lot lately, and it was usually over something he had told Anastasia she could do. He needed to figure out why that kept happening.
Brother Hyek returned to the desk and sat down. "Before the message can be sent using the gifts wrought by Blake's wisdom, I must ask how you intend to offer your contribution to our blessed order."
Anastasia pulled out her ID chain. "I'll be using Lady Valois, Countess of Hazelhurst's diplomatic account. As her daughter I have been granted access." She offered Brother Hyek her blood chit.
He inserted the blood chit into a slot on his terminal and looked shocked. He glanced at Anastasia then back at his terminal. Brother Hyek stood up, "I gotta get the Precentor." He took a few steps came back, locked his terminal, and started running toward the stairs in the back.
Hap suddenly felt concerned. "Maybe we should go before the Precentor gets here."
"Harold, this is normal. With a diplomatic account we could record hours of video and have it sent across the Federation overnight. The Precentor likely has to confirm my use of the account, even if the charges are modest." Anastasia dug into her purse, "He'll want to see a second form of identification."
"Are you sure? Brother Hyek's look didn't seem like a 'ask your boss to confirm' look." Hap said.
"Brother Hyek is probably new. That's why he keeps saying 'the blessed order' or 'wisdom of Blake'. It was nice to see him drop the act for a moment. I prefer to have the old bitter 'brother' or 'sister' that skips all the 'Holy Order' talk or says it sarcastically. It's almost entertaining."
Hap suppressed a laugh imagining a sarcastic and bitter older Brother Hyek. "So if we have access to the diplomatic account, why aren't you sending the message to your mother overnight?"
"It's prohibitively expensive", she said shaking her head. "Mother and I both have an obligation to be responsible stewards of the people's money. She hasn't heard from me in weeks, and one more will not likely make a difference. Part of being a 'good' noble is remembering that you are first and foremost a servant of the people." She continued to dig in her purse, "Although, I've been worried sick about her, so maybe I should send it priority."
A short man wearing a red cloak was nearly jogging as he approached Hap and Anastasia. His cloak had extravagant embroidery on his hood and stole. He was moving so quickly his hood was half down revealing silver hair that was combed straight back betraying a high widow's peak. Beside him was a short stocky man wearing a simple unadorned black cloak. The man in black had a neatly trimmed black mustache and goatee. There was a slender woman, also with a simple black robe, following closely behind the man in black. All three had their eyes fixed on Anastasia. Brother Hyek was a few steps behind the trio trying to keep up. A chill went down Hap's back and his mouth went dry as they approached. Hap instantly knew they should have ran when they had the chance.
The Precentor stopped abruptly in front of the desk. Hap impulsively stood up, and put his hand under Anastasia's elbow to gently pull her to her feet as she continued to look through her purse. He glanced over at Anastasia. Her head was down and she was still rummaging through her purse.
The man in black had the build of a powerlifter and the marks of countless fights. His nose had been flattened, broken, and set a few times. His left ear had been cropped and there were several scars on his face and hands. Hap noticed the tell-tale boxer's knuckle injuries in his balled fist. Hap glanced up to meet his eyes, and knew instantly this man would kill him in a fight, and he would do it quickly and without hesitation. If he wasn't the head of security, he must have moonlighted as a prize fighter.
"Show me" the man in red said quietly, almost threateningly to Brother Hyek. The man in the red cloak had to be the Precentor, based on the decorations of his robe, and the way he conveyed authority. The man in black exuded raw savage power, but the Precentor had an air that demanded obedience. Hap knew with the simplest of gestures the Precentor could have Anastasia and him murdered on the spot.
Brother Hyek sat back down nervously and unlocked the terminal. The Precentor raised an eyebrow as he read. The man in black broke eye contact with Hap to look at the terminal, then looked back at him.
Anastasia offered the Precentor her passport. "I'm Anastasia Valois. Here's my passport to confirm my identity. If your system states I'm dead, or MIA, I can explain. I was rescued from Kathandu, but I was…" Anastasia looked the three cloaked figures staring at her in confusion, "What's wrong?"
The Precentor took a deep breath and looked around the room. He smiled grandly and fixed his hood, "Forgive us Lady Valois. Our system does not list you as dead, exactly, rather it reported you were…" He looked around again, "Andrea Marteen, the fourth Primus of our blessed order." He gestured toward a stained glass window of a plump woman with short blonde hair. He laughed like it was an amusing joke.
The Precentor shrugged good-naturedly when no one laughed, "These things sometimes occur. Some, like brother Hyek, believe this is a sign that may foretell something of your destiny. Others, like Sister Fjaldr would explain that this is a database error that she will now rectify. I apologize if we appear to be overreacting. I was hesitant to disregard a potential miracle, such as the dead walking among us."
Brother Hyek shook his head, and opened his mouth to say something when the man in black put his hand on his shoulder and nearly pulled him out of his chair, "It's time for to take a break, acolyte."
The woman in black slipped into Brother Hyek's seat as he nervously slinked away. Hap watched as she typed furiously. She looked almost like a holo star actress. She sat tall and straight and her makeup was done impeccably, and her jet black hair was perfectly styled. Hap thought for a moment she looked like the cliché love interest from a spy movie, or a counter agent that would try to seduce the hero. She typed fast and flawlessly, but looked annoyed with whatever the terminal was displaying.
The Precentor once more smiled magnanimously. "I humbly apologize for this misunderstanding. Please allow me to demonstrate the grace of Blake and prioritize your message at no additional cost. We will, of course, extend the Countess the same courtesy in her response to you."
"Thank you Precentor, this is truly gracious of you, and your blessed order." Anastasia told him politely. She gave Hap a very subtle but nervous glance.
He nodded kindly and smiled, "It's the least we can do, and we anticipate seeing you again soon."
-
Chapter 27
Hap felt relieved as he and Anastasia walked down the stairs outside the ComStar office. He was glad to see Mags and Joker waiting across the street. He looked at Anastasia, "Do you have any idea what just happened?"
"No. I was hunting for my passport and when I looked up, that short, stocky man was looking at you with extreme malevolence, the Precentor looked at me like I was a paradox that shouldn't exist, and the young woman appeared puzzled and annoyed with me. I initially thought she was mad that I hadn't shown the Precentor the proper respect, but I think something else was going on. I wonder what that terminal actually said about me." Anastasia took Hap's arm and held it tight as she walked close to him.
"Yeah, I didn't believe the story about the system saying you were some dead Primus," Hap said.
"We should talk to-" Anastasia stopped herself and looked around, "We should get back to base."
Hap nodded "Let's get lunch first," He said as they crossed the street, and met up with Joker and Mags.
"What did you guys do?" Joker asked as they started walking briskly away from the ComStar Office.
"No idea." Hap said, "Something went wrong with their system and they had to call the Precentor."
"They had to call security too?" Mags asked, "That short guy in the black robe, he's a fighter."
Hap nodded, "Yeah I thought the same thing, he had the marks of a career boxer, and I thought for a moment he was going to reach across the desk and choke slam me. The woman looked like an actress, but she could type fast, so I guess they were techs, not security. The whole thing doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, that's how I always feel when I go to church." Joker replied.
"I saw how he was looking at you Jefe. If shit went down. I was going to mess him up, but Joker said we should wait outside in case we needed to post bail or tell the Commander what happened." Mags said.
"Thanks Mags" Hap looked at Mags. He had no doubt she was sincere, and would have been at his side in a fight. She tended to be aggressive and reckless in a 'Mech, and if she fought like that in a street fight, it would be to her advantage. But the man in black had the air of a determined killer. Alone, Hap was certain he'd lose to the man in black, even with Mags, he didn't think they'd fare much better.
"Given the height of the steps there are at least two floor beneath the main business floor, and I'd rather not know how many sub-floors." Anastasia said, "I believe if we had an altercation with the ComStar order they would take us down stairs never to be seen or heard from again."
Joker laughed, "So you're saying I was right. Oh I'm going to remember this day."
Anastasia shook her head, "I'm going through a lot today, and in no mood to verbally spare with you. Given the circumstances, yes, you chose wisely. Can we get lunch now and go back to the base?"
Joker looked annoyed, "When you put it like that, it doesn't seem as funny or good."
They walked for a few more minutes along cold damp streets. Hap wanted to get lost in the crowd.
They found themselves in front of the diner. It had large windows facing the street. The coyotes walked in to find a few people enjoying a mid-morning meal or cup of coffee. The dinner had a long L-shaped counter that ran most of the length of the store, and wrapped around the side to give the store patrons access to restrooms in the rear of the diner. There were stools around the counter, and booths lined the walls beneath the windows. It was poorly heated, but the windows gave it a bright atmosphere.
There was a matronly waitress wearing a pink short-sleeved dress with white trim and a white apron tied around her waist. She smiled warmly and invited them to sit wherever they liked.
Hap chose a booth in the corner of the diner where he could sit facing the door. He wanted to be ready if the man in black or someone else from ComStar walked into the diner. They had no real weapons, so they would have to try to slip out the back, assuming that was possible. Hap would talk to Roweyna about Monhegan's laws for carrying weapons. He'd also ask her if the company had any rules about walking around armed. He would have assumed the company would want their personnel to avoid fights, but he couldn't remember it ever coming up in conversation or in the contract.
The waitress came by and passed out menus. "Y'all know what you want? I don't believe I've ever seen you four around here. You new to the starport? What can I get you to drink?"
Hap glanced up, the woman was middle age with auburn hair and a friendly twinkle in her brown eyes. The name tag pinned to her dress read "Ruby." Hap tried to remind himself to act normal as Joker gave Ruby a deceptively boyish grin, "Yeah, we're new, Ruby. I think I'll have coffee." Mags and Anastasia asked for the same. Hap forced himself to smile as he ordered.
Ruby nodded and went to the other side of the counter to retrieve mugs and the coffee pot. Hap inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly trying to calm himself. Anastasia was sitting on the inside of the booth, and she was so close to Hap he could just as easily read her menu as he opened his own. She was studying the breakfast selection. The diner seemed to specialize in hashbrowns and had a half page describing various gravies, sauces, cheeses or meats that could be cooked and served on the hashbrowns.
There was a second page of omelets, skillets and other breakfast dishes. Anastasia turned quickly past this to a page of diner sandwiches. She studied it carefully as Hap saw what he wanted, a classic bacon cheese burger. Ruby returned and set mugs of steaming coffee in front of everyone and placed a small creamer pitcher and sugar packets in the center of the table as she asked for their order.
Mags wanted a southwest skillet, Joker ordered a complex combination of things to cover and smother his hash browns, and a side of bacon. Anastasia requested a patty melt with potato salad that Ruby told her she personally made with her secret ingredient, dill. Hap asked for a bacon cheeseburger with fries.
The food came out quickly and Anastasia and Hap started to feel better as they ate. Ruby came by and asked where they were from, and general things about their mercenary unit. She explained how Monhegan had seen a lot of mercenaries come through lately. She had heard that a fourth Succession War was starting and mercenaries were gathering along border worlds to be near the action.
When the meal was finished Hap and Anastasia decided they needed to find Cody. Since his father was a ComStar member she reasoned he could help them make sense of what had happened at the ComStar offices. Joker and Mags were going to look for something to use for doors in the barracks. Anastasia gave Mags some money and told her to find something for their room.
The cab ride back to McFinnigan and Sons area was short and uneventful. Although Hap and Anastasia were both a little leery to get into the cab. Hap knew on some level, they were being paranoid, but his experience with the Precentor and the man in black had been profoundly troubling. Hap knew it was the same for Anastasia, they hadn't talked, but she had kept herself close to him since the ComStar facility.
Hap and Anastasia went to Ops and asked if they knew where to find Cody. John was pretty certain that he and Mal were working with the techs on a remote drone in the 'Mech hangar. Hap and Anastasia went to the hangar to find Cody, Jim Hawkins the leopard pilot, and Erik standing around a small air craft that was in pieces. Hap noticed it didn't have a cockpit. As they approached they could hear the men arguing.
"I don't know why we bother." Erik grumbled, "This drone is made by Quickscell, a company with a legendary history of cutting corners to provide the cheapest military hardware that almost meets the design specs. If it flies one time I'll be amazed, if it can take-off for a second flight I may consider rethinking my opinion about Quickscell, but my daughters can tell you, I rarely change my opinion."
"Yeah, probably not since mom divorced him" one of his daughters said from the corner where her and her sister were repacking a giant 'Mech gyro with a thick lubricant.
Everyone looked at Erik waiting for him to respond, and he just shrugged, "She's not wrong."
Cody looked over at Anastasia and Hap, "You two look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, can we talk to you?" Hap said. "We had an odd experience at the ComStar office today."
Cody looked concerned and motioned toward a metal staircase leading up to the gantry. The hangar's gantry was a system of cranes, block and tackle attachment points, and walkways for accessing the 'Mech cockpits. There were also a few offices and a loft that had couches and boxes of equipment. Mal was working on a noteputer that had "Quickscell" etched on the back. When she saw Hap and Anastasia walk by with Cody she put the noteputer down and followed them.
"Let's get the wings on, and mount the SRM pods." Hawkins said as Cody reached stairs.
Cody stopped, "No. The Commander only wanted sensors and cameras."
"Yeah I don't want to bolt a bunch of missiles to something that is going to fall on my head." Erik replied.
"If you want to fly something with weapons, go fly the Leopard." Cody told Hawkins.
"I only get to fly that to drop 'Mechs. This thing is made to 'loiter' over a battlefield." Hawkins said.
"Right. And it's to record the battle data and give Ops a battlefield picture when we can't get satellite coverage. If you arm it, you won't focus on the whole picture, and it'll get shot at." Cody said.
"It's another fine 'quality Quickscell product' so getting shot at is the least of its worries." Erik said.
"Exactly no weapons pods, just sensors. Even if we were going to arm it, which we aren't, we need to give it a test flight with no payload. Master Pilot Mitchellin, was clear about that before he left."
Hawkins grumbled but turned to help Erik assemble the drone, "I still get to fly it, right?"
"Of course you're the only qualified pilot here." Cody said
As they started up the stairs Mal said quietly "I think I can automate most of the take-off and landing procedures, so we may not need a qualified pilot in the future, assuming Erik is wrong and its reusable."
"Good. Pilots can be almost as needy and bitchy as mechwarriors." Cody said. Hap cleared his throat as they began walking across the Gantry toward the loft.
Cody looked over his shoulder, "Not you two, you've helped us a few times. Its-" Cody stopped suddenly, "You know what it actually is? It's the fact that I may not know exactly how all this shit works, but I have a damn good idea. The problem is, I'm constantly badgered by people who don't appreciate how I'm maintaining or improving technology that wasn't designed last decades, let alone centuries."
Hap nodded, "I haven't always treated my techs as well as I should. Sometimes, as a mechwarrior, you get distracted by being shot at, or losing a weapon system, and you forget about how much effort it takes to fix it, or just how many man-hours it takes to field a 'Mech."
Hap's tone placated Cody. "I know, you guys risk your lives, and if I'm being honest I am treated pretty good, most of the time." Cody said. "McFinnigan appreciates my skills, and looks out for me like a father. Here in the family everyone does help, which can be unique even in a small company. Sometimes I just get annoyed." As Cody spoke they watched Hawkins help Erik bolt it a wing onto the drone's fuselage.
"What did you guys want to talk to me about?" Cody asked.
They walked to the loft area and sat down on the couches as Hap recounted their experience at the ComStar office with the computer error and the strange techs. As they got comfortable on the couches Mal said, "Maybe it was just what it seemed, their database happened to get corrupted, and one of their techs is a psychotic boxer, and the other happens to be a gorgeous genius, like me."
Cody shook his head, "No. Techs or adepts wear yellow, ROM agents wear black." Cody leaned forward and started talking quietly. "Listen, the last time we talked I may have overstated how incompetent some Precentors can be. ComStar is a big organization; it has some very capable, and very evil people that keep it running. There are a lot of 'smoke and mirrors' to the whole mystic cult like trappings, and many ComStar members are useful idiots who believe in it, but there are some very smart, and very cunning men and woman with everyone's secrets looking to protect ComStar's interests."
"So what did that terminal say about me?" Anastasia asked.
"I have no idea. I was never in ComStar, I just know what my dad told me and what I saw growing up in a ComStar enclave. I can tell you if it freaked out an acolyte enough to run to the Precentor and he brought back two ROM agents, it wasn't anything you wanted to have on your file."
"Why didn't they kill us on the spot?" Hap asked.
"Well it's one of two things. It could be you're more use to them alive, and now they're going to track you and ensure you do whatever useful thing they need you to do."
"What's the other option?" Anastasia asked
"You have to understand, ROM isn't like other counter-intelligent agencies. There is a certain level of brinksmanship that LIC, Maskirovka, MIIO, or ISF has in doing business. When they kill someone they want to make sure whoever that person worked for gets a clear message. Maskirovka finds an LIC spy snooping around their chemical weapons site, they interrogate him, and poison him with the chemical weapons they claim not to have. When LIC's guy turns up dead in his bathtub poisoned with some unknown illegal bio-agent, LIC responds by ensuring a Maskirovka spy master has an "accident" with a chemical truck. Everyone important gets the message, but to the rest of us, it's meaningless."
"I'm not sure I follow" Anastaisa said.
"When it comes to people outside of ComStar ROM is the opposite. When they kill someone they don't want anyone to trace it back to them. They don't send messages, they just take care of business. They'll send a sniper to a warzone to kill an apostate while he's fixing a 'Mech. Or one day your house fills with toxic gas from the furnace, and the batteries in the detectors just happen to be dead. They want things to look like a tragic accident. Failing that they may try to pin it on one of the Houses, or a random crime. They'll do what it takes to get their person, but not have anyone suspect them, and they know it's best if no one thinks it's foul play. My point is they wouldn't kill anyone in broad daylight on ComStar grounds, they'd prefer to kill someone in way that no one would ever guess it had anything to do with ComStar."
Anastasia nodded, "So you're saying I'm a dead woman?"
"I'm saying you are dealing with a very determined and methodical counter intelligence organization that doesn't make impulsive choices. If they decide to kill you, they'll wait, they'll plan, and they'll execute you at a time and place of their choosing."
"I know you told us ComStar doesn't want anyone to recover lost technology, and I thought maybe they would kill someone to stop it, but is that something ROM really does?" Hap asked.
Cody nodded, "ROM does a lot of shady things in the name of protecting ComStar. Listens and reads everyone's messages, manipulates the great Houses, hunts down adepts and precentors that 'fall away' from the teachings of Blake. They wouldn't think twice about killing someone about to make a technological breakthrough that would tip things in the favor of one house lord. I don't know what ROM thinks you're up to, but you definitely have their attention."
Anastasia shook her head and drew closer Hap. She pushed into his side, and put his arm around her. "I helped my father. He was the genius, he saw solutions where most people just saw inscrutable limitations in technology they barely understood. But even with that, we worked primarily on communications equipment, and had a small role in a very limited weapons program. We were years away from even trying to make a prototype HPG, we were only doing research. Nothing we were doing was galaxy changing."
Cody shrugged, "Well whatever you and your dad were doing it was enough."
Anastasia stared at Cody for a long moment. The silence was broken by the sound of the public address system set up around McFinnigan and Son's part of the star port. "Will Mr. and Mrs. Vallois report to Ops." The system died for a moment then "I repeat, Mr. and Mrs. Vallois report to Ops."
Hap glanced at Anastasia. She was clearly lost in thought. He nudged her, "I think our clothes are here."
She looked at him with a blank expression, "Our what?"
"Our clothes that we purchased yesterday. I think they just got delivered to the Ops center."
"Oh yes." Anastasia said slowly, "last night suddenly feels like a lifetime ago."
-
Fan, meet excrement.
-
Chapter 28
October 3029
Monhegan
Anastasia was silent on the way to Ops. As Cody described ROM and what they did there was a moment where everything suddenly made sense to her. It was like seeing the solution to a complex puzzle and having it all come together. Normally that would be very rewarding and satisfying for Anastasia, but it felt like the weight of a planet had fallen on her.
She felt numb as she followed Hap. It overwhelmed her to think a whole organization was part of a plot to kill her. It was even more frightening to realize it was an organization that spanned known space, and had no borders, and no accountability.
"You alright? You want to talk?" Hap asked as he opened the doors to the Ops and admin building.
Anastasia shook her head, she felt far from alright, and all her thoughts were too jumbled to talk.
Hap let her think as they walked up the stairs to the Ops center. When they entered John demanded to see the wedding certificate, and Mark asked him if he took her name for the nobility or because he was just tired of his own last name. Hap tried to explain the confusion with the sales clerks, but no one would let him finish the story. They tried to tease Anastasia, but she replied with a few polite responses that took the fun out of their jokes. Anastasia felt so disconnected it was like watching someone else.
After a few minutes of good-natured verbal abuse John directed Hap and Anastasia to one of the rooms on the first floor to get their packages. He also lent him the runner and one of the small ATV ground vehicles to move their stuff. Hap didn't think a vehicle would be necessary till he saw his two large boxes and Anastasia's five. They were able to precariously stack everything and move it in one trip to the barracks. The runner helped them carry it all up to the second deck before he left.
Hap asked Anastasia if she needed any help, but she waved him off. Right now she wanted to do anything except think ComStar. She was pleased to find Portia had included the hangers, and busied herself hanging up clothes. Anastasia quickly realized she had more clothes than closet space. She wondered if Hap had extra space in his room and if he'd let her store her clothes there.
Anastasia changed into a soft, brightly colored floral print skirt and peasant blouse. Then she sorted her clothes by what she would need regularly, and clothes for special occasions or going out with Hap. She put the special occasion clothes on her bed. As she looked at them she remembered she should stay on base as much as possible to avoid ComStar. ComStar was now an ominous thing lurking in the corners.
Just as Anastasia finished, Joker and Mags returned with several multi panel folding privacy screens. Anastasia picked the screen with the black lacquered wood and the paper had flowers and butterflies. It looked like something from the Draconis Combine, but it had a small "Made in Free World's League" sticker on the side. Anastasia asked Mags if she owed her any money and Mags instead gave Anastasia change from the money she had given Mags at the diner.
This was one of the differences between Anastasia and Mags. If Anastasia gave someone money she generally didn't expect or care to receive change, especially if it was just a few c-bills. Mags generally expected exact change, at least to the bill. Anastasia learned to make sure to get Mags her money and if Mags offered her change to just take it.
Mags choose a privacy screen with square and circle patterns in red, turquoise and brown on a tan background. They decided to use Mag's screen for a door and Anastasia's screen in the middle of the room so they had a little more privacy. Joker and Hap took plain gray wax paper screens.
Mags invited Anastasia to join her and Joker to watch holos in the day room. Anastasia told her she had to finish putting her clothes away. Anastasia looked at the clothes on her bed and decided to talk to Hap about sharing extra wall locker space. She stepped into the hall and knocked on the door post of Hap's room. He had the doors open to both his wall lockers and was hanging up clothes.
Hap smiled at her, "Come in. I was just finishing putting clothes away. I'm glad they included hangers."
Anastasia nodded, "I asked Portia to include them." Anastasia walked over to Hap and looked at how he was organizing his closet. He had daily clothes in one locker, and his nicer clothes in the other. "Harold, I was wondering if you had extra space in one of your wall lockers that I could use. When I purchased clothes last night I didn't consider how much space I would need." Anastasia asked
Hap pushed all his dress clothes to one side, "Is that enough space."
"Is it possible to have the whole locker?" Anastasia asked
Hap sighed heavily, "You going to need the chest of drawers too?"
"Not yet." Anastasia shrugged, "But if you're offering it, I'll likely fill it eventually."
Hap shook his head, but than said, "Can you look at my holo screen while I move clothes? I have no idea if it even works.
Anastasia picked up the remote and switched on the holo screen. It was set to a 24 hour news channel. She changed channels to show an old episode of a popular sitcom. The next channel showed a distorted gray and green picture of a 'Mech that could have been a Valkyrie, or a Phoenix Hawk. Anastasia looked over the entertainment center's components. "Do you have a multi-tool?" She said as she shut the system down and began unplugging a small silver box that had "FedVid Media Converter" written on it.
Hap pulled a thick black knife sheath from his wall locker and offered it to her. Anastasia used the multi tool to unscrew the media converter's screws. She removed the top cover, and examined the circuit board. She carefully unplugged a connector in the board and started prying open the metal box on the board.
Hap stopped what he was doing to watch her, "What are you doing over there?"
"Removing an in-line noise generator." Anastasia said as a small metal box went sailing across the room. "This is a very cheap design for the cable company. We're getting all the channels but that little monster doesn't allow us to see certain channels clearly. If we ordered a new package someone would come out with a noise filter, or the tech would take our converter back to his truck and do what I just did."
Hap watched as she plugged in the internal connectors and reassembled the converter. "So I'm guessing you learned how to steal cable at NAIS?" Hap asked.
"How to steal cable, how to calculate probability for unfair advantage at games of chance, and I'm certain we will find other subversive applications for my advanced education in science and engineering." Anastasia said as she reattached cables.
Hap shook his head. "Stealing cable, cheating and gambling, flagrant disregard for AFFS regulations. I feel like I get the worst of any unit's problem children."
Anastasia sat on the futon and flashed Hap a wolfish grin. "They say you attract what you are, mon amor." She said as she turned on the Holoscreen.
The screen came back on to show a Valkyrie picking its way through a jungle as two commentators explained this was a two-on-two team match. The teams were a VLK-QA Valkyrie and a HGN-733P Highlander, against an ASN-21 Assassin and an AS7-D Atlas. The camera panned back as the Valkyrie joined the Highlander to stand on one end of the jungle arena. The camera cut to show the Atlas and Assassin marshaling on the other side of the tropical forest. The camera changed again to show the size and scope of the large outdoor arena before the show broke to commercial.
Hap sat down next to Anastasia, "I think this is the Solaris Broadcasting Corporation Channel, but I don't recognize the arena. It's open air, so it may just be one of the minor fighting areas outside Solaris City."
The program resumed and focused on the Assassin swiftly bounding through the forest toward the Valkyrie and Highlander. The Valkyrie moved cautiously forward trying to spot the Atlas so the Highlander and Valkyrie could pepper the Atlas with their long range weapons. The Atlas trudged through the thick forest exchanging missile salvos with the Highlander.
Anastasia appreciated the tactics of the Valkyrie and Highlander pilot. Both were using their jump jets and the jungle to their advantage so they could chip away at the Atlas's armor with long range weapons and the Highlander's PPC while staying outside the effective range of the Atlas's medium lasers, short range missiles and fearsome class 20 autocannon. They all but ignored the Assassin as it hopped around the jungle trying to flank them.
One commentator said a few things that implied they were annoyed with tactics of the Highlander and Valkyrie. Anastasia suspected they preferred the aggressive piloting of the Assassin. The camera switched to show the Atlas lumbering in the jungle as the commentators explained the Atlas was designed to intimidate an adversary. The camera zoomed in on the skull shaped cockpit of the Atlas as one of the commentators described how General Kerensky himself specifically designed the death's head cockpit to create fear. The commentators specified the Atlas represented some of the greatest engineering and science of the Star League, and was a near unstoppable force of death and destruction.
Anastasia would have disagreed as the Star League would go on to create a multitude of technologies now lost to the Inner Sphere, and she honestly thought the building the HPG network was one of the Star League's greatest achievements, but at 100 tons the Atlas was an impressive engineering feat.
The camera changed back to the Assassin as it hounded the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie ignored the Assassin's harassing barrages of laser and missiles. Eventually the Assassin landed right next to the Valkyrie, but instead of retreating the Valkyrie did a short hop to the side and the two 'Mechs began dueling with short range weapons. At close range the Assassin outgunned the Valkyrie with a medium laser and a dual SRM rack to the Valkyrie's one medium laser, but the Valkyrie had more armor. The Valkyrie kept giving ground while the cameras zoomed in until only the two 'Mechs were in frame.
The Valkyrie and Assassin maneuvered and jockey for advantage, and the cameras kept a tight, though shaky, picture of the 'Mechs dueling with flashes of lasers and explosions of missiles. Just as it looked like the Assassin was gaining the advantage there was a sudden and nonsensical blur of metal and fire that came from the top of the screen. One of the commentators shouted, "Highlander Burial!"
The cameras rapidly zoomed back and when the picture came back into focus only the Valkyrie and Highlander could be seen. The Highlander tottered, but kept its footing, and showed no real damage.
The scene changed to a replay from a camera above the arena. From this angle it was obvious that the Valkyrie was feinting, and moving toward the Highlander. At the same time the Highlander continued to fire on the Atlas while jumping toward the lighter dueling 'Mechs. The Highlander and Valkyrie were clearly coordinating their attacks with one jumping right after the other. The commentators mentioned they were surprised the Atlas didn't try to warn the Assassin what was going on.
A commentator explained the gruesome but effective tactic of the "Highlander burial" and how the 'Mech's legs had been reinforced for that specific style of reckless melee also called a DFA or Death From Above attack. As he spoke there was a slow-motion replay of the Highlander's right foot kicking in the Assassin's cockpit as the left leg sheared off the 40 ton 'Mech's right arm. The force of the massive 90 ton 'Highlander appeared to drive the smaller 'Mech into the ground.
"Oh my god, is this the Solaris Broadcasting Corporation Channel?" Joker asked.
"Do you ever knock?" Hap asked.
"If you had put up your privacy screen I would have knocked." Joker said as he slumped onto the futon next to Anastasia.
"Really?" Anastasia asked as she moved closer to Hap.
"Nope." Joker laughed.
The program went back to the live action focusing on the Atlas stomping a trail of trampled foliage and upturned trees as it tried to run and close the distance. The Valkyrie and Highlander still gave ground and continued to hammer the Atlas with missiles and PPC. One of the commentators stated it was unsporting to attack the Atlas at long range. The other commentator replied, "Nearly a fifth of an Atlas's mass is armor. It can afford to take some abuse before closing with its unfortunate adversary."
Anastasia got the sense the first commentator was still annoyed at the precise and almost military tactics of the Highlander and Valkyrie team. It wasn't as gory or quick as a "Highlander Burial" but it was effective. For her this was the sort of match she preferred to watch, and having her 'Mech model being part of the side that was smart and likely to win made it even more enjoyable.
"I got five c-bills that say the Atlas wins." Joker said breaking Anastasia's concentration.
"I'll put five on the Highlander and Valkyrie." Hap replied.
"I love taking your money, and that Valkyrie pilot is a smart young woman, so I'm with Harold, and putting my money on the sure thing." Anastasia said as she rested her head on Hap's shoulder.
The Valkyrie and Highlander had the Atlas stuck in a classic L shaped cross-fire which they were able to maintain with their jump jets. One of the Commentators mentioned that the HGN 733P Highlander had twenty Heat Sinks, and three tons of LRM ammo. "Even with a PPC, it can literally do this all day"
The Atlas pilot broke into a clearing and finally was able to close the distance with the Highlander. When the Atlas charged back into the trees the Valkyrie tried to flank the Atlas. The Atlas pilot had anticipated this and stopped short while taking a step to the side. Before the Valkyrie could jump away the Atlas engaged the smaller 'Mech with its full complement of weapons. A few of the missiles went wide, but the lasers, and the most devastatingly, the AC 20, hit their mark. The Valkyrie landed in a heap collapsing on its right leg, as its left arm went flying into the underbrush.
Joker snickered, "the sure thing just met an AC20 round."
"It's not over yet." Hap told him as he put his arm over Anastasia's shoulders.
The Highlander jumped to the side and fired all its weapons as well. The PPC and medium lasers hit the rear of the Atlas and melted the armor covering the Atlas's rear left shoulder. The Highlander's missiles indiscriminately blasted away parts of the rear armor, arms and legs of the Atlas.
The Atlas turned its full attention to the Highlander. The Atlas had the advantage in short range weapons and the Highlander was now experiencing some heat from jumping and committing all of its weapon. The camera angle switched to show the rear of the Atlas as it stalked toward the retreating Highlander. The sparks and smoke poured out of the holes from the Atlas's left torso. One of the commentators pointed out the exposed linkages of the reload mechanism for the Atlas's missiles that were connected to missile magazines. He stated the Atlas pilot had been incredibly lucky.
The camera gave a perfect over-the-shoulder view as the Atlas shot its AC20, short range missiles and two of its medium lasers. The Highlander easily took the brunt of the attack, even the AC 20, as it jumped backwards and once more hit the Atlas with an Alpha strike.
The lower portion of the screen showed the Highlander's heat gauge, and the commentator explained how it was dangerously high. Anastasia, Hap, and Joker could almost feel the heat, and thought they faintly heard the "Shutdown Imminent" warning even though it wasn't part of the broadcast audio.
As the Highlander landed the Atlas again struck with a mix of lasers, short range missiles, and the AC-20. This time it pierced the Highlander's right breast and there was an explosion. The Highlander fired wildly as he tried to jump backwards, but this time he only jumped half the distance and his heat levels spiked.
The commentator explained the Highlander was running out of options, he could DFA attack, but it was risky, and the Highlander's legs had seen a lot of abuse. He could try to brawl the Atlas, but it was bigger and could hit harder. No matter what, though, the Highlander had lost a jump jet, and some heat sinks. He couldn't afford to use his PPC till it got its heat levels down. The Highlander pilot seemed to be weighing its options when a burst from the Atlas's autocannon struck the Highlander's cockpit.
The cameras switched to the commentators, one of them seemed shock at the sudden death of the Highlander pilot. He searched for something to say, and stupidly commented, "I don't think he was expecting that." His fellow commentator, who was clearly a veteran mechwarrior, deadpanned, "Well Duncan, everyone has a plan till they take an autocannon shell to the cockpit."
The camera's switched back to the arena. Dramatic music began to play as the camera drone slowly circled the Atlas. It showed cracks and dents in the armor and then slowed down as it passed by the gaping holes in the Atlas's left rear torso. The drone circled round to the front to give another view of the Atlas's menacing skull-like cockpit design.
Joker cleared his throat and held out his hand as Anastasia and Hap each passed him a 5 C-bill note.
The camera started to zoom-out and moved to the left of the cockpit to show the battered Valkyrie standing behind the Atlas. The music instantly dropped to be replaced by an eerie silence.
The Valkyrie leaned heavily to one side as it clearly favored its left leg. The right leg was broken and shattered with exposed and twisted internal structure and shredded pieces of myomar hanging loosely below the knee. Sparks and smoke came out around the dented metal ball joint that used to be connected to the Valkyrie's left arm. The Valkyrie raised its right arm, and a ruby light flashed as smoke trails traced a line from the Valkyrie's chest mounted missile rack to the Atlas's back.
The camera angle changed again to show the rear of the Atlas as the laser and the majority of the missiles found their mark in the Atlas's exposed shoulder. The camera zoomed in to show the missiles in their loading tray start to explode like a string of fireworks. There was a greater detonation as the exploding chain of missiles reached the ammo magazine and then there was a blinding flash as the exploding ammunition destroyed the shielding for the Atlas's engine. The camera angle switched to a low shot that showed the Valkyrie towering over the broken and smoking remains of the Atlas.
Joker cursed as Hap cleared his throat, and Anastasia held out her hand.
-
Chapter 29
Mags walked into Hap's room, "Hey Donkey Brains, you were supposed to ask them to join us."
"Yeah, I was going to do that, but Hap has the Solaris channel. We can watch tournament fights anytime." Joker said
"Anastasia can probably get it in the day room." Hap said.
"Maybe. It depends on the type of media converter." Anastasia said as she took the money from Joker.
"I told Donkey Brains to ask if you wanted to order pizza and watch 'Brave Sister Sniper'." Mags said.
"What's 'Brave Sister Sniper'?" Hap asked
"It's a Holo-novela program." Anastasia said, "it's pretty good. Abuela used to watch it every day and it's part of how I learned to speak Spanish."
"It was one of my abuela's favorite stories too." Mags said, "Joker and I found the latest season, 78."
Hap looked over at Joker, "You want to watch a holo-opera in Spanish?"
"It's about a team of female assassins that live in a nun covenant, but they're not all nuns. Oh! and there is a lot more sex than you would imagine, especially for a show about nuns. Mags and I watched an episode. It was good, and Mags agreed we'd use the English dubbing." Joker said.
"I didn't anticipate my 'if three-quarters of the lance agree' rule being used against me," Hap stood up and began walking to the day room, resigning himself to his fate.
"Oh, give it a chance." Anastasia told him, "and Joker's doing a bad job of explaining it. It's a holo-novela so the plots tend to be a little convoluted, but it's about a team of female assassins who pose as nuns."
"Trust us Jefe," Mags said, "This will be good. At the end of the last season Frieda ran away from Janos who had renounced his vows as a priest. And it was revealed that Josephina, who had betrayed the Sisters, was actually a Maskirovka agent made to look like Josephina, and Carlos can't figure out if it was Josephina or the double that's in love with him.
"What about Nora? And did Zoe ever have her baby?" Anastasia asked.
"Nora's still in a coma, and I think Zoe is still pregnant, which has been going on for three seasons. I think the actress, Dilshad Abed, keeps getting pregnant." Mags said.
Hap shook his head, "This really sounds like something you want to watch." Hap said to Joker.
"I'm telling you, boss, it's full of sex and violence, and the episode I saw, when they talked about their feelings or relationship, or whatever, the girl was topless, so I just stared at her breasts." Joker laughed.
Anastasia shrugged demurely, "See. It has a little something for everyone. Perfect for the Coyotes."
"Usually you're annoyed with him and his addiction to porn, you're going to encourage this?" Hap asked Anastasia.
"Just watch a few episodes, you'll understand." Anstasia replied.
Hap sighed, "A holo-novella about nuns, it's a wonder the Pope hasn't tried to ban it."
"Fifty years ago, the Roman Catholic Pope excommunicated the cast, but most of them were Muslim or Orthodox, or not really Roman Catholic, so it didn't matter. Now I think the church has asked them to tone a few things down but it's really just a holo. It's not anti-Roman Catholic, if anything it's anti-Steiner and anti-Cappellan. Also I think a hundred years ago, it was based on something that happened in the First or Second Succession War, but the shows have been running for so long no one remembers. But everyone likes it. I'm Roman Catholic and I like it." Mags explained.
They entered the day room and Joker started to set the Holoscreen up. There was a landline phone on a table in the day room. The table also had a phone book from a few years back, and several menus taped to the wall. Mags found a pizza place that delivered and in 30 minutes or less they had beer, pizza and were settled in to watch their 'stories'.
Hap brought out his blanket and Anastasia curled up with him on one of the large leather couches in the day room. Anastasia tried to relax and not think about ComStar agents lurking around trying to harm her. The show was helpful for not thinking, and being close to Hap made her feel secure.
Two of the characters had run away together and were living in a secluded cabin in the woods. The female character was making breakfast and the camera gave several tantalizing shots to ensure the viewer knew she was only wearing an apron as she cooked.
Joker and Mags were on the other couch, also sitting close together. Joker looked over at Anastasia, "Hey. You're always complaining about privacy. If Hap got you to a nice private cabin, would you make him pancakes, wearing nothing but an apron and a smile?"
Anastasia snuggled closer to Hap, "We've talked about this very thing, Joker, and no."
Joker laughed, "Sorry Hap. I bet if I got Mags out to a private cabin, and gave her enough liquor-"
Mags picked up her half-full beer bottle, "You couldn't find enough liquor, and you'd make breakfast."
"Joker, I said 'no' to pancakes, I would gladly make Harold crepes though." Anastasia clarified.
Mags spit out her beer, and Hap gave Anastasia a curious look, "I think Topaz Lake has rental cabins."
"You may want to look into that." Anastasia replied.
The scene changed to another group of characters and Anastasia imagined a comfortable life with Hap hiding in the woods. They could disappear and avoid ComStar, perhaps find a nice quiet place in the Periphery. Anastasia wondered how long she could live like that though. She liked the idea of having Harold all to herself, but she knew they would want to do more with their lives than hide.
The episode ended and another started. The scene was back at the cabin in the woods. The woman drove up in a ground car and had groceries in the seat next to her. The door of the cabin was open and the music implied something was wrong. She ran in to find her man murdered and a threatening note written in the blood of her dead lover. This started off a multi episode revenge story arc.
Anastasia's internal debate on the merits of trying to hide in the woods ended as she realized hiding would just make ComStar's job easier. When they found them, there would be no witnesses. Further, Anastasia was certain her research was why she was being targeted, and hiding in the woods would put an end to that as well. Either way ComStar would win, and that bothered her.
"You're right." Hap whispered to her.
Anastasia sat up and looked at Hap, "about what?"
He pulled her back down and adjusted the blanket, "The plots are convoluted, but now that I've given it a chance I'm actually starting to enjoy it. Some of the characters are cliche, and the dialogue and acting can be rough at times, but it has a certain charm."
Anastasia got comfortable again. The revenge plot was predictable and Zoe was going to finally have her baby and the tropes that went along with that and her being a "pregnant nun" were too thin to keep Anastasia's mind from wandering. It occurred to her that ComStar only wanted her, and she was probably putting everyone in the room at risk, especially Harold. She felt immensely guilty that when ComStar chose to act he'd likely be caught in the crossfire, or executed alongside her, just on principal.
Anastasia tried to think of some other solution to her ComStar problem as the episode ended. Hap stretched, "I think that's enough for one night, Coyotes." He helped Anastasia get off the couch as he stood up. To their surprise Rolph and Dillon had quietly joined them at some point in time.
"Can I borrow this? You guys mind if we keep watching" Rolph asked
Mags nodded as Rolph and Dillon moved to the couch closest to the TV and started changing disks out in the holo player.
Anastasia returned to her room to find her clothes still on her bed. Between the Solaris match and the Holo-novella she'd forgotten all about cleaning them up. Mags started pulling out her night clothes and glanced over at Anastasia's bed, "Need help?"
"No, I'll just wait till you're done changing and move this to Harold's room."
Mags nodded, quickly changed, grabbed her toiletries bag, and slipped off to the latrine. Anastasia took an armload of clothes and walked over to Hap's room. His door was blocked by his privacy screen. Anastasia had to shift the clothes she was holding to knock on the door post.
"Give me a minute." Hap said then moved the screen. He saw the clothes and gestured to the locker.
Anastasia started to put her clothes away in the extra locker and when she turned around Hap had another arm load for her. Hap had to make two more trips to get everything, and he was surprised she managed to make it all neatly fit in one wall locker.
When she was done Hap pulled back his sheets and sat on his bed. "Did you want to sleep here tonight?"
Anastasia shook her head. It was tempting, but she was concerned that her relationship with Hap was going to get him killed. She knew she probably needed to break up with him for his own good, and another night together, no matter how much she wanted it, would make it that much more difficult.. She wanted to tell him she was sorry that she had gotten him involved. She wanted him to hold her, but at the same time she knew she would never forgive herself if he got killed because of her. "I think it would be best if I slept in my own bed."
Hap reached for her hands and pulled her close to him. "It's been a strange day, and I don't know if Cody is right, or if there was some weird glitch with ComStar's systems and were making too much of it, but whatever you're worried about you have me convinced me we can solve anything with your genius and my instincts."
"I said between my planning and your ability to improvise." Anastasia said, "But it's one thing when you have an adversary you can see and know how they intend to attack you. We have an enemy that could attack us at any time from any direction. I feel paranoid, but I don't know what else to do or how to feel. I seriously feel if we're together I'm putting you at risk."
"That's fair." Hap nodded. "Maybe things will look different in the morning." Hap stood up and rested his hands on her shoulders, "Tomorrow we'll talk to the Commander, and see what he has to say."
Anastasia looked up at Hap, this was similar to how they first met, and she could sense the same confidence and see the same care in his eyes. Right now she didn't need the conflicting emotions of love and desire with her fear and paranoia. He kissed her on the forehead, and then walked her to her room.
"Good night Anastasia. I understand needing to think sometimes, but don't push me away. I really" Hap paused and his voice dropped, "You know how I feel about you. You don't have to go through this alone."
Anastasia paused for a moment debating with herself and then wished Hap a good night and moved the privacy screen to enter room. Mags was already in bed and the lights were off. Anastasia replaced the privacy screen and changed into her new silk nightgown and laid down.
Her heart was beating so fast and loud she wondered if Mags could hear it. If Harold had kissed her on the lips she would be in his bed right now. She wondered if he was just that much of a gentleman or an idiot. She also realized she could have pulled him down and kissed him on the lips too. Maybe she was the idiot. For a moment she considered going back to Harold's room, then pushed all those thoughts out of her mind. She had to find a safe place from ComStar, and it had to be for both of them.
Perhaps they could go to NAIS and live on the secure campus. She could do special weapons R&D, and Harold could teach or something. She hated NAIS, but if they were on the secure campus, and together, it would be tolerable. Most important they'd be protected from ComStar. She would have to talk to Commander McFinnigan, get him to release both of them from their contract, get to NAIS, and convince them to let her continue her Dad's work, find a place for Harold, and the less ComStar knew, the better.
There were a lot of "ifs" in that plan. As she thought through it she also remembered that she and Harold would likely be considered AWOL or deserters. Her mother's title, her father's work, and her ability to continue it would probably get her off with the requirement she work on anything and everything AFFS high command wanted, but Harold would go to a detention barracks, or a firing squad. On second thought NAIS wasn't an option.
She considered going home. Mother could buy them out of their contract. Mother's lawyer could smooth over an AWOL or desertion charge, Mother could take care of them. Mother would love Harold. Mother had a private security detachment that... It was suddenly clear to Anastasia her mother's security detail had failed to stop an assassination attempt against her father, it was suddenly obvious that the assassins were ComStar. It was another painful and blinding realization that ComStar killed her father. Anastasia instantly felt stupid. This was obvious and why it had never occurred to her before made her realize just how deadly and frighteningly effective ComStar was, and how they were obviously steps ahead of her.
She suddenly felt cold and exposed. She heard steps coming down the hall and felt sick in her stomach. The steps paused in front of her door and then she heard a privacy screen being folded.
"Hey David." Joker mumbled from his room. "You woke me up, man."
"Sorry" David replied as he stepped into the room and put the screen back.
"This is foolish" Anastasia told herself as she got out of bed, took her silk bathrobe out of the wall locker and quickly tied the belt. She grabbed her pillow, quietly slipped into the hallway and then into Harold's room. She stealthily approached Harold's bed and pulled back the blanket and sheets.
Harold turned over and made a groggy noise. Anastasia threw the robe at the foot of the bed and slid next to him, "ComStar killed my father. I'm feeling very unsafe right now, and I want to be held."
"Yeah, of course." Hap replied as he rolled over and pulled her close. He wrapped one arm around her and slid the other under her pillow. She sighed contentedly as he whispered in her ear, "I've got you now."
Anastasia felt much better, but there was still a lingering sense of guilt, "Harold I'm terrified ComStar is going to kill you and it's going to be all my fault."
"They could try." Hap told her sleepily.
"I'm serious, I don't want you to get hurt, but I don't want to be alone. I feel selfish and-"
"You're overthinking things, darling. Just sleep. We'll figure it out in the morning. We got a whole mercenary family to help us."
"You're right." Anastasia felt better, and knowing Harold didn't care about the risks made the guilt die down. "Today I learned that the largest and least accountable organization in the galaxy is trying to kill me. I'm still trying to come to terms with it."
"Today I was reminded to always bet on the smart girl in the Valkyrie." Harold replied
Anastasia interlaced her fingers with Harold's and pulled his arm a little more tightly around her. She could feel his breathing change and his muscles go limp. She soon joined him in peaceful sleep.
A few hours later Anastasia felt Harold's hand gently rubbing up and down her side. She murmured a good morning as she reached for his hand
"Is this silk?" he asked.
She rolled over to face Harold. It was early morning, but she felt rested and somehow better about everything. The privacy screen was up, everyone was asleep, and if they were quiet, this was probably the best opportunity for both of them to stop being idiots. She gently caressed his cheek and pulled him close.
Just before their lips touched the speakers for the PA system cracked on, "All MechWarriors and Flight Crew immediately report to the Operation Center, MechTechs prepare 'Mechs for immediate deployment. This is not a drill."
-
Tan tan tan TAAAAAN!!!
Time for mech action! Go coyotes!
Now we have a new plot with ROM. Nice. I like the fact that Hap knows he is dead vs the ROM brawler.
-
Chapter 30
Monhegan
October 3029
Hap stepped out into the cold damp October morning. It was just before 0500. Minutes ago his only concern was that he was dreaming. He was warm, and in bed with the woman he loved. They were moments from kissing, moments from going much further. Then, just to prove it wasn't a dream, there was the emergency call to Ops. As the Barracks OIC he had to get everyone out of the barracks. This meant yelling at David and Joker to wake them up, and having to nearly pull Dillon out of his bed. Then he had to chase everyone out of the barracks. Now he had to quickly get to Ops.
The barracks shared the parking lot with the apartment and town houses, and there were several of the small ground ATVs parked in the lot. A few ATVs were designed to seat two and had an open back section for carrying gear, the others could seat six.
Hap saw Anastasia sitting in the back of a six seater with Tatyana and Sophia. Sophia was sitting in Tatyana's lap and all three were sharing a pink fleece blanket. Hap sat down next to Anastasia. All three Mechwarriors were wearing shorts, a cooling vest, and combat boots. In the morning air it was painful. Hap knew once he was in his BattleMech he'd be sweating, but at the moment he was shivering.
There wasn't enough blanket to share with Hap so he had to make do with sitting as close to Anastasia as possible. Sophia looked up from playing with her large grey and white stuffed dog to watch Hap. Hap reached for the toy teasingly and tried to pull it away from her as he asked, "May I have your dog?"
"Moy Volkcha" Sophia told Hap indignantly as she held onto it tightly.
"She loves her, V-" Tatyana paused "Wholf".
Hap held up his hands in surrender, and then addressed Tatyana, "Where's Fletch?"
"Ze Ops Center. I get Sophia ready." Tatyana said as Joker started the ATV, and it lurched forward.
Joker pulled out of the parking lot as Anastasia asked, "Who's going to watch Sophia?"
"Elinor I hope. If she is avake." Tatyana answered.
"Tetka?" Sophia asked and looked around expectantly.
"Yes, Auntie." Tatyana adjusted the blankets around her daughter. "You and Miss Volk and Tetka."
Sophie seemed pleased with this and snuggled with her mother. She was happy until Hap tried again to take her stuffed wolf. Sophia tightly clutched her toy and gave Hap a reproachful look.
In a few minutes they were in the ops center. It was crowded with MechWarriors, support staff, and watch standers. Hap spotted Erik, and noted he was wearing a warm looking leather jacket. Elinor was there, and Tatyana took her daughter over to her. When Elinor saw Sophia her eyes lit up and she flashed the child a large expressive smile. Sophia's laugh could be heard over the din of the Ops center.
Kelly stood up on the table near the Coffee Urn. "Alright, alright. I've pulled you out o' bed because Ahmed and his Immortals, 'ave decided to pay us a visit, and we need to prepare a reception for them."
There were murmurs and curses in multiple language. Hap glanced around the room, on several of the monitors was an image of a union class drop shuttle. A section of the sphere shaped shuttle was magnified to show a painted gold winged lioness holding a curved sword. Hap was sure it was a unit insignia, but he had never seen it before.
Hap glanced back at Kelly, and their eyes met. "Ye looked confused, young master Haphazard. Have ye never heard of Ahmed's Immortals?"
Hap shook his head, and before he could speak Kelly jumped off the table and the crowd parted as he walked toward the holo table. "I wouldn't have expected you would have." Kelly said, "To most people their just another minor Mercenary company. They usually operate around Marik and Steiner space. That image was taken a few hours ago by an orbital satellite. I had to tell the locals to look for that unit crest, because they didn't know them either." Kelly pulled out his pipe,"but we know them well."
Kelly searched his pockets for his tobacco pouch, "Farrah Ahmed's story is much like my own. He started a small Mercenary unit with his three sons. He took whatever jobs he could find and did well enough."
Kelly found the pouch and began tapping tobacco into his pipe's bowl. "Then one day we found ourselves across the battlefield from each other, My brother killed his eldest son. It was fair combat, nothin' intentional. His boy's cockpit was destroyed. In my mind it was just the nature of the business."
Kelly put his pouch away and pulled out a long wooden match. "Farrah disagreed. He and his remaining sons withdrew but within a month we 'happened' to find ourselves working for opposing clients. This time he prepared a nice little trap for us, we fought through, but it was a nasty fight. After that it seemed we'd often 'jest happen' to take a job and finding Ahmed's Immortals waiting for us, or, like today, they 'happen' to show up a few days after we start work."
Kelly lit his pipe and thoughtfully smoked for a moment, "He eventually killed Llewyn, and I'd hoped that would have been the end of it. My brother was dead, his son was avenged. Eye for an eye. But that was a nasty bit of night fightin'. One of his other sons ejected from his 'Mech, and someone stepped on him during the melee. He might have been dead before he hit the ground, it might have been one of the Immortals that stepped on him. But Farrah blamed us, and his hatred managed to get worse."
Kelly looked like he had more to say, but he just took another draw on his pipe, then slowly exhaled. "Roweyena, lets see what Commander Ahmed is bringing to the fight."
Roweyena sat down at a terminal and after a few key strokes, she nodded over to John Saint. He pressed a button on his console, and one of the screens displaying the drop shuttle was replaced by a the MRB's report containing the Table of Organization and Equipment for Ahmed's Immortals.
Anastasia asked Roweyna, "One Mercenary Company can query the Mercenary Review Board to pull up information on another Mercenary Company?"
"Well, no." Rowyena said with mock innocence, "But as the owner and proprietor of the Iron Wolfhounds LLC, and as the holder of a sub-contracting license, I can request information on potential mercenary companies that I may wish to hire or sub-contract for a job. It comes in handy from time-to time."
"And most Mercenaries avoid fightin' each other out of professional courtesy." Kelly said.
Hap studied the screen.
Ahmed's Immortals TO&E:
Command Lance
BNC-3S Banshee BLR-1G Battle Master STK-3F Stalker ARC-2R Archer
Aggressor Lance
ON1-K Orion TDR-5S Thunderbolt TRB Trebuchet HBK-4P Hunchback
Recon Lance
VL-2T Vulcan SDR-5V Spider FLE 15 Flea STG-3R Stinger
Hap nudged John Saint and asked him to bring up their TO&E. He pressed a few keys and then projected it on the screen next to the Immortal's TO&E
McFinnigan and Sons TO&E
Command Lance
HGN-733 Highlander CP-10-Z Cyclops AWS-8Q Awesome STK-3F Stalker
Pursuit Lance
DRG-1G Grand Dragon WVR-6M Wolverine KTO-18(mod) Kintaro VLK-QA Valkyrie
Fire Support Lance
JM6-A JagerMech CPLT-C4 Catapult TBT-5N Trebuchet DV-6M Dervish
Recon Lance
GRF-1N Griffin VLK-QA(mod) Valkyrie FS9-H Firestarter JR7-D Jenner
"It would be foolishness to attack us with just a company." Anastasia said quietly to Hap.
"Right." Fiona agreed, "We have more 'Mechs, and we're in the defensive. This can't be their complete force package." Hap glanced over his shoulder to see Fiona and Crow standing behind him.
Kelly studied the Immortals TO&E, "That's about all that'll fit in ah Union. Keep in mind Commander Ahmed has taken things personally. He's not making good business decisions or wise tactical choices. He sees McFinnigan and Sons and all he thinks about is revenge. When was this updated?"
Rowyena tabbed a few pages, "The TO&E is about six months old, but look at their active contract list. They started working for the Capellans last week. Got hired to do a mission to probe Davion defenses."
Kelly motioned for her to page down to the company manifest. "Hmmm… His last son is still listed as an active member, but I'd heard he'd died, also I thought we destroyed that Stalker last time we fought."
Fletch was standing near the coffee urn waiting for Jennifer Lan to finish filling her giant, nearly two liter, travel mug. "I'm with Fiona, boss. Ahmed, has proven to have a blind spot when it comes to us, but if he's bringing a company or a company minus a 'Mech, into a fight with us, he's lost his mind."
"He may have heard we lost our recon lance on Klathandu, and fancies he can take advantage of us while he thinks we're reconstituting." Kelly laughed meanly, "Jokes on him, though. We're stronger than ever. Besides we all know we're going to fight with him, what are you concerned about?"
"This data is old, and he could have a couple aerospace fighters in the Union. Air Support could change the dynamics of this fight." Fletch said.
"We can take down fighters." Fiona replied, "The Jagermech-A was made for it, and I can coordinate the rest of my lance. Fighters might distract us, but it won't take us away from the fight long."
"Perhaps it's time Roweyna subcontracted out a little help for us." Kelly said, "From what I've heard this world is brimming with Mercenaries lookin' for work."
Roweyna closed the Immortals' TO&E and opened a list of available Mercenary Units in the area. Kelly studied the screen, and then used his pipe stem to point to a unit. "Open up the report on the Golden Eagles." She clicked on the link, and Kelly nodded, "A flight of Stukas. Two 100 ton aerospace fighters should stack up just fine against whatever Amhed tries to include in his formation."
"I'll put in the proposal immediately." Roweyna replied
"Wait, go back to the list." Kelly said and then he nodded as he smoked his pipe. "Robert's Rangers, they're the nasty sort of men I need to end this problem once and for all."
Rowena looked confused as she clicked on their report. It listed a simple ten man team and a few support vehicles. The specialties for the team included: Asset Seizure/Repossession, Bounty Hunting, Direct Action, Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA), Hostage Rescue, Low/Zero Gravity Combat.
Fletch looked up from stirring his coffee, "Who the hell are those guys?"
"They're the guys a smart noble calls when he'd rather pay someone to kill terrorists than pay a ransom for an abducted child. This is the lot the First Commonwealth Bank calls when a company defaults on a loan and they have to repossess a Drop Shuttle. When LIC wants to scare new recruits they tell stories about Brendan Robert and his boys." Kelly's smoked his pipe as his eyes twinkled.
"Brendan Robert recruits special forces operators that specialize in hostile ship boarding operations, and hostage rescue. They're some daring sons of bitches." Patrick said as he started filling his coffee cup.
"Horseshit." Fletch said, "If they're that good why have I never heard of them?"
"Two reasons, Mr. Fletcher, two reasons. First they're so good, you've seen their handiwork and didn't know it. Remember that 'unsolved mystery' from a few years back where that Drop Shuttle, the Maria Dorn, was found with all hands missing? That was Robert's Rangers. They camped out two days on an asteroid and then used jump packs to move 2000 kilometers in open space and timed it just right to catch a Jump Ship just before it jumped. Then killed the entire crew of the Maria Dorn, and before the next jump they spaced the bodies and floated to a waiting drop shuttle." Kelly gave Fletch a smug smile.
Fletch took a long draw on his cigarette and exhaled smoke while giving Kelly an irritated look. "Before I play your little game, and ask the second reason. I'm going to tell you that General Horzdorf knew that drop shuttle was used by LIC for running weapons to 'freedom fighters' in the Rasalhague Military District. He always suspected Heimdell had something to do with the mysterious loss of all hands. "
Patrick shook the urn to get the last of the coffee, "Not sayin' anyone is anything, but if I were a Heimdell cell needin' to maintain certain special skills I might 'hide in plain sight' as a mercenaries."
Kelly gave Patrick a reproachful look. As Fletch got more annoyed, "We're hiring a group of terrorist or folk-hero-rogue-counter-intelligence-operatives to repossess another man's drop shuttle?"
"Well Dad is Brendan's godfather, so they're almost like family." Patrick spooned sugar into his coffee.
Fletch shook his head, "Yeah, and the idea that part of your extended family is considered terrorists by most house lords wouldn't surprise me."
"In my mind, yer part o' the extended family too." Kelly matched Fletch's cold stare.
Fletch sipped his coffee, "I'm guessing you've given these 'gentlemen' some assistance."
"Perhaps, a while back." Kelly said then glanced at Patrick, "Back when we were smaller and did better at keepin' secrets. I won't confirm or deny what Robert's Rangers is, but you lot keep it to yourselves."
"Dad, I don't see an indication that the Immortals' drop shuttle in default." Rowyena said.
"It doesn't need to be." Kelly said "That drop shuttle is being used for a hostile military operation which makes it a military target. Every time we get into a fight with the Immortals they withdraw when they realize they're losing. I want to end this cycle. I've had enough of the Immortals showing up at inconvenient times to harass us. It's time we just defeat them in detail."
Rowyena nodded, "I'll send them a proposal as well. Anyone else you want to call up?"
"No one we need to hire." Kelly said, "Kitty, I need you to call up your new friend, the militia commander, and tell him I'll need his artillery." Kelly started to pull up maps on the holotable.
Fletch walked over to the table, "Boss, badass Heimdell agents or not, I have no idea how you think a commando team is going to steal a drop shuttle in broad day light in the middle of a military operation."
"We'll call up Brendan and the three of us will do some serious thinking and planning." Kelly said as he studied the maps of the mountain chain near the starport. "Odds are good Farrah will land on the other side of the mountain chain to protect his drop shuttle and then try haul ass through the mountains." Kelly smoked his pipe for a moment, pointed his pipe at a natural bowl in a mountain pass. "Hap, take the Coyotes and look at this area. I need a good place to murder a company of 'Mechs. Find me somewhere I can put half the family, array my fire support on a good military crest, and force any 'Mechs approaching us to come in single file."
"Understood Sir." Hap said remembering Klathandu "I think I know what you're looking for."
"Good. The Immortals should be on the ground in roughly six hours. I'll need you're report in two hours. Off you go." Hap motioned to his Lance and started to walk as Kelly looked around the room then yelled, "Erick, I can't see you, but if-"
"I'm here boss." Erik called out.
"Get that new drone ready. It's going to see a lot of use today. Oh, and Erick, I need that Centurion we have in scrap put back together." Kelly told him
"I never got the replacement Luxor Autocannon in." Erick said.
"No matter, I just need a functioning Mech with an LRM 10. Conner or Dillon can operate it." Kelly said.
The Coyotes left the Ops center as Kelly started giving out more orders. The Dullahans were going to screen the swamp to the north to discourage the Immortals from landing there. The last thing Hap heard the commander put out was a warning that he may change up lance allocations.
-
Chapter 31
The Coyotes found the mechbay bustling with activity as techs performed last minute maintenance and loaded ammunition. Hap climbed the gantry and his lancemates peeled off toward their 'mechs. Hap found Mike by his Griffin cockpit. He had his clipboard and his regular look of annoyance and contempt.
"Good morning Mike." Hap said as he climbed into the Griffin's command couch.
Mike looked at his clipboard, "Hap, Your Griffin's PPC is overdue for its quarterly maintenance."
"I'll come by the next day we're not on patrol, and run through the maintenance procedure." Hap said.
"Unnecessary. It's higher level maintenance. I just wanted you to know it was overdue, but the carbon buildup is within tolerance. I'll take care of it." Mike flipped pages on his clipboard.
"Okay" Hap was confused Mike rarely said more than two words to him.
"Also, I was going through your maintenance logs. There was a note that your gyro was replaced with a rebuild kit. The model wasn't listed. Do you know if it was a Rawlings or the Coventry?
"I'm not sure. Why do you ask?" Hap pulled his neurohelmet on, and started untangling its cables.
"There was a bad lot of Conventry rebuild gyros, I was going to order you the Rawlings." Mike said
"My gyro was giving me trouble, but I replaced it and it's been good since. I guess I got the Rawlings."
Mike gave him an odd look, "How'd you manage that? AFFS Quartermasters are notorious ass hats when it comes to getting replacement parts for perfectly 'acceptable' parts."
Hap shrugged as he plugged in his neurohelmet, "I won it in a poker game."
Mike shook his head as he made a note on his clipboard, "I'm disappointed you'd put something you won in a game of chance in your 'Mech."
"I had a faulty gyro, like you said, supply wouldn't order me a new one. What other choice did I have?"
Mike nodded and it almost seemed sympathetic. "I loaded your missile launcher before filling your LRM magazine. You have 25 salvos. I also had Mal work on your targeting computer." Mike leaned into the cockpit and pointed to two virtual buttons on the targeting computer, "This will pre-arm or "hot load" your missiles, and this one will disable the field inhibitor on your PPC. I know you know these safeties are for your protection, but the Griffin only has long range weapons. Up close you got few options."
"Thank you." Hap adjusted his harness. He was taken aback, this wasn't like Mike.
"Bring back this 'Mech. I like working on it." Mike told him as he pulled down the cockpit canopy.
"Okay." Hap said, now Mike was making sense. He was worried about the Griffin, not Hap.
Mike stopped lowering the canopy, "Also, look out for Mags. She's aggressive, careless, and dumb, even for a Mechwarrior, but her dad made her work with us when he was piloting the Jenner. The boys sort of like her, even if she was a lousy tech."
Hap looked up at Mike, "Are you going soft on me?"
Mike frowned, "We heard you're going up against the Immortals. They're no joke, and they play for keeps. Just bring everyone and their 'Mechs back". He finished lowering the canopy, and angrily slammed the locking bolts into place.
Mike left the gantry and started to raise the platform. Hap watched as Anastasia had a last minute conversation with Maja and Taja, and one of the older Techs was giving Mags some advice before closing her cockpit. Joker was talking to Mal and Codey, but they were helping him close his Mech.
Hap led his lance out of the mechbay and headed toward the road. Without being told they formed into a wedge and Anastasia took point. Hap pulled up the map and on his nav-computer and tried to find the pass that Commander McFinnigan had told them to reconnoiter.
The light flash on radio channel that Hap shared with Anastasia. He switched the radio over, "Hey, sorry, we've been a little busy this morning. We haven't had much of a chance to talk."
"No we haven't." Anastasia's voice was cool and calm. "But we have time now."
"So, what're the chances that when this is over we can finish what you started?" Hap asked.
"Assuming we survive whatever insane thing Commander McFinnigan is currently planning, and ROM doesn't use this combat operation to assassinate me, and I feel embolden, or we find a way to guarantee we won't be unduly interrupted, and if I'm still in the mood, I'd say the chances are high. However I'll concede that is a lot of conditions to be met." Anastasia said.
"Yeah, those are a lot of conditions to be met. Although, in all my previous relationships sex usually required certain conditions. Usually I had to treat her nicely, maybe give her a little wine, but-"
"Was she hunted by Comstar? Or did she execute military operations? Did you have private quarters and co-workers who respect your privacy?" Her voice was still calm, but Hap wasn't sure if she was annoyed.
"Alright, so we have some external problems." Hap knew this was a bad time to talk about their relationship. "Maybe we should talk about this later. I was just surprised this morning when you suddenly seemed ready to make love. I was also wondering what changed."
Anastasia didn't respond, and the silence felt awkward to Hap, "Honestly I thought I was dreaming, until the PA went off. That certainly seemed more like my luck." Hap tried to joke.
She still didn't respond, Hap went back to searching the Nav computer. The small screen and two dimensional map made it hard to find the place Kelly had asked them to check out.
Anastasia broke the silence, "It was everything. I was lying in bed thinking about where we could go. I thought about returning to Mother on Hazelhurst and I realized ComStar must have killed my father. It's hard to explain. It was one of those moments where I had several thoughts in quick succession."
Hap looked up from his map and watched Anastasia's Valkyrie continue to march as she explained, "Dad wouldn't keep explosives in his workshop, but he had enough batteries or flammable materials that it was conceivable something could explode. Then I remembered my mother mentioned one of the guards had been killed. It occurred to me if a ROM agent tried to kill daddy and were caught by a guard, or if things got messy blowing up the lab would raise less questions."
"That's how I knew Dad was killed by ComStar and they must have been hunting me. I suppose they assumed I died on Klathandu." Anastasia took in a deep breath before continuing, "Then I heard David coming down the hall and thought he was a ComStar assassin. I knew I was being foolish. If I was with you at least I'd have someone to watch over me. When I came to you, you held me, and I felt safe. You didn't question if I was paranoid." Anastasia said as Hap ignored the lance channel light flashing.
"I have to be honest, Anastasia, I was half-asleep and I probably would have agreed to anything. You could have told me 'we should get married', and I would have told you. 'Sure, just wait till morning.'"
Hap could almost hear Anastasia's eye roll, "I'll keep that in mind for later, Harold. We both know you, in your 'half-asleep' state, reminded me that we have the rest of this ad hoc family looking out for us, and that really did comfort me. When I woke up a few hours later I felt safe, secure and it was just you and me. Nothing changed exactly, rather the moment felt right."
Hap thought as his 'Mech kept marching on. When he said 'external problems' he was reminded that was usually an excuse and a sign for a couple in trouble, at least according to the counseling training he half remembered. However he reasoned their problem was more about how she needed security and reassurances right now, not someone obsessed with sex. Relationships were about more than sex too. He smirked as he realized he was usually thinking about sex, and she was thinking about privacy.
"Hap you still there?" Her voice was less calm now, actually it was normal almost flirty.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about those external problems, privacy, and how I could be more reassuring." Again he felt it was dump trying to sort out their relationship from the cockpit of their 'Mech. "Can you help me find that area the Commander wanted us to recon?"
"Already got it, Mon Amor." Anastasia said seductively. Way points appeared on his Nav Computer and he could see they would follow the road for another dozen or so kilometers.
"What does Mon Amor mean in French? 'My Beloved'?" Hap asked
"Harold, are you asking me if Mon Amor means 'my beloved' or are you calling me your 'beloved'?"
"I was asking." Hap said, again he had that nagging sense they should focus on the mission and flirt later.
"Mmm, pity, I liked being called your 'beloved'." Anastasia replied.
There was another pause. Hap took the hint, "Anastasia, my beloved, what does Mon Amor mean?"
"My love, or my darling." Anastasia replied, "Or my beloved."
"Very good. You've had your fun, now we should probably focus on the task at hand." Hap said.
"I'm having fun, and we just need to move to the objective. I'm enjoying the witty banter between us."
Hap sighed, "Anastasia, how does a girl with virtually no social life, and few friends learn how to flirt?"
"Well, mother could charm daddy when she wanted too, and I saw how women were in movies, and in those 'dirty girl' books. I also had a roommate that had no trouble getting a man's attention, of course it never worked out for her in the long run." Her voice trailed off, "And I'm a quick study, Mon Amor."
The light for the lance channel flashed again, "Well, my beloved, it looks like the rest of the lance wants to talk." Hap said, "We'll have to continue this conversation later." Everything with Anastasia was positive so it was a good time to stop. Hap also felt like he should be coordinating with his whole lance.
"Hap, it's pretty quiet. Are you guys talking about how to avoid more ComStar weirdness?" Joker asked.
"Something like that." Hap replied.
"Good, because I have a suggestion." Joker said, "Anastasia, I was reading this book about a Lord's daughter that was running from an arranged marriage, and she had to hide from her powerful father."
"Oh?" Anastasia said. Her voice hardened. It was obvious she was already annoyed by Joker.
"Yeah, so she ran to the periphery and became a concubine to the Pirate King. Now, I don't know what that is, but Mal and Codey mentioned something about ComStar hunting you, so you could try being a concubine to avoid them."
"Joker, what was the title of this book?" Anstasia asked
"Let's see, Annabelle's Passion on the Periphery. According to the back Annabelle enjoys a torrid-"
"Joker! That's my book. I was looking for that." Anastasia yelled.
"I thought so. I found in on your bed. Before you ask, I was talking to Mags, and saw it. I figured the Professor would want to encourage my literacy, so I borrowed it." Joker said.
Hap sighed, "Joker, don't take Anastasia's things without asking. And, so we're clear, no one is running anywhere. We all know too much and ComStar will likely kill all of us, so we've got to solve this together.
"Yeah, donkey brains, maybe you can run off and be a concubine" Mags added.
"What is a concubine?" Joker asked half laughing, "Seriously I don't know."
"It's similar to a mistress." Anastasia replied, "It's a somewhat informal, but habitual and often exclusive, relationship between two lovers when marriage is not expedient. Also Harold's right, ComStar will likely kill all of us just on principal. I apologize that I brought you all into this."
"I'm not afraid of a communications company." Mags said. "Eff em' I pay my bills. They send they're brawler after us, I'll stomp on him. Maybe with my boots, maybe with my 'Mech, maybe both."
Hap laughed to himself as he considered Mag's strangely optimistic tough-girl attitude. It reassured him to hear Mags say she didn't care about the odds, she was going to fight her way through, or go down swinging. It was a good contrast to Joker's bitching and Anastasia's practical realism. Planning was good, but sometimes you just had to throw caution to the wind and pray you come out the other side.
"Thank you Anastasia, I'm touched you included me in the apology." Joker said.
"Joker, I am being sincere. Please don't make me regret being polite." Anastasia said
"I know, and I mean it, when shit looked bad on Klathandu and we all thought we were done, you made a point to insult me. I guess we've grown closer now, and I'm glad. I never had a noble for a friend."
"Well, we're lance mates, William. I have to trust you with my life." Anastasia's voice softened.
"Cool, Cool. So when you become the Pirate King's Concubine, you'll remember me, right?" Joker asked.
Anastasia sighed, "Should I find myself in the court of the Pirate King, I'll remember to ask him to flog you."
"As long as you remember me." Joker laughed.
-
Uggg. Great read, was surprised when I came to the end of the post, and you left a cliff hanger..... ending.
Keep it up really looking forward to more.
One small criticism “ the slam the armor hatch” on the mech.
Armored hatches weight a lot, a small vic like a up armor Humvee weight over 500lbs.
The hatch on a mech would need hydraulics to open close.
For story detail something like “ he double checked the cockpit hatch was combat locked”.
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One small criticism “ the slam the armor hatch” on the mech.
Armored hatches weight a lot, a small vic like a up armor Humvee weight over 500lbs.
The hatch on a mech would need hydraulics to open close.
I hear you. I've been in and out of a few up armored vehicles, and you're right about the mechanical assistance.
I changed the paragraph to read, "He finished lowering the canopy, and angrily slammed the locking bolts into place."
Hopefully that doesn't take other readers out the scene.
Thanks for reading and commenting
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THAT as originally stated isn't as far out of line as you think. Once, long ago on the planes of fields called NAVAIR, there used to be a type of beast with a maw that could swallow a dozen starships. It was called the NCPP-105 Air Start (commonly called The Huffer by those how maintained it and by those who used it). That maw, required you to lift it to get it open. It goes without comment that lifting it is rather dangerous when you are NOT 19-20 years old. It's genetic sibling, the A/M47A-4 JASU, also has a maw that could swallow a dozen starships... but that model had hydraulics to lift it up and down (because others realized how dangerous the -105 can be).
My point is, your mileage will vary if your mech has good hydraulics (that go smoothly up & down) or crap hydraulics (where, if you value select body parts, you will make sure your body parts are clear of interfaces)...
Please, don't ask what the WUC or TEC is for those models of SE. I don't WANT to remember...
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where, if you value select body parts, you will make sure your body parts are clear of interfaces)...
.....Or things like An/ PVS-14’s, radio antennas, spare barrels for MG’s, spaghetti cords, smoke grenades, and radio handsets come to mind.
30 kg of body armor, weapons, and kit never seem to fit through armor hatches.
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Thanks EAGLE7 and ThePW
Part of what I’m trying to go for here is a very tactical MechWarrior’s view of the battle. From my own experiences it’s sometimes the little details that communicate everything, and since I try to write concisely those are the ones I want to use. Like loading up on the tailgate of a C-130 and how everything stinks of JP-8. That smell alone evokes so many memories, from my Dad’s uniform, to my time at Bragg jumping out of planes, or the deployments and traveling to and from war. If you’ve ever been in a military cargo plane, mentioning JP-8 just takes you there.
Or, in the case of equipment that will maim you, the proper way to charge an M-60 (palm grip facing up, thumb away from the weapon). It used to be knowing that would distinguish the new boots, from the guys that had been around. Now it’s a sure sign you’re so old you’re almost irrelevant, and you should go and show that scar between your thumb and index finger to the VA and try to argue for 3% more disability.
The problem with BattleTech is sometimes when I go for those details it might miss the mark. There is one odd piece of “fluff” art that might imply something to me, that is countered in another sourcebook or manual. Which isn’t necessarily bad. I’ve found the fan base here to be pretty tolerant and polite, and I’ve decided if it’s a detail to just fix it. Hopefully I don’t make a mistake with something that becomes a plot point.
In a similar way, no one has even seemed to have much of a problem with me adding movies and TV shows into story. I’ve needed this because, in my experience, this is what Soldiers, and I would assume MechWarriors, do. My time down in a line-unit was more like working in a Jiffy-lube, and less like Call of Duty. We’d spent a lot of time at the Motor Pool maintaining our vehicles, talking about sports, telling Chuck Norris jokes, or arguing about something like Superman vs. Batman, just waiting for something to happen. Usually “the exciting moments” only lasted a few minutes, compared to the days of just waiting, walking, or driving around.
There was also those weird time during deployments where you don’t have anything to do for a few days and you just binge watch something (anything). Somehow one of my soldiers got us hooked on something that I won’t admit was probably a Telenovela. It wasn’t nearly as cool as Brave Sister Sniper, but it could be just as stupidly contrived and there were several actresses that were quite "compelling" to watch.
Also last weekend I took off for the 4th of July, I should be back to my regular update schedule, so I won’t keep you waiting two weeks again (hopefully) to resolve that cliff hanger.
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Now we are waiting for things go boom. Nd an mbish to happen. Who is the victim is to be seen.
I am waiting for.some of the local unemployed Mercs to support the Immortals with the Persian iconography. Can make for an interesting free for all.
Oh, and the thing could be saved by the crack team just killing Ahmed outright. Leave the dropship to its own devices. Headhunting is one of their jobs, free all
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Chapter 32
Monhegan
October 3029
Hap and his lance mates entered the Ops center. It had been roughly two hours since they had left for their initial recon mission. The Coyotes had found the pass to be a good ambush site and marked TRPs. There was a maze of roads going through the mountains, so they tried to map out as much of the roads as they could with the time they had. They could also see the company's Quickcell drone flying over the mountains, but it wouldn't share data with them.
Hap saw Kelly, Fletch, Tatyana, and Patrick standing around the holotable. Kelly and Fletch were now in cooling vests and shorts. There were also two other men that Hap didn't recognize. They were physically fit, heavily tattooed, and sported neatly trimmed beards. Their clothes were a mix of Steiner military and commercial outdoor hunting attire. Their matching black t-shirts had an olive drab skull wearing a beret with a bayonet in its teeth. Robert's Rangers was embroidered on the shoulder of their sleeves.
Hap approached the table. He could see the topo map now included the TRPs, and details like the road system. There was also a small floating blue Quickcell drone circling the map. Hap looked around the Ops center and noticed a new station that looked similar to one of the adhoc 'mech simulators. It had aircraft controls, and three monitors with virtual dials, gauges and indicators. There was also a display of everything around the drone. Hawkins was sitting at the station humming happily, and drinking coffee.
Kelly glanced up from the table, and motioned to Hap, "Hap, this is Brendan Robert. Brendan this is Harold 'Haphazard' Calahad, my Recon lance leader."
Brendan and Hap shook hands. Hap and Brendan's eyes met. Brendan seemed friendly, helpful, and trustworthy. "Good to meet you, Hap. This is my XO Bob Smith, just call him Chief."
Chief gave Hap a nod.
"Time is of the essence, gents." Kelly said, "What's your report Hap?"
Hap pulled out a pen and used it to point to areas on the holotable, "You were right about this pass, you could fit two lances here." Hap motioned to the pass, then pointed to the roads leading to it from the east, "These roads here are so narrow you can't get more than one or two 'mechs, through at a time."
"We're calling it the murder bowl." Joker said.
"Murder bowl." Kelly nodded, "I like that. It's no longer 'Objective Mace', it's now the murder bowl."
"This road is south of the pass and runs back to the road near Topaz Lake. I think it would be good for the Fire Support lance." Hap said.
Kelly nodded, "Fletch, we'll put Conner and Noah in that patchwork Centurion here." Kelly pointed to a point on the road near a thick forest, "Think we should put Dillon with 'em?"
"I don't think you should put those two boys in half a 'Mech anywhere near an active battle, and I'm never comfortable with Dillon when he doesn't have direct supervision from Fiona." Fletch said.
"Fine I'll put the whole damn Hammer lance there. I wanted to have them on the ridge, but the road will work. We need to create confusion to keep Farrah off balance. Don't worry about the boys. There will be a giant mountain between the boys and the real fightin', and the rest of the Hammers now."
"You're saddling Crow with two half trained boys, in a broken mech, and a simpleton that must be hen-pecked by his lance leader, who you've taken out of this fight." Fletch said. "I think you're throwing away several advantages here to go after that drop shuttle and protect Fiona and Patrick."
"I'm not takin' anyone out of the fight, and we're still holding all the advantages." Kelly hit his pipe bowl on his hand. "Crow will be fine, Dillon is a stand up troop, Conner and Noah need experience."
Fletch smoked for a moment, "Yeah, Crow has Rolph too. This is a good spot for the Hammers. They can move along the road and keep the pressure on the Immortals"
"Aye, see it's not a problem." Kelly nodded and looked at the clock on the wall, "John, summon the MechWarriors and the leadership. We need to start talking everyone through plan."
John picked up his phone, punched a few numbers then his voice came across the PA. When he was done Roweyna walked into the room and Kelly asked her, "Have ye heard from the Golden Eagles?"
"Aye, they should be here shortly. I should warn ye though, their CO, Robyn Edwards is a real, well, she wanted to argue about everything." Rowyena walked to the snack bar and turned on the electric kettle.
As they waited Hap turned to Patrick. "How was the area north of the star port?"
"Nasty, swampy. You couldn't land shit up there. Grizzly almost got his 'mech stuck in the mud."
MechWarriors started to trickle into the ops, as did the rest of the leadership. A short plumb woman with brown hair with curled bangs and the rest of her hair pulled into a bun entered the Ops center. She was wearing a flight suit, mirrored sunglasses, brown leather combat boots, and a classic "bomber" jacket. She was followed by a taller, leaner, dark haired woman wearing an identical outfit. The second woman's sunglasses were on top of her head. "Golden Eagles" was imprinted on their jackets.
The short woman walked to the holotable and looked at Fletch and Kelly, "I'm Major, I mean, Robyn Edwards, CO of the Golden Eagles. Go-by is Apex, like Apex Predator. Which of you is McFinnigan?"
"Aye that's me." Kelly said looking up from his holotable, "You and your friend" Kelly nodded toward the other woman, "are bringin' two Stukas for air support." Hap sensed Kelly was not impressed with Apex.
"Stukas yes, and I suppose I should introduce you to Giggles." As she spoke she snapped his fingers and motioned for the woman to come join her.
Giggles looked annoyed as she waded through the crowd. When she got to the holotable she extended her hand to shake Kelly's hand, "My name's Katherine Berlin." Katherine came across as stoic and stiff.
Kelly gave her a curious look as he shook her hand. "Ye don't look like a Giggles?"
"Back in the 22nd Avalon Hussars I was known for being," Giggles paused, "humorless. One sortie I flew with a very nervous young woman who, I don't know how she survived flight school, but she couldn't stop giggling. When we reported to the pilot lounge for the debriefing the CO met us and asked me what was so funny. The more I tried to deny laughing the worse it got for me." She ended her story abruptly.
Kelly smiled at her, "I should've guessed, but I love a good call sign story." He looked around the room. "Alright I think we have everyone. Kitty, start us off with a weather report."
"I got no windows." Kitty said as several of the mercenaries laughed, this was apparently an old joke, "Let me jest pull up the weather report from the space port." She pressed a button on the console and a smiling sun appeared on of the screen. "It's a sunny day, High today is 5 degrees, and the low is -1. Visibility is over 10 kilometers. Few clouds, and no real ceiling. Good day for fightin'."
Kelly shook his head, then looked to Tatyana, "Volchitsa, if you could give us the intel estimate."
Tatyana walked to the front of the room. "Dah. Today Ve fight Ze Immortalz" Tatyana spoke in her heavy Russian accent with the "th" and "s" sounding like "z", and her "ws" were pronounced like "v". "You know zem, you hate zem." There were several laughs. Hap had never head Tatyana talk this much. Her thick accent took a moment to understand. "This fine, they hate us too. Likely they attempt kill Kelly, and Patrick." As she spoke the weather report was replaced with the Immortals TO&E.
Tatayana pulled out a pointer, and circled the area to the north of the star part. "Patrick tells me swamp is too bolotnyy, or…marshy for drop shuttle landing."
"Yeah, you could have seen it for yourself if you hadn't skipped out of the mission." Patrick replied.
Tatayana shrugged, "I am hired for intelligence. You are hired for work in mud."
"I hired you for both. Intelligence and fighin' in the mud." Kelly replied, "back to the intel estimate."
"Dah. The Immortals very likely land here." She pointed to an area to the east beyond the mountains.
Experience is they come through mountains looking for McFinnigans. We kick ass. They run to drop shuttle. By time sukas report to Liao masters, I have pierogi on table for James and Sophie."
Fletch took out a pack of cigarettes from his first-aid kit. "Hell yeah! Pierogis for dinner. I'm sleeping with the hot intel officer, getting paid a fortune to kill bitches, and pierogis, I'm livin' the dream, gents."
Tatayana's eyes flashed "Tykho! I am talking."
Fletch was still laughing but he held up his hands in surrender.
"Dyakuyu. I am saying, most dangerous COA, the Immortals actually come to do job. They bring full complement of 'mechs, maybe air support, or vehicle like the LRM carrier. Then lure us into mountain fight, while recon lance run for star port. We are pinned down and distracted. Star port destroyed by recon lance. Very bad for us." Tatyana looked around the room and shrugged.
Most likely COA, I think, is between. The Immortals maybe smart enough to try star port run with small force, larger force try to destroy us. I cannot say if they have air or artillery support, but is likely.
Kelly clapped her on the shoulder. "Very good. With that note, we have air support, artillery and 'likely' more 'Mechs. We also know the area slightly better. We have every advantage. Our mission is simple McFinnigan and Sons, with support from Golden Eagles and Robert's Rangers, destroys Ahmed's Immortals and captures their drop shuttle in the vicinity of the Monehegan Star port on 31 October 3029."
Tatayana exchanged places with Kelly as he pressed a few buttons on the holotable and blue 'Mech icons appeared. "Alright this will get a little complicated, so I need ye all to listen closely. We're going to try and lure these 'sukas' into 'the murder bowl', confuse the hell out of them, while Brendan and his boys take their drop shuttle." As he spoke the pass was highlighted in orange.
"Hap, you and yer Coyotes will be doing the heavy lifting for the start of this operation." He pointed to four holographic representations of the recon lance. "I need you to move through the mountains approach the landing sight and see what they off load." The four blue icons moved along the road to the eastern side of the mountains where there were twelve red icons and a large red drop shuttle.
"Radio in everything you see. Especially look for aero fighters, or LRM vehicles. Once their recon lance starts to move I need you to engage them. Prioritize destroying anything jump capable." Kelly said
Hap glanced up at the Immortal's TO&E. Of the twelve 'mechs, only the Recon lance's Spider, Stinger and Vulcan were jump capable. They were also under armored and a few shots would destroy them.
"As you're neutralizing those mechs. I need you to draw the whole lot into the mountains and let them chase you." As Kelly spoke the blue Coyote's mechs withdrew to the mountains as 3 of the 12 red mechs disappeared. The remainder of the red icons chased the Coyotes.
"Fiona, Patrick, you and your 'mechs will be back at the star port." Two blue 'mechs appeared near Topaz lake. Should anything get past the main force I need you two to destroy it." Kelly said.
"Oh good, yer takin me out of the fight." Patrick said dryly.
"Feels like one of those family reunions where I'd have to sit at the kid's table." Fiona added.
"I'm Fiona, I'm ten years older than my cousins, so I'll bitch about having to be with them." Patrick said.
"Children." Elinor snapped, "Don't fight each other. Fight the people that have killed your family."
Patrick finished his coffee, "Can't. Uncle Kelly is keeping us out of the fight."
"I'm not keeping you out. You two are a tactical reserve positioned to protect the principal." Kelly paused for a moment. "And I don't want Ahmed to try to kill you when he realizes he can't escape."
Patrick and Fiona exchanged looks and nodded as Kelly continued, "Hammers, minus Fiona, you'll position yourselves here. Crow you'll lead." Kelly pressed another button and four icons appeared on one of the long roads that ran east to west through the mountains. "Start here and keep out of sensor range till I call for you. Also you'll have Noah and Conner in a rebuilt Centurion." Kelly looked at the two boys, "Do what Crow tells you. If he says, 'run' you boys run that 'mech all the way home."
Both boys nodded and agreed as Fletch and Tomax exchanged looks. Fletch gave the unit trainer a knowing nod and walked over to him. As the two men whispered Kelly kept talking, "Anvils, we'll be located here." Four blue icons showed up on the edge of the mountain pass Kelly had indicated earlier. "We'll take up defensive positions in the murder bowl."
"Dullahans, minus Patrick, you'll be positioned on this ridge. Grizzly you have the lead." Three more icons appeared north of the murder bowl. "Again stay just out of sensor range until called for."
"Now that everyone knows where you're starting, let's go back to the Coyotes. Hap I need you to lead the Immortals into the murder bowl. Once you get them there I need your lance to split up. Mags and Joker you go north toward the Dullahans. We'll keep everyone busy while you link up and come back to harass the Immortals." As he spoke the icons moved. "Hap take Anastasia and link up with Hammers and Robert's Rangers. Mags, you and Joker will now be under Grizzlies tactical control to harass the Immortals. If anyone runs, or manages to get past us, you'll have to chase them down."
Mags and Joker nodded. Kelly looked around "To be clear everyone, we're keeping two-thirds of our combat power out of sensor range to trick them into trying to engage Anvil lance, once they're committed we need to envelop them, but I also want to create confusion, understand? Now, before I let Brendan talk his portion, I want to address you two ladies." Kelly looked up at the Golden Eagles.
"Your primary purpose is to give us air superiority, once that is accomplished I'll want you to destroy any artillery they may have brought. Finally, for the last stage of this operation Hap will have priority for air support. If you have questions, hold them to the end of the brief." Kelly said looking at Hap.
"I have a ton of questions." Apex answered. "For starters, What-"
Kelly held up his hands, "Aye, jest wait till the end, and we'll go through them." He turned to the young commando, "Brendan explain your portion of the operation."
"Alright. We'll position ourselves with the Fire Support lance. Once our escort," Brendan looked to Hap and Anastasia "links up with us we'll proceed to the drop shuttle. We'll need to approach it from a side that only exposes us to a limited number of weapon blisters. We'll stop outside of sensor range or, if the terrain gives us something, outside of the shuttle's line of sight."
Brendan nodded to Kelly and the icons moved to the eastern side of the mountain range and near the notional shuttle landing site. "Once we get there, and we have control of the air support"
"You mean you have priority for air support." Apex corrected.
"Yeah. So once we have that, we need you to target the shuttle's weapon blisters." Brendan nodded to Apex, "Once you make your first run on the shuttle, I'll need the 'mechs to start engaging the weapons blisters. You guys are a distraction. While the crew is trying engage 'mechs and aerofighters, we'll take our APC right up the shuttle's loading ramp and then me and my boys are on the clock to take the control deck. We'd prefer you kindly stop attacking the shuttle at that time."
"And while Brendan and his boys work their magic we'll finish the Immortals. Then it's finding a buyer for the drop shuttle and picking up a company's worth of scrap." Kelly smiled. "Before I review the tasks, Tatayana, what's the over and under?"
"20% losses I believe. Two or three 'mechs. Likely one from Anvils." She looked at Kelly almost apologetically, "and another from Coyotes." She gave Mags a warning glance, "but maybe Dullahans." She looked to David. "Two 'mechs is 12%. other 8% is loss capability across Coyote, Dullahan, and Anvil lances."
"Sounds right. We know Commander Ahmed will be targeting me. I think we can assume my Highlander is 'likely' one of the 'mechs that will be disabled. Mr. Fletcher, take command of the battle if I'm incapacitated. If I'm permanently incapacitated, after the battle, Company command falls to Patrick."
-
Chapter 33
Kelly clapped his hands, "now, lets review task." As he went through the tasks Hap took a few quick notes. Most of the tasks fell to his lance, or him personally. Hap felt self-conscious even though he knew most of it was simple or straight forward, at least until he had to try and go toe-to-toe with the drop shuttle. Hap glanced over to see Anastasia also taking detailed notes, and she had a sketch of the battle field and had written down several key coordinates.
"I need binoculars" Joker said. "I didn't have my pair when we left Klathandu, and the best way to spot the shuttle without being detected is to get out my mech."
Hap nodded and pointed toward Jessica Lan. "Ask Ms. Lan, but be polite."
Joker nodded and worked his way across the room to the supply officer. Hap realized the brief had switched to questions and now Apex was pestering Kelly and Roweyna.
"Alright, but I think I should get some salvage, or a stake in the sale of the drop shuttle." Apex said.
"You were thoroughly briefed on your tasks and what this mission entailed, and you negotiated for a pure cash payout." Roweyna explained. This was the first time Hap had seen her look truly angry.
"I didn't realize part of the salvage was a drop shuttle." Apex said
Roweyena's eyes flashed, "Did ye not read the contract, woman?"
"Don't be rude." Apex replied, "I didn't realize how much material was involved."
"You signed the contract. You can't renegotiate just because you weren't paying attention until the mission brief. We're being compensated fairly, let's go and start our preflight." Giggles said.
"That wasn't a mission brief." Apex replied, "We deserve more salvage, and the weather report sucked."
"Is this your first contract?" Brendan asked. "you don't try to negotiate after you sign."
"Hey I'm not talking to you." Apex said.
Kelly looked at Roweyna. "Get this under control." Kelly addressed the room, "If there are no more questions regarding the operation, I suggest you all get to your 'mechs and get to where ye need to be."
Hap looked over the crowd to see Joker talking to Ms. Lan, she was nodding and didn't look particularly annoyed. Hap figured that was a good sign. He followed the crowd out the ops center and headed to his 'mech. The Coyotes and Dullahans had parked their mechs around the Ops building because they wanted to give the techs more space and time to prep the other 'Mechs.
Hap got himself situated in his 'mech and plugged in his neuro helmet. He made sure his radio was on the lance channel. "Joker needed to request binoculars. He might be a few minutes."
"Well that looked like the most chaotic and convoluted way to defend a star port." Anastasia said.
"I'm not sure this is about defending the star port exactly, at least not completely" Hap answered.
"He is literally creating chaos and confusion. It would be more efficient to use point defense strategies and defend the area around the star port rather than hoping to draw a numerically inferior force into an obvious ambush."
"I get the impression that everything is special because of the Immortals." Hap replied. "Mags, was that a normal mission brief?"
"I don't know. I rarely was there for mission briefs, but I'd guess so."
Joker emerge from Ops building with a large olive drab case and a big smile. As he climbed into his 'mech Hap added, "I think that is why he has Fletch there to try and keep him from going too crazy."
"Perhaps." Anastasia added, "But there are so many variables here, I'd feel more comfortable if we just defended the star port and brought the full weight of our superior force to bare on the Immortals."
"As much as it's hard to believe, leading and fighting is all about people, even the enemy." Hap said, "I think we have to trust the Commander knows his enemy, at least this time."
"Hey what are we talking about?" Joker asked.
"The Professor isn't sure about the plan." Mags said.
"Seems like a good plan. We find the enemy. We lead the enemy. We kill the enemy." Joker replied.
"That was succinct, but I'm concerned about the complication of it, and I doubt our enemy will actually just follow us into what should be an obvious ambush." Anastasia's said.
Hap's Griffin started to walk, "Coyotes form up into a square, and get on the road. We need to move fast. If we run low on time, Joker and Mags you'll have to go full throttle to find a good observation spot.
The lance starting moving as Joker asked, "Anastasia, are you going to lecture us?"
"No." Anastasia replied "You generally cut me off." Her voice had her regular business calmness to it.
"I was thinking I should start listening when you talk doctrine." Joker said.
"Oh?" Anastasia sounded surprised.
"Yeah, I'm never going to read a field manual or regulation, so I figure if I just repeat what you say, I'll sound smart," Joker laughed, "like you. Might come in handy for picking up girls."
She didn't key her mike, but Hap could hear the heavy sigh. "Joker did you get binoculars?" Hap asked.
"Oh yeah. Jessie Lan had a pair waiting for me. It's the one I kept wanting supply to buy for me. It has a digital zoom to 400 times or something insane, and the objective is 100mm. It has a built in range finder, and night vision. Even has a tripod. If we stop for a second I could see the Immortals in space."
Hap glanced up at the sky. He thought he could almost see a white dot high in the sky, but he knew that was unlikely. "Good. Let's get to where we think they'll land and get you in a good hide site."
They moved quickly and quietly along the mountain roads. As they passed through the "murder bowl" the command net flashed. Hap changed channels. "Hap," John Saint said, "The Star Port traffic control called. Seems they got a union class drop shuttle that is having trouble and can't land at the star port."
"Oh?" Hap asked, "Is that right?"
"Yeah, the Shuttle is also refusing guidance control, and they've turned off their beacon. The Star Port is tracking their new landing zone as just a few kilometers south of Tatayan's projected location for the Immortals landing." John said.
Tatayana's heavy accent came over the radio, "Sorry. Was best guess. Only data I have is from drone."
The landing zone was highlighted by a large red hexagon up on Hap's Nav computer, "We'll get the LZ under observation. Did you tell the star port we had a patrol out, and we'd investigate?"
"Oh yeah, we told the client you'd be real neighborly." John said.
"While we're on the subject, we can see the drone, but we can't get any of its data, unless you guys put it on the common operating map, we have no idea what the drone is seeing."
"Is Quickcell." Tatayana answered, "Crash into enemy is best use."
"Listen, if this drone pays off I'll spend the money on somethin' nicer." Kelly said, "In the mean time I recommend ye go radio silent until ye have something useful to report. You got a few more minutes while the Union is entering the atmosphere and is sensor blind. Get yourselves in position."
As they got close to the end of the mountains the Coyotes could see the drop shuttle coming down. They found a communications tower on top of a mountain and Joker parked his Firestarter on the reverse side and climbed up the tower to a maintenance landing. He had a heavy blanket poncho and ground cloth in addition to a portable radio for doing this sort of work.
Hap, Anastasia and Mags took up positions closer to the drop shuttle so Joker would have more time to get back into his Firestarter before the enemy could engage his shutdown 'Mech. They waited on the road between two ridge lines. Everything was quiet as they waited. Hap could feel his own heart race, and nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. He was starting to think this could be a bad plan.
"I got zero fighter escorts." Joker said in almost a whisper. "and aerospace doors are closed."
Hap checked his radio and realized he forgot to patch Joker's radio into the command net. Hap pressed a few buttons. "Ops, this is Coyote actual, we have negative on aerospace fighters at this time, over."
"Confirmed. Negative on fast movers." Kitty replied
Hap tried to ignore his nerves as he waited for the drop shuttle to land. He could start to hear the roar through his 'mech's cockpit. Then there was the shake of the ground as the drop shuttle started its final few seconds of approach and would "gently" land. Even without Joker saying anything all the Coyotes could feel the ground shake when the drop shuttle landed.
"Shuttles down, over." Joker whispered.
"Yer commin' in weak Coyotes." Kitty replied
"Joker, you're over a dozen kilometers from the drop shuttle, you don't need to whisper." Hap said.
"Oh yeah." Joker said, "The Immortal's shuttle has landed. I can see their lion insignia, over."
"Got ye loud n' clear." Kitty replied, "Shuttle's down" It sounded like she was telling everyone in Ops.
"Mech cubes are open, and I got eyes on a Spider, a Stinger, and a Vulcan. They are lowering the ramp now. It might be a few minutes before they get the other mechs out, over."
Hap glanced at his scanners. They were outside of scanning range for normal scanners. "Anastasia, you see anything on your scanners."
"Negative." She said coolly, "Our systems are linked, you're seeing what I see."
Hap waited and stared at the ridgeline between them and the Immortals. He could see the top of the drop shuttle, but everything else was trees, rocks and road. Hap waited a few more unbearable seconds, "Joker, what's going on up there?"
"Up here? I'm freezing my balls off." Joker said, "But down at the drop shuttle they got the ramp down and there is a Flea, Spider, Vulcan, and Stinger headed this way. They're about 15 kilometers out."
"At the Spider's maximum speed we could be in sensor range in roughly 6 minutes." Anastasia added
"Copy all Coyotes. Recon lance is out and headed your way."
"The lance is staying together." Joker replied. "They got a Hunchback and a Trebuchet off the ramp. Hunchback looks a little weird. Not sure if it has an SRM 6, or what's going on with it."
Hap checked his notes, "It's a 5P, it has lasers, instead of the Tomodzuru Class 20 AC that Tuna's had."
"Speaking of Tuna, a Thunderbolt just walked off the ramp. I used to think that 'mech looked cool, but now it freakin' haunts my nightmares." Joker said.
"Add that to the short list of things we agree on." Anastasia added, and Hap felt chills as he remembered the terrifying moments when they fought a Thunderbolt on Klathandu.
"The Orion is on the ground and there's an Archer in the door. I think that's their heavy lance."
"Aye Copy, second lance is down, over." Kitty said.
"Recon lance is about 12 kilometers out." Joker said, "Think I'll stick around for the rest of the show. There's a Battlemaster unloading and another 'mech. It sorta looks like an Atlas. I think it's a Banshee."
"Coyotes, confirm, if ye see a Stalker." Kelly said.
"No, but I got a big tank with three barrels. Probably a Schrek PPC carrier."
"Aye, that's a tough customer. Almost as bad as Tomax's Awesome." Kelly said.
"Almost as bad until you stomp on it." Tomax replied. "I dare you to try and stomp on my Awesome."
"They got two more hovercraft." Joker said. "Not sure what they are."
"Do they have missile pods? Maybe it's a Pegasus or a Harasser." Hap said.
"No, looks real slick and fast, just one large barrel out the front. Maybe a laser or PPC." Joker said.
Hap tried to think, "Is it small? Maybe it's a Savannah Master. It might just be for defending the drop shuttle. Commander Kelly, we might need something with short range weapons for the escort mission."
"Acknowledge. I'd like to keep the Jenner for jumping over mountains, and causing mischief and confusion. That's more to Mags strength." Kelly paused, "Volchita, need you to reposition yourself to where Hammer lance is hiding. You'll support Anastasia and Hap with the Escort Mission."
"Dah Ser!" Tatayana replied, "She wolf help little coyotes."
"There ye go Coyotes, I got you a wolf to help out. Now, Joker, about that Stalker."
"No Stalker, Commander. The hover tanks and the Schrek PPC carrier have parked in front of the drop shuttle. I think they're done unloading. Everyone is moving forward. No Stalker, no fast movers, and no LRM carriers."
"Get back in your 'mech Joker." Hap said. "This looks too easy, except for those tanks."
"Well the day's not over yet." Kelly said, "Stay sharp, stick to the plan. I still need you to take down the jump capable 'mechs, and lure the Immortals into the ambush. Then you can deal with those tanks."
"Acknowledge the tanks. We're going to have to neutralize them." Brendan said.
"Concur." Hap said, the Schrek would be a problem, but two light hover tanks were, as a rule, fragile. Being under the guns of the drop shuttle would complicate things, but if they had air support it shouldn't be too bad. He'd also have Tatayana and Anastasia.
"I'm back in my Firestarter." Joker reported.
"Golden Eagles, this is McFinnigan, are you on our net?" Kelly asked.
"Acknowledge, sounds like an easy day." Apex replied.
"Yes. Need you to stay on the ramp in standby. Unless things go badly, your only objective now is to help us capture the drop shuttle."
"Copy. But I still get paid for achieving my other two objectives, right?" Apex asked.
"You'll be paid as per yer contract." Kelly said. "Ops, reposition the drone where it can see the Coyotes."
"Hawkins acknowledges. Moving Drone now." John said. Roweyena could be heard in the background yelling, "Did that daft woman even bother to read her contract?"
Hap could see red icons on the edges of his scanners.
"Commander, where almost in enemy sensor range, permission to engage." Hap asked.
"Aye, lad, cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." Kelly replied.
-
Chapter 34
Joker jumped his Firestarter over the ridge and next to his lance mates. Hap saw the enemy recon lance's formation start to fall apart as the Spider began to sprint toward them.
"Wait a moment Mags and Joker." Hap commanded his lance. He saw the Spider get closer. "We need them to get within range of your primary weapons."
Joker and Mags agreed as Hap jumped his Mech half-way up the ridgeline. The lower half of his 'mech was covered but he could see over the ridge. Hap could see kilometers of rolling hill country spreading beyond the mountains. There was a large forest near the Drop shuttle and a multi-lane highway going up and down the hills. The Immortals were moving along the highway toward them. The Spider caught site of the Griffin and tried to change course mid jump.
Anastasia shot a brace of ten missiles and the majority of them hit the Spider chipping away the 'mech's limited armor. Hap lined up a shot with his PPC as the Spider landed and changed direction. The azure ball of energy collided with the Spider's right torso. The missiles had weakened the armor to the point that the PPC's bolt blew off the shoulder and right arm of the smaller 'mech. Hap fired his own LRM rack and watched the Spider stagger as missiles struck it across the body.
The Vulcan's autocannon grazed Hap's shoulder. Hap jumped back down as Anastasia told him. "The Archer and Trebuchet are sprinting to get us in range. We can't stay here long."
"Joker, can you give me a sensor lock on the Spider?" As Hap spoke the Spider showed up on his targeting computer. Anastasia launched another salvo of missiles as Hap followed up with his own. The Spider's armor and internal structure were badly compromised, but the 'mech was still moving.
Hap waited another moment. He needed the Immortal's recon lance to get closer so they would be within the effective range of his lance's medium lasers and short range missiles. "When they get within 90 meters, we're all going to jump on the ridge line. Anastasia finish off the Spider. Mags you got the Stinger, and Joker, you and I will target the Assassin."
There was a murmur of acknowledgment as Hap said "Go." The Coyotes jumped to the ridgeline and Hap focused on the Assassin. He put his cross hairs on the right shoulder hoping to touch off the ammo. Joker's medium lasers and hit the center torso and right torso as Hap's PPC melted the right shoulder and missiles peppered the mech's internals and right leg.
Several PPC bolts and long range missiles came from the Immortals formation laboring up the highway. Hap was struck by missiles across the arm and chest and took a PPC bolt in the left shoulder. He jumped back down as another ball of ionized particles flew harmlessly overhead.
"Start to fall back." Hap ordered as he looked at his systems. His Griffin had lost some armor from the chest and arms, but nothing serious. The Spider and Stinger were gone, and Mags heat was high.
"Mags you kill that Stinger?" Hap asked as he started walking backwards. His sensors told him the Flea would in view shortly. They'd need to kill it quickly before the Trebuchet and Archer were in range.
"Yeah Jefe, I aimed center mass, and hit him with everything. I think I got his machine gun magazine."
"Good work. Now watch your heat, and alternate weapons." Hap said.
The Vulcan jumped onto the ridge line, and was greeted by Anastasia's long range missiles and medium laser followed by Joker's two chest mounted lasers. The combined salvo melted what was left of the Vulcan's right leg. It fell heavily and Mags put two lasers into its exposed side. Smoked poured the holes and seams in the 'mech's armor before there was a large explosion.
Two poorly aimed groups of 15 missiles hit Hap and Joker each. Neither Mech took serious damage, but Hap knew this meant the Trebuchet was in range and the Archer couldn't be far behind him, he also knew the Thunderbolt and Orion also had LRM launchers. "Keep retreating." Hap said as the Flea came into view. He squeezed off a hurried shot that melted its left leg clean off. The diminutive mech fell forward as a Hap's LRM salvo slammed into it.
Hap continued to backpedal his Griffin, "This is Coyote actual, we've completed objective one. All jump capable mech's are destroyed. We are now luring the remaining forces to the murder bowl, over."
"Good copy, Coyote." John replied as another salvo of missiles came down barely missing Joker.
"Hey boss, I'm not one to complain, and normally I'm on the side of plucky upstarts, not the guys with all the advantages, but I gotta say it really feels like we kicked over the hornet's nest." Joker said.
"Get off the command net." Fletch snapped.
"Ops, This is Coyote two. Requesting LRM resupply for myself and Coyote actual."
"Acknowledge, Coyote two. Resupply will be available when you rendezvous with Hammer lance."
Anastasia continued walking backwards as she fired her LRM launcher at the Flea. The missiles tore into the 'mech's arm and shoulder. One of the Flea's lasers sparked and smoked.
Hap kept backing up as the Flea struggled to get back up on one good leg and its broken left leg. It wasn't helped by not having arms.
Hap hit the Flea dead center with his PPC, and watched the lightning dance around the 'mech. He hit it with another round of LRMs and the engine exploded as missiles detonated around the center torso.
Hap could see two fifty tons 'mechs were now approaching the bend in the road, and three heavy 'mechs closely behind them. The Coyotes ran down the road until it curved around one of the ridges. "This is Coyote actual, recon lance is destroyed." Hap reported
"We were hopin' you'd let the Flea through. Give us somethin' to do." Patrick said sounding bored.
"Now we're going to have to amuse ourselves like we did when we were children." Fiona said
"How'd we%u2026Ah. Fiona, I spy with my little eye, somethin' that is gray." Patrick
"Is it ferro-concrete?" Fiona asked with faked childish wonder.
"Clear the command net." Fletch barked.
The Coyotes paused for a moment. Anastasia sensor locked the Trebuchet as it entered the edge of her sensor range. Hap launched a barrage of missiles as the Hunchback started sprinting up the road. The Coyotes jumped over the next ridgeline. Hap's computer warned him he was sensor locked as the Trebuchet launched a volley of thirty missiles. Most of the missiles hit his left leg, arm and side. Hap's armor was still intact, but another volley would likely create a breach.
The Coyotes again started sprinting back down the road. More missiles continued to rain down on them. "We should have been less aggressive with the recon lance, and lured them further away from their company mates." Anastasia said, "I think we're close to meeting with catastrophic success."
"Agreed." Hap said as the Hunchback charged again into sensor range. Joker got a lock on the 'mech and Anastasia and Hap jumped backward as they launched their twenty missiles at the hunchback.
Joker and Mags followed as Joker cursed and two separate torrents of missiles streaked after him. Most of the missiles harmlessly hit the mountain side, but Joker reported that his left rear torso was breached and he had lost a lot of most armor on the left arm.
"The Archer is now in range." Anastasia reported, "we cannot afford to be sensor locked again."
"Don't stop" Hap said. They were now on a straight away that led to the ambush site. Hap could see the Anvil lance on his scanners. He felt reassured that they were close, but he still needed to string the Immortals along just a little further.
He saw the Hunchback come back into range. He took a few more steps backward, knowing that Anastasia was giving him a slightly longer range on sensors. Hap had to be careful, he'd need to let the Hunchback see the Griffin for a moment, then disappear. If he timed it right, he might be able to avoid another barrage of missiles.
The Hunchback sprinted around the corner and came into view. Hap felt a chill as he realized if the Hunchback could see him he wouldn't need to sensor lock him. Hap prepared to jump over a ridge just as the Hunchback went into a skid and tried to stop. Three PPC bolts raced toward him and countless LRMs streaked toward the Hunchback. Hap watched as the 'mech was overwhelmed by the bombardment and fell to the ground. The 'mech wasn't destroyed, but it was significantly damaged.
"Good work, Coyotes. Off ye go, onto yer next objective." McFinnigan told him.
Hap followed Anastasia as she headed south and jumped over another ridge and onto another road. They followed the road for a few hundred meters to meetup with Hammer Lance, Tatyana and Robert's Rangers. There was also an engineering vehicle and pallets of LRM missiles. The engineering vehicle was on the other side of the road and nearly half a kilometer away from everyone else.
Anastasia piloted her Valkyrie next to the engineering vehicle and kneeled down with her back to the hoist. Techs started to move the ammunition and working the hoist. Another tech stood where she could see him and gave Anastasia hand and arm signals using two glowing electric torches.
Hap watched as the team quickly reloaded the Valkyrie, and then the tech motioned for Anastasia to stand up and then he turned around and pointed to Hap. Hap moved his Griffin into position and kneeled down as well. He could hear the strange hollow sounds as missiles rolled into the feeding mechanisms and the magazine.
"Hap," John said, "The Techs are reporting that your 'mech has lost significant amounts of armor. Do you think you're still capable of continuing the mission?"
Hap looked at his system status. "I think I'll be fine. I just need to take better advantage of my long range weapons." Hap said as he felt the access doors close and the tech motioned him to stand.
"I'll do the spotting going forward." Anastasia added. Hap didn't like the sounds of that, but from a purely practical stand point her Valkyrie had plenty of armor, and somehow her 'mech was unscathed.
"Rangers you ready?" Hap asked. The Hammers were already moving forward and launched a hail storm of missiles. Kelly was on the command net ordering them to, "Drop a bag of hammers on the Orion, 'cause it's a poor's man Highlander."
"We're ready boss. Let's go capture a drop shuttle." Brandon replied.
"Request Golden Eagles launch." Hap said
"Golden Eagles please launch and report when you are ready to provide Close Air Support." John said
"Golden Eagles acknowledges." Giggles replied.
"Follow us." Brendan said as the Ranger's APC started down the road. Anastasia took the lead next to the APC as they jogged to keep up with the wheeled vehicle. As they proceeded down the road they listened to the command net as Kelly coordinated the battle. It sounds like he had the Dullahans target the Archer and Trebuchet in order to further push the fight into the murder bowl.
There was also the earth shaking effect of artillery and smoke from one ridge over. Hap assumed someone tried to run, or one of the larger mechs was hiding behind a mountain. Hap didn't hear the call for fire so he assumed it was done from the Ops center and based off something the drone could see.
"We're going to do a cross-country off roading, to sneak up on the drop shuttle." Brandon warned as the APC turned sharply and drove down a steep embankment. Tatyana swore, "Bozhe moi!" as her Kintaro half slid down the hill. Anastasia feathered her jump jets to land gracefully as Hap recklessly followed.
The APC dove into a trail going through the forest and now the mechs struggled to keep up as they pushed their way through the trees. The continued to go down into a narrow draw. After a few kilometers they stopped as the forest was cut by a small paved road. They were at the bottom of a hill and Hap could see the tip of the Drop Shuttle.
"Alright. This is where I need you guys to distract the shuttle crew, and take care of those tanks." Brendan said. "We'll wait here."
They were still just outside of sensor range. Anastasia started to carefully move up hill.
"Golden eagles, to McFinnigan elements, we are prepared to begin attack on Drop Shutle." Apex said.
Hap saw the drop shuttle come into sensor range as Anastasias stopped. Her Mech's head was just over the top of the hill's tree line. "There is another small hill on the other side with a rock outcropping we can use for cover. Recommend we advance when air support engages the drop shuttle."
Everyone agreed and the APC drove onto the road. Anastasia saw everyone was ready. "Golden Eagles, this is Coyote 2, I'm sending you the targeting data for the drop shuttle. Be advised we are attempting to neutralize, and only neutralize, the drop shuttle's weapon pods on this side."
"Acknowledge." Apex replied, "Weapon pods are a little too precise for us. Starting our run now"
The pair of Stukas came in fast and low shaking the tree tops. The roar of the engines could be heard inside the APC and the cockpits of all three 'mechs. The Rangers gunned the engine of the APC and Tatyana and Hap used their jump jets to sail out of the woods and over the hill. Hap could see the rocky outcropping and the natural defensive position the rolling hills created.
As the vehicle and mech's got to safety Hap looked up to see flashes of energy weapons, the blasts of autocannons and a barrage of missiles from the drop shuttle in response to the aero fighters. Hap could see aero fighters breaking off and then turning around before climbing to a higher altitude.
Anastasia was still on the other side of the hill, "No Joy." Anastasia reported. "Request repeat fire."
There was no answer.
Anastasia used her jump jets to join the others, "The aero fighters pulled up before firing."
"That's not good." Hap said, "Did they get scared when the drop shuttle opened up on them?"
"It seems sub-optimal" Brendan said, "But, the more intact the shuttle is the better. Maybe we can work with it. We'll wait till they come around again and then move again. Can you see the tanks?"
"They scattered when the Stukas came through." Anastasia answered. "One is on sensors."
Hap could see one of the tanks on the radar slowly drifting this way. Hap was still waiting for the Golden Eagles to return or at least respond. He looked around, but didn't see signs of a crash or a trail of smoke.
"Hap, your need to switch to the guard channel." John said. Hap thought he heard Roweyna screaming in the background.
"Why? What's wrong?" Hap watched his sensors as a 35 ton vehicle started to move toward them. He considered that Savannah Masters were 5 tons and Schrek PPC carriers were 80 tons.
"Air support is in contract negotiations." John said and Roweyna yelled, "With the gawd damn enemy"
"What the hell?" Brendan said, "That's how you get an MRB rating so low no one will hire you."
Hap flipped channels to hear a rich baritone voice say, "Sister, we are both Mercenaries, we cannot fight each other. We have honor and professionalism. What you are doing is wrong."
"Oh were goin' to talk about honor and virtue among whores when ye prostitute yerself out to whoever happens to be the enemy of my client?" Kelly yelled.
"See how this man talks. He disrespects our profession, and likely those he employees. I even hear he brings children into battles, and puts whole families at risk." Hap assumed this was Farrah Ahmed.
"I can't speak to how he runs his team, but I don't think I'm being paid fairly." Apex replied
"Ah, I will double whatever meager thing he has offered you, all I ask is that you break off your attack and land your craft." Ahmed said. "However, if you want to triple the pay out, help me. I would ask that you destroy his fire support lance and the artillery. I even swear not to attack the space port. I will finish my fight with McFinnigan and depart, and you will be a rich woman for little effort. What do you say?" Ahmed asked her.
-
No plans go right 100% of the time...
-
Told you.
Any other wings that can be contracted on planet?
Now the Stalker will deploy from a commercial freighter in the spaceport while the stukas attack.
-
Can Coyote 2 pin point where Ahmed is broadcasting from?
Offer Giggles a separate contract for Apex?
She probably will not take it, but do tell her You have already put out a contract for Apex’s head, if she attacks Kelly’s forces her head will be added to the contract.
-
Just a quick question, why do you call the dropship a drop shuttle.
It always gets me totally confused because shuttles are only small in the game.
Good start to the fight scene, those Golden Eagles better hope the immortals win. :thumbsup:
-
Just a quick question, why do you call the dropship a drop shuttle.
It always gets me totally confused because shuttles are only small in the game.
Good start to the fight scene, those Golden Eagles better hope the immortals win. :thumbsup:
That's a good catch. I'd like to say I was using the terms interchangeably, and doing a little word-smithing, but that's a lie. I think I was writing "drop shuttle" when I was thinking "dropship". (This was similar to me calling the Javelin a Lancer). I think I'll just leave it for now but try to do better going forward.
Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the comment, and thanks so much to you and everyone else for reading and commenting.
To PW, Elmoth, EAGLE7, and a few of the other folks, I do appreciate the notes, comments, and interest. I do read everything, but I don't often comment on substantive plot points/suggestions. I have the story pretty well mapped out, but if I'm being honest, a few of the things suggested are sort of like steering a T10C. If the wind is right, and if your pull is hard enough, I might change direction a little.
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I assume we all know. This isnlike a group of friends watching a movie in a couch with popcorn and drinks and commenting on what they think is gonna happen next.
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I assume we all know. This isnlike a group of friends watching a movie in a couch with popcorn and drinks and commenting on what they think is gonna happen next.
Thanks! :thumbsup:
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“ sort of like steering a T10C. If the wind is right, and if your pull is hard enough, I might change direction a little. “
.... and your hoping the DZSO is not sitting in the Humvee with the windows closed taking wind speed readings with the Kestrel.
.....8 knots and holding my ass.
Your story, loving it doesn’t mean I won’t yell invectives at you if you put me in the trees. ;D
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Can Coyote 2 pin point where Ahmed is broadcasting from?
Offer Giggles a separate contract for Apex?
She probably will not take it, but do tell her You have already put out a contract for Apex’s head, if she attacks Kelly’s forces her head will be added to the contract.
I like this
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Just wanted to say that I'm enjoying the story so far and looking forward to reading the next chapter.
Psy
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Chapter 35
There was a moment of dead air on the radio before Patrick broke the silence, "Commander Ahmed, if I may, can I give ye a piece o' advice"
"I am certain I will find your foolishness amusing later, when you are dead." Ahmed said coolly.
"Right. One day, after ye killed my father, and I say killed, not murdered, because I believe it was a fair combat, in spite of the enthusiastic way ye tend to pursue us. I don't take it personally. "Patrick said.
"Do you have a point, boy?" Ahmed's patient was clearly running thin.
"Aye I do, I do. So after my father died, I realized I had a small fortune which I was using to drink myself to death, and it occurred me that none of that damn money would bring my dad back, nor would the drink. So my point is this, you can buy our air support out from under us, and that may seem like a very nice deal for them, and it's a hellish thing for us, but it won't bring your sons back." Patrick said.
"Don't you dare speak of my sons." Ahmed spoke quietly and threateningly.
"Calm dawn." Patrick said, "I'm tryin' real hard to be respectful, and not call them bastards, or sons of a whore. Everyone can attest to how difficult this is for me." Hap could hear the smirk in his voice.
"Oh Patrick, don't." McFinnigan said. Hap looked at his scanners all three tanks were lining up.
"I will tear your 'mech apart and rip you from it, and crush you broken body in the palm of my mech's hand." Ahmed scream.
"Still won't bring your sons back. That assumes they were your sons. I don't think the youngest looked much like the other two." Patrick taunted. "Sorta thought he looked a little like me and my dad."
"Stuka pilots. I will give you 1,000,000 C-bills each if you destroy the Highlander and Dragon of the McFinnigan and Son's company." Ahmed said trying to compose himself.
"I have a counter offer." Fiona said. There was an edge to her voice. She didn't say anything but a robotic female voice could be heard in the background, "Anti Air System activated, horizon-to-horizon radar online, tracking two aero fighters, calculating solution for elevation and vector."
Fiona came back on the radio and calmly and coldly started talking, "If either of you two bitches look like you're lining up to make a strafing run on my family, I will coordinate with my lance to fill the sky with so many missiles you won't make a second run, and if somehow you manage to land I will personally stomp on your gawd damn aircraft. So either fulfill your '****** contract, or disengage, but I swear to god you try any other shit with us and I guaran-damn-tee I will make it life altering."
"I'm out" Giggles said, "I took a broadside when we broke off the strafing run. I'm not comfortable with a run at the drop ship alone, I sure as hell won't attack our client, and I do not want to try to land on a contested airfield. I'm sorry McFinnigans, you seem like good people. I liked working with you, and if it were up to me this wouldn't have come to this. Requesting safe passage to land."
"Giggles, what the hell?" Apex said. "You disengage and you're fired."
"Ms. Berlin, land near our drop ship, and come talk to us. I think we can work somethin' out." Kelly said.
"Acknowledge. Weapons safe, proceeding to the air field." Giggles said.
"Giggles!" Apex yelled. "Don't you land, I'm serious I'll fire you."
"I think I just got a better job offer, sort of like what you're doing to your former client." Giggles said.
"So the snake is now trying to seduce your partner, all this means is more money for you." Ahmed said.
"Calls me a snake, while he tries to hire you out from under your contract with me. Calls me dishonorable when we go from honest combat operations to an open assassination contract." Kelly said. "Is this the side you want to be on?"
As Kelly spoke the three tanks started to move forward in line. Anastasia scanned one of the 35 ton tanks, and Hap's sensors marked it as a "Saladin Assault Hover Tank." Hap tried to remember what he knew about the Saladin. It had two sister models the Saracen and the Scimitar. One was a missile boat and the other had an AC 5. Joker said the Saladin looked "slick" and had one weapon system, either a laser or PPC. Hap queried his tactical computer, and His mouth went dry as he read, "Armament: AC 20."
He punched the radio back to the command net. "Ops, this is Coyote actual, I have a call for fire."
"No guns available" Kitty replied, "The commander has Crow and Joker tryin' to chase down that rascal Farrah, and the militia is runnin' low on shells. Course Farrah's tryin' to get back to his drop ship."
"Acknowledge, but I need a gun. I lost my air support, and I'm in a bad way." Hap could see the tanks starting to approach faster.
"If ye want to send yer-" Kitty started to say then hummed, "Alright Coyote 2 I've received yer fire mission. I'm still not sure if we can spare the gun."
Hap could hear John in the background, "A Saladin? I thought they said it was a Savannah…Which one of the Scarborough hover tanks is a Saladin?" There was a pause, "Oh shit! Prioritize that fire mission."
Hap could see the tanks moving closer. He was thankful Anastasia was one step ahead of him, but if they didn't have fire support, they were at the bottom of a hill with three nasty tanks in a tactically superior position.
"Splash over." Kitty said.
A moment later the earth shook as the artillery round impacted. Hap could see the tanks moving away from each other. Anastasia rocketed off the ground and fired missiles as she flew backwards and disappeared over the hill. A PPC bolt and volley of missiles missed her as she sailed out of view.
"Splash out." Anastasia said. "Drop 100- negative disregard. Too close."
Hap stepped forward to protect the APC as one of the Saladin's crested the hill. He could see the artillery had destroyed some of the hover tank's front armor. He took a quick shot and the tank exploded as the PPC bolt melted through armor and missiles destroyed the tank's internal structure. Out of his periphery vision he saw the second Saladin and a smoke cloud from its barrel.
There was a heart-stopping shudder as he felt his 'mech's left leg take the blow from the auto cannon. The internal structure breach warning sounded as he fought to keep the 'mech upright.
The Schrek came into view with all the three barrels pointed straight at him. There was a flash like lightning as one of the shots hit his cockpit. His vision blurred, and electricity danced around the cockpit as his mech started to fall. He could hear a warning that his mech's left leg was destroyed but he still instinctively tried to use the missing limb to keep the 'mech upright. Hap panicked as his mech fell to the ground. He fought to stay conscious as his vision blacked out.
Hap was dimly aware of Tatyana shouting in Russian, and he was pretty sure the APC was driving somewhere. He heard Anastasia say, "Coyote Actual is down, request priority fire."
His eyes snapped open. His head hurt and his vision was doubled. He thought he could still see a few snakes of electricity dancing around his cockpit. His cockpit felt warm, and he could smell ozone. Something was wrong with the air that was supposed be circulating in his neuro helmet.
Hap struggled to focus on his instrument panel. His Griffin was in bad shape. The left leg was missing and his life support system was ruined. He rolled the 'mech onto its left side and found himself looking at the ass end of the Schrek PPC Carrier. Sparks flew and black smoke billowed from the tank's broken rear armor.
Hap felt drunk, and everything was moving slowly as he labored to bring the doubled cross hairs on the tank. The black smoke made aiming even more difficult. The targeting computer warned him the tank was too close to be effectively engaged. He somehow managed to disable the interlock on the PPC and squeezed the trigger. There was a flash of light, and it looked like a thunderstorm with lightning flashing in the thick dark smoke cloud. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, and the tank's turret started to traverse toward him. The turret stopped suddenly and then the tank exploded sending the turret flying away.
Hap wanted to lay back down, but he knew he had to get up. He sat his Griffin up so he inspected his broken 'mech. His head hurt, he had a sense of vertigo, and he felt sick, but his vision started to clear. His 'mech was missing part of the foot and the myomer was shredded, and hanging loosely between the twisted and bent pieces that remained of the leg's internal structure.
He gingerly pushed his 'mech forward and used his good leg to get back into a standing position. He locked the ruined leg's knee. He carefully tested the leg to see if they could handle weight. The Griffin slumped forward but the leg didn't collapse. His head still hurt and he felt like the 'mech was going to fall again, but his instruments told him he was mostly level and stable.
All three tanks were destroyed, and laying in smoking pieces around him. He limped forward and tried to focus on his scanners. He could see Anastasia, Tatyana, and APC on the other side of the hill.
"Harold, are you alright?" Anastasia asked. He could see her Valkyrie's head just over the treetops.
"I think I have a concussion." Hap said. He hadn't realized it until she asked.
"Are your jump jets still operational?" She asked calmly.
Hap focused on his status monitor. All weapons, and jump jets were operational. "Yes."
"Why don't you try to jump over the hill to us?" Anastasia said.
Hap couldn't believe how obvious that was. Maybe he was hurt worse than he knew. Hap checked everything again and activated his jump jets. His mech lifted off easily, but he kept his eyes on his instruments because he didn't feel he could trust himself to keep the 'mech level. Just before it landed he tried to feather the jets, but he still landed heavily in the trees, and had to steady his 'mech.
"'Mech looks like givno, Haphazard." Taytana said as she moved in front of him. "You get to the base?"
"I'm not sure what geev-no is, but I'm guessing it's not great."
"Is James' favorite word." Tatyana paused, "Is shit. James tell you 'Griffin looks like shit'."
"Thanks." Hap said, "I can probably get myself back, but I got plenty of missiles, if you ladies want to spot for me I can still help out." Hap wasn't sure if he could get his 'mech home, and he didn't want to leave the battle while he could still fight. "All tanks destroyed, Rangers I think you're clear to go."
"Negative." Kelly's voice came across the radio. "Farrah is on the run and headed in your direction. He's pulling out with a lance worth of heavy and assaults, do not engage."
"How long till they get back to the drop ship?" Brendan asked
"They're movin' pretty quick." Kitty said. "Looks to be five minutes."
"We need fourteen minutes to secure the command deck, plus more to clear and seal the ship." Brendan said. "The crew alone might surrender, but their commander would rally them. It's too risky."
"Concur." Kelly said, "Which is why I'm tellin' ye to withdraw."
"What happened to our artillery?" Hap asked.
"Ran out of ammo." Kitty replied.
"We'll buy 'em more for next time." Kelly sounded annoyed.
"Ops, this is Coyote 2, Coyote Actual's 'mech has sustained significant damage to the left leg and cockpit. He can move, but requires special tech support and medical teams on stand-by, over."
"I don't think-" Hap started to say.
"Acknowledge Coyote 2." John said. Hap was annoyed. He was starting to feel better, on the other hand, he knew a hit to the cockpit would require a mandatory physical exam before he could get back into a 'mech. Maybe it was for the best just to let the docs look him over.
The APC started down the forest trail and Tatyana followed after him. Anastasia waited next to Hap. He hesitantly fired his jump jets and tried again to give a little burst just before hitting the ground to try to make the landing softer. After the third or fourth jump he was starting to get better at gently landing. Anastasia stayed close as they worked their way back to the star port.
For Hap it was a long and harrowing trip, and he felt exhausted by the time he saw the 'mech bay. As they traveled the damage reports came in. David's Valkyrie had lost both its legs and he was unconscious. Mag's had taken a heavy blow to the center torso and lost her SRM quad rack, and two of her medium lasers. Joker's 'mech lost an arm, and Grizzly's Wolverine had lost its Autocannon. Hap wasn't mentally able to calculate if Tatyana had been correct in her 30% loss of capability estimate, but he was glad they had only lost one mech, and only one Mechwarrior was seriously injured, well one plus him..
As Hap approached the 'mech bay he could see Fletch's Cyclops and Tomax's Awesome. "Hap, your Griffin looks like shit, what the hell happened?" Fletch said over the radio.
"Didn't I tell you to stomp on that Schrek tank?" Tomax asked, "I'm pretty sure I did."
"I was going to, but I got distracted by the hovertanks with AC 20s." Hap said
"Well damn man, next time you need to stay focused." Fletch replied
"Yeah you could have been killed, and then you would have really pissed me off." Tomax said, "And you don't want to piss me off."
"Acknowledge" Hap said his headache was getting worse. He was now in the 'no jump' zone and had to limp his 'mech into the 'mech bay. There was also a large aero fighter parked near the bay and he had to be careful not to step on it. The adrenaline or post injury endorphins were starting to wear off and he was beginning to feel sick and exhausted.
"Hap, proceed to the 'Mech bay. The techs are prepping the cranes. Follow their signals." John said
As Hap entered the bay one of the techs on the ground floor crossed his arms signaling him to stop. He balanced his 'mech on one leg as they lowered a crosswalk gantry and techs began to attach his mech to the cranes that were built into the ceiling. Hap felt his mech raise slightly off the ground. The tech signaled Hap to take his hands off the controls. Hap raised his hands, and the gantry was lifted. Once it was clear the cranes moved the Griffin across the bay to his stall.
Hap felt his mech lowered till it rested on its foot. Hap started his shutdown procedures as Mike approached. He looked more annoyed than usual. Mike reached down to open the combat lock but it was fused from the PPC hit. Hap reached for the release on his side but the bar came off in his hand.
Mike shook his head, and Hap saw him mouth, "Well of course." He rolled over his tool box and pulled out a torch and welding goggles. He directed Hap to look away as he lit the torch. Hap turned his head as best he could and shut his eyes as Mike cut through the lock. Hap could feel the heat from the torch.
When he heard the dull metal 'thunk' of the locking mechanism falling away Hap turned back to see Anastasia and the female doctor standing next to Mike. The Doctor's name was Leslie Morgan, her husband, Jackson, was probably with David. Behind Leslie was a teenager with a clipboard.
"Take off your Neurohelmet, and state your name." Leslie said as Mike and Hap raised the cockpit.
"Harold Calahad." Hap said as he pulled off his helmet.
"Your mech was struck in the cockpit, and fell, is that correct?" Leslie was all business.
"Yeah?" Hap said questioningly, that sounded right.
"Look at me." Leslie ordered as she peered into Hap's eyes. Then held up one finger. "How many?"
"One." He struggled again to focus as she touched his nose, then pulled her finger back.
"Follow it, but don't move your head." She said. Hap followed her finger as she asked, "How do you feel?"
"Bad headache, sick, and I've had a couple waves of vertigo. Saw double for a while."
Leslie turned to look at the teen and make sure she was writing all that down. The doctor turned back to look at Hap "You likely have a minor concussion, but I need to run some tests on you." Leslie told him. She turned to people behind her, "Help him out of his 'mech and take him to the gurney."
Mike put his arm around Hap, and helped him out of the cockpit. As Hap tried to get his balance on the walkway Anastasia stepped forward to put her arm around his waist. Their height difference made it so he couldn't easily put his weight on her, but she did steady him. Together they walked to the lift.
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Chapter 36
"You know I honestly thought I might get laid tonight." Hap said quietly to Anastasia
"I thought so too," Anastasia said. "But I'd prefer if you didn't refer to our intimacy so flippantly." Anastasia was trying hard not to show how concerned she felt for Hap. She doubted he knew how close his 'mech had come to falling down on their way to the star port, nor that he was acting drunk.
"That's fair, but it's a shame I ruined it by nearly getting killed." Harold joked, trying to make her smile.
Anastasia smiled, trying to hide her fear, "You're not dead yet. You still have a chance."
"I have a chance? I like how you're doing your part to give me something to live for." Hap teased her.
They stopped at the gurney and Dr. Leslie and her teenage assistant caught up to them. Leslie pushed the wheel lock with her foot, "Get on there, and in spite of what you may have heard, a nap is the best cure for a concussion. If you feel like passing out, that's fine. I don't need you awake for the tests."
Hap took off his cooling vest and handed it Anastasia. As she took it, Hap stepped close to her, and gently raised her chin and kissed her on the lips. She hummed in surprise as she opened her mouth and responded to his kiss. Her heart was racing as he pulled her closer and their tongues probed each other's mouths. Anastasia basked in the feelings until she felt someone pushing them apart.
"I should have made it clear." Dr. Leslie said, "you need to not over exert yourself, so none of that."
Anastasia took half a step back. She couldn't believe the intense feelings she was experiencing. She knew from basic biology that her body was releasing a barrage of endorphins and hormones that were having a strong physical and even psychological effect on her. Anastasia hadn't expected a kiss could be this powerful. Her heart was racing and she felt dizzy and weak, but excited and uninhibited. It was worse than the whiskey from poker night. Hap was right to think he was going to get laid. Once Dr. Leslie is done with her tests, he still might.
The doctor pushed Hap down onto the stretcher, "Stay there, and lay still." She told him, "I won't think twice about giving you a sedative." She turned around to address Anastasia, "You need to go to ops, usually McFinnigan wants to revel in the glory of war and discuss, in great detail, every little violent action conducted. He refers to it as an after action report or some such nonsense."
"I'd prefer to stay with Harold and file reports later." Anastasia took a step toward the gurney.
"I'm politely telling you, that's not your choice." Leslie said firmly, "Go to ops now, visit him later."
Anastasia's heart raced as she watched Hap being wheeled away. She saw Hap raise his head and give her a thumbs-up. She wondered if that meant he was okay, or thinking the same thing she was.
"She's not codding ya." Patrick and as he and Fiona walked up beside Anastasia.
"What?" Anastasia asked as she watched Harold wondering when visiting hours were.
"She'll sedate a mechwarrior in a heartbeat." Patrick said, "She has a real low tolerance for what she calls, 'hot headed mechwarrior nonsense'. Hap was smart just to get on the trolley and not fight her."
"Take it from Patrick, he's been sedated a couple times." Fiona said as she kept walking
"Come on Professor, Doc Les told you it's time for the AAR, move your ass." Tomax said as he walked by.
"Yes, of course." Anastasia said as she fell in step with everyone else, but she still worried about Harold.
"Is it 'don't focus day' in Coyote lance?" Fletch asked, "I'm going to have to talk to Hap."
"Some AAR comments write themselves. 'Coyote lance needs more situational awareness'." Fiona said.
"Sure is real easy to talk shit when you're watching the fight from a couple kilometers away." Tomax said.
"You took down how many mech's today? A Hunchback you got double the tonnage on, and you had help? Who was 'sitting back'? I was preparing to shoot down some heavy aircraft." Fiona said
"Oh that reminds me, I'm thinkin' of gettin' drunk, takin' out the dragon, and stompin' on Apex's aero fighter jest on principal." Patrick said. "anyone care to join me?"
"You know we'll all have to pay for that if you do that, right?" Fiona said, "Let cousin Row-Row drag that terrible woman to court and stomp her face with laws and fines, it's simpler and more profitable."
As they walked between buildings they could see a pair of techs working on the Stuka. They were stripping the broken armor panels and preparing replacement pieces. "I thought most of our techs were picking through the salvage. Why the hell is that thing getting priority treatment?" Tomax asked
Fletch stopped to smoke and watch the techs, "I'm going to guess Kelly is playing 'the company store' game with the Golden Buzzard's CO. We fix the Stuka, and when she asks for it back she gets an outrageous bill for repairs, and an offer to buy it for significantly less than it's worth. This assumes her wingman joins us."
"Damn, I hate 'the company store' treatment, but after the shit she pulled, she deserves it. Tomax said.
The group of mercenaries climbed the stairs and walked into Ops. The After Action Review had already begun and Joker was explaining spotting 'mechs and vehicles as they were unloaded from the drop ship. Giggles was standing in the back trying not to be noticed. On the monitors were videos from the drone, and some of the 'mechs. Currently the drone video was showing the Immortal's off-loading. A large white board had been wheeled into the room and Kitty was taking notes on it.
"Aye, so ye were dismounted and laying on an antenna tower with yer 'mech hiding behind a hill. That sounds like a pretty good tactic, but ye mis-identified a hover tank." Kelly said.
Joker scratched behind his head nervously, "Yeah, I should probably work on my vehicle recognition."
"Aye. Sounds like it was a problem for the lot of us. Make a note Kitty, we need to ensure we're keeping up with vehicle, mech and aero fighter recognition guides. Keep 'em up-to-date, and review them." Kitty wrote the last thing he said on a dry-erase board, as Kelly asked, "Then what happened?"
Anastasia's mind drifted back to Harold. That kiss was amazing. As close and as intimate as they had been it surprised her that they had never kissed before, at least not like that. Kelly cleared his throat and everyone looked at Anastasia. "Ms. Vallois, I asked, why don't you tell us what happened next."
Anastasia forgot that without Harold she was the Coyote's lance leader. She looked at the monitor and guessed what happened next. "We detected the Immortal's recon lance screening. Joker jumped from his hiding place, which alerted them to our presence. They broke formation to engage us."
"That led to you fighting that lance, and then shortly after ye made a comment", Kelly pulled a small notebook out of his vest, "'We are meeting with catastrophic success'. What did ye mean by that?"
"We were able to quickly destroy the recon lance, which was our first objective." Anastasia glanced at the white board, Kitty had written the objectives on the whiteboard, with the responsible lance in parentheses next to the objective.
1 - Destroy jump capable 'mechs (Coyotes)
2 - Establish Murder bowl (Anvils supported by: Hammers, Dullahans, and Militia Artillery)
3 - Lure 'mechs into "murder bowl" (Coyotes)
4 - Recon- rendezvous with Robert's Rangers, escort to Drop Ship (Coyotes-, Robert's Rangers)
5 - Spot/Call fire for Golden Eagles to enable Rangers boarding drop ship (Coyotes-, Golden Eagles)
6 - Capture Drop Ship (Robert's Rangers)
7 - Close with and destroy all remaining Ahmed's Immortals (All forces)
"We were attempting the third objective." Anastasia continued, "to lure the remaining enemy 'mechs to the objective, we were successfully doing that, but we found ourselves…"
"In a damn hailstorm or LRMs." Joker said for her, "they just kept coming. That was catastrophic."
"Yes." Kelly said, "So what should ye have done?"
"Harold and I thought we should have attempted to draw the recon lance further away from the main force to prevent the constant indirect fire." Anastasia said, "Once the recon lance was defeated, we could have lured the other lances to the objective, or created hasty ambushes to defeat them in detail."
Kelly nodded, "Right. Defeat in detail, ye mean separating a unit's elements and engaging them piecemeal? That might have been better for us, Kitty make a note. However, to yer first point, if he had lured the recon lance too far away they may have detected the rest of the unit and spoiled the ambush."
"Noted, Sir. Thank you." Anastasia said respectfully.
"Yer not a cadet anymore, regurgitating doctrine, and being taught, 'the right way' to fight. Yer a mercenary, it's all about surviving and makin' money. Most o' the folks here will tell you there is no right way to fulfill a contract, jest some ways are better than others."
"And some ways will get you killed." Patrick added.
Kelly shrugged, "At the same time I value the reminders of what good military doctrine looks like." He looked at Patrick, "And professional decorum." Fletch looked like he was about to say something, but just shook his head as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his first aid kit.
As Kitty wrote, Kelly continued, "We completed the first two objectives. The recon lance was destroyed, the murder bowl was established, Fletch you want to explain what happened next."
Fletch shook out a cigarette, "We saw the Coyotes approaching, followed by the Immortal's Hunchback. You released the Coyotes, and once the Hunchback entered the engagement range of our long range weapons we destroyed it" As he spoke the drone's video showed the Coyotes splitting up, and the Hunchback being destroyed by a volley of LRMs and PPC bolts.
"We might have initiated the ambush early." Tomax said apologetically.
"No 'we' to it, that whole thing was initiated by your three PPCs. I just followed it up with LRMs so you didn't look like a jackass." Fletch said.
"Mother-" Tomax started to say, "You told me, to 'light him up'."
"I said, 'I bet you can't hit him from there.'" Fletch corrected him, "But you did, so here's the C-bills I owe you." Fletch passed him a folded c-bill note.
Kelly shook his head, "Make a note, 'Initiate ambushes when all enemies are in the kill zone, and keep gambling too a minimum during combat operations."
As Kitty wrote Anastasia's mind wondered back to Harold, wondering if he was okay. Minor concussions happened to even the best of mechwarriors, but it was little consolation when it was someone you cared about.
Anastasia tried to focus again as Grizzly recounted his lance's actions, "We tried to outflank the Immortal's and push them in the Murder bowl. I could see the Orion and the Thunderbolt were just entering it, but the Trebuchet, Archer, BattleMaster and Banshee were hanging back. I figured the Archer was most dangerous, so I told David to find it, and call artillery on it."
"Kitty, were we able to get anyone from the militia to join us here?" Kelly asked as he looked around.
"Ah, no. They were doing their own post action review, and they were wantin' on our reports on their accuracy." Kitty said. "I did let them know it left a little somethin' to be desired."
"Aye, and did you tell them next time we're going to need them to have more than ten rounds of artillery on hand?" Kelly asked, barely hiding his frustration, "Actually tell them we'll replace what we used, and buy them extra. I know militias don't always get all the funding they need."
Kelly knocked the bowl of his pipe into his hand, "Crow, perhaps you can tell us what the Hammers were doing while the Dullahan's were attempting to flank the Immortals and call artillery."
"Yeah, so we saw Hap and Anastasia- Hey how's Hap doing?"
"Doctor Morgan suspects he has a minor concussion, and is running tests on him." Anastasia said.
Crow gave a dismissive wave, "We all get those minor concussions, they don't cause any permanent damage. At least I've never noticed any difference from one to the next." A few mechwarriors laughed.
Anastasia tried not to let her emotions show, but nothing Crow said was funny or reassuring to her. Kelly seemed to sense her mood, "Crow, lad, back to the AAR. What were Hammers doing?" Kelly asked
"Coyote 1 and 2 moved to resupply, and we moved up as you called for fire on the Orion." Crow said.
As he spoke Anastasia watched the drone video. The Orion and the Thunderbolt were moving into "the murder bowl" together. There were forests on either side of the road and the two 'mechs used the cover to bound and suppress as they advanced. It looked like a textbook maneuver. The Orion shot at Kelly and the drone slewed it's camera to focus on the Hammer lance as they launched a barrage of missiles.
In the upper corner of the frame Anastasia could see her and Harold's 'mechs reloading missiles. She remembered thinking that his Griffin's armor had taken a significant amount of damage, and didn't look like he could take much more abuse. She also knew Harold wasn't the sort of man that would leave the field just because his 'mech was on the verge of destruction. Even with a concussion and a crippled 'mech he still chose to fight. She admired that just as much as it terrified her.
Anastasia remembered her mother telling her, "Sometimes, my darling, you'll find the galaxy is filled with two types of people. Victims who are always asking 'how have I been wronged, and who did it?', and volunteers that are always thinking, 'if someone is going to get hurt, let it be me.'." Harold was a volunteer. She saw it when he stepped between the APCs and the tanks. Honestly she saw it regularly, with him putting up with her nonsense, to his patience with Joker and Mags. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to go find him.
Anastasia tried to focus again and watch the video as a second volley of missiles slammed into the Orion. The first salvo had savaged the 'mech's left side, and breached the center torso. The second barrage compromised the fusion reactor's shielding. The drone shifted views as the Orion's reactor went critical. By now the BattleMaster had arrived at the pass and was exchanging PPC shots with Tomax as the Thunderbolt chose to back out of the pass. The Trebuchet and the Archer were providing fire support but it was just a meager nuisance compared to the McFinnigan's fire support.
Grizzly explained how the combined Dullahan and Coyote lance were harassing the Banshee, Trebuchet and Archer. After trading a few salvos with Grizzly's Wolverine, and destroying its primary weapon system, the Banshee turned its attention to the lighter 'mechs. David was standing on the side of a mountain calling artillery when the Banshee pilot used his PPCs and lasers to melt the Valkyrie's legs off. This was when the Immortals decided to retreat.
Grizzly found himself between the Banshee and BattleMaster which forced him to use his jump jets to leap over a mountain, and coordinate his team to maintain contact with the Immortals so they could call indirect fire and keep up the pressure. The ambush devolved into a running gun fight.
The Militia reported they were down to their last two rounds of artillery. This forced the mixed lance to save the rounds until they could pin down the Immortals and make them count, while calling Hammer lance forward. Every time one of the McFinnigan 'mechs came into view the BattleMaster or Banshee nearly crippled it. Mags was the first to have to disengage after she lost an arm and her center torso was nearly cored. Joker lost an arm but he was able to keep in the fight. Grizzly's armor was holding, but he ran out of SRMs. He disengaged when Crow came to assist.
Kelly looked at Giggles, "Ms. Berlin, perhaps ye can tell us about yer part of the operation."
"First of all I have to say I'm really sorry. I could try to explain that I was following orders, and had to make a split second decision, but when I was pulling up I knew I had done the wrong thing."
Kelly waved his pipe dismissively, "I think after a few pints we'll all agree it's water under the bridge."
Giggles looked at Kelly questioning, "Before I continue, I have to know, are you really offering me a job? I feel I have to tell you I don't own that Stuka. So I'm just a fighter pilot with no fighter."
Rowyena cheerily said, "Oh I have a contract right here for a fighter/drop ship pilot," then her eyes narrowed and her voice darkened, "and Ms. Edwards is about to be drug before the MRB and the local magistrate, to discuss breach of contract, negotiating with the enemy during hostilities, conspiring to attack the local militia. If she's lucky, we may settle out of court and we'll keep the Stuka."
"And if she's unlucky the Golden Buzzards will be absorbed into Rowyena's Rust Puppies." Fletch added.
"Iron Wolfhounds, Mr. Fletcher." Rowyena reminded him, "And that would be very unlucky for me. I'd have to fire that nasty woman, pay her a severance, and transfer the personnel and equipment to dad's company. I need to maintain the Wolfhounds as a shell company, and watch my tax liability. I don't need equipment and manpower for that."
McFinnigan eyes twinkled as he looked at his daughter, "Would ye say, you'd be meeting with catastrophic success?"
"Anything to do with Robyn Edwards ends in catastrophe." Giggles noted before explaining how Farrah had seen the pair of the aero fighters and assumed they were going to attack him. Edwards was unhappy with the compensation she had bargained for, the idea of possibly doubling or tripling her pay out appealed to her. Giggles wasn't happy with betraying their client, so disengaging appealed to her.
As Giggles spoke Anastasia's mind drifted back to Harold and the kiss, and wondering if he was okay. She focused long enough to explain the last part of the battle where she called for artillery and Hap and Tatyana destroyed the tanks. The AAR's conclusion was a blur, and afterwards she talked to Kitty to learn that the doctors were using the drop ship's medical bay. Most of the McFinnigan's were going to a bar to celebrate, but Anastasia chose to visit Harold.
-
Chapter 37
Joker and Mags followed the crowd out of Ops. Everyone seemed generally happy, and several people talked about going to a bar called Charlie's that was just outside the secure area of the starport. As Joker and Mags got outside they watched Anastasia walk toward the Tir a nOg.
Joker felt a tinge of guilt. "We should probably go and see how Hap is doing too."
Mags nodded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's nothing, but if it were me, I'd be angry if no one visited."
Joker and Mags followed Anastasia as she walked across the airfield. They had to walk briskly but couldn't close the distance with Anastasia. It always surprised Joker at how Anastasia had this grace and dignity about her, it was something that usually made him want to tease her, especially moments like this where Joker knew she wanted to be running and she was still walking, albeit very quickly.
Joker thought about trying to catch up to Anastasia, but she would probably be in a no-nonsense mood, so he decided just to maintain the distance. Mags called out to her, but it was windy on the air field, and Anastasia didn't respond. Before Mags could try again, Joker held out his hand, "Let's let her go ahead, I like to try and catch Hap and the ice princess acting lovey-dovey."
Mags raised an eyebrow, "Why? I know you're a pervert, but is there some other reason?"
"Yeah, see normally Anastasia is formal and proper, but if you can catch her and Hap alone she's almost a completely different person. It's fun to see her like that, and I keep hoping to find out that she is secretly one of those daughters of a noble that is actually a nymphomaniac."
Mags shook her head, "She is more like a lecture-maniac, like she just wants to lecture all of us."
Joker laughed, "I'm going to tell her you said that."
Mags shrugged, "Anastasia and I don't have a problem, you tell her whatever you like. Just because she doesn't like everyone seeing her and Jefe being close, doesn't mean she is a different person. We should show Jefe and her respect, and let them be them."
"You're no fun." Joker said as they continued to walk. Joker remembered watching holos with Mags last night. The previous night seemed like a lifetime ago. As they watched she had rested her head on his shoulder. He put his arm across her shoulders and let his hand rest on her breast. She didn't seem to mind. Mags might talk a lot of shit, but Joker was pretty sure she liked him, and he knew he liked her.
"So you're saying 'Let them be them and us be us'?" Joker asked.
Mags shrugged as they walked up the ramp to the man-door. Joker touched his ID card to the keypad and put in his code. They passed through a few more security doors before coming to the long staircase that ran from the bottom deck all the way to the command bridge. They started walking up the stairs.
"So after we go and celebrate, you want to go do something else." Joker said.
"What do you have in mind?" Mags asked.
"Maybe we could check out a strip club, or something" Joker tried to sound nonchalant.
"If I wanted to see naked women, I'd look in the mirror." Mags replied, "Why do you want to see that?"
"I like to look at naked women, just like you like to look at naked men."
"I don't like naked men" Mags sounded annoyed.
"But you have those naked men posters in your wall locker, or were those just to annoy Anastasia?"
Mags took a long time to answer, "Something like that."
Joker and Mags continued to climb the stairs in silence. As they neared the top of the stairs Mags looked at Joker, "You know, not everything is about Anastasia."
"Yeah, sure." Joker said as they came to the top of the steps. Before Joker could say anything more they found Anastasia and Dr. Leslie Morgan arguing in front of the Med Bay doors.
"No." Dr. Leslie said definitively, "Mr. Calahad and Mr. Lee are both resting and that is exactly what they need right now." She glanced over Anastasia's shoulder, "You, and your friends may visit tomorrow."
Anastasia started to protest, but the doctor just shook her head. "Go, or I'll have the commander get involved." Joker wasn't sure what that would entail, but he didn't like the sounds of it.
"Come on Anastasia, we'll come back, and check on Hap in the morning. He'll understand." Mags said.
All three were quiet as the trio descended the stairs. Joker could sense that Anastasia was annoyed, "What's wrong Anastasia? Are you mad because you were never told 'no' when you were growing up?"
Anastasia shook her head, "I was told 'no' as much as any child, Joker."
"Sure you were. I was told, 'no you can't have candy because we barely have enough money for rent', while you were told, what? 'No Anastasia you can't have another pony'." Joker said.
"The scale and expense may have been different some days, but, if you must know, the thing I was often denied was when I asked my parents to spend more time with me." Anastasia said. Joker hated when she did that. She would find some way to make his joke come across as cruel.
"Anastasia, you want to come to the bar with us now?" Mags asked.
Anastasia shrugged, "I don't know. I'm still worried about ComStar. I don't want to be alone, but I feel leaving the Company area is dangerous, and being alone is also frightening. Perhaps I'll just go to Ops."
Mags shook her head, "We'll go to the bar together. It'll be fine. Charlie's is so close we can walk there."
"Will you and Joker walk me home later?" Anastasia asked
Mags shrugged. They said little as they returned to the barracks, quickly showered, and changed clothes. After a short walk they were at Charley's and found it already filled with a large raucous crowd of the McFinnigan mercenary company. They were greeted by nods and cheers as they entered.
As they started for the bar Mike approached them, "Anastasia, you're Hap's girl right? How's he doing?"
Anastasia nodded, "Yes, I'm 'Hap's girl'. Dr. Morgan said he needed rest, and wouldn't let me see him. "
"Sounds like he'll be fine." Mike said. Joker could tell that Mike had already had several beers and was slightly drunk. "See Pete over there?" Mike pointed to one of the tech's playing pool. His right arm had extensive surgical scars and the muscles looked deformed, "He was trying to fix the feed mechanism on an Enforcer's Autocannon when the elbow actuator-lock got released. He was up to his shoulder in the mech's elbow, and got his arm mangled when the arm dropped."
Mike led the trio to the bar. "We thought for sure it would have to get amputated, but both Docs, Leslie and her husband, Jack, worked on his arm for what must have been a whole day. They're damn good, like me with a 'mech. So if they say a guy is going to be fine, he'll be fine."
Mike slammed his hand on the bar, "I got three more thirsty mechwarriors bar keep." He shouted, "Three beers-"
"May I have a red wine?" Anastasia asked.
"Two beers and a red wine." Mike corrected. "You tell Hap I'll have his Griffin straightened out by the time the Docs clear him to operate a 'mech. We found the other part of his foot actuator and it won't take much to weld it all back together and hammer the endo steel straight."
"Okay" Anastasia said uncertainly, "I'll let him know."
Mike finished his beer and ordered another, "Good. Hap is good shit. Only mechwarrior I'd trust to fix his own mech, of course I do a better job, but he knows how to turn a wrench, and I respect that."
"Very good." Anastasia said as she took her wine. "That will mean a lot to him, coming from you."
"Now who's going soft?" Mike laughed to himself as he touched his glass to each mechwarrior and then drank. Before Anastasia could answer he went over to join the other techs at the pool table.
Joker spied an empty booth in the corner. He put his hand on Mags' back and gave her a gentle push toward the booth. Anastasia followed. They passed the booth with the company's leadership. Roweyna and Kelly were sitting next to each other. Roweyna's head was on her father's shoulder and both father and daughter had the same depressed look.
Fletch was trying to cheer them up, "Alright so we didn't secure the drop ship, but we defended the star port, and we have a small fortune in salvage, plus we rounded up enough of the immortals to either ransom back to their Commander or just hand over to the local milita."
"We'll have to deal with that man again." McFinnigan said as he took a drink of his pint.
Rowyena mimicked her father, "I still have to deal with that horrible woman."
They sat down at their booth. As Joker slid into the seat to get closer to Mag. Giggles walked up to their table, "Hello, I don't think we met, I'm Katherine Berlin, I think I owe you guys an apology. May I sit?"
Anastasia slid over to make room as Giggles sat down. Joker flashed her a sly smile, "Oh we listened to you on the guard channel. You're Giggles."
"And so I am." Giggles sipped her beer, "I heard that after we broke contact with the drop shuttle your lancemate got clobbered by a trio of tanks as he covered everyone's retreat. I'm sorry for that."
"That's not exactly what happened." Anastasia said, "May I call you Katherine?"
"I prefer Kate." Kate seemed to brighten up to Anastasia.
"Kate, my name is Anastasia. It's a pleasure to meet you." The women exchanged a hand shake, "You should know those tanks had to be neutralized one way or another. I don't believe that outcome was your fault. We may have been distracted by the radio discussion, but you can't be blamed for that."
"Thank you Anastasia." Kate seemed to sit a little taller, and looked happier, "I'm new to this unit, and honestly new to being a mercenary. Is it just me or is this whole company a little chaotic, even for mercenaries?" As she spoke Fiona was performing a traditional Irish dance on a table surrounded by a crowd with a violinist and a man with a large drum and teenager playing a flute.
"This is actually tame for us." Mags asked looking around, "what does normal look like?"
Anastasia sipped her wine, "The XO referred to this company as an 'armored circus'."
Kate snorted. "So this is my life now?" She looked around again, "An armored circus. It could be worse."
Kate and Anastasia started talking as Joker looked Kate over. She was a few years older, probably in her mid-twenties. She was wearing a nice blouse and black slacks. Her clothes were a little nicer than most of the company, but not out of place. Joker noticed her nose had been broken, and set with some skill, but the bridge had a certain "squared-off" look. She was still an attractive woman Joker supposed. He took a long drink and stole a glance down Mag's plunging neckline, and decided he was better off with what he had.
Kate seemed to enjoy talking to Anastasia. She had gone to NAIS like Anastasia, but she had been a couple years ahead of her. They talked about a few of the instructors they had in common. Joker never had much of a relationship with any of his teachers or instructors, the conversation was strange to him.
Joker put his arm around Mags, and pulled her close and whispered into her ear, "can you believe it? It's like we have two of them now."
Mags held up her empty pint glass, "Go get me another beer."
Joker chugged his beer and grabbed Mag's glass as he stood up thinking that the last thing he needed was two humorless women. Mags might give him shit, but Joker was pretty sure they'd be sleeping together soon, so he didn't mind her attitude. He walked past Dillon and Patrick playing pool and was surprised as Dillon sunk four balls on the break. Joker set his empty glasses on the bar and ordered two beers as Grizzly and Rolph stepped to either side of him. "Did you get to see David?" Grizzly asked.
"No. The Lady Doc wouldn't let us see him or Hap, but I hear he's in good hands."
"That sounds like Doc Leslie." Rolph said, "If there was bad news we'd probably already know."
Joker nodded, "I was with Grizzly there in the shit, how was the fight from your cockpit?"
"Now don't you start. We all got our mission, based on our 'mechs." Rolph sounded defensive.
"I'm not trying to start shit, but there I was harassing the Archer, Trebuchet and Banshee. I thought things were under control, but suddenly the Banshee maimed Grizzlies mech, blasted the legs out from under David, and Mags lost half her 'mech. It got me thinking, I need a safer way to get paid."
"Was that before or after the Thunderbolt blasted off your left arm?" Grizzly asked
Joker half-laughed, "About that time, actually."
"Well if I'm going to be honest, I feel a little guilty. For me I was mostly staring at my targeting computer and selecting whatever mark Crow or Commander McFinnigan told me to target. It was sorta boring."
"Boring sounds good when you're outnumbered, and seeing your friends go down." Joker said.
"You weren't outnumbered, we just had trouble keeping the fire on those guys when they retreated."
Kate walked up, "Hey, you two, Rolph and Grizzly, right? Mags said you were the strongest guys in the company. I need to go get my stuff, and it would be nice if I had two big men to help out."
"Mags said that about us?" Grizzly sounded surprised.
Rolph looked at Grizzly and shook his head, "She probably said the dumbest, what's in it for us?"
"Air support," Kate answered. "Or more accurately the gratitude of your personal air support."
"Yeah air support is good, or it would be in a fight, but right now, I could really use a drink." Rolph said.
"I'll get the next round." Kate said.
"Well moving stuff is thirsty work." Grizzly said, "Might need more than just a round."
"Tell you what, how about I buy you a round now. We go grab my stuff, it's just a few duffle bags worth of crap, and I'll buy you both dinner. Really I just need you to keep Robyn from starting shit."
The men finished their beers as Kate ordered them a second round. Joker returned to Anastasia and Mags. Anastasia looked relaxed and Mags smiled as he approached. Joker sat next to Mags, "See Anastasia, this is nice, and you were worried some ComStar hit man would be waiting for you."
Anastasia looked around nervously. "I'm not exactly sure there isn't one here."
"You worry too much." Joker said, as a man with two glasses of wine came up to them and set one of the glasses in front of Anastasia. "Hey beautiful, why don't you come drink with my friends and I?"
Anastasia didn't recognize this man, she glanced over her shoulder and saw two other strangers at the bar watching her. One raised his glass, and the other gave her a nod and blew a kiss. These couldn't be hit men, but Anastasia wanted nothing to do with them. She shook her head, "I'd rather not."
"Then I'll join you and your friends." The man forcefully sat down next to Anastasia.
"I think you need to go." Anastasia moved to keep him from putting his arm over her shoulder.
"Just drink the wine and don't be a bitch." He told Anastasia sternly.
"Go back to your friends." Joker said, "She's not interested, and you don't want trouble. You're in a bar full of her friends and we're all dangerous mercenaries. You don't want to start any shit."
The man shrugged, and got up. Before he left he told Anastasia, "enjoy the wine."
Anastasia pushed the wine away from her,"I most certainly will not 'enjoy' that wine."
Joker shrugged, "That guy was an ass, but I think you're overreacting." He took the glass and downed the wine in one quick gulp. He put the glass down hard on the table, and grinned at Anastasia. His vision blurred and he saw two very concerned Anastasias. Everything went dark as his head hit the table.
-
Chapter 38
Monhegan
November 3029
Hap woke up as someone opened the blinds in the recovery room. He sat up and had to uncomfortably move around and make sure he didn't tangle up any of the cables for the monitoring equipment and the IV tube that was in his elbow. Dr. Morgan was talking quietly to David Lee who seemed a little groggy but able to answer her questions. From what Hap could tell there wasn't anything serious with David.
Dr. Morgan walked up to Hap. She had a tablet computer. Before Hap could speak she held up one finger, as she finished a few notes, and then changed files. "How are you this morning Mr. Calahad?"
"Good. Actually great. I feel well rested, and my headache is gone. No blurry vision. Think I'm ready to go back on duty." Hap told her.
"Nice try." Dr. Morgan replied as she made a note on the tablet. She looked at him closely then pulled out a small flashlight and shined it in his eyes. She had him follow the light, then asked him a series of questions as she made notes. "Alright Mr. Calahad, you are looking better, but you still have two more days of observation, and probably another week before I let you back in a 'mech."
"And more if I cause trouble?" Hap said with a boyish grin.
Dr. Morgan shook her head, but gave him a wry smile, "You're not going to get off early with good behavior, but I'm noting here you're at least smarter than your peers." Dr. Morgan finished her notes, and mentioned she'd send up some breakfast as she left the room.
Hap looked over at David. "How are you doing? I heard you're 'mech got shot out from under you."
"Yeah." David said quietly, "I was calling down fire on the Archer, but either I was doing it wrong, or the militia kept missing the grid I was calling."
"Yeah it sounds like there was something wrong with how they were calculating the firing solution. Anastasia tried to hit the tanks that took me down and I think her call for fire was off too."
"If Anastasia's call missed then it was definitely them." David said, "That makes me feel better."
"Well it's normal to have to adjust fire on a target, but Anastasia tends to do everything perfect, and she has that advanced sensor package. It definitely had to be the militia with the problem."
"Someone told me Anastasia had really good sensors in her Valkyrie. I think it was Joker. Has she ever mentioned to you where she got them?"
"It is something her dad's company made, or is going to make. She had a name for it." Hap had to think for a moment, "It was triple 'a' sensors, Agile Adaptive something. You'll have to ask her. I can tell you her 'mech can detect things no one else's mech can. I think her whole sensor comms and tracking suite is something her Dad designed."
"She's beautiful, smart, and her dad owns a business making 'mech parts. You're so lucky. How do I find a girl like that?" David asked.
"I don't know brother, I just know I'm lucky, and Anastasia is unique in a lot of ways, but I'm the last guy you want to give you advice on how to find women." Hap had sensed David was infatuated with Anastasia, and figured it would be best to change subjects, "So you were adjusting fire on the Archer, then what happened?"
"Oh yeah. I couldn't get the artillery to really hit the Archer, and he kept moving. I thought Grizzly and Mags had the Banshee boxed in. Joker was trying to make the Banshee overheat but periodically he'd go at the Archer or Trebuchet. I heard Grizzly say he'd lost his autocannon and next thing I know my 'mech shook and I was falling. I also think I heard every alarm the computer had. After that I can't remember."
"Yeah that's sort of what happened to me." Hap said. "My armor had been peppered with missiles from the first phase of the operation, so I'm not sure how badly it was when I was shot by a tank with an AC 20 and the Schrek PPC gave me all three barrels. I took one in the cockpit, one in the leg and I think I heard every alarm too before falling down."
"Whoa, what happened next?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but I think Anastasia and Tatyana finished off the other hover tank, and when I came to the Schrek was pretty badly damaged. Maybe the artillery did hit it. I don't know. There was black smoke pouring out the back. I took it out and then had to hop back home with jump jets."
"That sounds like a long trip home. After my 'mech fell over I don't remember much. I think the techs pulled me out my 'mech. I vaguely remember Doctor Jack talking to me, but it's all blurry."
Dillon, Joker, Mags, and Anastasia entered the room. Anastasia and Dillon both had trays of food. Anastasia smiled warmly as she saw Hap was awake and looking lucid. Hap couldn't help but smile as well. She set the tray on a table with wheels and rolled it over to Hap. "How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm good, and it's good to see you." Hap looked over the plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he saw and smelled the food.
"I'm good too." David said
Dillon followed Anastasia's lead and put food on a rolling table and rolled it over to David. "Good. I'll tell everyone. We had sausages, but Doc Leslie said you have to have mild food. So you don't get sausage."
"Thanks big D." David said. Hap could sense David was hoping to catch some of Anastasia's attention. Anastasia moved aside Hap's blankets and sat on the side of his bed so she could take off her sandals.
Hap looked over at Mags and Joker. Mag's hand and wrist had a large bandage, and Joker had a cut on his forehead. "How did the fight go for you guys?"
"Our 'mechs need some repairs, but nothing as bad as you." Mags said.
"Is your arm okay?" Hap asked
Mags looked confused and then looked at her arm, "oh yeah, this is from a bar fight last night."
Hap's eyes got wide and he put his fork down, "Damn it! Am I about to get a lecture from Fletch or Tomax, about how I need to keep my lance from destroying the town they're supposed to protect?"
"Probably not." Anastasia moved wires to get closer to Hap, "They were part of the fight too. One of the locals slipped Joker a drink laced with some type of sedative. When he passed out Mags jumped out of our booth and broke her glass on the back of the head of the man that had brought us the drink."
"That's not what happened." Joker started to protest
Mags nodded and smiled widely, "Oh yes! When his amigos tried to break for the door Tomax and one of those Rangers grabbed them."
"They didn't give me-" Joker tried to explain
"When she says, 'grabbed them', she means Tomax punched one of them so skillfully he was instantly unconscious, and the member of the rangers put the other man in a hold that nearly dislocated his arm from his shoulder. Meanwhile Fletch had to pull Mag's off the first man."
"So we didn't destroy a bar, we just put three locals in the hospital. That doesn't sound so bad, or did the local cops also show up?"
"Alright, first of all-" Joker was getting louder, but Anastasia ignored him.
"No. Commander McFinnigan had a long talk with those 'gentlemen' and basically told them if he saw them around again they'd better be on their best behavior or he'd personally deal with them in a fashion he assured them would be life altering." Anastasia said.
"I'm surprised how the Commander takes a personal concern for all of us, even Joker." Hap said.
"The drink wasn't for me, it was for Anastasia." Joker yelled.
"Why'd you drink it then?" Dillon asked, "you shouldn't drink other people's drinks."
"I was trying to show Anastasia that she was overreacting." Joker yelled, then took a deep breath, "Sorry Dillon, I shouldn't yell at you, you have manners." He looked accusingly at Anastasia.
Anastasia gave Joker a smug look as she got more comfortable next to Hap. "You tried to prove me wrong and found yourself unconscious. Let that be a lesson to you."
"You thought there was some ComStar assassin going to jump out from under a table and murder you, that was what I was trying to prove you were wrong about. Let that be a lesson to you."
"There could well have been, but you made such a scene, and then Mags and I had to nearly drag you back to the barracks and it likely scared them off"
"Then you're welcome." Joker snapped.
Hap looked at Anastasia, "Some locals tried to give you a laced drink?"
"Commander McFinnigan spoke to the bar owner, it seemed he was suspicious of them, but could never prove they were actually drugging women. He said he had confronted them but it was no good, and local law enforcement wasn't helpful. The Commander has at least scared them off." Anastasia said.
There was a moment of silence and Dillon showed a holo disk carrier to David "Rolph gave me his Immortal Warrior holos to lend you."
David nodded, "Yeah I could go for some Immortal Warrior. The doc won't let us go anywhere anyways."
As Dillon started to set up the holoscreen for watching the movies. Joker said, "Mags and I are going to go. We don't have a patrol today, but we need to help the techs get our 'mechs fully mission capable."
Anastasia snuggled up to Hap, and got comfortable next to him under the blankets, "Since my 'mech is FMC, I'm on patrol at 1400 today, but I think I'll just stay here until it's time for me to get ready."
Dillon pulled a seat over to sit between Hap and David and the holo started. Hap hadn't seen an Immortal Warrior movie in a long time. He knew that a new one was made every year or so. There were dozens, and he wasn't sure if he had seen this one. He thought back to the arguments about Brock Armstrong and John Stallion and realized the Immortal Warrior was somehow in its own category. He glanced over at Anastasia to see if she was enjoying the movie, but she was napping.
When the teenage nurse came with lunch Hap woke up Anastasia and she excused herself to go and get ready for her patrol. Anastasia came back near dinner and brought Fletch, Tatyana, and Sophie with her. The Fletchers brought flowers for David, and a small stuffed dog for Hap. Sophie told him it was a "koy-votay" and tried to teach him to properly howl, but Hap could never quite do it to Sophie's satisfaction. After everyone left Anastasia attempted to stay the night but Dr. Morgan chased her off.
This set the precedence for their hospital stay. David and Hap would get visitors in the morning. The afternoons were spent watching holos or napping. After dinner they'd get more visitors, and Anastasia was there as much as she was permitted. The time dragged, but it wasn't unbearable, and most of the company visited them at least once.
David and Hap were released the morning of the fourth day. They were told to report to mechbay, and help out, but not push themselves. Dr. Morgan made it clear if they felt strange, light headed or any of their symptoms returned to immediately come back to the medical bay.
Hap spent the next few days replacing armor plates on his Griffin, performing some of the second level maintenance on his weapon systems, repainting, and staying out of Mike's way as he rebuilt the Griffin's leg. Hap mentioned to Mike that Anastasia had told him about what he said at the bar, but Mike replied that he was drunk and didn't remember any of that, but it sounded like bullshit.
Hap noted that Anastasia was starting to become paranoid and stir crazy. She generally didn't want to leave the company area because she feared a ComStar hit team would strike, but she was also bored of being cooped up. She would go on patrols in her 'mech, but the rest of her time was spent in the secure area of the star port. Hap found himself under the same self-imposed house arrest with her. He tried to remind her that she preferred to stay home and read, but she replied, "Sometimes you don't know what you want till you can't have it."
The next Monday Anastasia came to find Hap working in the mechbay. Mike, Hap, and a team of assistant techs were reattaching the Griffin's leg to the 'mech's main body and connecting all the various control struts, myomer bundles, circuits, and other parts of the 'mech's internal anatomy. She called out to Hap and after he finished bolting a balance struts into place he descended to the main deck.
"Yes my dear?" Hap said as he adjusted the climbing harness, he noticed she looked like she was dressed to go out on the town.
"Harold, I got a message that ComStar has received an HPG response from my Mother. We need to go to the ComStar office to view it." Anastasia said excitedly.
"How do you suggest we do that?" Hap asked, wondering if Anastasia had finally driven herself insane.
"We'll take a taxi, but first, you go and get cleaned up, put on something nice, and we'll make a day of it. I talked to Rolph and he agreed to fill in for my patrol today. This seems relatively simple to me."
"You're convinced a ComStar assassins will strike the moment you leave the company area, but you're going to just drop in to their head office because they claim to have something they know you want."
"Cody told us they won't do anything that can be even remotely traced back to them. I'm really the most safe in their offices. Now let's go, you need to change." Anastasia pulled Hap toward the entrance.
Hap stopped her, unhooked the cables, and undid the climbing harness. "Mike, I need to run an errand with Anastasia. Is it alright if I take a long and early lunch?"
Mike flipped up his welding mask, "Take all the time you want. We'll get more done without having to go back over your work." Before Hap could answer Mike put his mask back down and resumed welding.
Hap shook his head as he put the tools and harness away. "Well it looks like I'm free."
Anastasia pulled on Hap's arm, "Good! Let's go."
Hap quickly found himself jogging as Anastasia pulled him from the mechbay to the barracks. In record time she had "helped" him get cleaned up and changed and then nearly dragged him to the taxi. Hap had never seen her this excited about anything before. He wondered how much of it was her desire to hear from her mother, and how much was the reprieve from her self-imposed house arrest.
The taxi dropped them at the foot of the stone steps leading up to the ComStar office. Hap had a feeling of dread as he looked up the stairs and at the large and oppressive buildings. Last time the architecture made him feel intimidated, this time it was the people inside that troubled him.
"You know, now that we're here, I'm thinking this might have been a mistake." Anastasia said
"You want to go back to the barracks?" Hap asked.
"No. I want to hear and see my mother." Anastasia sighed, then looked determined, "There's no other way, let's go." She grabbed Hap's hand and together they marched up the stairs.
They found the long line as before and got in the back, after a few minutes one of the yellow robed acolytes approached them. "Lady Vallois, there is no need for you to wait in this line, by Blake's good will, if you'll follow me, we have a viewing room prepared for you."
Hap looked concerned as they left the line and followed the tech. Anastasia leaned her head and whispered, "This is normal, when you use a diplomatic account you sometimes get special treatment."
"Do they always recognize you on sight within minutes of showing up on premises?" Hap asked as the acolyte directed them to one of suites located along the wall of the great room.
"Well, no." Anastasia said then added, "but we did make a big impression last time, and they did contact our Ops center, so I was expected."
"I just hope this isn't a trap." Hap said as the Acolyte opened the door and motioned for them to enter.
-
Nice cliffhanger there!
-
Are they armed?
did anyone tell Joker or Mags where they were going?
-
Chapter 39
Hap stepped in first, and found a neatly appointed viewing room. It had a couch, a few end tables, and a holo table. Hap looked around anxiously, but everything seemed normal. He could see Anastasia was also concerned. The acolyte cleared his throat. "Is everything in order?"
Hap nodded and tried to relax. Everything was so strange. Everything around him seemed normal, but in the back of his mind he felt on edge. He felt like he was waiting for someone to play a terrible joke on him. He sat down on the couch and tried to act normal. Anastasia sat next to him. Hap could sense that she was equally uneasy, but outwardly she appeared fine.
As Hap calmed himself the Acolyte setup the holoviewer. "Before I replay the Countess's holo, she also sent several pages of text. With your permission, and by Blake's will, I will go print them as you watch."
"Thank you." Anastasia said as the Acolyte hit play and left the room.
The lights dimmed and a holographic projection of the head and shoulders of woman appeared. It was perfectly adjusted to make it feel like she was in the room with them. She looked very similar to Anastasia. Unlike her daughter she wore cat eye glasses. Her long reddish chestnut hair was in a similar braid and wrap, like Anastasia favored, but she had a shock of silver hair, and her jaw was slightly squarer compared to Anastasia. Hap knew she had to be Anastasia's mother.
She smiled warmly and began speaking in French. Hap had no idea what she was saying but she was so charming he could've watched her all day. His fears of ComStar assassins were all but forgotten. The woman's mannerisms were almost identical to Anastasia. A few times he saw her reach up to her shoulder to play with a braid of hair that wasn't there, just like her daughter would. Hap glanced over at Anastasia. Her head was cocked to the side and she was smiling as she played with the braid of her she had draped over her shoulder.
After a few minutes the Countess paused and said, "'Arold," She smiled demurely, "s'il vous plait excuse me, Harold." As she spoke she switched from French to the flawless clipped English accent like Anastasia, "When I sent Annie to the Academy she would write me letters weekly."
"Annie?" Hap whispered
"Pay attention, a Countess is personally addressing you." Anastasia said without looking at him.
The countess showed several neatly folded papers, "These letters would say things like, 'Dear mother I am learning to make the galaxy a better place with math and science'." She set the letter to the side and held up another folded sheet, "or 'Dear mother I took the class in common law as you insisted, I find many of these concepts to be very inefficient'." She rolled her eyes, pursed her lips, and shook her head.
She gently set down the letter and held up several unfolded sheets. "Then there was her latest correspondence. 'Dear mama'." She looked up, "We should note, dear Harold, this child almost exclusively refers to me as Mother." She adjusted her glasses, "Dear Mama I have found the most wonderful man."
The countess lowered the papers, "When Annie was at the academy I had hoped I would receive letters about times with friends, going to sporting events, or having adventures, but most of what I received was as I read, her opinions on classes, things she learned, or discussing military drills. I received nothing of extracurricular events or even romantic infatuations. I knew my bébé well enough to know that she would pursue her academics and neglect a social life, but a mother can dream." The countess sighed.
"I tell you all this, my dear Harold, because when I read she had found a man, who," She glanced down at the paper, "made her feel special and loved.' I was a little taken aback. How would my dear child who can rarely be bothered to look up from her books, happen to find such a man? In a war zone no less?"
"Of course I could see, by your own admittance, you're 'fond' of her." The countess paused and gave them a sardonic look, "I could tell you are more than just fond of her. By your honor as an officer, I need your word that you will bring her back to me. She may play your soldier games for a season, but you will watch over her, and you are responsible for her safety. Your next leave will be on Hazelhurst. I assure you I will personally make certain you have a relaxing stay. In the meantime, my dear Harold, be safe and ensure my daughter does the same. Finally, I would love a bit of correspondence from you."
The countess smiled for a moment then resumed speaking in French. This time it was more emotional as the countess closed her message to her daughter. Hap wanted to give her a hug and assure her he would personally try to solve her problem, whatever it was. The countess dabbed the corner of her eye with a lace trimmed kerchief. Then blew a kiss to them and the camera faded to black.
Hap glanced over to see Anastasia dab her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Hap gave her a moment, "That's odd, she still seems to think I'm a commissioned officer. I think she also just ordered us to report to her, as soon as possible."
"First, she doesn't make mistakes." Anastasia answered, as she pulled out a few sheets of paper from the end table, "and second we need to go and tell Rowyena that my Mother's lawyer is about to contact her. It should all be good news, but I'd prefer we at least give her the context."
"And what is the context?" Hap asked as he accepted the paper and pen Anastasia gave him.
"I'll tell you after we write letters to Mother. She asked us each for letters, and now I see she keeps each of them, either for reference or as mementos, or likely both, so write with care."
Hap sighed. He glanced down at the paper, and looked back to Anastasia, "What is your Mother's complete title?"
"High Lady and Protector of Hazelhurst, Countess of Calais Parmi Les Étoiles." Anastasia said.
Hap wrote down the Countess's title and started the letter, "Ma'am, Greetings." He paused, that look stupid. Anastasia leaned over his shoulder, "Is that how you're starting your letter to Mother?"
"How are you starting your letter?"
"Well it's in French, and she's my mother, so-"
Hap playfully pushed her and went back to his letter. He tried to think what he would ask the countess or talk to her about if she were here. It would probably be easier if he was writing her father. Hap glanced over at Anastasia. She was sitting cross legged and rapidly writing. Hap was always amused by how serious she took things like this. Hap was also amused at how much Anastasia was like her mother. He had envisioned the Countess would be a stern and serious woman and somehow finding her to be a very charming and older version of Anastasia just made him love both of them more.
Hap started writing again, "as you figured out I am more than fond-"
"I would say she 'deduced' or 'inferred' that your feelings were greater than fondness." Anastasia said.
"Write your own letter."
"I'm nearly done, and you've hardly started. Also, I'm starting to suspect you're not much of a writer and probably need my assistance."
Hap shook his head and went back to the letter, "of Anastasia. As I suspect you know I'm in love with her. Before I ask her hand in marriage I would like your blessing. I know you've only seen me once in a video, and I have no idea what Anastasia wrote about me, but things are moving quickly with us, and I thought I should seek your blessing before I propose to her."
"Oh Harold, I don't know where to start, with the content or your grammar."
"We are never writing letters like this again." Harold wasn't sure if Anastasia was trying to frustrate him.
"I think that's for the best. In the future you just tell me what you want to say, and I'll write it for you. For now though, let's work on your grammar. That is quite a run-on sentence. I would suggest making it several sentences. You should probably start over again. Let me get you a clean sheet."
"You're not going to comment on me asking you mother for her blessing before we've really talked about marriage?"
"We talked about marriage, I told you I'd be a better wife than your previous. I recognize that is a low standard, but you've never disagreed. We just have to sort out the minutia." Anastasia shrugged. "The concern I have is that once you tell her that she'll insist that the actual wedding be on Hazelhurst."
"Do you have a better suggestion? Should I not ask for her blessing? Is it bad form to do this in a letter?"
"Oh no. She'll be delighted, and writing is probably the best way to ask. Given the time and distance of the Galaxy it's probably the only way. This is likely the sort of memento she would want."
The door opened and the Acolyte returned. Hap immediately remembered where he was and was suddenly overcome with a vague sense of dread.
"I apologize, I had trouble printing." The acolyte explained as he stepped into the room. "Was everything acceptable with the Countess's video?"
"Yes. Thank you." Anastasia answered.
"Then all is in accordance with Blake's will." The acolyte handed Anastasia an envelope.
As Anastasia explained that she needed to send additional notes to Hazelhurst, Hap quickly wrote, "I do hope this letter finds you well, and you approve of my marriage to your daughter and give your blessing. I acknowledge I will keep Annie safe, and we will visit you as soon as we can. Very Respectfully, Harold Calahad." Hap handed his sheet of paper to the Acolyte as he led Anastasia and Hap out of the suite.
"Mother will appreciate your note." Anastasia said quietly. Hap sensed she had more to say, but she stopped talking as they re-entered the main room. The sun shined in through the windows and people went about their business. Everything was normal and ordinary, but it somehow felt malevolent.
Hap glanced around expecting to see the "boxer" glowering at them from some vantage point, or the Precentor, flanked by armed guards, preparing to stop them, but everything about the ComStar offices seemed benign and routine. Hap saw Brother Hyek. He locked eyes with him for a moment, but Brother Hyek looked surprised to see them. He immediately looked down and busied himself at the desk.
Hap was tempted to approach Brother Hyek, but the Acolyte that had assisted him and Anastasia was leading them to the exit. The Acolyte assured them he would send their letters, and get them to Hazelhurst as quickly as, "Blake's good will would allow". As Hap and Anastasia climbed down the stairs and walked away the sense of impending doom changed from relief, and then to elation.
They walked a few blocks away before looking at each other. When they looked at each other they both burst out laughing. When Hap could compose himself he asked, "Is it possible we've imagined ComStar to be something more than it is? Nothing against Cody, but maybe they only killed his dad because he was a renegade adept or something like that."
Anastasia shook her head and shrugged, "Perhaps. If Cody was right though, we are safe for today, but I must admit, it feels like we cheated death. I feel like I could do something impossible now. I'm glad Joker isn't here right now. He'd either kill this mood or possibly convince me to participate in some grand and regrettable foolishness."
Hap nodded, that was how he felt too, "Yeah, there's so many mistakes we could make together right now, like getting tattoos or eloping."
Anastasia gave Hap a shrewd look, "Yes…" she said slowly, "those would be mistakes. To be clear we are going to have a large extravagant wedding and if you think I'd settle for anything less you are mistaken."
"What about the matching tattoos?" Hap teased
"Look, a food store let's see what they have in here." Anastasia said, ignoring his comment, and playfully pushing him into the store.
Hap was puzzled as he looked around. When Anastasia said "food store" he imagined a grocery store. Half the store was actually a very elegant looking café with a "U" shaped lunch counter surrounding a cooking range, and several smaller tables placed around the counter. The store had short shelves arranged almost randomly for ambient foods, and a large quantity of refrigerated shelves for everything else. The store had a very open and sophisticated sensibility.
The back wall had a large display of bright stemless flowers in glassed refrigeration units. Hap was drawn toward them. He saw the description was "edible flowers" and the price was more than he would pay for an entire salad, let alone one ingredient. He glanced around and saw truffles, Greyel wings, meat lettuces, caviar, binsby berries, foie gras, and foods he had never heard of, let alone tasted. He realized this was a gourmet food store, and not a grocery store like the one his mother had cashiered at.
Anastasia looked around searching for a particular item as she walked the refrigerator area.
There was a middle-aged store clerk discussing mushrooms with another patron. She glanced over at Anastasia and smiled, "I'll be with you in a moment." She made another suggestion and pointed her customer toward a climate controlled room in the corner.
"May I help you Ma'am?" The clerk said to Anastasia.
I was looking for Kincha." Anastasia said.
The woman looked apologetic, "It's out of season, and a rarity for us, but we do have some wines that are blended with Kincha juice." The woman led her toward a wall that was floor to ceiling wine racks.
"Harold, could you get us a table at the café?" Anastasia called over her shoulder as she followed the clerk.
Harold walked up to the lunch counter and examined the chalkboard menu. The items were in a flowery cursive script that he had a hard time reading. He saw steak tartare, a chowder with an ingredient he didn't quite recognize. As he puzzled over the menu he glanced down at the other patrons, and noticed a young woman sitting across the counter for him. Their eyes met for a moment.
She looked familiar. Her makeup was impeccable, and her jet black hair was styled perfectly. She was wearing a long black jacket. Under it she had a white blouse, and wore a silver necklace made of interlocking hoops. Hap looked at her for a long moment. He knew her, but he didn't know from where.
"Hey. Do I know-", Hap walked around the counter, but he stopped suddenly as he realized she was the woman from the ComStar office from weeks ago.
She shook her head at him and then leaned so she could look beyond his shoulder. She nodded to someone behind Hap.
Hap spun around quickly ready to defend himself. No one was behind him and he could see Anastasia and the clerk talking. There was also a young man with a ladder trying to reach a particular wine bottle that the clerk was pointing too. The scene was almost comical. The young man was trying to impress Anastasia, the clerk was trying to make a sale, and Anastasia was being herself, trying to get the best wine for her and Hap, and almost oblivious to the other two's ambitions.
Hap remembered the ComStar agent, and turned around quickly. When he looked back she was gone. The only indication that she had been there at all was a half drunk cocktail. Hap walked around to the side of the lunch counter just to make sure she wasn't crouching down and hiding.
Hap felt foolish for falling for an unspoken, "what's that behind you" trick. He also was mortified that he had almost believed the threat from ComStar was nonexistent. He stepped around the counter to find the agent gone, but she had left a large woman's handbag.
The bartender raised a questioning eyebrow as Hap grabbed the bag and dropped it on the counter. Hap opened it to find a mini stun stick, a camera with a long telephoto lens, and a notebook. There was no wallet, but there was a roll of c- bills in a side pocket. He also felt a knife in sewn-in-sheath.
"Pardon me sir, that woman followed you, and has been watching you the whole time. She left shortly after you saw her. Do you and her have a problem? Is she your ex?"
Hap dug through the bag not sure what he hoped to find, "Something like that. She, uh, stole my car when she left. I was hoping she left the keys in here." Hap picked up the camera and looked under it.
The bartender took the bag, "Perhaps I should hold onto this."
Hap nodded, "Sure, my keys aren't there anyway, she'll want her purse." As he spoke he held the camera below the counter and ejected the camera's memory card and palmed it. "She'll probably want her life back, I know I do." Hap said as he passed the camera to the bartender.
-
Chapter 40
Hap found Anastasia looking over cheeses. She had selected three bottles of wine and had them in a very nice, and Hap was certain, very expensive basket.
Anastasia looked up at Hap, "Hey you."
"Hey. Hello. Look, we should probably leave soon. As soon as we can." Hap said.
"Café menu too gourmet?" Anastasia teased.
"Let's just say I saw something I didn't like." Hap looked around making sure no other familiar faces were watching them.
Anastasia saw his worried expression, "Do we need to leave right now? Can I finish shopping?
Hap nodded as she held up two cheeses and asked, "Smoked goat cheese or dill and-"
"Smoked." Hap said as Anastasia handed the basket to him and dropped in the smoked cheese. "Sorry, I shouldn't interrupt." Hap apologized. "I'm always going to choose the smoked option, and I really think we need to go."
"I was thinking that we need a few more things. " Anastasia said, looking around.
"I think we have enough." Hap told her as he examined the contents of the basket. There was a few apples, a sweet pepper, the wine, cheeses, crackers, a few jars of sauces or condiments Hap couldn't recognize, a tin of some seafood something, a large jar of a chocolate and tree nut spread, and strawberries.
"It's probably fine, and I know where we can find a few herbs." Anastasia said mysteriously as she walked to the checkout counter. There were few customers, and they were able to pay and leave quickly. Hap was taken back by the price, a few of the items, to include one of the wine bottles, was much cheaper than he would have guessed, but he felt it was pricey.
They left the store as Hap told her about the ROM agent and the contents of her purse. Hap was sure it was a kit bag for spies and assassins. As he explained the contents, Hap realized it didn't have a needle gun or hypodermic poison dispenser. There was no deadly weapon in the bag. They concluded it was likely ComStar was only observing them for now. They returned to the company area without incident
Hap and Anastasia found Cody and Mal in the loft of the 'mech bay, and gave them the memory card. Hap explained how he got it and what he thought it might contain. Mal put the card into her computer and started pulling up images of Anastasia and her Valkyrie from the previous weeks.
"I can try to figure out where these were taken from, but it would help if you could tell me what sort of lens was on the camera." Mal said as she scrolled through the images.
"Why don't you see if the global positioning data is included?" Cody said.
Mal closed the images and pulled up another menu, "Oh it is. Give me a second." Mal started typing furiously in a console window.
As Mal typed Anastasia asked, "Cody, how do you live with the idea that ComStar seeks to kill you?"
"You're looking at it. I don't get out much. I keep a low profile. I move around with this company a lot. I'm about to go through all these pictures and see if they seem to have taken much notice of me."
"How do you send messages to your family?" Anastasia asked.
"I don't think I have any. Once Mom died, it was just Dad and me. Now it's just me."
"And me." Mal added.
"Me and Mal." Cody said. "So I got all I need here, and I stay away from the ComStar offices."
"What would you do if they did discover you were still with McFinnigan and Sons?" Anastasia asked.
"Well they sort of already know I'm here, but they think I'm a simpleton. I had a long talk with Kelly about this. We decided if we ever thought ComStar was looking for me again, I'd go into hiding. He has family on Donegal that know how to hide people. He told me I'd probably end up helping 'them', which I think is Heimdall. I'm okay with that, but I don't think Kelly wants to lose me."
"Really Kelly doesn't want to lose me, because we all know we're inseparable." Mal said as she kept typing.
Cody nodded, "So Kelly tells me to keep a low profile, and don't draw attention to myself."
Anastasia got quiet as Mal loaded a map on her screen, "Alright I think I got it."
Red circles popped up all over the map. Many of them were overlapping. Mal touched one of them and a picture of Anastasia's Valkyrie was displayed. The date and time were in the picture's corner. "Well this is you on patrol about a week ago. It was taken near Turquois Lake." Mal touched another dot. This time it showed Anastasia's Valkyrie being rearmed during the fight with the Immortals.
Hap looked over the map. "The ROM agent took a lot of pictures around Turquoise Lake."
Cody looked for a long time, "None of the pictures were taken inside the fence line. So at least we don't have to worry about ComStar hiding right outside the door."
"I think we should go and talk to the commander." Anastasia said. "We need to talk to him about this and about some of the things my mother told me."
"You never did tell me what your mother told you, or why she thought I was still an officer." Hap said
"Sorry, everything was so strange at the ComStar office and then we were just so giddy and excited. Mother told me that she hadn't heard anything from AFFS High Command and generally there was a comms blackout from Klathandu. She knew it was a siege and it was going poorly, but she couldn't get more information than that, nor would AFFS high command talk to her about me."
"According to Mother and our lawyer, we made every reasonable effort to follow orders and protect ourselves. The facts are we were in a tactically indefensible position, cut off from our unit. Additionally our last orders were to report to a starport which implied a high likelihood of evacuation from the planet. Our lawyer feels we can hardly be faulted for accepting the offer to be extracted."
"That seems reasonable, except we failed to report to the local AFFS representation once we realized that we were mistaken." Hap said
Anastasia shrugged, "We sought legal advice first. Given our circumstances, this is still a reasonable action. It's best now to let the lawyers work this out amongst themselves. This is why we need to speak with Rowyena. Our lawyer will have a lot of questions, and will want the video for our rescue."
"Yeah you should probably go talk to Rowyena, she can be a little defensive when she gets surprised by other lawyers. We'll keep looking at these pictures and see if there is anything interesting." Cody said.
Anastasia and Hap went to the ops building. Fletch, Kelly, and Rowyena had their offices on the top floor. Anastasia and Hap had not yet visited their offices, and were surprised to find the top floor contained only the three large offices connected by a central room. In the central room was a large desk and Elinor was sitting at it. There were also a few children playing with toys and sitting at child size tables in a corner. Hap had seen these children before, but he wasn't sure exactly whose they were.
Elinor looked surprised as they walked into her office. "Master Haphazard and Ms. Vallois are here." Elinor called out. She smiled pleasantly them, "Fancy that, we were jest speaking about you."
"I'm sorry. Are we allowed to just enter?" Anastasia asked, "Is this your office?"
"Well yes, but seeing as I'm the secretary, it's fine. Ye can come here any time child, but if ye want to speak to the XO, Commander, or Legal ye may need an appointment."
Rowyena stepped into the center room. She appeared irritated, "Who is Henry C. Le'Cebra? And why has he sent me a list of demands for," She read off from the paper in her hand, "'Copies of any videos, pictures, documentary evidence, or other artifacts of the ex-filtration of Anastasia Maria Capetian-Vallois and Harold Fedrick Calahad from the planet Klathandu on or about the 15th of August 3029.'"
"Henry C. Le'Cebra is my family lawyer." Anastasia said, "He is attempting to clear up the nature of our sudden departure from Klathandu. I sent a note to my mother and explained the specifics of how we left Klathandu, and my concern that we would be charged with desertion. Mr. Le'Cebra is trying best a case that we did not desert our command, rather we had limited options and choose the best option to preserve our lives and prevent additional combat equipment from falling into enemy hands."
Rowyena nodded and seemed eager to help, "Oh, aye, I see. Yes. Certainly. I'll help yer lawyer. I'll even get sworn statements from Hawkins and my father. Seems simple and reasonable."
"Yer not plannin' to leave us child?" Kelly asked from the door of his office.
"No." Anastasia said, "I am not, but I was concerned, given what you had said about the cadets who were told their parents would lose their titles. I worried that the AFFS high command or other nobles may try to punish my mother for my actions."
Kelly nodded, "We always respect taking care o' family."
"That's why we came now." Hap said, "Sorry. It didn't occur to us that you would get a surprise note from Anastasia's family lawyer. We were coming to give you context before he contacted you."
Rowyena shrugged, "It's fine, if I were him I'd be doing the same thing.
"There is another issue I wanted to speak to you about." Anastasia said, "I believe I've been targeted by ComStar for assassination."
Kelly pulled out his pipe and tobacco pouch, "Oh? What would make ye think that?"
Anatasia explained how she was part of an AFFS special weapons research team, her father's mysterious death, and their strange experiences at the ComStar office and at the gourmet food store. As she described her experiences Fletch and Tatyana joined them.
Kelly smoked as he listened. Finally he asked, "I'm guessing you've shared your experiences with Cody?"
"We have, Sir." Hap said. "He told us about his father, and how you threw ComStar off his trail. We even gave him and Mal the memory card from the camera that the ROM agent left behind."
Kelly looked over at Tatyana, "What do you think?"
"I must see pictures." Tatyana replied, "But I was analyst, and HUMINT collector, not assassin, and only know Maskirovka techniques, not ComStar."
"What would Maskirovka do, kokhanyy?" Fletch asked.
Tatyana shook her head, "Maskirovka likes to make statement, they like fear. Fear is weapon. ComStar likes" She seemed to think, "to be nevydymyy, invisible. You never know was ComStar. Maskirovka has policy, you push us, we knock you down. You knock us down, we break leg. You hurt us, we hurt you more, and we make sure you know we hurt you, maybe hurt your kid too. ComStar policy is patience and be unknown. Maybe ComStar kill you, maybe was avariya, accident. Long time to plan accident."
"How long do you think ComStar has been targeting you?" Fletch asked Hap and Anastasia.
"They had pictures from the day we fought the Immortals. That was the day after we had the odd experience in the ComStar office."
Tatyana moved her head from side to side as she thought, "A few weeks not long enough to plan 'accident'. Operation likely in observation and planning phase."
"The ROM agent didn't seem to take any pictures inside our company area, so our security seems to be keeping them out." Hap said.
"They are rent-a-cops. Lowest of Mercenaries." Tatyana replied, "Easy to bribe, easy to…charm, easy to get past. This assumes ComStar agents not working as guards. I would not trust them to protect us."
"How do you want to handle this boss?" Fletch asked.
Kelly exhaled smoke through his nose, "Yer honestly not tryin' to get out of yer contract?"
"No. If I was I would just ask my mother to buy me out of my contract." Anastasia said.
Kelly nodded. "Alright, give me a few days to think how I'm going to fool the bastards that have the best intelligence apparatus in the sphere. Tatyana, get with Cody and Mal and see if you can figure out anything that might be helpful from those pictures."
"Dah!"
Kelly seemed lost in thought, "We could stage your death. I have a cousin that can get you a whole new identity. I jest don't know what we'd tell your mother."
"I would prefer not to worry my mother." Anastasia said.
"That's always the trick, not worrying mother." Rowyena sighed.
Elinor's eyes flashed, "Is there somethin' ye need to tell me?"
Hap sensed it was time to leave. "I believe we'll be going, and I apologize that we did not come to talk to you sooner." Hap said
Kelly shrugged, "I understand, and appreciate ye came without us havin' to find you. Come back in a few days, and hopefully I'll have an answer as to how we're going to solve yer 'little' problem."
Hap and Anastasia walked down the stairs hand in hand. "Feel better?" Hap asked.
"Maybe." Anastasia said. "It's been another day where we've gone from one emotional extreme to the other. I just want a nice quiet place for us to be together." She sighed. "I sort of found one."
"Sort of found one?" Hap asked.
Anastasia nodded, "While you were convalescing I was wandering around looking for a quiet place to read and found the door to the barrack's roof unlocked. Someone had made a rooftop garden up there. Most of what was planted was perennial flowers, and some herbs. The herbs box has become the plant equivalent to a Solaris VII arena, and it appears the mint is winning the competition. The flowers still look good though, particularly the roses.
Hap noticed Anastasia still had her picnic basket full of wine, cheeses and other exotic foods. "I'm guessing you'd like to have a rooftop picnic."
"Since I found this curious garden I've been thinking, 'if I had Hap with me, this would be perfect.'"
"Does anyone else know it?" Hap asked as he opened the door leading outside.
"Mags and Kate. Mag's is pretty good at keeping things to herself, and Kate appreciates the solitude and likes working on the various plants. It appears to be a hobby of hers. She tells me if she can rehabilitate enough of the basil, and get her tomatoes to grow, she'll make us all bruschetta." Anastasia replied.
"Sounds good for the future, but for tonight, the sun will be setting in soon. Are you planning a private moonlit picnic for us?"
Anastasia nodded excitedly, "yes a quiet, private, moonlit picnic just for us."
-
*claps* :D
-
Chapter 41
Anastasia showed Hap the barracks rooftop. Even though she had described it as a garden, he was surprised to find a comfortable area nestled between the barrack's HVAC infrastructure. Someone had installed an awning, setup planter boxes, and a large ceramic and iron "fire pit" bowl. They also left weather-beaten furniture under the awning and a pile of seasoned firewood.
Hap and Anastasia walked up to one of the planters that had a clear glass-like case on it. "When you said there were flowers up here, I wondered how it was possible in November." Hap examined the planter's case. The material was hard and clear like glass but Hap assumed it was a plastic. The roof was designed to drain water into the case, and there were vent holes for insects to move in and out of the cases.
"We were surprised to find the plants and the 'green house' boxes. Whoever had built this had invested some time and energy in the plants." Anastasia said as Hap looked around. He could see roses in one of the boxes, other boxes had thick bushes, or exotic the flowers. Some of the boxes had missing or damaged toppers. Those boxes had some plants that were still clinging to life, but it was evident the cold fall weather had ended the growing season for most of the exposed plants.
One of the boxes seemed to contain weeds. When Hap opened the box he got the strong scent of mint. He recognized the leaf from the packing of "mint flavored" food products. There were a few other plants among the mints, but the mint was the most prevalent.
"This is an amazing find." Hap said as he looked over the area. He picked a worn, and sun-bleached lounge chair and moved it to a good vantage point for the starport's lights when the sun went down.
"Some of what you're seeing is actually just the potential of this garden. Kate assured us, next spring all this should bloom beautifully." Anastasia dragged a lounger right next to Hap's chair. "Do you mind starting a fire? I'd like to go change into something more comfortable." Anastasia said.
Hap nodded. He wasn't going to argue with that. As Anastasia left he found a small stack of dry wood and a half used book of matches from a ration pack. He stacked up a few small pieces of wood in the fire bowl and dug in the picnic basket for paper wrappers and the receipt to use for kindling. He managed to start a fire with little effort.
Hap repositioned the loungers closer to the fire pit. It hadn't felt cold, but now that he had a fire he wanted to be near it. He laid out the contents of the picnic basket as he waited for Anastasia to return. Hap wasn't sure about everything that she had purchased, but it did look like a complete meal for two. In the bottom of the basket he found a knife, a corkscrew, a small cutting board, and wine glasses.
Hap had finished cutting the apple and pepper when Anastasia returned. She was wearing a simple loose-fitting off-white shirt and skirt. Hap noted most of Anastasia's clothes were fitted to her, but this particular outfit was not. She smiled as she sat down next to Hap and selected a bottle of wine.
"Sorry I took so long, I was reading my mother's letter." She said as she expertly removed the wine cork.
Hap watched her pour, and accepted a glass of wine, "What didn't the countess have to say?"
"She's struggling. The loss of daddy effects in her ways she wouldn't have guessed. She knows how to run a whole planet, but she still misses his advice and having her chief confidant. She made a comment about how his love and friendship added little to her day to day business, but it made everything she did valuable and worthwhile. I think that sums up half of her letter." Anastasia selected a piece of cheese
Hap sliced the cured sausage, "That's a pretty astute observation." Hap reflected on how his relationships probably kept him going and made life worthwhile. He glanced up at Anastasia.
Anastasia tasted her wine, "The rest of the letter was about us. She was immensely pleased that I was doing well, by which I think she meant that I had friends, and particularly you."
Hap sampled his wine. He didn't normally drink dry reds, but the combination of the food and wine did something to temper and enhance the flavors of both. "Before seeing your mother I would have assumed she was a stern noble woman that was strong and independent. I don't know why, but I figured your mother was someone who wouldn't have cared if her daughter was in a relationship."
"You can be strong, and still have someone in your life. I think that is my Mother's point. Her world is paler without my father. I think she is also concerned she might lose me as well." Anastasia said.
"Does she want you to come back to Hazelhurst?" Hap asked.
"She would prefer that, but you have to understand, our family hasn't produced a 'mech warrior in over a century. A noble family without a few AFFS services members every couple generations starts to lose prestige. Granted the Capetian family is known for producing some real beauties."
"I had noticed that." Hap said as he pulled Anastasia closer to him.
Anastasia leaned on Hap, "Mother had noticed her political capital on New Avalon seemed to increase once I went to war. She sees the utility in having me improve the status of our family name, but she made it clear that I am not a careerist. I will do my tour, perform my duty to the Federation as a mechwarrior, and then return to the people of Hazelhurst and prepare to do my duty as countess."
"She's not worried that we'll be charged with desertion and she'll be stripped of her title and land?"
"That would be unprecedented," Anastasia said flatly, "but she indicated a living daughter, charged with cowardice, desertion, or any other 'dishonorable' title is worth more to her than her title, and significantly more to her than a dead war hero, even if that made her a duchess. She stated plainly that I made the right choice in leaving Klathandu. I believe she told you that it was your chief responsibility to ensure I return to her safely."
"I didn't know it was my chief responsibility, but I wasn't planning not to ensure your safety."
"Good." Anastasia said as she refilled her wine glass, and topped off his. "Don't use double negatives when you're getting me drunk."
Hap started to spread chocolate on the strawberries and considered pointing out that she was pouring the wine instead he asked, "How's your Dad's business doing without him?"
"There was an offer to purchase it, and Mother asked my opinion. She doesn't feel comfortable selling it without my input, but Daddy's partners thought the offer was almost too good to be true. The purchaser wanted complete and exclusive rights to all patents, research, and proprietary technology. They also intended to move the company off of Hazelhurst, but promised that it wouldn't leave the Federation. Because we were doing research for NAIS their legal department had to go over the agreement."
"How do you feel about that? Do you think your mom is selling part of your Dad's legacy?" Hap asked as Anastasia scooped more chocolate spread onto a strawberry.
"No. Not exactly. I understand she doesn't want to run his business. While we don't need the money, Dad has two business partners, and they probably do. One was a consummate businessman, so he likely has a few bills to pay, and then he'll reinvest the rest. The other was like dad, a naturally curious gentleman that was always trying to figure out or improve the world around him. He wasn't very good with money though. I told mother to go ahead and sell our shares. Daddy's legacy and work is something I'll carry on, and he wouldn't want it tied to a business."
Anastasia got quiet and Hap could sense that she was probably being a little more cavalier about this decision than she really felt. They quietly drank their wine as the sun set and the street lights came on. Hap put another log on the fire and Anastasia put the remaining food in the picnic basket.
Hap opened the second bottle of wine and poured a generous glass full for each of them. He sat back down next to her and she pulled out his blanket and covered both of them. Anastasia sighed contentedly as she sipped her wine. The sun had fully set and now the city lights stretched before them like a glittering jewel.
Hap could feel the wine take effect. He was warm and a little dizzy. Anastasia was neatly nestled next to him. The fire cracked and hissed and Hap let his mind drift to other campfires in other places. The smell of pine as it burned reminded Hap of the hunting trips and camp outs from his youth.
"Let's finish this bottle of wine, and then we can take advantage of the privacy." Anastasia said.
Hap took a long drink, "You know that's what I thought your plans were when you said you were going to 'slip into something more comfortable' but then you when you came back I was confused."
"I slipped into something more comfortable." Anastasia said.
"Yeah, usually when a girl says that she comes back in lingerie. Are you wearing lingerie underneath these clothes?"
Anastasia shook her head. "I'm not wearing anything underneath my clothes."
Before Hap could respond the door to the stairs opened and they heard the voices of Hawkins and Kate.
"So the loadmaster or the techs will push out the drop pods?" Kate asked.
"Damn it" Anastasia hissed as Hap mumbled a few choice expletives under his breath.
"For most drop shuttles, including ours, we can control that from the command deck. Generally, if we're dropping mechs from orbit I like to keep the techs out of the bays. Not a lot of oxygen once you open the bays up in orbit." Hawkins said.
"Right, of course." Kate said. "So the 'mechs and mechwarriors are ready to drop, the pods are set, what do I do to ensure they actually hit the drop zone, and maintain some level of lance cohesion?"
"Well ideally, you would get into a geostationary orbit, but that requires you calculate the appropriate speed based on your height from the planet's surface and the planet's rotation. It works best when the lance is dropping on a planet's equator and it's completely uncontested space." Hawkins said.
"That seems rare." Kate replied thoughtfully. They hadn't noticed the fire so Hap assumed they were standing by the door talking.
"It's incredibly rare, so you try to do it like a bombing run, you have the navigator figure out the complicated maths of how far you're likely to throw the poor bastards, based on your speed, their mass, and the planet's atmosphere and gravity. It seems chaotic, but don't worry the drop pods are designed to get them on target, or at least alive and within a couple kilometers. The Navigator tells you when to drop the pods, but honestly I figure if the navigator was so smart, he'd be a pilot, so I usually do my calculations and do whatever my gut tells me. It all usually works out." Hawkins sounded nonchalant.
"Oh lord." Kate said, "You treat the mechwarriors like dumb bombs?"
"I've never hated the idea of drop pods so much in my life." Hap whispered.
"Kinda." Hawkins sounded a little apologetic, "Drops are chaotic, and don't get me wrong, I love those violent bastards and their death machines. You have to understand, the drop pods have a bunch of guidance and thrusters to generally keep them on target. Plus enough armor to get them to the ground in one piece. Also we only use drop pods on the Tir a nOg. For the Phaidin we drop off the lance, pull for atmosphere, and then come back for the ex-fill." Hawkins said. "It's not that I don't care about the mechwarriors I've just launched enough drop pods to know it works."
"Think I'd still rather be pulling escort." Kate replied.
"I'll let you be my escort." Hawkins shot back.
"I was talking about fighter escort." Kate said, "but play your cards right and we'll see."
They got quiet for a moment, then Hawkins said loudly, "Is there anyone up here?"
"Hap and Anastasia." Hap called out.
Hawkins and Kate walked over to the fire. "Mind if we join you?"
Anastasia sighed as Hap nodded and Kate pulled a chair close to the fire. She had a grocery bag and started taking out boxes of crackers, a bag of marshmallows and a few chocolate bars. "You know when McFinnigan referred to this company as a family I thought he was exaggerating the closeness, but I had three sisters and two brothers, and there was never privacy and no way to get away. If that is what he meant, then that's exactly how this company feels."
"I was an only child, but I certainly agree with that sentiment." Anastasia said.
"You have no idea." Hap added.
"Oh you get used to it." Hawkins said dismissively as he put a chair next to Kate. He reached into his field jacket's large pockets and pulled out a thermos and a coffee cup. "What are you guys doing?"
"A moonlit picnic." Anastasia said.
"We've been in the simulator trying to get Kate to the point where she can pass a check flight with Mitchellin and get certified on the leopard. We missed dinner, and the shoppette didn't really have much. We were going to roast frankfurters up here, but there were no buns, so we decided on s'mores."
Hap looked over at Anastasia, "We got some leftover 'picnic' and no good way to save it, maybe we could trade for some s'mores." Hap pushed the basket across the floor to Hawkins.
Hawkins nodded as he picked up the basket and tilted it to the light of the fire, He whistled low, "Smoked cheese, dry salami, and, sturgeon roe, is that caviar?"
Anastasia nodded, "It's not the best caviar, but it's still good."
"Honey, I'm a simple man, who was planning to roast frankfurters or bratwurst for dinner, and I can barely tell you the difference between those. I can't tell good from bad caviar." Hawkins said as he pulled out the caviar tin and used a cracker to scoop it out.
"We had wine, but we drank most of that." Hap said apologetically
"We have coffee, fortified with Kelly's own Irish cream, so we're good for drink." Hawkins said as he passed the basket to Kate. He started pouring coffee as Kate started pulling food from the basket.
Anastasia was annoyed, she had been planning a romantic and private evening with Hap for nearly a week, but she decided to be polite, "How does piloting a leopard compare to a Stuka, Kate?"
"Well it's a lot less maneuverable, and there is a crew to do things like gunnery and navigation. I prefer my Stuka, but I'd rather be working for Kelly than Gibson, so it all works out." Kate said.
"She's doing great, already I'd trust her as a co-pilot for most tasks that don't concern, take-off, landing, docking, or dropping the mechs."
"So all the parts that can be done by the auto-pilot?" Kate asked
"No…yeah, I guess those parts." Hawkins tried not to laugh as took a piece of salami.
Kate gave him a disapproving look, "Keep talking like that and you can escort yourself."
The four continued to banter as Kate and Hawkins ate. When they were done Kate found a few long sticks in the wood pile and passed out sticks and marshmallows. Anastasia started to feel the effects of the wine go from making her feel uninhibited, to making her sleepy.
Anastasia watched as Hap, Kate and Hawkins started to carefully roast their marshmallows, "What are s'mores?" Anastasia asked trying to figure out exactly what they were doing .
"You never had these as a kid?" Hawkins asked, "Someone mentioned you were nobility and grew up sheltered, but I never thought that would mean you wouldn't know about s'mores."
"Jacaob!" Kate said
"What? Am I wrong?" Hawkins answered.
"No. I was sheltered." Anastasia said quietly. "I didn't go camping or roast marshmallows."
"S'mores are the whole reason kids like me loved camping, at least until we were old enough to appreciate the aspects of hunting and fishing, and just getting away from everything." Hap said as he pulled his marshmallow off the fire, and blew its flame out. Hawkins passed him a couple thick brown crackers and a chocolate bar. Hap handed one of the crackers to Anastasia.
"So you break the cracker in half, put half the chocolate here." Hap explained as he built the s'more in Anastasia's hand. "Then the marshmallow goes on top of the chocolate, and you press the top cracker so that it squeezes hot marshmallow onto the chocolate and melts it a little. Try that."
Anastasia took a bite and hummed happily, "Oh this is good. Much better than I would have guessed."
They continued to talk and eat until they ran out of chocolate bars. The way Hap, Kate, and Hawkins talked it sounded to Anastasia like they had come from the same rural small town that just happened to be on three different planets. They exchanged similar stories of miserable failed hunting trips, cold days spent outside when the weather was "too bad" for schools to open but perfect for sledding or ice skating, and they had worked similar entry level jobs until they found a way to get to a military academy.
Anastasia understood the similarities in their childhoods gave them a small bond. She was struck by how unlikely it was that she would meet someone with a similar childhood. Even worse she tended to be annoyed or detest most of the nobles she met at the academy. She snuggled up to Hap and thought. Even though she didn't quite feel like part of the group, she didn't feel like an outcast either. Hap could do the talking, and she was content to not be noticed and retreat to her own thoughts. In some ways it was enough she had her own bound with Hap. Like Cody said, maybe all she needed was here now.
As they spoke Anastasia's mind drifted to the odd lancemates she found herself with on Klathandu. They simply referred to each other by last name. There was Shafer, she was the lance leader, and piloted a Phoenix Hawk. Schmit piloted a Commando and Fisher piloted a Vulcan. They claimed to be new lieutenants straight from Nagelring. Anastasia noted they seemed to actively avoid the other cadets from Nagelring, and they also seemed a little old for cadets or lieutenants. They also didn't seem to like Anastasia at all, and she was never part of their group. That was a time in her life, where no one seemed to like her so that wasn't noteworthy for Anastasia.
It wasn't a surprise to Anastasia when they found themselves confronted by the recon Hunter-Killer team that they left her for dead. She had seen that they had a drop shuttle waiting for them. She wondered where they were now, if they had been repatriated back into the LCAF, or if they had gone mercenary. Perhaps they had found some other option.
The evening wore on, and the fire died down. The friendly conversation died away and the late hour and alcohol made everyone drowsy. The pilots and mechwarriors put out the fire, and cleaned up the area, and wished each other a good night.
-
Chapter 42
November 3029
Monhegan
The next day Hap and David were cleared to return to pilot their 'mechs, and Tomax convinced Kelly that part of the reason they had failed to destroy the Immortals was due to lack of training discipline. This meant, in addition to the patrols, there were now small arms ranges, 'mech gunnery tables, training exercises, classes, and morning calisthenics.
The week went by in a blur. Between the calisthenics, training, gunnery, and patrols Hap was exhausted as they finished their last patrol of the week. As they passed the lake Anastasia made a special effort to spot the ComStar agents that were likely photographing her. They had modified the patrol times to try and throw off ComStar but the lake area was a popular spot for the locals, so there was no way to know if she was still being surveilled.
As the Coyotes got onto the main road the lance channel flashed and Hap turned to hear Joker, "Until this week being in a mercenary unit was pretty fun. But lately it's been like being back in a line unit."
"It's not that bad, we're in a training phase, but there isn't the dumb 'rock painting' discipline nonsense." Hap said.
"Yeah? What do we have after our patrol?" Joker asked
"'Mech stables, and then the afternoon is marked no training." Anastasia replied
"See? Dust off your 'mech, do a little routine maintenance, then touch up the paint, and you're done for the day." Hap said.
"Tomax is a hard ass, but he knows better than to make us do dumb shit." Mags said, "My dad always told me you see a 'mech that is well maintained, and well painted, you knew you were dealing with a professional. Only amateurs or desperate fools go to war without maintaining their equipment."
"Yeah. I get that, but morning calisthenics, and other shit that doesn't have to do with piloting my 'Mech, it feels like bullshit."
"The training and drills make me feel like a badass." Mags said.
"What would you be doing if you weren't drilling? Do you even have weekend plans?" Hap said.
"Mags and I were going to go to Charley's, we'll see where things go from there." Joker replied
They were now back at the starport. Anastasia called in the completion of their patrol to Ops and they moved into the Mech bay. As Mike helped Hap open the cockpit he said, "You and the Professor have been ordered to report to the commander."
"You know why?" Hap asked
"No one tells me shit, but as near as I can tell you haven't screwed anything up lately, so you're probably not in trouble." Mike said. "Maybe it's something one of the other dumbass 'mech-jocks did."
"Thanks Mike." Hap said as he pulled himself out of his cockpit and onto the gantry. He could see Anastasia talking to Maja and Taja. He could see the female techs shaking their heads as Anastasia had a similar conversation with her techs.
Hap met Anastasia on the floor of the 'mech bay. "Do you know why the commander is looking for us?"
"Perhaps he has figured out how to solve our problem with ComStar." Anastasia said.
Hap nodded, but didn't have anything to add as they walked to the command building and climbed to the top floor. When they arrived they found Elinor. She gave them a bemused look before smiling and saying over her shoulder, "Yer AFFS liaisons are here, love.
Kelly walked out of his office and looked over Anastasia and Hap like he had never seen them before. "Well I'd expect them to be in uniform, and to look a little sharper and more militant."
Hap and Anastasia exchanged confused looks as Fletch walked out of his office, "I gotta say boss, we've never had offers like this. Being an allied mercenary with the Fed Suns has come with some of the most lucrative contracts I've ever seen. There is one here for a raid on Capricorn that's three times the-"
Kelly cleared his throat and nodded toward Hap and Anastasia, "The liaisons finally reported in."
Fletch looked at Hap and Anastasia for a moment, "And they're out of uniform too."
"Aye, let's help the Hauptmann and Lieutenant-"
"Captain and Subaltern" Fletch quickly interjected.
"Aye, that's right yer AFFS officers. Captain and Subaltern get in the proper uniform."
"Sir, what's going on?" Hap asked.
Roweyna was standing at her office door, "Yer Mother's lawyer worked some damn miracles. Yer both now assigned as military liaisons to the McFinnigan's and Sons, and our company was given favored mercenary company status. You've both received battlefield promotions. Additionally, Ms. Vallois NAIS has considered you to have met the requirements for a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering with minors in political science and military science. I, of course, have some paperwork for you to sign."
"But first, those uniforms." Kelly reached into his pocket and pulled out two epaulettes. One was white, and the other was red with a white trim. There was a flap underneath Hap's name tag that was made for rank epaulettes. Had and Anastasia had removed their ranks when they thought they had become mercenaries. Kelly unhooked the flap and slid the red and white epaulette onto it and re-hooked it, then gave Hap a solid punch on his epaulette. "Wear it proudly and lead well, lad."
Kelly shook Hap's hand and pressed something into it. When Kelly released his hand Hap looked down to find a black triangle with a blue "V" bordering two sides. Hap looked at Kelly quizzically.
"That was Richard's Hauptmann rank. He didn't wear it long enough before he chose to follow his fool father. Pin it under a pocket flap, and do me proud." He winked at Hap, "Yer always part of the family, lad."
As Kelly started to put the white epaulette on Anastasia's vest Fletch approached Hap. He punched the rank just like Kelly, and then shook Hap's hand. "I'm glad this worked out this way. I know it means you'll be leaving us in a year, but you have a lot of potential and it was a shame to steal you away from AFFS."
"Thank you, Sir."
"Yeah, well now you need to start shaving, and get a haircut." Fletch snapped, but his voice softened as he said, "You're a pretty good tactical leader, but you're moving into the big leagues now, and you need to think operationally. Before you return to the regular forces, we'll drink a couple beers and I'll explain to you how everything in the military all comes down to risk mitigation or risk avoidance. Once you understand that, you'll be ahead of your peers."
Before Hap could reply Fletch stepped over to Anastasia. He hit her epaulette with just as much force as he had hit Hap's and nearly knocked her over. "Congratulations. This is also well earned. I saw your orders, once you're done with us you're assigned to the NAIS library and research division, which I assume is a code name for Team Banzia."
"No, that's the special advanced weapon research division. For Team Banzai one must request to join, endure Dr. Banzai's completely random entrance exam, and then the other team members vote you in or out. My experiences with the Team was that I wasn't eccentric enough for them." Anastasia said.
Fetch looked perplexed, "So a gorgeous socially challenged super genius daughter of a noble that can quote doctrine and explain advanced weapons isn't 'quirky enough' for team Banzai."
"That is correct, sir." Anastasia said.
"I'll never understand Prince Davion." Fletch mumbled as he walked back to his office.
Hap looked up and saw Elinor looking at him. She looked like a proud mother, "I remember when Kelly, Richard, and Patrick were made Hauptmans, those were proud moments for us. Congratulations to you." Without
"Thank you Ma'am." Hap turned to Kelly, "Sir, are we still leading the Coyote lance?"
Kelly nodded, "Yes, nothing really changes at least for the time being. You two can go tell yer mates-."
"Wait, I need your signatures." Roweyna said as she grabbed them both, and pulled into her office.
Rowyena's office was, to Hap's surprise, a chaotic mess of books, piles of papers, several stacks of holo recording disks, a noteputer on one large stack of folders, and a computer with multiple sticky-notes on the monitor in the corner. She pulled a stack of papers and a pair of pens from the disorder, and started to explain what they were signing and where they needed to sign. She had a small table in her office, but had to move the tea service and rearrange more stacks of things to clear enough space.
They left Roweyna's office, and were passing through Elinor's area when Tomax appeared suddenly at the door to the stairs. "I hear we got us a new LT." Tomax smiled madly, "and I got some LT work."
"Actually I'm a Subaltern." Anastasia said, "but what can I do for you?"
"Well as you know, I've been trying to bring some discipline back to company, and as I recall, from my glorious days as Sergeant Major in LCAF, that one of the best training exercises for a new LT was conducting a range."
"I assume we're talking about a small arms range. Lasers or Slug Throwers?" Anastasia said.
"Slug throwers, I prefer the smell of gunpowder in the morning." Tomax said.
"Is there a budget?" Anastasia asked.
"Why would there be a budget?" Tomax snapped.
"First, for catering lunch." Anastasia spoke in a polite, almost placating, tone.
"Damn, spoiled officers. No. Everyone eatin' rations. Not duck livers on silver plates." Yorik growled.
"Second, we're making mercenaries do something they might not want to do, so offering prizes, cash prizes, might incentivize them to compete, and actually get the most out of a range." Anastasia said.
Yorik looked over at Kelly.
Kelly shrugged, "Let everyone know they'll be prizes for the top three marksmen."
"Very good. Next question, I know not everyone uses the same side arms or weapons, so are we-"
"Train as we fight, Professor, they should use their preferred side arm. Figure it out." Tomax said.
"Noted. Have you done a multi-caliber small arms range before? Do you have any of the documents-"
Yorik realized Anastasia was intentionally pestering him, "Damn it Lieutenant, you and the Hauptmann-"
"Subaltern and Captain." Anastasia corrected
"Get the hell out of my office." Yorik yelled.
The children in the corner looked at Yorik in shock and one of them started crying. Elinor's eyes flashed and she straightened her back and appeared much taller, "Mr. Yorik, this is my office, and you'll keep a civil tongue and not shout when you're here."
"The two of you just figure out." Yorik grumbled as he disappeared as suddenly as he appeared.
Hap could see Anastasia's subtle smug smile as they walked back to the barracks.
When they passed the day room Joker called out to them, "Hey what did the old man want? Are you two in trouble?" Joker asked. Before Hap could answer Joker noticed the epaulettes on their cooling vests. "Why are you guys wearing those? You're not officers any more, and Harold you were never a captain."
"Apparently we still are. That is what Commander Kelly wanted to tell us. Also Anastasia and I each received a battlefield promotion." Hap said.
"McFinnigan and sons had also been granted favored mercenary status by the Federated Suns, and we were made the AFFS liaisons for the company." Anastasia added.
Joker looked at each of them for a confused moment, "What about me?"
"What about you?" Anastasia answered. There was a pregnant pause, then Anastasia continued, "Since the time we found ourselves in the employment of Commander McFinnigan you have stated how much you 'love being a mercenary'. When I spoke to my mother I intentionally did not mention you."
"Oh." Joker said, "For a second I thought you had forgotten about me."
"Although it may seem like inaction, I thought this is what you wanted. You're now a mercenary, you can even claim that you stole a 'mech from AFFS or Hanse Davion himself, if you prefer."
As Anastasia spoke Hap looked at Joker. He was never an 'ideal' corporal, but Joker was generally a solid performer. At that moment he was sitting on a coach in a T-shirt and sports shorts. It was midafternoon and he had an open beer in one hand and his other hand was casually half-down Mags' shirt. He might never have been a professional soldier, but in the last few months he had certainly taken to his new profession of mercenary. Mags seemed to grow more concerned as Anastasia spoke.
"Yeah." Joker laughed, "I love this life, and hell yeah I stole a 'mech from the first prince himself. I'm a f'n badass mercenary."
Joker kissed Mags on the cheek. Mags looked concerned, and seemed to ignore the kiss.
"You okay Mags?" Hap asked.
"You're just a liaison, not part of the company? Does this mean you're not my lance leader." Mags said.
Hap sensed there was something more to this question, "I'm still your lance leader, till further notice."
She nodded, "okay".
Hap waited to see if she had any more questions. When she didn't say anything he gestured down the hall, "We're going to get cleaned up. We'll talk more about this later."
As they walked Hap quietly asked Anastasia, "Did you intentionally not ask your Mom to help Joker?"
"I intentionally don't talk about Joker if I can help it. However, if I had thought about it, I would have tried to get him the same deal we received." Anastasia said apologetically, "I was embarrassed I had failed to help him, or at least not given him the choice. I felt the need to justify myself, please don't tell him."
"I won't. Joker will be fine, you probably did do him a favor." Hap said. "He fits right in here, almost a little too well."
-
Poor mags.
And now I know that they are never going to be laid down. Running joke in the story. Next time they try a C* assassin will try to jump them.
-
Poor mags.
And now I know that they are never going to be laid down. Running joke in the story. Next time they try a C* assassin will try to jump them.
Don't worry about Mags, she might be concerned about losing her new favorite lance leader, but if worse comes to worse Anastasia knows a Countess that could always use a little more muscle on her Personal Security Detachment.
As for Anastasia and Hap, never say never...
-
Chapter 43
Necromo System
November 3029
"Alright, gents, gather round. I need to walk you through the Op." Patrick said. He was standing in front of the view screen in the lounge of the Phaidin the McFinnigan and Son's Leopard class dropship. Hap, Grizzly, and David were sitting on the semi-circle couch as Patrick started his brief.
"This should be a simple raid. For reasons not included in the intel report, this moon has some extreme long range radar, telescopes and a radio telescope." As he spoke the screen showed the image of a gray colored crater scared planet. Patrick stepped back and pointed to the gray planet that was taking up much of the starboard window. "That moon, is right there"
Patrick stepped back to the screen, "Our mission is to destroy a long range surveillance system and radar site. Also, because it's AFFS, the contract specified we should not destroy any habitation or life support systems on the site unless it's absolutely necessary. But, I'd note, there was no bonus, or incentive to not destroy or compromise the life support. It was just a request. AFFS liaison, you got anything to add."
Everyone looked to Hap, as the AFFS liaison, he knew this came with the job, "No reason to waste ammo, or build up extra heat."
"That's fair. Missiles cost money, Kelly warned me if I was sloppy with my missiles I'd have to pay for my own reloads." David said.
"Never had Kelly talk to me about that." Grizzly said eyeing David suspiciously.
"Uncle Kelly is always finding something to complain about. If it's not reloads, it's my drinkin' or Roweyena's need to settle down, find a man, and start making him grandchildren." As he spoke Patrick rubbed his chin and looked at the bottles of alcohol on the shelf behind the bar.
"Or clean her office?" Hap asked
"Aye? No. That's more Auntie Ellie, of course, so is the grandchildren. Back to the brief, the AFFS liaison recommends we save lives by following our contract and save money. To me that sounds pretty hollow coming from the great house that prides itself as being the shining light of human rights and dignity."
"If you want a speech on the sanctity of life, and how AFFS believes in human freedoms, I could probably give you one, but if that's what you want, you should ask your other AFFS liaison." Hap offered.
"Ask the professor for a lecture? No thanks, mate." Patrick laughed, "I'm happy with the client asking us to think about saving lives and saving money. Let's look at the actual target."
The screen changed to show a large parabolic "satellite dish" antenna, a few dome shaped shelters for radars or telescopes, and a field filled with directional antennas. "This, according to the intel, is a very capable extreme long range early warning radar system, with high fidelity radio and light telescopes, and a few other electronic collection systems. That radar tracks everything that comes through the jump point, and the radio telescope can damn near see New Avalon from here."
"So is this an early warning system or intelligence collecting post?" Hap asked
"The report didn't say." Patrick shrugged, "It just states, 'Necromo is a traditional logistics hub between Capella and the St. Ives Commonalities.' Tatayana thinks this operation is likely a feint. We destroy a big expensive radar or collection site on the boarder of Federated Sun and Capellan space. The Capellan's will likely think it's a precursor to an invasion, and the Suns will likely invade somewhere else. This site thing probably annoys Prince Davion or some General so they're killing two birds with one stone."
"Is it valuable enough for a Garrison or are we just looking at automated defense turrets?" Grizzly asked.
"Both." Patrick answered, "We have defense turrets here and here." Patrick pointed to two squat buildings with turrets bristling with laser cannons. He changed images and there was an overhead photo of the site. Patrick pointed out three more turrets. "A total of five turrets in a star pattern around the site."
The screen changed to show another overhead photo, "This is the garrison, it's a mixed unit of tanks and a pair of LCT-1V Locusts. The image is a little blurry but this appears to be an LRM carrier, and this one is an SRM carrier. Each can put up a nasty amount of missiles, but they don't take abuse-"
"So abuse them on sight." Grizzly interrupted.
"Aye. This brings us to the last two tanks." Patrick pointed to a tracked vehicle with three long narrow barrels, "This is a Pike tank. Relatively new invention by the Magistracy of Canopus, if yer not familiar It has three AC2s and 9 tons of armor. It can harass us just outside the effective range of our weapons. Normally I'd say nothin', but this is a lunar atmosphere a simple blow to your cockpit could be lethal."
"So abuse it on site too." Grizzly said
"Tell ye what, mate. Everyone, save ye, is packing long range arms. We'll make sure to take down the missile tanks, while ye run yer Wolverine at the tank formation and stomp on them." Patrick said
"That was my plan." Grizzly laughed.
"What's that last tank?" Hap asked
"Can't tell from the image." Patrick said, "It's big, and it looks like someone welded a turret on top of some other tank. Kelly thought it might be a custom job based on a Vedette. It looks like it has two LRM racks on the lower body and an energy weapon or autocannon on the turret."
"It's much bigger than the other tanks, though, and its shadows are weird." David said.
"Maybe it's in a defilade." Hap said thoughtfully, "Also there's no tank tracks behind it, maybe it hovers or maybe it's permanently parked there."
"Maybe it's a star league era tank." David offered, "And it's too heavy to move off the planet."
"Now you sound like Rolf with one of his crazy 'glow lamp' stories that he heard from some tech that works for pirates in the deep periphery." Grizzly said.
"The last time we mis-identified a vehicle it ended badly for me. Are we sure there aren't any more pictures?" Hap asked, "Usually a long range recon probe will do multiple passes."
Patrick shook his head, "The probe was supposed to circle back around but it was destroyed. That brings us to another item in the intel report. There is an aerofighter wing based on another moon. They'll scramble once we're detected, and the report says we'll have three to six hours before they reach us."
"How easily can the enemy detect us?" David asked.
"Right now we're part of the normal system traffic headed to Necromo proper, but once we pass the moon we're going to turn hard and try to approach the site from the rear. We likely won't be detected till we start taking shots at the compound." Patrick said.
Patrick changed the image to a three dimensional map around the radar site. "Here's the plan. The shuttle does two false insertions before it drops us off here." He pointed to the base of a ridgeline located behind the red hex marking the target compound. "Then it will do a few more false insertions and move to this DZ." The blue leopard moved to the left and landed away from the target.
"We'll climb the ridge and destroy the compound from behind. If we haven't been detected by then we should certainly consider ourselves on the clock. From there we haul ass to the LZ. If we run into the garrison, we destroy them, but the contract only pays for destroying the compound." As he spoke four blue triangles climbed the hill, blasted the compound's red hex, ran through it and moved to the DZ."
Patrick paused for a moment, "If ye have no questions we need to get into our 'mechs. We're about ten minutes from the hard turn, and then it's full thrust until we're planet side."
The four men quietly left the lounge and proceeded to the 'mech bay. As Hap walked up to his mech he looked up to see the familiar black paint pattern with the McFinnigan Tartan. On the chest was the Federated Suns' Sword and Sword above the McFinnigan and Sons Celtic knot. Hap paused to look at the Sun and Sword. He had never thought himself a great patriot, but seeing the symbol of his country on his 'mech again made him feel good.
As Hap walked to the ladder he glanced over at David's Valkyrie, his mech was painted identical to Anastasia's mech. There was enough variety in the camo-spec guide to avoid this even on the same 'mech. "David, your Valkyrie looks just like Anastasia's."
"Yeah, I like her style, also Patrick told Grizzly and me that we needed to have the Fed Suns emblem on our 'Mechs for this job. I saw how she painted her 'Mech after you two became our liaisons. I just thought I'd copy her." David started to climb the ladder leading to the gantry.
Hap pulled himself up his ladder. He shook his head trying to ignore David's "innocent" obsession with Anastasia. Hap figured it was harmless. On the gantry he found Mike. His usual coveralls were replaced with a light environmental suit, with a survival respirator around his neck. "So you're taking that toy into combat?" Mike said without looking up from his clipboard.
Hap was confused for a moment, he glanced into his cockpit and saw the stuffed Coyote. "Yeah, Sophie gave that to me when I was recovering in the hospital. Thought I'd keep it there as a good luck charm."
Mike looked up, "Sophie? Tatyana and Fletch's little girl? They all visited you in the hospital? I was going to visit you, but I had two weeks of work ahead of me to fix the mech you damn near destroyed."
"That's what I figured." Hap replied as he climbed into his command couch. He almost thanked Mike, but remembered that usually ended in an insult. Hap moved the Coyote to the side of the cockpit away from the HUD. "You missed Sophie trying to teach me to howl. I couldn't do it to her satisfaction, but it was pretty cute watching her get more and more frustrated with me."
"Yeah she's going to be a real heart breaker when she grows up." Mike said absent-mindedly, "Glad you taught her early that Mechwarriors are a difficult and frustrating bunch when it comes to teaching them anything." He lowered his clipboard so he could see an indicator light on Hap's panel.
"I wonder what's Russian for, 'little coyote.'" Hap said ignoring Mike's grumbling.
"Couldn't say. I'm from the Suns like you. I only speak English." Mike started to lower the canopy.
"Mike I never thought to ask. I just-"
"By the way, the Sun and Sword look good on the Griffin." Mike said as the cockpit sealed.
Mike secured the combat locks. Looked over the Griffin one more time, and then quickly retreated down the ladder and out of the bay. Hap knew the techs had to clear of the 'mech bay before they landed and opened the doors to the empty lunar atmosphere. Hap saw the lights flashed in the 'mech bay and heard Kate's voice on the Leopard's 1MC and in his neurohelmet, "Prepare for hard turn in 30 seconds."
Hap felt himself pushed to the side of the command couch as the ship turned, the ship righted itself and everything felt normal. "Turn complete, drop in 30 minutes." Kate informed the ship.
Hap settled into his command couch. He reminded himself combat was like this, waiting, trying not to think about the worst that could happen. Tuna once told him the gods of war made it so that before you could fight for thirty seconds you'd spend three hours waiting. In Hap's experience that seemed right.
He looked at his knee board, Patrick had given them printouts with a topo map and a few other pieces of key information, frequencies, time hacks, there was even some Gaelic proverb at the bottom. The topo map had the target area, drop zone and landing zone marked. Hap tried to decipher the Gaelic proverb, but he couldn't read it. Knowing Patrick it was probably some blessing about stacking skulls and drinking ale. Hap adjusted his NAV computer to look like the kneeboard map.
Hap checked his watch and referred to the knee board's time hack. He still had another 25 minutes. He glanced over to see David nervously adjusting systems on his 'mech. Hap wondered what Anastasia would be doing. Probably read a book Hap figured. This was the first time they'd been apart in months. He wondered how she was doing. When they left she was becoming increasingly paranoid about ComStar trying to kill her. Hap was now convinced it was a real threat, but he didn't know how to help her. Kelly couldn't think of anything either, he just assured them that once the current contract ended and they started moving around again things would be better.
Hap reminded himself that he was glad to have a break from Anastasia. He was annoyed with her insistence that they not make love until they had a private space where no one could interrupt them. His annoyance was growing too. He caught himself getting angry about things that he had originally found cute. He was especially irritated that every couple nights she would want insist she sleep with him. He knew this had much to do with fears, and being held reassured her.
He explained how if they were just having sex she could sleep there every night, but she wanted her first time to be special, and private, and even implied she might want to wait for marriage. This almost led to a fight, and Hap considered giving her an ultimatum, but he also knew this was how things started to go bad during his first marriage. It was probably for the best that he got picked for this mission, and they have this break.
Hap sighed. On the other hand he wished she had come with them. The operation hadn't even started and he regretted that he wouldn't have her calm quiet voice in his ear. He also missed holding her, and scent of hair. He reassured himself that he and Anastasia were going to make this relationship work.
The bay lights flashed again, "We're entering the atmosphere now. Drop in ten." Kate said there was a shake and the shift in the reaction gravity as the thrusters altered their direction and they entered the moon's gravity. It took a moment before the leopard righted itself and started toward the planet's surface.
"Hap, mate, Ye ready?" Patrick's voice brought Hap out of his musings.
"Think so." Hap answered glancing around making sure he was ready.
"Good, good. Listen I picked ye for this mission for a couple reasons. First, we have to bring at least one of our liaisons for each combat op. Ye don't have to be in a 'mech, but it's a waste not to bring the Griffin's fire power. Also I wanted some range for this mission, so I traded ye for Volchitsa's Kintaro. Finally, Uncle Kelly thought it good to get ye back in the saddle for a combat op. Same went for David."
"I wondered why you didn't take Anastasia with her advanced Valkyrie." Dave said.
"David, if yer going to spend a week or more with a few people ye make sure it's people ye like and can drink with. Miss Vallois tends to annoy me. She's fine to look at, and generally quiet, but-"
"She opens her mouth and won't shut-up." Grizzly interrupted.
"Aye. That mouth." Patrick agreed.
"Don't get me wrong" Grizzly said, "I like her, but her lectures are almost as bad as Rolf's weird stories."
"When I talk to Anastasia I feel smarter, and Rolf gives me a lot to think about." David said. "Hap what do you think?"
Before Hap could answer Patrick said, "David, ye have to understand, Hap's opinion is a little tainted, ye can put up with a hell of a lot from woman as long as yer making love 'd be surprised how all the little things she does that annoy a man become damn near delightful."
"Yeah David, Patrick's right." Hap said. Hap realized this was the most he had ever really heard Patrick talk. Usually Patrick spent most of his time drunk and sitting in the corner making snide comments. He stopped drinking sometime yesterday afternoon, sobered up and finalized the mission planning. To Hap's surprise sober Patrick was pleasant, a good briefer, and his plan was tactically sound. Hap wasn't exactly sure about his advice on love, although he knew Patrick wasn't wrong either.
"I feel I should defend Anastasia here." Hap said, "She knows she can be socially awkward. But, if she's talking, it means she feels comfortable enough to give her opinion and values you enough to share it with you. "
"Aye that's fair." Patrick said, "We're mercenaries. We're all a little strange, and I'm glad yer all part of the family. Just know I prefer to be around some members more than others."
"Changing topics." Hap said, "What's the Gaelic verse at the bottom of our mission handout?"
"It's from an ancient poem. 'I have no strategy; I make unshadowed by thought my strategy.' I was reading it the other day and thought that's you, not thinkin' jest achieving victory. Thought it'd be somethin' good for us to carry into combat today."
-
Chapter 44
The lights in the Mech bay turned red. If there were any techs still in the bay this was their final warning. They were now on final approach to the moon's surface and in about 30 seconds the doors would open.
Hap was pressed down into the command couch as the thrusters fired to slow the descent of the dropship. The doors started to open and a few small items went flying as the bay depressurized. Hap could now see the gray lifeless surface of the moon. The Leopard was moving swiftly close to the ground.
"I'm going to do two false insertions." Kate said. "We'll be down for a second then up again, twice. Before the third insertion I'll release the locks on your 'mechs."
"And we un-ass the Leopard." Grizzly said.
The Leopard dropped and hit the ground kicking up a huge dust cloud. Hap fought his nerves as the Leopard paused for a moment then lifted off. The Leopard pulled out of the dust cloud and before Hap knew it they were descending again. Another moment on the ground and it was above the cloud it created. Half a minute later they headed down for the actual insertion.
"There's going to be a lot of dust as we dismount, take three steps and turn to heading mark 345. After a few hundred meters you should find yourself going uphill. Stay close together." Patrick said.
"Standby Mechwarriors." Kate told them over the ship's intercom. The clamps and systems securing his 'mech were released, and Hap had to immediately steady his mech.
Hap felt the drop shuttle drop, and his stomach churned. Without warning the shuttle stopped, and dust flew up blocking the view of the moonscape. Patrick yelled, "Go. Go. Go."
Hap got his 'mech jogging and after a few steps wheeled his 'mech around to face mark 345. The Leopard took off and he could feel the engines nearly blow him over as it passed low overhead. The fine dust cleared for a moment and Hap caught a glimpse of his lance mates.
The shuttle kicked up more dust as it sped low over the ground trying to stay below any radar. Hap ignored the gray outside his cockpit and used his NAV computer to guide the 'mech. He could see the three Mechwarriors moving closer together and followed their lead. He still couldn't see anything, but this was common for lunar landings. After a few minutes the dust died down and the four mercenaries found themselves at the bottom of a large ridgeline in a colorless world of gray hills and black starry sky.
Patrick led the way climbing the hill. The incline was easy for the 'mechs to navigate, but Hap had to fight the urge to use his jump jets. Patrick's Dragon lacked jump jets and Hap knew it was important to maintain lance integrity and mass firepower. Patrick crested the hill first and stopped. He used his 'mech's arm to motion to the other Mechwarriors to form up beside him.
The compound spread out in the valley. Everything about it seemed quiet and peaceful. The turrets were pointed away from them. "I don't think we've been detected yet." Patrick said. "Let's start with the turrets and then get to the business of disassembling the radar and telescopes."
Hap lined up his cross hairs on the tower just below them. He squeezed the PPC's trigger and watched as the stream of ions arced toward the turret. It was probably the distance, but in the moon's thin atmosphere it seemed to take longer for the particles to hit the turret. Hap sent a brace of missiles to follow the ion beam. Patrick fired his Dragon's PPC and missiles. Before the last missile connected the turret exploded.
Several lights flashed throughout the compound and the turrets began to swivel around. "Well gents, we're now on the clock. Grizzly, you and Hap go left and work your way around. David you're with me." Patrick started to move his 'mech down the hill and began engaging the next turret.
Grizzly used his jump jets to send his Wolverine sailing into the sky and shot his AC5 at the turret on the left. Hap remembered the lack of an atmosphere would make heat cling to a 'mech. He half jogged, half slid down the hill. When his targeting computer indicated the turret was in range he launched an azure beam of charged particles and missiles at the target. Grizzly landed hard and kicked up more dust as he shot his autocannon and short range missiles at the turret. Smoke and sparks came out of the turret for a moment as it traversed to face the Wolverine. There was a flash as autocannons and lasers shot out but only two of the lasers found their mark, and melted a little of the Wolverine's leg and chest armor.
"Oh God." David said. Hap glanced over to see another turret fire a barrage of lasers at the Valkyrie. From Hap's vantage it looked like most of the shots missed the smaller 'mech.
"David, stay calm, and keep moving. Automated turrets are notorious bad shots. Jump around a little and I assure you they won't be able to hit you." Patrick ran his 'mech into the antenna field and trampled the directional antenna array. Hap saw what Patrick was doing and used his 'mech's large hand to swipe the antennas off the building next to him.
"Boys, I've seen the garrison, they're patrolling two or three klicks east of the compound." Kate reported
"Did they see you?" Patrick asked
"Probably. I was trying to stay low to avoid the radar, but I was kicking up a lot of dust."
"We noticed." Grizzly snarled as his Wolverine's medium laser finished off the turret.
"Also, in case you're wondering, there is a lot of military comms chatter. I think they're requesting that aerofighter support." Kate added.
"Aye. Any word on what their 'time on target' is going to be?" Patrick asked as he shot at the turret trying to engage David.
"No. We can only decode some of it, but I wouldn't lollygag on the objective."
"What does lollygag mean?" David asked.
"It means move your ass." Grizzly said as he ran toward one of the remaining turrets. The turret launched a barrage of lasers at the Wolverine, but, like the other turret, most of the shots failed to hit. Grizzly fired all his weapons creating a hole that smoked and sparked until the air was exhausted.
"Jest keep to the task at hand, gents." Patrick said as his missiles destroyed the fourth turret.
Hap aimed for the hole Grizzly had created in the last turret. He sent a beam of energy and missiles into the breach and the final turret exploded. Hap took in a deep breath and tried to steady his nerves. He glanced down at his scanners. There were no other targets.
"Turrets are down." Patrick said. "Grizzly, David destroy those telescope or radar shelters, and whatever they're protecting. Hap help me with the main parabolic dish." Patrick stomped on more of the directional antennas before moving his 'mech across the compound, "Miss Berlin, have ye seen or heard anything on your sensors?"
"Negative Mr. McFinnigan." Kate said imitating his tone, "but I'm also parked in a crater, so long range sensors aren't as capable as…Oh! I got something. Looks like one of the garrison's Locusts."
"Alright, lads sounds like the garrison is either trying to cut us off or destroy our bird." Patrick said.
"Well in a second they're going to have to do it with one less 'mech." Kate replied.
Hap moved his Griffin next to Patrick's Dragon and aimed for the feed horn on the dish. He watched the beam strike the strut holding the focusing antenna. The lightning like ion beam danced around the strut and dish as missiles impacted the dish making pot marks and blowing out sections. As Hap waited for his PPC to recharge and the missiles to reload, he watched Patrick's Dragon destroy the motor to turn the dish and his missiles blew more holes in the dish. It tipped to one side and swayed with no resistance.
"Aye, it's a careful art to destroy somethin' jest enough to make it more difficult to tear down, than to just replace it, but impossible to fix. Now they'll have to figure out the logistics of all that." Patrick said.
Hap surveyed the damage around them. The turrets were broken, and a few stray sparks and electricity arced from the holes blow in them. Anything resembling an antenna or telescope was broken and laying on ground. Hap noted there would normally be fire and smoke but the lack of atmosphere prevented it.
"I've flattened what I think was a radio telescope." Grizzly reported.
"Same. Well I don't know what it was, but I'm sure it's destroyed." David said
"I've destroyed one curious Locust." Kate added
"Not part of the contract, but appreciated." Patrick replied.
"Just wanted to let you know I did my part. I'm more than just a pretty face that pilots your drop ship."
"Drop ship pilot is more than a pretty face. I'll note that in my report." Hap said. He noticed there was a large tower with several more antennas. He assumed they were for short range ground base radios but on principle he shot it with his PPC. Patrick followed up with his PPC and the antenna fell over.
"Looks like we're done. Form up in a V and move out. Hap take the left tip, Grizzly on the right. Fan out a hundred meters. David stay close to me." Patrick said. "How are we doing for ammo?"
"I've got fifteen AC rounds, and eleven missile reloads." Grizzly said.
"I've got missiles for days." Hap checked his systems. He was sharing his information with Patrick, "twenty reloads." Hap wondered if Patrick was trying to make sure the lance knew everyone's status.
"I'm down to six reloads for my LRM." David reported.
"Aye. Stay close to me and make them count." Patrick said.
The LZ was several kilometers away and even at full speed it was going to be a few minutes. Hap carefully watched the scanner. He didn't want to walk into an ambush. After a minute there was a red marker on Hap's scanner, designated 20 ton mech.
When the system confirmed LCT-1V Locust and the weapons lock engaged Hap launched his missiles. He brought the cross hairs up on the PPC and waited for the missiles to hit. He saw the Locust pilot slow, try to dodge as most of the missiles struck across the legs and chest of the 'mech. Hap squeezed the trigger of his PPC and the azure beam struck the 'mech's leg, melting through armor and endoskeleton. The 'mech toppled forward as its leg buckled.
Grizzly jogged his Wolverine toward the fallen Locust and started putting missiles, autocannon shells and lasers into the prone 'mech. Hap thought he saw the stars on the horizon twinkle. The dust in front of his 'mech kicked up and then Hap's systems registered light damage to the chest and arm. "I think I just got engaged by the Pike." Hap glanced down, and then searched the horizon, "but it's outside of sensor range." As he spoke there were several dozen small explosions on a distant ridgeline. "Oh, damn I have a visual on the LRM carrier."
"Run for cover" Patrick yelled, "heading 280. Use that ridge line for cover."
Hap triggered his jump jets hoping to make his 'mech more difficult for the missiles to hit. The wave of missiles passed him as he soared into the sky. For a moment he caught a glimpse of the tanks on the ridgeline. The mystery tank shot its PPC and launched missiles from both tubes below its turret. The missiles caused shadows that made it appear like the large tank was on gigantic treads.
Hap hit the ground as the PPC passed harmlessly overhead, but a few of the missiles struck his 'mech causing dents and cracks across his armor. Patrick cursed as his 'mech shook under the barrage of missiles from the LRM carrier. Hap turned his 'mech's torso to see Dragon's pit marked and damaged armor. Patrick staggered next to the other three 'mechs hiding in the shadow of a ridge.
"Give me a moment gents I took a few missiles to the cockpit and need to run the diagnostics." Patrick said, "Dave if you see a 60 ton vehicle get a sensor lock on it, and Hap light it up with missiles."
"Gents I'm pretty sure those aerofighters are coming, so I would suggest taking the most direct route next to me." Kate said.
A 60 ton tank entered sensor range. There was a pause before Hap's computer received the targeting data from David's Valkyrie. Hap saw SRM Carrier marked on his targeting computer. He selected the target and launched missiles as quickly as he could.
Patrick followed up with his missiles. Hap's targeting computer confirmed that the majority of missiles had hit, but both missile spreads had dispersed too much to destroy the vehicle. Patrick cursed.
"Something wrong with your life support or the fact we didn't kill the tank?" Hap asked as he lost the sensor lock and waited for David to regain it.
"Tank. Life support's fine." Patrick replied, "David we need to kill-"
The SRM Carrier lumbered up the hill and into view. It was severely damaged and one of the SRM racks was destroyed. Hap could see occasional sparks and a thin trail of smoke from one of the holes in the tank's armor. The tank's life support system was bleeding air. Before he could target the breach the tank fired its functioning missile racks. Hap clenched his teeth as the salvo flew at David's Valkyrie.
No one said anything as the missiles mostly flew past the Valkyrie. A few struck Hap and Grizzly, but when the smoke and dust cleared. David reported, "I've taken hits all over, but my armor's intact."
Before Hap could line up his shot Grizzly launched everything he had at the tank, causing it to explode. There was a flash of fire and sparks, then the remaining pieces of the tank's hulk flashed and glowed.
"I feel invincible." David shouted.
"Don't be stupid." Grizzly growled, "That's the sort of thing a dumb ass says right before he gets killed."
Hap searched his scanners, the other tanks were still outside scanning range. Hap looked over at Grizzly's Wolverine. It had taken some damage, but it was still in pretty good shape. "If Grizzly and I jump the ridge we can and distract the remaining tanks, while you and 'Mr. Invincible' flank them." Hap said.
"Aye. Very well. David yer with me, and remember yer not invincible. Jest very lucky so far." Patrick said.
Hap watched the Dragon and Valkyrie jog away while staying behind the ridge-line. "Grizzly, we need to engage the LRM Carrier, and then the Pike. I caught a glimpse of the other "tank" I don't know what it is, but it's big, but the load out looked like just a PPC and two missile racks."
"Let's just get it done." Grizzly said.
Hap triggered his jump jets and went sailing into the air again. He saw the muzzle blast from the Pike but ignored the shots as he hit the ground and shot his PPC and missiles at the LRM carrier. Grizzly landed next to him and shot his Autocannon. The autocannon shell found a breach in the vehicle's armor and the LRM Carrier exploded.
A PPC bolt arched at Hap from the ridgeline. He threw up his left arm to let his armored forearm absorb the blast. Hap glanced down at the targeting computer. Next to the Pike tank was an 80 ton 'mech marked GOL-1H Goliath. Hap looked up and his mouth went dry as he watched the massive four legged 'mech that was crouching down rise to its full height.
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Whoops! That's going to hurt if they stick around. And nicely played, HFC05. I was expecting a Manticore. This is ... better.
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A Goliath pretending to be a Vedette, suprise. :thumbsup:
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Is this a federated suns facility or a Capellan one? You mention it as a Feddie location at the start several times, so it looks weird to be ordered by the Feddie's to attack it....
Nice battle. Only criticism is that the locust pilots spear to be very green behind the ears if they are dispatched so easily.
Given the unnecessary carnage that the Goliath entanglement can cause, a better course of action could be to have the leopard pick them up somewhere else and ignore the mech as muchas they can before it kills the invincible valky.
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Is this a federated suns facility or a Capellan one? You mention it as a Feddie location at the start several times, so it looks weird to be ordered by the Feddie's to attack it....
Nice battle. Only criticism is that the locust pilots spear to be very green behind the ears if they are dispatched so easily.
Given the unnecessary carnage that the Goliath entanglement can cause, a better course of action could be to have the leopard pick them up somewhere else and ignore the mech as muchas they can before it kills the invincible valky.
It's a Capellan location / AFFS contract.
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Is this a federated suns facility or a Capellan one? You mention it as a Feddie location at the start several times, so it looks weird to be ordered by the Feddie's to attack it....
Nice battle. Only criticism is that the locust pilots spear to be very green behind the ears if they are dispatched so easily.
Given the unnecessary carnage that the Goliath entanglement can cause, a better course of action could be to have the leopard pick them up somewhere else and ignore the mech as muchas they can before it kills the invincible valky.
Elmoth, thank you. Sorry it wasn't clear, I went back and re-read it, and see how I didn't do a good job of making it obvious.
As Iron Grenadier (Thanks IG!) said, it's a Capellen Facility and it's an AFFS contract. Necromo is in Capellen space and McFinnigan and Sons Mercenary Company is currently allied with the Federated Sons, so I think I relied to heavily on the implications of the alliance, and the fact they were giving Hap a hard time to imply the job was against the Capellen. I'll try to make things more clear in the future, I really should have had Patrick state it in the intro.
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Yeah yeah. I just felt puzzled because it was obvious that the Finnigans were AFFS-bound.
I reread the passage and it is a thing about where you put the stop in the sentence. It was clearer the second time around, but it made me reread the part to make sure it was not a devious plan of "oh the cappiesdid strike at us, poor AFFS, and caused some material damage, so now we will utterly annihilate all life in 10 or so of their systems AND DROWN THEIR FIELDS IN SALT as a small reprisal for our suffering. C-bills matter!" Or something like that. It was more obvious than that. I didn't check the star map to see where they were striking.
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Yeah yeah. I just felt puzzled because it was obvious that the Finnigans were AFFS-bound.
I reread the passage and it is a thing about where you put the stop in the sentence. It was clearer the second time around, but it made me reread the part to make sure it was not a devious plan of "oh the cappiesdid strike at us, poor AFFS, and caused some material damage, so now we will utterly annihilate all life in 10 or so of their systems AND DROWN THEIR FIELDS IN SALT as a small reprisal for our suffering. C-bills matter!" Or something like that. It was more obvious than that. I didn't check the star map to see where they were striking.
Cool, and thanks again for reading and commenting, and giving something to improve my writing. :thumbsup:
In all the things I have going on a classic "use our mercenaries to attack us, and then use that as a pretext for war" isn't one of them. Might be something I put in the notes for later, or for a different story though. It's a classic!
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Chapter 45
"Hap, what the hell did ye find?" Patrick asked "I'm seeing an 80 ton 'Mech, where did that come from?"
The Goliath fired both missile racks at Grizzly, as Hap replied, "It's the tank we couldn't identify."
Grizzly howled, "Damn it Hap, that's not a tank. When you said-" Hap could hear the missiles hitting the Wolverine over the neurohelmet's mic. "Sunavabitch, when you said, 'lets jump the ridge and charge the tanks' I thought we'd be stomping on tanks."
"Do you ever stop complaining?" Hap asked as he debated between engaging the tank or trying to address the problem of the assault mech.
"No." David and Patrick said in unison
"Honestly, I don't have to have a command link to know Grizzly's status, as long as he's bitching I know he's fine and his 'mech is functional." Patrick added.
Hap jumped his 'mech to the side to try to encourage the Goliath to turn. The Goliath was moving, but it was a slow lumbering monster. Hap could see the Dragon and Valkyrie on his scanners, they needed to move more north. Hap hoped to keep the Goliath pilot distracted while David and Patrick flanked him.
"Hap the Goliath his limited short range weapons, you should close with it." David suggested
"I don't have short range weapons either." Hap replied
"Oh yeah. Sorry." David mumbled.
"Don't apologize. Just get your asses behind the Goliath and take him down." Grizzly yelled as he jumped backwards and fired his autocannon. His jump brought him close enough to the Pike that it engaged him with its pair of short range missile racks. "I've had about enough of your shit too." Grizzly yelled at the tank.
Hap was partially relieved the tank was focusing on someone else, just as he saw another small explosion in the dust and in front of him, then felt a slight impact to his left torso and chest. Apparently the gunner in the turret was keeping Hap in his crosshair. Hap instinctively shot back at the Pike tank. "I've had about enough of that tank too."
The Goliath fired the PPC at the Wolverine as it sent a salvo of ten missiles at Hap. Hap kept his left side facing the mech as half a dozen missiles hit him across the left arm, leg and torso. Hap grimly noted the Goliath's choice to only fire one missile launcher meant he was managing his heat. This meant it was an experienced pilot, and they were in for a long fight.
Hap saw Patrick's Dragon crest the ridge behind the Goliath, and level his PPC. There was a flash of lightening and the smoke of missiles from the Dragon and from David's Valkyrie behind the ridge. The Goliath pitched forward as it was struck by the PPC and Patrick and David's missiles. The Goliath started to turn slowly to get the Dragon and Valkyrie out his rear arc.
"Hap I don't think it's worth our time to take down this bastard." Patrick said.
"Agreed." Hap said flatly. "Grizzly let's-" As he spoke he turned his 'mech's torso to see Grizzly send his 'mech sailing into the air and land squarely on the Pike tank. The tank tipped up on its side, and buckled under the 'mech's weight. As the Wolverine staggered backwards it knocked one of the tank tracks off.
The Goliath pilot stopped and rotated its PPC turret to shoot Grizzly. The blast caught him squarely in the chest. Grizzly continued to backpedal to maintain his balance. The Goliath shuffled to turn and fire both missile racks. Grizzly cursed as his 'mech was struck by the missiles and started to fall backwards.
Patrick fired another salvo of PPC and missiles into the assault mech's back as Hap shot his PPC and jumped his mech toward his prone comrade. Hap saw David put more missiles into the Goliath's back.
The Goliath ignored the attack and continued to turn and bring all its weapons to focus on Grizzly.
"Think he's mad I kicked his friend's tank." Grizzly said as he got his 'mech into a crouch. "I'm not sure I can take another hit like that. I vote to disengage and go home. I stomped my tank, I had my fun."
Hap could see the tank looked mostly intact but hadn't moved to engage either him or Grizzly. He put his 'mech between the Wolverine and the enemy 'mech as Grizzly got his Wolverine standing again. This time Hap lined up his right side. He didn't think he could take much more damage to the left side either. It was dangerous because all his weapons and ammo were on the right side.
"We have to disengage, or we'll start losing 'Mechs." Hap said, "Grizzly get moving I'll cover you."
"But we can take him" David replied, "Let me line up another shot. We've almost penetrated his rear armor and if we can-"
"Not if we all want to go home." Patrick said, "David start moving toward the shuttle, we'll need you to establish an overwatch position so you can harass him while we try disengage."
"Let me just get behind him." David said as he jumped his Valkyrie out from behind the cover of the ridge and shot his missiles and lasers at the giant 'mech. The Goliath did a surprising side shuffled on its four legs and got close enough to kick the Valkyrie and rake the light 'mech over his machine guns. The smaller 'mech's leg bent sideways and Hap could the actuator bundle in the lower leg snap.
"Damn it' David" Patrick yelled, "Get back." He put another barrage into the assault 'mech, but it had repositioned itself so that all of Patrick's weapons hit its legs and side.
"Hap the tank crew must have been stunned, if you attack the tank it will distract the Goliath, give Mr. Invincible a chance to survive." Grizzle said. Hap looked down. The Pike was trying to move but the bogie wheels just spun and kicked up lunar surface. The turret started to turn toward Hap.
At point blank range he had few options so he chose to stomp the armor where Grizzly had put a significant dent. As he stomped it felt like he was stepping on a large insect with an exoskeleton. He thought he heard the "whoosh" of air as he felt his 'mech's foot being pushed back by the explosive decompression of breaching the crew cabin.
The Goliath hit Hap's Griffin with an alpha strike. Hap lost nearly a ton of armor from his right torso as the PPC struck him and missiles hit him across the body. Hap could see David jump away from the monster 'mech with his leg barely holding on by a few iron threads of the internal structure.
"Now whose plan is getting who killed?" Hap asked as he checked his system status to ensure his 'mech was still intact.
Grizzly jumped down the hill and in the general direction of the LZ, said "Now who's complaining?" He said as he shot autocannon at the Goliath.
"I think my leg actuator was damaged, but my weapons are good. We can still lead the Goliath into an ambush." David said.
"David, jest get your 'mech to the drop ship while it's still in one piece." Patrick sounded exasperated.
Hap jumped his 'mech near Grizzly's Wolverine. He turned to fire his weapons at the Goliath. He saw his heat start to climb and it didn't look like he hardly damaged the Goliath. "Go, I'll start laying down covering fire."
Grizzly started jogging away as the Goliath tried to hit him with his PPC and missiles. The PPC missed but over a dozen missiles hit Grizzly in the rear armor and legs.
"Jokes on him, I think I got more rear armor than front armor right now." Grizzly said
"I still believe we could still defeat him." David said as shot
Patrick sighed, "This is that waste of heat and missiles that we talked about." Patrick shot another mixed salvo of missiles and PPC at the quad 'mech and moved back down the ridge out of the Goliath's view.
Hap's targeting computer indicated his PPC was recharged and his missiles reloaded. He stepped back nearly a hundred meters and sent a volley at the Goliath. He was approaching the end of his weapons effective range but the Goliath was large enough to easily target even at half a kilometer away. He was also standing high enough on the hill to create a silhouette against the starry sky.
Hap watched David limp as he ran toward him, and the Goliath started to lumber after Patrick. When Patrick moved behind the ridgeline Hap's targeting computer lost the telemetry data needed to calculate engagement ranges. Hap switched his weapons to manual, and lined up the crosshairs with the Goliath and then moved the cross hair just past him to lead the lumbering brute.
He squeezed the trigger and watched the ball of lightning sailed toward the Goliath. Without a missile lock he'd have to override the missiles safety and fire with a flat trajectory which would reduce their range. Hap considered the effort as he zoomed in his rangefinder to watch the PPC bolt passed between the quad 'mech's legs.
"Well that's a one-in-million miss." Grizzly said.
"I don't think I could do it again if I tried." Hap said. The Goliath paused and seemed to be thinking about his good fortune, or Hap's improbable bad luck.
"Can't be that hard." Grizzly moved his Wolverine next to Hap's Griffin and brought his autocannon up. The cannon belched out a round and sent it into the ground dozens of meters short of the Goliath.
"Part of the trick is to shoot past the target." Hap said as Grizzly cursed.
"Well I got knocked down. I might have a concussion, or my sights were damaged."
"Grizzly, what the hell are you giving out about now?" Patrick asked as he set his Dragon to run.
"Nothin' We're just harassing the enemy to cover your asses." Grizzly answered.
Hap's PPC recycled and he had the green light to fire again. He fired center mass as the Goliath. This shot hit the 'mech in the lower leg. The Goliath launched all it's missiles and took a parting shot with its PPC. Then performed a sideways crab walk off the ridgeline and disappeared from view. The PPC was wide and over Hap's head, but a few of the missiles struck Hap and Grizzly.
"Grizzly your armor still intact?" Hap asked as he looked over his own armor
"Barely." Grizzly answered.
"Stop gossip' and Charlie Mike, gents. We're still on the clock." Patrick said as he caught up to his lancemates.
"Skies still clear, but I would prefer to leave before that changes." Kate said.
The 'mech warriors started to run to the LZ, but they were slowed down due to the damage to the Valkyrie's leg. Eventually they came to the crater where the Leopard was waiting to take them to the jump point. Hap could see the broken locust. It was obvious the 'Mech had wandered into range of the Leopard's PPCs and missile batteries. It looked like the 'mech had sustained several direct shots to the center torso, and at least one PPC bolt to the cockpit. Hap wondered how the pilot could have been so foolish to go anywhere near the Leopard. Hap's scanners warned him the 'mech was dangerously warm.
"I still wish we would have stayed to have defeated the Goliath." David sulked.
"I wish you could faster than 75 kilometers an hour right now." Grizzly replied
A pocket of trapped air escaped and the Locust's magazine of machine gun ammunition exploded, causing an engine breach that released a brilliant flash of escaping plasma. When everyone's vision returned all that remained of the Locust were red hot melting portions of the battlemech's skeleton.
"Miss Berlin, what happened with the Locust here?" Patrick asked.
"When we started to come in for a landing he broke off from the rest of his lance and came by to check us out. We made a low pass over the crater which kicked up a lot of dust and then landed in the back here. I think he got lost in the dust or didn't think we'd see him on our scanners. Either way, he got too close and became gunnery practice."
"David, this pilot was too aggressive, and he paid the price for his foolishness, like you nearly did with that Goliath." Patrick said.
"A Locust versus a Leopard is not the same thing." David replied.
"No, but going against an assault 'mech with a lance that is already seriously damaged could have the same outcome. Someone could have ended up dead." Patrick said.
David cleared his throat, "A Goliath-"
"Is armored from hell to breakfast." Kate interrupted, "I remember making strafing runs on an assault lance with a Goliath and I don't think he paid any attention to me until the third or fourth pass."
"In a Stuka?" The voice had a strong German accent. Hap recognized this as Mitchelin the company's master pilot. Hap had played enough poker with him to know he didn't really get sarcasm or hyperbole. He was on this mission because he had to administer Kate's final check ride before she would be a qualified drop ship pilot.
"Yes sir." Kate replied
"It is not possible they did not notice you, young lady." Mitchelin said, "The 'mech pilot chose to not engage you, but I assure you the fire power STU-K5 Stuka is sufficient to disable any battlemech."
"Oh I eventually disabled him, but my point was the damn thing was so armored even my Stuka had a hard time piercing its hide."
"Ah, I see, once more you are trying humor." Mitchelin said with a patronizing tone. "I should expect this from a woman with the callsign of 'giggles'."
"That's all beside the point." David cut in, "A Goliath is a 'mech like any other. We had him outnumbered four to one. A few more shots to his back and we could have hit the LRM magazine in his center torso. He would have blown up like that Locust."
"Enough David." Patrick now sounded like a frustrated parent, "listen to me. When I make a decision during a combat operation, it's final. Cross me again like that, and you'll be looking for a new lance."
"Yes. I'm sorry." David replied.
"You would be even more sorry if your Valkyrie had been destroyed, or if your lancemates had been hurt." Patrick added. There is a time to go all in, and there's a time to run. But I choose that, not you."
"I am sorry Grizzly." David said quietly.
"It wasn't your dumb idea to charge the Goliath, which was all Hap's stupid plan." Grizzly answered.
"Yeah, I was thinking I needed to give you something different to complain about." Hap answered.
"I'm sorry to you as well Hap, I mean Captain Calahad."
"Hap is fine. I've had a lot of similar talks with Mags. She can get a little aggressive too. It's like Patrick said, it's always a balance David." Hap said.
"Jest get loaded up. We'll talk more underway." Patrick said as the doors of the drop shuttle opened up and the lance maneuvered their 'mechs inside.
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Chapter 46
Monhegan
December 3029
The flight back to Monhegan was uneventful. They were off planet and back to the jump point before the Cappellan aero fighters could catch up with them. Grizzly and Patrick were both put into medical observation for the duration of the return flight. Patrick's 'mech cockpit had sustained several hits from missiles and Grizzly's mech had fallen during the raid. According to the docs both of those events required several days in the sick bay even though both mechwarriors weren't feeling injured.
Hap spent most of his time helping the techs repair armor and reassuring David that Patrick wasn't going to kick him out of his lance. David said he understood but he still moped around the ship for the week it took to return to Monhegan.
When the drop ship finally landed Hap was glad to get off of it. As Hap parked his Griffin he saw Mags and Joker in the 'mech bay touching-up the paint job on their 'mechs. They saw him they walked across the gantry to speak to him.
"Glad to see you're back Jefe." Mags said
"Yeah Anastasia has gone crazy since you left." Joker added
Hap looked at their 'Mechs and noticed that Anastasia had repainted her Mech but it seemed to be an inverted version of the McFinnigan "tartan" camo specs. "I see she repainted her mech." Hap said.
"Yeah, she put the tartan on the other shoulder, when I asked why she said, because she is left-handed." Mags said.
"That's not cray." Hap said, "I thought you were going to tell me she weaponized the mint in the garden on the barrack's roof."
"Is that she meant when she said mint's probably the apex predator of the herb world?" Joker asked.
Mags shook her head, "No, she was trying to explain to you why there was mostly mint in the herb box."
"That still sounds normal for Anastasia." Hap said. "Did you guys all go out and get matching tattoos?"
"You're laughing now," Joker said, "but wait till you see your room."
"What has she done with my room?" Hap asked
Joker and Mags exchanged looks. Joker cleared his throat. "Well we need to get cleaned up."
Hap slung his back pack. "I'd better go see what Anastasia has been up to."
As Hap walked through the 'mech bay he could feel the cold air blowing in from the open bay doors. One of the techs piloted Patrick's Dragon, and as it entered the bay another tech was already closing the giant doors. Hap could feel a few hot air blowers as he walked to one of the man-doors.
Hap stepped out into a cold crisp fall day. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was out, but it was cold. Small piles of snow were gathered in the corners of buildings and other shady spots. Hap took in a deep breath. It was good to be off the drop shuttle. He made a mental note he'd need to get a lightweight jacket or something warm for his go-bag. He walked as quickly as he could to the barracks, glad that Anastasia had him purchase new and warm clothes before ComStar effectively restricted them to the company area. He was looking forward to a hot shower and thicker clothes.
It was mid-afternoon and Hap assumed the barracks would be mostly empty. He heard Rolf's heavy metal music and found him in the spare room that he had turned into a weight room. As he walked past Rolph looked up from the bench where he was doing curls, "Hey Hap, everyone make it back?"
Hap stepped into the room and nodded as Rolph turned down the music, "Yeah Patrick and Grizzly got scuffed up a little, but I think the Doc's already cleared Grizzly, and Patrick should be fine in a few days."
Rolph nodded, "Good. Nothing new around here. You guys blow up some Cappellan shit?"
"Yeah, we also ran into a Goliath."
Rolph dropped his weights, "No shit, a GOL-1H Goliath? I thought they only had tanks?"
"Yeah the intel that was based off of pictures, and from overhead that Goliath looked like a tank."
Rolph nodded. "I could see how someone could make that mistake. Did you bring down the Goliath?"
"No." Hap shook his head, "We had gotten hit pretty badly before we realized that we were up against a Goliath. Patrick didn't feel confident about trying to take on the Goliath, and I couldn't argue. I took a couple shots at it and all I managed to do was chip his paint, and piss him off."
Rolph picked up his weights, "Only a few 'mechs have more armor than a Goliath, and it was a raid, so you wouldn't have been able to salvage the 'mech anyway." Rolph did a few reps, "still it would have been badass to have a Goliath in our company. I'd trade my Trebuchet for that in a heartbeat."
"Yeah, who wouldn't?" Hap agreed, "I think I'll leave you to your workout." Hap said and Rolph nodded and turned his music back up.
Hap walked down the hall and moved aside the privacy screen. His room looked completely different. There were rich burgundy and purple curtains over the window. Two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves had been installed in addition to a wardrobe, and another wall locker had been placed into the room.
His bed had a burgundy and purple quilt that had a shield divided into four with a fox in the upper left hand corner, and a raven in the lower right. The upper right corner had a blue and gold checkered pattern and the lower left was a fleur-de-lis.
In the corner of the room Anastasia was sitting at a small writing desk in the corner. Anastasia was wearing her silk robe. She was applying makeup using a small table top mirror. She saw Hap's reflection in the mirror and stood up so quickly she knocked her chair over. "Harold, you're back."
Before Hap could react she almost tackled him with a hug. Hap found himself pulled down to kiss her. He enjoyed the moment and the embrace and then took a careful step toward the bed.
Anastasia gently pushed back, "You smell like a drop shuttle."
"I've been on a drop shuttle for nearly two weeks." Hap replied
"Exactly. You need a shower and then you need to get into your dress uniform." Anastasia playfully turned him around and then pushed him toward the water closet.
Hap decided to tease Anastasia by walking slowly, "Why do I need to get into my dress uniform?" Hap glanced over his shoulder and noticed Anastasia was wearing her Davion green dress trousers."
"We're meeting with the MRB representative and the AFFS mercenary liaison for dinner." She gave him another gentle shove, "Now get in the shower while I lay out your dress uniform."
"The MRB and AFFS reps are coming here to see us?" Hap asked as he started to undress in the bathroom and Anastasia retreated to his wall locker.
"This is the most inquisitive I've ever seen you, and it's at the worst time. Yes. They are coming to see us, and meet the company leadership." Anastasia said as she gathered clothes. "Now that McFinnigan and Sons is affiliated with AFFS wants to see what they've gotten out of the alliance, and I believe the MRB is taking this opportunity for a routine inspection of the company."
"Sounds like a lovely evening." Hap said sarcastically as he got into the shower and pulled the curtain.
"Agreed. If it were up to me, we'd enjoy a quiet evening in." Anastasia said. Hap could hear her putting his dirty clothes in the hamper. "Now I smell like a drop shuttle's air filtration system." She moaned.
"You want to join me in the shower?" Hap asked half kidding, half hopeful.
"We really don't have time for that. We'll likely be late as it is." Anastasia said.
As Hap started to wash himself he heard Anastasia set her makeup kit on the bathroom sink. "Anastasia" Hap called out, "Where did the furniture come from? Did you to risk assassination to go shopping?"
"No, our personal effects arrived." Anastasia said "Before deploying I had put all my room furnishings in storage. Now that we're assigned to McFinnigan and Son's our possessions were shipped to us."
Hap thought for a moment, he hadn't seen anything of his. "Our personal effects? I think all I saw were the furnishings for a young countess's dorm room."
"I'm not a countess yet, and three of your duffel bags, a weapons case, and a tough box arrived. The bags mostly contained uniforms, a few clothes and field gear. I unpacked those. I secured your weapons in the company armory. The tough box contained equipment for making beer, and is under the bed. There was also a rather obnoxious lamp. I assumed this was most of your worldly possessions seeing as how you generally live a Spartan lifestyle, and I assumed that your mean spirited ex-wife took any furniture or items of material value in the divorce." Anastasia said.
Hap mentally reviewed what he had locked away in the company storage area before they deployed to Klathandu. She was correct he lived a pretty minimalist lifestyle, The BOQ was furnished and he had let his ex take most of his furniture. One item didn't make sense, "What lamp are you talking about?"
"It was a lurid wall lamp of a buxom trollop with a very low cut blouse. She was leaning over in such a way that she was about to spill out more than just the beer glasses in her hands." Anastasia said.
"Oh The Yangtze Pale Ale Gal." Hap said, "I won her in a promotional event the Yangtze brewing company did with the militia. I had almost forgotten about her."
"Well now you've contributed her to the Tir na nOg's galley." Anastasia said.
If it had been anything else he would have been angry that she had just given it away without asking him. He was still annoyed, just on principal, but he had never known what to do with the lamp. It was obnoxious, and not his style. "I'm surprised Joker didn't try to steal it."
"He did, and Mags suggested it go to the galley. When I took it there Kelly was happy to find a place for it, but Elinor was less than pleased with your contribution."
"My involuntary contribution." Hap clarified, "What did the grand dame of the company say about it?"
"Oh we'll hang up trash and treat it like fine art, but we crack my fine china because we don't know how to treat centuries old heirlooms." Anastasia said perfectly mimicking Elinor's annoyance and accent.
Hap thrust his head out of the shower expecting to see Elinor standing beside Anastasia. Anastasia was alone applying the last touches to her eye makeup. She glanced over at Hap, "I'm sorry I've spent a lot of time with Elinor and Roweyna lately. That accent starts to grow on you. Elinor's also quite nice, and rarely goes anywhere, she seems to watch all the children."
"I get the sense she really loves children." Hap said as he rinsed off and finished his shower.
"Roweyna gets that sense as well, or rather Elinor often tells her how much she greatly desires 'proper' grandchildren." Anastasia said as she started to put away her makeup kit. "Although Patrick has a son and wife back on Donegal. She left because of Patrick's alcoholism. Elinor wishes they were here."
"The funny thing is, when Patrick's sober he's a good lance leader and nice guy." Hap said, "even drunk he's not that bad." Hap dried off and was glad to see Anastasia had put out clean undergarments.
"Given how little we see him sober, and how generally surly and sarcastic he is, I can understand why his wife isn't living with him."
Anastasia left the bathroom as Hap pulled on the dress trousers and buttoned up his dress shirt. He walked into his bedroom to find Anastasia trying to button her sunburst vest to her jacket. He helped her get it buttoned, and then she returned the favor. They paused to admire their reflection in the large mirror that had also been delivered with Anastasia's things.
Anastasia turned to look at the real Hap. She ran her fingers along one of the sun rays of the vest and carefully adjusted Hap's service ribbons and a regional medal had been awarded. "You look good, my love." She looked again at her reflection, "and I look like someone's daughter playing mechwarrior."
"You look fine, and you were rushing me to get dressed, so we'd better go." Hap gave her a playful nudge, "It's not like you have ball gowns or cocktail dresses to choose from."
Anastasia quietly opened the wardrobe revealing it was stuffed full of gowns and dresses, "I have several dresses that would perfectly complement Davion Green, or the yellow in the sunburst."
"Alright, so this uniform isn't flattering on you, but you earned the right to wear it." Hap told her, "There will be other times and places to wear those dresses."
Anastasia gave the dresses a longing look before closing the wardrobe. As they left the barracks Hap asked, "What happened with you and Mags that you decided to take over my room?"
"A few things changed while you were gone." Anastasia said dismissively.
"What things changed?" Hap asked
"I'm just glad your back and you weren't hurt during your mission. I heard Grizzly and Patrick were injured." Anastasia said.
"Yeah" Hap replied. He decided to ignore, for the moment, the way she was changing the subject. "We ran into a Goliath. If you'd been there it probably wouldn't have been a nasty surprise."
"I sense that Patrick doesn't care for me, and he already has a Valkyrie pilot organic to his lance."
"David nearly got fired so if you're looking for an opening you can talk to Patrick." Hap buttoned his own service jacket and found his sun burst vest .
"I'm content with my current lance." Anastasia replied, "I like my lancemates, particularly my lance leader. I also understand Grizzly complains incessantly."
"That's an understatement." Hap said as he opened the door to the stairwell. "Where are we going?"
"The Tir na nOg's the formal dining room." Anastasia said as she started walking down the stairs.
"The Tir na nOg has a formal dining room?" Hap asked.
"Yes, it's below the command deck. It's rarely used because Elinor feels the members of the company are generally too rowdy for formal meals. She only allows the room and her fine china to be used for very special occasions." Anastasia explained as they stepped outside. "Roweyna told me there was an incident, but she refused to elaborate. I will be on my best behavior, and I suggest you do the same."
"I doubt Elinor is concerned with you getting too rowdy." Hap smiled as he tried to imagine what was considered too rowdy for McFinnigan and Sons and how Anastasia could be drawn into it.
"As long as the commander isn't forcing me to help him finish a bottle of whiskey you're probably right." Anastasia said.
"Yeah that evening did get a little rowdy now that you mention it." Hap said.
"I don't recall ever being that sick in my life." Anastasia said as they started up the drop ship's ramp.
Hap chuckled, "So you worried about meeting a new member of ComStar?"
"No. Roweyna said the MRB usually sends," her voice changed to mimic Rowyena, "'ah simperin' little man in a robe that speaks incessantly of the good will of a long dead man that has so far been unable to stop centuries of war."
"We'll that's too bad, I know how you prefer your acolytes to be of the sarcastic and bitter variety." Hap said as he punched in his pass code.
A man behind them cleared his throat. Hap and Anastasia turned to see a tall man in an expensive black dress suit briskly coming up the ramp. He was easily more than half a century old, his silver hair was slicked back but he looked strong and athletic. He had an aristocratic air of authority about him. He had an elegant walking cane in one hand, but it was obviously just for fashion.
"Subaltern Vallois and Captain Calahad. I too happen to be running late, this is quite fortuitous, some might even say, by Blake's good will." Both officers were surprised at how quickly and effortlessly he climbed the ramp, "I'm Kristoff Tempes, the Comstar's representative for the Mercenary Review Board."
-
Something about that MRBC rep doesn't seem right.
I wonder what nasty surprises you have planned. >:D :thumbsup:
-
I'm just glad nobody got wacked. A hulled down classic Goliath is a neat trick to play...
-
I was half expecting David to give Hap a run for his money. A dead love rival is no longer a rival et al.
I didn't find the Goliath to be much of a veteran, really. He was shooting all around instead of going for the killing agaist David and after that, Grizzly. If you already failed abysmally defending your charges (the base) you go for a costly victory for the attackers. A few armor plates is not a costly victory. Losing a mech or 2 on the other hand... And he could do that. At least from my reading on the story.
So, he does not seem to have been a veteran. He was duped easily. Having him claimed to have been a veteran looked weird to me.
-
Chapter 47
Tempes approached the officers. He knew he had surprised them, he preferred this. He wanted them to be off balance. He was annoyed he even had to be here. He smiled politely, "I'm sorry I did not intend to startle you." This was a lie, one of many he assumed he would be telling tonight.
"I apologize, sir." Anastasia looked ashamed of herself, "I did not mean to offend."
"Oh, I couldn't hear what you were saying child. My cane was making too much noise as I came up the ramp," Tempes replied. This was another lie. He didn't mind her statement though. He hated the simpering fools that always spoke of "Blake's will" and "Blake's blessings". Tempes certainly believed Blake's teachings, and zealously worked to protect humanity from itself and preserve knowledge and technology by ensuring that the Succession States ultimately weakened each other, thus allowing ComStar to recreate the Star League, but he was far too practical to assume Blake was some prophet.
"I'm sorry, I've haven't met many of your order, but I thought you wore robes all the time." Hap said.
"Ah yes. I've found sometimes my robes can be a bit of distraction." This was actually a true statement, but probably not for the reason Hap or Anastasia would have guessed. "When I'm with my sisters and brothers it is good and acceptable to be in robes. This is so as we know each other's ranks and roles by the subtle colors and embroidery of our robes, but here this suit is more practical."
The real reason Kristoff Tempes chose to wear a black suit was because he could not bear to wear the yellow robes that would be appropriate for a representative of the MRB. He was a ROM Demi-Precentor and it was humiliating enough to impersonate an MRB representative let alone wear their robes. Further, depending on the events of the night, ComStar may need the ability to deny that a member of their order had even visited McFinnigan and Sons mercenary company.
Tempes smiled kindly as he looked at the reason he was here, Anastasia Capetian-Vallois. This child had somehow cheated death, and then turned up at the doorstep of ComStar. The local fools found that she was mistakenly reported dead, and managed to give her enough clues to know that she was of special interest to them. To make matters worse one of the ROM agents surveilling her, was nearly caught and lost the memory card from her camera. Tempes was so furious he nearly had the ROM cell liquidated. The hit team that was originally tasked with killing her were given an opportunity to redeem themselves, and Tempes had enough respect for the local cell's director to give them a second chance as well.
The ROM Precentor, had ordered Tempes to ascertain how much the Mercenary company knew, and then determine who would die, and how the survivors would never suspect ComStar. He was instructed to plan the execution of young Lady Vallois personally and visit the company himself. These orders were meant to punish him for his sections failures, and shame the other members ROM. Today he would come and see everything for himself, tomorrow he would plan the perfect execution, and then resume ensuring the great houses did not achieve a technological edge over each other or ComStar.
Tempes could end her life right here and now. His cane had a sword, and with one quick motion he could disable Hap and stab Anastasia. In seconds they would both be bleeding to death, but he chose not to. It had been sometime since he had personally executed anyone. The agent sent to kill her father had underestimated him, or his wife's security, and it had cost him his life. ROM policy mandated that these sort of operations be done with the utmost finesse and deniability. He was here to plan, not execute, but the ease of ending it all was tempting.
Tempes nodded to Hap, "Captain, I believe you were about to open the door, perhaps-"
"Oh yeah, sorry." Hap started to type his access code, "You just seemed to appear out of nowhere."
"Yes, I'm often told that." Tempes replied, or at least he was back when he was part of a hit team.
The door lock buzzed and Anastasia opened it. Tempes stepped inside as the junior officers followed.
"I'm sorry, but we have to climb stairs now. The company has done a lot to modify the shuttle, but they haven't extended the elevators to the bottom decks." Hap said apologetically.
Tempes shrugged, "lead on." As he walked up the stairs he wondered about the modifications. There was another incident with this company and a rogue adept. It wasn't exactly handled to ROM's satisfaction. If Tempes saw an opportunity to correct that wrong he would do it as well.
Tempes could see the ship was well maintained. This section had been recently painted, and there was good welding and professionally installed conduit that protected some electrical modifications or repair. Tempes was slightly impressed. He had been on ComGuard ships that were not kept to this standard.
Tempes easily kept up with the two young officers, and soon they had ascended to the main deck and used the elevator to take them to the command section of the drop shuttle. Anastasia led them down a short flight of stairs and through a set of double doors. On the outside it appeared to be a standard crew door in a standard drop ship hallway. When they stepped through the door it felt like they had been transported to a luxury cruise ship. The room was appointed with dark wood accents, highly polished brass, and a thick red carpet. There were a few tall tables with trays of fruits, cheeses and meats, and a bar in the corner manned by twin redheads with mischievous smiles.
Tempes quickly looked at the occupants of the room. On his trip to Monehegan he had studied everything ROM could provide on every member of McFinnigan and Sons. The room contained the company's leadership and their spouses, and Tempes easily recognized all of them.
The men were wearing kilts and dress jackets with their various medals, badges, and awards from their previous military careers neatly pinned on the jacket's breast. The ROM reports even explained that the McFinnigan and Son's tartan was associated with one of the Irish enclaves that had migrated to Donegal. The reports implied there were a Scottish traditions mixed in with the McFinnigan's "Irish" traditions, but it was all Celtic, and the McFinnigan Clan, by all accounts, wallowed in all things Celtic.
The commander was easily recognized. The short Kelly McFinnigan had a loose circle around him as he stood at the bar carefully pouring out samples of Scotch as he told stories about each bottle. Near him was his XO talking to a Leftenant Colonel in a poor fitting Davion dress uniform. Tempes didn't recognize the man or his medals so he assumed he was the commander of the local militia. McFinnigan's nephew, Patrick, sampled the scotch and added commentary to his uncle's stories. Beside him Fiona McFinnigan, a distant cousin to Kelly, was shaking her head as she sipped her scotch. Next to her was a short woman of Asian ancestry. Tempes knew she was the company's supply officer Jin-seon Jessica Lan. She was from the Cappellan Confederation but her ancestry was from earth's Korean peninsula.
The support leadership were also present. The tall master pilot with his bushy short cropped mustache, Matthew Mitchell, was a classic Steiner officer of Germanic descent. There was also the powerful master tech, Eric Heilezberg, he had been Kelly's personal mech tech going back to when Kelly was a junior officer in the Donnegal Guards. The husband and wife medical doctors, Jackson and Leslie Morgan, sampled the liquor and contributed to the conversation. Coming from the highly structured and ordered ComStar sect, Tempes found the support staff mingling with the warriors to be distasteful.
The tall dark skinned First Sergeant was talking with a man in an AFFS uniform. Yorik Tomax was a consummate professional and maintained the discipline of the company, at least when it came to combat operations. McFinnigan and Sons were notoriously unruly outside their cockpits, but, by all accounts professional mechwarriors on the battlefield.
The man in the AFFS uniform was Major Don Braun. He had an eye patch over his left eye, and his right sleeve was neatly folded and pinned up. He wore the sunburst vest like Hap and Anastasia over his dress tunic, but he had several more medals and ribbons, and on his right breast was a black disk with a golden sunburst. He had won the Federated Suns Star on Rigil Kentarus, where he led a lance that had single handedly delayed two Kuritan 'mech companies so the AFFS forces could rally and hold a strategic air field. His lancemates had been killed and he was grievously injured. He could no longer pilot a 'mech so the AFFS high command had placed him in charge of a program where Jr. Officers are embedded in Mercenary units.
Standing where Braun's right arm would have been was Henna Duke. Tempes could immediately see from her body language and her closeness to the man that she was literally his right hand woman. She had been Braun's physical therapist as he learned to walk on two prosthetic legs. In a story that was ripe for making into a Holo they had fallen in love and were engaged to be married.
While the men wore kilts the women had chosen their own attire. The eldest McFinnigan woman, Elinor, was wearing a richly embroidered green dress that seemed to have a built in cape and high collar. The embroidery was gold, jade and cobalt thread that complimented the colors of the McFinnigan tartan. Even to Tempes, she looked like a queen. Her daughter, Roweyna, wore a similar green colored traditional irish dress. It lacked the embroidery of mother's dress, but it had an intricate bodice over an extravagant and frilly white blouse. Fiona wore a similar dress but she had a bar of small medals pinned over the right breast of her bodice. There was another young woman with the same type of dress, and bushy red hair. Tempes couldn't place her as leadership so she was likely someone's date for the evening, probably the Militia leader given her proximity to him.
Aside from the Irish themed dresses, the blonde former Maskirovka agent, Tatyana Fletcher, had a short red cocktail dress that left little to the imagination. The supply officer was dressed in a simple business suit with Capellan decorations pinned to her suit. The Company's female doctor had a blue gown that complimented the blue in the kilt's tartan that her husband and the other men wore. Major Braun's fiancee wore a bright yellow dress that complimented his uniform.
Tempes was brought out of his reflections by Hap slightly bowing to whisper to Anastasia, "Thank you"
She looked at him questioning. Hap saw her look and whispered, "If you hadn't gotten us reinstated I'd be wearing a kilt right now."
Anastasia deadpanned, "oh you'd look fine in a kilt, you have the legs for it, and it looks like I could have worn any ball gown I wanted, or one of those dresses like Rowyena, Kitty, and Fiona have."
Roweyna saw the new arrivals and approached them, "Hap, Anastasia, who did ye have here?"
Hap motioned to Tempes, "This is Kristoff Tempes. He is our MRB representative. Mr. Tempes this is Rowena McFinnigan, the company's legal counsel. I'm sure you've spoken before, over-"
"We have not." Roweyna said suspiciously, "Yer not wearin' a robe. I've never seen yer lot not in robes."
"How would you know?" Tempes said dismissively. "You've likely seen hundreds of us and didn't realize it." Tempes lied. Odds were good if she saw ComStar members not in robes they were ROM. And if she had encountered ROM she'd be dead.
"I went to a Catholic Girl's school Mr. Tempes," Roweyna replied, "a nun out of her habit is still a mean-spirited woman lookin' to put the fear of god into wayward young ladies, while talkin' nonstop of God's grace. Ye may be able to take off yer robes, but the blessins and will o' Blake would still be on yer lips."
Tempes smiled. "You do speak the truth of Blake, my child. Blake's words are ever on my lips. I thought I would forego the robes for just one night. We are, of course, allowed to dress in the fashion of the world when we're away from the Order's holdings. Sometimes, it is even encouraged for our safety."
Rowyena looked even more suspicious, "Ye feel threatened here?"
Anastasia cleared her throat, "Mr. Tempes, Sir, are you sure you don't prefer Adept?"
"Mr. Tempes is fine." Tempes replied, "Again you're not part of my order. You wouldn't expect some civilian to know your proper military rank, would you, Subaltern?" Tempes had worked too hard to be a demi-precentor to be called, 'adept' by the likes of Anastasia Vallois. He was also seeing how Rowyena's suspicious nature might make presenting himself as a demi-precentor difficult to explain.
Rowyena's eyes narrowed, "I think I'm going to need to see some papers from you."
"Of course." Tempes reached into his jacket and pulled out a tightly folded bundle of papers on official ComStar letterhead. They included a letter of introduction, a memorandum of purpose, and other documents that had specific information about the company. It would persuade a suspicious lawyer.
As Roweyna looked over the papers Kelly McFinnigan and Major Braun approached, "Captain Calahad, Subaltern Lady Vallois this is Major Don Braun, our AFFS contract representative and the man you actually report to." McFinnigan said.
Hap started to reach to shake the Major's hand but caught himself. The slight gesture was not missed on Braun and he made a subtle wave with his left hand, and smiled wryly. "I'm glad to finally meet both of you, I wanted to talk to you before the evening started." He nodded toward a corner of the bar.
Roweyna continued to scan the papers. Without looking up she told her father, "This is Kristoff Tempes, the representative the MRB sent to us."
As the AFFS officers retreated to the corner of the room Kelly looked up from reading over his daughter's shoulder. "I'm Kelly McFinnigan, owner and commander of this company." He paused and looked Tempes over carefully, "I daresay we've never met a ComStar representative like yerself."
"You really haven't." Tempes smiled uncontrollably. This was almost too rich for him.
"No. Most are either true believers constantly tellin' us about 'Blake's good will', or the evil bureaucrats that jest count numbers of things," Kelly said, "but ye have a certain look and smell about you."
That was an odd statement. Tempes didn't like the look in Kelly's eyes. "Oh?" Tempes asked.
"Perhaps ye'd like a drink. I'd like look over these papers" As Kelly spoke Roweyna handed him the papers she had already read. Kelly nodded toward the bar.
Tempes shrugged. They could look over the papers all night, they wouldn't betray who he was. The dossier on McFinnigan had mentioned he collected Scotch and Whiskey from all over the inner sphere. Tempes wouldn't consider himself a connoisseur of either liquors, but if he had to be here he may as well enjoy himself. Kelly followed Tempes as he chose a spot near the Federated Suns Officers.
"John, give Mr. Tempes a glass from the blue bottle. Ah bit o' Macallans to start his evening." Kelly said as he continued reading. The twin nodded and carefully poured Tempes a small glass.
Tempes sipped his scotch and eavesdropped. "So the reason why I'm here, and not Lady Cunningham is because you two are part of a special program." Major Braun said, "The High Prince thought it wise to give promising Jr. Officers, like you, Captain Calahad, an opportunity to get experience with a mercenary unit in deep penetration raids, long range reconnaissance, quick strikes, and similar skills."
"I don't think I've heard of this program." Hap said.
"It's limited and not well advertised." Major Braun said. "So far it's just a hand full of Jr. Officers embedded with Eridani Light Horse, Lindon's Company, and Markson's Marauders. It's considered a broadening assignment but it's only for young officers that excel at raids and armed reconnaissance. Looking over your evals, you're a good fit for this. The RDMM commander and even your TAC officers at Albion thought you would benefit from this program, and then do well in a unit like the Ceti Hussars."
Major Braun took a sip and then continued, "I oversee the officers in the program and work directly with the mercenary company. I've read the reports from this company and this is a good unit for you and the program. I've even heard you just came back from a raid."
"Yes." Hap nodded, "I'll have the report typed up, but it's on-"
Major Braun shook his head, "Actually Commander McFinnigan tends to do a good job of having his people review missions and work on performance improvement. The video and reports were sent once your drop ship got in system. I've seen the footage. It was a good choice to break contact with the Goliath, and I apologize our intel was a little spotty on this operation. That Goliath did look like a tank from the probe's imagery.."
"Thank you sir." Hap said.
Major Braun took another sip, then turned so he could see Anastasia better, "As for you Subaltern, you have a choice to make. You can stay here, or come back with me to New Avalon. I think we can all agree. You're a lot more valuable to the Federation continuing your father's research."
"It is my choice." Anastasia said, but it almost sounded like she was asking.
"When this was discussed, your mother, the Countess, made it clear this would be your decision, but it seemed to me she would prefer you weren't in a line unit." Major Braun said, "but yes. It's your choice."
The room grew quiet as everyone waited for her answer. Tempes doubted anyone knew the true significance of her choice, though. ComStar had intercepted transmissions about this, and knew if she chose to return to New Avalon that would put Anastasia in one of the few places in the galaxy that ComStar struggled to access, and her technical acumen was a potential threat to ComStar's plans. This meant Tempes would have to ensure she died tonight. It was the other reason Tempes was not in his robes.
The plan was to have a ROM agent perform a very sloppy break-in of the barracks, stab her to death and any witnesses. Then the ComStar office would report their MRB rep was dead, robbed of his papers, and create a murder scene with a homeless man clothed in bloody adept robes. McFinnigan would report a strange person claiming to be an MRB rep visited them, but he wasn't wearing the usual ComStar robes. They'd kill a few more short brunettes or women in mercenary units, make it look like a serial killer's work. The result would be the local constabulary chasing ghosts, rumors, and Tempes would disappear while no one suspected ComStar.
-
Chapter 48
Anastasia glanced at Hap. Tempes could see some unsaid communication between them. Tempes knew of their relationship, and, if it wasn't for the fact Anastasia was ordered for termination, this could have been a lever to control her. He took a sip of scotch to cover his snort at the foolishness of love.
She looked around the room and seemed to be balancing out her choices. Tempes could tell she felt some obligation to this company. He might have thought that the sentimentality of love was ridiculous, but he respected loyalty, he depended on it in his people, and he felt it for ComStar.
"Lass, We've appreciated yer help, but yer are a soldier. If yer generals say ye need to…" Kelly said.
"Major Braun, these people, and particularly Captain Calahad, have saved my life, and took us in. I feel guilty just leaving them, or at least all of them." Anastasia said, "Is it possible to assign Captain Calahad to NAIS with me?"
Braun shook his head stiffly, "New Avalon has more MechWarriors than nearly anywhere else in the Federation. His skills are best used here, and then I need to get him to get back to the force, where he can take his experiences here, and really use them. I don't know if you've noticed, but another Succession War is starting."
Anastasia looked around again. Tempes could almost see her squirm as she had to make this choice. He savored her discomfort more than the scotch, "I choose to stay." Anastasia told Major Braun.
Braun looked annoyed, but Tempes wasn't sure if it was the fact that a valuable R&D asset appeared to want to play MechWarrior, or as Tempes knew, and suspected Braun understood, a valuable R&D asset had decided not to leave her man's side. The High Prince's dream of double heatsinks, advanced weapons, and lighter armor would wait for 'love'. Tempes couldn't hide his amusement at this.
Braun was staring down Anastasia but when he heard Tempes snicker Braun fixed his one good eye on him. "What are you laughing at? You have some 'wisdom of Blake' to share?"
Braun was an easily angered man, Tempes noted. Tempes smiled, he now planned to spend his evening provoking the man. "There is much of Blake's wisdom I have to share." Tempes replied.
Braun's head snapped back to look at Anastasia as she said, "My mother said my service had raised the prestige of our family. To run away and hide on New Avalon, especially after Klathandu, would invalidate that. I would appear to be the spoiled daughter of a noble that capriciously became a mechwarrior and then used noble privilege to avoid the risks of war, a war that I have noticed is starting."
Braun took in a deep breath, "You are a spoiled daughter of a noble. You did become a mechwarrior on a caprice, and on Klathandu-"
McFinnigan cleared his throat, "The meal is ready, if ye all would follow me to the main dining room."
Tempes had watched Hap as Braun started to down dress the young noble woman. Tempes noticed the change in Hap's posture and saw the anger in his eyes. He wondered what the young officer would have said or done had the Major not be interrupted. Tonight was about to get more interesting.
The crowd followed McFinnigan into another richly decorated room, with the same wood paneling, polished brass and thick carpet as the bar area. This room had a long table with plush high backed chairs. There were cards with each person's name on the place settings. Tempes was pleased to see that he was sitting next to Major Braun and across from Hap and Anastasia.
As the people gathered behind their chairs Kelly took his position at the head of the table. He reached for one of carafes of wine and said, "If ye all will fill yer glasses, we'll start the evenin' with a few toasts."
Everyone reached for the nearest carafe. Tempes had to wait for Henna to fill Braun's glass and her's before she passed him the wine. Kelly looked around to ensure everyone's glasses were filled before he lifted his glass, "To the Lyran Commonwealth, the Archon, and the house of Steiner."
Most of the room responded with, "To the Archon." And drank.
Patrick lifted his glass and looked at Major Braun, "To the Federated Suns, and the house of Davion."
Several members answered back, "The Federated suns." And everyone drank.
Major Braun lifted his own glass, "To the company, and your family, may you continue to enjoy success."
The Mercenaries answered with a near deafening, "gnó teaghlaigh." and drank.
Tempes felt obliged to lift his glass and say, "To the nobles that rule us, may they continue to show as much wisdom in ruling, as they demonstrate in their personal lives." His toast was answered with, "To the nobles" as everyone took another drink, he gave Anastasia a wink and a sly smile as he lowered his glass.
Roweyna was next to Tempes. She lifted her glass, "To the MRB and Comstar-"
"May they continue to be a shining light of fairness and the virtues of the star league" Anastasia added. Tempes could hear the sarcasm in her voice, actually it wasn't sarcasm it was almost an accusation. He wondered how much his quarry knew of his purpose, as most of the room replied, "To ComStar."
Kelly held up his hand. "Gents, if ye'd like to seat the ladies near you, I think Hauptman Calahad will give us one last toast." The men moved to seat their dates. Hap had to give Braun extra time, but once Henna was seated Hap lifted his glass, "To the ladies."
There was a reply of "to the ladies." And after drinking the men sat down and Kelly announced that he'd say grace before the first course was served. As he prayed Tempes tried to speculate what Anastasia knew of how ComStar was interfering in her life. Those fools at the ComStar office had tipped her off, or at least she had nearly gone to ground after they failed to hide their surprise at discovering her alive.
The only exception was she would perform her job in her 'Mech, and she came back to the offices to receive her mother's message, then took a field trip to a local food market. Which resulted in more amateur buffoonery from ROM agents that should have known better. Tempes had assumed her love for her mother had brought her out of hiding. He now wondered why she risked going to the market.
The prayer ended and several young men dressed in kilts, and young women in traditional Irish dresses came out with trays of soup. It was a pea soup. Tempes had been on traveling for several weeks and was looking forward to fresh fruits and vegetables. He stirred the soup, it wasn't a reconstituted ration, but it wasn't what he had hoped for. Tempes decided it was time to start amusing himself.
Tempes leaned toward Major Braun, "You asked for the wisdom of Blake, and I believe, if he were here, the blessed founder of my holy order would advise the young heir to Hazlehurst that, 'Service and sacrifice are greater than honor'."
"It's not really about honor it's about duty." Major Braun replied as he glared over his soup at Anastasia.
"I performed my duty. I was abandoned by my lance, and I was forced to withdraw to what quickly became a tactically indefensible position." Anastasia replied
"And here you are now, safe and warm while the rest of your company is cold and tired and fighting a desperate guerrilla war." Major Braun snapped.
"We were surrounded, and the Combine forces were closing on us." Hap said. "If we had stayed we would have been killed or captured."
"What would you have done?" Anastasia asked.
Braun slammed his fist on the table, "I would have held the line." He stood up and shouted. "Just like I did on Rigil Kentarus."
Henna gently pulled him back down to his seat, "and it nearly cost you everything."
"Mind your cups tonight, Patrick, Auntie Elinor says to me," Patrick mumbled, "It's going to be a polite evenin' with no shoutin' or breakin' things."
Roweyena quietly shushed him.
"I apologize." Braun looked sheepish "Everyone, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He stirred his soup.
"This is why I feel the need to stay here and redeem myself." Anastasia said quietly.
Major Braun nodded, "Granted, Subaltern Vallois, but you should reconsider returning with me to New Avalon. I was wrong to snap at you. I know on Klathandu, you had few options."
"What options did you have Rigil Kentarus, Major Braun?" Tempes asked innocently
"None, Field Marshall Felsner and General Squire had performed a lightning raid to seize an air field that the Combine was using for their aero fighters. My lance was ordered to perform screening and advanced reconnaissance north of the air field. We detected a large 'Mech force moving on the air field. We were ordered to delay the advancing force while the Filed Marshall moved his own Aero fighters and additional 'Mechs to hold the air field."
Braun took in a deep breath, "We harassed the forces and lured them into a box canyon. We knew we were trapping ourselves, but we hoped we could delay them long enough for our aero fighters to catch them in the canyon. We made a miscalculation. The canyon channelized their forces, so we could even the odds, until they started using lighter 'mech's to jump over the cliff walls, and we were quickly overwhelmed. I do remember as my ammunition exploded, and my engine's shielding was destroyed, I saw a flight Corsairs start their strafing run. I slammed my fist on the ejection button but I knew I was dead, but I felt good I had done my duty."
Braun pushed his soup away from him and Henna reached over and rubbed his shoulders. "When I woke up at a field hospital I was told the good news that, not only had our actions allowed us to hold the air field, but our aerofighters were able to destroy nearly two companies worth of 'mechs. It was enough of a loss the Kuritan forces withdrew from the planet. The bad news was I had sustained serious burns, lost both my legs, an arm and an eye. My lancemates were dead, and my Shadowhawk was destroyed."
Braun fixed his eye on Tempes, "Before he left the planet Field Marshall Felsner came personally and thanked me for my sacrifice. I was given the title Baronet, awarded the Sunburst medal." Brauns voice became stern, "I don't live in an academic or cloistered world, when I talk about duty and sacrifice it's not some philosophical idea to me, I know what I'm saying."
"And you'd like you to teach Subaltren Vallois about sacrifice and how to perform her duty in a 'life-threatening' cloistered university?" Tempes asked, trying to goad the man. "That seems paradoxical."
"No. Subaltern Vallois has a rare talent that could do a lot of good for the Federation." MAjor Braun moved his head to look at Anastasia, "We all have our roles for the Federation. As a crippled dispossessed MechWarrior my role is to work with officers like Captain Calahad and mercenaries units like this to help AFFS improve tactically. You're a genius who needs to use her talents to improve our technology base."
"What exactly will the Subaltern do to 'improve' the technology of the Federated Suns?" Tempes asked
"I'm honestly not sure." Braun answered as the wait staff collected the bowls of soup and replaced them with plates that had ceramic ramekins filled with shepherd's pie. "I got a hold of a few of her papers and there were a lot of things I couldn't understand. Near as I can figure she and her father were working on magnets and composite materials. I believe it was for some industrial application." Tempes wondered if he was just ignorant, or lying to cover up what Tempes knew was a top secret weapons program.
Tempes had seen some of the papers that Anastasia had written. Like Braun he couldn't make much sense of them, but the analysts assured him she was dangerously smart and her work could be used to help the Federated Suns make breakthroughs on several different technologies. When the ROM agents paid a visit to her father's work associate they discovered that they were working on Gauss Rifles, had done some research on advanced sensors, more efficient heat sinks, and even had reasoned out most of the theory and work of how to build their own Hyperpulse generator.
The ROM agents left shortly after the man "committed suicide". When they departed it appeared that some local crime element had broken into the man's apartment and taken everything of value, to include his computer and a safe that contained his work and important papers. The data from the man's computer and his papers had validated his execution and the death of Edmund Vallois and his daughter. ROM had used a shell company to purchase Vallois Solutions, and made most of their products and technology disappear, leaving Anastasia as the only loose end.
Tempes was lost in his own thoughts as the evening progressed. He was content that Anastasia would be staying with the company. This would give him some room to maneuver and plan her death. He decided she needed to die sooner rather than later, but he had time to plan a proper operation.
When the evening concluded Tempes started to leave but Kelly met him at the door and followed him out, "We should talk. When I said I had never met a ComStar representative like you, I lied, jest like you've been lying to tonight. You remind me of the MRB representatives that met us on Buckminster."
Tempes felt a chill go down his spine, Buckminister is where a ROM agent had assassinated a rogue adept that had joined McFinnigan and Sons. The agent had died and several ROM members went directly to Kelly posing as MRB agents to tie up some loose ends of the operation, "I don't know-"
Kelly leaned close to him, and whispered, "Ye know. And I'll tell you what I told those sons of whores. You threaten my family again, and I will ensure you pay a very nasty and very high price. I have powerful friends, that'll ensure if I'm crossed you'll regret it. Don't doubt, family takes care of its own."
Tempes knew this was no idle threat. The ROM cell on Buckminster had continued to surveil McFinnigan and Sons, until the surveillance team failed to report. Mysteriously all their effects and equipment appeared in the Buckminster ROM's office the next day, but their bodies were never found. Even more telling the camera had been shot through the lens with a high powered rifle. To add insult to injury, the components to make a car bomb were stolen from their armory and laid out on the Buckminister Precentor's desk.
This was taken as a message from Heimdall to leave McFinnigan and Sons alone. There had long been circumstantial evidence that McFinnigan and Sons supported Heimdall, or were possibly a cell. As with all things related to Heimdall, the links could never be truly proven, and that McFinnigan and Sons was somehow protected by them seemed a stretch. But the fact remained, somehow someone had killed two ROM agents and then infiltrated a high security ComStar facilities, just to leave an almost cryptic message.
This caused a problem for ROM. Finding a Heimdall cell was difficult, and killing one would have just invited a blood war with terrorists that could strike with enough precision to kill key leadership in ComStar if they felt motivated. Given their alleged ideological links to House Steiner and Heimdall's exclusive involvement in maintaining and protecting the royal house it was best to write off the incident as "eye for an eye". As far as ROM was concerned the matter was closed. This was also during the time when ComStar was investigating Wolf's Dragoons so the amount of extra resources was limited.
Tempes nodded, and they quietly descended the stairs together. Tempes was enraged. He was a powerful ROM demi-precentor, and was being threatened by a third tier mercenary company. He was the one that usually issued very real, very startling threats in these sorts of conversations and he hated the idea he was at a disadvantage.
At the ramp both men bid each other a polite, but cold farewells. Tempes slipped out into the cold night, warm with the rage and anger he felt toward Kelly McFinnigan. All of Tempes's questions had been answered. He had almost decided that Anastasia was the only person that needed to die, now it was the whole company. He'd certainly need to plan this carefully, as it would need to be sudden and complete. Tempes could not allow this insult to be ignored, no entity should be allowed to threaten the order of ComStar. He reasoned that destroying them properly would take time. This would prove unfortunate for Anastasia, Tempes concluded, he would move up her execution just so he could have more time to focus on destroying McFinnigan and Sons. He got into his ground car already putting the finishing touches on his perfect plan to execute her.
-
Nice update. Can't wait for the next two chapters.
Psy
-
Chapter 49
Hap leaned heavily on Anastasia as they returned to the barracks. He had drank too much at the Company's formal meal, and now just wanted to sleep. He was surprised that Anastasia wasn't as drunk as he was, he was also glad because she was the only thing keeping him upright.
"You're a lot stronger than you look." He told her as they walked down the drop ship ramp.
"You saw how well I got along with Major Braun, now imagine that with every TAC officer at NAIS for three years." Anastasia sighed, "I did a lot of push-ups. Some days it seemed push-ups were all I did."
"Yeah, I noticed you rubbed him the wrong way." Hap said, "Also why am I more drunk than you?"
"I mostly drank wine." Anastasia said, "It's something Elinor recommended. When Commander McFinnigan came around with scotch or whiskey, I made sure I was in the middle of a glass of wine. I grew up in a French home, my love, I can drink wine all night and let its warm kiss gently put me to sleep and wake up feeling rested and ready for another day."
Hap half slipped on a patch of ice, but Anastasia's kept him from falling. "Didn't we do this once before, but you were falling down drunk."
"Yes, Harold, and had you carried me back to your bed that night-"
"You would have gotten sick all over my bed." Hap smiled at her, "Think you could carry me?"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Anastasia groaned as they came to the barracks stairs. She half-pulled him up the stairs. "Are going to be sick?"
Hap shook his head, he was dizzy and would probably have fallen a few times if not for her help, but he wasn't sick. "I just want to collapse into bed." Hap kept one arm on Anastasia's shoulder and used his free hand to pull himself up the railing. He thought of getting into his bed, and remembered his room, and that Anastasia had moved in, "We need to talk to about how you moved into my room."
"You want to do that while you're falling down drunk?" Anastasia asked as got to the top of the stairs.
"No, but we should do it first thing tomorrow morning." Hap said as he opened the door, "What happened with you and Mags anyway?"
Anastasia nodded down the hall, and led Hap to her and Mag's old room. They stopped in the doorway. The moon showed through the window onto the two beds that Joker and Mags had pushed together. In the pale moonlight it was easy to see they were tangled up in the blankets. Joker was snoring loudly and Mags elbowed him in the side. Joker turned and pulled the blankets revealing they were both naked. Mags covered them both and promptly fell back asleep.
Hap looked confused, "Alright, I'm really drunk." He whispered, "but are they, or when, how?"
Anastasia pulled him into his room and covered the door with a privacy screen. She turned on the bedside lamp as she quietly explained, "Shortly after you left Kelly threw a party to celebrate the founding of the company and to have a memorial for all the deceased members. Mags and Joker were pretty drunk by the end of it, and when I woke up the next day I found them…similar to how they are now."
"So you moved into my room?" Hap was still looking around trying to figure out how angry he should be.
"Not at first." Anastasia said as she unbuttoned her vest and tunic. "On the third night-"
"Third night? So they've been doing this a while. Good to know they didn't start hating each other after hooking up." Hap started taking off his vest.
Anastasia nodded as she hung up her dress clothes, "Yes. That has proven good, I suppose. Once they started sleeping together I put the privacy screen between our beds in the hopes of encouraging a little discretion or just modesty on their part."
Hap opened his wall locker, "How'd that work out for you?"
"Not well." Anastasia said as she moved behind her privacy screen that she had put in the corner. "As I was going to say, on the third night they were vigorously…not hating each other, and Joker knocked over the screen onto me. I yelled at him, and he suggested I join them. This upset Mags, and subsequently their intimate congress ended. I left to sleep in here while they argued. The next day we all talked. I suggested they move into Joker's room since David was with you. They pointed out David would return. They countered that I should move into your room, because I sleep here occasionally."
"So the three of you rearranged room assignments without talking to me." Hap asked watching Anastasia pile her clothes onto the privacy screen.
"You were gone, and as assistant lance leader I assumed it fell under my purview." Anastasia answered
Hap hung up his jacket as he admired the organization of his closet. Anastasia had hung up his jackets, sweaters and dress shirts, and she had folded his other clothes. Anastasia had a habit of raising his quality of life, but she often did it without asking him. Hap generally liked what she did, he just wished she would ask.
Anastasia emerged from behind the screen. She was wearing a burgundy silk nightgown "You okay?"
Hap was feeling worse and just wanted to sleep. "I'll be alright. I just need to sleep. Tomorrow we'll talk."
Anastasia could sense he was annoyed. She decided not to press the issue, and instead nodded and went to the bathroom. Hap changed into a clean pair of pajama pants, and sat down on his bed. The mattress felt soft and the sheets smelled clean and slightly perfumed. He laid down for a moment as he waited for Anastasia to finish.
Hap woke up several hours later. The dizziness was now a dull headache. There was a glass of water and the tube for his vitamin tabs on the nightstand. He put a tab in the water and let it dissolve. He looked around, but couldn't see Anastasia. He drank the vitamin water and went to the bathroom.
As he walked back to his bed he found Anastasia asleep on the futon under a quilt. He thought about waking her, seeing if she wanted to sleep together, but he just wanted to get back to sleep, and the thought of getting situated with her was unappealing to him. He went to his bed alone and slid under the sheets, blankets, and quilt on his bed. The bed was soft and the blankets were heavy. Hap could faintly smell the scent of Anastasia's shampoo on his pillow. He fell asleep thinking that he hadn't slept in a proper bed like this in a long time.
A few hours later Anastasia shook Hap awake, "Harold, we have an inspection in 0900."
Hap opened his eyes. The sun had risen recently and his room was filled with the gray light of morning. Anastasia was sitting on the edge of his bed in her black coveralls. As she leaned over Hap noticed her name tag was new. The leather patch had a silver silhouette of a Valkyrie, and "Anastasia Valois" in silver letters. Below her name was her rank "Subaltern" in silver, and "the Professor" in pink.
Hap sat up in bed, "Alright two questions. 'The Professor'? Did we decide that was your call sign?"
"I asked Joker and Mags to get a new name tag made for me. I gave them the old name tag, as a reference. I specified that the new would be like it, except it should have my rank, and it should not have 'Princess'."
"So Joker had it replaced with, 'Professor'. That's the quality work I'd expect from him." Hap said. He slid over next to Anastasia and put his arm around her to pull her close, "What's this about an inspection?"
Anastasia laid her head on his shoulder, "It's for the ComStar and AFFS visit. They want to see the complete 'mech stable and roster of personnel. We need to have our lance in formation in a few hours."
"Damn, I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with the MRB agent again, he was one creepy bastard."
Hap could feel Anastasia shudder, "Yes. He kept looking at me like I was a petit four that he was going to devour. After this inspection we shouldn't see him or anyone else from the MRB again for at least a year." She snuggled with him for a moment before saying, "If you want breakfast, we should get up."
Hap reluctantly got up. He still had a slight headache but he knew it would go away once he had some breakfast and coffee. By the time he was dressed Anastasia had ensured the rest of the floor was up and moving. Hap made a note to try and pull Joker aside and make sure he knew that he had better play things straight with Mags. Hap considered that Joker had never had a girlfriend longer than a four day pass, so if he and Mags were together for a couple weeks that was at least promising.
Breakfast was set up in the 'mech bay with folding tables. The 'mech bay was the only place large enough to seat everyone at once, and everyone needed to eat before the inspection. Before getting in line at breakfast Hap pulled Joker aside, "What's going on with you and Mags?"
"Yeah, about that" Joker looked sheepish, "We got really drunk one night, and you know how I'm always kidding with her about getting together, and whatever. So we'd been drinking half the night away, and I asked her if she was 'drunk enough' to sleep with me. She nodded and said 'sure'. We went back to her room, and the next morning we had a long talk."
"Really." Hap glanced over to see Mags and Anastasia talking while they stood in the line, "I've never had a long talk with Mags, she either gives you a lot of shrugs and non-committal answers, or she tells you exactly what she thinks." Hap could see Anastasia was talking and Mags responded with shrugs and nods.
"Oh, she was pretty direct and committal. She told me if I cheated on her, left her, or if I was messing with her, she'd cut me. I guess the moral of the story is be careful what you wish for."
"So you're committed to her?" Hap asked.
"I guess. Mom told me if you find a girl you like, and she lets you touch her, do what she says."
"Joker, there were a lot of girls before Mags." Hap said. "Please tell me she is different then the others."
"She is. Those other girls were just dumb bitches I wanted to sleep with, I actually, I dunno, I guess, I like Mags. I could see us sticking together."
"Promise me you're not going to get bored and screw everything up, because I'll cut you too." Hap said.
"I'll try boss, but really I'm just following your lead." Joker said.
"Following my lead? What do you mean? Is Mag's mad that Anastasia got us back in AFFS or that we're leaving in a year?"
"Naw, she was mad at first, but she and Anastasia talked it out. When Mag's dad wanted to retire he went and talked to Kelly about letting Mag's pilot his 'mech and stay on with the company. The old man didn't think it was a good idea. Kelly thought she needed more time to grow and mature. He wanted to bring up one of his other young warriors, but somehow Macho Camacho talked Kelly into it. Anastasia convinced Mag's that's what her mother did, only it was with some AFFS generals. Mag's respects a good hustle."
"It's not a-" Hap realized it wasn't worth it, "So what do you mean you're 'following my lead'?"
"You and Anastasia are together. Why shouldn't Mags and I be together?" Joker asked.
"Because Anastasia and I are probably going to be together for a long time, but you usually hook up with a woman, and after one night you intentionally never see her again." Hap said.
"Well maybe this time will be different, for both of us. Did you think about that?" Joker said
"I doubt that." Hap replied
"What do you think of what Anastasia did to your room?" Before Hap could answer Joker saw the change on his face, "Ah! I knew it would piss you off. I know you don't like having your stuff messed with, and I also know you don't like it when other people make decisions for you."
"I do need to set some ground rules with her, but that doesn't mean we're destined to fight with each other all the time, or that I'm going to lover her and leave her, I'm just not that guy."
Joker shrugged, "We'll see."
"Just get in line." Hap snapped, "We need to eat before they tear everything down." As the two men got in the queue Hap added, "you don't really think Anastasia and I aren't going to work?"
Joker shook his head, "No. You're right, you're the committed relationship type. I just know you, and I see how Anastasia pushes all your buttons, good and bad. I was also giving you shit, because you're giving me a hard time about Mags. I mean it though, things are different with Mags. She has her hooks in me. It's crazy."
They were soon at the front of the line. Breakfast was porridge, eggs, and blood pudding. They had to eat quickly and put everything away, so they could move their 'mechs to the designated marshalling area, an unused section of the air strip near the Ops center.
The company put their lances into squares along the air strip. The MechWarriors stood between the front two 'mechs in the formation. There was also a formation for the Tech's, and another for the support personnel next to the line of 'mechs.
The Coyotes were in a neat two-by-two formation between Hap's Griffin and Anastasia's Valkyrie. Hap reflected he hadn't stood in a formation like this since before Klathandu. Hap glanced to his left. Anastasia looked like a mix of professionalism, feminine charm, and military chic. Hap glanced over his shoulder. Joker was already starting to look more like a mercenary. He had traded some of his AFFS issue for what looked like an LCAF load carrying kit, and he was wearing woodland camo coveralls like Mags. Somehow Mags and Joker looked like they were in one unit and Hap and Anastasia in another.
Mags and Joker both had their sleeves rolled up and Hap could see they each sported new looking tattoos of a stylized coyote howling to a full moon that contained a celtic knot. Hap mentally noted, they now had matching tattoos, maybe Joker was serious about his relationship.
Hap leaned slightly toward Anastasia, "I see Joker and Mags now have matching tattoos.
Anastasia, continued to look forward, staying at the position of attention, but replied with a slight nod
"Is this a lance thing? Did you get one? Should I?" Hap asked.
Anastasia leaned slightly toward Hap and, still looking forward, "God made me perfect. You don't allow another artist to add to a completed piece of fine art." She whispered. "and no you shouldn't either."
Hap smiled, "We should probably get Mag's design on all 'mechs though. It looks good."
Anastasia gave a subtle nod, "Yes, certainly. It is a good design."
The Comstar representative, Major Braun, Kelly, and Roweyna were walking down the line of 'mechs and mercenaries. Hap was relieved to see ComStar had sent a different member of their order. This man was wearing bright yellow robes, and carrying a clipboard. Hap could hear the ComStar representative talking to Patrick. Hap could detect a slight German accent as the adept spoke.
The adept was asking Patrick technical questions about his lance. Then he had several questions about the company's use of mission specific tailored response lances. Finally the adept seemed satisfied, and the leadership group proceeded to the Coyotes. The Adept stood in front of Hap. The adept flipped through several pages on his clipboard before looking down at Hap.
"Captain Harold Frederick Calahad. Ja?" The adept asked. "You are the lance leader for this Recon Lance?"
"Yes." Hap felt like he was a cadet again, being drilled, to see if he was technically proficient. Hap glanced at Kelly to see if he would give him a sign, but Kelly just gave him a wry grin while he smoked his pipe. Hap glanced over to Major Braun. He was wearing an AFFS military utility uniform with the right sleeve cut off. He had a very bulky metal prosthetic arm. Hap wondered why he wasn't wearing it last night.
"Very good, What is the drop weight of your lance?" The adept asked.
Without thinking Hap replied "155 tons." He reminded himself he needed to focus.
"What is the maximum speed of your slowest 'mech?"
"86 kilometers per hour." Hap said. He almost gave more information, but he had learned at Albion to just answer the question you're asked.
The adept looked over his pages, then looked up at the 'mechs. "The VLK-QA has a similar weapons configuration to your GRF-1N, but both mech's are significantly slower than the JR7-D. How does this inform your tactics?"
"I generally keep the Valkyrie and Griffin back and use their LRMs to fix an enemy while the Jenner and Firestarter close. Also the Valkyrie's medium laser fills in for the Griffin's lack of short range." Hap said.
The Adept nodded, "Very good. So you keep the VLK-QA near you. This is a good strategy." He flipped his page to the top. "This company performs daily patrols of the area. When is your next patrol?"
Hap glanced sideways at Anastasia and saw a subtle shake of her head. Patrol schedules were usually posted in Ops, but they hadn't had a chance to go by Ops today. "This afternoon." Hap guessed.
"Very good." The Adept replied, "I have seen enough Commander, let us see your support staff."
-
Chapter 50
The company stood in formation in the cold clear sunny morning for another quarter hour as the ComStar MRB adept, Major Braun, Kelly and Roweyna finished walking the line of mercenaries. Hap was glad when they were ordered to get out of the cold, and put their 'mechs back in the bay.
After the 'mechs were parked in the bay, Hap met up with the lancemates at the foot of his Griffin. "Let's go to ops, see when we're scheduled to patrol." Hap suggested.
As they started toward the operation center Hap glanced at Mags, "Mags, how are you doing? We haven't talked since I got back."
"Good, Jefe, good. I heard you ran into Goliath, but Patrick got scared and ran."
"We had been chewed up by tanks going into that fight, and David nearly got his 'mech destroyed."
"If I had been there, the Goliath would have tried to run, and failed." Mags said.
Before Hap could answer, Anastasia said, "I know you're an aggressive Jenner pilot, and at close range your weapon platform can melt or destroy nearly two tons of armor in one salvo, but a Goliath's rear armor would likely sustain a full volley from your Jenner."
"Then I'd give him two." Mags said.
"Next raid I'll be sure to bring you along Mags" Hap said as he opened the door to the ops center.
"Good, because we should never run like candy asses." Mags said as they approached the holo monitors and the watch officer of the day, Mark nodded to them.
"Mags, there are times when a tactical withdrawal is the correct answer." Anastasia said.
"No. You go down stacking skulls, or make their victory shit, running is what you do to get to the enemy." Mags said.
"Oh coffee," Joker said, "I'm so glad to see you." Joker broke off from his lancemates and went straight to the refreshment table.
"Harold, would you like coffee?" Anastasia asked as she followed Joker.
"Yes please." Hap replied as he approached the ops officer, "Mark, when are we patrolling?"
"Not today, Hap my man, Dullahan's are keeping us safe for the next 24. You guys are in reserve."
"That's good to hear." Hap said as Anastasia handed him a cup of coffee. Hap sipped the coffee and looked down at her. "Thanks for the coffee, but I prefer it black."
Anastasia took the coffee and took a drink, "I don't know Harold, It's warm and sweet, and nearly perfect, like me. Are you sure you don't prefer it this way." She told him with a coy smile.
Hap took the coffee back, "Did you take flirting lessons while I was gone?"
Anastasia gave an enigmatic shrug, "I've spent a lot of time with Roweyena and Elinor, they might have suggested a few things."
Hap glanced past Anastasia to see Major Braun across the room. He looked up from talking with Kitty and watched Hap and Anastasia. Kitty handed him a few data disks and he started walking toward Hap.
"Captain Calahad, Subaltern Vallois, a word." Major Braun said. Anastasia jumped as she heard his voice.
"Major Braun, Sir, have you seen the ComStar Adept. I misinformed him of our next patrol." Hap said
"No he left. He said he needed to file reports and had other pressing business. Between last night's representative not being able to return today, and Adept Heinrich needing to make a hasty exit it seems ComStar is pretty busy." Major Braun looked at the watch built into his prosthetic arm, "I also can't stay long. I have to go find Edrinia Light Horse, and see how one of your peers is doing."
"Very good sir." Hap said.
"Before I go I need you to be honest with me, I know you two are a couple-"
Anastasia looked at Kitty, "Did you tell?"
"When he asked, he looked at me with the eye, it's like it sees into yer soul." Kitty said. Braun glanced over his shoulder at her and she made a strange squeak, "Aye! Like that." She exclaimed.
Braun shook his head then looked back to Hap and Anastasia, "I need to know if you two are serious, and if Lady Valois knows."
"Yes to both, and mother approves." Anastasia said soberly.
"Good. I don't want to cross her. I met her on New Avalon, and I can't tell you how infuriating it is to be pushed around by a meter and a half of irresistible charm and indomitable will. She's like a 50 kilogram 'mech fist, in a velvet glove."
Joker snickered, "Sound familiar Hap?"
Braun turned his attention to Joker, "Corporal Cameron, shut your mouth now and I'll keep my blind eye in your direction. Talk again and I'll charge you for desertion and theft of a 'mech."
"Andale, burro." Mags said quietly, pushing him out of the Major's line of sight.
"Kitty's right, it's like that eye can see your soul." Joker whispered as Mags led him away.
Major Braun turned his gaze back on Hap and Anastasia. "What were we talking about?" he shook his head, "Doesn't matter. Hap, I need you to get all the experience you can from this assignment."
"Aye, Hap, ye need more experience?" Patrick called from across the room, "Ye can lead my lance today."
Hap looked at Major Braun. He raised a questioning eyebrow, but between the scars and eye patch it was difficult to read the man's expression. If given the choice Hap would prefer an afternoon with flirty Anastasia, but he instead nodded, "Sure, Patrick. I'll take the patrol."
Patrick laughed, "Good, 'cause the docs haven't cleared me to pilot a 'mech yet, so ye were likely to do it one way or another."
Major Braun looked annoyed, "we need privacy" he mumbled to himself. He focused on Anastasia, "The corporation that bought Vallois Solutions is trying to claim all technical information along with their patents. A lot of the project data is locked up because of it. This is making it hard to do research. I know you recently received your personal goods from NAIS. Do you have any research data on your noteputer, and would you copy it for me to take back to NAIS?"
"I'll give you what I have, but I can't gaurentee it will be helpful."
"I'll take whatever you can give me. You mind if we go to the barracks now?"
Anastasia nodded, and they left the ops center. As they walked Anastasia said, "You should really speak with George Zinclair, he was Daddy's business partner. Daddy was convinced he was the smartest man he knew. I'll concede he was an eccentric, and Daddy more less look out for him, but still-"
"Hopefully this doesn't come as a shock, but he shot himself a few weeks ago. He lived alone, and since the business where he worked had been sold, no one noticed for a while. Which gave thieves ample opportunity to break in and steal anything of value."
Anastasia frowned, "George shot himself…that's…George was highly intelligent, and Daddy was his only friend. I'm shocked but not necessarily surprised."
"You might be surprised to learn how high the suicide and fatal accident rates are for scientist across the inner sphere." Major Braun said, "I learned about it when I got pulled into a brief so secret that I'm probably in trouble for even eluding to it." Major Braun dropped his voice to a whisper, "You should know, once you've been identified as someone that can recover los tech or make new advancements in science youe life expectancy is measured in months. It's why security is so high around NAIS, and the reason I wish you'd choose to go there."
Anastasia didn't answer, so Hap said, "Major Braun, Sir, why don't you just order her to return to NAIS?"
"I can't. Aside from Lady Vallois making it clear that it was the Subaltern's choice. There is more to it. You have to understand as we go into another war, or as the previous war drags on, the media loves to report on stories of young nobles 'shirking' their duties and using class and privilege to avoid combat. Lady Vallois told the members of the nobility that Anastasia could be held up as a noble that fought and did her duty. The generals want her for the weapons program. So I'm in this uncomfortable position where I got Dukes and Countesses telling me to let her fight, and I got officer in my chain saying, get her to NAIS."
"The nobles want to use me as a symbol, even though I technically ran at Klathandu?" Anastasia said.
"There was a military tribunal where your family's lawyer brought in enough generals, tacticians and military historians who all agreed your only options were death or capture, and you were ordered to withdraw. It was obvious there was no strategic or even tactical reason to sacrifice yourselves."
"Then your attorney gave a stirring speech about your patriotism and bravery, with a subtle condemnation of the leadership that would put you and your peers in the meat grinder that Klathandu had become. After that you were cleared. The tribunal is public record, no one can really question you."
"Last night you told us we should have 'held the line'." Hap said as they walked up the barracks stairs. They quickly passed through the empty barracks and came to Hap's room.
"If I'm being honest, I'm jealous, or I was jealous. All three of us were put in terrible situations, you got lucky, and got pulled out. I got a title, and a shiny medal, and" Major Braun held up his robotic arm and to point to his missing eye and added bitterly "an eyepatch, and three prosthetics." Major Braun paused. "Last night Henna pointed out your escape doesn't cheapen my sacrifice, it just makes life seem unfair."
"I know there are a lot of people that hate me because they think I live sort of a 'charmed life', but you're probably the first person that I feel is justified in your animosity." Anastasia said as she sat down at her desk and pulled out her noteputer.
"I don't hate you Subaltern, you annoy me, but I don't hate you." Major Braun said. "Now I've been honest with you, and if you're honest with me, I can help you two. Subaltern I understand you don't want to leave Captain Calahad. I convinced Henna she should give up her career to marry me, and follow me around. Subaltern I can't stress enough to you that you are considered a high priority military R&D asset. You do not have the same luxury as Henna. Your nation needs you, you have a higher duty."
"This sounds like one of the talks I would have with mother, except about the weight of being a noble." Anastasia put a disk into her noteputer. "It will take a moment to copy and encrypt the files."
"Thank you, and yes you have a double burden," Major Braun looked to Hap, "but Captain Calahad-"
Hap looked uncertain, "Are you suggesting I resign my commission?"
"That's one way, but no, AFFS needs all the mechwarriors it can get. What I'm suggesting is if you two were married." Major Braun looked at both of them and his scares and bitterness seemed to fade, "AFFS regulations for dual military couples is to try and keep them together, or at least on the same planet. Captain Calahad if you come out of this assignment as an expert on small unit tactics, lightning raids, and armed reconnaissance I can get you assigned as Cadre at NAIS. You might have to spend a year with the Davion Guards to get 're-greened' on conventional tactics, but this is why I need you to get as much experience as possible while you're here."
Anastasia had sat up straighter and looked excited once Major Braun mentioned marriage. "We'll have to get Hazelhurst. Mother will certainly want a large wedding ceremony in the chapel that we've been married in for generations. It will likely take a month one way just to travel there though."
"By regulation you don't require a wedding. Really a simple elopement officiated by Commander McFinnigan and that sharp little lawyer daughter of his would be sufficient." Major Braun said.
Anastasia gave Major Braun a quick shake of her head and the reproachful look that Hap was all too familiar with, "Just because it is sufficient for AFFSs regulation does not make it acceptable to the Countess of Calais Parmi Les Étoiles."
Major Braun turned to Hap, "This is what I meant when I said, '50 kilogram 'mech fist in a velvet glove'."
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look, confirming Major Braun's sentiment. Hap carefully said, "I'm sure you and Ms. Duke have had your own 'charming' disagreements, Sir." Hap said.
"Well, it's a little different for us. One time I pissed off Henna to the point she took my legs and left the room." Major Braun chuckled, "After an hour I crawled into my wheelchair and we both apologized."
"Sir, the disk is ready to encrypt, you'll just need to enter the decryption key." Anastasia told him.
He used his left hand to type in a quick sequence of numbers and letters then stepped back to let Anastasia finish the recording process, "Speaking of Henna I'm supposed to meet her soon. She was packing up our room. I'll let you two figure out what you want to do, but I leave you with this, be honest with me, and I'll do everything I can to help you. Subaltern Valois, don't take unnecessary risks, get your experience, raise your family's prestige, but do it as safely as possible. Captain Calahad, watch over her."
The noteputer ejected the disk and Anastasia handed it to Major Braun. As he took the disk he said, "One more thing, don't use ComStar to communicate with me if you can help it. I can't explain why, but use diplomatic patch, or military courier, unless it's time sensitive or I tell you differently." The officers exchanged salutes and Major Braun left.
Anastasia sat back down and started to shut off her noteputer, "Major Braun turned out to be surprisingly helpful. We'll have to send Mother a note through diplomatic pouch and figure out how to get back to Hazelhurst. It hadn't occurred to me that if we were married AFFS would try to keep us together."
Hap sat down on his bed across from her, "You know I haven't even asked you to marry me."
"You asked my mother for her blessing. The practicalities of how and when you ask me are just details. How could we not get married Harold? I'd already told you I'd be your wife."
"When you said you'd be my wife, you were drunk, it sounded like a joke, and we had just met."
"I rarely joke." Anastasia replied, "and just because I happened to have been drunk and had only known you a few days doesn't make my assessment of us any less accurate, or the fact I'll be a superior wife."
"You're not interested in romance and the perfect proposal to accompany your ideal wedding?"
Anastasia looked at Hap for a long moment. She moved to sit next to him on his bed and face him, "You've looked annoyed since you got back, Harold, what's really bothering you."
Hap felt the annoyance of having his room disturbed and how it felt like Anastasia was making all the decisions without asking him. "Alright, if I'm being honest, I'm a little annoyed you just moved into my room. No warning, no asking, just all your stuff arrived, and suddenly this is all now your space."
Anastasia nodded, "That's fair, but in my defense you weren't here and I had to do something with all my things, and they wouldn't fit in my room even if it was just me. I assumed you would have agreed."
"That's the problem Anastasia, you just assume that whatever decision you make is for the best and instead of talking to me you just assume I'll either agree with you, or come around eventually."
Anastasia looked wounded, "I have been taking too much liberty with your things, and your space. You hadn't complained until this moment, but I see how I was wrong. I'm treating you the way my mother treated daddy. However they were married, so I recognize their relationship was different. I apologize."
Anastasia used her sleeve to dab at her eyes, "Harold, I recognize I've been talking about marriage like it is a foregone conclusion. I apologize for that too. I'm also sorry that I 'invaded your room' with my things. I can have them boxed up and stored on the Tir na nOg. I'll also move back into the room with Mags. Joker and Mags will have to figure out their own sleeping arrangement."
Hap's annoyance was giving way to guilt, "That's not necessarily want."
"What do you want?" Anastasia snapped, "I know I'm not perfect, but I'm trying hard to be the best girlfriend or fiancée or whatever I am to you, that I can be. You keep telling me you want to talk about things, but we rarely get a chance before decisions have to be made. Further, you generally go through life reacting to things. You seem to prefer not making direct choices. I try to make the best decision I can, and I like to think that everything I do for you, for us, is mutually beneficial. Apparently it's not, so tell me what you want."
Somehow her sudden flash of anger fueled Hap's own rage. "I'll tell you what I want-"
"Excuse me," David said from across the doorway.
"What!" Both Anastasia and Harold said in unison turning to stare at David.
David jumped a little, then got his composure, "Captain Hap, it's time for the mission brief. You're needed in Ops."
Hap turned back to Anastasia, every instinct told him that leaving this conversation unresolved was a bad choice, but he knew he had to go, "We'll have to finish this when I get back."
Anastasia nodded slowly and crossed her arms across her chest, "I'm not changing anything then."
"Fine." Hap said grimly.
"Fine." Anastasia imitated.
"Let's go David." Hap said as he walked out of the room.
-
Chapter 51
Monhegan
December 3029
Hap stormed out of the barracks with David on his heels. David got along side of Hap and cleared his throat, "Is, uh, everything okay with you and Anastasia."
"Yeah. We just had a small disagreement. I think she makes too many decisions, she thinks I don't make enough, and somehow we're arguing about marriage."
"Oh that sounds serious." David said.
Hap shook his head, "don't get too excited. We both want to get married. We're just…I don't want to talk about this." Suddenly David's "innocent infatuation" made Hap more annoyed.
"I've seen Anastasia mad at Joker a lot and she never looked that angry." David told him.
"It just means she cares more about our relationship." Hap said. "Let's get to ops."
Hap could sense that David wanted to ask him more questions, but it would have made him even more irritated. Hap struggled to concentrate as Mark gave the pre-mission brief. Hap was able to focus long enough to get the basic route, and he noticed that Rolph and Crow were supporting them today, they would be shadowing the patrol from Starport's fence line.
When the pre-mission brief had finished Hap approached Crow and Rolph. "You guys are walking the fence line while we patrol around the star port?"
"Yeah, we get bored just sitting in our 'mechs. We figured we'd go on our own walk about. Besides it keeps the patrolling lance in support range." Crow said.
As Hap walked to the 'mech bay he caught up with the Grizzly and Tatyana as David told them. "Anastasia and Hap had a fight. It sounded real serious."
"So? James and I fight." Tatyana said, "James says he is sorry, I forgive. We make up, maybe Sophie becomes big sister."
"James always says he's sorry? You never make a mistake?" Grizzly asked.
"Dah, I make mistakes, but James is smart. He apologizes always, sometimes for me." Tatyana said.
Hap had enough, "David, I told you, couples fight." He said. "It's natural. Anastasia and I will be fine, we just need to work it out. Let's do this patrol so I can go and start apologizing."
"Is good start." Tatyana smirked as they walked into the 'mech bay.
Hap found Mike preparing the 'mech. He grunted as Hap walked past, and Hap nodded in return. If Mike said anything Hap didn't notice. Hap robotically went through the startup procedures as he questioned if he actually had to apologize. In his mind Anastasia was wrong. Soon the gantry was raised and Hap stepped out of the 'mech bay. Without thinking he got the lance formed up and moving on their patrol.
Everything seemed to be routine. Crow and Rolph shadowed them at the parts near the starport. When they moved to the long stretch along swamps north of the star port they were on their own. Grizzly complained about having to pull a patrol the first day on Monhegan. David noted that his 'mech's newly repaired foot unit was working perfectly. Hap was quiet as he relived his argument with Anastasia. He alternated between feeling the victim, annoyed with her, sad for her, and regretting the argument.
Hap was tempted to call up Tatyana on a private channel and see if she had any advice, but he didn't really know her that well, and since she was Fletch's wife her advice would probably be "don't be a dumbass". Hap imagined how that would sound with a thick Russian accent. Hap really needed to talk to Roweyna or Fiona, except those women were probably more on Anastasia's side than his. Hap realized that he was on good terms with almost everyone in the Mercenary unit, but Anastasia was his confident and closest friend. Now that he had a problem with her he wasn't sure where he could go.
Hap was brought out of his musings when David said, "You are very quiet, Hap."
"Sorry, I was thinking about…things. I'm glad the repairs we did to your 'mech are working though. I agree with Grizzly that it's annoying to do a patrol the day after getting back, but I'm sure the Coyotes welcome the break." Hap said then added, "Tatyana you haven't had much to say."
"There is nothing to say." Tatyana answered.
"You have to understand, Hap, Tatyana is either complaining about something that can't be fixed, or she is talking in Russian which none of us can understand. We all decided it's best if she is quiet."
"Dah, Dah, 'I am Grizzly, I am big powerful man but I burchannya like suka'."
"See what I mean Hap. You can't understand half of what she says." Grizzly said.
"Tatyana, Did you just say Grizzly 'bitches like a little girl'?" Hap asked.
"Nyet" Tatyana laughed, "but is good guess, I say he…growls like bitch. Growl like dog is burchannya, girl like Sophia is divchyna. You speak Russian or try to learn Ukraine?"
"No, I just thought the same thing about Grizzly, and sort of guessed." Hap replied.
Tatyana laughed again, "I like you Hap, You are smart coyote."
"You two can both go to hell." Grizzly snapped.
They were now getting close to Turquoise lake which meant they were close to the star port again. Hap glanced down at his sensors noting that Crow and Rolph were moving along a similar route. Hap's sensors also detected a lance of 60 ton vehicles maneuvering on the ridge line above the lake. "I think there is a tank lance doing drills around those tank defilades. Is this new? Have they been here before?"
"Nyet." Tatyana said slowly. "Perhaps we call ops?"
"Ops this is Coyote-disregard-Dulla-this is McFinnigan Patrol."
"Go ahead, Hap." Mark replied. Hap could hear his mischievous smile even over the radio.
"There is a tank lance maneuvering around the ridge. Can you guys confirm if they are part of the militia or another mercenary unit doing drills?"
"Wait one." Mark said.
As they passed the lake's deep end David asked, "How did Anastasia map out the entire lake?"
"She has an advanced sensor suite that acts like a synthetic radar, or something like it. She made us stand around for a good 20 or 30 minutes as she adjusted the radar to scan every meter of the lake bed." Hap said. It occurred to him that Anastasia was making him smarter, or at least sound smarter.
"Oh." David said as they passed the middle of the lake, "I'll have to ask her to show me how they work."
Hap was getting annoyed with David's obsession with Anastasia. He was about to say something when his system warned, "SENSORS DETECT BATTLEMECHS REACTOR STARTUP". Hap glanced down at his sensors to see four new red triangles appear behind them.
"Contact Six" Grizzly yelled.
Hap turned his 'mech around as he brought his PPC up. To his surprise there were no 'mechs. He glanced back at his sensors confirming the marks, then looked up to the tree line on the far side of the lake. It didn't make sense, then it clicked, before he could speak Tatyana yelled, "In shuttle, pid vodoyu…uh…under vodya". Hearing the normally cool Tatyana who would smoothly switch between English and Russian struggle with her words alarmed Hap.
"They're underwater." Hap said as he glanced down at his sensors. He could see the four 'mechs moving under the water from behind the downed shuttle. He also saw the tank lance was now lining up, and one of the tanks was moving toward them. Hap leaned forward to see the blocky form of an SRM carrier crest the ridgeline and drive into the spot that Mag's had marked as a TRP weeks ago. A chill went down his spine. They were in the perfect ambush.
"I've been sensor locked." David sounded confused.
"David, Punch out." Hap said as he turned his Mech to face the ridgeline. Instinctively he knew he'd have to close the distance with the tanks, otherwise they'd rain down missiles with murderous impunity.
"What?"
"Vykynuty! Eject!" Tatyana screamed
Hap started to run toward the lake as the ridgeline appeared to erupt like a volcano. The smoke of hundreds of missiles rose into the air as the missiles streaked toward David's Valkyrie. Hap gunned his jump jets sending his Griffin rocketing over the lake. As his 'mech climbed he could clearly see three LRM carriers with their smoking missile launchers. He targeted the furthest tank and shot as his Griffin reached the apex of its jump. As his 'mech plunged into the water Hap ignored David's screams. He refused to acknowledge what they meant.
"What the hell just happened?" Crow asked.
"Hammer lance, I have a fire mission" Hap said as he sent his 'mech rocketing over the lake again.
"Send it." Rolph snarled
"TRP 3, Armored vehicle, in defilade" Hap touched the icon for TRP3, "Danger Close. Fire for effect."
"TRP 3, armor, in defilade, Danger close." Crow repeated, "Splash over"
Hap's 'mech continued to climb as he angled his 'mech to land on the SRM carrier. He could see the tank he had shot at, it was damaged but operational. Black smoke poured from one of the LRM racks but the other two appeared functional, it was backing out of the defilade as he landed hard on the SRM carrier.
He could feel the tank crack and break under the force of 55 tons of 'mech falling on it. There was also the sickening sensation of his 'mech's foot stepping in something soft. He felt the tank's crew section collapse as he stomped and shuffled off the tank trying to keep his balance.
Hap steadied his 'mech as he got his bearings. The tank in TRP 3 was to his left. In front of him was another LRM carrier, and the damaged tank was to his right. He was within 90 meters of all three vehicles, this meant he was inside the minimum range of their weapon systems. Before he could make another move the combined salvos of the Crow's Catapult and Rolph's Trebuchet rained down from a high angle into the defilade and LRM carrier in TRP 3. The tank exploded as Hap reported, "Splash out. Good contact, vehicle destroyed"
"Hammer Lance, I could use some of that love over here." Grizzly said as Hap watched the damaged LRM Carrier chew through the gravel of the unimproved road as it tried to get further away from Hap. When it got about 120 meters away it wheeled around hard spraying gravel as it brought its missile racks to face Hap.
Hap clenched his teeth as the tank crew fired their two operational LRM systems. Hap saw missiles impact all over his Griffin and he had to struggle to keep his 'mech upright as half the missiles hit him while the others sailed past or impacted the ground.
Hap put a PPC bolt into the tank's breached armor and watched as the tank seemed to slightly expand and give a little jump in the air then black smoke poured out from every port and hole. One of the emergency hatches opened and a member of the tank crew members emerged followed by a second, both were engulfed in flames. They took a few steps before stumbling to the ground.
Hap could also see the last LRM Carrier was on the otherside of the defilade facing sideways to him. It was not moving, and the LRM carrier didn't have a turret. Hap cautiously stepped up onto the berm to look down at the tank. It looked like the crew had panicked when they tried to back out of the defilade and had gotten their tank stuck by driving off the road, knocking over trees and getting stuck half off the road and tangled up in the trees.
Hap leveled his PPC, but as he reached to disable the PPC's field inhibitor the crew's main hatch opened. A tanker slowly rose from inside the vehicle holding his open hands up in the air.
Hap switched on his external speakers, "I accept your surrender. You have wounded, collect your first aid equipment and proceed over the defilade." Hap ordered him.
The crew member disappeared then returned a moment later with a large white box. He jumped off the tank and ran up the berm. He was followed by three more tankers. They got to the top of the defilade and stopped. One of the burned crew members moved and his company mates ran down to him.
Hap watched the grim scene as the tank crew tried to help their hopelessly injured comrades. He glanced at his lance command monitor. David's Valkyrie was destroyed, and his vitals were flat. There was a possibility he could have ejected, and he could be fine, but Hap knew David was dead.
Hap looked up again. These people had just killed one of his lancemate, someone he was personally responsible for, and he had responded by destroying three tanks and possibly killing a dozen troopers. Hap felt numb. In his rational mind he knew it was always kill or be killed in a battle. He also knew tank crews inherently understood their risks against 'mechs, but he felt bad about all the destruction and death he had caused in such a short time.
-
Chapter 52
Hap could feel the post combat "buck fever". His hands shook and he felt sick. When he was fighting it felt like time had been stretched out and slowed down, suddenly it was back to normal. He had also been highly focused. Now he was aware of more things. He could hear the radio chatter as Grizzly was coordinating with Crow and Rolph. Tatyana had calmed down enough to just mutter what Hap was certain were Russian obscenities.
Hap stepped to the ridgeline. David's Valkyrie was destroyed. The fusion reactor had exploded and the whole right side was demolished. Hap could also see damage to the cockpit, but it was obvious David had not ejected. Hap took it all in a moment, but refused to let himself feel the impact of it.
There was a destroyed Commando 'mech broken and half underwater next to Grizzly's Wolverine. He was being harassed by a Spider and Tatyana was engaging a Vulcan. Rolph and Crow were bounding over the road and moving closer. As they moved Rolph and Crow alternated firing their missile at the Vulcan and Spider.
The Vulcan jumped close to Tatyana and raked her Kintaro with its medium laser, flamer, and machine gun. The Vulcan had its back to Hap and without thinking he dropped his crosshairs on it and fired both his PPC and missiles. The PPC's electric bolt destroyed the rear armor on the mech's left shoulder and the missiles hit all around its back. One of the missiles found the machine gun ammunition magazine and there was an explosion as the ammo cooked off.
"McFinigan Patrol, this is Ops, report." Kelly said
Hap stepped back and turned back the tank crew. The one that had stayed on the berm was now smoking. Two of the other three were trying to help one of the other burn victims. It appeared one of the burn victims had succumbed to their injuries, and so they were focused only on the one that was still moving. The burned crew member was clawing and struggling as two of the other tankers tried to hold him still. One crew member pulled out a bright red auto-injector from the med kit.
Hap knew the red auto-injectors were a powerful synthetic opioid sedative. One injector was usually sufficient to relieve pain and would often render a patient unconscious. Two would almost induce a coma, and should only be administered by a skilled medic, or preferably, a doctor. A third dose would be, in most cases, a lethal dose. Hap watched as one of the tank crews administered the first auto-injector, and pulled out a second.
"Ops, this is patrol, vicinity of Turquois lake. We've been ambushed by a lance of 'mechs and a lance tanks. One friendly 'mech destroyed. Tanks are neutralized, still engaging enemy 'mechs. Request prisoner escort."
"Do ye require medical assistance?" Kitty asked.
The scene in front of him changed as two tank crew members started arguing and the third pulled out another auto-injector. Hap exhaled slowly, even from his 'mech he knew he was part of this. "I have four prisoners in good condition. Need confirmation on Dullahan 4's condition."
"Need to secure the battlefield first, but Dullahan 4's 'mech was cored, cockpit destroyed. No ejection. Life signs are negative." Grizzly said flatly, "Right now I need help with this Damn Spider it won't stay still. Crow can't you hit him? Tatyana-"
"De suka shlyukha Phoenix Hawk?" Tatayan said, "Hap, you see Phoenix Hawk."
Hap stepped back toward the cliff edge. He could see a 'mech moving quickly south, the rangefinder indicated it was over 600 meters away. This was outside the effective range of his PPC, but he got a lock with his LRMs and took a hurried shot. The missiles struck the Phoenix hawk in the legs and back, but didn't pierce the 'mech's armor.
Crow jumped his Catapult next to Hap, "Damn, look at him run." Crow turned in place, waited a moment then launched a salvo at the Spider. Hap couldn't see the light 'mech, but the red icon on his targeting computer disappeared. "Alright Grizzly, that solves that problem. Now about the Phoenix Hawk."
"I'm on it." Kate said. "Commander McFinnigan authorized the use of the Stuka. I'm preparing to launch now. I need you to vector me in on the target."
"You're looking for a Phoenix Hawk, moving along the road about a kilometer south of Turquoise Lake. It's probably under full throttle, I think that's about 100 kilometers an hour." Hap said.
"No, he's got a damaged leg or something, I'm keeping up with him, and I'm going 85 kilometers an hour. I just can't get him in range of my missiles." Rolph said.
"Hammer 3 continue to pursue." Kelly said. "Coyote 3 and 4 will be joining you soon. Need you to keep eyes on the Phoenix Hawk. I want to talk to that pilot, so take him alive. Coyote 1, Hammer 2, Dullahan 2 and 3 hold position and secure the battlefield. Escort for prisoners is en route. Remaining Anvil, Hammer, and Coyote elements will secure the star port."
Hap glanced again at the prisoners. They had pulled out the emergency blankets and covered their dead. Two of the prisoners were sitting on the berm smoking, the third was next to them laying on his back with his arm covering his eyes. The fourth prisoner was a few meters from his crewmates sitting with his head between his knees. Hap could see he was holding all three bright red auto-injectors.
"Crow, what happens to these guys?" Hap asked over the radio.
"Well it depends." Crow said, "If they're mercenaries we take 'em back to base, call up the MRB, they'll talk to their holding company, bank, or employer and see if anyone will pay a ransom for 'em. ComStar does the prisoner exchange. If they're part of a Successor State military we turn them over to the local military. If they're criminals we give them to law enforcement. Roweyna handles most of it."
"Just making sure, when you're in an AFFS military unit you usually hold a prisoner until the MPs show up and they take care of the rest."
The Stuka went screaming overhead. "Rolph, sweety, you still got a visual?" Kate asked.
"I did, but he just went into the mountain pass. I'm trying to catch up with him." Rolph said.
"I'm headed your way too, don't let him get away Rolph." Mags said. Hap turned his 'mech's torso to watch Mags's Jenner run across the star port's runway and sail gracelessly through the air over the fence. Joker was behind her, but he was rapidly losing ground as she ran her 'mech at full throttle. They were sending 'mechs across the runways which meant the Star Port had ceased operations.
Hap watched Kate start to bank into a turn. A second aerospace fighter rocketed up from the mountains. It was climbing high and fast and away from the Stuka. Kate brought her aerospace fighter out of the turn and corkscrewed upwards, elegantly putting her Stuka into position to pursue the fighter. Hap was impressed by the Stuka's fluid maneuvers.
"I'll be damned." Kate said, "Ops, you're not going to believe this, but I got a Phoenix Hawk LAM on my scopes and it's pulling hard for black. I think all things being equal…well we're equal for thrust. If I can catch him, I can put the hurt on him, but he's got a good lead, and he's out of weapons range."
"Aye." Kelly said. There was a pause before he spoke again, "Come back Ms. Berlin. If he has friends or a drop ship waiting in orbit you'll be at a disadvantage. If he plans to run and hide in an asteroid field or on a moon, his LAM gives him some interesting tactical advantages. Stay here among friends."
"Acknowledge Sir. Returning to base."
"Loiter about the star port air space for a bit, and make sure there are no more villains about." Kelly said. "Hammer 3, Coyote 3 and 4, link up and take the long way back to the base. Look for any additional trouble. If ye run into problems, call Ms. Berlin, she'll 'put the hurt on 'em'."
Kate, Rolph, Joker and Mags acknowledged their orders, and Hap watched Kate send her fighter into a series of barrel rolls to drop altitude and then started taking a long lazy turn over the star port. Hap could distantly see a convoy of company vehicles driving toward them. He settled in to wait.
He wished he had Anastasia with him to talk. The "business" aspect that Crow described bothered him. Hap wasn't sure how he should feel right now. He had been irritated with David right before the ambush started, and now felt he felt guilty. Guilty he couldn't save him, guilty his leadership and skill failed him. Guilty that he had been angry with him.
Then there were the three destroyed tanks around Hap. The burned out hull of the LRM carrier that was in TRP3, the twisted and broken SRM carrier that he had jumped on, and still burning LRM carrier he had shot full of missiles and ion particles. These represented a dozen men and women he had killed. This was part of the business though. Bringing a tank, especially a support vehicle like an LRM carrier, to fight 'mechs was like bringing a knife to a gunfight. It was easier to think of it all as "just business".
Hap wondered if the tank crew hated him. As if to answer his question the prisoner with the auto-injectors stood up and started shouting at his crew mates. The smokers watched him idly, but the man on his back aggressively jumped to his feet and started stalking toward him.
Crow shot his small lasers into the berm, "Hey! Be cool, or we'll zip tie and blind fold you. Escort vehicles are on the way. Just relax." Both men responded by sitting back down.
A minute later one of the company's short flatbed truck came up and stopped about a hundred meters from the prisoners. John stepped out of the vehicle and two of the burlier techs stood up in the back. The techs both had Federated long rifles which they steadied on the truck's roof as John slowly approached the prisoners. Hap watched as John quickly searched the tank crew, and put them on the back on the flatbed. It looked like a quick and well-rehearsed POW reception and movement.
As they drove the prisoners away Kelly asked, "Can anyone confirm who attacked us?" Kelly asked.
"'Mech's were black with Liao Green trim. There symbols a skull on a green Liao triangle." Grizzly said
"Is Death Commandos camo spec." Tatyana added.
"Death Commandos aye? So ye think this was revenge for the raid?" Kelly asked
"They do not fight like Death Commandos." Tatyana observed.
"The lads you picked up John, what did they tell you?" Kelly asked
"They are or were Mernard's Missileers. It's one of the mercenary companies based here. They claim they were hired to ambush a rogue 'mech lance."
"Death Commandos would not hire help." Tatyana said.
"Sorry Tatyana, I forgot your beloved Capellans are the biggest bad asses in the galaxy." Grizzly said. "I'd hate to bismerch your view of the great Capellan Death Commandos with the idea that may be they might need a little help."
"I have no love for Confederation. They left me to rot in League prison. I am zhinka bez krayiny now. I have no country. I am mama to Sophie, druzhuna to James, and mercenary like you, nothing else. I tell you truthfully, Death Commandos would never trust mercenaries with their work."
"Enough you two." Kelly sounded like a father that shouldn't be questioned. I know tempers are running high because we lost one of our own, but now is not the time. John, if they're mercenaries, we treat 'em with respect. Assume nothing they did today was personal. Tatyana, return to base. I'll want you to talk with them while we get this sorted out."
"Dah" Tatyana replied.
Hap looked down into the valley to see the techs and support personnel picking through the remains of the battlefield and pulling out salvage. Hap glanced over to Crow's Catapult and saw Crow was sitting on top of his Catapult's LRM launcher. Hap cracked open his cockpit, "Crow, what are you doing out there?"
"I'm just thinking about David. Sometimes it's just good to take a moment after a battle and think about things, especially when we lose someone. It's quieter up here" Crow said.
"You mad at those guys for killing David?"
"No." Crow said. "They're mercenaries like us. It's like Kelly said, it's not personal, just business. The MRB will tell us what to do with them. We'll give David a good send off, and we'll all feel better, eventually. We'll do more patrols, we'll get other jobs, and life will go on. I'll still miss him though."
Hap nodded, "I was about to chew him out for his obsession with Anastasia."
Crow smiled, "Yeah, he really liked her." Crow stood up and started walking along the top of his 'mech. "He was a good kid, had a lot of potential. It's like they say though, only the good die young. People like you and me we'll probably live long enough to screw up and upset the people we love. Lucky David made it out before he had the chance."
"Maybe you and I should try to do better, and not upset the people we love." Hap said.
"I'm trying, brother." Crow acrobatically slid into Catapult's access hatch, "I'm trying real hard."
Hap reached up to pull his cockpit closed, "Me too."
Hap watched as the tech crews came to pick through the wreckages littering the battlefield. Grizzly and Hap used their 'mechs to put heavy pieces onto the trucks or move some of the broken 'mechs or tanks so the techs could find useful parts among the destroyed components. Rolph came back to help too.
As the sun was setting David's Valkyrie was the last thing to load up. They carefully lifted it onto the back of one of the Company's flat bed trucks. Crow's Catapult, Rolph's Trebuchet, Grizzly's Wolverine and Hap's Griffin formed a box around the fallen 'mech as it was driven back to their base. As they escorted their fallen comrade Hap could see the Dullahan channel flashing with activity. He switched over.
"Remember how he wanted to make a Manga about his life?" Rolph asked.
"Yeah but he couldn't draw." Grizzly replied, "gawd I'm going to miss him."
"He could write though." Crow said, "Did he show you his script for his Immortal Warrior movie."
"It wasn't that great either." Grizzly replied.
"Hey! Some parts had potential." Crow said.
"I told him to save his money, so someday he could buy his own manga or movie studio and hire people to write and draw." Grizzly said, "damn thing was I think he actually listened to me."
"Yeah, that's what I liked about him, he always listened to us." Rolph said. "He always wanted to learn."
"I got annoyed with his questions sometimes." Grizzly said, "He was a better friend to me than I was to him." Hap could hear the emotion in Grizzly's voice.
"I was thinking the same." Hap said. "He was a good man. He looked up to me more than I deserved."
"To be fair, he was trying to steal your girl, brother." Crow said, "But yeah, he was still good people."
Patrick's Dragon appeared on their sensors coming down the road toward them, "I heard you lot over the radio and wondered why ye were talkin' like it was some funeral procession."
"The docs clear you to pilot your 'mech?" Crow asked.
"No. I didn't bother to ask. I thought 'listen to those bastards cryin' in their neuro helmets all because some little orphan died on a battlefield', and then I thought, 'how can I be part of that?' So I jumped in my 'mech and hauled ass here." As he spoke he turned his 'mech around fell in step at the front.
"To be clear," Kelly said, "When we found him, he was an orphan, but he died part of this family. Fightin' next to his brothers and sisters, and we'll see to it he's long remembered by his brothers and sisters."
"Gnó Teaghlaigh." The mercenaries replied.
"Because that's the family business." Kelly added.
As they neared the 'mech bay the other members of their company had put their mech's into a line on either side of the road. As the broken Valkyrie passed each 'mech bowed its head and fell instep behind the escorts. They all followed the fallen 'mech into the bay and parked their 'mechs.
Hap went through the shut off procedures and answered Mike's questions. Mike seemed more subdued and more business-like than usual. He took a few notes and then wandered off to do his work.
When they were done Hap grabbed his go-bag and climbed down the access ladder. As he climbed he saw something fall from his Griffin's left hand. When he got to the main floor he found a small shard of David's armor that had gotten caught in the 'mech hand when he had helped lift the Valkyrie onto the flatbed truck.
Hap rolled the armor between his fingers. He always thought the armor shards felt strangely light, even though the patches and sheets of armor were heavy and dense. This piece was painted black, and Hap could see part of one of the loops from the McFinnigan and Sons Celtic knot.
Hap dug in his bag and pulled out the cloth that he used to keep the pieces of armor from Lucky and Tuna's mechs. Hap gently laid the piece of David's armor next to the others and carefully folded the cloth. As he held the small cloth bundle he was surprised by how heavy it was.
-
...
-
A possible Heimdall cell hiding as a Merc Unit McFinnigan and Sons.
Interesting 8)
And David died without knowing for the woman he pined for Anastasia.
-
Chapter 53
Hap walked into Ops to discover he was the last to arrive. Kelly had the holotable setup and the whole company was present. "Perfect timing lad. I know you're tired and ready to eat and get cleaned up, but we need to review everything with everyone while it's fresh."
Hap nodded and approached the table. He could see this three dimensional holographic map was set up just before the ambush was initiated. The Death Commando Lance was behind the submerged Leopard and the tank lance was on the ridge. "You want me to start?"
"Whenever yer ready." Kelly answered.
Hap nodded. He described detecting the missile carriers and then the 'mechs starting up. He saw the SRM carrier and guessed the other three vehicles were missile carriers, so he chose to close with them before they had an opportunity to destroy another member of the lance.
"Ye have no close range weapons? It didn't occur to you to send Tatyana or Grizzly?" Kelly said.
"I didn't think, I just reacted. I was trying to get David to eject from his 'mech, and I knew seconds counted." Hap said. "I attempted to engage one of the LRM carriers, while calling down fire on another and I intentionally jumped on the SRM carrier."
"Thereby reminding everyone that an LRM carrier's life expectancy is measured in seconds once they are engaged directly." Patrick went to the refreshment table. "even against the wrong 'mech for the job."
Kelly shook his head, "It's fine Hap, from what the tank crew says, your quick action disrupted the ambush. We'll come back to you. Let's step back a moment. Tatyana is still interviewing the tank crew, but we'll use the BattleROM from her Kintaro."
The screens showed what looked like a view from the cockpit of Tatyana's battlemech. Hap had seen this a few times before. This was Kelly's preferred way of doing after action reviews. The BattleROM showed some of what the pilot could see, plus the mech's status and targeting data. The recording started just as they turned around, and the camera was looking at the lake and tree line, but the two dimensional targeting data implied 'mechs should be in front of them.
Kelly usually disabled the audio and had the 'mechwarrior give commentary. Without Tatyanna Grizzly explained, "Our sensors detected enemy 'mechs and we turned around to find nothing there. Then David said he got sensor locked. Tatyana and Hap told him to eject. Hap started hauling ass to the ridge.
The 'mech and camera turned, and Hap could see the back of his Griffin running toward the lake. At the same time the ridgeline erupted with the smoke of hundreds of missiles.
"This is when the whole damn mountain seemed to explode with missiles." Grizzly said quietly.
The camera turned to watch the missiles start to impact the Valkyrie. David instinctively threw up his mech's arms to try and protect his 'mech's chest and head, but the onslaught of missiles was too great. Hap watched in horror as the 'mech left side was destroyed. The torrent of missiles just kept coming. The Valkyrie fell backwards as it disappeared in the smoke and explosions of the missiles, then there was a bright flash as the fusion engine's shielding was destroyed and the missiles pierced the reactor core.
Kelly sighed and stopped the recording. He looked across the room. "Conner, Noah, I wanted you to see this. You lads are going to start performing more missions, and ye have to know these are the risks."
The boys looked worried but they nodded. Kelly continued, "David would be here with us now if he had immediately ejected like Hap and Tatyana told him. So, this is the other lesson I want ye to learn, in real combat if yer lance leader or one of the old hands tell you something, listen, an' listen quick."
The nodded vigorously and Kelly said, "Good" as the video continued. The Kintaro went rocketing into the air and the camera showed blue for a moment. When the Kintaro came down the camera showed a Commando waist deep in water. The Kintaro's missiles and lasers engulfed the Commando. Hap could see the heat climb on the weapons display. It was nearly halfway to shutdown.
"We saw the enemy 'mechs coming out of the water. Tatyana saw the Commando and jumped at him and fired everything. You can't see it, but at the same time I saw a Spider next to him. I tried to attack him, but he was a squirrely bastard and all I managed to do was take off one of its arms." Grizzly said.
The 'Kintaro twisted its torso and for a moment it looked at a Spider. It was missing its left arm and jumped out view as a Phoenix Hawk and Vulcan emerged from the water. Hap could see Tatyanna pause for a moment as she waited for her 'mech's heat to drop. She fired the Kintaro's left arm SRM rack at the Vulcan as he jumped away from her.
Hap looked at the Holo table. As the video was progressing the mech's moved on the holotable. He could see his Griffin engaging the damaged LRM carrier as Rolph and Crow were getting closer.
"About this time I called in fire on my Spider, hoping to put a quick end to him." Grizzly said. "Hap had disappeared onto the ridgeline, Tatyana was engaging the Vulcan and the Spider was giving me grief."
"Yeah, the Spider pilot was pretty good, or at least hard to hit." Crow said, "He moved around a lot."
"I got the Phoenix Hawk's attention, and he started to run." Rolph added. "So I chased him."
Hap stared at the video from the Tatyanna's cockpit. He watched as the Vulcan tried to keep away from her Kintaro and she carefully managed her heat and continued to chase him until Hap shot him from the cliff. Grizzly, Rolph and Crow continued to explain their actions but Hap's mind kept going back to seeing David's mech get destroyed. He could still hear his scream that ended when his radio was destroyed.
Tatyana and Fletch entered Ops. The after action review stopped as they walked in. Sophia ran from Elinor's lap to her mother. A very tired looking Tatyana picked up her daughter and sat in the chair that Mark offered her. Sophia looked content as she laid on her mother's chest, and Tatyana rested her chin on her daughter's head. Hap could see that Tatyana was just as exhausted as he felt.
"I think we've gotten all we can from the Tank crew." Fletch said. "They got hired to ambush a lance of rogue 'mechs. From what the surviving crew can tell us it was a job too good to be true. They were supposed to be sitting in defensive positions engaging a target from the high ground on the other side of an uncross-able lake. They were also promised a generous cut of the salvage."
"Until Hap crossed their uncross-able lake and made their positions indefensible." Patrick said.
"Yeah." Fletch opened his first aid kit, "Patrick, have you got any smokes?"
"Fresh out mate." Patrick said. There was a general murmur from around the ops center and Kitty held up a pack and tossed it to Fletch.
Fletch caught it, and shook his head, "Menthols? Really?"
Tatyana murmured in Russian, and Fletch nodded slowly, "Thank you Kitty, it's very generous."
"I'm tryin' to quit, and we know you're a right nasty terror when ye can't have a cigarette." Kitty said.
Fletch shook a cigarette out of the pack and tossed it back to her, "So I've been told."
"Could they say who hired them?" Kelly asked.
Fletch shook his head, "No. This crew wasn't part of the leadership team. They did tell us about the 'mechwarriors they were supporting though. They mechwarriors claimed to be part of a special Davion unit which is why their 'mechs were painted like Capellan Death Commandos."
"Damn. Did we just tangle with our employer?" Grizzly asked.
"Probably not." Kelly said coolly.
"Even if we did, they attacked us, so it was self-defense." Rowyena added.
"The tank crew thought the mechwarriors were lying about being special forces, but they didn't think they were Capellans." Fletch said. "The money was good and the job looked easy. In their shoes I might have done the same thing. Ignored my clients weirdness and just taken the money"
"Ye think Farrah Ahmed was somehow behind this?" Kelly asked
Fletch and Tatyana exchanged looks, "Unlikely" Tatyana replied.
"The tank crew thought the mechwarriors were Lyran Commonwealth. They had Lyran field kit, and their names were Shafer, Schmit, and Fisher or something like that. The tank crew was also told they would be fighting with a light lance led by a Griffin. They were supposed to attack the 'mechs as they were signaled by the mechwarriors."
"They were told to target Valkyrie first, not Patrick's Dragon." Tatyana said.
Kelly nodded. "Lucky them since Patrick didn't take the field." Kelly pulled out his pipe and tobacco bag.
"They also thought 'mechwarriors were green." Tatyana added.
Kelly raised a curious eyebrow as he prepared his pipe.
Fletch shrugged, "You'd have to talk to the tankers, but they basically told us the mechwarriors didn't act like they had much combat experience and all their gear looked new. It sounded like they were some young soldiers with more empowerment than common sense."
Kelly lit his pipe, "They initiated an ambush by engaging the weakest mech with roughly two tons of missiles." He smoked for a moment, "not real experienced warriors indeed."
"What are you thinking Dad?" Roweyana asked
"We have a lance of 'mechs painted like Capellan Death Commandos, but their pilots claim to be from the Federated Suns Armed Forces, but they hired another group of mercenaries that thought they were from the Lyran Commonwealth, and together they attacked a lance of mercenaries hired by the Federation. I'm thinking we need to finish this debriefing so I can try to make sense of it." Kelly said.
The mercenary commander motioned to Grizzly and he continued explaining the battle from his command couch. Hap's mind drifted back to the barrage of missiles striking David. He had destroyed his share of 'mechs and seen a lot of 'mechs ruined but there was something about the merciless onslaught of the tank lance that haunted Hap. It felt unfair to him, especially for David to die like that.
The briefing ended and everyone was dismissed. Hap looked around as everyone started to leave. Crow found Fiona and put his arm around her and they left together. Rolph and Grizzly started joking loudly as they left Ops, Hap knew they were trying to forget about David, or act like his death didn't matter. Hap saw Joker and Mags talking quietly to each other as they followed the crowd out of Ops. Fletch took Sophie from his wife and held the half asleep child as he spoke to her in hushed tones.
Kelly called for Fletch and Tatyana, and Hap looked over to see Anastasia talking to Kelly. Hap concluded it was better to just go to bed and put this terrible day behind him. He followed his peers to the barracks. Hap could hear Dillon crying and Rolph put his arm over his shoulder and Grizzly talked to him about David and how he was in a better place. It was somber as they walked up the stairs and everyone retired to their rooms.
Hap undressed and got into his shower. He let the warm water wash over him. He scrubbed away the dirt and grime and dried sweat. His mind drifted again to David's death and watching the tank crew mercy kill one of their own. The warm water felt good, and stepping out of the shower seemed to mean dealing with everything. He was hesitant to leave, but he couldn't stay there forever.
Hap shut off the water, dried off, and wrapped a towel around himself and stepped out of the shower. He walked into his bedroom to find Anastasia standing in the middle of the room. She was still in her coveralls, but her hair was down and she had her boots off. She looked shorter and somehow more vulnerable, "Hey you. Can we talk?"
Hap had every intention of telling her no, and telling her to wait till the morning, but he nodded. "Sure."
"Let me get cleaned up and changed." Anastasia said. She looked relieved. "you should put on your pajamas while you wait."
Hap went to his wall locker and dressed for bed, as Anastasia grabbed her shower things and disappeared into the bathroom. Hap examined the contents of his wall locker again. Anastasia had unpacked his uniforms and the few clothes that he had. To his surprise his leather jacket was among the dress shirts and uniform blouses. He pulled out the jacket and looked at it. The rank had been updated and the RDMM patch had been replaced with the McFinnigan and Sons patch. He started to put it on when he noticed that his initials were not embroidered in the collar.
He looked closely and realized this was not his jacket. Anastasia must have sent someone to the AFFS clothing sales store to get this jacket. Hap sighed. The fact she had recognized how much he wanted a leather jacket made him recognize how much she paid attention to what he was saying. It was hard to be angry with her when she did things like this.
He closed his locker and heard the shower shut off. He sat down on the bed and waited for Anastasia. She came into the room wearing a silk robe and with her hair wrapped up in a towel. She walked over to him and looked cautious, "I have a proposal for you."
"Okay"
"I was wrong to snap at you, and I'm sorry. Tomorrow you can really let me have it."
"Really let you have it?" Hap asked.
"Yes. Really let me have it, but not now. Tomorrow you can yell at me, and say hurtful things we'll regret, and we can argue as long as you promise we'll work to solve our problems-."
"That seems unnecessary." He felt too tired to really fight with her or anyone.
"-but tonight I just want to know you love me, and I want you to hold me, because I love you."
Hap nodded and started to pull back the sheets and blankets, "I think I'd like to be held too."
"Oh! You're just agreeing to it. I thought-." Anastasia seemed surprised as she reached her hand out to Hap and he pulled over to the bed.
She slipped between the sheets and Hap followed her. They laid on their sides and faced each other. Hap held her as she buried her head into his chest. He could feel her tremble.
"I was so mad at you when you left." Anastasia said. "I was sitting here thinking of things I should have said, or I was going to say. I was debating about getting an impact hammer and making sure you couldn't remove my shelves, just so you knew I wasn't going anywhere. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I was wrong. I think I was mad at myself."
"I was having a similar talk with myself." Hap said. "Only it didn't involve industrial tools."
"Then the call went out to report to our mechs. We had troops in contact and a 'mech destroyed. I was terrified it was you. I was horrified our last words would be spoken in anger." Anastasia sobbed.
Hap held her tightly and let her cry. For the last several hours he'd been longing to talk to her, just for the companionship, he had no idea what she had been going through.
"And it's my fault David is dead." She added between ragged breaths.
Hap thought he was responsible, "What makes you think that?"
"When I was on Klathandu the lance I was assigned to was a Phoenix Hawk, a Commando and a Vulcan. I assume they picked up the Spider to round out the lance, but it's too much of a coincidence. Shafer was my lance leader, and Schmit, and Fisher were the Commando and Vulcan pilots. I don't know how they did it, but they're ComStar. They got themselves assigned to the First FedCom, and they were supposed to kill me on Klathandu."
She looked up at Hap, "That's why they abandoned me to be killed by the Thunderbolt and Quickdraw. This was their second attempt to kill me, this time they didn't leave it to chance. This is what I was talking to the Commander and Tatyana about after the brief. They all agree it's very likely. The only way we'll know for sure is if the MRB comes by tomorrow asking questions about me."
"Well if it was comstar they got the wrong Valkyrie."
Hap could feel her start to cry again. "It's alright though, we're here together and they failed again." He told her.
He could feel her nod as he continued to hold her close and comfort her.
-
Chapter 54
The Thunderbolt moved like a prowling jungle cat. It stalked through the small pass in the Klathandu canyon and unleashed a barrage of missiles and lasers at Tuna's Hunchback. Tuna struggled against the onslaught, and had to fight to steady his 'Mech as the Thunderbolt kept coming.
Anastasia shot her Valkyrie's arm mounted medium laser, but it only did superficial damage to the Thunderbolt's chest. Joker jumped behind the heavy mech, and bathed it in fire, lasers, and bullets, but the Thunderbolt pilot seemed unconcerned. The cannon on Tuna's Hunchback launched a pitiless blast. The powerful autocannon put a hole in the 'mech's armor, but it didn't stop the Thunderbolt.
Hap sent a salvo of missiles into the heavy 'mech, but they failed to hit the breach in its armor. The Griffin's PPC stabbed at the armor of the 'Mech's chest, but only managed to melt off the armor below the smoking hole in the Thunderbolt's right breast.
In a brutal display the Thunderbolt raised its fist overhead and brought it down on the Hunchback. The large shoulder mounted autocannon blocked Hap from seeing where the blow landed, but Hap knew Tuna was dead as the Hunchback fell backwards. Joker hit the Thunderbolt again with everything his Firestarter had, and smoke billowed from holes in the Thunderbolt's armor, but it seemed unaffected.
The Thunderbolt turned quickly to face Joker's Firestarter, but as the smoke and fire cleared Hap could see it was Lucky's Javelin. With one fluid motion the Thunderbolt brought its up arm mounted large laser, and an azure particle bolt flew from the barrel and evaporated the Javelin's cockpit.
Before Hap could react the Thunderbolt turned and trained the missile pod the Valkyrie next to Hap. The missile pod erupted with countless missiles. Hap could see the missiles start to impact the Valkyrie. Anastasia instinctively threw up her mech's arms to try and protect the 'mech's chest and head, but the onslaught of missiles was too great.
Hap watched in horror as the 'mech left side was destroyed, and the torrent of missiles just kept coming. The Valkyrie fell backwards as it disappeared in the smoke and explosions of the missiles, then there was a bright flash as the fusion engine's shielding was destroyed and the missiles pierced the reactor core. Hap could hear Anastasia scream until the cockpit's radio was destroyed.
Hap looked back as the Thunderbolt leveled its large laser at his cockpit. Hap tried to fire but suddenly there was a flash like lightning as the blast hit his cockpit. Hap's vision blurred, and electricity danced around the cockpit as his mech started to fall forward.
Hap sat up in bed. His heart was racing, his mouth was dry. Nothing made sense and he knew he needed to get his 'mech up again before the Thunderbolt killed him. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as he realized it was all a dream.
He reached for Anastasia, but she wasn't there. His heart started to race again as he searched the bed for her. Hap threw the blankets aside just to make sure the small woman wasn't hidden in the bedding. After a moment he realized he was alone in the bed and panic set in again as it occurred to him that maybe Anastasia had died and he was so grief stricken he had convinced himself it was David.
Before that horror of the idea he couldn't trust his own sense of reality set in, Hap heard the sink in his bathroom and a glass being filled. He watched as the ghostly form of Anastasia approached his bed.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you, I was thirsty and wanted to put my hair down and braid it." Anastasia told him.
Hap was instantly relieved to see her. "I was having a bad dream," Hap said as he moved the blankets aside and helped her back into bed. He cradled her back with one arm as she laid next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He covered them with the blanket and held her hand under the blankets. He calmed down as he smelled the exotic perfume of her hair and felt her warmth and softness against him.
Hap could feel her relax too as she rested on him and almost melted into his arms, "I've been waiting for this for this for two weeks." Anastasia told him, "I really missed you."
Hap kissed her forehead. "I missed you too. I missed you today. I've needed someone to talk to all day. Even without David dying it's been a rough day. This whole business of war is surreal sometimes. We didn't really get much of a chance to get reacquainted yesterday, not like I thought we would."
Anastasia pressed herself more into Hap, "Last night you were pretty drunk."
"Yeah I passed out while you were in the bathroom."
"I may have passed out too." Anastasia said quietly.
Hap gave her a wry smile, "I thought you're beloved French wine would gently put you to bed."
"Well that wasn't really French wine." Anastasia said, "also I could sense there was some tension between us. I knew it was because I moved into your room, but I wasn't sure how to address it. Honestly there seemed to be building tension between us for a while. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think we should address it."
Without thinking Hap kissed her on the lips. She let go of his hand and pulled him closer to her. She opened her mouth slightly as he began to caress her thigh. Hap could feel his physical and emotional exhaustion melt away as they kissed. He slid his hand under her robe expecting to find her night dress, but, to his surprise, he found soft warm skin.
He continued to gently caress her as they kissed deeper. When his hand came to her side he could feel her skin slightly tremble. He started to move his hand when she grabbed his elbow and used her arm to press his hand back down.
They began to kiss more intensely as their hands explored each other's bodies in ways they never had before. Hap could feel her rubbing his shoulder and back. She communicated her desire as she squeezed his muscles and pulled him closer to her.
Hap let his hands wander to the places he had respectfully avoided in the past. Wordlessly Hap tugged at her robe belt and slipped her robe off her shoulder as she pulled his shirt over his head. Once they were done undressing they began kissing again.
Anastasia gave a quiet gasp of momentary pain as their passion was fully realized, but her pain gave way to pleasure almost as quickly as it came. Anastasia and Harold seemed to easily understand each other's desires as they quickly found their perfect rhythm.
As they approached ecstasy Hap pulled the elastic band from the end of Anastasia hair. With one smooth motion, she ran her hand through her hair and shook it out to let it cascade like a rich silken curtain around them and surrounded them with the sweet scent of exotic flowers.
Together they reached the zenith of physical pleasure and Anastasia collapsed back into Harold's arms. They were both breathless as they laid together catching their breath. Harold held her hand and waited for her to respond, uncertain what to say. She nestled up to him and said, "Harold, I love you. I mean I love you now more than ever."
They settled into a comfortable embrace. That was exactly how he felt as he said, "I love you too." He could feel her relax again and melt into his arms. They had a new sense of oneness as they held each other and slept.
Hap woke up before Anastasia. He was on his back and she was on her side with her head on his shoulder. The sun was up and the room was brightly lit. Hap was careful not to move as he looked around his room. He looked at the bookshelves and thought about her comment about the impact hammer. It was clear, she had no plans of going anywhere. Hap pulled the blankets up around them.
He had spent the last two weeks thinking about how he wanted to be with her, then he got upset when she started moving in and making their relationship more permanent. He was ashamed of himself for being annoyed with her, especially after last night. If this was going to be their life together now he was happy with that.
Anastasia stirred. She stretched and half rose on one elbow. She looked up at Hap and smiled. "Good morning." Her eyes twinkled as she added, "lover." She crossed her arms over Hap's chest and rested her chin on them so she could look up at Hap.
Hap rubbed her shoulders and back, "Good morning."
Anastasia smiled mischievously, "So are you mad at me?"
"No." Hap answered quickly, surprised at the question, "That's not usually-
"I'm mad at me. I didn't realize how I was holding out on you, us. We should have made love weeks, maybe months, ago."
"Yeah, what was holding us up?" Hap answered dryly, and gave her a suspicious look
Anastasia shrugged "perhaps, moi". She blew a stray lock of hair out of her face, "You have to admit it was worth the wait though. I'm sorry I had all my little hang-ups about privacy, and waiting for the right moment and wanting it to be magical, which it was, and not being sure if I would like it."
"Wait. You weren't sure if you would like sex?"
"Well, not everyone does." Anastasia said nonchalantly
"Most people do, most men certainly. I assume most women. I mean it's pretty important to most relationships, it's why it's a big deal in most songs, and holos, and those books you read."
"Those books are fantasy, and most songs are full of poetic exaggeration. And sex sells to a male audience, for obvious reasons. Of course, now I understand. I was being a little naïve I suppose."
"I would agree with that, both that sex sells, and you were being naïve, but-"
"Don't be mean." Anastasia said sleepily as she rolled onto her back and stretched.
"You said your roommate at NAIS was regularly sleeping with her boyfriends."
"She told me most of the time she didn't enjoy it, she was really doing it to keep her current boyfriend around. Also they always talked about how great it was to get drunk, but they drank cheap spirits to the point of passing out and then having a terrible hangover the next day. There concepts of 'pleasurable' activities seemed a bit spurious to me."
"Alright that's fair, but didn't your parents give you 'the talk'?"
"Time with Daddy and Mother was precious and limited. They weren't going to waste it with uncomfortable discussions about anatomy. When I turned thirteen several books 'magically' appeared on my bed. My tutor nervously asked me if I had found the books and told me he could answer any questions I might have."
"Did you?" Hap asked.
"No. The books were technically thorough and complete. Before you ask, they described an orgasm much similar to a sneeze or a gag reflex, only more pleasurable. I was also swapping harlequin novels with the staff, and the maid told me my tutor probably had never been with girl and I should come to her or my mom with questions. Ultimately I assumed I had learned enough from my reading."
"Apparently you hadn't."
"You don't know what you don't know until you experience something." She looked up at him coyly, as she snuggled up to him and put her head on his shoulder "I could probably use more experience."
Hap pulled her closer, "I don't think you're ever going to find me opposed to that, but we're probably going to have to get up and earn our pay."
"Probably." Anastasia said as she rubbed his chest.
"We probably need to get some breakfast too." Hap caressed her back.
"I have a case of ration biscuits. Three are all the calories and nutrients you need for a day. I can easily live off of two. Between us we probably have a week's worth. We really don't need to go anywhere."
"So you just want to stay here, make love, snack on rations, maybe nap, and just keep doing that until someone comes looking for us."
"Yes please." Anastasia said, "but first we do need to talk about everything."
"I'm not going to yell at you, and 'let you have it'."
"I know." Anastasia said as she reached around under the blankets, "Still I think we can both agree we need to address a few things, and make sure they are resolved before we make love again."
"That's probably wise, but what are you doing?"
"I'm looking for my robe. I have a notecard in my pocket. Yesterday I was sitting in my 'mech waiting for nothing to happen and once I knew you were alive I started working out the things we needed to talk about to resolve our fight. I believe unresolved problems led to your divorce, so I made notes."
She found the robe and laid back down next to Hap as she fished the notecard out of the pocket and the casually tossed the rob onto the foot of the bed. She cuddled up to Hap again so he could read the notecard in her hand. "You can start." She told him.
Hap glanced down to read:
1) Marriage
2) Moving in together
3) The Lamp.
Hap nodded, "So when it comes to Marriage I wanted to ask you to marry me-"
"I accept." Anastasia interrupted and gave him another impish grin.
"If you're not going to take this seriously, I probably am going to 'let you have it'." Hap said
"Harold, I want to be your wife. I wanted to have a permanent intimate exclusive relationship with you almost from the first time we met. It's like I made a 'Haphazard choice' about you and in the months we've traveled together everything has reaffirmed that was the best choice."
"A 'haphazard choice'?"
"Harold, my love, you make instinctive choices that tend to be amazingly correct. Usually I have to look at options, weigh them, try to choose what is best, but somehow you just know. Being with you I'm learning there are times when you just know what the best choice is, and it requires no further examination. You tend to do this as a habit, for me...choosing you is the only time I've done it, but I maintain it was the correct choice."
"Okay, but you don't want some amazing surprise proposal, and an expensive ring?"
Anastasia shrugged, "Expensive ring yes, but the perfect proposal is unnecessary. Honestly you're on the clock now that you've spoken to my mother. Once we tell her we can travel home, she'll set a date."
"Noted, I'll get you a ring." Hap wasn't sure if this was a stroke of luck, or foreshadowing.
Anastasia nodded, "Moving onto the next item, you seemed upset about me moving into your room."
"I was." Hap said slowly, "I get that you felt a little forced based on the arrival of your household goods, and Joker and Mags were making things uncomfortable in your room. I think I was surprised." Hap looked at her and debated saying more, "I was annoyed at how close we were, and it was like you kept encroaching on my space, and taking over my life, but part of our relationship wasn't going any further."
Anastasia nodded, "but if this is us now, and we share everything, and sleep together…and go as far as you like, you're not going to be annoyed with me encroaching on your space, or taking over your life?"
"You make it sound like I don't have much choice in the matter."
"You do" Anastasia said, then added as she nuzzled him, "but you really don't."
"Yeah, I see my problem." Hap said, "So let's talk about the last item. Is this my Yangtze Pale Ale lamp? I did want to talk about that. Anastasia, You shouldn't give my stuff away without asking."
"That's fair. I shouldn't have done that." Anastasia said, "and I probably won't do anything like that again, but what I want to talk about is, if we're going to have a relationship like this, you can't have things like that, nothing pornographic or lurid. I should be enough for you."
"I won that in a contest, and the reason I still had it was because I couldn't get rid of it." Hap said.
"I want to be clear on this, I won't compete with other woman real or imagined." Anastasia told him.
"You got rid of it before our relationship got to this level of intimacy." Hap said.
"If we hadn't passed out last night, there was a chance we would have done this the first night when you returned. I was seriously considering it."
Hap sighed, "Alright Anastasia, this isn't something you have to worry about from me, but if it makes you feel better, I assure you, you're the only woman for me. You're probably too much a woman for me. But you need to promise that we'll talk before you make decisions like moving in, or giving away my things."
"Okay, I agree to talk to you more, and take less freedoms with your things." Anastasia said, "and your not going to collect anything pornographic?"
Hap nodded in response.
"Also, next time you see Major Braun you tell him I'm not 50 kilograms of mech fist in a velvet glove, I'm exactly 41.2 Kilograms."
-
Chapter 55
"Hap, are ye there." Hap and Anastasia could hear Roweyena yelling down the hallway.
Anastasia clutched the blankets to her chest as Hap answered, "In my room."
Roweyena pushed the privacy screen out of her way and stepped into the room, "Oh good yer both here. Hap yer needed at ops. Anastasia ye cannot leave the barracks." She was out of breath and excited, making her thick Irish accent even more difficult to understand.
"Why am I needed in Ops?" Hap asked
"It's Adept Heinrich, from the MRB He's-" Roweyena stopped and looked at Anastasia and Hap shrewdly. She smiled wolfishly, "Did you two finally-" She stopped, glanced around, and closed the privacy screen, and whispered, "so you've finally made love."
"I'd prefer not to draw attention to how Harold and I express our love for each other." Anastasia said.
"Oh, most of the company think ye've been jaggin' for some time now." Roweyna said dismissively, then excitedly added. "So, how was it?"
"Roweyna!" Anastasia cried, "I'm trying to maintain our privacy, and avoid having conversations like this. I don't want the company thinking about Harold and I-."
"Aye, and I'll not tell the rest of the company, but I have to know." Roweyna said.
"Roweyna, we are not having this conversation." Anastasia said, "at least not in front of Harold."
"Oh given the way ye've talked I'd assume anything you have to say yer 'Harold' could hear too."
Hap could see Anastasia's face getting redder, "Roweyna, Why did you come looking for me?"
Roweyna seemed to be enjoying Anastasia's discomfort. She realized she was staring and looked at Hap, "Oh, aye, yes. Adept Heinrich came to pick up the prisoners and pay their ransom. He asked to talk to you about the death of Ms. Vallois. Seems ComStar has a soft spot for Countess Valois and wanted to let you know they'd allow you to send her a message, free of charge, about her daughter's death."
"That's odd." Hap said, "Anastasia's not-"
There was a long pause as Hap and Anastasia stared at each other, "Oh, ComStar thinks I'm dead." Anastasia finally said.
"Yes. And if we're going to keep up the illusion Hap needs to go talk to Adept Heinrich." Roweyna said.
Hap nodded, "let me get changed."
"We'll have tea later" Roweyna told Anastasia with a wink, "But right now ye have to stay in the barracks. It's absolutely important that ye not be seen."
Roweyna retreated to the hallway while adding, "Do hurry Mr. Calahad. I'm sure the Adept will understand if, in your grief stricken state, yer a little hard to rouse, but ye shouldn't keep him waiting."
Hap set out his shaving things Anastasia followed him into the bathroom, "Don't shave. You should appear disheveled. It will help you put on a good act. Imagine you had a nightmare and couldn't sleep."
"I did have a nightmare and I couldn't sleep." Hap said, turning to look at her. "Of course you're the reason I couldn't sleep."
"Well then Imagine you didn't have your amoureuse to keep you up then." Anastasia said. She saw his expression darken. "On second thought, that's probably not something you want to think about."
"It's probably the right thing to think about if I'm going to fool the adept." Hap said.
Anastasia nodded, and hugged Hap. "Also you must not send my Mother any message about my death."
"Yeah I was trying to figure out a polite and non suspicious way to decline ComStar's offer."
"Simple. It's against AFFS regulations. Next of kin notification has to be done in person by an AFFS officer and a Chaplain or certified counselor." Anastasia said.
Hap nodded. "I knew that. When Lucky died I had to send a letter for his family to the AFFS office on his home planet."
"I'll write her a note that we can send in a diplomatic pouch, just in case she hears anything odd she'll know what is going on. She'll also need to know why I'm avoiding ComStar offices."
Hap quickly got dressed and left Anastasia to go with Roweyna to Ops. As they walked Hap asked, "Is it normal for an MRB rep to be this concerned about a dead mechwarrior"?
"No. It's not normal at all. When Uncle Lleywn died, one of the Adepts we worked with regularly was very polite and came to the funeral, but I believe it was professional courtesy." Roweyna said. "This whole damn talk with Adept Henrich has been unprecedented."
"Well hopefully this is going to be the end of this problem with Anastasia and ComStar." Hap said
"Oh Father is probably going to talk to 'his people' and have them pay nasty Mr. Tempes a visit. Dad says if someone thinks they're invulnerable, it's good to remind them they can still bleed."
"I don't know if that's a good idea." Hap groaned.
"Leave that to dad. He apparently had a talk with that rogue Mr. Tempes. Dad thinks if he doesn't respond now it might be more suspicious. Mr. Tempes knows my father isn't someone to let a thing like this go unanswered. There really isn't much choice." Roweyna shrugged.
Hap looked at her, "What can you tell me about your father's 'people'? I know they're Heimdall, but I don't know much about Heimdall. Actually all I know is what Fletch said about them being terrorists."
"Oh there not terrorists Hap, they're just a different type of patriot." Roweyena said with a shrug, "Let's jest say they watch the watcher, and the less an AFFS officer knows the better I'd say. I assure ye, this company isn't a bunch of terrorists, and most of 'em are as ignorant of Heimdall as you. If ye must know, Father and Mother have some friends that sometimes need favors, sometimes Father or Mother call in those favors, it's nothing more than that."
Hap nodded as he held open the door to the ops building. "You're probably right about the less I know."
Roweyna smiled at Hap opening the door for her, "Yer arm-a-roo is a lucky lass."
"Amoureuse? Were you listening to us as I was getting ready?" Hap chuckled.
"Ye weren't particularly quiet, Mr. Calahad." Roweyna said with a smirk.
The door closed and Roweyna stopped, "Alright now it's time to get into character. Ye can't give this villain reason to think they didn't kill Anastasia. Let Dad and Fletch do the talkin', ye jest look sad, and don't be surprised if I get angry. This man has been vexin' me all mornin'."
Hap agreed and she led him to one of the small conference rooms on the first floor. They entered to find the Adept sitting at a conference room table with several folders and papers spread out before him and a mug of coffee. Kelly was sitting to the side and was looking bemused as he smoked his pipe. Fletch and Doctor Jackson Morgan were also there. Each had their own cup of coffee. Roweyna walked to the silver carafe and poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Look we're all just a little surprised that you're taking such an interest in one of our dead." Fletch said.
"I do not mean to sound ghoulish, but you must admit it is a tragic story. The beautiful young scion of a noble family is killed by happenstance while in garrison." Adept Heinrich said in his German accent. He looked up at Hap, "Ah, Captain Calahad, please sit." He motioned to one of the chairs. "Is there coffee for the young Captain?"
As Hap slumped into a chair as Roweyna poured Hap a cup and handed it to him. Adept Heinrich watched and nodded, "Good. You are comfortable, jah? I am sorry to summon you in these circumstances, but it came to my attention that you were close to the daughter of Countess Valois."
Hap shrugged as Fletch eyed Heinrich with suspicion, "None of us said anything about Captain Calahad and Subaltern Valois's relationship, just like none of us said anything about her dying."
"One of our adepts happened to be at Turquoise Lake, as it is a popular open space. She saw that your Valkyrie 'mech had been destroyed and she was skeptical the pilot survived. I was going to ask why you had not reported the loss of 'mech and pilot yet." Heinrich said.
"It's real convenient that your adept just happened to be at Turquoise lake." Fletch said.
"Jah it is." Adept Heinrich said as he sipped his coffee seemingly oblivious to the XO's sarcasm.
"The reason I had-nah reported anything because we have 72 hours to assess damage, salvage-ability, and replace a pilot before reporting a reduction in our company's capability." Roweyna said angrily.
"A rule many companies abuse to-" Adept Heinrich started to say
Kelly held up a hand toward his daughter, "Our techs are readying an old Shadowhawk that we had in pieces. I have a few mechwarrior trainees that we'll put on active status. Our company's capacity hasn't been reduced, jest some of the particulars have changed." Kelly shifted in his chair to lean toward Heinrich, "We're not tryin' to deceive the MRB, or yer holy order. Now ye've asked to speak to one of my mechwarriors, and here he is, ask him what ye like."
"Captain Calahad, I understand ye were close to Subaltern Valois, and I wanted to offer-"
"How do you know I'm close to Anastasia?" Hap asked trying to sound sad.
Heinrich arched an eyebrow, "You say, 'I'm close', as in I am close, do you not mean you were close?"
Hap tried not to show his panic. He realized this was the reason Rowyena told him not to talk.
Dr. Morgan cleared his throat, "The boy's still coming to terms with the loss. This is common. He probably woke up in the middle of the night looking for her."
"I actually did." Hap said.
Dr. Morgan stood up, "Hap, you don't need to be here for this, we'll get you connected with a therapist. I suppose I'll get some type of medical report for the MRB, if that is required. There wasn't enough left to do an autopsy, though. The cockpit was nearly obliterated."
"A DNA sample would suffice for your report, if the autopsy is impossible. We will take cause of death at face value, though I would like to see the remains of the mech, and perhaps the remains of the mechwarrior, such as they are."
"You're just not taking no for an answer." Fletch said.
"The MRB has never asked for an autopsy of a dead mechwarrior before." Roweyna added.
"It is right to request proof of changes to a company, the MRB has this right." Adept Heinrich looked angry, but then he stopped and ran his hand through his hair. "You think we are evil bureaucrats, Jah? We are not. Blake, our blessed founder, spoke of using our technologies for kindness and good, which is why I requested to speak to the young captain." Adept Heinrich said. He cleared his throat and looked at Hap, "Captain Calahad, we are willing to allow you to send a message, video or otherwise to the Countess Vallois, free of charge."
"I'd still don't understand how you know about Anastasia and me." Hap said.
"Jah" Adept Heinrich answered as he took a sip from his coffee, "The adept that transcribed the message to the Countess recalled you asked for her blessing in marrying her daughter. I know many have the idea that ComStar reads and records messages, but I would remind you that messages like yours must be transcribed to be sent, and it was only a few weeks ago. It was the fortune of Blake that the Adept who did the transcribing remembered your message and the relationship. We thought it was a holy sign that we should extend this kindness."
"Say, that is fortunate." Fletch said sarcastically. "I need to make sure I understand everything you've been saying this morning. 'Cause todaym ComStar seems real generous, is it Blake's birthday? Is It ComStar's Christ-Blake-mas?"
"I do not understand." Adept Heinrich answered. "What are you trying to ask?"
"Aside from the nice deal you're offering Captain Calahad, You also told us that if we return the bodies of the mechwarriors we fought yesterday and the salvage of their mechs there is a significant monetary reward." Fletch explained. "In all my years, I've never heard of anything quite like that."
"Jah" Adept Heinrich replied. "As I said, you will be receive eight million c-bills if you return the bodies and surrender all of the salvage of the Commando, Spider and Vulcan 'mechs."
"But you won't tell us who employed them, only that there happened to be an escrow account that had a substantial pay out for the return of the warriors and the salvage of their mechs. In what I'm sure was viewed as the 'unlikely' event of their death." Roweyna said. "We've never heard of anythin' like this."
The adept shrugged. "These are rare, but certain organizations include such riders in their contracts. It seems that you just happened to have never encountered them."
Roweyna shook her head in disbelief, Fletch looked at Kelly, "You wanna just give him everything, and be done with this?"
Kelly nodded, "We'll talk the remains of yesterday's battle in a bit. First, Hap, ye interested in sending the countess a message about her daughter?"
"I shouldn't." Hap said, "AFFS regulations require she be notified by an AFFS officer and a chaplain in person. I need to talk to Major Braun about all of this as well."
"There ye have it." Kelly said standing up, "Let's go look at the 'mechs, and discuss this escrow."
Hap followed the mercenaries and the adept as they left the room. He debated going back to the barracks, but part of him wanted to see what remained of David's Valkyrie.
They walked to the 'mech bay and Kelly led them up on the gantry. From there they could look down on Valkyrie that was still on the back of the flatbed truck. The right leg had been removed, as well as a few of the other components that had been undamaged. Two techs were working to remove the left hand. The holes in the fusion engine had been filled with a sealant to prevent any radioactive leakage. The cockpit had been battered by missiles to the point that Hap could see there was a portion of the command couch missing, and part of the truck bed could be seen through the holes in the shattered cockpit.
"Ye content now, Adept Heinrich?" Kelly said. "There is little left of the mech, let alone the pilot."
Adept Heinrich leaned to get a better view of the cockpit, "Was nothing left, perhaps a hand or foot?"
"I cremated what I received that last night." Dr. Morgan said, "Which is why I'm hesitant to give you a medical report. The mechwarrior is certainly dead, but the remains were hardly enough to fill an urn let alone prove anything medically. I prepared something to intern, because it's important everyone has a chance to say goodbye, but it's all ash now."
Adept Heinrich nodded, "Jah, and I know that I am probably not helping that." He looked around the 'mech bay and his eyes fell on Anastasia's Valkyrie. "You have another Valkyrie pilot, perhaps I could speak with him, or he could send-"
"No." Kelly said, "You've got all the answers you need. Let's talk about your pilots and 'mechs."
"My 'mechs? Please understand commander, these could not be ComStar 'mechs, what few-"
"What would you say if I told ye the mechwarriors we fought yesterday poisoned themselves rather than eject, and they had tattoos with ComStar stars and words of Blake on their shoulders and arms."
"They would not have-" Adept Heinrich stopped himself suddenly. "This is not possible. I-I-I-"
"It might be fortunate if we all considered this a false flag operation done by that mysterious company with their convenient escrow account." Fletch said. "I'm sure that's what your blessed Blake would want us to consider."
"Jah" Adept Heinrich nodded vigorously and pointed at Fletch, "It must be false flag. You speak with Blake's wisdom."
"So you think this mysterious company is seeking to impugn your blessed order?" Rowyena asked.
"I can think of no other explanation." Adept Heinrich said.
"I suppose ye can't." Kelly said. "Since that company isn't doin' ye any favors, how about ye give us all that they have in their escrow account, I'm guessing it is close to fifteen million c-bills."
"I am not authorized-" Adept Heinrich stopped himself again, "I believe it was twelve million."
"Twelve million. I think for twelve million we can return what yer asking for, but if we got fifteen million I'd imagine we'd forget about those strange tattoos or curious way the mechwarriors died."
"It is not possible to get more than twelve million." Adept Heinrich said. He seemed desperate. "But I assure you this was a false flag operation as your XO has suggested."
Kelly and Fletch exchanged glances. "We're agreed then, Twelve million." Kelly said, "We'll return the 'mechs and bodies to your people, and you'll stop pesterin' my daughter for a medical report that we really can't right. We lost a pilot yesterday, your people will just have to accept it."
"Very good commander, I will get the money released to you, and I would suggest you try to forget about this false flag operation."
"One more thing." Kelly pulled a small metal figure out of his pocket. "Give this to Mr. Tempes."
The adept looked at the figure. It was a small man wearing ancient armor and wielding a large sword and a large horn standing on a rainbow tile. "Is this a leprechaun? I know how your company values its Celtic heritage. Also Demi Precentor Tempes has returned to earth."
"Nay. That's Norse. It's the dwarf Heimdall." Kelly said darkly, "Mr. Tempes" He stopped and smiled wolfishly, "Demi Precentor Tempes will understand. Ye make sure he gets it and be sure to tell him Kelly McFinnigan sends the Demi Precentor his best."
-
Chapter 56
Hap watched as Rowyena led Adept Heinrich away to finish the paperwork and Dr. Morgan went to go and prepare the bodies for transport.
"What do you think Heinrich is going to tell his superiors?" Fletch asked.
"As little of the truth as possible." Kelly said with a wink. "I suspect he was told to get evidence that Ms. Vallois had been successfully slaughtered, and to recover anything that would prove ComStar was behind it."
Kelly leaned on the banister, "I'm sure he'll swear on a stack of technical manuals that Anastasia is dead, and he saw her remains himself, and then tell a fantastic series of lies of how he had to use the wisdom of Blake to bamboozle us, and convince us that we had uncovered a false flag operation. In order to perfect the lie he had to have ComStar demonstrate their generosity and give us all the extra escrow money."
Fletch shook his head, "You could sell the story, maybe, but that man is an evil bureaucrat and probably just wants to put all this behind him. I doubt he's the type to lie with any of the finesse or creativity that you habitually use."
"Mr. Fletcher, I'm a right honest businessman that may spin the occasional yarn, but I assure ye, you can trust what I tell ye."
"Not to hear your wife tell it." Fletch said, "She says you're a bad influence on her daughter who's a lawyer."
Kelly raised his eyebrows, "Oh she's decided to claim Roweyna as her own again."
Fletch shook a cigarette out of its box, "So are your terrorist friends going to visit Tempes? Also Demi Precentor, headed back to earth, who the hell were we entertaining?"
"I have no idea, but it explains why he was so arrogant, as for my 'friends' I'll talk to them." Kelly said with a shrug, "I've recently found myself with a windfall of c-bills and I was thinking I might donate to a certain charity for rough and wayward lads and lasses. They might be willing to do a small favor for me with some of that money. Seems like a poetic reinvestment."
"I think I'd prefer to mount more weapons on the Tir a nOg, or get another fighter and fighter pilot." Fletch said, "After Klathandu I'm going to be distracted when we do hot drops in contested airspace."
Kelly nodded, "We'll have money remaining. Either is probably a good investment."
Both men smoked and said nothing as they watched the techs work on the mechs. "Ye reckon we were visited by ROM last night?" Kelly asked.
"Couldn't say." Fletch said. "After our talk with the professor I got down here and the techs had already cleaned up the 'mech. The cockpit was hosed down, and David's tech had a med cooler of whatever was left and gave it to Doc Jack. I think it actually was an arm and a foot. I walked with Jack back to the Tir a nOg and he cremated the remains. If they did visit us, they didn't get anything."
Kelly looked over his shoulder. "Well Hap, ye've been listening quietly, have any questions?"
"Why don't you turn over these 'mechs to House Davion or House Steiner?" Hap asked.
"All we have is some 'mech scrap and some odd pilots. Having 'mechs painted like Liao death commandos, and the pilots on the record as claiming to be from one house, but dressed in uniforms and equipment from another house gives ComStar a lot of deniability."
"But ComStar is concerned enough to get their pilots and equipment back." Hap said.
"They may jest want their troops back for the sake of friends and family." Kelly shrugged. "It's like how we intend to give David a good memorial service. As for the 'mechs, they're interesting in that they were in good condition, well maintained, and such, and clearly star league era 'mechs but not royal variants."
"My experience with LCAF high command is this is sort of thing you either know, or don't care about." Fletch said. "Between fighting with Marik and Kurita, buying rank, and speculating how the treaty with House Davion will impact the economy, most Steiner officers couldn't care less about ComStar."
"I'm just not sure what I'm going to tell Major Braun." Hap said.
"Tell him the truth, you were in an ambush that one of the company was killed." Fletch said. "It wasn't you or the other AFFS officer, and you led well and fought competently. I'll vouch for that, and there isn't much else to say, really."
"Aye, you don't have to tell him anything about our internal company dealings, yer not here to learn how a mercenary company runs. I'm not askin' ye to lie, lad, jest keep some of the truth to yourself. Understand?"
"Yes Sir. I understand." Hap said.
"Good I don't need Major Braun feeling overly cautious and taking another mechwarrior and 'mech from me. Besides, I'd argue that Ms. Vallois is safer now with us anyway, at least until ComStar forgets about her." Kelly smoked his pipe for a moment then continued, "Which brings up another point, you'll have to keep Anastasia in the barracks, save for patrols, she can't be seen, not till we leave Monhegan."
"That shouldn't be too hard, she's been living like that since our last run in with ComStar. I think as long as I can keep her in wine and good books she'll be fine." Hap said.
"Yeah it's lucky for us the Professor is an introvert." Fletch deadpanned.
Kelly gave Fletch a surprised glance, Fletch responded, "Sorry, I actually meant that. It's been an odd morning, once I realized that Heinrich couldn't understand sarcasm. I've been saying every sarcastic thing that comes to mind. It's not like Tatyana was here to stop me. Seriously though, it is lucky, Anastasia won't mind staying out of sight."
"Alright, Haphazard, off ye go." Kelly said. "Go get yer Coyotes ready for a patrol. I'd like you to step off in two hours. Plenty of time to get the Valkyrie partially repainted. The AFFS sunburst needs to be removed, and any personal identification should also be sterilized."
"Understood sir, but I thought you'd want to move Anastasia to the Dullahans?"
Kelly shook his head, "Nay, The most tactical sense for our lances is to keep a small tonnage recon lance, and the medium size pursuit lance, and yer lance has good chemistry." Kelly said. "Besides if ComStar is still suspicious it's the last thing they'd expect. You keep her out of sight, let me worry about the rest."
Hap acknowledged and went down to the main floor of the 'mech bay. He explained to Maja and Taja, Anastasia's techs, what needed to be repainted, and made sure that his mech's armor had been repaired. He got back to the barracks in time to let his lance know to get ready for a patrol.
Hap and Anastaia left Joker and Mags to get ready. Hap explained to her the restrictions that Kelly had for her as they changed clothes. Hap noted, Anastasia was still secluded behind the door of her wall locker, and out of line of sight from the door, but they could see each other as they changed.
"Honestly this doesn't change much for me." Anastasia said as she pulled on her black skin tight shorts.
"I told the Commander and XO that as long as I kept you in wine and good books you'd be fine." Hap said as he pulled on his own shorts.
"Harold, you have that backwards, the wine needs to be good, not the books." Anastasia said, then gave Hap a coy glance, "Although after last night, it's more about the company, and the good wine."
"Noted. You'll have to give me a list or something and I'll go back to that one grocery store."
"I think we'll have to send someone to get wine." Anastasia said as she slipped into her coveralls, "I'll put up with house arrest but only as long as you're here with me." Anastasia pulled the name tag off her coveralls, and removed the rank from her cooling vest and placed them in a drawer in her locker. "It's part of our mutual suffering death pact."
Hap pulled on his coveralls, "Didn't you say our relationship wasn't going to be a mutual pain and suffering death pact."
"No. I said marriage isn't a mutual pain and suffering death pact. Being members of the same lance generally is. You have to endure the same field environment-"
"Put up with the same ass-hats, and dangerous conditions." Hap added.
Anastasia nodded, "and dodge the threats and designs of a murderous cult and telecom provider."
"You know, bad field conditions, annoying people, and danger were pretty common for me, but ComStar was never a problem until you came along."
Anastasia shrugged, "We all bring things with us into each relationship. I'd like to think the other things I bring into our relationship outweigh the minor inconvenience that accompany me." As she spoke she slid her braid under the coveralls.
"That's fair." Hap said as they left the room and met up with Joker and Mags.
Joker looked over Anastasia's sterilized uniform. "You going on a secret mission?"
"I'll explain more in 'mechs but for the moment I need to be unrecognizable just in case ComStar is still watching." Anastasia said as she put on her neurohelmet, and held her cooling vest in front of her chest.
Hap put on his neurohelmet as they stepped out of the barracks. Mags gave him a curious look, "Looks weird if only one of us is wearing our helmet." He told her.
Mags nodded and put on her helmet as they walked to Ops. Joker shook his head in response, "I'm not putting my on till I'm in my Firestarter. That thing is a pain in the neck, awkward, and smells bed."
"Sounds like someone I know." Anastasia said.
"Joker, if your neurohelmet smells bad, you need to clean it." Hap said
Before Joker could answer they arrived at Ops. The patrol briefing was generally normal. The route would take them by the lake first, and then swing north. Hap was glad to hear they'd do the lake first as he just wanted to get that part done. Fiona and Crow would be performing fire support duty.
As they left the ops center Hap asked, "Crow, didn't you pull duty yesterday?"
"I'm here for you brother." Crow replied
Fiona glanced over her shoulder as they descended the stairs, "Actually he's here for Dillon. Dillon is taking David's death particularly bad and so Rolph is with him helping him work through it."
"Well I'm here for you brother, as much as I'm here for brother Dillon." Crow gave Hap a fist bump.
"Glad you're here Crow, thanks." Hap answered.
"Instead of being here, may I suggest you get your asses in your 'mechs, gentlemen." Fiona said.
Hap climbed the gantry he saw Mike with his usual glower and clipboard. "Some of your armor patches are still fresh, and the sealant has had enough time to cure."
"I'll try to avoid getting shot at for the next 15 minutes." Hap said as he climbed into the cockpit.
"It's all I ask." Mike said as he checked items off the clipboard. "Also that little death-from-above stunt you pulled yesterday should be avoided. There wasn't any damage to your actuators, but we had to pull all the armor off your left leg. The plate was too damaged to patch."
"It was a desperate maneuver." Hap said as he remembered the ambush and a chill went down his spine
"The XO heard me bitching and made me watch the ROM playback. He said your quick action saved some lives yesterday. So you probably did the right thing, just try to avoid it if you can."
Hap nodded, "Yeah. It was a bad day yesterday and I wished I could have saved everyone."
Mike switched the computer out of diagnostic mode and the computer began reporting all systems as nominal. "That's the difference between us. I can always replace or repair or rebuild, you can't always make people do the right thing, like eject, or kill the enemy before he kills one of us."
Hap wasn't sure how to answer as Mike closed and locked the canopy.
In a minute the gantry was cleared and lifted and Hap and his patrol stepped off on their patrol. Hap set his lance into a wedge with Joker on point Anastasia behind him and Mags pulling up the rear.
As they settled into their patrol route Anastasia explained what she knew of yesterday's attack. Hap filled in what he had learned that morning. There was a long pause while Hap waited for Joker and Mags to process everything. He was worried they might blame Anastasia for David's death. He still felt he was mostly responsible for it.
"So Anastasia basically committed the perfect crime and staged her own death?" Joker asked.
"I would hardly consider scientific research a crime-" Anastasia started to say.
"William, don't say stupid shit that cheapens David's death." Mags told Joker.
"Mags you don't think it was Anastasia's fault that David died?" Hap asked.
"No." Mags was quick to say, "David chose not to punch out, that's on him, and besides the tank gunners pulled the trigger and ComStar set the whole thing up. My old man, Macho Commacho, used to say, 'when your times up, your times up, so go fast and hit hard'."
"That's a good philosophy for a Jenner pilot." Hap said, He was relieved, and then embarrassed he didn't have more faith in Mags. Then he worried he had sounded sarcastic, "I could see why everyone respected your dad."
"Not everyone respected him, his enemies feared him." Mags added with pride. Hap smiled knowing that she wasn't kidding.
"For me, it's like my TAC officer used to say, 'It's not the bullet with your name on it that you have to worry about, it's all the ones addressed 'to occupant'.' David got hit by hundreds of missiles marked 'to occupant'." Joker said.
"Too soon Joker." Hap said, not sure if Joker was kidding.
"I wasn't trying to-." Joker said, but a hush fell over them as they approached the lake. Hap checked his scanners and didn't see any unidentified vehicles or 'mechs. Fiona's Jagermech and Crow's Catapult were within weapons range, but the rest of the area was clear of any odd military hardware.
Hap could see a lot of activity around yesterday's battlefield. There were people with metal detectors and hand carts walking around. He could see several small groups collecting scrap metal and whatever components the company techs had overlooked or ignored. Hap also saw a small boat in the lake. He watched as a diver came out of the water and emptied a mesh bag full of brass shell casings into the boat. Hap assumed the boat was near where the Vulcan had been fighting and destroyed.
"What's that guy doing?" Joker asked.
"Collecting scrap." Anastasia said, "When you were in school didn't you ever read, 'The Heatsink, the true currency of the Inner Sphere.' It's the treatise that explains the true values of our currency are tied less to how ComStar values their c-bill, and more to the rarity of war materials and how that actually determines the true economic strength of the Inner Sphere nations."
"Professor, one day you're going to figure out if I read anything in school it was because I had to know it to get into a mechwarrior tech school."
"Or it was between pictures of naked women and it happened to look interesting to you." Mags added.
"Naw, that didn't usually work on me. I was looking at those magazines for the pictures." Joker said, "What I really meant is what is that guy doing with all that brass?"
"Seems like on every planet there is some guy that will make the coolest things from recovered brass." Crow said, "Hey Fiona, remember when I found you that bustier with the brass-"
"No. I don't remember that, and if you want to see me in it again, you'll forget it too." Fiona snapped.
"Changing subjects, for Brother Crow's sake," Joker said as Crow thanked him, "Anastasia are you going to cut your hair?"
"No." Anastasia said flatly.
"Wait, I'm serious, your hair is super long. If you're really going to try to avoid ComStar you should cut it and dye it." Joker said. "It's what they do in those good spy movies, you know the ones with John Stallion."
Anastasia ignored the bait, "My hair is the perfect color, and I need it long." Anastasia said.
"Why?" Joker asked. "When you have it up it's in those braids or complicated wraps, you stick out. When it's down it's past your waist. Either way it's a pretty easy way to identify you."
"Believe it or not there is a minimum weight that a 'mechwarrior needs to be in order for the ejection system to work properly. I'm right at that weight, and every gram counts." Anastasia explained. "I'll keep my hair thank you."
"We can get you a bigger gun or a wicked big knife." Joker said excitedly.
"I would just discard it in a survival situation, so it would be a waste." Anastasia said.
"Fine, just put a brick in a pouch on your cooling vest, then just throw that away."
"Whoa! A brick can be an important survival tool." Crow said.
"Before I regret this, no one ask him about the brick as a survival tool." Fiona added.
"And let's stop talking about my hair as well." Anastasia said.
The mechwarriors quieted down and settled into their patrol. Hap found himself feeling less anxious as the patrol went on. He still didn't know what to think about the economies and business of war. Between yesterday's interaction with the other mercenary company and watching people glean the battlefield it still seemed surreal to him.
He sighed. When they were done with the patrol he could ask Anastasia to explain the true currency of the inner sphere, or share a hot shower with her, polish off a few bottles of wine, and forget the whole messy business of war. The latter sounded like a much better use of their time and better for their mental health.
-
*claps* Moar, please?
-
Comstar got owned...
-
Chapter 57
31 December 3029
Monhegan
Kelly stood on the dais in the dropship galley turned pub, "Quite down so I can say a few words before this year ends, and the new one begins. It's been quite a year for the family. We've had some good jobs and some bad. I see a few empty chairs among us." He paused and glanced to the wall that held the photographs of the departed family members.
Hap glanced at the wall and his eyes fell on the picture of David and the silver urn on the shelf beneath it. It had been roughly two weeks but the loss felt fresh every time he was reminded of it. Anastasia was leaning on him and holding his hand. He felt her give his hand a reassuring squeeze.
Kelly lifted his pint glass to the wall of fallen heroes, and the rest of the company followed his gesture. He finished drinking and dabbed the corner of his eye. "Yer never forgotten."
There were a few scattered, "gnó teaghlaigh" in response from around the room.
After a moment he turned his gaze to the Coyote's table, "And we've had a few new hires, Hap, Anastasia, Joker." He shifted to look at the pilot's table, "And Ms. Kate Berlin. Welcome to the family." He gave another salute with his pint glass and everyone drank.
Kelly smiled broadly, "and I cannot forget all the new little ones that were born into the family."
Hap turned around to see the pub was packed with most of the company or "family" members. There were a few young children that had been born to some of the support staff that Hap rarely interacted with. Hap appreciated the way that Kelly made everyone valuable, and he knew it took hundreds of people to put one 'mech and mechwarrior on the field. Kelly was doing it with significantly less, which meant sometimes Hap would have to help out patching his own armor, or cook a meal, or pull a duty in Ops or as part of the flight crew. Hap even appreciated that Kelly had some second generation 'mechwarriors in his employ right now like Mags, Conrad and Noah, but even so Hap was bored as Kelly talked about the new babies. Hap did notice Anastasia smiled at each of the "new" mothers.
"I have thirty seconds, Commander." Fletch said just loud for Kelly to hear.
"Oh aye. So we've got a few moments left in the year." He motioned to the table in front of him, "Now our tradition is, ye should start the year doing what ye hope to fill the next year with. I've got yer bonus checks if ye'd like to receive them as the year ends, but as for me-" He reached for Elinor and pulled her to her feet and close to him. "I always like to start my year the same way."
Several of the company members started to make their way to the table. Joker stood up but Mags pulled him back down. Fletch started the countdown, and as everyone joined him Hap looked to Anastasia. Without a word she nodded and leaned in, as the countdown finished they kissed. They got lost in the moment, and were only reminded that they weren't alone by the surprising pop of champagne corks from around the room.
Hap glanced over as Kelly, with a blushing Elinor still next to him, held up a filled champagne flute. "Now dear family, fill yer glasses and lets have the first toast of the new year."
Joker already had opened the champagne and was filling the glasses. Hap took on and passed to Anastasia before claiming his own.
"To the new year. May it be profitable, and may the roof above us never fall in."
"And may the family below it never fall out." Patrick answered as everyone drank.
"More like walls never decompress." Joker said.
"Now before we break fellowship, won't ye join me in song?" Kelly called out and started to sing Auld Lang Syne. Hap got comfortable and sang along, as they sang multiple instruments were brought out and before the song ended it was a complete irish themed orchestra. When it finished John and Mark started to sing The Parting glass. Hap and Anastasia enjoyed the song while they finished their champagne.
As Hap and Anastasia started to leave Kelly and Elinor met them at the door. "I almost forgot, I have a note that I was told to give to you, Hap, but it's addressed to Anastasia." Kelly said as he passed Hap an envelope with the ComStar logo emblazoned on it.
Hap pulled out the letter and Anastasia read over his shoulder. Before Hap could finish Anastasia looked up, "Oh my mother is coming here. She was in New Avalon for business and heard that our current contract was keeping us here till the end of January, so she intends to visit us."
"When does she think she'll be visiting us?" Kelly asked.
"Well she sent it the day before she left which was just over three weeks ago." Anastasia said, "According to the letter she expects to be here on the third or fourth of January."
"I don't think a message from New Avalon should take more than a week." Hap said.
Anastasia shrugged, "I was notified about this weeks ago while you were on the raid, but I decided to wait till you got back so we could go together. I didn't want to go to the ComStar office alone, and now it's out of the question."
"Aye lass, we'll discuss the particulars of accommodating a countess in the morning. Now ye should get some rest." Kelly told her as he and Elinor turned to leave. "We'll have much to do before she arrives."
Three days later Hap found himself standing in the reception area of the star port. It had been decided he would meet the countess and her entourage and try to say as little as possible about Anastasia until he could get them back to the Company area. Mark had accompanied him to help out and drive the van. Anastasia had warned Hap that her Mother would travel with two or four bodyguards and a personal assistant, so they needed one of the larger vehicles.
Hap found a good spot near the security barrier where he could see into the customs area. He was near the baggage claim and he could see some of the ground crew bringing out pallets of suitcases and trunks. Hap wasn't sure how a countess moved through customs, but he figured between the baggage and the offices she would be sure to come through here.
"So she looks exactly like Anastasia?" Mark asked.
"Almost. She looked a little different, but when you see her, you'll know she's Anastasia's mother."
"I heard countess and all I can think of is this real nasty piece of work we had for a nun when John and I were going through Catechism. She really put the fear of God into us." Mark said.
"She's nothing like that, or at least when I saw her on the holovid, she seemed nice." Hap said.
"I hope so man, for your sake, because she's going to be mother-in-law someday."
"Yeah, someday. I probably should have met her before I agreed to marry Anastasia."
"Don't be too hard on yerself. I can't tell you how many times I agreed to some stupid thing I thought would help me get laid, or after I had slept with a girl she gave me those eyes and I couldn't say no.. Of course, I never agreed to marry one of them."
"Thanks, Mark."
"Well you'd better get your head in the game." Mark said. Hap glanced at him, but before Hap could speak Mark pointed to the crowd, "No seriously, get your head in the game."
Hap looked to where he was pointing and saw the countess flanked by four large men dressed in black dress suits. She was also accompanied by a younger woman with a large satchel purse slung across her body. Hap thought he made eye contact with the countess and started walking toward her. As he approached one of the men put his hand on Hap's shoulder and said something in French. Hap wasn't sure if it was a threat or a command to step back.
"I'm here to see the countess." Hap said motioning to the woman.
The men stepped closer to the countess and Hap saw one of them reach into his jacket to grab what Hap was sure was a weapon. Hap held up his hands to show he wasn't a threat. "No. I'm here to-"
The countess stood on her tiptoes so she could see over the shoulder of her bodyguard. She smiled when she recognized Hap. She pushed her way through her bodyguards and put herself between her guards and Hap. She spoke in French and the men seemed to slightly relax. She smiled at Hap, "Pardon my bodyguards, Captain Harold Calahad, they are doing their jobs, but sometimes they do it too well."
Hap nodded, but before he knew what was happening she gave him a hug, and kissed him on the cheek. She stepped back but lightly held his hands, and seemed to be inspecting him. Hap could see she was a little taller than her daughter and she wore thin cats eye glasses. She had a stripe of gray hair that further distinguished her from Anastasia. Still, the resemblance between Anastasia and her mother was uncanny. After a moment she smoothed his collar and smiled at him. Her smile gave Hap the sense he was the most important person in the star port at that moment.
She looked past him at the crowd and then looked around. "Harold, where is my bebe?"
"We need to get back to the company." Hap answered hoping she wouldn't insist on being told more.
The young woman that accompanied the Countess pushed past the bodyguards. "My Lady, I told you there was a good chance that Anastasia wouldn't be here-"
"I want to see my daughter, you have given your advice and I have made my decision." The Countess said. She spoke with a definitive tone of absolute authority. Hap was reminded of Major Braun's comment about how the countess was like a 'mech fist in a velvet glove.
The young woman gave Hap a strange look that he couldn't quite understand. It seemed somehow apologetic. Something about her seemed odd to Hap. She looked about the same age as Hap and her fashion sense made her look like a professional office worker, it was something he had seen before, but he coudln't put his finger on it.
One of the bodyguards saw something and whispered to the man that had stopped Hap. Hap looked over his shoulder to see a palette with several suitcases, a large trunk, and what were unmistakably weapon cases. A rep from the loading company was standing with the palette. The countess saw the cases and looked at the leader of her security detachment. She spoke to them in French. She said as she put her arm through the crook in Harold's arm and stood close to him. She looked up at him and explained, "I told them I would be safe with you while they collected our things."
As the men walked toward the weapon cases Mark came by and after a quick introduction he told Hap he would bring the van around. The security detachment moved their cases to a corner away from everyone. Hap, the countess and her assistant started to walk toward them.
Hap was surprised as they opened up the long weapons cases and each man pulled out a needler pistol from a concealed holsters. They exchanged the pistols for submachine guns. A pair of security guards saw the men were loading and concealing submachine guns. The security guards cautiously started to approach the countess's bodyguards.
Hap glanced down at the Countess she was watching her security guards. Without looking away she said, "Ashley, go and speak with the port security, assure them these men are protecting me, and authorized to carry and conceal weapons and use deadly force in the protection of my person."
"Yes, my lady." The young woman answered and walked toward the station's security guards. As she walked she pulled out paperwork from her large purse. The purse reminded Hap of the purse that the ComStar ROM agent had at the gourmet grocery store.
When Ashley was a good distance away the countess spoke quietly, "Now tell me why my daughter is not with you."
"Let's get out of the crowd." Hap said. The Countess nodded and they moved to a spot near her body guards. They watched the security detachment sling or holster their guns under their jackets and then conceal other assorted weapons, restraints, and tools. Ashley, for her part, seemed to act as if this was normal and was showing various forms to the starport security guards.
The countess spoke quietly "Harold, when my husband was killed one of our security detachment died as well, plus a third man that the best detectives of Hazelhurst cannot explain. I do not believe it was an accident. I was given a brief by our nation's intelligence experts that has confirmed my suspicions. Now, I come to see my daughter and she is strangely absent. I want your assurance that she is well."
Hap gave her a very deliberate and slow nod then added, "My Lady, I'd feel better if we waited until we got to the company area to talk. We need privacy." Then he whispered "but the thing you're talking about is part of the reason why she can't be here now."
The countess seemed to understand and replied, "Very well". She stayed close and looked like she was tempted to whisper more, but she just stood close to him. He watched her men and realized she was paying a lot for security. These men were either ex-special forces, or she had poached the best of her planet's militia, likely both. The odd thing was she didn't seem afraid.
"Harold, I would prefer you not address me as 'my lady' or 'the Countess'. Please call me Je'anne."
"Yes Ma'am." Hap answered not feeling comfortable with calling the countess by her first name.
She glanced up and Hap and smiled, "Oh Harold, you are precious. You are exactly as Anastasia described you, and I imagined you. I cannot tell you how happy I am that you and my daughter are together. We will be family soon, and you mustn't speak to me so formally."
Hap's face flushed and he hoped the Countess didn't notice. He glanced around for something to talk about. The Countess's personal assistant seemed to be lecturing the starport's security guards. A pair of the local police officers approached. They seemed equally concerned that there were several men arming themselves like they were going to war but concealing it all under dress clothes. Ashley motioned to the police and seemed to have the situation under control.
"Your personal assistant, Ashley was it? She seems pretty competent."
"Ashley is remarkably competent. For over 20 years I had a personal assistant that my mother had trained. When that woman retired a year ago, it took me two personal assistants before I found Ashley. She was nearly perfect from day one. The only issue I've had with her, is she tried to prevent this visit."
"She didn't want you to take this trip?"
"No. She was concerned we'd miss Anastasia." The Countess said. "She tried to convince me this would be a fool's errand. She told me we would waste our time and I would be disappointed."
"Anastasia's been pretty excited to see you. I think if the Commander had tried to send us off-world she would have gone AWOL."
The countess smiled, "In some ways I have gone AWOL to be here, except when one is a countess one can generally give herself leave." She looked up at Hap, "Have you guessed why I desired this trip?"
"I thought it was to see your daughter." Hap said.
The countess shook her head just like Anastasia often did with Hap. "Non. Or you are half right, I did come to see Anastasia, but I also wanted to see you, and see you both married."
"That makes sense." Hap said, then he realized what she had said, but before he could say anything Ashley approached them.
"My Lady" Ashley said, "I believe I've satisfied the local police and security forces, but they'd prefer we leave soon." She looked around for a moment, "Except, I was hoping-" She spied two ComStar adepts robed in yellow approaching them, "By your leave my lady, I believe we have messages."
The Countess nodded, but noticed Harold's questioning look, "Ashely insists that we use ComStar's 'forwarding and delivery' services. I had never heard of it until Ashley suggested it, and I am hesitant to inform them of my comings and goings, but having them deliver messages to you when you first arrive on a world has advantages when you rule a planet."
Hap watched as the acolytes handed Ashley a large bundle of documents. She exchanged a few words with the acolytes and they passed her a plain envelope. She pulled a single sheet of paper from it and her eyebrows raised in surprise as she read it.
"Harold, would you help my guards with our luggage?" The Countess asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Harold said, turning his attention back to the Countess.
"Oh Harold, Je'anne please." She smiled knowing that he was struggling with her request.
-
Chapter 58
Hap got everyone and their luggage to the vehicle and Mark started driving them back to the company area. The van's seats were arranged so that two of the benches faced each other. Ashley and three of the guards sat across from Hap, the countess, and the other guard.
The countess sat next to Hap with the same rigid and perfect posture as Anastasia. The guards seemed to view Hap with indifference, but Ashley was giving Harold a look that had some unspoken accusation behind it. Harold debated how to respond, "Ashley, did I do something to offend you?"
"No." Ashley shook her head, and seemed to change her expression to appear more neutral, "I didn't hear why Anastasia could not be here, maybe it's time you explain her absence to the countess."
"We are safe, and in the privacy of the vehicle, Harold. You may speak freely" the countess said.
Hap glanced into the rearview mirror and his eyes met with Mark. Mark shrugged in response. "There was an incident." Hap began, "Anastasia's fine, but we think someone was trying to kill her. I was on a patrol and there was a mercenary tank lance hired to support a 'mech lance trying to eliminate us. They targeted the Valkyrie that was in our lance. It wasn't Anastasia's mech, but it's almost identical. They destroyed the 'mech and killed the pilot. It was brutal and efficient." As Hap spoke he could see Ashley staring at him intently.
"And you believe they intended to kill my daughter? Do you know who hired the mercenaries or who piloted the 'mechs?" The countess asked calmly.
"I don't think we could prove anything, but we know it was ComStar." Hap said
"That's impossible." Ashley said immediately. Hap could sense she was deeply irritated with him. He hadn't felt this level of animosity from a woman since he had divorced his first wife.
"The mechwarriors had ComStar tattoos." Hap said, "I didn't see them, but our Commander mentioned it to the MRB representative when he came the next day asking about them. There was also this suspicious clause in their mercenary contract that offered a reward for the bodies and 'mech salvage. It was worth more than the savage, so any evidence we might have had we gave to ComStar. Kelly didn't think it amounted to enough to prove anything though."
"This is hardly definitive. My lady, I wouldn't put much stock in any of this, especially since it's obvious even the Mercenary commander doesn't really believe it proves anything. There are dozens of explanations for everything. What motivation would ComStar have to target your daughter?" Ashely paused as the countess regarded her, then she added, "It was more likely just the random act of the succession war." Ashley said.
"Given what I have heard and seen recently, I am not convinced Harold is wrong. I believe we should stop using ComStar's forwarding service. We will go to their offices at my leisure."
"My lady, there is no reason to stop using this service, it allows us to immediately address important things that may arise while we are traveling" Ashley said.
The countess leaned forward and snatched the bundles of papers from Ashley, "Let us see what we have then. I would be surprised if there was anything that needed my immediate attention."
Ashley tried to take the papers back but the countess was too quick. "What do we have that cannot wait?" the Countess said, "Annual review of our commodity prices. I see corn will need more subsidies. Here is a report from my regent." She paused to scan the report, "That is in order. A letter from Comstar. 'The Kit is dead. It was the work of some young crows and hired hands. Most of the crows and hirelings died in the work, but it is done, praise Blake.' What is this?"
Hap glanced down at the letter, it was written on ComStar official letterhead and had Rho/Rho written at both the top and bottom, and an additional string of letters and numbers that looked to Hap like the markings for specialized secret programs. This was clearly some type of official secret ComStar memorandum, but it didn't make sense. Aside from the paragraph about the kit, the second paragraph started, "Acknowledge the mother fox appears harmless and would never steal from the garden", and the third paragraph discussed how soon they'd need to look for a new home for 'the crow in the field'.
Ashley blushed, "that is…" She seemed to be thinking hard how to explain the note, "It's from my younger brother. He likes to send me notes of what is going on at home, but he is obsessed with being a ROM agent so he sends me notes in codes like this." She seemed to relax as she spoke, "I have no idea what that means, it usually takes a few days to decipher."
The countess looked at Ashley for a long moment then glanced back at the strange "note". She passed Ashley the bundles of papers, "I apologize for reading your personal mail, however you did not tell me you had private notes among my official correspondence."
"Yes, my lady, I'm sorry."
The countess leaned back and removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes, "We will discuss this later in private, but for the time being we will no longer use ComStar's delivery service, but we will try to visit their offices as soon as it is convenient when we travel. Agreed?"
"Yes, My lady." Ashley seemed relieved.
"That looks pretty real for the work of your younger brother." Hap said, "I don't know what ComStar's secret documents look like but based on what I've seen from AFFS, I want to know more about that document."
The Countess gave Hap a reproachful look, "I said I would discuss this with my assistant in private, Harold. Allow me to address this with her."
"Yes my lady, I apologize." Harold said.
"The only thing you need to apologize for is not calling me Je'anne, Harold." the countess said.
The rest of the trip was quiet. Ashley gave Hap another look that would have made his ex-wife's glare seem flirtatious. Mark drove the van onto the secure section of the starport, vouched for everyone with the security guards, and headed directly to the 'mechbay.
Kelly, Elinor, and Anastasia were waiting for them when Mark stopped the van. Kelly opened the door and offered his hand, "My lady." He said as he helped her out of the van, then kissed her hand. "I'm Commander Kelly McFinnigan, and this is my wife, Elinor. I know ye want to spend some time with your daughter, so I won't keep ye, but tomorrow ye can inspect the troops if ye like, and we'll have a formal dinner in your honor." As they spoke everyone else exited the van.
"Merci beaucoup, Commander." The Countess said. "I appreciate your kindness. I am pleased to meet you and your lovely wife." The Countess gave both Kelly and Elinor a hug and kiss like she had given Hap. "I will certainly look over your brave warriors tomorrow, but yes, now I want to see my daughter.
"Then we'll leave ye two to get reacquainted." Elinor smiled, and gently pushed Anastasia forward.
"One last thing, if I may, my lady." Kelly said, "We'd like to offer you and yours the state rooms in our drop shuttle. It has all the amenities of the nicest hotel, plus a good deal more security. Yer daughter will also explain why we'd prefer to keep in our company area."
"Splendid. Thank you Commander." The Countess smiled.
Ashley walked toward the countess, "My Lady, I had arranged for lodging in one of the local hotels."
"Ashley, please cancel the reservation. I'd prefer to maximize time with my daughter."
Yes, my lady." Ashley said it was clear she was annoyed but resigned to follow the countess's orders.
The Countess turned her attention to Anastasia. They hugged and kissed and then started speaking excitedly in fast and fluent French. Hap had never seen Anastasia quite this animated. They took a few steps away as they continued to talk. Hap had tried to learn a little French, but he couldn't keep up with anything they were saying. Their cadence made it sound almost like music. Hap still couldn't understand it, but he could listen to it all day.
"I don't think I've ever seen Anastasia this happy." Mark said.
"Well not in public." Hap replied.
Ashley stared at Anastasia, "I haven't seen the countess this happy since her husband was alive." Hap was surprised to detect a tone of regret in her voice.
Mark started pulling out the suitcases from the back of the van. "Ashley, how old's your brother?"
"My who? I don't..uh..he's..16 years old." Ashley said, "Can you help me find a phone? I need to make some calls."
"Aye, we'll go to ops. Are ye hungry?" Mark asked as he helped her with her bags and led her away.
Kelly turned to the bodyguards, "What about ye lads? Are ye hungry? We've got the galley in the drop shuttle ready." The security guards looked at Kelly quizzically.
"I think they only speak French." Hap said.
"Oh, aye." Kelly glanced over Anastasia and the Countess. "of course." He clapped his hands and then started speaking in French, he got a few odd looks, but the men nodded and followed his directions.
Kelly stood by Hap and nodded as they listened to the Countess and her daughter. He pulled out his pipe. After a moment he glanced over at Elinor and exchanged knowing looks. He looked back at Hap and smiled when he realized Hap didn't know what the women were saying, "You don't speak French lad, do ye lad?"
Hap shook his head, "not really."
"Oh wee lamb." Elinor said softly.
Kelly loaded tobacco into his pipe, "Oh I would have warned ye that ye should learn French before ye were married, but that's not lookin' likely, unless ye can learn in a day or two."
Hap watched Anastasia and her mother merrily talking, "The Countess said something about marriage."
"Well they're planning a wedding now lad." Kelly chuckled, as he lit his pipe.
Elinor walked toward the Countessa, "Beg pardon Mademoiselle." When the Countess turned to her Elinor curtsied and then started speaking in fluent French.
"Do I want to know what's happening right now?" Hap asked Kelly.
"No lad, this is the time when you and I just slink away, and whatever happens next ye jest say, 'yes my love' and do as yer told. Yer about to enter the wonderful institution of marriage. When all is right, it's as close as ye can be to heaven, but you'll learn there are other moments when ye find yerself at the beck and call of a woman that will, if ye allow her take up all yer time and energies to do something ye'd prefer wasn't done, and sometimes it gets much worse."
"Kelly, my darling" Elinor called out.
"Oh saints preserve us." Kelly whispered, then said kindly, "Yes my love."
"Would ye find Roweyna? We could use my daughters help."
"Aye." Kelly said, he motioned with his head and whispered, "now, we perfect our escape."
"'Arold." The Countessa called to him, "Can you drive?"
Hap nodded, and Kelly looked at him. "Well lad I'd love to give ye more marriage advice, but I have to find Roweyna and Kitty."
"No. Not Kitty." Elinor said loudly, and everyone gave her a questioning look, "Oh, she's good at finding men, but keeping them not so much. She's really not someone you want involved in a wedding."
"Oh, but Kitty would love to help." Kelly said, "Besides her father-"
"Don't speak to me of her father." Elinor snapped.
"Fine. I'll go get yer daughter, and jest yer daughter." Kelly said as he walked away whistling.
With Kelly gone Hap soon found himself drawn into the wedding plans. He couldn't understand half of what was being said, but he knew he'd be taking the Countess on errands to purchase or order things for the wedding that would be in two days.
He signed out a smaller ground car and Hap, two of the body guards, and the countess drove out around the starport searching for a florist and the gourmet grocery store for certain exotic food stuffs. The countess also wanted to buy a new dress.
Hap found himself spending the afternoon shopping and talking with the countess. Hap was surprised at how gregarious and charismatic she was, it was a contrast to her daughter. The countess had a polite, kind, but firm, charm. At the gourmet grocery store the Sommelier kept trying to up-sell her on more expensive bottles of wine, but she kept describing her tastes and needs until he concluded she needed the wine that she had first asked about.
It was obvious to Hap that she knew her wine better than the wine expert. She kindly bought a few bottles of the more expensive vintage that he had wanted to sell her, but most of the wine for the wedding was significantly cheaper, but, she assured Hap, excellent wine.
For dresses the countess had a wedding gown made for Anastasia on New Avalon. Anastasia and the countess had similar measurements, so the countess had it made so that it could be fitted to Anastasia when they got to Monhegan. To the countess's surprise Elinor had offered her services to help with fitting the dress, and said the company could cater the wedding meal. She only asked the countess to purchase the food and wine. Elinor even volunteered Kelly to go and speak to the local bishop about officiating the wedding.
Throughout the shopping trip the countess commented on how surprised she was by the family like atmosphere she had already seen in the mercenary company. Apparently Elinor had convinced her that they had the skills necessary to put on a wedding in two days, and it would be better than anything the countess could hire or purchase. Hap explained how Kelly relied on everyone's hobbies, skills or just things they happened to know how to do to keep operating costs low and morale high in his company. Hap even told her about cooking with Anastasia. The countess thought it was a genius way to run his operation.
The countess took Hap to a jewelry store to purchase rings. Hap had a pretty good savings due to his deployments, time with the company and general Spartan lifestyle but he still felt conspicuous about how expensive rings were, and how little he had to spend. Graciously, the countess helped him select rings for Anastasia and sensing Hap's discomfort she told him, "it isn't the quality of the symbol, but the sentiment behind it that matters." Hap noticed that her engagement rings were plain and the single diamond was small. After seeing so many rings, Hap could tell the gold of her rings was of an inferior quality.
Later, they had lunch at the same French Café that Hap and Anastasia had discovered previously. The countess had Lobster Bechamel and Hap had another Croque Monsieur. As they ate Hap asked her, "My lady, I notice your wedding and engagement rings…um…forgive me, ma'am, but they're…"
She held up her hand, "Yes Harold, they are humble. My Edmund could barely afford to feed himself and so I'm not certain how he could afford even these. Did Annie tell you how I met her father?"
Hap shook his head, and the countess smiled as she used her napkin to dab her mouth, "I was trying to encourage more business on Hazelhurst and so I had a small business conference where I would offer loans or grants to promising start-ups. There was this scruffy man and his older friend who wanted to build military communications equipment, radios, sensors, the like. It was the end of the day when I encountered them, I was tired, and so I told him I'd prefer not to bring more of the industry of war to our planet. He asked me what I did want, so I told him what I really needed was some way to educate children in the more remote villages and distant areas where it was hard to get educators."
She took a drink of wine and gave a sad smile, "The next day this same man came to offices and somehow managed to get through my staff and had an audience with me. He explained how he could alter his communications gear to cheaply provide audio video equipment to every major settlement's school to make a distributed distance education system. Even more surprising he was asking for a fraction of what others had quoted for a similar service. I gave him the money from my own accounts and put him in contact with my minister of education."
"By the fall semester I was sitting with an elementary class in one of the most remote villages and I watched children receive their lessons, and interact with a teacher that was thousands of kilometers away. When I returned to the capitol I invited Mr. Vallois to compliment him and offer him the grant he had originally asked for, instead he asked me what other problem I had that needed to be solved. At the time I assumed he could only address technology issues, so I pointed him to the unreliable power system for the capitol's light rail system."
She shook her head, "To this day no one knows what he did, but within months the public transit was running reliably and on time. I quickly discovered Edmund just liked to solve problems. I was surrounded by courtiers and sycophants and people with demands for my time and attention and money, but this man just fixed things for me. There was no one like him in my life. It wasn't long before I looked forward to spending time with him. I'd invent reasons to have meetings with him. Eventually he realized my biggest problem was companionship, another thing he was exclusively capable of solving."
"As for the rings, my Edmund never had much money, not because he was foolish, quite the opposite. He was always reinvesting money into whatever project or thing he was working on. So when it came to these rings it represents the love of a man, not how much capitol he could spare. Annie's set may cost more, but mine are still priceless. I also know she'll feel the same way about these symbols of your love for her."
"Thank you My Lady."
"Don't thank me, you've proved yourself just as invaluable to her, and please Harold, call me Je'anne."
-
Comstar Knows Anastasia isn't dead. That sucks
-
It seems very obvious that Ashley is a comstar agent.
Not good.
-
Harold, Call me Jean! :D
-
The code seems rather obvious. The kit is dead. Crows and hired hands dead. Talk of the fox.
SeriouslY? Why did Comstar even think they need to pass this information on to her?
-
Because Ashley wasn't expecting Jean to just grab the messages, and she was slipped into Jean household to make sure no one else knew about what Edmund and Anastasia were working on.
-
Chapter 59
When Harold got the countess and her bodyguards back to the company area he thought he'd slip up to the barracks and get his lance ready for a morning inspection. Anastasia met them and the Countess invited them to come and look at pictures and holos she had brought. She told Hap she wanted to show him their family photos. Hap was certain this wasn't something he could refuse. She selected a few bottles of wine from their shopping trip and gave them to Hap to carry.
Anastasia led them to the galley, and took a tray that had several loaves of French bread, slices of ham, butter, and soft cheese. This was also given to Hap to carry. Anastasia and the Countess began discussing their days as they walked up the Dropship's stairs. Anastasia talked about having the dress fitted and the countess explained how she had the dress modeled after her own wedding dress that had been passed down by several generations of Capetian women.
As the countess recounted their day Hap figured he'd eat with them, have some wine, see holos from Anastasia's childhood and then he'd probably try to call it a night. When they got to the executive crew deck and entered the state room Hap was surprised by how large and spacious it was. It had a sitting room with a small couch, chair and a holo viewer. There was also a small kitchenette and a small bathroom with a shower and a private bedroom. It did feel luxurious, certainly for a military drop shuttle, but Hap knew the countess could have easily found much larger accommodations.
The countess told Anastasia to prepare jambon beurre and asked Hap to pour the wine while she collected her pictures and holos. Hap took the chair and ate his ham sandwich as the countess and Anastasia got comfortable on the couch. Hap enjoyed watching the holos of happy family vacations and holidays.
"Anastasia, you told me your childhood was lonely, this doesn't look so bad." Hap said.
"You're seeing the times when we are all together. These were the happy times." Anastasia said.
"Honestly this is also part of why I wanted to come. I realized I spent so much time working, and now that Anastasia was gone, and Edmund is no longer with us, I found myself looking at these pictures and realizing how much I had missed of Anastasia's childhood." The countess advanced to the next set of photos and Anastasia did seem to be taller and older than the previous set.
Anastasia cozied up to her mother, "I am glad you came. I've missed you too."
"So as I was thinking about visiting I also realized, I may not have another opportunity to see you all for quite some time. Then it occurred to me that I wanted to be at your wedding, and the only way to ensure that was to see you married while I was here."
"I was going to ask about that too." Hap got up to get more wine, and another jambon beurre. "I was a little surprised when you announced you were here to see us married."
The countess shrugged, "Why are you surprised? You had asked for my blessing, and Annie wrote of her feelings for you. The more I thought about your relationship the more I concluded things between you were going a certain way. I could come and see you married, or wait for you to tell me you had eloped and pray it was before Anastasia got pregnant."
Anastasia looked like she was about to protest, but the countess gave a penetrating look, "You're going to be the countess some day and you don't want people whispering behind your back in court, or someone trying to make the claim that your child was illegitimate and therefore has no claim to our title and lands. We're better off having a wedding now, and just getting it out of the way. Besides, Major Braun explained that if you were married the military will generally keep you two together, so it's beneficial for everyone, even me."
"Even you, mother?" Anastasia gave her mother a curious look.
"Grandchildren, my child. I want them, sooner rather than later. I'm becoming a lonely old woman in a large house. If I had grandbabies though…" She shrugged and gave Anastasia a similar curious look, "Also we should relook you returning to NAIS to work in their secure facilities. I had advocated for you to decide if you should remain with the mercenary company or return to research the work you and Edmund were doing."
"I was glad you had chosen to fight for the Federation. The symbol of a noble woman that defends her nation and risks herself for the Royal house, and our national ideals is potent and virtuous. However, now that I understood you are especially targeted by some dangerous group, I'd prefer-"
There was a knock at the door and Ashley stuck her head in. "My lady, I wanted to drop off your official mail. I've marked what needed to be signed, or required a decision from you." Ashley set down a bundle of papers on a small table near the door. I also wanted to know if you wanted a wake-up call."
"The inspection will be at nine, so please call on me at seven." The countess said, "and that will be all for the night, Ashley."
Ashely curtsied and retreated back out of the room. Hap refilled the countess and Anastasia's wine and got comfortable next to Anastasia on the couch. The countess opened up her scrapbooks and began to tell Hap about her family and more of Anastasia's childhood. For the first bottle of wine Anastasia and the countess spoke mostly in English, by the second bottle was mostly French, by the third bottle Hap was pretty sure he could understand French.
There were a few more bottles of wine and more family stories than Hap could remember. He saw a few pictures of Anastasia's father, Edmund. Hap assumed there were few because Edmund was usually taking the pictures. But the Countess had a few portraits, holo stills, and news clippings with pictures of the man. He was short and balding but he had clear blue eyes with a sort of mischievous and clever look about him. Hap wondered how the man would have felt about him or if they would have gotten along.
Hap dozed as the mother and daughter talked about various family members and close friends. He woke a few hours later when Ashley came to wake up the countess. Hap and Anastasia were snuggled under the blanket on the couch, but at some point in the night the countess had retired to her room.
Anastasia and Hap had to race down to the barracks and get everyone awake and moving. Due to the cold weather the Commander directed them to form up in the 'mech bay.
To Hap's surprise everyone seemed to be in good spirits about having to stand in formation for the countess. Hap had learned that most of the company were royalists, at least the ones from Donnegal. Having a countess visit was a reason to celebrate and demonstrate some of their martial skills and discipline. The fact it was Anastasia's mother seemed to make it better. Everyone wanted to meet her.
The countess for her part walked around, spoke to everyone for a few moments and seemed to enjoy getting to know her daughter's unit. Commander Kelly was glad to walk her around, explain the purpose of the lances and gave her a tour of their facilities. When the inspection was complete the countess decided to spend time with Anastasia and sent Harold to pick up the things they had ordered yesterday.
Ashley approached Hap as he was signing out a vehicle, "Hap can you take me to the ComStar office. I need to send this paperwork back to Hazelhurst."
Hap nodded, "Sure, but I'm going to need some help carrying stuff. I can drop you off. Do you think you could ask any of the countess's body guards to help?"
Ashley shook her head, "They usually won't leave the countess's side, and I don't speak French."
"Maybe I should go to ops and see who I can find. I think Mark is off duty today-"
"I'd prefer not to see Mark or his brother again." Ashley said.
Joker and Mags happened to be walking by and overheard the conversation. Joker nudged Mags, "You wanna help Hap with wedding stuff?" Mags gave a noncommittal shrug. "guess we're in" Joker said.
As they drove toward the shopping district, Joker asked Ashley, "You can't speak French? Anastasia told us that was the official language of her mom's house."
Ashley nodded, "The countess and her household do mostly speak French, but the countess is a very gracious and kind woman. Although, if I'm honest, I have felt left out on a few occasions. It made me question some of what I was told about the job."
Hap glanced over at Ashley, but she was looking out her window. "What had you heard about the job?"
"The job was to be the personal assistant for the countess. Generally admin duties, scheduling her appointments, making sure she got to them, keeping her calendar. The head cook generally served as the majordomo of the house so I mostly had to try and keep up with the countess."
"Yeah, she seems pretty high energy. She must have read all those papers and signed everything while Anastasia and I were running to change clothes and get in formation." Hap said
"Well it was mostly routine stuff, but yes she's generally 'high energy' as you say. At least until her husband died. I had worked with her for six weeks before her husband's accident. She had me cancel everything for three days, and then she only did essential meetings until the funeral. I thought his death had broken her, but she immediately went back to 'business as usual' the day after the funeral."
"So she just cried for three days, and then everything was back to normal?" Joker asked
"The countess didn't cry, she mourned." Ashley said, "And she's not quite back to normal. Sometimes when she isn't busy she gets an odd look in her eye and she'll spend hours looking at old pictures and holos. She did it a lot on the voyage to New Avalon which is when she decided to make this trip."
"The countess mentioned you told her not to come out here, what was that all about?" Hap asked
"Um…You're mechwarriors in a mercenary unit, I figured you'd be constantly going off world to destroy things. Honestly I don't know what you do, but it seemed unlikely you'd stay on Monhegan when there is a whole galaxy at war." Ashley said as they pulled up next to the ComStar office. "I'm going to be here for a while if you can come back in an hour or two that would be best."
Something seemed wrong to Hap, and the situation with the strange note from her brother came to mind. Hap leaned over to talk to her, "Do you want some help, maybe we should come with you?"
"No, just come and pick me up in a few hours." Ashley said and slammed the car door.
Hap watched Ashley climb the steps to the ComStar office as Joker asked, "Everything alright boss?"
Hap shook his head, "I don't know. Ashley is a little…it's hard to explain."
Before Hap could explain a car behind honked and Hap had to move the car. Hap thought about trying to explain the strange memo or letter or whatever it was, but it as he thought about what to say it just seemed too obvious and too stupid. He changed the subject and the rest of the day went by quickly for Hap. He drove the car and Joker and Mags helped him complete his errands and then they picked up Ashley. Ashley seemed happier as she got back into the car.
"Everything go okay?" Hap asked
Ashley nodded, "Yes. It went better than I had thought. The office ran very efficiently."
"You sure? 'Cause usually when I go to the ComStar office it doesn't take two hours." Joker said.
"I wasn't sure how long the line would be, and the countess had a lot of documents that needed to be sent with confirmations or other certified systems. Sometimes that can take a while." Ashley said.
"Don't pay attention to him. He never sends anything to anyone. When we go to ComStar it's to send my Dad a letter or money." Mags said.
"Still I go with you, so I know it doesn't take two hours." Joker said.
Ashley shrugged, "Some ComStar stations run better than others, be happy you have a good one here."
Everyone got quite as they returned to the company area. Once the vehicle was unloaded Hap walked back to barracks with Joker and Mags while Ashley went her own way.
Hap walked into his room to find Anastasia dressed in a burgundy colored ball gown. She was sitting at the desk putting the finishing touches on her makeup. When she saw Hap in her makeup mirror Anastasia smiled. "I was starting to worry you'd make us late."
"Make us late?"
Anastasia nodded, "For the formal dinner for my mother."
"Oh yeah the dinner in honor of mother." Hap nodded, "Are we really going to that?"
Anastasia gave him a mock-shocked look and a playful push, "Go get dressed before we're late."
Hap opened his wall locker, "Did you have a nice day with your mother?"
"We did. We talked, and got our hair done."
Hap turned to see that Anastasia's hair was loosely braided and neatly styled into a tall elegant arrangement. There were several small gold and pearl pins keeping her hair up and in place. "How did you, where did you go?"
"Tomax's wife. He may be a real terror as the unit trainer, but his wife is quite nice. I'm amazed I had never really spent any time with her before. Mother mentioned we needed to get our hair done to Elinor, and Elinor told us to find Siforah. She did this for our wedding."
Hap looked at the complex and artistic tangle of her hair. It made Anastasia seem taller. The pins glinted and sparkled, and she was wearing a complimenting necklace and earrings. "That looks pretty complex." Hap reached for one of the pins and Anastasia swatted his hand away.
"It is complex. Don't touch."
"That's for the wedding tomorrow? How are you going to sleep with that?"
"There are a few pins I can pull and it comes down easily, I just can't unbraid it. Siforah will touch up in the morning." Anastasia said as she gently primped her hair. Hap reached for her hair again and she held a warning finger and gave him a threatening look. "Hurry and change."
Hap returned to getting into his dress uniform. "Did your mother tell you all the gossip of Hazelhurst?"
"Mother is not much of a gossip, but she did tell me what was going on with her household staff, a few of the family friends, and politicians. We also talked about daddy."
Hap glanced up to see her dab her eyes, then she smiled at Hap, "Then we talked about you."
"Well it sounds like the wedding is still on so I'm guessing my first impressions weren't that bad."
Anastasia smiled, "Mother said she enjoyed yesterday. She particularly liked the French restaurant you took her too."
"I took her wherever she told me to go, or where I thought you'd like to go"
"Good choices." Anastasia walked over to Hap and straightened his collar, and helped him with his starburst , "Mother said she liked spending time with you. As you know I never really had a boyfriend, but I doubt she would have been this happy with just anyone"
"Well that's comforting." Hap said. "I'm just glad that she didn't get annoyed because I wouldn't call her by her first name."
Anastasia tried to suppress a laugh, "She did mention that. She likes teasing you, and as someone that spent several years routinely defying her, she probably enjoyed the fact you weren't just another 'yes man'. She often told me how much she preferred people 'of character with backbone'."
"I think she preferred to make me uncomfortable. It's hard to think I should call someone like her Je'anne."
"After tomorrow you can try calling her mother."
-
Chapter 60
Hap and Anastasia arrived in the antechamber of the formal dining room. The Company's leadership and their spouses were already there and Commander McFinnigan was entertaining the countess and Ashely with a whiskey tasting and regaling them in stories and of past battles and misadventures from the various planets and places where each bottle originated.
Hap and Anastasia approached as Kelly poured out whiskey from a bottle that looked like a ceramic Sake jar. He saw Hap and Anastasia and motioned to Mark to pull two more small glasses, "Aye, now this is Captain Farrell's Whiskey. We got this on the world of Harvest, one of the last jobs we did before Klathandu. We were part of operation GOTTERDAMMERUNG and after the defenders fled I found an old Whiskey brewery that predated Kurita's occupation of the planet."
The countess took a careful sip. "Mmmm this is sweeter than the other whiskey."
"Aye I couldn't get the distiller to tell me his secret, but I believe he was using rice in his whiskey mash. I suspect his predecessors were trying to 'kurita-up' their recipes after the world fell centuries before." Kelly explained as Hap took a sip. The whiskey had a curious sweetness among its leathery complexities.
"I must say Commander you have quite a collection of whiskeys and the most wonderful stories."
"Bless ye my lady." Kelly said as he carefully poured her a little more whiskey.
"When your company comes to Hazelhurst I will return the favor with some of the choicest wine from my cellar." The countess said, "I believe I can match you for quality of spirit, but perhaps not for the stories."
"My Lady, it speaks to your virtue that you're not as talented a liar as our Commander." Fletch said.
"Well bless ye too, Mr. Fletcher." Kelly growled
Fletch sipped his whiskey, "I just call them how I see them."
Elinor threw open the doors to the dining room, "I believe we're all assembled, and the table is prepared, My lady if you're ready, we can go proceed to the dining room."
The countess nodded and finished her whiskey, and then followed Elinor as she led the way into the table. As the countess's guards started to follow, Elinor stopped them, "I have a rule that I limit weapons in my grand dining hall." Elinor smiled, "I've had some bad experiences with my fine china getting broken, bleeding on my carpet, things of that nature. So ye may disarm yourselves, and trust my protection, or dine out here."
The men exchanged looks and shrugged. Elinor shook her head, "I believe ye know exactly what I'm saying, and I personally assure you that your beloved Countess will be safe." The men still seemed unsure, "Have it yer way." Elinor repeated herself in French, but the men still looked hesitant.
The Countess gave them a dismissive wave and spoke to them in French, then said, "I'll be fine, and they'll stay out in the outer room."
Elinor looked at the bar, "Kitty if you'll see to these men."
The large table was now arranged so that the countess sat in the center with Kelly and Elinor on her right side and Anastasia and Hap on her left. Hap was also next to Fiona and Crow. Ashley was across from the Countess. Tatyana and Fletch sat on Ashely's left and the doctors Jackson and Leslie Morgan were on her right.
Before they began Kelly stood and asked the men to fill wine glasses as he gave a small speech thanking the countess for everything she had done for the company. Getting them favored company status with House Davion had certainly helped their fortunes, and he thanked for allowing her daughter to be a member of the company and "lend her" to his family. As he finished he offered a toast to her health, family name, and fortune.
The countess thanked him, and gave her own short speech expressing her gratitude for him and his family. She thanked them all both for what they did for her daughter, and even the kindness they were showing them now.
As she finished speaking the servers for the night brought out bread and beef carpaccio with capers and onions. Mark moved from the antechamber bar, to work in the formal dining room. He refilled wine glasses, made cocktails, and pulled pints.
When the fish course was taken away and replaced with lime sorbet and more bread the countess looked impressed. "Commander, it's been long since I've had a proper seven course meal."
"Aye, the work we do may not always be civilized, but Elinor ensures we at least know how to behave properly." Kelly said.
"Well then you have my highest compliments. Anastasia told me of the meal when you entertained Major Braun. Those courses would have been a pleasure, but this is a surprise I would have never imagined."
"The fare for the good Major was chosen based on his condition." Patrick said. As Patrick said it Hap realized the meal was soups, shepherds pie and soft or small things that didn't need to be cut with a knife. He hadn't realized at the time, but it was probably a kindness anyone thought to do for Major Braun.
Elinor shook her head, "Patrick, please, this is unnecessary. Part of preserving the man's dignity is not speaking of it."
"I'm pretty sure that pretty little gal he had with him would have leaned over and helped him out with anything he needed. Might have been interesting to watch, given her dress." Crow said thoughtfully.
Fiona sighed, "Remember how I said if you were coming you'd have to be on your best behavior, and should talk as little as possible?"
"Pardon us my lady, we may know how to behave, we just don't always manage it." Kelly said.
"Anastasia has told me of all of you, and I would be disappointed if you were anything less than this." The countess said with a warm smile.
The main dish, beef bourguignon, was brought out and the countess's eyes widened. Anastasia took a small bite and whispered, "oh that's good." She looked at her mother "I've been helping out in those kitchens for months and never thought about making something like this."
The countess nodded as Anastasia spoke. "This is truly a delight."
"My lady, if you're enjoying yourself, perhaps we could stay a few more days." Ashley said.
The countess looked over at her daughter and smiled, "No I believe after the wedding Anastasia and Harold will want some time alone, days I'd suspect. We may as well return my holdings."
Ashley looked frustrated, but nodded, "Yes, my lady."
Everyone settled into their beef bourguignon. After a few bites Ashley cleared her throat. "Anastasia, do you really think ComStar is 'out to get you'?" She looked around the table, "Seems kinda crazy right?"
Tatyana gave Ashley a strange look. Kelly put down his fork. "Lass, if ye'd seen the things we've seen ye'd know it's far from crazy."
Anastasia's head tilted to the side, "Someone murdered my father, and I've had too many near misses to assume coincidence. To not believe ComStar would be crazy."
"But Comstar? Really?" Ashley said patronizingly.
"They desire to suppress recovering technology or making new advancements, who else but ComStar?" Anastasia said.
Ashley gave Anastasia a condescending look, "This is a conspiracy theory long held by fools and people from the periphery and fringes of society."
"Edmund believed this." The countess said, "Ashley we should speak of something else now."
"Yes, my lady, but I'd submit Anastasia is being paranoid and keeping herself unnecessarily secluded."
"What's it to you?" Tatyana asked
"I just think it's foolish just because some mercenaries attacked one of your patrols you're using it to justify this idea that ComStar is some great evil group that hurts people. I think we can all agree this is clearly a falsehood."
The countess's eyes narrowed, "Ashley explain yourself. You were against our trip here, now you want us to stay and you are accusing my daughter and husband of believing a conspiracy theory."
Ashley looked around the table. Everyone had stopped eating and was staring at her now. She nervously cleared her throat. "I'm sorry my lady. I don't know what got into me. Forgive me everyone."
Hap again felt a strange sense of foreboding. "I think you should explain yourself."
Ashley seemed to ignore Hap but looked at the countess. "My lady, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to retire for the evening."
"Are you a ComStar agent? That letter wasn't really from your brother was it?" Hap asked.
"What letter?" Anastasia asked, "Why would you think she's a Comstar agent?"
"She had a letter with weird markings. It looked like a secret memo or something." Hap said.
Hap noticed that Tatyana stiffened. Her hands under the table, and her dinner knife was missing.
"I'm going to leave." Ashley said. She started to reach for her bag as she glanced at Tatyana. There was a strange moment as the women sized each other up. Ashley snatched up her purse as Tatyana struck Ashley under the jaw and pushed her head up. Tatyana's other hand stabbed out from under the table headed for Ashely's throat, but Ashley was able to get her arm up to block the attack. Ashley swung her purse at Tatyana and caused both women's chairs to tilt back and they spilled onto the floor.
Ashley scrambled to get up and started digging through her purse, as Tatyana smoothly rose to her feet and pulled up the top of her dress to make sure she was still covered. Ashley saw Tatyana approach and grabbed a wine bottle off a side table and threw it at her. Tatyana caught the bottle by the neck and broke it on the side of the table as she continued walking toward Ashley.
Ashley pulled a stunstick from her purse. "I'm leaving and if anyone tries to stop me I'll use this."
Tatyana smirked, "Oh you think you're leaving?" She settled into a fighting stance and held the broken bottle like a knife.
"Commander please stop this." The countess said.
"Tatyana, I'd like to ask the lass a few questions, escort her back to her seat."
Tatyana stood up straight, and motioned to the chair, "Maybe you sit and let doctor look at your arm, dah?"
Ashley looked down and saw the dinner knife was embedded deeply into her arm. She glanced back up at Tatyana, "No. I'm leaving." She took a step forward but Tatyana moved between her and the door. Ashley swung her stun stick but Tatyana skillfully parried it with the broken bottle. Ashely made two more attempts to stun Tatyana. The first swing was also parried. When Ashley tried to thrust the stun stick into Tatyana she pushed the weapon aside and head butted Ashley. There was the unpleasant crack of broken bone. Ashley stepped back to gently touch her nose then looked at her fingers for blood.
"Now maybe you sit, or I break leg instead of nose." Tatyana said nonchalantly.
Ashely gave a primal yell, raised the stun stick high overhead and charged Tatyana. Tatyana lowered herself and prepared to decisively end the altercation, but instead of bringing the stun stick down Ashley struck Tatyana with her purse. The purse was surprisingly heavy and Tatyana was too off balanced to effectively block the stun stick as it struck her in the shoulder. She reached out for Ashley's arm as the stun stick hit Tatyana again.
Tatyana groaned obscenities as she went down, but not before grabbing the knife in Ashley's arm. Ashley screamed in agony, but rushed to the door.
Several people got up, including Fletch and Doctor Jack. They rushed over to Tatyana. Elinor had stepped out from behind the table when the altercation started. Now she moved swiftly and grabbed Ashley around the shoulders and spun her around and pushed her back towards the table. Ashley tripped, nearly fell, but managed to keep her feet as she backpelled away from Elinor..
Elinor gave her the sternest of maternal looks. "Ye'll sit now, young lady." Elinor had her hands on her hips but her hands disappeared into the folds in her dress. It almost looked like she had pockets in her elegant ball gown. Elinor's tone reminded Hap of being a child and having his mother go from benevolent caregiver to fearsome wrathful demi-goddess. As a child to cross her would have been unthinkable, even now if Hap were in Ashley's position he would have meekly returned to his seat.
Ashley was pale and shaken but she still had her purse and stun stick. She shook her head, "I'm leaving."
Ashely charged Elinor like she had Tatyana. Elinor brought her hands out of her dress. Hap could see long slits in multiple layers of fabric and caught a glimpse of Elinor's leg and a sword sheath. In her hands Elinor was holding two swords, one longer than the other. The room was filled with a hum as Elinor activated her vibroblades.
Hap could hear Anastasia and the countess's surprise gasps as Elinor started to approach Ashley.
Ashley didn't hesitate as she charged. She raised her stun stick high. As Ashley swung the purse Elinor leaned out of the way of the hand bag and cut through the stun stick with the longer vibroblade, and punched Ashley in the nose with the hand holding the shorter blade.
Ashely staggered backwards again. Hap could see the tears welling up in her eye. Hap couldn't see Elinor's feet but the way she moved was like a prize fighter. Hap had watched exhibition fights with his father and he remembered his dad explaining how the best boxers knew a fight was won or lost in the foot work. A good fighter was always moving and positioning themselves to deliver the most powerful hits at the right time. Elinor moved like that. She was controlling the fight. By contrast, Tatyana had fought with absolute aggression, and had Kelly not stopped her she would have killed Ashley as quickly as possible. Elinor had already won this fight, Ashley just had to choose how much pain she wanted to endure, but Hap knew there was little she could do to escape Elinor.
Ashley threw the handle of the broken stunstick at Elinor and Elinor leaned slightly to let it sail past her. Ashley pulled a needle gun from her purse and leveled it at Elinor. "Get out of my way." She almost shouted.
Elinor snickered, "If ye think a needlegun can pass through my fine embroidery yer more a fool than ye look."
"You've brought vibroblades to a gunfight, so who's the fool?" Ashley spat back.
Elinor looked surprised, "Call me a fool? I'm debating if I'm going to disarm you or dismember you. If ye want to help me decide, keep talkin'. Or ye can be wise, drop the gun and bag o' tricks and sit."
Ashley shook her head. She started to raise the pistol's aim when Hap noticed she was turning the gun. He instantly lunged to push Anastasia out of her chair. As he pushed her down he wrist caught a tray of vegetables which caused it to tip and spill food on them as well. He heard the hiss of compressed air and heard the sound of the flechettes striking the metal food tray.
There was the squeal of metal on metal and Hap heard the needle gun clatter to the ground. The countess shouted for her guards in French. Hap could make out "Anastasia", "Ashley", and "murder or kill". He heard the heavy door burst open. Ashley started yelling, but she was quickly silenced in the hiss of more needle guns.
Hap carefully looked over the table. Ashely lay crumpled on the floor. The body guards were standing over her, both with their own heavy needle guns trained on her. Doc Jack was checking her vitals, but Hap could see multiple pin pricks of blood were starting to form a large red stain on her blouse and sleeve. Elinor and Fletcher were helping Tatyana back up and the countess looked shocked.
Hap pulled Anastasia up, "Are you okay."
She could only nod as she looked over at Ashley. The countess pushed Hap out of the way as she held her daughter and hugged her. She pushed her back so see she could make sure she wasn't hurt. The countess looked at a loss for words as she hugged her again, then looked over at Hap and pulled him into the embrace.
Elinor laid her swords on the table with a sigh, "And another well planned formal meal ruined by an enemy of the family. Why I even bother with planning desserts…oh, and I had personally worked on the crème bruelle."
"Shall we start cleaning up, or call the local constable?" Roweyna asked, "If we call the constable we'll need to get our stories straight. However this may be one of the few times when the truth may serve us best."
"My lady." Kelly said, "How would ye like us to handle this? We can easily make this disappear for you, or if ye prefer we can get the local law enforcement involved. It will create some problems for ComStar, but they'll have a ready lie and make it disappear."
"Do as you see best commander." The countess said quietly. She was still holding Anastasia and Hap.
Kelly nodded, "Mark go get some help, and start cleaning this up. Wrap the body and put in the freezer while I debate how big a message I want to send to ROM." As he spoke Tatyana took Ashley's purse and emptied the contents onto the table. She sat down and drank Vodka straight from the bottle as she started to go through Ashley's "kit bag". She found the note and started to read it.
Fletch picked up a long thin double edged knife, "If you had a knife like this, the fight would ended before she knocked you out of your chair."
Tatyana held up the memo, "She was ROM counter intelligence. If I had known this, I would have ended her before first course." Tatyana looked disappointed, "Seems she was sloppy too."
Kelly could see the countess was still shaken, "My lady, by your good pleasure I'd believe we should reconvene our meal in the galley. Let my people take care of all of this, and report to you in the morning. Elinor has prepared creme bruelle, perhaps it would-" Kelly said
The countess shook her head, "I believe I'd like to retire for the evening. However Commander, its obvious my daughter is safest with your company. I doubt even NAIS or the High prince enjoy this level of protection." She looked down at the weapons on th table then up at Elinor, "Vibroblades under a ballgown, I'd never have imagined."
"They were a wedding gift from Elinor's father." Kelly said, "I often suspect the man never much cared for me."
-
Elinor's father was a wise man with that wedding gift. :D :thumbsup: :beer:
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*CLAPS* Bravo!
I have only one complaint but it hardly matters. The part where the Countess's Security Detail. I doubt they would have not known where they would be placed during the feast. The lead guard would have discussed how the event would entail well before hand... and only be concerned if a change of plans occurred (perhaps that's why they were confused in the story?)
But it hardly matters at this point. :D
-
The Countess needs to call in some favors, the Fedies would love this situation.
ROM has to respond, and FED INTELLIGENCE would be able to exploit this situation.
The mercenaries are bait with the FED INTEL, able to roll up and possible interrogate ROM agency they sweep up.
Attacking Feddie nobility, would be something that would get an excessive response.
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This is one family you don't want to mess with and it was not Mags who took her out
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I'd like to think this is an unsactioned operation run by an ambitious Precentor, and not the entire WoB operation - there's been some very amateurish lack of tradecraft, and I prefer to think the majority of WoB think of themselves a little more professional ;) But then I tend to go for the Disney villains as well ...
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Ok. Caught up the last 12 entries.
I have to say that ComStar seems to have succeeded. If Hap is anything like your average Joe it means that the IQ in the inner sphere has fallen to abyssal levels. Not recognizing Ashley at first sight when she is so obvious and sloppy during the whole parade....
Loved the ambush and the general conspiring. Love the new fighter pilot as well. Well done sir.
-
Chapter 61
Several of the members of the company started to clean up the dining room. Hap walked over to where Tatyana was examining the contents of Ashley's purse. Tatyana set aside the memo and picked up a camera with a large lens.
Hap picked up the memo, "When I saw this I should have known Ashley was lying."
Tatyana scrolled through images on the camera, "You saw that, and did not immediately strangle her? I used to think you were smart coyote."
Anastasia read the memo over Hap's shoulder, "Is this about mother and me? Am I the kit and she is the mother fox?"
"Dah, It seems rather obvious, and English isn't even my first language."
"Alright so I made a mistake." Hap said. "If I had known-"
Tatyana put the camera down, "In this business there is no room for mistake. You must act first and be decisive. Second place made mistake, and is dead on floor there."
"You spent a little time on that floor." Mike said as he spread out a sheet over Ashley.
"Yes, only because the Commander ordered me to not harm her."
"You broke her nose." Mike said
Tatyana's eyes narrowed, "She was not seriously harmed."
"Mrs. Fletcher, Tatyana, don't be too hard on Harold I told Ashley and Harold that I would address this document with her." The countess said as she approached the table. "If any one was foolish it was me.I believe Harold was respecting the implication that I would resolve this."
Tatyana glanced at the Countess, then back to Hap. She gave an unconvinced smirk and went back to examining the camera. She glanced back at the Countess, "Did ROM spy start working for you before your husband died?"
"Yes, I believe I hired her about six weeks before."
"She planned execution of your husband." Tatyana said matter-of-factly.
"What?" The Countess looked stricken. She sighed and her shoulders slumped, "Of course she did. It's all starting to make sense."
Fletch spoke quietly to Tatyana in Russian, then turned to the countess, "My lady, forgive us, perhaps you should retire for the evening. We'll go through your personal assistant's things, and perhaps we can tell you our findings tomorrow?"
"Perhaps," Tatyana paused, "ze lady would allow us to see ROM spy's things."
The Countess nodded, "Yes, that would be fine. However, I'd prefer we wait till after the wedding to speak of this."
Tatyana and Fletch nodded, and the countess started to leave. As the countess and Anastasia walked past the bar the countess overheard Kelly and Elinor talking.
"Aye. I'm saying we can't let this go unanswered. I gave that nasty ComStar acolyte a Heimdall figure to send what I thought was a very clear message, that if they continued to harass us, we would make them regret it." Kelly said as he poured a small amount of whiskey into a glass.
"And I had asked ye not to do that, for this very reason." Elinor poured wine into her glass, "I can see if Brendon and his boys are up for some wet work, perhaps we find that scoundrel Tempes, I'm certain he's somehow behind all of this. I'm still vexed that he'd come here and sit at my table and gloat as he plotted to kill members of our company."
"I'm sure Brendon and his boys will be willin' to help. But some of his people are going to complain when they understand this has nothing to do with protecting the commonwealth." Kelly said.
"They're family." Elinor said, "And if that isn't enough, we'll pay them, they're still mercenaries like us. We cannot let this continue, and we'll not be sending another message."
"Maskirovka would send message." Tatyana called out, "Put ROM agent's head in purse, and return it to them." She set the camera down and looked in the purse again, "Probably cut off tongue, ears, and eyes so message is understood."
Elinor sipped her wine as her eyes narrowed, "Ever pragmatic and resourceful, that maskirovka."
The countess stopped and looked around, "Commander, Elinor, who are you all really?"
Kelly and Elinor exchanged looks and then wordlessly picked up their glasses. Kelly also grabbed his whiskey bottle and Elinor's wine bottle. "We should discuss this in private." Kelly told the Countess. He then looked at Hap, "Lad, grab some glasses for you and the ladies, and anything else you'd like."
Hap hopped over the bar and took two wine glasses and a crystal old fashioned glass. He looked over the shelf to see if there were any bottles he recognized or that sounded good. He spied a bottle of port. He cradled the glasses in his arm as he took the bottle and read the label. It was a port style plum and kincha wine fortified with brandy.
Hap glanced over his shoulder to see Anastasia looking lost as she watched Mark and Kitty roll up Ashley's body into a tablecloth. Hap took the bottle of port and a random bottle of bourbon.
Hap followed Kelly as he led the Countess, Anastasia and Elinor out of the dining room and back into the main deck. They walked down the hall and entered a small parlor. There were couches and overstuffed chairs, but the room was quiet. Two of the Countess's guards were following behind them as they walked, but as the group entered the room Elinor shut and locked the door before they could enter.
Kelly got comfortable and took a measured sip of his whiskey. "Well let me start by saying that I'm jest an honest businessman, well as honest as a man can be in this business."
Hap handed the countess a glass of port as she gave Kelly a skeptical look, "And do all mercenaries have women like Tatyana in their employee."
Kelly gave a good natured shrug, "Mercenaries come from all walks and backgrounds, but a Maskirovka operative is a rarity. Her story is one I don't think I'll ever learn the whole truth of." Kelly looked over at Elinor, "How old is little Sophia?"
Elinor smiled warmly as she picked up her wine bottle, "Oh she'll be four in a May."
Kelly nodded, "So about five years ago we were hired to get a Lyran noble out of a Marik prison. His parents could have paid a ransom but they decided they'd rather pay me to pull thier boy out of the Marik's clutches, which is fine by me."
"I'm certain this is a very successful part of your business model." The countess teased.
Kelly smiled, "Yes, My lady. As I said I'm as honest as I can be, but yes, most nobles, at least from the Commonwealth would prefer to give money to a scoundrel like me to retrieve their child then fatten the purse of Janos Marik or any of his ilk."
Kelly took another sip of whiskey. "Now ye must understand that freeing a prisoner isn't usually as simple as kicking down a prison wall and grabbing him with your mech when he comes runnin' out. I had to put boys on the inside. Start a prison riot, generally cause a mess o' things. We also had to move quick so I brought a small lance of fast 'mechs. This is where I may have made a mistake."
The countess seemed interested as Hap refilled her wine glass. Anastasia held out her own glass and after Hap filled it she took the bottle and looked at the label. She gave him an appreciative nod as she topped off her glass and his. She then pulled him back into the seat, and, after a long drink she sighed contentedly and put her head on his shoulder.
Kelly filled his own glass, "So when we had landed and gotten to the prison the riot was already started and the prison garrison was on high alert. My intel was a little off and I had not anticipated the speed at which the garrison could rally. Nor was I aware they could muster a company of mechs. That said, we got the principal and I recovered my lads, but we had to cover our APC as they drove out the prison. This meant we were in a running gun fight all the way to the pick-up zone, and we had to protect the APC.."
"Things were starting to go bad for us and one of our mechs was destroyed. My pilot ejected and got to the APC, but it was starting to look like we weren't going to make it out. We were on a short timeline to get back to our shuttle before the planet's air support arrived. When I thought things couldn't get worse a Kintaro staggered out of the prison mech bay."
"Now, a Kintaro is a beast of a machine, fast enough to catch up to most mechs, and a nasty customer up close. It was the last thing I had wanted to see, but the pilot moved like they were drunk. They staggered up to a Rifleman that was hanging back and harassing us with its lasers and autocannons. When it got behind the Rifleman she shot him with everything she had. The Rifleman exploded, and the next closes 'mech was the prison warden's Orion. He turned to see what the hell had happened when the Kintaro pilot started to punch his mech. She gave him a few good blows to the cockpit and his mech went down."
About then the garrison fell apart. We ran like hell to the LZ and as the leopard landed the Kintaro pilot got there. I was a mech down so I tried to raise the pilot on the common guard channel but she didn't answer. I thought maybe the radio was broken so I motioned to the pilot to load up. She was still moving awkwardly but we got her on board.
I had expected this mechwarrior to be a former guard that had been imprisoned or a mech warrior POW, but to my surprise it was a Capellan Maskirovka agent. Tatyana's story was that she was in solitary confinement,and when the prison riot started she thought her people had come to free her. When she got out of her cell and saw the APC drive off without her she concluded this wasn't about her, but it was still her chance to escape. So she went to the mech bay to see what she could use."
The countess set her wine glass down, "I had always been told that stealing a mech was nearly impossible. The neuro helmet security system was unbreakable."
"Aye." Kelly nodded, "There are some ways around it, allegedly there is a trick ye can do with a magnet, but what Tatyana told us was she got to the mech bay hoping to steal a ground car, or a skimmer and found the Kintaro and two mechanics who were distracted watching a holo. She says she gave one a "grievous injury" and told the other that he could set up the mech to work with her, or she'd injure him like his mate. Whatever she did she got access to the Kintaro."
"I wonder what Tatyana considers, a 'grievous injury'." Anastasia said.
"I've seen her in enough scrapes to know it would be somethin' life altering." Elinor said.
"Once we got the noble's son home, Tatyana told me she would return to 'her people'. So I offered her a few million c-bills for the Kintaro. She took the money and told me a girl in her profession could use an 'off the books' retirement fund. Then she disappeared.
A few days later, before we left the planet, she came back. Her clothes were torn and it was obvious she had been in a flight. She told me, 'Maskirovka only has place for the best, and the best are never captured.' She returned the money, asked for the Kintaro back, and signed on as a 'mech warrior."
"Are most Maskirovka agents qualified mech warriors?" The countess asked.
Kelly laughed, "Couldn't say, but Tatyana needed a lot of training before I let her operate that Kintaro in another combat operation. I think she knew, or figured out jest enough to get the 'mech movin'."
Elinor cleared her throat, "It'd be more accurate to say that Tatyana, and I'd dare say, most Maskirovka agents, are trained to be resourceful and excel in desperate situations." Elinor added politely.
"I thought Tatyana said she was an intel analyst," Anastasia said.
"Oh, aye, she does say that, and to be fair, she can look at most intel reports and understand them and ask the right questions of our employers. Quite a few times she pointed out somethin' that, had I not known it, we would have been in a bad way. But I think she's more than an analyst. I've seen her do some things that I'd be hard pressed to say was somethin' an intel analyst would be trained to do." Kelly said.
The countess was quiet for a moment, "And you trust her? Is it possible she's still a maskirovka agent?"
"I wondered the same, so one day I asked Mr. Fletcher if he felt his wife was a Maskirovka agent in deep cover. He said he'd expect if she were actin' she'd be much kinder to him." Kelly laughed at his own joke, then added, "She's been with us for a while now, if she were actin' we'd have seen her slip by now." There was an uncomfortable pause and Kelly added, "I'd, tell ye, too, she believes she was setup for capture, likely by one of her own. She seems to have no love for Maskirovka or the Capellans."
"Also Tatyana loves her daughter." Elinor added, "If she's running a deep cover op, she's makin' herself quite vulnerable at the same time. I truly believe she feels betrayed by Maskirovka and we are her family and 'her people' now."
The countess looked at Elinor, "So if Mrs. Fletcher is a former Maskirovka agent, what does that make you."
Elinor leaned back in her chair and smiled faintly, "I'm something few of Maskirovaka's leadership know of, but the ones that do, pause when they think of moving against the Archon."
-
Chapter 62
The countess leaned forward and poured wine into Elinor's glass and then filled her own, "I'm sorry, but that doesn't begin to answer my question."
Elinor nodded, "When ye practice keeping secrets, it makes it hard to be direct." She sipped the wine. "Have ye ever heard of Heimdall?"
The countess shook her head.
"Do ye know of Loki?"
The countess nodded, "I've heard of some atrocities that the Lyran Government had done to its own people. That was several years ago, and I was told that Loki was a national security or law enforcement agency that was known for being overly aggressive. I was also told that as House Davion and House Steiner were being united that their excesses would be reigned in."
Elinor nodded, "Loki tends to get 'reigned in' from time, but they are a nasty lot, and somethin' that my nation would be better served to be rid of."
Kelly poured himself more whiskey, "The truth of Loki is that they are neither law enforcement nor do they do much for national security. Generally speaking, they are a tool of the government to silence opponents, punish dissidents, and keep anyone else too scared to step out o' line."
The countess set her wine glass down, "They sound like terrorists"
"Oh I think ye have the right of it, and I'm sure you remember a few years back when Alessandro Steiner used them to try and murder Katrina Steiner." Elinor added.
The countess nodded, "I recall that incident. I cringed as I thought that's not what free societies look like."
"Nay, it is not" Kelly agreed, "but that is where Heimdall comes in. We watch Loki and prevent their atrocities."
"So Loki is not reigned in?" The countess said.
"Oh they are, but mostly by us." Elinor said, "Though I'll confess it's a bit of a long game. The highest leadership in Heimdall believes the best way to marginalize Loki is to starve them. Loki is a government agency, and government agencies that appear ineffective or inefficient will eventually be underfunded. So we use methods to try and look like they are just incompetent, or prone to inexplicable bad luck."
"That makes sense," Anastasia said, "When I was at NAIS the different R&D programs would get increasingly desperate and acrimonious toward each other when it came to budget reviews. One time a member of Team Banzai used a prototype hatchetman to "accidentally" cut into another program's experimental myomer system." As Anastasia spoke she made a hatchet chopping motions with her hand.
The countess signaled for Anastasia to stop. "This 'long game' approach implies your leadership is influential politicians or council members that control budgets. Do they use your operations as an excuse to deny Loki's budget requests?"
Elinor gave a slight shrug, "I could never say. Much of what we do to sabotage Loki is done through dispersed cells, often we're told to go to a place and do a simple thing."
"What sort of 'simple things'?"
"Oh ye'd be surprised, replacing explosives with inert training materials at a military depot. Or exchanging the toxic chemicals they were going to use on a cities water supply with some salt and sugar." Kelly said.
Elinor nodded, "One of the more inspired things I heard was a Heimdall cell located a Loki safe house and called Child Protective Services and reported that they were abusin' children and added they had seen the family brandishing weapons. The social worker showed up with police. The more the operatives tried to keep them out, the more belligerent the social worker became. Once the police got in and did a thorough search of the premises they found no children, but half a dozen desperate men with enough firepower to take down a mech lance. I don't need to tell you how embarrassing and difficult that was to explain."
"There was also that time when the Archon was visitin' Drosendorf." Kelly said, "Before her speech there was an accident and several hundred pigs got released on the highway an hour. It took another six hours to round up all the little piggys runnin' amok up and I've heard tell that there was a high paid marksmen assassin that found himself stuck in that traffic."
"Amok, amok, amok" Anastasia said as she poured wine into her glass and the bottle glugged.
The countess took a sip of her wine, gave her daughter a sideways glance, and thought for a moment, "So you protect the Archon and defend the freedoms of the commonwealth with petty acts of vandalism, theft, and taking advantage of social conventions, and hoping that is sufficient to mitigate the effectiveness of a determined government agency, or expecting them to be under funded due to incompetence? This doesn't exactly explain why you have swords under a ball gown."
"As ye say there are some 'determined' members of Loki, some that don't accept a simple act of vandalism or let social conventions stop them from hurting people or threatening the Archon." Elinor's voice became hard as she said, "They require a significantly more hands-on and usually permanent intervention on our part, sometimes we have to grievously wound them, or worse."
Kelly sipped his whiskey, "In addition to ensuring Loki has some of the worst luck in the business Heimdall has done some audacious things to neutralize or, to be clear, execute some of their worst members. Between that the general improbable work of usin' well planned 'vandalism, theft and social conventions' it's given Heimdall near mythical status. About the time someone starts to think that Loki just had a brush of bad luck suddenly they find a capable assassin killed with his own weapons, or a cell of their agents just mysteriously disappears."
"Honestly if not for what I saw tonight, I would be skeptical of your claims. Though I must confess I know little of the intelligence community aside what is said in the papers, and what periodically comes my way in an intelligence report, but that is rare.
"Mother only gets intelligence when MIIO or DMI think Kurita might consider a deep raid, or when there are reports that the Outworld Alliance have managed to stop rioting and found a star map that has Hazelhurst on it." Anastasia said before finishing her wine.
"Are you drunk?" Hap asked
"Clearly, but she's not wrong either." The countess said. Anastasia reached for the port bottle but the Countess grabbed it first. "So how does the 'mech company fit into all this?" The Anastasia gave the countess an annoyed look as she emptied the wine bottle into her own glass.
"Oh, that's the funny thing about Heimdall, your day job may not have anything about what they need from you. Usually when they need somethin' of me, it's because I have this dropship that can pick up people and take them where they need to go. It's this hellraiser" Kelly nodded toward Elinor, "that is probably more what you're thinking of when it comes to your idea of a spy or operative."
"There are a few other members of the company that help me, including Tatyana." Elinor said, "Travelin' with a mercenary company allows us to move freely. We have some family on Donegal so periodically I take a few members when I visit home, sometimes we do a little work along the way."
"It sounds like Heimdall is chartered to protect the Lyran Commonwealth from her own domestic threats and protect the Archon. However, it also sounds like Heimdall has unparalleled expertise in stopping other intelligence or counterintelligence organizations and their operations."
"Aye." Kelly answered as he poured more whiskey into his glass.
"It would seem my daughter has ran afoul of ROM, and they seem dedicated to having her murdered. I have personal wealth, the resources of a planet, and political capital within the Federated Suns, how can I hire the services of you and your Heimdall associates to stop this, or at the least stop this?"
"Aye, while I'm a mercenary, Heimdall's a little more…ideological as it were and they…well they don't stray too far from that ideology. Now I have tried to use Heimdall's reputation to see if that would be sufficient to make ComStar, uh, reconsider…Ye should also understand ComStar is big. We can hide your daughter, but compelling ComStar to give up, that's hard. Ultimately yer daughter may be safer at NAIS."
"My lady," Elinor said, "while Heimdall has very specific aims, part of being a good Heimdall member is the maintenance of our skills and arms. We can reach out to a few other cells and see if they can assist us. I think I have a lead on who is directing this mischief against you and yer family."
"And what would I owe you for this?"
"Again most of the members are ideological and wouldn't taint the virtue of our cause by taken' money, but we, McFinnigan and Son's, have been personally insulted and threatened, and so that makes things a little more compelling to us, and we have other friends. I'll see who will help, but Kelly is right, eventually if ComStar wants to kill her there maybe little we can do."
The countess nodded, "I understand. You show Anastasia and me great kindness, thank you."
"Heimdall may also ask a 'kindness' of you someday. It may be in the realm of what ye offered in terms of money, resources or political capital, or it may jest be simply going to a place and doing a thing." Elinor said. "Also we're fond of yer daughter, and we do consider every member of the company as family, If you'll pardon the familiarity, she's like a daughter to us."
The countess smiled, "Thank you again."
Anastasia picked up the empty port bottle and frowned. She spied a glass cabinet with a few bottles across the room. She nudged Hap with her shoulder, "Would you go check that cabinet for wine."
Kelly looked over his shoulder, "Oh I think you might find something dry and red in that cabinet."
Anastasia pressed herself into Hap and whispered, "I would thank you for the great kindness of getting me more wine."
Hap started to get up as the Countess put her hand on his shoulder, "I think she's had enough wine."
"Don't let her push you around just because she's a countess." Anastasia told him as she pushed on Hap to get up again.
"She's also your mother." Hap said.
"Yes, and after tomorrow I'll be your wife, so you should listen to me." Anastasia said as she tried again to push him off the couch.
"I can stop your marriage from happening." The Countess asserted.
"I've heard forbidden passion is the most exciting." Anastasia said to Hap.
"Alright, that's enough." The countess gracefully stood up, and reached for Anastasia, "Anastasia, it is time we retire." The countess pulled Anastasia to her feet. "Commander, Elinor, thank you again for everything. This evening was not what I had expected, but I appreciate everything you've done for us."
The countess started to leave, but Anastasia paused, "I think I'd prefer to stay with Harold."
"It is the evening before your wedding, and his friends have likely planned a Bachelor party." The countess said. "And you need to be sober and rested for the wedding."
"Mother, his friends are the mechwarriors, and they're not really planners nor are they patient. If they did plan any sort of party for him they likely started it already." Anastasia said.
"Aye, the lads do tend be an impulsive and impatient lot." Kelly chuckled
Elinor looked at Anastasia, "Yer a feisty little thing when ye've been your cups."
Kelly laughed, "Oh ye should have seen her during her interview."
"You were drunk when you interviewed for the company?" The countess asked Anastasia
"The interview was actually a card game and Commander McFinnigan insisted we drink. He said it was part of how he got to know us."
"Aye, I like to see how my new hires handle themselves, their liquor and how well they can bluff." Kelly explained, "It may seem a little strange, but a bit o' druken gamblin' can tell you how people act when they're ahead, or when they're disadvantaged and cornered. It may not be combat, but it's still telling."
The countess nodded, "I won't question your methods Commander. Anastasia has mentioned that you have many eclectic managerial approaches. She wasn't sure of the efficiency of how you run your company, but she did speak highly of the results."
Kelly bowed, "Thank you, my lady."
"So I already know how she handles her drink," The countess gave Anastasia a critical look, "And how well did she bluff?"
"Well, my lady, yer lovely daughter uses a different strategy than most. She doesn't bluff persee, but tends to calculate her likelihood of winning, and uses that knowledge to her advantage. I dare say it was more effective than you may imagine."
"No, that sounds like her father. I suspect it was effective until you figured out what she was doing."
Kelly laughed, "even knowin' what she was doin' it was still effective."
"I think I heard something about that evening." Elinor said, then gave her husband a suspicious look.
"What have ye-" Kelly looked confused for a moment and he remembered the night, "Oh aye." Kelly clapped his hands, "Alright, My lady, as ye said, it's a big day tomorrow what with the Weddin' and all. Hauptman Hap- er-uh Calahad, perhaps I can help ye find yer mates, and see about that party-"
The countess looked from Elinor back to Kelly. "Commander, you generally revel in telling stories, I'm surprised that you are quick to change the subject on this matter."
"Oh there is usually a reason when Kelly Christian McFinnigan doesn't want to indulge friends and family in his God given silver tongue gift of tellin' fanciful tales of daring exploits and amusing anecdotes." Elinor said, "and that reason is usually because he's tryin to keep me from findin' the truth."
"Well it was several months back, and I, uh, as the lass said, we had been drinkin'." Kelly looked at both Hap and Anastasia, "I believe I also retired before the game had ended."
Hap nodded, "I do remember the commander saying he needed to attend church the next morning."
"He calls his ramshackle makeshift pub of a galley a church." Elinor snapped.
Anastasia nodded, "I recall that too, but I would also like to add I was quite drunk. I don't remember much, but I feel that is an important fact."
The countess looked hard at Anastasia, then to Hap. "So it sounds like you're the only one who should be able to remember clearly what happened. Perhaps you should enlighten us Harold."
"And don't try to leave out the part about the wager with the ladies undergarments." Elinor said.
"You were gambling with your undergarments." The countess looked shocked as she turned to Kelly, "Commander! You had my daughter playing strip poker!"
"My lady, now, no. See, it was never meant to be, and I tried-"
"Oh ye tried." Elinor clucked.
"Je'ann, ma'am, It wasn't like that, My lady." Hap said, "Anastasia removed her bra under her coveralls. She maintained her modesty at all time, I assure you. It wasn't as-".
"tawdry" Anastasia interjected.
"As it sounds." Hap finished.
"I should hope not." The countess looked slightly relieved, "Why was it necessary to use your bra as a wager in game of chance?"
"First, it was one round. Second, I had a hand that couldn't be beaten, so it was not a game of chance. Third, I had a call sign that I absolutely loathed and wanted desperately to be rid of, and I had to raise the stakes to get a certain someone to wager that he would stop calling me 'Princess'."
The countess looked unimpressed, but nodded, "I knew of your dislike for being called 'princess', but I never considered the lengths you'd go to in order to have your peers give you a different moniker. Have they given you a new call sign now?"
"They tend to refer to me as "Professor", which I know I tend to be an insufferable know-it-all so I feel I at least earned that name, and it better suits me."
"Very good." The countess said in a tone that implied she was still unhappy, "Anastasia, I'm disappointed, do better. Harold, I'm charging you not to let anything remotely like this happen again, ensure she protects her modesty and the name of our family. I'll not have my daughter doing things that would make the cover of some tabloid."
"I'm not certain that I can stop Anastasia from much, but I will try my lady." Hap said.
"See to it." The countess reiterated. "Now, with Elinor's permission I'd prefer to speak no more of this."
Elinor smiled, "Oh yes, my lady, we needn't speak of it anymore, but Kelly and I will have some words later."
"Let this be a lesson to ye lad, there are two women ye can never really deceive. Yer wife, and her mother." Kelly moaned.
"As the saying goes Commander, truer words have never been spoken." The countess said.
-
Welcome back! Good reads, both.
-
Wow. You can literally hear the excavator working to dig the hole Hap has found himself in... :D
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Wow. You can literally hear the excavator working to dig the hole Hap has found himself in... :D
No that was the sound of the hole being dug for Ashley's body minus the head.......
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No that was the sound of the hole being dug for Ashley's body minus the head.......
alas, poor Ashley, we never knew the real you well
-
Chapter 63
St. Ives System
February 2030
Anastasia woke up slowly. She felt the gentle shudder of the drop shuttle and heard the low hum of air circulators and the thrum of the DropShip engines. She was in a sleeping compartment on the leopard DropShip Phaidin. In the dim light of the compartment, she tried to ignore her slight headache as she remembered why she was here.
The last few weeks had been a blur for Anastasia. Her and Harold were now married. Kelly arranged for them to use the small chapel on the star port, and he found a priest to officiate. Anastasia wore the dress her mother made for her, and Kelly gave her away. Her mother paid for the food, and the mercenary company provided drinks. Her headache seemed a little worse for a moment, as she recalled that she really hadn't stopped drinking from the night before her wedding until yesterday.
After the wedding Kelly gave Harold and Anastasia the run of a furnished apartment in the command's lodging area. Kelly had also given them a dozens bottles of home brewed mead, and told them it was a tradition for the newly married couple to drink at least one bottle every night for a month. There were similar wedding gifts of alcohol and advice from other members of the company.
Anastasia reached for Harold. Even in the few weeks of their marriage she had gotten very used to having Harold close. She gave his wrist a gentle pull and he rolled and put his arm around her. She pressed her back into his chest.
Harold stretched then pulled her close, "How are you feeling."
"Good. Almost sober." Anastasia intertwined their fingers.
"Yeah it seems like we've been drunk for weeks."
"What do you most remember of our wedding and honeymoon?"
Hap kissed her shoulder, "I recall that Kelly gave us a case of his homemade mead and told us to drink a bottle or two every night. That seemed to result in us wearing nothing but our wedding rings for most of our honeymoon."
"You don't remember the chapel, or the stained glass windows, the strange short little priest, or my white dress?"
Hap stopped, "I remember those things, but I thought you asked me what was my favorite thing."
"No, I asked you what you remembered most."
Hap kissed closer to her neck, "Yeah, I'm still thinking the mead, and everything that followed after that."
"Everything that followed? Like when my mother visited." Anastasia teased.
Hap stop kissing her, "Oh. I do remember that, lucky for us she sent Kitty to warn us the Countess would, 'visit us for a mid-morning tea'."
"Yes, lucky for us. Seeing as how you met Kitty at the door wearing my robe."
"It was all I could find when she came calling, besides it covered me, well almost covered me, I still had to hide behind the door."
"So did I, but I would have been decent if you had not taken my robe. Instead I was hiding behind the door hoping that my semi-inebriated husband could keep a very nosy and very persistent friend out of our house."
"Well we were both dressed by the time the Countess showed up, and we, at least, acted not drunk." Hap said.
Anastasia nodded. "Yes. We did almost approximate sober." Anastasia's mind drifted to that conversation. It was a bitter-sweet time with her mother. The countess made it clear they may not see each other for some time. Kelly had explained that he was certain he could keep Anastasia as safe as anyone, at least for a while, but he doubted ComStar would stop trying to kill her. Kelly told the countess they were planning to use their Heimdall resources to show ComStar they couldn't hurt people with impunity. However, ultimately Kelly and the Countess agreed Anastasia might be safer at NAIS, but once she went there, she would probably never be able to safely leave. For the meantime she would stay with the company.
Both women knew they wouldn't see each other for a long time. They promised to write to each other, and use diplomatic pouches and couriers to avoid ComStar. The Countess didn't want to intrude on Anastasia and Harold's honeymoon any longer than necessary so she left several a few things unsaid, but she did make it clear she was proud of Anastasia and pleased with the marriage. She also made it clear she would prefer grandchildren sooner rather than later.
Harold moved from kissing her on the shoulders to higher on the neck and gently nibbled at her ear. Instinctively Anastasia hunched her shoulders, and tried to move her ear out of his reach. "Harold, I've told you not to do that, it makes me feel… it feels strange."
"Sorry, but you seemed distracted." Hap said as she turned around to face him, and he helped her get comfortable.
"I was thinking about the last conversation with my mother." Anastasia said before they kissed.
The intercom squelched, then Kate said, "Fiona, we got a call from the client, are you awake?"
There was a moment of silence then Fiona replied, "Yeah. Give me two mikes and pump it into warrior lounge."
"Warrior lounge? Is that the bar on your deck?" Kate asked.
"Kate, not everything in the company…" Crow started to say
"actually yes, it's the bar on this deck." Fiona said over Crow.
"Alright, I'll let the client know you need a few minutes." Kate said.
Harold sighed "Just like old times".
Anastasia nuzzled his chest, "Perhaps, but unlike 'old times' when we're back here we'll likely pick up where we left off."
Harold nodded as he reached over and opened the door to their bed chamber. Crow opened his and Fiona's compartment about the same time. Fiona hopped onto the floor and pulled coveralls out of her wall locker. Crow sat on the edge of their bed scratching his beard.
Fiona zipped her coveralls, "Good, you two are up. Get your shit together, the Capellans want to talk."
"I thought Tatyana said they were a new nation. Aren't they St. Ives Compact-ians?" Crow asked.
"Eugene, love, they might have a new nation, but they were raised like Capellans, I anticipate they are going to be rude, insulting, and try to argue over the terms of the contract, just like nearly ever operation I've ever done with the Capellans."
"Oh, It can't be that bad." Crow said.
"Just watch." Fiona replied
Harold opened his wall locker and grabbed his coveralls as Anastasia found her silk robe and covered her nightgown.
Crow hopped off the bed, "Hey Anastasia, I've never seen your hair out of control like that."
Anastasia glanced at her hair in the mirror in the wall locker. She tried to comb the bushy mess with her fingers. "Usually, I keep it in a loose braid to prevent this very thing."
Anastasia opened her wall locker and hunted for a hairbrush. Fiona looked her over, "Anastasia, don't groom yourself in front of the client." Fiona turned to look at Crow, "And you-"
"I know, I know, stay off camera, keep my mouth shut, and make myself useful by making coffee." Crow said as he pulled on a royal blue t-shirt emblazoned with the Lyran Regulars brigade emblem.
"Actually, just put on your coveralls, no reason to show your Lyran colors to the Capellans. You know the Commonwealth is one of their enemies."
"There are one of the Capellan's enemies, but these aren't Capellans" Crow said.
"Fine they're St. Ives-whatevers, just go make coffee." Fiona gave Crow a playful push" Hap, what sort of malfunction-" Fiona turned to look at Hap. "At least you're awake and in a military uniform."
"I can sterilize my uniform, but Tatyana said the St. Ives Compact was allied with the Federated Suns." Harold said.
Fiona nodded, "They are. You're fine Hap."
"Thanks, after everything that happened with Ashley I've been trying to pay better attention to things around me and be more proactive." Hap said as he followed Fiona.
"Good at least one of you has their head in the game." Fiona said as they entered the Mechwarrior lounge. Fiona walked around the semi-circular couch and switched on the holo viewer.
"What is 'off camera'?" Anastasia asked as she brushed her hair and followed Crow to the bar.
Crow switched on the coffee maker, "Anywhere not on the couch."
Fiona sat down in the center of the couch as the holoscreen warmed up. An angry looking Asian man came into focus on the screen. Hap sat down next to Fiona as the man seemed to notice the mercenaries.
"Ah, so you are no longer keeping me waiting." The Asian man said angrily.
The man was wearing a Capellan military uniform and he was standing outside among ammunition crates and a holo table with a topographic map with red and blue icons.
"To what do we owe this pleasure…" Fiona looked closely at his uniform, "Sang-wei?"
"Sang-wei Zhang to you mercenary whore, and I do not appreciate being kept waiting." The Capellan said.
Fiona sighed, "Well we're here now, Sang-wei Zhang."
"Yes, and now we must discuss the operation you will conduct."
"I understand you requested mobile artillery support," Fiona said. "I'm not sure what you want to discuss. We should be planet side-"
"Time on Target is approximately eight hours." Kate's disembodied voice cut in.
"So, Sang-wei Zhang, what can't wait eight hours?" Fiona asked.
"First, Mercenary whore, you will learn that I am not a man to be kept waiting. Second, the nature of our requirement from you has changed. Our supply lines have been cut off by a lance of mech's that you will go and destroy."
"Sang-wei, we were briefed that the St. Ives Compact had problems with insurgents that would ambush, or perform hit-and-run raids, and would outrun any response your forces could muster." Fiona said, "We were told your requirement was for mobile missile platforms to rapidly respond and destroy the insurgents. We're not exactly equipped to perform a hunt and kill mission.
"I am exceptionally disappointed to hear you concede failure before even attempting to fulfill your contract, however I cannot say I'm surprised that a whore would quibble about being asked to do something slightly different than what they were initially told to do." Sang-wei Zhang said.
Every time the Sang-wei said "whore" it annoyed Anastasia. She was a noble woman with virtue and grace, and a dedicated wife now. For all these reasons she did not appreciate the comparison.
Anastasia understood that mercenaries weren't considered as principled or as honorable as patriots fighting for their nation, but several house armies were full of conscripts that were press-ganged into fighting and dying for causes they probably didn't understand or necessarily agree with. Also for a host of budget and legal reasons mercenaries were considered a general strategic necessity by nearly every house. Why the Sang-wei insisted on insulting them seemed just as foolish as it was annoying.
Anastasia angrily brushed her hair. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the bar and saw the tangled mess was now a silken curtain of chestnut and amber. She smiled at her reflection as she quickly braided her hair. She watched Crow pull out a squad ration pack that was marked, "breakfast, casserole, ham and egg". He started to pull out the various boxes and retort packages as she skillfully turned her long hair into a single braid.
"Sang-wei, I think you're being unnecessarily insulting." Harold said, "Obviously we're here to help you, but-"
"It is not obvious at all to me that you are here to help, because you're not here." Sang-wei Zhang interrupted.
"Look, Sang-wei, we can sit here and insult each other all the way till we arrive at St. Ives, or you can stow your attitude and just tell us what you are asking us to consider fighting."
"It is not an ask, you are a whore, and as such under contract, and therefore-"
"No. The contract explicitly has a clause that allows for a 'no fault, no consequence withdrawl' if the client asks us to perform mission objectives that greatly exceed the agreed contract, or represent an intentional misrepresentation or deception of the situation on ground. It sounds like we are dangerously close to just such a scenario." Fiona sounded exasperated.
"Perhaps if you had came when we first agreed this would not be the situation, but your tardiness has, quite frankly, caused our tactical situation to deteriorate. " The Sang-wei sounded like a man who had just revealed an important and damning fact.
"We departed our company area the day we agreed to this contract. It was routed through Federated Suns bureaucracy so I can't tell you how long they sat on the contract, but we've made every reasonable effort to get here as quickly as possible." Harold said. Anastasia noted that Harold's tone was similar to the one he used when Joker had pushed something too far.
"Your services were requested a week ago, mercenary whore." Sang-wei shouted back.
Fiona threw up her hands, "Do you not understand how space travel works? I just happen to have a NAIS graduate that can probably explain it to you."
Anastasia wrapped an elastic band around the tip of her long braid, and tucked it into her robe. As she pulled her silk robe closer around her she walked toward the couch, "I'm uncertain where to start." She said as she sat down next to Harold, "The complexities of the Kearny-Fuchida drive boarder on theoretical even in the best of the Inner Sphere's universities, and given what I've heard of the Capellan education system I'm not certain it's worth either of our time for me to describe how that works."
"What?" The Sang-wei said.
"I've heard the Capellan school system is more of an indoctrination program that teaches the tenets of the Chancellor's cult of personality, suicidal loyalty to the state, and general martial training. That said, I've also heard citizens of the Confederations receive at least a functional education that includes reading, writing, and math, so we should probably start with simple physics, specifically Newton's laws."
"What?" Sang-wei still seemed confused.
"Well I can't say that I'm surprised, but this is worse than I thought. Sir Isaac Newton was a seventeenth century mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and theologian. He proposed three laws of motion that have generally been-"
"I know who Isaac Newton is." The Sang-wei spit out.
"Are you familiar with his laws of motion? They're important because this will help you understand why it took us six days to travel from Monhegan to here. See, once we leave a planet we have to travel-"
"I will not be spoken down by the likes of you." Sang-wei britsled.
"I'm not certain that is accurate either, clearly you don't understand space travel, and it seems like you are blaming us for your own inferior soldering skills. If you want to take my word on how space travel works, we can discuss Clausewitz or Jomini and the necessity of maintaining and securing your supply lines, as this seems more pressing to your current situation. "
"You dare speak to me of military strategy?"
"I apologize." Anastasia tried to suppress her smile after listening to the Sang-wei insult her and her friends it felt good to make him angry, "You're Capellan, I presume you're more familiar with Sun Tzu, he said, 'The line between order and disorder lies in logistics'. Therefore you should have prioritized securing your logistical supply lines, especially as you are fighting an insurgent enemy. "
Sang-wei Zhang''s face flushed and he looked like he was preparing to scream at Anastasia.
Harold laid a hand on Anastasia's knee. Somehow she knew he was warning her to stop. "Sang-wei Zhang, I think emotions are running high on both sides." Harold said, "Perhaps we should start again. If you can tell us the general make-up of the mech's that are harassing your supply lines, we can tell you if we have the right 'mech's to engage them."
"No. You listen to me, and listen well-" Sang-Wei Zhang started to say
"No, Sang-Wei Zhang, you listen," Hap interrupted, "You're either afraid to tell us what we're up against, or you want us to default on the job. Which is it?
A woman approached Sang-Wei from behind. She wore a military uniform tunic that was open showing her chest was bandaged with her right army was also wrapped in the bandages around her chest. She had multiple cuts and burns across her neck and shoulders. She laid her good hand on Sang-wei's shoulders and nodded to him to move.
"It's important that you do not default on this job." She told them as she gingerly sat down.
-
Chapter 64
"I'm Sao-Shao, or Major, Liu. To whom do I have the honor of addressing?" The Sao-Shao looked pale and tired as she spoke and tried unsuccessfully to get comfortable..
"I'm Fiona McFinnigan Lance Leader for the Fire Support lance for McFinnigan and Sons Mercenary Company, with me is AFFS Mercenary LNOs, Captain Harold 'Haphazard' Calahad, and Lieutenant Anastasia Valois. Off camera is Eugene 'Crow' Harrison, and our pilot Kate Berlin."
Anastasia thought about correcting Fiona about her last name. She had taken Harold's last name, but as was her family tradition she still kept her family's patriarchal name that came with their noble title. So now her name was Capetian-Calahad.
Sao-Shao Liu nodded slowly, "You'll have to excuse me if I am slow to respond. I was given several anesthetics after I suffered combat related injuries earlier today. Sang-Wei Zhang would not have been my first choice to contact you, but we are limited here."
Fiona nodded, "I understand, forgive us for provoking the Sang-Wei."
Sao Shao Liu smiled faintly, "I am certain he provoked you first. Do consider though he is goaded by the necessity of asking the Federated Suns for help, and their response of sending a Mercenary unit."
"We understand, though he should know we were on garrison duty, and one jump away." Fiona said. "We were probably the AFFS best force to respond in a reasonable time."
"Yes, I am certain your selection was one of utility and efficient force reallocation." Sao-Shao Liu replied.
Anastasia could hear an almost underlying accusation in her tone. It struck her that while Sang-Wei was openly hostile and offensive, Sao-Shao Liu had the unique skill of being brutally and ruthlessly polite. It was something she was accustomed to hearing from her mother. Outwardly it seemed as if they were having a collegiate discussion, but to the discerning listener it was anything but.
Hap cleared his throat, "Sao-Shao Liu, Ma'am, we want to help you, but we're a little concerned we may have brought the wrong 'mechs. We built a tailored response package to address a fast-moving insurgency that needed to be pinned down with LRMs, and now were being told we need to hunt down and destroy a lance that is attacking your supply lines."
"That is close to the heart of the issue, our supplies, ammunition, food, and medical supplies are currently stored in a warehouse on the edge of the town near us. A mixed lance has moved into the town and is preventing us from resupplying. This has made us especially vulnerable to the Capellan loyalists, and we are unable to displace the lance." Sao-Shao Liu said.
"What is the 'mixed lance'?" Fiona asked
"The survivors have reported an Urbanmech, a Kintaro…" The Sao-Shao paused, "and a King Crab."
"That's only three mechs." Crow said as he put a silver box into the bar's small oven. "That should be too easy."
"With a King Crab that is more than enough." Fiona said to Crow. She turned back to the holoscreen, "Sao-Shao Liu, my team and I will try to put together a plan, are there any resources you have to help us?"
"It shouldn't be too hard." Crow said, "We got Hap and the Professor's Griffin and Valkyrie, my Catapult and your Jagermech. As long as we keep everyone in the city, isolate them and take them down one at a time, with our LRMs we'll be fine. The Kintaro and King Crab can't jump and the King Crab isn't fast."
"City fighting should be avoided per the Ares Convention. It creates a risk to civilians." Anastasia said.
"Oh that thing is more like Ares 'Suggestion' at least that is what Fletch usually tells me." Crow said. "I'm telling you, Rolph and I managed to turn a Kuritian assault lance with just his Trebuchet and my Catapult. They were trying to move through a canyon, we had Jerry spotting for us and once we touched off the SRM ammo on their Battle master, and they decided to go back the way they came. It's like people say, 'it's all fun and games until your SRM magazine explodes'."
"No one says that." Fiona said.
"Be that as it may, these people are fighting an insurgency, any collateral damage-" Anastasia said.
"Fighting an insurgency is always difficult, and often the cure can seem worse than the disease." Sao-Shao Liu said, "but it's important we are resupplied soon. I also appreciate the concern for my people, even if you did insult the education system many of us benefited from."
Anastasia blushed, "I apologize Sao-Shao, I spoke inappropriately."
The Sao-Shao shrugged slowly and it looked painful, "It is fine, you were not wrong, exactly, and Sung-Wei Zhang would be better served to treat people with politeness and decorum. Now if you all will excuse me, I need to rest."
"Certainly, we have some planning to do." Fiona said, "Also would it be acceptable if we did an orbital drop near the city, we may need the element of surprise to help us."
The Sao-Shao made a feeble nod, "Whatever you need to restore our supply lines. I trust you'll try to keep the civilian casualties to a minimum. I'll have people send you new intel and maps."
"Yes Sao-Shao, thank you." Fiona said.
The Sao-Shao reached forward with her good hand and then the screen froze for a moment before going dark. Fiona began to pull up technical readouts on the King Crab.
Crow approached the couch with four mugs of coffee. "I think that well."
Fiona sighed as she took her coffee, "So our mission got changed from leisurely dropping missiles on tanks and light mechs as they tried to flee, to hunting down a mech that can best be described as Kerensky's 100 ton fever dream of a command mech that can kill anything smaller than it in one salvo. And while it's all going to hell, Anastasia shit talks the Capellan education system as she gives a physics and military strategy lesson. You honestly think that 'went well'?"
"I think it went better than you thought it would." Crow said.
Fiona gave him a murderous look then hit the intercom button built into the coffee table, "Kate, please inform the techs we'll need to use drop pods."
"Acknowledge." Kate said.
"Hey, Kate I'm heating up a squad breakfast rat, you want some?" Crow said.
"Which one?" Kate sounded excited.
"Uh…the ham and egg casserole breakfast. Is there another one?" Crow said.
"Yeah, but I don't even know why I asked." Kate said, "I've been staring at an 'oat cake bar' for like an hour debating whether to eat it raw or break it up and make oatmeal out of it. Save a casserole square for me, I'll be down in a few minutes after Hawkins comes on watch."
"Those compressed oat ration cookies? I saw one of those stop a medium laser." Crow said.
Fiona shook her head as she pulled a keyboard out of a drawer in the coffee table and began to type.
"Alright it was a small laser." Crow said
"You can stop talking." Fiona said as the holo screen showed a large hunched over 'mech and had claw like hands that were open to reveal large bore auto-cannons.
"Fiona, I apologize for insulting the client, and his education." Anastasia said quietly.
"Oh, normally you and I would be having words right now, but I was thinking if he called me 'whore' one more time, I'd probably kick his teeth in with my 'mech. So you verbally putting him in his place doesn't make me feel too bad. Honestly I don't feel bad at all."
"That conversation started to feel like many others I had as a NAIS student." Anastasia said as she pulled her braid out, and stroked it.
"Yeah, maybe next time you're dealing with a Capellan-" Fiona said.
"Or St Ives Compactian." Crow inserted
"lay off telling them about Sun Tzu." Fiona said. "but watching Sang Wei Zhang nearly become apoplectic just made my morning."
Anastasia nodded as she rested her head on Hap's shoulder and read the technical readout information for the King Crab, "17 tons of armor, and two imperator-d autocannons with a LRM 15 rack and a large laser. At optimal range it certainly seems capable of causing appalling damage." Anastasia said quietly. "It's obvious why the client was hesitant to disclose this was one of the mechs they needed destroyed."
"Yes, and this is supported Kintaro and an Urbanmech." Fiona said. "If we, and by we I mean you, Anastasia, can find him and help us keep him from getting into range or line-of-sight of those monster auto cannons. Crow is correct that we might have a chance at taking him down.
"He doesn't have a lot of endurance." Hap said, "only five reloads per autocannon."
"Yes, but before he runs out of ammo he'll likely cripple or destroy our lance." Fiona said. "also I have a similar endurance problem with my Jagermech JM6-A. I only have eight reloads for each LRM rack."
There was a ding over the intercom, "The client has sent us some updated mission data. I'm pushing it down to your lounge." Kate said. "They are labeled 'intel for whores', so I'm guessing they come from our new favorite Sang Wei."
"Thanks. Remind me to make him eat his teeth if we see him on the surface." Fiona said as she closed the technical readout and started to pull up maps and still images. Crow moved back to the bar and took a silver casserole dish from the oven and put it on the bar.
Hap leaned forward and looked at the maps of the city. There was a circle around a large warehouse building on the northern side of the town. There were notes about the building, but they were in Chinese. There were also standard military symbols for classes of supply drawn on top of the building. The city was bisected by a large river and there was a large central park with few buildings. Someone had also drawn the symbols for a drop zone around the park.
"You think we should drop in that park?" Anastasia asked.
"Did Sang Wei strike you as a particularly clever tactician?" Fiona said.
"About as much as he is an expert on getting laid." Crow said as he cut squares of egg casserole ration. No one said anything and when he looked up and saw the looks from Anastasia and Fiona, "I'm just sayin' he keeps calling classy ladies like you whores, which makes me think he doesn't know much about good women or whores, so, you know, he clearly doesn't get laid."
"I understand what you are saying, and appreciate your attempt at logic, but I'd prefer not to be referred to or compared with a prostitute." Anastasia said.
"What did I tell you about talking?" Fiona told him.
Hap cleared his throat and pointed to the lower left portion of the map. "I'm going to guess, given the King Crab's speed, it will be around the warehouse there in the north. Maybe we should drop outside of town, here in the south west near this quarry. We'll approach slow from the outskirts and see if we can draw the enemy out and separate them as we work our way north."
Fiona nodded, "I'd prefer not to drop into the middle of that park and find myself across from that monster assault 'mech, or even an Urban mech, so I guess schlepping across town will have to do."
"We're also less likely to cause unnecessary collateral damage to the civilian populace." Anastasia said.
Fiona sighed, "Anastasia, you're probably going to see one of the uglier sides of what we do today. Assuming Hap didn't just pick a minefield to drop us into, we have to hope there isn't some partisan infantry with man-pad infernos or SRMs waiting in some building, or explosives or mines lining the major streets or key intersections. I don't want to hurt any civilians or non-combatants, but city fighting can get nasty, you may not have a choice when it comes to collateral damage."
"Understood." Anastasia said slowly, "We should probably avoid the major streets then." Anastasia studied the map. "I don't think the area around the quarry would be mined. There are no major multi-lane roads or high-speed avenues approaching it, and I doubt the OPFOR is expecting an orbital drop."
Crow sat down with two plates of the egg casserole and a prepackaged fruit roll. Crow set one of the plates next to Fiona as he started to dig in, "What else did the client send us?"
Fiona closed down the map and opened up the other files as Hap and Anastasia went to the bar and started to serve themselves breakfast. "It looks like there are a bunch of stills and a few videos." Fiona said. She opened the first still and it showed an Urbanmech. The image was from a low angle and looked like it was taken from the dashboard of a fighting vehicle.
Fiona took a bite of her casserole, "Lets see if we were really dealing with a King Crab."
Hap and Anastasia rejoined Fiona on the couch as she started going through pictures, there were more Urbanmech pictures and a few of a Kintaro. Just as she opened a picture of a giant hunched over mech Kate walked into the room.
"Hawkins came on watch so I'd thought I'd come down here and take up Crow's offer for some of that ham and cheese casserole."
"On the bar." Crow said between mouthfuls.
"I didn't think you were serious about wanting any." Fiona said, looking over at the pilot.
"Not gonna lie, sweety, I actually miss this ration from back in the day. I know it's full of preservatives, and some ungodly amount of calories, and probably more quillar than egg, but I could have one of these squares in the morning and fly missions all day and night. All it needs-" Kate looked around then reached into the rations box and pulled out a thin bottle, "Oh! It came with Viper Lizard sauce. Now this ration is complete."
"There is also the salsa fresca package." Anastasia said
"Yeah but it contains cilantro so who'd want it?" Crow said without noticing that Anastasia had the salsa artfully placed on her casserole.
"There is also spicy cheese packages in the box, but it's also mostly quillar." Hap added
Kate shook a generous amount of hot sauce onto her omelette square, "Nope this is all it needs."
"Well I'll be damned." Fiona said quietly.
Kate plopped down next to Anastasia, "That's a King Crab alright. You can strafe one of those bastards from hell to breakfast and that damn thing will generally just ignore you while it murders anything that happens to be within a few hundred meters of it."
"Yeah we already had that conversation." Crow said.
"Intel always told us to try and come at them from the left side, depending on the model the left side had the LRM and one of the AC magazines. With any luck you could touch off one of those magazines, but they warned we might run into one that still had the star league era reinforced ammo bins."
"That's a good note, but that's not what I'm interested in right now." Fiona zoomed in on the torso of the King Crab to magnify the unit crest. It took a moment for the image to resolve and clean up the image. When the image finally resolved it showed a painted gold winged lioness holding a curved sword.
"Is that Ahmed's Immortals?" Kate asked, "Wasn't that the company that tried to hire Ape and I out from under you."
"The very same." Fiona said darkly.
"The fight with them was a few months ago." Kate said, "I wonder how they got a hold of a King Crab and a Kintaro. They're not exactly common 'mechs."
"No, they're not that common," Fiona said slowly, "but I'm more surprised to find Ahmed here."
"I suspect ComStar is behind this." Anastasia said.
-
KingCrab the mech that makes Hunchies & Victors leak coolant into their short pants, at the thought of running into one in a dark alley.
-
King Crab = 'Kerensky's 100 ton fever dream of a command mech that can kill anything smaller than it in one salvo'. ;D. I'm going to have to use that in the future
At least you won't have to deal with a clanbuster model
-
Smaller than it?
It could strip out all the center torso armor of another 100-tonner with one salvo. With enough left over for an engine or gyro hit.
-
And there is the 4th surprise mech waiting somehwere. I am going to prepare more popcorn.
-
nah its a plant lance from Comstar
2 crockets and a black knight are hiding
-
Chapter 65
Anastasia followed Hap into the port-side 'mech bay. Mike was surrounded by Maja, Taja, and several of the assistant techs. He had laid out the equipment needed to make drop pods and had one of the base plates in the cramped space of the dropship's mech bay. He was explaining to the techs the procedure for putting the pod together and building the "cocoon". Anastasia glanced up to see that Hap's already had the base plate under his Griffin and the drop pod struts were place making a cage around the medium 'mech. It just needed the ablative walls put up and the cocoon spun around it.
"Good the mechwarriors are here. Once they are 'comfy' in their command couches we can get the drop pods closed up and ready." Mike said.
"Yeah, give us a moment." Harold said as he turned to Anastasia.
Anastasia reached for Harold's hand, and they kissed. It wasn't as powerful as their first kiss months ago, but she could feel his affection for her. The less "intoxicating" effect didn't bother her, she knew that their relationship was maturing, and so the novelty of a kiss had loss some of its impact, especially as they had been doing a lot more than just kissing.
The techs gave a few cat calls as Mike grumbled, "Alright, if you were going to do that you should have stayed on your deck." Hap pulled her closer and put his hand in her back and pushed her into him. To her surprise she felt a sudden rush of excitement as Mike yelled, "Hey, no time for that, get in yer 'mechs." Hap held up one finger and continued to embrace his wife, then let her go.
Harold wore a mischievous grin and Anastasia couldn't help but smile as her face burned.
Anastasia climbed the ladder to her Valkyrie and got herself situated in the command couch. She carefully unrolled the cables for her neurohelmet, plugged them in, and began the startup sequence. The reactor came out of standby mode and several systems began flashing as they went through their initial test processes.
A female voice reported, "All systems nominal"
The mech's security system flashed, and Anastasia hit the unlock button. Her father's voice filled the cockpit, as she put her hand on heart.
"Why do you fight ma petite Countessa?" Her father's pre-recorded voice asked. There was a family joke here, both in her family name of being the "little Countess" as well as the way her father intentionally butchered the French language.
"Liberte, egalite, fraternite" Anastasia said in proper French
"And what else?"
"For the nobility and people of the Federated Suns, House Davion, and the enduring freedom of my people, the people of Hazelhurst."
"Come home safe, ma cherie." Her father's disembodied voice told her. Anastasia felt a lump in her throat. She had been tempted to change out the security system's challenge sequence, but it was one of the few things she had of her father. She had already copied the audio files onto her noteputer, but it seemed wrong to change out the security files, especially since it was tied to the sensor and targeting system he had made. She reached out to the small picture of her with her parents that was adhered next to the sensor screen.
The security system light changed from red to green and the rest of the systems completed their initial startup processes and went into ready mode.
Anastasia dug into her coveralls and pulled out a picture of her and Harold from their wedding day. It was in a protective transparent sleeve with an adhesive backing. She peeled off the backing's protective film and carefully put it next to her family photo. As she was rubbing the picture to ensure it would stay, Taja and Maja climbed up onto the catwalk for the Valkyrie.
"Hello." Anastasia called out. She felt she could almost tell the twin sisters apart. Taja seemed to have a slightly square jaw, and Maja's voice was a little lower, but Anastasia wasn't confident enough to try and call them by name without making sure.
"Hi Anastasia." One of the twins said. They were wearing light environment suits so she didn't have a name tag.
"I'm going to start rigging it up so we can get the base plate under the mech." Said the twin with the lower voice, so Anastasia assumed it was Maja."
"I'll run the pre-combat checks." Taja said as she plugged in a diagnostic computer and looked over Anastasia's instruments. "Everything's looking good." Taja said more to herself than Anastasia.
"How many drop pods have you and Maja put together?" Anastasia asked.
"This is our first." Taja said, "How many times have you used a drop pod?"
"I did a few drops back at the academy, but this will be my first combat drop."
"So you won't know if we've done a bad job until it's too late." Taja said with a nervous laugh. Anastasia wasn't sure if she was kidding.
"I do know most of the pod is going to burn up as I enter the atmosphere or get destroyed during the controlled crash, so as long as you do an acceptable job, I'll be fine." Anastasia said.
"Get clear Taja." Maja as she stepped over to the winch controls. Taja unplugged the diagnostic computer and stepped back and Anastasia felt her mech rise about a meter.
"Hey Anastasia, speaking of first times…how was your wedding night?" Maja asked.
Even under the neurohelmet Anastasia was pretty sure both techs could see her blush, "It was very nice. It was everything I'd hoped for, and likely everything you've heard a wedding night should be." She said.
"Everything I'd heard?" Maja said a mischievous grin, "Well I'd heard sex is usually better before you married. Which brings up another question."
"Well I've really only been with Harold." Anastasia said, "I had also heard that the quality of sex seems to decline after marriage, but I was reading up on marriage and relationships in general and several authors concluded that the reason that the quality of sexual intercourse seems to diminish in long term monogamous relationships had to do with multiple factors."
"What I read indicated the reasons were various. They included the comparative excitement and novelty of multiple unfamiliar partners, the regular psychological response of exaggerating the intensity or quality of something you rarely receive, but losing appreciation for something once you receive it regularly. There was also the fact that when two people are comfortable with each other they are less prone to try or perform at a level they might have when they were courting. Also some couples, as they seek to have children, may focus more on sex for purely procreative reasons, and that can make things very mundane."
Maja looked at Anastasia for a long moment, "That wasn't exactly what I was asking."
Taja punched her sister's shoulder, "Who cares what you were asking, we need to stop listening to those brain-dead morons that try to give us advice on love and start asking Anastasia questions."
"Brain-dead morons like Mike and Dad?" Maja said.
"Those two especially." Taja said.
"Hey" Mike shouted and both women jumped
"You two, get that Valkyrie buttoned up and get to work. We need to get the drop pod welded together and the cocoon spun, this shouldn't take more than ten minutes, twenty tops."
Taja rolled her eyes as Maja closed the canopy and turned the armored locks. Anastasia pulled out the laminated cards she kept in a pouch of her cooling vest. The cards were designed to be checklists or review notes for significant non-routine events or combat emergencies. They included emergency shutdown, safe emptying of ammo magazines, how to handle loss of a 'mech's limb or a major system, call for fire, 9-line medevac, and other similar items.
Anastasia shuffled through the cards till she found, "Actions to take for catastrophic failure of a drop pod." She glanced down at the card. There was little she could do if the drop pod either burned up in entry or if, in the unlikely event, the pod was dropped too high and at the wrong angle and it bounced or skipped off the planet's atmosphere. The situations Anastasia could influence concerned events like the drop pod failing to open, or a problem with her 'mech's jump jets.
Anastasia studied how to perform a field expedient emergency clear, realign, and resync the jump jets. It seemed like a lot to do while the 'mech was falling at terminal velocity. As she read she was reminded of one of the NAIS instructors who had been disposed and spent some time in the jump infantry. When they were doing drops over New Avalon's moon he joked if you were doing a drop and your mech didn't have jump jets or the jump pack failed, the best thing to do was to do what the Jump Infantry are told, "keep your feet and knees together, and try to do a dynamic jump pack landing fall."
Anastasia glanced at her system diagnostic display and confirmed her jump jets were green and fully operational. She opened up further details on the Norse Industries 3S and saw they were fully primed, and had seen recent maintenance. She made a few notes on her knee board and noticed the flashing light on her radio. She smiled as she saw it was on her and Hap's private channel.
"What are you doing over there?" Hap asked
"I was going through the procedures for a jump jet failure at high altitude. Have you ever seen a drop pod fail or related problems when you used drops during training or combat?"
"Not in training, at least not personally. I remember one of the guys from another company claimed his drop pod didn't open up and he had to punch and kick his way out of it, but that guy liked to tell stories. I did see a few guys "burn-in" when we were jumping into Klathandu but we had Kuritan aerospace fighters shooting at us. It was a real shit-show."
"Reported failure rate on a drop pod is low, however I was curious if you had any anecdotal experience." Anastasia siad.
"I also get nervous every time I get welded into one of these things, but so far, so good. Generally I try not to think about any of it. I usually try to think about other things before I get rocketed at a planet." Harold said
"Oh?"
"Well, for instance I was thinking about your wedding dress."
Anastasia put away her cards, talking about the wedding was much more important than emergency life saving operations. "What were you thinking about my dress?"
"I was thinking how I liked all the pearls and embroidery on the front piece."
"The pearl and silver embroidery on the bodice? I particularly like that as well. Mother's wedding dress had a very similar design. It was one of the features I was quite fond of. I was pleased she included it when she had the dress made. I'm also pleased to hear that you like it as well."
"Yeah, your wedding dress was nice, except for the fifty buttons that we had to unbutton."
"Harold, it wasn't fifty, it was exactly thirty-seven." Anastasia watched the techs seal the drop pod around her mech. The cockpit became dark and Anastasia rested back in the command couch. She closed her eyes as they start to weld the corners. "Besides, when you had finished unbuttoning all those terrible buttons you were rewarded with the perfect feminine form."
"Well" Harold said, and Anastasia could hear the smile in his voice, "I'd say I was presented with a near perfect feminine form"
"Beg pardon? Near perfect?" Anastasia responded with mock anger.
"I mean you're certainly gorgeous and everything is perfectly proportioned but you're a little short. I would think the perfect feminine form would be taller."
"You were thinking that on our wedding night?"
"No, no" Hap quickly back peddled, "I was thinking about a lot of other things that night and I assure you I liked everything under the dress, but I think we can both agree, if you're going to say perfect-"
"Harold, we've been through this, I'm the perfect height. I'll concede I barely met the minimum standard for a mechwarrior, but had my mother not threatened and cajoled the NAIS training cadre into making me a mechwarrior, they would have gladly offered to train me to be an aerospace pilot. Further, I think we both can agree that when we hold hands, or you hold me at night we fit together perfectly."
"I can think of something else we do where we fit together perfectly."
"Exactly, so if we fit together perfectly in those instances, and you already admitted I'm perfectly proportioned, then my height must be perfect." Anastasia said.
"Wait, that's not…damn. How'd I walk into that?" Hap asked.
"I'm learning you're easily baited with sex." Anastasia said.
"10 minutes to drop. Tech crews check the drop pods and clear the mech bays." Hawkins' voice came across the Leopard's 1MC.
"You know I'm not that easily baited with sex." Hap said.
"We'll see," Anastasia said as the lance channel flashed. "Looks like Fiona wants to talk."
"We'll talk more about this later." Hap said.
"I'm certain we will do more than talk." Anastasia teased.
Anastasia switched the radio channels as Fiona said, "Kate, say all that again."
"What I said is, we're alone up here. What I mean is there isn't another dropship up here. There are a few rece and comm satellites but the Immortal's bird isn't up here circling the planet." Kate said.
"We'll do a scan once we're in orbit, we should be able to see most of the planet's major hemispheres." Hawkins added.
"Pod's 1 and 2 all okay. Port side 'mech bay clear." A tech reported over the 1MC.
Anastasia heard the distant sound of one of the techs banging on her drop pod. She knew this was done to assure her they were actually checking their work. A few seconds later Mike came on the 1MC, "Pods 3 and 4 all okay. Starboard 'mech bay clear."
"Acknowledge. Standby." Hawkins said over the 1MC.
There were a few moments of quiet. Then the ship shuddered and Anastasia could feel the shift in the Leopard's inertia and pseudo gravity as it entered the planet's orbit. She could feel the weightlessness as she floated slightly against her command couches restraints. The ship stabilized as it entered into orbit.
"I got her, there's the Huma Bird. That's the Immortals shuttle." Hawkins said. "It's a couple clicks north of that town. Close to the warehouse area where that King Crab is waiting for you."
"I wonder why the St. Ives-ians haven't harassed the Huma, and when the 'mechs went to respond they could make a run for their supplies." Crow said. "No Leopard crew likes to sit around when a bunch of crunchies show up with SRMs, Infernos, and crew serve weapons."
"Don't remind me." Hawkins said. "that was a bad day."
"I'd reason they either lack the weapons and manpower or the discipline to successfully execute that." Anastasia said.
"I'd reason that Sang Wei Zhang should explain this." Fiona said, "get him on the line before we drop."
"Wait one." Kate said.
Hawkins came up on the 1MC "Clear the bays, and standby."
Anastasia felt the pod start to move as Sang Wei Zhang's voice came across the Radio, "What is it now?"
"We're seeing the shuttle for the OPFOR is just a few kilometers north of town, why haven't you attacked it to create a diversion for getting your supplies. If your situations as desperate as you say-"
"It's protected." Sang Wei said like it was obvious, "I am busy man, Mercenary-"
"Protected by what?" Fiona asked.
"A Stalker." Sang Wei Zhang answered.
-
Chapter 66
"An STK 3F Stalker Battlemech?" Fiona asked, "You didn't think this important to mention?"
"I can't speak to the actual variant of the Stalker, and since it stayed in the vicinity of the shuttle I did not see how it was your concern."
"Sang Wei Zhang," Fiona said, "If you expect us to drop I need you to be 100% honest with us. Is there any other mechs associated with the lance that has seized your supply depot."
"Not to my knowledge."
"If we are going to take out this lance, I'm going to need you to rally together enough of a force to either ambush that Stalker or run a feint at that shuttle to keep the Stalker from getting into the fight."
"I will consider it." Shang Wei Zhang answered implying he wouldn't.
"You'll consider it?" Fiona said in a voice void of emotion, "We'll we're going to stay up here until you have an answer. If your answer is 'yes', then we'll drop and solve your problem, if it's 'no' then I'm going home and filing a breach of contract for 'intentional deceptive and misleading intel, and unacceptable and radical change of mission parameters'. I'll also be sure to let my colleagues and peers in other companies know about our interactions and you'll have a hell of a time hiring other mercenary companies to help your fledgling little nation defend itself from everyone else."
There was a long pause, "I will personally see to it that you receive assistance you requested."
"Thank you Sang Wei Zhang." Fiona said in a tone that almost sounded like a threat.
"Now I must go and attend to preparing my soldiers to help you with the job you were hired for. Zhang out."
The radio beeped as Sang wei's system exited the net. Fiona cursed in German, Gaelic, and Norwegian. When she had finished Hawkins asked, "We still doing this drop?"
Fiona said a few more obscenities in Japanese, "Yes. But be ready for a quick extraction, if Sang Wei decides not to assist, or if things go sideways we're not sticking around."
"Uh Fiona, if this is the Immortals and that's a Stalker, that's likely Ahmed's son, Ebrahimi."
"I know." Fiona sighed, "Hawkins, go ahead and crater us."
Anastasia heard a quick succession of explosions then felt the straps of her command couch cut into her along with the gut-wrenching sudden drop of the pod. In spite of the insulated cockpit Anastasia could hear the roar and feel the heat as the pod cut through the planet's atmosphere. After a few moments she thought she could see the inside of the drop pod turning from black to a dark cherry red. She glanced at the corner welds and could see bright white spots that were already struggling against the heat and friction.
There was another explosion and the drop pod broke apart into multiple sections. Anastasia was blinded for a moment by the sunlight. She let her Valkyrie fall with the pieces of the drop pod for a moment to ensure anything that might be targeting the pod wouldn't target her. She watched her altimeter rapidly count down hundreds meters before she fired her jump jets. As the jets burned she watched the altimeter stop for a moment then slowly climb. She let the 'mech' resume falling and then feathered her jets until she gently and safely landed next to Harold's Griffin and Crow's Catapult.
Anastasia was the last 'mech down and took a moment to get her bearings and ensure her NAV system was working properly. The lance was in a manmade open gravel pit. The pit was several hundred meters across and tiered with an earth ramp. The bottom of the quarry was flooded, with a small clear pond. Fiona's Jagermech dropped the disposable jump pack as she keyed the radio, "Hawkins, we're all down, good grouping, no damage."
"Good copy. Kate and I will put in our logs. We'll be up here standing by." Hawkins said.
"Let's move out" Fiona said, "Anastasia, show me how these 'enhanced scanners' can find our enemy before they can find us."
Anastasia activated an initial scan as she explained, l "I'm executing a broad-spectrum scan now," She waited a moment as the scan found nothing, "There doesn't appear to be any 'mechs or vehicles near us, nor metallic mines."
"Good." Fiona said, "Move up and try to find them so we can set up an ambush. I'm sure someone is coming to meet us, and they're trying to catch us with our pants down."
Anastasia used her jump jets to propel her 'mech out of the quarry and onto the outskirts of the city. She maneuvered her mech around a wall and walked down an alley behind a few tall buildings. She used her jump jets again to ascend to the top of a large reinforced building. She kneeled her mech down as she tuned sensors and set it to start searching for the enemy.
She noticed that the city had a few commercial radio stations. She let her systems run through the stations until she found a song she liked. Her cockpit was filled with a classical orchestra piece that was accentuated with synthetic instruments and an added exaggerated bass beat. As the music played she set her systems to look for any large moving interference in the city's commercial radio frequency band.
Harold landed his Griffin behind her building as she detected the first anomaly. Her systems indicated an object approximately 10 meters tall moving a kilometer away from their location. The sensors showed a hazy silhouette of dome shaped armless mech.
"How's it going darlin'?" Harold asked.
"I think I've located the UrbanMech." Anastasia said, as her systems indicated there was a 15 meter tall anomaly close to the UrbanMech. "and I believe the Kintaro is with it." She tried to tune her scanners to sharpen the hazy silhouette of the chunky humanoid 'mech. "They're about a kilometer north of us and headed in our direction."
"Awesome." Crow replied, "What are you listening to?"
"I believe it's Audra's Post Modern Neo Classic Ultra version of Andre Rieu's Bolero. It's on 104.2 Mhz." Anastasia said, then explained, "I'm using interference from the local radio stations to locate the OPFOR. As they walk around it creates a mech shaped interference pattern my sensors can detect. It's a passive method that will prevent our detection. As the OPFOR get closer I'll get more information and use more active, but detectable, means to collect on them."
"Cool, cool. 104.2 right?" Crow said as Anastasia started to hear the same music as Crow spoke.
Fiona's Jagermech was just coming out of the quarry. "Have you located the King Crab?"
"I don't think so." Anastasia said, "Honestly I can't confirm exactly what we're looking at until they get closer." She glanced around her scanners to see if there was any other anomalies. "And if they're not moving I'll have to use active scanning to detect them. They'll likely know we're searching for them."
Anastasia watched the 15 meter tall 'mech easily move a quarter of a kilometer in a dozen seconds. "I can confirm I have located the Kintaro and the UrbanMech, both are headed toward us." Anastasia glanced down at the map of the city she had folded on her knee board. "It looks like the Kintaro is on the street that runs north to south and the UrbanMech is picking its way through back allies."
"We need to take down the Kintaro first." Fiona said, "The Kintaro's bigger, faster and packs more punch than the Urbanmech."
"I think that Urbanmech is a UR60L. From the pictures it looked like the big boar version." Crow said. "Because they skimmed off the armor due to the weight of the AC-20 Rolph calls it a 'glass cannon'."
"You can tell the difference in UrbanMech from those low-res pictures we received?" Anastasia said.
"Well Rolph has a bunch of UrbanMech pictures hanging up in his berthing area, with all the different versions labeled. It's sort of like how Joker has all those pictures of naked ladies." Crow said.
"It may be vain" Anastasia said, "but I suspect Joker decorated his walls with that obscenity in order to annoy me."
"While that's an added benefit." Harold said, "there's a much more utilitarian reason for it."
"Mags finds it quite odious as well." Anastasia added as her sensors confirmed a 55 ton 'mech. "The Kintaro will be in LRM range in about 30 seconds, he should be able to detect us shortly after that." Since both 'mechs were in her enhanced sensor range she stood up and used her 'mech's jump to get behind the building next to her lance mates before they could see or detect her.
"Let's get back to the task at hand." Fiona said, "When the Kintaro gets in range, Anastasia, I want you to sensor lock him, the rest of us will hit him with a full barrage. It probably won't neutralize his mech, but it will soften him up and hopefully break a weapon system or two. The Kintaro pilot will have to choose to charge at us, hoping that we're all missile platforms and weak to the sort of close combat a Kintaro excels at, or he can run and hide and hope to jump us in some dark alley."
"Seems likely he'd run" Harold said.
"If it were any other unit I'd give you 50-50 odds, but since it's the Immortals, most stupid and aggressive, is most likely." Fiona answered, "This means Hap you'll need to get out on that main avenue and start engaging him directly. When he wises up and tries to run I'll start putting missiles in his back. Anastasia while Hap and I are ruining the Kintaro I'll need you to put the UrbanMech in sensor lock again
and Crow I want you to bring him down. With any luck Crow's right about it being a glass cannon."
The mechwarriors acknowledged as the channel for the client's radio channel flashed. Anastasia could sense the palpable hesitation as everyone changed channels. Sang Wei Zhang, said, "Mercenaries, I demand you meet at the location I am sending over this channel." As he spoke a nav-point showed up on the NAV computer about half a kilometer east of their current location. The location was half a kilometer east where the primary multi-lane highway came into town.
"Acknowledge." Fiona, "We are currently establishing an ambush, let us complete-"
"Negative. I demand you attend to me now."
Fiona sighed heavily, "Sang Wei Zhang, we had an agreement, you would address the Stalker and allow us to neutralize the rest of the lance. What changed?"
"I considered your request and decided it would be better to pool our resources so that I could assist you in achieving the mission you were hired to perform seeing as how you lack the necessary will and tactical acumen."
Anastasia glanced back at her sensors. The Kintaro was less than thirty meters from being in LRM range. "Fiona the Kintaro is coming into range, he'll detect us in the next ten to twenty seconds."
"We'll 'attend' to you in a moment." Fiona said coolly.
"No. You will learn that I am not to be kept waiting." Sang Wei Zhang snapped.
There was a long pause as Anastasia watched the Kintaro edge to meters within range of the weapons. Then, without warning, both the UrbanMech and the Kintaro stopped, then started moving east. Anastasia glanced down at her sensors and then her city map. When she looked up she noticed the light next to the guard channel was flashing.
"Oh you're shitting me." Fiona groaned.
Anastasia turned the guard channel to hear Sang Wei Zhang "I say again mercenaries, I demand you meet me at the location I am sending out on this net. Do not keep me waiting."
Anastasia saw the navigation point was resent to her NAV system. She canceled the request to overwrite as it became obvious the Kintaro and UrbanMech were moving east toward the nav-point.
"Sang Wei Zhang what is wrong with-" Fiona stopped herself "We're moving to your location."
Anastasia kept her eye on the enemy mechs as her lance started moving to the point marked on the edge of town. The McFinnigan lance was moving along a back road that ran between the city's defensive wall and the buildings, lots, and structures on the southern edge of town. Anastasia could see the Kintaro and UrbanMech picking their way through a few alleys and by-streets headed in the same direction. The Kintaro got onto a major east-west avenue, and when the street curved north, he walked out of Anastasia's sensor range.
As they approached the nav-point Anastasia's sensors picked up a Vindicator and Blackjack Battlemechs, two tanks and a flatbed truck coming up the road. Anastasia switched her radio back to the lance channel, "I think Sang Wei Zhang's lance is coming up the road from the south. It's a Vindicator, a Blacjack, and Vedette and Bulldog tanks. They appear to be escorting a flat-bed transport."
Crow jumped his 'mech around a dog-leg bend in the road and over the city's protective wall. "Yeah I'm seeing them, and they look like they've been skipping maintenance bay time for more combat."
The navigation point was at the place where the major highway enters the town. The highway was on an overpass and the street that the McFinnigans were on went under the overpass. Fiona, Hap, and Anastasia stopped behind a few buildings just below the highway. As they came to a stop Sang Wei Zhang and his lance came into view. Even without her scanners Anastasia could see that Crow was right the battlemechs looked to be in ramshackle condition.
"Alright Sang Wei Zhang, we're here now, and you've sent our location to the enemy. If I'm lucky you've just set us up to have a head on fight with the King Crab, and after that stunt I'm not sure why I shouldn't push you in front of his twin autocannons. Seriously, what do you hope to do?"
"Not, hope, I will defeat my enemies, and resupply my forces." Sang Wei Zhang said, "You will escort-"
"No." Fiona said flatly. "That is too far outside our mission parameters."
Anastasia watched as the UrbanMech started to work its way through back alleys, parking lots, and yards to set up its own ambush. Anastasia knew it was on the periphery of sensor range and wasn't sure if he could detect them. She assumed the UrbanMech would hide itself in some building or underground parking garage and wait for them to pass.
"You were hired-"
"We were hired to give mobile artillery support. You requested we change that to a hunt and kill mission, which has some overlap with mobile artillery support, at least as far as I'm engaging targets how and where I like them. Escort duty requires us to put ourselves in harm's way, so no."
"Fine, we will escort the supply vehicle, but I will not engage the Stalker as you requested, and I demand you provide fire support when and where I request it. You will also-"
"So you have come." A rich baritone voice said across the guard channel, "Which of McFinnigan's whelps will I be killing today. My Stalker is ready to destroy all of you."
"Hey, Ebrahimi, is that you? Man, we thought you were dead." Crow said.
"No. I am not dead." Ebrahimi sounded almost surprised, "I had been seriously injured, but the gods saw fit to bring me back to help father finish his struggle against you murderers. Had I been with him on Monhegan that battle would have gone much differently, we would have routed your whole wicked company."
"You know these mercenaries, and they are your friends are yours?" Zhang shouted.
"Friends would be the last word I would use to describe our relationship." Fiona said coolly.
"Yeah, our relationship is sort of like the hate that ex-lovers have for each-other." Crow said.
"What?" Sang Wei Zhang and Ebrahimi said in unison.
"Look, I know your dad has some blood oath, death pact, jihad, promise of mutually assured destruction against us, but I feel like I've known you longer than I've known some members of my own company. I appreciate having this 'other-side-of-the-battle-field' relationship we have." Crow said.
"Crow, mute yourself." Fiona said in almost a whisper. The UrbanMech disappeared from Anastasia's scanners. She assumed it had shut down and was going to wait for them to pass. She quickly made a TRP where it was last on her scanners.
"Be that as it may, Crow. The gods have favored us with a new and very powerful patriarch." Ebrahimi said, "They have promised to help us rebuild our losses. They hate you with a fervor that is second only to ours. They asked only one small favor of us, that we ensure the death of the Valkyrie Pilot Anastasia Valois. Is she among you? If you surrender her we may just leave this planet in peace."
Anastasia's blood went cold as Sang Wei Zhang answered, "You are asking which mercenary is here? I will tell you, mercenary whore, you are all the same to me. I am trying to defend my people from the likes of scavengers like you. If you have a fight with this company, take it off my planet."
Ebrahimi laughed, "No. Our 'mysterious benefactor' was quite insistent we destroy both this mechwarrior Valois and McFinnigan and Sons completely. Mechs, drop shuttles, support staff, all of them should be executed for the treacherous murders and all their accomplices wherever we find them. We have been promised rich rewards."
"You know most of our support staff are the dependents of our 'mech warriors? Of course it doesn't matter because killing women and children to avenge the fair and possibly accidental death of your brothers is something I'm sure your father would consider righteous and just." Fiona said.
Ebrahimi ignored Fiona, "Even if this Valkyrie and the mechwarrior Valois are not among you l must still fulfill my obligation to destroy the members of McFinnigan and Sons wherever I find them."
"You sure this mysterious benefactor is really helping you?" Crow asked, "Have you ever heard the legend of the monk and the scorpion? Because, if you're not sure if you're the monk or the scorpion, your ass is probably going to get stung."
"I do not have time for your foolish riddles." Ebrahimi said. "Capellans, or confederates, or compactions, whichever you imagine yourself to be, if you desire not to be destroyed then I suggest you walk away."
"I will not walk away in the defense of my planet." Sang Wei Zhang snapped.
"Then prepare to be destroyed." Ebrahimi laughed.
-
HFC05,
Great set up, looking forward to.more of the story.
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I would have left the contract quite a few minutes earlier.
Now, popcorn time.
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Zhang, is in way over his head and skill level and going to get people killed
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Hell of a way to illustrate that for all that the top leadership has changed, the rank and file of the Compact and Confederation all went to the same schools taught by the same douchebags and marinated in the same douchey attitudes.
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Plot Twist: The King Crab is Comstar provided and driven...
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Remember the last comguards we saw in the story. Far from 1/2 pilots there...
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Plot Twist: The King Crab is Comstar provided and driven...
still doesn't mean great pilot, Comstars still working on getting there...
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At this stage i think Comstar only had pirates and crap mercs like Brion's Legion available.
Average level mechwarriors.
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Chapter 67
"You are the one who will be destroyed." Sang Wei Zhang snapped. "Mercenaries, move forward and kill them."
"Let's switch back to your command channel and discuss our strategies where our enemies can't hear us." Fiona said.
Anastasia saw the Kintaro walk back into sensor range for a moment then cross over the main highway and walk north on another side street and then disappear from her sensors. She switched over to the Compact forces' command channel.
"Mercenary, I cannot believe you would attempt to embarrass me in front of the enemy by-"
"Well buckle up Sang Wei," Fiona said. "because if you want to live through this, you'll get your head out your ass, get your mechs and vehicles off that highway and start listening to me. You're an arrogant fool and your 'mechs desperately need maintenance and repairs, and, in case you haven't been paying attention, we're outclassed and under-weight in this fight."
There was a long pause before Sang Wei spoke, "Vehicle crews take the next exit and join me and Soa Wei Mung with the other mechs." As he spoke the Blackjack used its jump jets to propel itself off the elevated highway and landed near Fiona's Jagermech. The Vindicator seemed uncertain for a moment before the pilot jumped down to join the other mechs."
They waited as the tanks drove off the highway and then had to maneuver around a few streets before driving under the overpass. Anastasia watched her sensors waiting for the UrbanMech or the Kintaro to show up again.
"What is this TRP you have marked?" Sang Wei Zhang asked.
"It was the last known location of the UrbanMech." Anastasia answered. "The mech mysteriously disappeared from my scanners there. I believe we should check the area before firing though."
"I agree. There are parts of the city that are built over other streets." A quiet feminine voice explained, "It has created subterranean portions of the city, large enough for smaller 'mechs to move through.
"Mung, since you know this city, move forward and locate that UrbanMech." Sang Wei Zhang said.
The Vindicator started to move and Anastasia chose to follow her as Fiona said, "Hap, Professor, move with her. Keep us informed what you find. We'll wait here before advancing."
"Time is of the essence." Sang Wei hissed. "We should continue as they screen."
"Crow, explain to the Sang Wei how slow is fast." Fiona said idly as she watched Anastasia, Hap and Sang Soa Mung moved forward toward the UrbanMech's former location.
"It ain't Sun Tzu, but slow is smooth, smooth if fast, fast is slow, man" Crow said. "Let the Professor find your enemies, we'll destroy them from here, and then move up nice and smooth. It will go way faster than getting ambushed. "
Anastasia smirked as she imagined Sang Wei Zhang seething in his cockpit as Crow dispensed his unique "philosophies". The Valkyrie, Griffin, and Vindicator rounded a corner and walked between two tall brick buildings to come to the TRP Anastasia had marked. It was abandoned lot with children playing ball and running around. At the end was a pile of rubble that had been a building and a ramp leading underground.
Anastasia took in a deep breath as she realized she had marked a children's play area as a TRP. Soa Wei Mung moved her Vindicator forward and activated her external speakers to speak to the children in Chinese. Most of the children immediately scattered, but a few of the younger children stared at the 'mechs until their older siblings escorted them to safety.
"Fiona, we've found the entrance to the sub-city." Harold said, "No sign of the UrbanMech. We're going to attempt to re-establish contact." As her husband spoke Anastasia was fixated on a forgotten ball that a child had left before rushing off to what she hoped was safety.
"Acknowledge." Fiona said. "We'll proceed to your location and wait for you. Keep moving nice and smooth."
Anastasia approached the ramp leading down to the sub-street. The surface street was so thick it was obvious why her sensors had lost the 'mech. This portion of the city had also been left to deteriorate or had seen some military action, or likely both. There were several burned out buildings and structures that were little more than rubble, but the street was thick enough that there were no holes to let sunlight into the dark underground.
She walked her mech down into the gloom of the sub-street. She had to change to a low light vision mode to see deeper into the shadows. Anastasia also had to retune her scanners to work through the clutter and interference of the old construction. She still couldn't detect anything. She activated another broad-spectrum scan.
The scanners did not detect any 'mechs or vehicles. Anastasia looked around and could see what looked like an underground city. Most of the buildings were under three stories, but the taller buildings appeared to run into the "roof" or the street above. There was scattered electric street lighting, and a few random burning barrels but the under-city was filled with shadows and dimness. There were a few feral animals scurrying around, but Anastasia didn't see any people. Just the twisting labyrinth of random streets and walkways.
Hap followed the Vindicator down the ramp to join Anastasia in the underground streets. "Soa Wei Mun, Hello. This is Hap the Griffin pilot, and you got the Professor there in the Valkyrie. If you were piloting an UrbanMech trying to ambush a convoy headed to your supply-depot, where would you go?"
"Hello Hap and the Professor." Soa Wei answered she seemed almost amused with Hap's introduction, "Please call me Chyou. If I were an UrbanMech pilot…" She paused to think…"I would either try to hide among the heavy equipment in the industrial area or I would find some rubble and burned out buildings that would make it difficult to detect me. Both can be found north east of here."
"Thank you Chyou, and it's good to meet you. Would you mind leading the way?" Harold asked.
"I will try, though I must confess that I am unfamiliar with the under-city, and as you see the streets above are not reflected here below." Chyou started walking her Vindicator down a wide street.
"Why is that?" Anastasia asked as she followed Chyou. "Why does this place even exist?" As they walked Anastasia examined her knee board map, as Chyou said, the streets they were traversing didn't line up with the streets above. Anastasia looked at the street they were walking. It appeared to be former store fronts that had seen better days. There was broken glass and graffiti but several of the signs appeared to advertise apothecaries, restaurants, and stores. At least Anastasia guessed what the signs meant. The signs were in Chinese but the general symbols and presentation seemed universal.
"Several hundred years ago the Mandrinn of this city heard or read the Chancellor's teaching on planned cities where each city was purpose built for efficiency. The Chancellor stated an ideal city should be designed to have intentional areas for living and shopping, easy access routes for goods and shipping, quality public transportation and easy access for law enforcement. Wherever there was a portion of the city that could not conform to these standards the Mandrinn would simply pave over it, thus creating an upper and lower city. If a building was outside the bounds of the Chancellor's teaching, he would cut it off at the third level and build the 'proper' streets and infrastructure in its place. Eventually he made the city in the model of the Chancellor's vision." Chyou said.
"Did it work? Did it create the perfect city that the Chancellor described?" Hap asked.
"In some ways yes." Chyou said, "but this also created black markets and a place for them to flourish." They continued traveling through the subterranean streets. Anastasia felt slightly claustrophobic as her scanners struggled to penetrate the electro-magnetic muck of the lower city. Chyou had to backtrack a few times before finding a ramp that was built into a large empty warehouse.
Harold followed behind Chyou as they came out back onto the main street. "McFinnigan 1, this is McFinnigan 3, we traveled a portion of the sub-city and were about…a kilometer north-east- shit. The Kintaro is a block away. Chyou, Anastasia, I'm going to jump over these buildings. When he engages me, jump behind him."
Anastasia hurried up the ramp to join them in a large parking lot surrounded by tall buildings. There was a street that ran north to south in front of the warehouse. It was lined with tightly packed buildings of different styles and materials ranging from brick, reinforced concrete and steel, and even a few wood frame structures that were squeezed into the spaces between the other buildings.
Anastasia's scanners immediately registered the Kintaro coming down the street under full throttle. It also indicated the UrbanMech was perched on top of the building. Before she could warn anyone of the UrbanMech the Kintaro crashed through one of the shabby wooden structures, and let loose a barrage of SRMs and lasers at Anastasia and Chyou.
Harold performed a backwards leap up to land on the roof of the warehouse. Anastasia instinctively knew this was the tactically best response since his 'mech had all long-range weapons. She heard Harold curse again as he discovered the UrbanMech.
"I got eyes on the UrbanMech." Hap said. "Confirm Crow was right, glass cannon."
"Thanks brother, I'm headed your way." Crow said.
Anastasia started to move to attempt to flank the Kintaro. As she ran the collision detection klaxons sounded. Instinctively she side-stepped and swiftly pivoted her 'mech on her right foot and stepped back with her left as the UrbanMech slammed into the ground beside her. The UrbanMech's right leg took the brunt of the damage from the fall. Armor shattered and broke away from the leg and shredded the foot actuator. The pilot tried to keep his footing but the UrbanMech collapsed onto its back.
Anastasia's mech had bowed as she spun around and the time seemed to slow as her sense of balance and the Valkyrie's gyros brought the mech to stand upright. She could see the prone UrbanMech was missing its autocannon and had a gaping hole in the right torso. Sparks sprayed from the hole and smoke billowed from various gaps in the 'mech's armor.
The cross hairs seem to track slowly as Anastasia used one smooth motion to activate the LRM's safety override to hot load her missiles. She pulled up gently on the targeting control stick and just before the cross hairs lined up with the twisted metal and gap in the UrbanMech's armor she launched missiles and laser. The ruby beam of her medium laser melted the armor around the gap in the UrbanMech's chest as missiles struck the UrbanMech's side and a few disappeared into the gap.
There were a series of flashes inside the 'mech as the missiles found the auto cannon magazine. Then there was an explosion as the cylindrical mech burst from the inside out. The new hole billowed out thick black smoke before there was the brilliant flash as the fusion reactor's shielding exploded.
"UrbanMech neutralized." Anastasia said.
Anastasia glanced up as Chyou said, "It would be appreciated if you could assist me with this Kintaro." The Kintaro was too close for the Vindicator to use her PPC and LRMs, so Chyou struck his chest with the barrel of her PPC as a beam from her small lasers carved into the Kintaro's arm. The Vindicator appeared to be in worse condition than when they had started, but it was still up and functional.
"Hap I'm directly south, I should be in range in a moment." Crow said.
"Copy Crow, we have a Kintaro, in the open." Hap said.
"Think I got a solution for that." Crow said.
Anastasia glanced at Crow's position and considered the Kintaro's orientation, and how they needed to get the pressure off of Chyou. As if he was thinking the same thing Harold jumped down to the left of the Kintaro and put a PPC bolt and ten missiles into the 'mech. Anastasia jumped over a few low buildings onto a side street the Kintaro had been sprinting down. She tried to angle her 'mech into the rear arc of the Kintaro, but she wasn't quite there.
Anastasia sent ten missiles over the buildings and into the flank of the Kintaro. They didn't hit the thinly armored rear of the 'mech, but enough of them struck the Kintaro's side to get the pilot's attention. He stepped back from Chyou to position himself so that Hap, Chyou and Anastasia were generally in front of him. As he moved he lobbed a brace of five LRMs at Anastasia and split his SRMs and lasers between the Griffin and Vindicator.
"Splash over." Crow said.
Anastasia smiled to herself and sat up a little taller as she saw that she and Hap had pressured the pilot to put his back to Crow. Crow's CPLT-C4 was equipped with two Holly Long Range Missile 20 Racks. It was a good weapon system that would, on average, destroy a ton of armor in one salvo. Anastasia knew that Crow was an exceptional gunner, and doubted the Kintaro could afford to lose two tons of armor from his thinly armored back. She also knew even if it didn't destroy the mech it would be a struggle to stay upright under that barrage. Hap or Chyou could easily deliver a coup de grace to the prone mech.
The forty missiles fell from a high angle and struck the Kintaro's back and shoulders. Anastasia could see the smoke and explosions, then head exploded, and it took Anastasia to realize it was the pilot ejecting.
"Splash out." Hap said, "Good contact. Kintaro neutralized, looks like the pilot ejected."
"Good copy, Hap. Hold position there." Fiona said. "Professor, try to use your advanced sensors and locate those assaults. I want us to have them jump on them."
Anastasia jumped her 'mech over the buildings so she could get to the top of the warehouse and use the elevation to get stronger radio signals. She kneeled her mech down to reduce her profile and settled into her work. After a minute she started to get something in the general vicinity of the supply depot
The Valkyrie generally ran cool, but this was part in the operation between fire fights were her skin felt sticky and uncomfortable and looked forward to a shower. She thought back to her honeymoon and showering with Harold and how he would alternate between massaging and caressing her before things led to greater intimacy. She was disappointed when she realized that the shower facilities in the drop ship were just for one and water had to be rationed, and a field shower was barely effective for washing her hair and getting clean, let alone getting dirty. She smiled mischievously as she decided she would tease Harold with talking about enjoying a shower and reminding him it wasn't available.
As she reached to turn her radio to the private channel she shared with her husband Hap asked Chyou, "Chyou, are you okay, you're 'mech's looking…it looks like it needs repairs."
"It does need the armor replaced." Chyou answered, "But fortune has favored me and I have only lost one major system."
Anastasia leaned over to see that Chyou was holding up her 'mech's left arm and there was a large portion of the small laser missing. Anastasia could also see the mech's hand actuator had been damaged from missiles. There were several places on the Vindicator where internal structure or internal systems were visible through holes or just missing armor.
"We'll have our 'mech techs see what they can do to help out." Hap said
"That will not be necessary." Sang Wei Zhang said as Fiona's Jagermech, Crow's Catapult, Sang Wei Zhang's Blackjack and the vehicles came into view. "Our own techs are sufficiently skilled."
"You may want to actually let them do their job then." Crow said.
"If you would perform your job perhaps, they would not have to work so hard." Sang Wei Zhang said.
"What do you mean?" Crow asked.
"Look at how Sao Wei Mung was forced to fight the Kintaro alone, while these two ran away." Sang Wei Zhang said.
"Yes, it would have been better had they 'held the line' so the UrbanMech could shoot them in the back." Fiona said as she kicked the UrbanMech. The Mech rolled over exposing the left torso and the Capellan green triangle with a mech fist wielding a sword.
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Chapter 68
"Sang Wei" Fiona said, "What do you see on the chest of the Kintaro? Do you know that symbol?"
Ansatasia carefully stood up to glance at the broken Kintaro. It was missing both arms and part of it's right shoulder, but the Immortals sigil was still recognizable. "I am not familiar with that symbol, but it appears to be a winged lion." Sang Wei Zhang said.
"It's Ahmed's Immortals. They're a small-time mercenary unit and that's their insignia. The important thing is they're mercenaries. As you've pointed out, mercenaries are here to make money, not get involved in the client's politics. Unless they're under a long term exclusive contract, most mercenaries won't put a house's symbol on their 'mechs."
"Your point?" Sang Wei Zhang said.
"This UrbanMech doesn't have an Immortal's symbol, it has the Capellan Confederation sigil."
"So?" Sang Wei Zhang said. "It's obviously Capellan."
"Did your insurgents move into the city? Are they working with the Immortals?" Fiona asked.
"We had moved our operations away from the city in the hopes of luring the partisans away." Chyou said, "It worked for a while. The attacks decreased, though, once the other mercenaries arrived, we had only limited raiding, while the cities with our supply hub became inaccessible to us."
"So, again, the intel is incomplete." Fiona said, "What the hell Zhang?"
"I do not know what intel you were given by the Federated Suns." Sang Wei Zhang said dismissively.
"Snag Wei Zhang, you're the source of my intel. You keep giving me nothing but shit, and I'm trying to do my best to help you here, but you're either going to get us killed because you're stupid, or I'm starting to think you're trying to get us killed."
"You keep complaining, why are you still here?" Sang Wei Zhang said.
"I'll explain this to you, one time, in the hopes you stop calling us whores. Kelly McFinnigan believes that the reputation of his company is the key to his success." Fiona said, "He has a few simple rules to maintain and improve our reputation. First, if we agree to a contract, we follow the contract, unless it is absolutely impossible. Second, we get paid. If we are going to risk life and limb for the client it's going to cost them something. This leads us to the third rule, we try not to die in the process of getting paid. Fourth, we do all of that while turning profit." Fiona said.
"His priority is off." Sang Wei Zhang said, "Survival and profit should be all that matters."
"You don't get it, brother." Crow said, "Being a mercenary is almost as much about reputation as it is about making a profit. If you have a good reputation, you get good jobs. You can talk some enemies into surrendering. You get the help you need. It all comes back to making sure the client understands your value, not taking stupid risks, but remembering the work is inherently dangerous. Finally it's still a business, but if you're doing the other things, the business part always works out."
"I think I understand." Sang Wei Zhang said, "Mercenaries are whores that take pride in whoring."
"I'm really not sure you know much about whores, man. You ever been with a woman?" Crow said.
"How dare you. I have a wife. I have three children" Sang Wei Zhang snapped.
"Logically those children only represent her liaisons." Anastasia said as her scanners showed a large hazy battlemech shaped anomaly. It was tall, close to fifteen or sixteen meters, but it seemed more humanoid shaped than the hunched over bullet shaped Stalker or King Crab mechs.
"What are you trying to say about my wife?" Zhang snapped
"The same thing you keep saying about mine." Harold replied. "Zhang, I don't give a damn about your opinion of mercenaries, but you call any member of this company a whore again, and you and I will have words after this operation, and I gauren-damn-tee you won't like it."
There was an uncomfortable silence. Anastasia was glad Harold said something. Harold wasn't easy to provoke, but she was glad he had enough of Zhang's rudeness. She watched the hazy image of the mech move and she started to see more a hunched over almost crab like shape. She could almost make out the large claw like arms that held the AC 20s. "I think I've found the KGC-000."
"Alright, remember if we're lucky we hit his left side hard, touch off his LRM or AC20 magazine and then we just have to deal with Ebrahimi." Fiona asked. "Keep looking for Ebrahimi's stalker."
Anastasia could see something large causing interference but she couldn't identify the 'mech. "There is something else large causing interference, but I can't definitively identify it.
"Professor, Hap just keep pushing forward, nice and smooth, I want to detect that King Crab first. Zhang, once we neutralized the King Crab you get your team up and get what you need, understand?"
"Yes." Sang Wei Zhang said slowly.
Anastasia stood her Valkyrie up and jumped down next to Hap. Without speaking they started to trace a path through side streets. As they walked Anastasia could see Fiona, Crow and the Compact units following roughly a hundred meters behind them. Being on the street level and moving made it difficult for her sensors to use the radio wave interference, but she could still see the large objects near the supply warehouse.
"Chyou, I am detecting a lot of interference around the supply depot, is there something unique about these buildings or that area?" Anastasia asked.
"Those buildings extend into the sub-city, and they were hardened during a previous war to withstand aerial bombardment or direct mech and armor combat." Chyou said.
As they moved Fiona asked, "Chyou, or Sao Wei Mun, what do the resistance forces normally field?"
"Harassers and Pegasus hover tanks and loudong 'mechs." Sao Wei Mung said.
"Loudong?" Crow said.
"Loudong means bug, as in 'bug' mechs. Locusts, and wasps, these miscreants also field a few spiders, and cicadas. Fast but thin skinned 'mechs." Sang Wei Zhang said.
"Oh now you want to give us good intel." Crow added.
"Crow don't start. Thank you Sang Wei Zhang. So loudong mechs and hover tanks, What about UrbanMechs?" Fiona asked.
"They were reported in urban areas and on a few vanguard details." Sao Wei Mung said.
"So we got the Immortals and your Capellan insurgents operating in the city. Hap, Professor no more wandering underground. Stay close."
Anastasia concurred as her sensors indicated a 100 ton 'mech. She motioned with her Mech's hand for everyone to stop. Her sensors also highlighted a few other inconclusive items of interest. She waited a moment before sensor locking the King Crab. The Mech was facing them but Hap ran his Griffin to the left jumped to the top of a building, and launched a salvo of missiles at the assault 'mech.
The King Crab turned slightly and answered Hap with its own volley of fifteen missiles. As it repositioned and started to move to bring its large bore, but short range, autocannons into range Crow and Fiona dashed down a side street and launched their combined full barrage of seventy missiles. Anastasia could see they had the left side angle on him, and watched as her sensors registered significant damage to the left arm and torso.
Hap watched from his building top perch. The King Crab pilot tried to raise his arm to fend off the missiles, realized that wasn't helping and tried to keep his balance. Hap could tell this pilot was a novice. A more experienced pilot would have half-crouched to drop the 'mech's center-of-gravity, and maybe even leaned into the barrage. This mechwarrior seemed confused. The 'mech started to slip and the pilot took a half-step before it slipped to the side and collapsed into a building.
"Good contact, target is down" Harold said, "but all weapons still intact. No joy on hitting the magazine. Repeat fire."
"Acknowledge stand by for repeat-" Fiona said as multiple red icons appeared on Anastasia scanners. "Shit. Where were these hiding?" Fiona cursed.
"The under-city" Sai Wei Mun answered grimly.
Anastasia's sensors warned her of multiple contacts including a Cicada CDA-3C in her rear arc. She swung her mech around and put the cross hairs on the oversized cannon in the mech's right torso. A hurried shot from her medium laser lanced across the barrel as her missiles impacted around the cannon and the 'mech's chest. There was a flash of explosions and sparks as cannon and the 'mech's arm and machine gun were blown off the 'mech. The Cicada continued to charge her and used it's secondary machine gun to chip off armor and paint on Anastasia's left torso.
Anastasia saw a Wasp in her peripheral vision. She tried to reorient her Valkyrie as the Wasp's medium laser carved a furrow in her left leg and a short-range missile hit her arm. Before she could react there was an electric blue flash and the Wasps head and cockpit evaporated. Harold jumped his Griffin next to Anastasia's Valkyrie. A small trail of smoke rose from his PPC.
"Fiona, we're getting overrun." Harold said. Anastasia's scanners told her a Locust and Spider near the fire support 'mechs and multiple hover tanks was racing down the street and headed toward them.
"Same problem here. Fall in on my position" Fiona said, "Sang Wei Zhang get your lance in a defensive formation and protect your vehicles. Crow, get eyes on that crab and crack its-"
"I will defeat the King Crab." Sang Wei Zhang said as he jumped his Blackjack on top of a building and sighted down the prone assault 'mech, "Sao Wei, move the vehicles to-"
"Zhang, you son of a hundin, nicht-" Fiona said more in German then her tirade interrupted with " Shizer!" Anastasia's sensors indicated the Locust was destroyed, "Zhang, get your ass back in line."
The Cicada tried to flank Anastasia as it sprayed her left arm with machine gun fire. She jumped her mech to a roof top as she spun her 'mech around, put a medium laser and over half a dozen missiles into the 'mech's ruined right side. More of the mech's center torso and internal structure were ruined, but it didn't seem to affect any major system.
A Harasser tank went rocketing around Harold and raced in the direction of the Compact units. As it sped by it launched a dozen short range missiles at Harold's Griffin. A few of the missiles hit his leg as the vehicles passed. Harold took a moment to aim and put a PPC bolt directly into the rear of the vehicle. Flames and thick black smoke poured out of the rear of the vehicle as it started to fish tail and ultimately crash into a building.
Harold also peppered the Cicada with missiles from his LRM 10 rack. The missiles struck around the cicada's center torso. The 'mech swayed to its right and the pilot had to fight to keep the mech upright.
Anastasia glanced around from her new perch on top of the building. She was closer to the supply depot than she wanted to be. She could see Fiona's Jagermech and a broken Locust about a hundred meters from her. Crow was on another building with the Capellan Spider hopping around him. Sao Wei Mun's shot a PPC at the Spider and struck its left leg. Crow kicked the mech which seemed to snap the light 'mech's leg in two. The Compact tanks were close to the flatbed truck and exchanging fire with a Pegasus hover tank as another Harasser came to the Pegasus's aid.
Anastasia could see Sang Wei Zhang firing his sub-caliber class-two autocannons at the King Crab. One round hit the mech's ruined right torso and the other seemed to harmlessly bounce off its center torso.
"I was not able to hit the King Crab's magazine." Sang Wei Zhang said, "I will close with the 'mech."
"Damn it Zhang, get back here." Fiona said as she stomped on a Harasser tank.
Anastasia watched as Zhang jumped his Mech down and approached the gigantic prone mech. The pilot was struggling to right his Mech. Anastasia's scanners indicated there was an 85 ton mech in one of the large buildings near the supply depot. Her sensors seemed to be picking up an anomaly but it couldn't resolve the 'mech type. Even more disconcerting it would periodically indicate there were two assault mechs or nothing there.
Harold destroyed the Cicada and jumped to a building near Anastasia. The building was fire-gutted, but was still holding the Griffin's weight. She was glad to have him near her so they could cover each other as they bounded back to Fiona's position. "Zhang, brother, this is foolish." Harold said.
"Sang Wei Zhang, you're in danger, I'm detecting another 'mech in the building west of your location." Anastasia added.
"Valkyrie sensors are notoriously unreliable and prone to show 'phantoms'." Sang Wei Zhang answered as the King Crab leveled it's weapons and fired his massive cannons and large laser. The first autocannon round hammered the BlackJack's shoulder while the large laser cut through the armor on his leg. The second autocannon round went wide and struck the building Harold was standing on. The King crab launched a flurry of missiles but most of them hit the building Harold was standing on.
Beyond reason Sang Wei's mech was still fully operational. Anastasia could see holes through his armor from back to front, but her sensors indicated all his systems were still operational. It took her a moment to notice the cloud of dust and debris as the building Harold was standing on collapsed. She jumped and felt her command couch straps lock as she watched in horror as the building folded in on itself and her husband and his 'mech fell several stories to crash on the ground. She sat back down and turned her 'mech to see Harold's mech sprawled out in the rubble of the basement of the building.
Zhang shouted in triumph as he fired his four medium lasers at the King Crab's exposed flank. The lasers carved into the internal structure and melted the metallic bones severing the shoulder and arm from the 'mech. It may not have been the dramatic explosion of an ammunition magazine, but it did significantly reduce the combat effectiveness of the 'mech.
Before Anastasia could jump down near Harold a Stalker emerged from the building next to Sang Wei Zhang. As it came into view the Stalker fired its complete complement of weapons. Missiles and lasers engulfed Sang Wei Zhang's Blackjack. Whatever luck Sang Wei Zhang had enjoyed against the King Crab was now gone and his mech was knocked backwards as critical systems and weapons were destroyed.
"Sang Wei Zhang's mech is destroyed, and Harold is down." Anastasia said robotically. "Ebrahimi's Stalker has entered the field."
Before she could say anything else Crow's Catapult's two LRM 20 racks rained down missiles on the Stalker. The 'mech's armor easily absorbed the damage, but it was now thinned in key areas and it wouldn't be so fortunate if it came under fire like that again. Fiona fired her own salvo of thirty missiles. These struck the mech's shoulders and a few even hit the Stalker's cockpit. The 'mech's pilot fought to keep his mech upright as missiles tore into it's left arm and destroyed an LRM.
Anastasia lined up her crosshairs on the Stalker hoping to tip him over with her own missiles. She saw the King Crab stand up and begin walking. At first she thought it was approaching her but then it became clear it was headed directly toward Harold. She was dismayed as he leveled the autocannon directly at Harold's cockpit.
Anastasia swallowed hard as she switched over to the guard channel, "I am Anastasia Capetian Calahad, nee Valois. Daughter of Je'anne Capetian Valois, High Lady and Protector of Hazelhurst, Countess of Calais Parmi Les Étoiles, and heir to the same. I am piloting the Valkyrie."
The moment she said 'Valkyrie' the King Crab immediately fired on her with his cannon and laser. She was out of range from the autocannon but it struck the building she was standing on. Anastasia had to lean her mech back to dodge the laser. At the same time a large humanoid 'mech emerged from the building the Stalker had hidden in. It fired twin large lasers and autocannons at her as she jumped down from the building. The lasers missed her, but the autocannon struck her 'mech in the shoulder.
Anastasia landed heavily in a side street, she could see the King Crab was moving under full throttle to her position. The second mech was also moving as quickly as it could. She glanced down at her scanners and it seemed to be struggling to identify the mech. She pushed her mech away from the two assault mechs chasing her as her scanner finally reported, "CRK-5003-0 Crocket."
-
And this is why you need good intel and no plan survives first contsct witu the enemy. Good battle scene, evennif tue cappies seem to have forgotten 3000 years of history. Not a rpoblem of thos specific history (i love it) but the total briandead tactics used by mech pilots in the fiction has always irked me somewhat xD
And it seems that comstar did not understand the message the McFinnigans left them the last time they crossed paths.
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And it seems that comstar did not understand the message the McFinnigans left them the last time they crossed paths.
It was kinda fuzzy and maybe you know it could have been left for anyone.. it wasn't quite personal enough 8)
-
This is why it came with an IKEA booklet saying "There be Heimdall. Piss them off at your own risk". Bu yeah, it wasn't personal enough.
Now I have to check when the next C* Primus is due to change in the official timeline...
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Chapter 69
What the hell is a ‘Crocket’. Crow asked.
“Specifics don’t matter, it’s another target right now” Fiona said. She saw Anastasia’s marker clear a building land in a street and bound up another small building. Both the Crocket and the King Crab were chasing after her as quick as they could. Fiona shook her head. The tactical situation was rapidly devolving.
“Harold are you okay?” Anastasia asked.
“Yes” Hap replied. “I’m digging myself out. Give me a moment to help get the pressure off of you.”
“It would be best if you did so quickly, my love.” Anastasia said.
Fiona could see Hap’s ‘mech finally started moving. It paused for a moment and her sensors recorded weapon fire before he jogged down an alley.
“I put another PPC bolt into the Crab. I hit it’s internal structure, but it didn’t seem to notice.” Hap said.
“As I told you, that ‘mech was built to ignore punishment.” Kate said
“Do you know anything about that Crocket?” Crow asked as he jumped to another building headed toward Anastasia’s position.
“Yes, it’s um, well it’s like a Stalker” Kate said, “85 tons, of hate and steel. The weapons loadout is similar, but the engineers downgraded the medium lasers to small lasers, and took off the LRMs and gave it an AC 10 and more armor.” Kate said.
“That sounds lovely.” Fiona said as she watched the Crocket jump onto the roof of a small building and shoot lasers and autocannon at Anastasia. The King Crab joined in with its large laser. Fiona wasn’t sure if they scored any hits, but Anastasia sent a brace of lasers back at the Crocket.
“As you can see it has jump jets too.” Kate added.
“And today just keeps getting more interesting.” Fiona said. She was glad Anastasia was fighting back even if it seemed like a token gesture. Over matched and under gunned her response was to let the enemy know she wasn’t going down without a fight. Fiona smiled, that’s how the family did business.
“Crow start putting some hurt on that Crocket.” Fiona glanced again and noticed Ebrahimi’s Stalker hadn’t moved, “Hap what was Ebrahimi doing while you getting off your ass?”
“He seemed distracted that his half his lance had ran off after Anastasia.” Hap said, “I’ve broken contact with the Crab, and I’m coming up behind the Crocket. Kate is correct, the Crocket is a beast.”
Crow continued jumping from building to building. When he got within sight of the Crocket Fiona sent a barrage of thirty missiles at it. Crow stabilized himself on a building and followed up her barrage. Fiona didn’t bother to look at the damage, she was confident in her lancemates ability and needed to focus on her own task.
Fiona glanced down at her ammo counter as she listened and felt the missile reload mechanism rearm the LRM racks. 5 reloads remained. Fiona considered her options. Going head-to-head with a Stalker was never easy, and she was grossly overgunned, especially at close range. However, the Stalker had also been damaged.
“McFinnigan 1, Ms. Fiona, hello. What shall we do?” Chyou asked.
“First call me Fiona please. Second, let’s wait a moment. Anastasia has done this before. The boys are going to use the buildings to engage the Crocket while they out maneuver the King Crab, at least until he starts crashing through buildings-”
“That would be unwise.” Chyou interrupted, “while many buildings were cut off to make the sub-city, not all were. A ‘mech could easily fall several stories, putting them at a great disadvantage.”
“That’s interesting.” Fiona said thoughtfully. She glanced down at her nav computer. She was still on the main road that led from the area where the team had been ambushed after leaving the undercity. She noted several side streets and alleys that weaved around the main road.
Chyou interrupted her musings, “Yes. I apologize, but I must insist we continue to the supply depot. I believe you and the Catapult pilot have significantly damaged the Stalker, perhaps we should attack him directly, now, while he is alone.“
“Why the hurry?” Fiona said. Fiona looked at Chyou’s Vindicator then glanced down at her sensors, the Vindicator’s left arm was damaged and her small laser was destroyed, her left leg lost an actuator, and internal structures was exposed in multiple areas. After going toe-to-toe with the Kintaro and defending her tanks from a Pegasus she had done a remarkable job of keeping it together, but if she got within sight of the Stalker she’d surely be destroyed. A frontal seemed like the last thing they should try.
Fiona would rather force Ebrahimi into a fight he didn’t want preferably with missiles at a distance. Fiona also had to consider there could be another “surprise” he had planned for her. She glanced at her nav computer again, It would be much better if she could surprise him.
“Sang Wei Zhang and I were told it was imperative to get the medical supplies as quickly as possible, this is why I believe we should hurry.”
“Yeah I sensed Zhang was getting impatient, but he was pissing me off, so I was taking my time.” Fiona answered
“His leadership style is generally to intimidate and he rarely displays patience. However, the speed of our mission was because we were told that Sao-Shao Liu and many others required medical supplies soon, or their conditions would deteriorate.”
Fiona sighed, “I don’t know Sao Shao Liu, but she seemed like an honest and good leader, and I don’t want any more of your people getting hurt or suffering today. I apologize. I probably shouldn’t have been moving slowly.”
“You appear to have made wise tactical decisions, in spite of your motivations.” Chyou said brightly
“Being slow and deliberate can look like that.” Fiona said, “Alright I’m going to bait Ebrahimi to come after me. When he does, slip around behind him, get your supplies and help out your people.”
“How will you bait him?”
“Shit talking on the guard channel.” Fiona said. “I assure you it’s more effective than you’d guess.” Especially with the Immortals Fiona thought to herself.
Before she could change channels she heard Hap said, “Look out Crow!”
“Oh damn, he just tried to shoot the building out from under me.” Crow said.
“I believe he’s was trying to set you up to be engaged by the King Crab.” Anastasia said.
“Yeah, we need to get more distance for him. Also I’m close to running dry on missiles and that Crocket just won’t go down.”
“As previously mentioned, more armor than the Stalker.” Kate repeated
“Hey Kate, how do you know so much about these ‘mechs.”
“In the Hussars we had a Standardization Officer that found a Tech Readout 2750 and would quiz us on the most arcane and weird ‘mech’s he could find. The C.O. asked him what he was thinking and he said he wanted us to be able to recognize rare and exotic ‘mechs.”
“What a dick move.” Hawkins said. “Holding lift tickets hostage based on trivial information.”
“That’s exactly what we said.” Kate said, “Actually we said, ‘stop being an ass.’ But it’s what we meant.”
Fiona switched her radio to the guard channel. “Ebrahimi.” There was no response. “Eee-brahimi.” Still nothing. She said his name a few more times putting emphasis on different syllables and saying his name in different ways.
“What! What do you want witch daughter of McFinnigan.” Ebrahimi yelled.
“Actually, you’re going to have to try harder. I’ve been called far worse by the client today, and I’m not actually Kelly or Llewyn’s daughter. I’m not really related to either of them at all, I just happened to have the last name of McFinnigan.” Fiona said, trying to annoy him.
“I don’t care. I have more important things to consider than your life story.” Ebrahimi snapped.
“Right, I see your using Assault ‘mech’s to chase down a light mech. Is that what you were hired to do?”
“I will not discuss my contract with you, and even if I did you would not understand.”
“True. It’s hard for rational people to understand madness.”
Ebrahimi snorted. “You don’t understand the deal my father has made and how it will lead to the death of your family of murders.”
“Here we go again, listen if you kill us because we killed your brothers in fair combat, our children are just going to do the same. Where will the cycle end?”
“It will end with me and my father. We will kill all of you. Capture your cursed drop shuttle-“
“Before you start talking about enslaving and murdering support staff and children I’d like to remind you that Kelly and Elinor have other daughters and nieces on Donegal with their own children, plus several other members of the McFinnigan clan serving in the Donegal guards. Even if you somehow wipe out the Company you’ll still have to contend with them.
“Then tell your kin that when we’ve finished with you we’re coming for them.“
“Yeah, you go ahead and bring a hostile ‘mech company to Donegal and see if the Guards let you land, let alone leave with your lives. If you think you can just walk into the McFinnigan Clan ancestral grounds and take them on man-to-man you’ll be fighting with generations of people who only value four things: Making and raising children, drinking, fighting, and getting to Mass on Sunday to beg forgiveness for how they did the other three.” Fiona stared at the unmoving 85 ton ‘mech marker on her sensors that represented Ebrahimi. She debated trying to fire at him indirectly without weapons lock. Five reloads made her think again.
“I will at least kill one of them today.” Ebrahimi said, “Why don’t you come and fight me face to face? Your missiles have damaged my ‘mech, why not try to finish me off?”
“Because I’m a patient girl.” Fiona answered, “I’m pretty sure my boys are going to finish off yours, then I’ll sit right here and rain down missiles on you. It’s safer for me, besides, why don’t you come to me?”
“I don’t think you understand who they’re fighting. My father has found a very powerful benefactor that will ensure we have the ‘mechs and pilots to destroy all of you. Your ‘boys’ are out classed by men with better skills and equipment.”
“We’ll see about the skill.” Fiona answered, “So why would anyone help your father?”
Ebrahimi laughed, “They hate McFinnigans almost as much as we do. They especially hate the Valkyrie pilot though. They have promised to give us intel and support necessary to destroy all of you. All they asked in return was that we made very sure the Valkyrie pilot died.” Ebrahimi laughed again, “I was wondering if you could tell me why they hate her so?”
Fiona wondered what it would take to move Ebrahimi. She was tempted to have Chyou move up and sensor lock him, but she wanted Ebrahimi’s focus on her. “Would it matter? To be honest I’m glad Ahmed found this new benefactor. I had felt bad for him after the last fight. Most of his forces seemed only good at ejecting and surrendering. Until today I had thought you were too embarrassed to show up. It was so bad your dad tried to hire our air wing out from under us.”
“I was injured.” Ebrahimi corrected Fiona, “My father is a clever negotiator and cunning tactician, and our warriors are skillful and fierce.”
“If you say so. I was protecting the principal. But I can tell you at the end of the day we had rounded up half the company. They asked Elinor for Lancashire Hot Pot like she was their mom and they had just come home looking for their favorite dish.” Fiona added. “It would’ve been funny if it wasn’t so sad.”
“I doubt that.” Ebrahimi said darkly.
“I’m telling you, it was such a desperate time for you dad, he was begging our pilots to turn on us.”
“As I said, I doubt-“
“It’s true. I was one of the pilots he tried to hire,” said Kate dryly, “He was crying like a bitch. I felt so bad I just landed. The McFinnigans had beaten him and I couldn’t bear to hear a man wail like that.”
“Who is speaking? Who dares?” Ebrahimi demanded.
“That’s our new pilot. Don’t be mad. We all agree your dad needed new mechwarriors and new ‘mechs. Quite frankly we’ve been hoping for a better challenge for awhile.” Fiona added. His sensor icon seemed to move a little like he was debating how to respond to insulting his father..
Fiona adjusted the grip on her control sticks, “Patrick also pointed out something that made your father quite angry.” She could see the 85 ton stop moving. “I had never noticed until Patrick said it, but your younger brother looked a lot like Llewyn McFinnigan.”
“What are you saying?” Ebrahimi whispered and Fiona actually felt a cold chill.
“Well given the resemblance, it made us wonder if maybe your Mother and -” Fiona said
“You will shut your witch mouth.” Ebrahimi hissed as he began moving his ‘mech to the main street.
Fiona nodded to herself. Good he’s moving. No more surprises. “It seems unlikely, but when Llewyn died he had a picture of a dusky skinned woman none of us knew. I always thought it was odd-“
“There is no way that was my mother.” Ebrahimi’s mech was now running.
“Are you sure? She was pretty fat.” Fiona said.
Chyou let out a startled “oh!” and immediately turned her ‘mech. Her vehicles followed her down a side street and quickly away from Fiona.
Fiona could see Ebrahimi was about to come into view. She raised her mech’s arms and waited a moment for him to step into the street and turn toward her. As he turned she saw the flashes of lasers and the cloud from his remaining long range missile launcher. Fiona knew she was outside the range of medium and short-range weapons as she lined up her highly accurate autocannons on the Stalker’s cockpit and fired. She followed up with a round of missiles. The Stalker’s lasers melted armor off her arms and the missiles peppered her legs.
Ebrahimi grunted. “Such a weak weapon, it barely cracked the cockpit canopy. Do you think you can defeat me with children’s toys.”
Fiona stepped down a side street before Ebrahimi could close with her. She took a few more steps and guided her mech down another alley. “I’m sure after you flee you’ll tell everyone how I had class ten autocannons but somehow you managed to run to your dropship in an open cockpit.”
“You are half right, I will be the one telling the stories, since you will be dead.” Ebrahimi said.
“You think so?” Fiona answered as she got on a side street leading uphill and south. She ran about two hundred meters and then slowed and turned.
“You don’t understand, with the assistance my father has secured, we will win. We will defeat you, and your company. I will personally kill you. Every time you think you defeat us, we will come back stronger. We are immortal.” As he said immortal he crashed through a building. Fiona sent a brace of LRMs at him before she jogged to another side street as a large laser caught her in the shoulder.
Fiona jogged up the side street and turned up another street running south, and took a moment to glance down at her diagnostic systems. She had lost most of the armor on her arms and left shoulder. The JM6-A had more armor than a stock Jagermech, which was good, but she still had to make sure she kept her distance. She saw another side street leading back to the main road. She flipped her arms around to fire in her rear arc as she tried to get closer to it before Ebrahimi came in view again.
“I have a question for you.” Ebrahimi said, “Do you remember the prisoner exchange on Harvest?”
“Maybe, returning your men to you happens so often they all start to blur together.” Fiona answered
“One of my men told me that he overheard your doctor telling you that you would likely lose your child.” Ebrahimi said as his Stalker came into view. “Did you?” He laughed, “Did it happen when the immortal recon lance surprised your lance and knocked you down? Did we kill another McFinnigan?”
Fiona almost took her hand off her left arm weapon stick to grab her belly. It was true, she had been pregnant, and the operations on Harvest was going to be her last. She had learned of it during the pre combat physical. She reasoned that her lance was far enough away from the action it seemed like an acceptable risk.
When she talked to Kelly he agreed, and, since the operation with the Donegal Guards, they had even discussed getting a ride with them back to Donegal to be with her family. This immediately led to an argument with her and Crow. He wanted her to stay with the company, but she couldn’t bear to watch someone else lead her lance while she “helped out” around Ops, and she knew it was a burden to Kelly to pay her base pay while she was on maternity leave.
Losing the baby made it all academic though. She had tried to take some time to come to terms with it. She made the choice though, as Kelly told her it was the classic mercenary dilemma of “one-more-job”. It was cold comfort then, and even now it still hurt. Hearing Ebrahimi taunt her turned her general irritation with him to hate. She had to remind herself to stay focused on the task on hand.
“That was my poor judgement.” She replied. Whatever shred of professional respect she had Ebrahimi finally melted away. She felt, no matter what Kelly said about “mercenary ethics” Ebrahimi was likely telling the truth. He would never stop until he murdered her friends, family and future children, but the way he was talking about her miscarriage was too far.
“Doesn’t matter, I will see you all dead. I would have killed your child one way or the other.” Ebrahimi laughed. “We are the immortals we will continue to fight long after you are dead and gone.”
The Jagermech’s targeting computer confirmed the weapon lock. Fiona wanted to aim, but chose to let the targeting computer do the work. She fired missiles and autocannons as the Stalker responded with missiles and lasers. Ebrahimi grunted as Fiona’s ‘mech lurched forward. She caught more missiles and another laser. She glanced at the targeting computer’s rangefinder and could see that he was almost in range of her medium lasers. She needed to get further away from him before they traded salvos again. She dived down an alley and sprinted to the main street.
“We should end this”, Ebrahimi announced. He plowed his mech into another building. As he pushed the 85 on mech into the structure he cursed and for a moment Fiona’s sensors lost track of the ‘mech. She could hear the sounds of the cockpit slamming into a wall or floor. Fiona turned her mech hard and walked to the collapsed building to see where Ebrahimi had fallen into the subterranean city.
As Fiona approached the broken building and gaping hole she could see the Stalker laying face up on the street below. The right torso was bent up and the right lasers and missile racks were ruined. Ebrahimi gave a wet cough, “What just happened?”
“You just fell three stories to your death.” Fiona said as she lined up her crosshairs on the cockpit.
“I’m far from death.” Ebrahimi laughed, “I’m Immor-“ He screamed as Fiona activated her lasers and destroyed the cockpit. One laser melted through the cockpit and the other reduced the armor in the center torso. When the weapon recycled she said, “You still there Ebrahimi, are you immortal?” she fired again, this time both ruby beams melted what remained of the cockpit. She waited for the weapon to recycle and fired at what remained of the ‘mech’s head scorching the concrete behind the mech..
“Miss Fiona, what are you doing?” Chyou asked.
“Re-calibrating my lasers.” She said as she fired again.
“This seems like the wrong time to do that.” Chyou said.
“Actually, it’s been a long time coming.” Fiona said coldly.
-
Chapter 70
Hap flipped up the welding mask and inspected his work. They had taken the left arm from the Capellan Wasp to replace the arm of Anastasia’s Valkyrie. The Crocket had destroyed the Valkyrie’s arm above the elbow. Hap had stripped down the Wasp’s arm and welded additional strips of titanium steel alloy to the “bones” and the connection point to reinforced the smaller ‘mech’s arm so it would be able to handle more armor and myomer muscle.
This was the first time Anastasia’s ‘mech had taken significant damage, and could no longer be considered pristine, but once the new arm was done it wouldn’t be noticeable, or hurt the ‘mech’s effectiveness. It wasn’t uncommon to replace a damaged ‘mech part with a similar part from another ‘mech. Usually it was ‘mech that shared characteristics. The Valkyrie was a beefed-up Wasp, so taking a component form a Wasp for a Valkyrie might require a little modification but it wasn’t a major feat in engineering. Hap’s dad had even mentioned in a pinch a Stinger would also work. Sometimes though, necessity created some innovation. Hap had seen a Rifleman from Prince Hansen’s own Rough Riders marching in a parade that had been fitted with the legs of a Warhammer.
Hap glanced over at Anastasia. She was working on the Vindicator’s small laser. The Compact forces didn’t have a spare Hessen IX Small Laser for Chyou’s ‘mech so Anastasia was using the parts of the UrbanMech’s Harmon Light Laser to replace the components that had been destroyed during Chyou’s fight with the Immortal’s Kintaro. Like the Valkyrie, the Vindicator was lying on its back with the arm outstretched. Anastasia was standing at the laser. Next to her was the arm and small laser removed from the UrbanMech.
Rebuilding a weapon like that was less common, but it seemed to Hap every settlement or unit had at least one tech that could do something like this, or would at least be willing to try. In Hap’s experience it was easier to drill holes to mount an odd weapon system and modify the power connectors, but that wasn’t always possible, and sometimes the weapon wouldn’t work, or would have trouble interfacing with ‘mech’s targeting or firing systems. Hap also knew that Anastasia was probably enjoying solving the complex problem of rebuilding a laser with spare parts.
What Anastasia probably wasn’t enjoying was the crowd around her. Several of the Compact techs were watching her every move trying to learn exactly how she could take a capacitor or focus assembly out of one weapon system and put it in another. Chyou was also there translating what Anastasia was doing into Chinese for the techs, and translating the techs' questions for Anastasia. Hap was certain his introverted wife would eventually find this situation exhausting.
Tasja and Maja carried a large bundle of myomer on their shoulders. “Hap, is the arm ready for the myomer?” Taja asked as they dumped the bundle next to the arm.
Hap looked over his work again. He stood up and gave the ‘mech skeleton a few good kicks. “I think the welds will hold.” He glanced down around him, aside from the myomer were the actuators, struts, and other components they had either salvaged from the ruined arm or were taken from the Wasp. It was probably a couple more hours of work before the arm would be ready for mounting armor.
A large cargo truck rumbled to a stop between the Valkyrie and Vindicator. Fiona, Mike, and Doctor Jackson Morgan climbed out of the vehicle. Fiona called up to Hap and he got down and walked over to them. Dr. Jackson watched him as he approached. The doctor motioned to him.
“Hap, you okay from that fall you had?” Doctor Morgan pulled out a pen light.
“Yeah, it wasn’t like last time.” Hap said as the doctor shone the light in his eyes. “It was less like falling and more like my ‘mech slid down the building until me and the building came to a rest on the street.”
Doctor Morgan nodded, “Sure. Look up. Now follow my finger.” The Doctor moved his finger left to right, up and down and then touched his nose and pulled it back. “You look fine. Sorry I couldn’t check you out before you left the cockpit and make sure you didn’t suffer anything serious. When we landed the Compact forces asked for any additional medical support we could give them, and you reported you were fine.”
“I think I am.” Hap answered
“I do too, but rules are rules, you’re on observation for the next couple days and you can’t take your ‘mech back into combat till I clear you. I’d say you should be on light duty, but that doesn’t look possible, so try to help out where you can, at least until we get the drop ship loaded.”
“How was your meeting with the Compact high command?” Hap asked Fiona.
“Good, we had a pretty lengthy discussion.” Fiona said
“More like a three hour-long dickering session over salvage.” Mike grumbled.
Hap noted that Fiona looked tired, “Most of it was over the salvage.” Fioana looked around, “I see the wasp's arm, which is fine, we had discussed that before I went to finalize our salvage claims. What are we doing with the UrbanMech’s small laser?”
“Anastasia is using it to fix the small laser on Chyou’s Vindicator.” Hap said.
“Anastasia can fix things?” Fiona gave Mike a questioning glance.
Mike shrugged and grumbled to himself and everyone followed him. They rounded the Vindicator’s arm to find Anastasia giving a class on the small laser. She had removed what was left of the laser's outer housing and the broken armor that had protected the laser’s internal electronics. She had several pieces of testing equipment still attached to certain components as well as a noteputer plugged into the laser's diagnostic jack. Hap could sense Anastasia was frustrated as they approached.
One of the Compact tech’s held up a large black cylinder and spoke to Chyou in Russian.
“Technician Solkovski says you still need to incorporate this part and several others like it.” Chyou said.
“That is one of several capacitors required because the UrbanMech is so woefully underpowered.” Anastasia answered as she picked up the noteputer, pressed a few buttons and the laser emitted a very slender ruby beam. The laser ended at a pile of discarded mech armor pieces nearly 100 meters away. The remains of the laser’s casing were also in the pile. As she worked, Chyou translated into Chinese.
Anastasia picked up a copy of the UrbanMech Technical Manual. It was in Chinese but the technical data for the laser had enough mathematical and engineering symbols and numbers that it was almost universal. “According to the manual this much energy is required to the emitter before it goes through the undulator. As you can see” Anastasia held up the multimeter next to the tech manual “we have the prerequisite energy required for the emitter in diagnostic mode.”
Chyou looked at the manual and the testing equipment as she nodded and then spoke again in Chinese. The tech dropped the capacitor, took the manual, and glanced at the multimeter as he compared it to the manual. He pointed lower on the page and handed it back to Anastasia as he spoke again in Russian.
“Technician Solkovski states the manual indicates you only have 10% of the necessary power.”
“Yes.” Anastasia said, “This is diagnostic mode. You’re referencing the power level required for regular operation of the laser.” She took the tech manual back and pointed back to the original section before she tossed it on the Vindicator’s wrist.
Chyou translated as Anastasia picked up the noteputer. Mike pulled out a cigar from his coverall’s breast pocket, and held it in front of the underpowered beam. He examined the cigar as it smoldered. “Wait.” He said as he put it in his mouth and sucked on it trying to make it catch, “How much armor do you have over there.” Mike motioned toward the pile of armor the laser was aimed at.
Anastasia looked up, “Approximately a quarter ton.”
Mike studied the trees behind the armor and seemed satisfied there was nothing important there. “Put it at full power.” Mike said as he stepped back and motioned to Hap to give him his welding mask.
Anastasia nodded as she pulled off her test equipment and then pressed a few buttons on the noteputer. The laser beam thickened and the heat caused everyone to step back. Mike looked at the lasers internals. After ten seconds the laser shut off. The pile of discarded armor had a clean hole burned into it, and the tech manual, that had been on the ‘mech’s arm was on fire.
Mike flipped up the welding mask and grabbed the burning tech manual, “That checks out.” He said as he rolled up manual and used the flames to light his cigar, “I’d take that weapon into combat.”
Chyou explained that Mike was the mercenary’s master technician and translated his statement. Solkovski still looked puzzled but the other two technicians nodded and clapped.
Mike exhaled a large cloud of cigar smoke, “But I still wouldn’t trust her to hang armor.” He said to Fiona, as he dropped the burning tech manual and stamped it out, “And Hap you need to talk to your girl about work site safety.”
“I’m his wife.” Anastasia corrected.
“Oh yeah, congratulations.” Mike said as he took another long draw on his cigar.
“Uh, thanks.” Hap said.
“Not you, her.” Mike answered
“What?” Anastasia said.
Chyou walked between Anastasia and Mike, to approach Doc Morgan, “Pardon me doctor. Were you able to say you assist our medical staff?”
“Yeah.” Doc Morgan said, “That MechWarrior your team brought is going to be fine. He got scuffed up a little when his ‘mech got destroyed, but he’ll pull through.”
“That is good, the Compact needs every warrior.” Chyou said unconvincingly, “However, I was more interested in the condition of Sao-Shao Liu.”
Doc Morgan nodded, “Your commander? I actually assisted with part of her surgery. Your docs think she’ll keep her hand. I was impressed by those guys. What they lack in, well damn near everything, they make up for in sheer determination.”
“Increasingly that has become our way.” Chyou answered. “Thank you doctor, this is good news.”
Crow walked up to the group. “I think I got the LSA done.
Fiona’s eyes flashed “The what?”
“Life Support Area. You know setting up sleeping tents, designating one place to eat and another to shit”
“I know what an LSA is. Why are you making an LSA? We should be leaving here.”
Doctor Jackson pulled Fiona slightly away from the group, “Your primary flight crew came to the end of their duty day waiting for you to finish with the Compact leadership, and we didn’t have enough qualified secondary crew members to operate the ship. They need an eight hour mandatory rest. Before you start bitching at me, that’s not my or your uncle’s rules, it’s the MRB and our insurers rules.”
Fiona looked like she was about to strangle the doctor. She took in a deep breath, let it out and said, “Very good. Anastasia, make a guard roster, put Crow and me at the bottom. I’m going to take all the anger I’m feeling right now and hold onto it for a few hours.” Fiona looked across the area where the pilots were setting up a sleep shelter and her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to use it to motivate all of you to get off-world in record time.”
One of the shuttle crew approached Fiona, “Ma’am Loadmaster Seyton “happened” to find a crate of Range-Bull ribs in our food stuff. It’s hard to cook properly in the galley, so we were wondering if we could setup a smoke pit-“
“No.” Fiona said flatly, “We’re still in the middle of the Compact’s…” Fiona glanced over at Chyou, “fight for freedom.” Fiona glanced around her and raised her voice, “Listen everyone, the Compact’s intel is saying the Capellan forces are “sufficiently marginalized” and they’re going to relocate in the morning.”
“This is also good news.” Chyou said smiled faintly.
“If you heard that, it’s not a rumor, but at the same time the Compact has been fighting a guerilla force. Small units that like to sneak up and slit throats and steal from soldiers while they sleep. Drunk mercenaries sitting around bonfires eating luxury foods is going to be a tempting target to them, especially since we have the only operational ‘mech’s in the area. The Professor is going to put out a guard roster. I need everyone to stay sharp and generally sober. We’re packing out at first light.”
Chyou gave Fiona a questioning look, “You are skeptical of our intel’s assessment?”
Fiona put her hand on Chyou’s shoulder, “I’m naturally skeptical of anyone that “bets my life” on whatever models, simulators, guesses, ‘gut feelings’, and the tea leaves and chicken bones that a good intel analyst uses. I’m super skeptical when they use squishy language like ‘sufficiently marginalized’, and I haven’t been exactly impressed by what I’ve heard from your intel. If I were you, I’d only trust the weapons in your hands and the men or women on your left and right.”
Chyou nodded, “Thank you.”
“Unless the guy on your left is Zhang.” Crow said. ”That guy’s a real ass clown.”
Fiona gave Crow a reproachful but he said, “His ass clowning nearly got Hap killed.”
Fiona turned back to Chyou and squeezed her shoulder, “That said, if this revolution doesn’t work out for you, come find us. We’re always looking for good warriors.”
-
Chapter 71
A few hours later Hap found himself sitting around a fire with his friends. It was twilight on a cool and crisp evening. The stars were just coming out As they finished a meal of canned stew and pre packaged bread. Fiona allowed everyone to have two beers, which seemed to raise the morale enough to stop the general grumbling. Chyou and her techs had accepted the invitation to stay and eat with them.
Everyone had split apart into their own groups. Hap could see the Compact techs with Mike and the mercenary techs around their own fire a dozen meters away from him. On the other side of them was a few members of the flight crew also with their own fire, but most of the flight crew had retired for the evening. The furniture was a mix of camp chairs, stools, logs, ammo cans, and equipment crates.
Hap enjoyed the paradox of being almost uncomfortably warm from the fire in front of him but his back nearly freezing. Hap took a sip from his weak coffee as Crow told everyone about how he, Anastasia, and Hap had taken down the Crocket. From Hap’s perspective it was an uninteresting fight, but Crow’s performance was at least entertaining.
“Then I jumped to the left” Crow said, “landed on a building , barely dodged the King Crab’s large laser, and launched a salvo at the Crocket. As I jumped again I felt the reloads go in then heard the tell-tale click of the loading chains stopping short. Then the computer tells me, “LRM magazine empty’.”
“As I’m getting my final shot lined up, Hap jumps to where I was at. The Crocket gets ready to use his Autocannon and lasers on Hap’s Griffin, but this is where he had made a mistake. See Anastasia had stopped firing missiles for a couple minutes. I thought, and I’m guessing Hap thought she was out of missiles. “
Hap realized he should “play along”, “Oh yeah, I, uh, thought she was out of missiles too.”
Anastasia blushed, as Crow continued, “So the Crocket pilot is thinking Anastasia is Winchester on LRMs so he ‘squared off’ to hit Hap. But, when he puts his back to Anastasia, she puts ten missiles into him, blowing off his right torso and all his ammo. It was a pretty big explosion so I’m thinking the Professor found his autocannon magazine. Whatever she hit, it meant the poor bastard only had one large laser and a couple small lasers, and his engine shielding was showing.”
“Wait, Anastasia hit the AC mag and it didn’t blow his mech to hell? How’s that possible?” Fiona asked.
“He’d been firing his Autocannon non-stop for most of the engagement. Given his accuracy and the way he kept alternating between the three of us, I’d say he was a very inexperienced or poorly trained pilot.” Anastasia said.
“Which gets back to the story, after taking that damage the Crocket seemed confused for a moment, and tried to back away from us. I guess he forgot we were loaded out with long range weapons.”
“I presumed he was trying to close with his SRMs and so losing them caused him to have to reevaluate his strategies.” Anastasia said.
“Yeah, maybe, I think he was surprised he wasn’t dead.” Crow said, “Anyways he jumps backwards, takes a moment to get his balance, evaluate his tactical situation, and let Hap shoot him right in the fusion reactor. As the Crocket’s reactor goes critical and explodes-“
“That’s a common misconception.” Anastasia interrupted, “A fusion reactor will automatically and quite rapidly shut itself down once the reactor shielding is breached. The bright flash of light and explosion is the super-heated plasma rapidly cooling as it contacts the air and the external portions of the reactor. The explosion is not due to a criticality of fissionable materials rather it’s thermal expansion.”
“Hey professor, I’m telling a story here, and you’re killing the flow of my narrative.” Crow said in his characteristic laid back tone. Hap wasn’t sure if he was annoyed or just pointing it out for everyone else’s benefit.
“Oh, sorry.” Anastasia said.
“It’s fine, that was most of the good stuff. The King Crab had spent the whole engagement trying to catch up and taking pot shots with his laser when he got a rare opportunity to put one of us in his crosshairs. Since we had finally stopped he hoofed it around a building and exposed his open right flank to me. So I followed Hap’s lead and dumped forty missiles into his reactor.
Which-“ Crow looked over at Anastasia, “Caused a breach in the shielding around his reactor core, that in-turn allowed superheated plasma to be exposed to relatively much-colder oxygen and portions of the engine. This extreme interaction resulted in a brilliant flash of light as well as catastrophic destruction to the reactor. This transfer of energy also caused excessive damage to the King Crab’s internal structure and key components located in and around the ‘mech’s center torso.” Crow gave Anastasia a wink. “Did I get it right that time.
“Again I apologize, and yes, that was a text book description of what a breach of a ‘mech’s fission reactor does. I see how it hurts the narrative structure of a good story.” Anastasia said.
“Naw I think it’s good.” Crow said, “People might actually remember I graduated from Somerset.”
“You graduated from Somerset?” Fiona asked. “And to think I was going to let you get lucky tonight.”
“You girls from Nagerling are all the same.” Crow said as he shook head.
“I went to the Martial College of Donegal, sir.” Fiona said with mock anger.
“They have a MechWarrior program? I thought they only taught space sailors.” Crow said.
“You and I are about to have an ‘extreme interaction’.” Fiona said.
“Does that mean I am getting laid tonight?” Crow said.
Fiona rolled her eyes, “Chyou you see what I have to work with? I’m certain you’re starting to question Crow’s entire story.”
Hap glanced at Chyou, she, like Anastasia, sat with perfect posture, and the exotic but placid features of her Asian ancestry made it hard for Hap to guess her feelings. She maintained a faint smile and looked down into the fire as she said, “I must confess there are portions of Crow’s story I find unlikely, but your companions prevailed today, so there must be some grain of truth in it.”
“It’s a pretty damn small grain of truth.” Fiona said, “but they are here, and you and I survived our little piece of the engagement, and ultimately that is all that matters.”
“How did you survive the encounter with Ebrahimi and the Stalker?” Anastasia asked.
“By being smarter than him.” Fiona took a sip from her canteen cup. She related her conversation with Chyou and how she had pointed out that some of the buildings had sub-basements that reached into the undercity. She guessed if she went back to where Chyou, Anastasia, and Hap had traveled through the undercity she might be able to trick Ebrahimi into pushing his ‘mech through one of those buildings. She explained how she had goaded Ebrahimi into chasing her while Chyou moved around to secure the necessary supplies and help Zhang.
As Fiona recounted her story it differed from Crow’s in that Crow focused on the action, and even though he had a laid back, lackadaisical, almost sarcastic way of talking he came alive as he regaled everyone in the destruction of the Crocket. Fiona focused on her thoughts and feelings. Defeating the Stalker was an academic exercise for her, keeping him at range, trying to take his ‘mech apart as she tried to force or goad Ebrahimi into making a mistake.
Fiona stared at the fire as she spoke, “I know I had started the shit talking, and generally speaking if you can’t take it you shouldn’t dish it out. Usually Ebrahimi or Ahmed or other Immortals will go on and on about how they will kill us, destroy our equipment, abuse our spouses, enslave our children, kick our pets, eat our lunch, whatever terrible thing they can imagine.”
“Why does this company hate you so?” Chyou asked.
“Ahmed had three sons.” Fiona said, “All three have now died at engagements with McFinnigan and Sons mercenary company. The first son died in some run-of-the-mill engagement in Marik Space. I think we were doing a raid on…damn it’s been so long… I think Calloway VI, wherever the Earthworks factory is. The mission was to escort a team of Loki operatives to steal Marik Stingers so they could go and use in some likely terribly planned and brutal operation that I desperately hope was in Free World Space.”
“We blew through the Etherworks factory security and got the Loki operatives to the ‘mechs, and that’s when the Immortals show up. The Immortals engaged us directly and the Loki operatives, being Loki operatives, couldn’t care less about what happened to us so they steal their ‘mechs and rush off to do whatever evil Loki does in the dark. Since our client wasn’t going to help us we concluded we were mission complete and started to disengage.”
“Now this is where stories differ. Llewyn, Kelly’s brother, was in his Victor laying down covering fire so we could retreat. As we were trying to break contact an Immortal Grasshoppers was harassing us. It nearly cored one of our Wolverines and Llewyn took the Grasshoppers head off with his AC. Once that happened Ahmed started requesting to disengage and suing for us to stop military operations. By that time we had a clear path to the LZ so we kept radio silence and departed.”
“According to Ahmed he had requested an end to the engagement before Llewyn shot his son. He even appealed to the MRB, but the MRB investigator couldn’t figure out who was telling the truth, and considered the matter hearsay. They ultimately refused to punish McFinnigan and Sons.” Fiona said.
“I see why this would infuriate Ahmed.” Chyou said
“Oh it gets worse. Ahmed started to somehow find himself taking jobs that would pit McFinnigan and Sons against the Immortals. A few years later we took a job that was basically a classic “train robbery”. We had to snatch a few train cars that allegedly had lostech the Kuritans were trying to steal or sneak away from House Davion. Kelly thought the job would be a pretty straightforward ‘smash and grab’.”
“The train had to cross a large chasm and the bridge seemed a logical place to ambush the train, so Kelly decided to avoid that, and ambush the train in the open. We did an orbital drop and had to grab the train cars and sprint to the LZ while the drop ship landed a few kilometers away from our ambush site. The Immortal’s were waiting in the chasm so they had to guess where our LZ was and try to ambush us before we got away. Because lostech was involved two other mercenary companies showed up to try and capture our prize, and a regular Davion unit was offended that mercenaries were hired for such an “important” job so they also decided to participate in this operation.”
“From the moment we burned in, till we got to our drop shuttle it was a non-stop running gun fight. We had to neutralize the Kuritan escort as two other mercenary companies showed up trying to poach the lostech. Then the immortals tried to out flank us, and a company of Davion dropped on our heads. Meanwhile our ride home is watching Kuritan fighters trying to vector on them. If we weren’t at the LZ before the aero fighters got in range we might not have had a ride home.”
“Somewhere in the middle of this shit show Ahmed’s other son ejects, and gets trampled by somebody. It was night, it was raining, and you had multiple opposing forces fighting over train cars that allegedly contained lostech. I have no idea who stepped on him, or if he even survived the ejection. Honestly, it was so damn confusing he might have even been hit by the train, but Ahmed blamed us for his death.”
“Was it actual lostech?” Chyou asked
Fiona stared at the fire as it hissed and popped, “That’s the funny thing, the train cars were full of concrete and a bunch of tracking equipment. MIIO was investigating the Davion commander and the entire operation was set up to implicate him in stealing military equipment or something. We were never supposed to get off the planet with the train cars. MIIO had leaked the operation was lostech and expected their dirty commander to show up with the biggest force and walk off with the prize. Once we figured out that our client had intentionally created an impossible job to hurt a third party, Kelly demanded quite a lot of MIIO before he returned their evidence.”
“Wait. How did MIIO convince the Draconis soldiers to be part of the operation?” Chyou asked
“The Dracs in this case were probably MIIO.” Crow said.
“When you’re a mercenary you try not to think too much about the hows and whys of what your client is doing. It’s best to just do the job you’re paid to do, take your money, and speculate over drinks on the long ride to the next job.”
“Or just drink.” Crow added. “Otherwise you’ll start to think things like MIIO must have hired the Immortals too, knowing how they hated us.”
“Responding to this sort of mystery with alcohol seems unhealthy, and worse, intellectually disingenuous.” Anastasia said.
“I’ve been doing this long enough to assure you, Crow’s right.” Fiona said, after a pause she added, “Back to your question Chyou, that’s how we earned the unending animosity of Ahmed’s immortals, but don’t cry too much for them, Ahmed personally killed Llewyn in a brutal ‘mech-on-‘mech slug match, that Kelly swears ‘was only business’ and when Kelly’s son, Richard, died Ahmed made sure to mention it was a sure sign the gods hated him and were on the side of the Immortals. It was always annoying, but Kelly kept us from sinking to their level because he felt that wasn’t how Mercenaries should treat each other.”
“It does seem that this is more personal and less business for this Ahmed.” Chyou said.
Fiona nodded, “The Immortals became an inconvenience for us. They had a nasty habit of showing up often, but Ahmed was so angry at us, and had lost so often that he was running into a “diminished returns” problem. He’d hit us too often and lose and then have less mech’s and material next time. A few times when he caught us in a bad position he didn’t have the capacity to exploit it. After awhile he wised up and would go and do some work to rebuild, but he never seemed to be able to get his company FMC.”
“Last time we fought I think even Kelly was sick of the nonsense so he tried to make a run at stealing his drop ship so we could finish them off once and for all. It didn’t work out, but this feud has gone on too long even if the Immortals were generally on the losing side of it. Then Ebrahimi started talking about how they had a rich patron that would help them reconstitute. That could turn the feud into their favor, especially if it was mechs like the King Crab or that Crocket. As I was mulling that over Ebrahimi started needling me about losing a child.
Crow put another log on the fire and used a pry tool to adjust the burning wood and stir the fire. “That’s a pretty low blow, even for Ebrahimi.”
“Well I sunk to their level and decided it was time to start taking away something Ahmed couldn’t replace, namely his son.” One of the logs in the fire broke and kicked up more sparks and flames, “and I don’t feel any remorse.”
“It’s a dangerous business we do.” Hap said, “He could have been killed any number of ways-“
“Had he ejected I would have activated my anti-air target and tracking system and used his ejection seat for target practice. I was determined he wasn’t leaving the battlefield alive today. Part of the reason I was so late getting back from my talk with the Compact high command was because they wanted to give us what was left of the Crocket if we agreed to let them have all of the Stalker and King Crab salvage.”
“The Crocket was such a rare ‘mech the Compact did not want to waste energy trying to find what they needed to get it repaired. They are pretty sure they can get the Stalker up and running and have a good chance at getting the parts they need for the King Crab. I preferred to have the Stalker, because I wanted to drop the broken and headless hulk onto the next battlefield where we encountered Ahmed and watch him lose his shit. Then I realized I was being a jackass and wasting time so I took the Crocket and thanked them for the generous offer.”
“So what happens next time you meet Ahmed in open combat?” Hap asked.
“I get Kate to tell him that I killed his son while he was crying like a bitch, and then when he runs his Battlemaster full tilt at me I have my lance take him apart with LRMs.” Fiona said.
“I’m sorry I caused this.” Anastasia said.
Fiona was silent as she stared at the fire. “This isn’t your fault. Honestly as much as I respect Kelly’s idea of a professional mercenary ethic, I think Ahmed and his sons took things too far and Kelly should have addressed it directly.”
“I am sorry, how is this Anastasia’s fault?” Chyou asked.
“It’s a long story” Fiona said quickly, “But, as I explained it to your high command, the gist of it is that Anastasia’s mother is a Countess ruling a planet on the other side of the Federation, and her father was a weapons expert industrialist. As near as we understood, it seems a rival company or a political rival killed her father, and has put a kill/capture bounty on Anastasia.”
“Ah, I see.” Chyou said. “This seems like it would be a liability of mercenaries.”
Fiona nodded, “It creates some problems, but as you can see we find ways to turn it to our advantage. Your leadership is reaching out to hire our company, and requested we stay until they receive confirmation and the rest of our company joins us. While that sounds nice, I’ve been doing this business long enough to know that we could easily become hostages in the negotiation process.”
I politely declined to stay. Your command was hesitant to let us go, but between our dependence on missiles, which are apparently in short supply, and the fact we’re likely to attract more hostile forces, they choose to allow us to leave the planet. Of course, I want to leave before they change their mind.” Fiona said.
The conversation died down for a moment. Hap watched two young techs, armed with federated long rifles, doing their patrol of the bivouac area. Hap saw one of them pause, shoulder his rifle, and scan the area with his starlight scope before continuing his patrol just outside the fire light. Hap glanced up at the stars and was glad it was a relatively clear night and the planet’s one moon was mostly full. It was cold but it would be easy to walk around and it would be difficult for anyone trying to sneak up on the camp.
“Chyou, you seem to know a lot about this area, are you from around here?” Crow said.
Chyou nodded slowly, “My father was the Mandrinn of this area, we lived outside the city.”
“How does your dad feel about you fighting for the St. Ives Compact?” Anastasia asked.
“My father has no daughter.” Chyou said quietly, “I believe he has returned to Capellan space and is waiting for the ‘treasonous rebel dogs’ to be put down so that he may return to his holdings. He likely contributed money to support some of the people we fought today. When I listened to Lady Candace speak I wanted to follow her, and I believed she would lead the people of the St. Ives fairly and kindly. The Capellans have historically not looked out for our interests, but Lady Candance, I believe, would change that. My father said she was a ‘disrespectful and selfish child that was the shame of her father’.”
“From what I’ve heard Lady Candace has been very successful at liberating the Compact, and the rest of the Capellan forces are too weak to try and reclaim the worlds of the world she has liberated. Perhaps as she consolidates her power she’ll make you the new Mandrissa in your father’s stead.” Fiona said.
“Perhaps,” Chyou said with a faint smile, “Perhaps she will give that honor to another who is more worthy. For now, I simply wish to serve the Compact as a mechwarrior.”
The fire popped and hissed as everyone got quiet again. Hap looked over at Anastasia. She was sitting in a camp chair and looked warm under his poncho liner. Their eyes met and he reached for her hand. With a gentle tug he got Anastasia to move over to him. Wordlessly she stood up, sat on his lap, and covered them both in his poncho liner.
As Anastasia and Hap settled Chyou asked Fiona to tell her more about the McFinnigan’s train robbery operation. Fiona related to them the epic raid and that only Kelly McFinnigan could conceive and execute. As she spoke Hap looked around again. He was among friends enjoying a fire on a cold crisp night. He glanced again at Chyou and while he admired her noble motivations, if he were being honest, he was probably more like Fiona or Crow. He fought for the men and woman on his side.
Hap was glad he still had his commission and was part of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns.. His experiences on the Draconis March, and now in former Capellan space, confirmed that the Federated Suns way of life was better. Still with the nobility being what it was, a planet or even the Federation was only one or two leaders away from similar problems. Hap hugged his wife. Ideals were good and sometimes when you’re lost they guide you to the right decision, but when bullets started to fly or when it was cold and dark it’s the people around you that are going to help you survive.
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nice story
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but when bullets started to fly or when it was cold and dark it’s the people around you that are going to help you survive.
Great job building your characters, both big and small.
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The end is soon... and we wait with bated breath... :(
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Great update and I can't wait to read more.
Psy
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Great update! Thanks for sharing!
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Chapter 72
Monhegan
March 3030
Hap looked up as Fiona walked into the leopard dropship's warrior lounge. She walked around the couch and held up a holo disk. "Alright I just checked all decks. Everything is generally ready for landing, but we got another hour or so before we hit Monhegan's atmosphere. Which gives us time for a holo."
Crow made a space for her on the couch, "What did you have in mind? I thought I saw Mags give Anastasia the newest season of Brave Sister Sniper before we left."
Fiona shook her head, "I've seen enough of Yolanda crying, flashing her breasts, or stabbing men in the back to get her way for a while. Honestly, the last season Yolanda had become a one trick pony."
"Yeah ever since Jaunita Torres-Bashier got that boob job the writers have gotten a little lazy."
"I wouldn't call it lazy." Fiona said. "Which is why I have something more educational in mind."
Anastasia looked up from her book of logic puzzles, as Crow grimaced, "Tell me it's not another documentary."
"It's a documentary on the Tripitz affair." Fiona answered. "It good for you, it'll improve your mind, and I'm going to bet it's chocked full of a lot of interesting and compelling theories."
"Oh man, not another conspiracy theory show." Crow groaned, "Did Rolph recommend this?"
"Nope." Fiona said as she put the disk into the holo.
"Was it our Capellan spooky? There is no end to the madness she'll believe." Crow said
"Tatyana had access to a lot Capellan intelligence. She probably does know a few things that you and I think is unbelievable." Fiona said.
"I get that, but sometimes she says things and I think 'that's impossible' like the Capellans having the technology to replace other Inner Sphere lords with clones."
"While that seems unlikely." Anastasia said, "After you see or discover a large quantity of things that others consider 'impossible or unlikely' you may be prone to believe things that really are fantastic."
"Thank you, Anastasia." Crow said. "See Anastasia gets it"
Hap glanced at Anastasia, "Really?"
"Oh yes. Mother and I had to watch daddy. He had a lot of strange pet theories and tended to believe a lot of conspiracy theories, particularly regarding the Kerensky's lost military forces, SLDF, and lostech. The problem with father was he tended to routinely do things other told him were impossible, so if we told him something was 'impossible' he would remind us of things he had done that had been 'impossible'. "
"What was your Dad's take on the Tripitz?" Fiona asked as she setup the holo.
"Daddy wanted to see the remains of it. Even as a burned-out hulk he wanted to look at the comms system. He believed the SLDF had Hyper Pulse Generators on some warships. He thought if he could see even the broken pieces of it would help his work. But the Tripitz was lost, so he was out of luck."
"Lost? I thought the Taurians towed it to some floating space station repair facility where they've been trying to fix it." Crow said.
"No, it was crippled and left to crash into a planet in the New Vandenberg System." Fiona said.
"Daddy always thought somehow the Capellans ended up with it." Anastasia said.
"Hap you got a theory?" Crow asked.
"I'm not actually sure what the Tripitz affair is, so no." Hap said.
"Well after this you'll definitely have one." Fiona said as she hit play.
"What makes you think I'll have a theory after watching the holo?" Hap asked
"The entire episode is so mysterious it spawns conspiracies." Anastasia spread a blanket over them.
"What if I just choose to not believe in it?" Hap teased.
"Still a conspiracy theory." Crow said.
The holo started and the Mechwarriors settled into watch the documentary. It was part of a series of documentaries called Searching For, which was in the title of every episode. The next episode was entitled "Searching For the Minnesota Tribe." The documentary was narrated by the actor who played the Science Office from the old ComStar Explorers Corps show Hap had watched as a kid.
The documentary told the story of how a Star League era warship, the Tripitz, was discovered in Taurian space. The Tripitz appeared to be an abandoned derelict ship, but still intact. The documentary explained a warship was an armed jump ship that could push through space defenses and carry dropships. With its hardened jump drive and superior armament a warship could spear head decisive attacks anywhere in the Inner Sphere and could virtually hold at risk all but the most heavily fortified planets. Any nation with a warship would have a decisive military advantage.
Such a prize was worth any cost. This enticed the Taurians, and according to the documentary, the Capellans to mount immediate salvage operations. When the Taurian's attempted to access the warship mysterious white aerofighters appeared from nowhere and destroyed the vessel. All the Taurians could do was helplessly watch as the ship was ruined.
As Hap watched the holo he realized he had heard bits and pieces of this legend before. He knew of the White Wings, the legendary phantom aerospace fighters that were painted all white and had no house livery or unit markings. The documentary had several theories of the identity of the White wings.
The documentaries theories of the White Wings starting with the most practical and going to the most outlandish. It started with an obvious Federated Suns bias and general implications of Taurian incompetence that would allow pirates to destroy the warship, or an unskilled salvage crew destroying the warship and inventing the story. The more unproveable theories included lost star league era colonies, Kerensky's lost forces, and even an unknown race of aliens.
As the credits started to roll Fiona glanced over at Hap, "So now what are you thinking about the Tripitz and the mysterious White Wings?"
"I think I'm leaning toward the more practical theories that the Taurian salvage team made a mistake or periphery pirates came through and they invented most of this story to cover it up." Hap said.
"Have you ever fought the Taurians?" Fiona asked, "They're not incompetent, they're actually quite fierce, and if you trespass in their space they'll-"
"Show up with a combined arms corps and tell you, 'hippity hoppity get the hell off our property'." Crow interrupted. Fiona looked like she was about to correct Crow but just nodded.
"A rag tag band of aerospace pirates is unlikely to be operating unopposed in Taurian space?" Hap said.
"Probably." Fiona shrugged, "Maybe the salvage team screwed up, but I doubt it. I've always preferred the lost colony theory. I assumed they had used the Tripitz to get out to their colony, and had the thing in orbit or mouth balled on a moon, or something, but somehow they lost control of it, and when it was found they realized they would be discovered so they chose to destroy it then disappeared."
"So why didn't the Taurians find the colony? It seems evident they had star league tech." Hap said. "I'd think the Concordant would want to talk to these people."
"That's what makes the whole thing so damn interesting." Fiona said, "Every answer just leads to more questions. What's your take Anastasia?"
"Daddy also favored the lost or hidden colony theory, so I suppose I did too. Although he didn't discount the idea of non-humans."
"The documentary said the Taurians claimed the White Wings had star league era aerospace fighters." Crow said. "Wouldn't space aliens have alien aero fighters?"
Anastasia shrugged, "There are a couple explanations for that."
Fiona rubbed her hands together gleefully. "This is why I love conspiracy theories, when you think you've come to the end, it just goes deeper."
Anastasia nodded, "The explanation was that the aliens didn't want to reveal themselves so they used conventional human aerospace fighters, or there is a federation of aliens that included humans and they were tasked to interact with other humans."
Crow raised a curious eyebrow, "Why wouldn't the aliens want to reveal themselves?"
"Humanity writ large is on our fourth succession war." Anastasia said. "After centuries of non-stop death, destruction, and mayhem, would you want to deal with the lot of us? Daddy generally felt most intelligent life would probably be hesitant to interact with us, unless they wanted a fight."
Crow nodded, "That makes sense. I'm starting to like the alien theory now. I like the idea of a federation of aliens that aren't looking for trouble."
"Really?" Fiona said, "You don't believe in Land Air Mechs even though you've seen one, but the idea that space aliens exist, because you haven't seen them, is all the proof you need?"
"I didn't see a LAM. I saw a mech run out of sight behind some hills and then an aerospace fighter flew out of the same general area. It doesn't make it a LAM. Besides, the idea that space aliens would refuse to deal with the majority of humanity seems more likely than them not existing at all."
"I'm not going to try to prove a negative even though we've colonized trillions of worlds and never found intelligent life, but don't try to deny you saw you a LAM."
"I told you what I saw. There was a Phoenix Hawk running down the road then there was an aerospace fighter rocketing toward space. Honestly I'm not exactly sure it was an aerospace fighter."
Fiona punched Crow in the shoulder as Hap glanced at Anastasia, "So that's your Dad's theory or theories. What's yours?"
Anastasia took a deep breath, "After everything we've seen and given what Mother said-"
The 1MC cracked to life and Kate said, "All crew, be advised, we're about five mikes from entering Monhegan's gravity and atmosphere, so if you, or your crap isn't locked in, strapped down, tied up, or secured, you'd better get it that way."
There was a flurry of activity as the four mechwarriors quickly went around the lounge and the berthing area to get their personal effects and other odds and ends put away. They got back to the couch and buckled the harnesses just as the ship started to shake and shift as it changed its flight profile and entered the Monhegan's atmosphere.
In a few minutes the leopard had touched down. Hawkins came onto the 1MC, "Welcome to Monehegan. Local time is 1205. Temperatures are a balmy 16 degrees."
The mercenaries grabbed their personal effects. They met up with Hawkins and Kate at the crew ramp. Hawkins opened the door and bright light spilled into shuttle nearly blinding everyone.
Crow and Fiona cursed as Hawkins and Kate pulled out aviator sunglasses. "Probably should have warned you how the virtual cockpit and windows protects from the glaring sun." Hawkins said.
The mechwarriors squinted as they walked off the ramp. Anastasia asked, "Hap, have you seen my sunglasses?"
Hap said no as he looked around. The company had setup a field kitchen and had set out long tables and benches in the light of the unseasonably warm spring day. There was a carnival feel, as people moved around getting food, talking, eating and drinking.
"Nice. We made it back in time for fish fry Friday." Crow turned and gave Kate a fist bump.
"You know I was thinking I wanted to rack out, but I could go for some fried fish." Kate said.
"I doubt you'll have time to rack out." Fiona said, "Our garrison duty is over, and we need to pack up." Hap could also see pallets of equipment and cases stacked around the air field. The few company members who weren't participating in the fish fry were operating loaders and getting the containers ready to put on the dropships. It was obvious the mercenary company was preparing to leave the planet.
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Chapter 73
Hap followed Fiona as she went directly to Kelly. Kelly was standing with Fletch and Rowyena near a field desk holding a chaotic pile of papers, folders, and a tea service. Next to the desk was a large field comms suite next to it. Fiona sat at her desk on a camp chair looking at her noteputer. Kelly and Fletch were standing at the desk looking through a folder.
The men seemed to be having a disagreement. Fletch shook his head as he flicked his cigarette, "Boss, nothing shouts, 'we're hiring you to fight a desperate battle against impossible odds in some politically and likely morally reprehensible situation' like a Non-disclosure agreement just to get the preliminary intel and basic mission parameters."
"Aye, it's likely nothin' quite so desperate as all that." Kelly said. "Now the payout may imply some risk."
"Yeah, the payout is almost enough to buy another lance, that implies a lot of risk, and the fact the Federation is sending a rep to brief us directly, means it's going to be some shady shit. I can almost guaran-damn-tee no fool in this company is going to want to do this job."
As he spoke Grizzly walked by with a plate full of greasy fried fish and potatoes, "Did you just say we're going to get in a desperate battle against incredible odds? Rolph and I were just talking how we hadn't been nearly killed in a while and were missing the high you get from a near death experience."
Fletch stared at him coldly and then said, "Go eat your damn fish and then get your shit on the bird."
Grizzly took a bite of fish and then shouted to Rolph as he chewed and walked, "Hey the boss has got a new job lined up, sounds like a good one, near death and everything."
Crow followed Grizzly, "You want to talk about near death, brother, we just got in a fight with a Kintaro, a Stalker, a King Crab, and a Crocket. Plus a bunch of tanks and what the Compaction's call 'Loudung' mechs."
Rolph continued eating but nodded as he made space on the bench and motioned for Crow to sit.
Kelly looked a little confused, "Ye saw a Crocket? Yer going to have to tell me more about that."
Fiona nodded, "We ran into Ebrahimi leading a lance with a Crocket, a King Crab, his own Stalker and a Kintaro. He wouldn't stop talking about how his dad had some new rich patron or investor that had gotten them some heavy hardware."
Kelly calmly cleaned his pipe, filled the bowl with tobacco and lit it as she talked. Fiona frowned, "You don't seem particularly surprised by this."
"The Immortals showed up here too. Same deal. They had reconstituted with almost two lances of assaults and a new recon lance. Some exotic shit too, not only did they have a Crocket, they even had a Mercury." Fletch said.
Kelly lit his pipe and nodded, "And that old sinner might have even given us trouble, but the Lexington Combat Group was jest back from leave and their commander wanted to get his boys some experience and maybe even earn a little of that money Prince Davion throws at them."
"Oh? Did we finally defeat the Immortals." Fiona said, "Because our engagement was pretty decisive."
Kelly gave Fiona look like an appraiser, "How decisive?"
"We engaged with and destroyed the Immortal's assault lance, supported by a mixed vehicle and light 'mech lance. All mechs and tanks were destroyed, three out of four of the Immortal mechwarriors died during combat. We were supported by the Compact's forces so they got the pick of the salvage. We were given the remains of Crocket, and whatever we needed to effect repairs. For all intents and purposes that lance no longer exists." Fiona reported, then after a pause added, "and I killed Ebrahimi."
Fletch gave Kelly a worried look as Kelly's eyebrows shot up.
"Did anyone see you? Did ye properly dispose of the body?" Roweyna asked as she lazily tapped on her noteputer, "Because, legally speaking, it's really only murder if someone has proof. Otherwise it's jest idle speculation and hearsay. Any first-year law student can tell ye that."
Fletch looked surprised then pointed the two fingers holding his cigarette at Roweyna, "This is what I was talking about. When Elinor leaves your moral compasses starts to drift."
Fiona rolled her eyes, "Roweyna, I didn't poison his tea. I killed him during the combat operations."
Kelly exhaled pipe smoke, "If ye accidentally killed him in fair an' open combat-"
"It wasn't an accident. He was prone and I shot the cockpit of the mech. Then I made sure the cockpit was destroyed. Just for good measure I destroyed concrete behind his cockpit."
Kelly smoked his pipe and looked at her like a disappointed father, "Ye let him goad you into all that?"
"He was talking about how he was going to kill us and our families."
"How is that different from any other time we've taken the field against them?" Kelly asked
"He told me about how happy he was that I had miscarried and that his men were responsible for it."
Roweyna's eyebrows shot up and she looked at Fiona, "I'd have done more than poison his tea for that."
"Child" Kelly said softly, "I've been trying for over a decade to deescalate this feud that Ahmed thinks we have with each other. Now ye've added another complaint and another sad chapter. We're all mercenaries here, we need to keep it business and not let it be professional."
"I respect your professional ethic," Fiona said, "but this has gone too far for too long. We should just give him the feud he wants and end his whole damn company and that's what I thought you intended to do when we fought the Immortals last year and we tried and steal his drop ship."
"I wanted to keep it professional though." Kelly said, "Force him to stay and fight, finish him off in a pitched battle, behave like warriors, not grieving parents. This sort of thing never ends well, Fiona."
"Well now he's found some benefactor to take his side and it's going to get harder for us. I think we need to stop 'being professional' and just annihilate them." Fiona said
Fletch nodded, "Yeah, someone at the port authority let them land their dropship in a nice secluded industrial area and unload and deploy their mechs before we understood what was happening. We thought it was the LCG, the LCG thought it was us. It wasn't until their recon lance came barreling across the air field that we realized the Immortals had shown up. Thankfully that kept the battle in the industrial district and away from the civilian center, but it was still destructive. It was good the LCG was here to help us push them back, but Fiona's right boss, Ahmed is either getting more lucky, or he's getting the help he's always needed."
Kelly quietly smoked his pipe and stared at them. After an uncomfortable moment Hap cleared his throat, "Sir, you were talking about our next mission when we walked up. If I may, can I ask what it is?"
"We were talking about a potential next contract." Fletch corrected, "One I'm hoping we turn down."
Kelly ignored him, "It's good ye asked lad since we'll," he paused and Fletch, "Likely be doing a job for the Federated Suns. The nature o' the job is a bit sensitive, so they're sendin' a rep to talk to us in person. I suspect they'll want to speak with you and miss- er- the misses."
"Do we know when he'll be here?" Anastasia asked as she patted down the various pockets of her coveralls.
Roweyna continued to absent mindedly scroll through items on her noteputer, "Colonel Norton will be here shortly. Ye may jest have time to get some fish an' chips."
Hap looked past his wife at the line of mercenaries waiting to get fried food. "That seems unlikely."
Fletch looked around and called out, "Noah, Conner, come here." The boys looked startled when he called out, and one of them gestured to himself. Fletch nodded, "Yeah, both of you, Kommen sie hier bitte".
The two young mechwarriors, each holding a tray of food sheepishly came to the XO. Fletch asked them, "Is this your second or third serving?"
"Uh…fourth, maybe." Conner said quietly.
Fletch took the trays and handed it to Hap and Anastasia, "Go get in the loader mechs and get those ammo crates secured on the Tir na nOg."
Hap looked down at the tray of fried fish and potatoes and squishy peas. "Thanks we'd better eat this quick."
"I would." Fletch said.
Hap led Anastasia to a nearby empty table. As they walked she sniffed the food. "It looks so oily and I think Connor put vinegar on the fries."
Hap shrugged as he sat down on a bench. "I prefer ketchup, but vinegar is what some people consider the proper condiment for fries."
Anastasia sat next to him and shook her head, "non, mayonnaise pour pommes de terre."
"You want some mayonnaise?" Hap asked looking at other tables for condiments.
"Hey! You guys are back." Joker said as he sat down across from
"Hello Joker." Hap said, "You know where I can get some mayonnaise?"
"Uh, no. But can I ask you a question? Do you think I'd make a good father?"
"Absolutely not." Anastasia said then turned to Hap, "Actually what I really want is my sunglasses. Have you seen them? One of the Barons from Bastrop had twin daughters that Mother called 'Freckles and Squints' because they spent a lot of time outside and never wore hats, sun screen, or sunglasses. You've seen how my hair-" Anastasia pulled out her braid and then looked over at Joker. He looked surprised and hurt.
"Why-" Anastasia started to say, "Where's Mags? I suddenly sense her and I should get reacquainted."
"We were eating at the table with Grizzly and Rolph." Joker said pointing to one of the other tables.
Anastasia stood up and took a few steps away then turned around and leaned over Hap, and reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. As she leaned on him Hap felt her weight on the back of his neck, and her hand caress his chest as she pulled out her sunglasses. She rested her head on top of his, "I remember I left my sunglasses in your jacket."
"Why were your sunglasses in my jacket pocket?"
Anastasia put on the large oversized designer sun glasses. She gave hap a coy look, "They're sort of big and didn't fit neatly into any of my pockets, so, your jacket seemed a better place to keep them. That is until I forgot they were there. Honestly I'm surprised you didn't notice they were there."
Hap gave her a playful shove as she turned around and called out to Mags. Hap shook his head as he got comfortable and took a piece of fish off his tray. "What's going on with you and Mags?"
Joker grabbed a fried potato from Anastasia's tray, "I don't know she's been acting weird lately."
Hap ate his fish and looked at Joker waiting for more information.
"Man I think Anastasia put too much vinegar on her fries." Joker said as he reached for another potato.
"Why do you think Mags is 'acting weird'?" Haps asked.
"We've been having a lot of sex, like a lot of sex, and we weren't always wearing protection."
Hap held a piece of fish just millimeters from his mouth, "Is Mag's pregnant?"
"Well see she thought she was, and when she told me about it, I, uh, I might have said something stupid, but I've been trying to make it up to her since."
"But she's not pregnant."
"No. At least she told me she wasn't." Joker said, "At first Mags seemed mad at me, but then she decided she wanted to have kids."
"Kids?"
"Yeah like I don't know if you know this, but Mags has like twenty cousins, and I guess she always wanted brothers and sisters or something because she wants to have lots of kids."
"Alright." Hap ate his fish for a few minutes. "Are you and Mags going to start having kids?"
"I dunno. She, um, as you would say 'wasn't impressed' with my response when she thought she was pregnant so she told me to figure out what I wanted out of our relationship and then come talk to her."
"Mags said that?"
"Sorta. She told me to 'stop being an ass hat' and threw this at me." Joker reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rolled up magazine with a female holo star on the cover and advertisements for a quiz to know how compatible you were with your lover, a diet guaranteed to give you the perfect thighs, and articles on improving lovemaking. "I read this whole damn thing and I'm still not sure what she wants."
"What do you think she wants?"
Joker followed Hap as he left the barracks "I dunno, I guess she's ready to settle down and have kids and wants me to make sure that's what I want too. At least I think that's what she wants. You ever read one of these magazines? I don't know if I know this but girls got a lot of weird plumbing down there." As he spoke Joker thumbed through the magazine and tried to show Hap one of the illustrations.
Hap pushed the magazine back toward Joker, "I think you're trying to change the subject. So what are you going to tell Mags?"
"I was hoping you could tell me. I like Mags, and I like what we do together, but sometimes… I wish Mags wasn't such a… It's hard to explain. I see the way Anastasia looks at you, and it reminds me of how my mom looked when she talked about my dad. Another thing, when someone starts talking shit about you, Anastasia gets real angry and she'll bite their head off. Mags doesn't look at me that way and if someone wants to trash talk me, she'll probably join in."
Hap stopped eating and looked at Joker. It was clear to Hap that he was serious. "Look, Anastasia isn't perfect, she tends to annoy a lot of people, and…"
"No. I hear you boss, I know Mags is kind of psychotic, and she'll probably kill me if she thinks I'm even looking at another woman. I know she's the best woman I've ever been with, and I probably can't do better, but I just wish she…help me out here boss."
Hap was quite for a moment as he took another bite, "I can tell you Mags may never give you looks from across the room. But when the locals tried to slip something into your drink-"
"They were actually trying to slip something into Anastasia's drink."
"I heard Mags cleared the table and dropped one of the townies before anyone knew what had happened." Hap said.
"She likes to fight." Joker said
"Alright she likes to fight. She's prone to violence, but you know you can depend on her. She's loyal to her family, this company and you. I've seen you in a lot of dumb relationships, like you said, she's the best you've been with. Don't compare her to other girls."
Joker scratched the back of his head, "Hap, how do you get a girl to give you that look?"
Before Hap could answer a shadow passed over the table Hap glanced to his side to see a man in in AFFS dress uniform standing beside him. Hap did a double take as he saw the two thick stripes on his epaulette marking the man a Colonel. Without thinking both Hap and Joker stood and saluted.
The Colonel gave a crisp salute, "At ease men."
As he relaxed Hap could see he wasn't a mechwarrior. His rank epaulet was infantry green, and he didn't wear spurs on his boots. At the same time he had some of the highest awards of the AFFS military. He was also a tall thin man with sharp blue eyes. He exuded professionalism.
"Gentlemen, I'm colonel Norton, I'm here to meet with Commander McFinnigan and his senior staff." As he spoke he studied Hap's and Joker's coverall. His eye fell on the AFFS patch and rank on Hap's uniform, "Captain Calahad? I need to speak with you and Subaltern Vallois as well. Would you mind taking me to the company commander and summoning her?"
Hap nodded, "Yes Sir. The commander is expecting you, and Anastasia and I were told we would be part of that brief."
Joker was quick to volunteer, "I'll take care of these trays and go grab the Subaltern." He moved quickly to get away from the AFFS officer.
Hap nodded to Joker, then turned to the Colonel, "Right this way sir". He led him back to the mercenary leadership. Mark and John were packing up Fiona's desk, and she was standing with Fiona, Fletch and her father. As they approached Hap and the Colonel could overhear Fiona talking.
"So this little shit Capellan-" Fiona started to say.
"St. Ives" Fletch said as he lit a new cigarette.
"Right." Fiona nodded "So in true Capellan style, I got this St. Ives Sang-Wei calling us 'whores' because we took a whole week to travel between systems. About the time I'm about to lose it, The professor comes across the couch and starts lecturing the Sang-Wei on basic physics and shit talking the Capellan education system."
"Oh no." Roweyna laughed.
"Oh yes." Fiona said. "It gets better. First though you have to picture it. We're in the Leopard's warrior lounge, we just rolled out of bed, Hap and I are in our coveralls, but Anastasia is in this silk robe, and she has hair up in a ponytail or a braid. It looks like we had brought our little sister from her slumber party just to talk the client in science and proper military doctrine."
Kelly knocked his pipebowl on the desk before John and Mike carried it away. "Military doctrine?"
"The change of mission was to help the St. Ives forces reestablish their logistics lines. So the Sang-Wei is demanding we alter the mission while he's calling us whores and bitching about time and space. So after Anastasia insults the Confederacy's education she tells him he can't get mad at us because he doesn't understand the importance of logistics."
"Glad she's using that NAIS education." Fletch said as he took a long drag.
"That's not the best part. The professor starts quoting Clausewitz, and the client looks like his head is about to explode, and he screams, 'what!' and," Fiona had to try and stop laughing, "So, hand to god truth, Anastasia replies, 'I'm sorry I forgot you were educated by Capellan's all you know is Sun Tzu', and then she starts quoting Sun Tzu."
Fletch half laughed, half coughed and beat his chest as he tried not to choke. When he finally caught his breath he said, "Yer shittin' me, the professor is lecturing Capellans-"
"St Ives" Fiona interjected
"Same damn thing," Fletch said, "So the professor was lecturing them on Sun Tzu. How'd the Sang Wei take an impromptu class on the Capellan's favorite philosopher of war and business?"
"It really pissed him off." Fiona laughed. "Normally I'm all for treating the client with respect, but even his own people thought the Sang Wei was out of line."
"Oh damn I would have loved to seen that." Fletch shook his head and looked over at Kelly, "I'm going to miss the professor when we have to give her back to the Federation."
"If only I could weaponize her lecturin'" Kelly said as he wiped a tear away from his eye.
"Is the 'professor' Subaltern Valois?" Colonel Norton quietly asked Hap.
"Yes Sir." Hap replied.
Colonel Norton cleared his throat, "I believe 'weaponizing her lectures' is the reason High Command would prefer she was doing research and development at NAIS where she can take her notorious intelligence, and apply her knowledge and understanding of science to make the Federation some cutting edge weapons."
"Oh! I apologize Colonel, I didn't see ye standing there." Kelly said, "I didn't mean to keep ye waiting. Hap, ye should have said something."
"Quite alright commander. I'm glad to hear our liaison officers are integrating with your company, and I'd like to hear more about your operations with the St. Ives later. However there is another matter I'd like to discuss with you in private."
"Aye, we have our conference room in our dropship, the Tir na nOg. Fiona make sure they boys are properly loading those missiles. Colonel Norton, If ye'll follow us," Kelly motioned toward the Excalibur class dropship. As they walked Anastasia fell in step with them. Hap got close enough to her to ask, "How are things with Mags?"
"We will have much to talk about later." Anastasia said.
"I was afraid you'd say something like that." Hap said as they started climbing the stairs to the upper decks of the drop ship.
In a few minutes they were on the executive deck and Kelly led them into a room with a long conference table and a video screen on the wall. Hap hadn't noticed it before, but Colonel Norton had a briefcase. Colonel Norton stood at the head of the table and opened his briefcase, "Before we begin I'm Colonel Norton. I'm not a mechwarrior, rather I am an expert in unconventional warfare."
Kelly motioned around the room, "I'm Kelly McFinnigan, the commander of this company. This is Roweyna, our legal adviser and Mr. James Fletcher our executive officer, and ye know yer AFFS laisons."
Colonel Norton nodded as he opened his briefcase. Hap was surprised to see that the brief case's handle was actually the carrying handle for a compact submachine gun. The lower portion of the brief case contained the submachine gun. It looked like it was designed so that it could detach from the case without having to open the case, giving the briefcase holder instant access to a weapon. The briefcase also had additional magazines for the submachine gun, a few grenades, as well as a nasty looking knife. "Now that introductions are out of the way, before we begin, I'll need everyone to sign non-disclosure agreements."
"You expecting some trouble colonel?" Fletch asked nodding at the case of weapons.
The colonel pulled out a folder from the case's top pouch, and began to shuffle papers, "I've done special operations for the Federated Suns across the Inner Sphere for over 30 years. I've made a lot of enemies, and there are a few bounties on my head. I've also had to improvise my way through enough situations to know it's better to come as prepared as you can."
Hap again felt naïve as he realized that some stranger in an AFFS uniform approached him and he happily took him straight to the commander oblivious to the fact he was heavily armed. It was another lesson in being more careful and less trusting. If he was a ComStar assassin he could have easily ordered him to bring his wife to him and execute her.
Colonel Norton pulled out several sheets of paper, "I'll need each of you to sign these forms. If you choose not to take this contract you'll still not be allowed to speak of it for twenty-five years or until you're contacted by an authorized foreign disclosure officer of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns."
There was a general murmur of acknowledgement but everyone in the room watched Rowyena as she scanned the form then nodded to her father before signing. Once everyone had signed and passed the forms back to the Colonel he started taking out pictures, maps, and diagrams.
"Commander, we'd like to hire you to support a raid on the planet Necromo." Colonel Norton said.
"This is a lot of money for a raid, also what is of strategic value on Necromo? We hit their long range listening post, I've never heard of anything else being there."
Colonel Norton nodded like he had expected this, "Indulge me while I explain a few things, Mr. Fletcher. McFinnigan and Sons is one of several companies being hired to perform this raid. In addition to your enforced company, there will also be an armored company, two additional aerospace flights, and a special operations team. Your Excalibur and Leopard dropships will be used to move the additional personnel and equipment for the raid. This, plus what is likely to be the extreme risk of the operation is why you are being offered so much."
As Colonel Norton spoke he slipped several TO&Es to Kelly and Fletch. Kelly picked up one of the sheets, "Aye, this unit, Willard's Armored Calvary, this is all light armor, and those LRM carriers won't survive contact with even the lightest of 'mech lance. I cannot guarantee their safety."
"All assets considered disposable for this operation." Colonel Norton replied.
"That's reassuring" said Fletch as he looked over the TO&Es. "Also looks like all assets are mercenary."
Colonel Norton nodded, "Regarding strategic value of Necromo, the system has the Capellan's dropship repair facility as well as ship yards and aerorspace research facilities. It is of extreme value to the Confederation, so much so they placed the system under strict restrictions to prevent the secret from getting out. You didn't hit a long range listening post, you hit their early warning station."
Kelly glanced over at Fletch, "Have ye ever heard of any of this?"
Fletch shook his head, "No, but I'm married to a former Maskirova agent, so I can assure you, if anyone can keep a secret it's the Maskirova."
"So what are we taking in this raid?" Kelly asked as he glanced through the papers
"The actual raid will be conducted by the special operations team, Detachment 3." Colonel Norton motioned to the company's TO&E. "We may need one or two mech's to move the objective onto their transport vehicle, but the primary responsibility of the raid falls to this team of operators."
"So ye just need a few mechs to pick up a, a thing?" Kelly asked
"The primary role of your company, and the armor company, will be to conduct a frontal assault on this research facility." The Colonel pointed to a photo of a high walled fortress built into a mountain pass. "Once the defenders are drawn out, a team of your 'mechs will escort the special ops team to the rear of the facility. From there you'll assist in seizing the objective, securing it, and getting off planet."
"Sounds simple enough." Fletch said. "Any idea what the OPFOR looks like?"
The colonel produced another TO&E, "Aside from these turret mounted point defenses, the facility has a mixed company of 'mechs and armor, but the longer the fight goes on they will pull more resources from the planet. Necromo has roughly a Battalion size garrison of ground forces, and a Wing of Aerospace fighters, plus additional anti-air assets around the shipyard repair facilities."
"I see why all assets are considered disposable." Fletch said leaning back and crossing his arms. Hap could tell from his body language that he didn't want to do this mission.
"We've done riskier things against worst odds. And I'd add, fer less money." Kelly said as he studied the fortress. "Tell me again what the objective is?"
"The objective is simply something the Capellans have that we want." Colonel Norton said. "I hate to be secretive like this, but I can't reveal much more due to security. I will tell you it's nothing biological, nuclear or chemical, and it doesn't present any inherent risk to your company. I'll add it's high-end military tech that few know the existence of. None of you are cleared to know anything more."
"If it's high-end tech, I'm certain I'm cleared to know." Anastasia said.
The Colonel fixed her with a cold stare, "No."
Anastasia frowned and pulled out her ID chit, "Sir, scan my chit. I'm cleared to work in the NAIS high security areas. I have-"
The colonel shook his head, "I said, no. I'm aware of your credentials, but if the Capellans learned that we know of this facility and what it contains we would jeopardize a very sensitive and exquisite information source. For that reason, you aren't cleared. Which is more if you, Subaltern, are captured you should strongly consider using this." Colonel Norton reached into his briefcase, opened a compartment next to the gernades and pulled out a blue vial. He rolled it across the table to Anastasia.
"Is this poison?" Anastasia asked
"Yes. Bite down on the vial and you'll be dead in seconds. The things you know and your abilities cannot fall into the hands of the Federation's enemies. If you're going to insist on conducting operations on the front lines, you had better be prepared to protect what you know by any means necessary."
"I don't think this will be necessary." Kelly said as he pushed the vial back towards the Colonel.
The Colonel didn't take back the poison, He instead continue to give Anastasia a cold stare "I know there are a lot of people impressed that you would volunteer to serve, being a noble and having the option of staying on New Avalon. I, for one, would prefer you were using your talents to recover lostech. However, you and your mother have made your choice, so I can only make my recommendations."
"Colonel, perhaps we should further discuss the operation. Say I'm inclined to take this job." Kelly said.
Colonel Norton turned to look at Kelly, "Your company would immediately travel to the planet Daniels for a ten day preparation and training period with the other companies hired for this operation. We've established an isolated training area and mock-up of the Necromo facilities."
"Well this all sounds in order, now about our fee." Kelly said.
"I'm not here to negotiate contracts Commander." Colon Norton said.
Kelly looked over at Roweyna, "Perhaps we can get Lady Cunningham on the line. Seems it's been donkey's years since we talked the AFFS Mercenary liaison."
"We don't have a lot of time commander. The Capellan confederation is in disarray and the St. Ives compact is trying to consolidate power. The sooner we strike the better our chances of success. I'd prefer to avoid spending a few days going back and forth with the AFFS bureaucracy. I've been authorized to increase your pay out by 5%."
"Well that sounds good, but now that I know I have to carry everyone about it means I'll be feeding them too, so I was thinking more like 15%."
As Kelly and Colonel Norton began to haggle Hap turned his attention to Anastasia. She was staring at the vile of poison. She looked tired. Hap glanced at his watch. It was still on the shuttle's time. Hap realized they had been awake for almost twenty hours. Hap started to feel tired himself. He reached over and kneaded the base of her neck. She glanced over at him and gave him a tired smile. Hap knew no matter how tired they both felt she'd want to have a long talk after the meeting was over.
The Colonel handed the contract back to Kelly, "Alright I can get you 8%, and pull another 3% from one of my black budget funds. We'll reimburse you for food and class six supplies you give to the other companies during transit. That is the best I can do."
Kelly reached out his hand, "11% increase, and ye reimburse food and personal consumables. Very good we have a deal."
The Colonel shook Kelly's hand, "I'll have new contract drawn up and you can sign on it on Daniels. Do you have any other questions."
"I think we'll hold our questions till we get to Daniels and start working through the operation with the other companies." Fletch said.
Colonel Norton turned to Hap and Anastasia, "My flight off-world leaves soon, but before I go, do either of you have any questions for me."
Hap glanced at Fletch and Kelly, there response had implied tactical and operational questions would wait. Anastasia was giving the Colonel her own cold stare. If she had been Mags or Joker they probably would have been asking about where he'd like them to shove his poison. Hap decided to break the tension, "Where do I get a case like that?
Colonel Norton looked from Anastasia to Hap and raised a surprised eyebrow
"You said Anastasia should protect herself 'by any means necessary', having a case like that might allow us to turn a bad situation, into in a minor inconvenience."
Colonel Norton nodded, "That's not precisely what I said, but I get what you mean, and I do like to encourage sudden and decisive overmatch." He looked around the case for a moment, then carefully pulled out the tray with the grenades and had to disconnect the section with the knife that made it also accessible from outside the case. He found a small fabric tag and ripped it of the lining.
Colonel Norton handed Hap the tag, "Here this has the NSN and stock numbers, have your supply officer request it through your AFFS equipment supplier. You'll need to get a bull pup rifle, or a submachine gun that can mount a federated standard rifle carrying handle, whichever you prefer."
Fletch glanced over at Hap, "Order two. Tatyana's birthday is coming up, and she loves that sort of thing."
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*giggles* Even several years in the future, SK's (or the army version of the SK) rule through the dominance of that evil NSN... a billion-part numbers/CAGE numbers but one (apparently) NSN to rule those part numbers... until that PN also appears on a dozen different NSNs...
FASAnomics would have been even more hilarious if they included CAGE numbers with edge company that builds mechs, parts, etc...
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Nice. Let's see that raid. And what's going on with Mags....
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Great update. Can't wait to read more.
Psy
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Chapter 74
Daniels
March 3030
Hap flipped through his copy of the order for the Necromo raid until he came to TO&E appendix.
Operation Righteous Cloak Tailored Force Package
Overall Commander: Colonel Edward Norton
Primary Effort: Detachment 3
Mission: Seize and secure objective
Commander: Poityr Wojski
Special Forces Operation Squad (10 man)
Flight Crew (3 man)
Karnov UR Transport – Pilot Commander (PC): Jarred Erving
Supporting Effort: 1: McFinnigan and Sons
Mission: Conduct feint, escort Primary Effort
Commander: Kelly McFinnigan
Reinforced 'Mech Company (4 Lances and Aerospace Flight)
DropShips: Excalibur class "Tir na nOg"
Leopard class "Phaidin"
Assault Lance "Anvil"
HGN-733 Highlander - Pilot: Kelly McFinnigan
CP-10-Z Cyclops - Pilot: James "Fletch" Fletcher
AWS-8Q Awesome - Pilot: Yorik Tomax
STK-3F Stalker - Pilot: Jin-seon Jessica "Ajumma" Lan
Pursuit Lance "Dullahans"
DRG-1G Grand Dragon Pilot: Patrick "Shillelagh" McFinnigan
WVR-6M Wolverine Pilot: Gerald "Grizzly" Villon
KTO-18(Modified) Kintaro - Pilot: Tatyana "Volchitsa" Fletcher
SHD-2H Shadow Hawk - Pilot: Conner MacRaith
Fire Support Lance "Hammer"
JM6-A JagerMech - Pilot: Fiona "Guardian Angel" McFinnigan
CPLT-C4 Catapult - Pilot: Eugene "Crow" Harrison
TBT-5N Trebuchet - Pilot: Rolph Horsteng
DV-6M Dervish - Pilot: Dillon "Big D" Rowel
Recon Lance "Coyote"
GRF-1N Griffin - Pilot: Harold "Haphazard" Calahad
VLK-QA(Modified) Valkyrie - Pilot: Anastasia "The Professor" Capetian-Calahad
FS9-H Firestarter - Pilot: William "Joker" Cameron
JR7-D Jenner - Pilot: Marietta Marie Rose "Mags" Camacho
Banshee Flight
STU-K5 Stuka – Pilot: Kate "Giggles" Berlin
STU- K5 Stuka – Pilot: Bob "Swanky" Doggett
Supporting Effort 2: Willards Armored Cavalry
Mission: Screening and Indirect Fire Support
Commander: Charles "Wildman" Willard
Combat Vehicle Company
Recon Lance
Condor Heavy Hover Tank – Tank Commander (TC): Michelle Moore
Pegasus Scout Hover Tank – TC: Jack Larson
Pegasus Scout Hover Tank – TC: Tim Webster
Harasser Missile Platform – TC Suzanne Marks
Strike Lance
Patton Heavy Tank – TC: Charles "Wildman" Willard
Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun – TC: William Cranston
Manticore Heavy Tank – TC: Brandon "Tex" Horst
Schrek PPC Carrier – TC: Jon Fredericks
Fire Support Lance
LRM Carrier – TC: Richard "Ricky" Robinson
LRM Carrier – TC: Ashley Torski
SRM Carrier – TC: Havier Ortega Guzman
Mobile Long Tom Artillery – Crew Chief: George Luther
Supporting Effort 3: White Tails Aerospace Squadron
Mission: Escort Dropships and provide close air support
Commander: Thomas Wildermmer
Light Aerospace Squadron (2 Flights)
White Flight
CHP-5W Chippewa Fighter – Pilot: Thomas Wildermmer
CHP-5W Chippewa Fighter – Pilot: Donny Elfens
Blue Flight
CHP-5W Chippewa Fighter – Pilot: Ken Lee
CHP-5W Chippewa Fighter – Pilot: Adam Comparta
Hap folded the order and tucked it under the other papers on his knee board. At that moment Hap and his lance were 500 miles above Daniels in the McFinnigan Company's Leopard Drop Ship Phaidin. They had been on Daniels for three days. The first day was spent meeting the other companies, listening to briefings for the raid and Necromo, and settling into the facilities they were provided. The next day they started the rehearsals for the raid.
Colonel Norton and his team had created an extensive rehearsal range. It was a complex setup designed to replicate the objective on Necromo. It had a mockup of the target facility, an assortment of pop-up targets, virtual sensor targets and remote mechs and drones. It was a very impressive and expensive setup. Whatever the Capellans had, it was obviously worth a lot.
The command channel crackled in Hap's neuro helmet. "Alright commander we're disembarking the Excalibur now, give us five minutes to get the Long Tom in position and the kill box established." The voice had a strange twang to it. Hap recognized it as Charles "Wildman" Willard the commander of Willard's Armored Cavalry, the armor company assisting hired to support the raid.
"Ye have two if we're going to meet the timeline. Mr. Willard. Move yer iron turtles." Kelly replied.
"Iron Horses, Mr. McFinnigan." Willard replied, "You heard 'em boys, Getty-up! Move your asses."
Hap could hear the annoyance in Kelly's voice. Willard was a "larger-than-life" type of commander and wore an ancient style cavalry hat, tall, highly polished boots, and was generally loud in everything he said and done. He acted like some character out of a holo about the North American west. It also didn't help that everyone was on edge. This was the second or third time today they had rehearsed the raid. The previous two days had also been filled with rehearsals. To add to the frustration they were struggling to execute the operation on the Colonel's timeline.
"Damn." Joker said, "how many times have we done this, and Wildman and his team still can't get their crap together."
"This will be the fifth time we have rehearsed this operation. Based on Colonel Norton's rubric we're not improving." Anastasia said in her quite professional voice.
Colonel Norton had a scoring method for the major phases or activities of the operation. It was based on achieving an objective by a certain time. Every time they missed a suspense the Colonel would assess a point penalty and when they accrued enough points he would take away an asset or change the exercise to make it harder.
"Hey, hey Ricky, you boys ain't drivin' a hover tank, watch the edge of the-" Willard cursed under his breath, "McFinnigan I got one of my LRM carriers high centered on the Dropship ramp."
"That's five points." Colonel Norton droned, "I'm taking away one of your LRM carriers."
"It's blocking the Long Tom and the ammo trucks." Willard added, "I'm going to need more time to get the kill box established."
"Commander McFinnigan, your artillery is frustrated on the ramp of your Drop Ship, what do you want to do?" Colonel Norton said.
"What do I want to do?" Kelly asked, "I want to go clear the ramp by throwing tanks into the darkest pit I can find, but fer the mission, Hammer Lance light up TRP 1."
"Acknowledge Commander." Fiona said. Hap glanced down at his knee board. TRP 1 was one of the outmost point defense turrets for the fortress.
"White tails, you lads in position?"
"Affirmative commander. You have air superiority, and we're stacked for CAS." replied an almost sarcastic pilot. The White Tails were the company of aerospace fighters hired for this job. They were four CHP-W5 Chippewa fighters. Hap didn't know much about aerospace fighters but Kate assured him they were a good star league era craft. They were light on armor, but they combined speed, with a lot of fight power.
What Hap did know was the White Tails were a strange company. Their company icon with a white falcon on a blue background, but they didn't paint any livery or other markings on their aircraft. Colonel Norton saw it and decided it was a good idea that everyone participating in the raid would paint their equipment white with no other markings.
Anastasia commented that it violated the Ares Convention rules on "Combatants being clearly marked, carrying arms openly, and being identifiable for the nation they represent." To no one's surprise she received Fletch's "Ares Suggestion" speech followed up by Colonel Norton reminding her that they were conducting unconventional warfare and there would be no Ares Conventions protections. He might quite a point to her about the lack of prisoner protections.
"Banshee flight?" McFinnigan asked.
"Banshee flight is ready to escort." Kate said. Banshee flight's mission was to protect the Phaidin. Just before leaving Monhegan Kelly had hired another pilot Bob "Swanky" Doggett. In spite of his name he seemed more like the quiet introvert type. In addition to the new pilot the company had also acquired another Stuka. Hap was pretty sure it had been previously owned by the mercenary pilot that had tried to renegotiate her contract mid-battle.
Doggett had brought his wife and small child with him when he signed on to McFinnigan and Sons. He generally kept to himself, although his wife was usually helping out around the galley and seemed to like the company. She was very outgoing and a contrast to her introverted husband.
"TRP 1 Destroyed." Fiona reported, "we'll need to relocate to hit the second TRP."
"We got contact from the front gates." Patrick reported, "Looks like OPFOR is moving out."
"Move the Dullahans to engage and push them toward the Anvils." Kelly responded, "Detachment 3, Coyotes, yer up." Kelly said, "Mr. Mitchellin get yer payload on the objective."
Detachment 3 was the special operations unit that Colonel Norton selected for this mission. They were a ten man special ops team, and they had a three man flight crew for their Karnov transport. The Karnov was a unique Vertical Take Off/Landing aircraft. The prop engines of the Karnov could rotate 90 degrees so it could take off vertically and then they would move into a conventional flight configuration. It could internally carry six tons, but Hap had heard stories of them lifting light 'mechs.
"Jah, Commander. Ms. MacGregor go ahead and lets take her down."
Hap groaned. Sarah MacGregor was a very junior pilot. Hap respected Kelly's efforts to "build the bench" and letting her get some flight time, but it was just making the tedious rehearsals worse.
The leopard started to rock and shake as it descended. The drop ship lurched hard to port and Hap wanted to reach his Griffin's hand out to steady himself, but his 'mech was still locked in the transit harness. He instead leaned in the opposite direction against his command couch as the straps locked. Through his cockpit window Hap could see Mike trying to brace himself and not fall off the catwalk as he stood at the gantry controls.
"Fruelien, as we enter the atmosphere we must use the auto-trim." Mitchellin said.
"But you told me a good pilot didn't need auto-trim." Sarah said as she overcompensated, and the Leopard banked hard to starboard and the nose dipped.
Mags cursed in Spanish as Mitchellin explained, "Jah, but at your level of experience-"
Hap watched Mike struggle to regain his balance as Joker yelled, "Use the damn Auto-trim."
There was a jolt as the Leopard drop ship righted itself and continued a turbulent but level descent.
"Phaidin, this is Banshee 2, your heat shielding and armor are still intact, but I wouldn't try that again."
"Jah, bitershein Banshee 2." Mitchellin said. Hap wondered if Mitchellin's heavy German accent was hiding his sarcasm. .
"That's 2 more points." Colonel Norton said.
"Hap, boss, I'm starting to get that feeling like right before I shoplift at the exchange." Joker said.
"Coyote 4, say again, over." Yorik said.
Hap switched over to his personal channel with Anastasia, "How are we doing for points?"
"Colonel Norton has deducted a total of…" Anastasia hummed to herself quietly, "23 points, or at least that is what he has verbally indicated. This means we're at 77 points. He generally takes away a 'mech at 80 points, armor at 75 points, and another system at 65, and then declares us failures at 50 points.
"How do you think we'll do this time?" Hap asked.
"Well, Colonel Norton took away an armor asset instead of a 'mech, and we're ahead of schedule by ninety seconds" Anastasia said, "but we also lack artillery and Mags and Joker have done this exercise to the point of complacency and annoyance. I suspect we'll lose at least three points coming off the drop zone, and Colonel Norton likes to make me the 'mech he takes away from you."
"I noticed that, I think he's trying to annoy me by not 'notionally' killing Joker." Hap said.
"I believe he is reiterating the risk I'm taking in participating in combat operations." Anastasia said.
"That had occurred to me too." Hap said.
The drop ship doors opened, but the locks on the mechs were not released. This was the false insertion for the mech's, but the place where the drop ship would release the Karnov UR Transport. The VTOL would be lowered from the Leopard's aerospace bay with a specially made crane system installed for this operation. The Karnov would then get clear, and the Leopard would move forward another 400 meters and insert the 'mechs. It all had to be done in roughly thirty seconds. If there were any enemy present or if Banshee flight couldn't protect the Karnov the 'mechs would deploy here.
"Looks like we need to start paying attention again." Hap said.
Anastasia sighed, "Well, I hope I make it off the drop ship, I'm starting to get motion sick." Anastasia said as they switched back to the main command channel.
"Detachment 3 has deployed." Mitchellin said. Hap could see the Karnov move up and forward and then the tilt wings shifted so the transport could fly like a conventional fixed wing aircraft. It began to bank as the leopard lifted off again as Mitchellin said, "Mechwarriors stand by for insertion." The locks released and Hap could feel his 'mech sway slightly.
The leopard got up to altitude and then the engines kicked in hard.
A moment later the leopard pulled hard and banked to starboard as a female voice said "Oh shit!" following by Mitchellin addiing, "Shizer!"
Mags cursed again, "Jefe, I'm out."
Before Hap could say anything Joker added, "yeah let's bail"
"That would be-" Anastasia said, but she knew it was too late, "unwise".
Hap glanced down at his tactical display, the Leopard, the Karnov, and one of the Stukas were all in the same air space and almost on top of each other.
"Jenner pilot, what the hell! Don't-" the desperate voice of the Karnov pilot could be heard over warning klaxons as some yelled behind him, "Watch that Firestarter."
"What just happened?" Colonel Norton yelled.
"Colonel, this is Banshee Two, this is my fault." Swanky said, "I saw one of the virtual bogies moving to attack the Karnov, as I altered course to intercept I came too close to the Leopard, uh, the Phaidin."
Kate cleared her throat, "Two mechs performed an emergency egress from the Phaidin. One caused the Karnov to take evasive actions. The Karnov transport was not struck and is still flying. All aircraft and 'mechs operational. I say again, all air and ground assets operational."
"Pilot Erving, are you and your crew okay?" Colonel Norton asked.
"Roger Colonel, may need to change my flight suit before the debrief, but we're good to Charlie Mike."
"Negative you will not continue mission. ENDEX. ENDEX. ENDEX. Rehearsal over. We're executing a twenty-four hour safety stand down. I want all the leadership from each company to report to the Ops center for a debriefing."
The drop ship slowed down, leveled off and turned.
"Hey, is the drop ship gonna pick us up?" Joker asked
"Negative" Mitchelin replied, "you have bailed out, so you may walk home."
"Jenner and Firestarter, when you get back to base, come see me." Pilot Erving said.
"Belay that." Yorik snapped, "You two clowns come see me first, and whatever is left of your sorry asses can go and apologize to our esteemed colleagues."
Mags and Joker gave a muted acknowledgement as Hap watched the prairies of Daniels roll beneath him. The mech bay doors were still open and Hap enjoyed the rugged and open vista. Colonel Norton had put them in the middle of nowhere on Daniels. They hadn't seen any of the planet locals since they arrived. When they conducted their first "mock raid" the local magistrate called the Ops center demanding to know what was going on, but Colonel Norton handled him. After that it was almost like being on an uninhabited planet.
The Leopard landed and Mike came to help Hap out of his Griffin. Mike was favoring his left arm as he struggled to release the armored hatch controls. When he and Hap had got it opened Hap asked, "Did you sprain your arm during the flight? You need help getting to the clinic?"
Mike shook his head, "Maybe if I were a weaker man, I might need some help, but I'm a mech tech, not some pansy ass mechwarrior always complaining every time they get a little shaken up in the cockpit."
"True, but you nearly got tossed off the catwalk, not just knocked around a plush command couch." Hap replied.
Mike rubbed his elbow and nodded as he helped Hap from his 'mech. Hap climbed down the ladder and joined Anastasia. As they walked to the ops-center they fell in step behind Commander McFinnigan, Fletch, and Commander Willard.
"Kelly, you need to get your flight crews in line." Willard said loudly.
"When yer drivers can drive in a straight line for more than a few meters, and get to their objective on time, ye can talk to me about how I'm managing my flight crews Mr. Willard." Kelly said.
"My boys are having to hurry off the ramp because your drop ship crews are taking there sweet-ass-time landing these birds."
Before Kelly could respond they arrived at the Operation Center. Ops was a Mobile Headquarters truck. Everyone got quiet as they climbed into the cab and walked into the communication's room. The Colonel's Mobile HQ looked nearly pristine which implied to Hap the importance of the mission, or the clout of Colonel Norton.
Anastasia and Hap took their seats. Hap watched Anastasia look around and he knew she was trying hard not to touch things and start playing with the comms system. It all looked like stock, almost star league era equipment. The other lance leaders, and pilots filed into the comms room and found a seat around the large table with a built in Holo projector. Hap noted that Kate made a point to sit by Anastasia. .
Colonel Norton looked around at the assembled leaders, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to talk about the mistakes we're making. We'll start with mine. I concede I've been pushing each of you, and your teams, too hard. I need this operation executed nearly reflectively, but making you rehearse until you kill each other isn't the way. We'll slow down the pace and reduce the number of daily rehearsals."
"I think you may have overly complicated the operation too." Fletch said, "Inserting the Karnov, in one location and the 'mechs in another seems unnecessary. If I may, I suggest we just land the Phaidin at the primary LZ unload mechs and transport together and have them proceed to the objective from there."
Colonel Norton seemed to be considering the idea, "The reason I had the staggered unloading was because once it's in flight the Karnov is much faster than the 'mechs. I thought giving the 'mechs a head start would be good, but I get your point. If you could have your team re-write the execution of that phase of the operation, I'll look it over and consider your suggestion."
Fletch looked at Hap and Anastasia, "Conveniently I got a couple AFFS trained officers that could use some staff work experience. I'll have it for you later today."
"That brings us to you Commander McFinnigan." Colonel Norton pointed to the personnel files on his computer. "For the last few rehearsals, you've been using Penny and Sarah MacGregor as your primary pilots for both of your drop ships, but between them these girls have just a few dozen hours and most of that is in simulators."
"Aye, I figured it was pretty routine drops, and I could get the young ladies some experience outside ah simulator. If ye think it's causing problems I can have them resume the co-pilot role, and have Mr. Mitchellin and Mr. Hawkins be the lead pilots." Kelly said.
"Please do." Colonel Norton said, "Commander Willard, your tank crews have troubles with the roll-off phase of the operation. I'm starting to suspect at least one of your LRM carriers has an alignment problem."
Willard scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I was going to use the safety stand down to have my boys look into that."
"See that they do." Colonel Norton said. He looked around at everyone, "Is there anything else anyone would like to add?" He paused and waited, "Alright. I appreciate your professionalism. Let's talk about some of the things you are doing right."
As he reviewed the previous rehearsals it became obvious Colonel Norton favored Detachment 3. They were the priority effort for the operation, so the Colonel's preference made sense. Hap suspected the Colonel had worked with them in the past. The members of the detachment looked like they were from all over the Inner Sphere, but given the Colonel's reputation it seemed likely they were all ex AFFS special forces.
When the meeting concluded Fletch pointed at Hap and Anastasia and indicated they should stay right where they were as he talked to Kelly and moved around the table.
Hap turned to Anastasia, "It looks like we're going to be re-writing an order this afternoon. That sounds about as fun as filling out paperwork."
Anastasia stopped looking at the comms gear, "Oh! It's better. With paperwork I'm constrained to request whatever the paperwork is for, but with orders, I can move the resources of a planet with just a few words."
Kate snorted as she stood up, and squeezed Anastasia's shoulder, "God bless you, you merry little bureaucrat. Hap, try not to let her use her powers for evil."
"You know well written orders are an art form. I heard Operation Roland's Horn was written on just three sheets of paper" Anastasia said as Kate gave a final wave and exited the vehicle.
Fletch shook his head as he pulled out a cigarette pack from his first aid kit. "Art or not, the base order for Operation Roland's Horn might have been written on three sheets of paper, but, sure as hell, the annexes were like a set of encyclopedias." Fletch held up the cigarette and looked at Colonel Norton. "Am I good to smoke in here?"
"Not in my HQ, Mr. Fletcher. Everything here is almost irreplaceable." Colonel Norton replied. "And your both correct. The base order was concisely written on a few sheets of paper, but the complete OPORD was probably close to two sets of encyclopedias."
"Alright, we'll take this over to my Cyclops. Some of the best plans and orders were written on the foot of a 'mech or on the hood of a combat vehicle." Fletch said as he led Hap and Anastasia out of the Mobile HQ.
-
Chapter 75
Hap walked back to the McFinnigan portion of the Life Support Area. The LSA was setup in a neat gridwork of military six-man bubble tents. There were enough tents for all the mercenaries, including the support staff. The accommodations were spartan, but it was better than a Drop Ship's berthing area.
The different Mercenary companies generally kept to themselves as they settled into the LSA. Hap and his lance shared a shelter, and they were close to the other single mechwarriors and some of the support staff like the twins John and Mark.
As Hap found his shelter he noticed that the common area now had a fire pit. Rolph and Grizzly had a roaring fire going and were drinking beers as they sat in camping chairs and discussed the armor company's troubles with fixing their LRM Carrier. Rolph and Crow greeted him.
"You guys build a fire pit?" Hap asked.
"Nope. It was here when we got here." Grizzly replied. "Probably John and Mark's work. Where's your lance?"
"I was going to ask you guys if you've seen Joker or Mags." Hap said.
"We just got out here." Rolph looked at the liquid in his bottle, "about half a beer ago. Where's Anastasia?"
"Fletch had us do some paperwork, and she went to put the finishing touches on it." Hap held up the two to-go trays he was holding, "I went to the DEFAC to grab dinner before it closed. She was going to meet me here."
"Maybe she's in your tent." Grizzly said before finishing his beer.
Hap walked into the Coyote's tent to find Mag's sitting on her cot using her personal holo-viewer to look at pictures. Hap sat down across from her on his cot. He realized he had not really had a chance to speak with Mags in over a month. When they left Monhegan he hadn't seen her for weeks, and during the flight to Daniels he just didn't find a quiet moment to take her aside.
Hap sat the trays on the edge of the double thick inflatable mattress that Anastasia had managed to "acquire". Hap cleared his throat, "What are you looking at?"
"Family pictures."
"Yeah? How's your dad doing?"
Mags looked up, "He's dead."
Hap frowned, "Damn! I'm sorry I didn't know."
"I didn't think you did, Jefe." There was an awkward pause, "I'm not good at sugar coating things."
"Yeah I've noticed that." Hap nodded, "If you don't mind me asking, How'd you find out?"
"My cousin sent me a message, but I wasn't surprised." Mag said as she closed the picture she was looking at, and started to go through the video selections. "We share a bank account, I put money in it every pay day. He hadn't touched for weeks."
"Maybe he moved in with family and was saving money."
"Not the way he drinks." Mags said she got off her cot and sat down next to Hap, "Then there was this message." She loaded a holo of a very old looking man that mumbled and looked exhausted. It took Hap a moment to realize this was Mag's father. He looked thinner and somehow shorter than in the other pictures Mags had shown him of her father. Mag's dad spoke quietly in fluent Spanish.
"What's he saying?" Hap asked
"He's lonely and complaining about everything." Mags said, "It's not like how he usually complains though. My uncle, his brother was dead when got back home and my nephews didn't show him the respect he thought they should have. They knew he paid a lot of bills for the farm and was family, so they tolerated him, but he knew they didn't like him. My aunts are too busy with their own lives and children. He's just very lonely."
"Wow. It's too bad he couldn't come back here. Everyone seems to like your dad." Hap watched the old man talk and thought about some of the stories he had heard of Mag's dad, "Maybe it's more accurate to say everyone respected him here."
Mags nodded and whispered, "everyone respected him here, true." She stopped the video and changed to a still holo of her and her dad. The picture was taken in a bar with Mags and her dad posing with beers in front of a Cerillos flag. Mags didn't look different, but her father seemed years younger, and they both looked happy.
Hap pretended not to see the tears in Mag's eyes, "That's a good picture, when was it taken?"
"When I was sixteen. Can you believe it was only a few years ago?"
"It looks like a very good memory. Does Kelly know your dad is dead? Do you want do something for him?" Hap asked.
"He knows." She said, "Kelly said some nice things for him while you were on St. Ives. Hung his picture in the galley too."
Anastasia opened the tent flap and pushed her way in, "Oh good Harold, and Mags. What are you two talking about?"
"Mags dad." Hap said.
"Oh? Did you tell Harold about your father?" Anastasia asked.
"Yeah." Mags said.
Hap looked up at Anastasia, "You know Mags dad had died? Why didn't you tell me?"
Anastasia gave a little shrug as she sat down and cozied up to Hap, "Mags is a private person. I figure it was best to let her tell you when she was ready."
"There was a funeral, so apparently I was the only one that didn't know." Hap said, then quickly added, "I'm sorry we missed it, Mags."
Mags shrugged, "You didn't know him."
"Yes but often what we do for the dead is for the living." Anastasia said.
Mags gave Anastasia an odd look. "What Anastasia is saying is, we wanted to be there to support you. I'm sorry we weren't there to support you, and I'm sorry I didn't know about this until now." Hap paused, "I'm also kinda surprised Joker didn't say anything when we got back to Monhegan."
"Are you really that surprised?" Mags asked as she shutdown the holo viewer.
"He came and talked to me. He said you were acting weird and…yeah actually I don't know why I'm surprised." Hap said.
Mags gave Hap a knowing look, "When my dad died, and I thought about how lonely and angry he was I realized I didn't want to be like that. When I die I want to be surrounded by my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren."
"Knowing Joker I'm going to guess that spooked him." Hap said.
"He thought I was kidding, I guess. He made some jokes that pissed me off."
"I find that unsurprising." Anastasia said.
"Where is Joker?" Hap asked
"John and Mark came by and wanted him to help with something." Mags said.
"So what's going to happen with you and Joker?" Hap asked.
"I've decided I'm probably going to forgive him eventually." Mags said.
"That's generous of you" Hap deadpanned "When do you think that will be?"
"Maybe when I'm ready to have children." Mags said.
"With Joker?" Anastasia asked
"Might as well be him." Mags gave a wry smile "At least once he starts acting right. When I told Bill," Hearing Mags use Joker's actual name made Hap and Anastasia exchanged glances, "I wanted to have children he asked me if I was high. I told Bill to watch his mouth or I'd cut him, and he'd told me that sounds exactly like how the galaxy's best mother would talk. I knew he was right, and that pissed me off even more."
"Joker, tends to talk before he thinks." Hap said. "He knows he messed up, I think if you give him a chance he'll apologize. I also think You'll be a fine mom, Mags, if you give yourself a chance."
"As long as you don't threaten your children with corporal violence." Anastasia said
"Yeah I have a some growing to do." Mags stood up and put her holovid carefully on her cot. "I guess right now I'm too wild, like everyone says. I think I'll go out to the fire pit."
"You want to take our dinner to the fire pit?" Hap asked Anastasia.
"I think it's wise to eat outside the tent. I'd prefer to not attract vermin." Anastasia said.
The sun was starting to set and Rolph and Grizzly had been joined by Dillon, Crow, and Fiona. Mags found a chair and dragged it over to the fire. Hap and Anastasia took a bench made of wooden missile crates, and settled in to eat their meal.
Patrick walked out his tent with a case of the McFinnigan home brew, "Hap, Professor, were ye able to fix the plan?"
"Wait. What changes do you make in the plan?" Grizzly asked suspiciously as he grabbed a beer.
"Fletch suggested they change the part where Mags and Joker try to jump on the Karnov." Fiona said.
"That was never part of the plan" Mags grumbled, "we had to bail because someone let Penny or Sarah MacGregor fly the Phaidin."
"Oh. I don't care about any of that." Grizzly said, "That's a Coyote problem."
"Indeed." Anastasia said, "And yes, per the XO's guidance, we modified the 'back door' phase of the operation so that the Phaidin only does one insertion. Also Colonel Norton ordered me to add that I would protect the Phaidin and not leave the drop zone."
Hap frowned, "That takes the Coyotes down a 'mech, that some combat power."
Anastasia nodded, "Colonel Norton feels we're more likely to meet resistance on the ex-fil, so having a 'mech in a vanguard or overwatch position may be beneficial. Especially while loading up the Karnov."
"It also keeps you away from the main fight." Hap sighed. "Between Colonel Norton and Major Braun I'm starting to suspect you're the key to the whole NAIS weapon's program."
"Unlikely. They might be struggling with my father's research areas, but there is a cadre of other scientists and researchers that could probably continue his work." She stared at the fire for a moment, "probably. Though my father was quite brilliant. Perhaps they do need my assistance."
"Don't they have that Team Buckaroo or Bananas or something?" Grizzly asked as he passed Crow a beer.
"Team Banzai. Yes." Anastasia sighed, "They're certainly brilliant, and eccentric, but they're also generally allowed to research whatever appeals to them at the moment. They create amazing things, if it interests them. That could be the main reason AFFS High Command want me back. They're looking for additional scientists that will actually work on the projects they want done." Anastasia snuggled up to Hap. "They can wait though, I'm pretty happy right here though."
Hap laid his head on hers. "Was Fletch there when Colonel Norton changed the plan?"
"Yes, Fletch argued against it, but Colonel Norton was adamant. Colonel Norton said he had been thinking about this for a while, and so if we were going to change one thing, we may as well change two." Anastasia said. "Fletch agreed eventually. He told me to try and figure out a way to help out. He suggested I coordinate the air support."
"That's good, someone needs to do that," Fiona said, "You can start by ensuring there is a clear flight path for the Karnov. Try to make it so no one jumps on the poor thing."
"Everyone thinks they're so damn funny until their in a drop ship with open doors and a bad pilot."
"Oh Mags, lighten up. We've all had at least one bad drop." Fiona replied.
"Aye, ye should ask Fiona about the drop when she thought her jump pack wasn't working " Patrick said.
Fiona gave Patrick a murderous look, "You shut your damn drunk mouth Patrick. We were jumping a gas giant and you try being dependent on the those limited single use jump packs when your falling from low atmosphere."
"Is that why they used to call you 'Screamin' McFinnigan'?" Crow asked.
"You really want to be part of this conversation?" Fiona said.
"Oh, lighten up Fiona." Patrick said, but before she could answer, John, Mark, and Joker walked up to the crowd sitting around the fire. Joker was carrying a small dog.
"Where have you guys been?" Hap asked.
"Well, Kelly noticed that there were wild dogs getting into the dumpsters behind the DEFAC, and he was worried that these dogs might hurt or attack someone." John said.
Mark added, "So he told us to get rid of the dogs. At first we thought he meant to shoot them."
"But the pack was damn near thirty." John said. "So we decided to try somethin' else."
"We happened to know where to find a couple o' cases of expired rations that were no longer fit for human consumption so we figured…" Mark explained.
"You lads didn't poison these poor dogs?" Patrick asked.
"Nay. We baited 'em into the back of the utility truck. Then we drove about a hundred kilometers west of here, where there's a landfill for some local settlements." John said.
"We fed them some expired rations and then tossed the rest out into the landfill." Mark said. "We figure they'd jest pick around the landfill or try their luck in the settlements.
"Yeah, also I think they're Coyotes, so I kept one." Joker said holding out the small dog which Hap could now see it clearly. It was a tawny lanky puppy. It had small but erect ears and a long tail. The pup's brown eyes were alert and curious.
"Joker we can't keep this dog or Coyote." Hap said "There's no way we can take it on the drop ship. Yorik or Fletch will have my ass."
"Oh, now before ye dismiss this poor girl, ye should hear how Joker had to bargain for her." John said as he took the puppy and passed her to Anastasia.
"Who did you bargain with?" Hap asked.
"Alright I know this sounds weird, but, no shit, here's how it happened. We got the coyotes into the back of the five ton, drove them out to the trash hole and then we started mading a pile of the rotten rations."
"How'd you know they were rotten? Most rats smell like they've gone bad." Grizzly asked.
"Because the tag on the boxes said 'best before Second Succession War' and had been signed by Kerensky himself." Joker said, "Shut your ration hole Grizzly."
"Yeah shut the hell up Grizzly." Mags added.
Grizzly grumbled as Joker continued, "So the coyotes got out and started sniffing around, and we start throwing around the rations and the coyotes start tearing into the boxes and eating."
"Then I saw this little bitch." Joker said motioning to the coyote Anastasia was holding and Mags was petting, "and I decided to keep her. When I went to grab her this biggest Coyote stepped between me and her and just stared at me. I could tell she was smart so I thought maybe I'd offer her a ration."
"How'd you know it was a 'her'?" Fiona asked, then quickly added, "Nope. Don't answer. So the great Matriarch of the coyotes is staring at you. Please, continue."
"Right I could tell she was super intelligent so I told her, 'I'll give you this ration for that puppy.' And I swear she stared at me for a moment, blinked her eyes, shook her head and then walked over to the palette of MREs and tried to pull a case off the palette." Joker waited for someone to comment then continued, "So I grabbed the case took it away from everyone and opened it up for her. Then I picked up the puppy, and hand to god, she looked at me nodded."
There was a pause and no one said anything for a few moments. Then Grizzly laughed, "Bullshit!"
"Oh ye had to be there." John said.
"Aye, Joker made a real connection with 'the great coyote matriarch' I thought he was going to try ask fer her paw in marriage or somethin'." Mark added.
"Joker, none of this really matters because there is no way we can keep a dog." Hap said.
"Coyote." Fiona corrected. "And uh, your in more trouble than you know." Fiona moved her hand out from under the blanket she was sharing with Crow and pointed at Anastasia.
Hap looked over as Anastasia lovingly cuddled the small canine in her arms and whispered, "oh bebe" as the coyote yawned. Anastasia passed the pup to Mags, "I think we should name her Athena, after the Greek goddess of war and wisdom."
Mags scrutinized the coyote as she held it, "What about Ixchel? She's the Mayan Goddess of the moon, fertility and medicine."
Anastasia gave Mags a questioning look, "Why the moon?" As if on cue there was a distant howl from several miles away followed by another that sounded like it was just a hundred meters away. The coyote puppy looked around for a moment looked like she was going to howl, but just yawned again.
"Perhaps Selene, after the Greek moon goddess." Anastasia said.
Mags nodded as the coyote settled in her lap, "She looks like a Selene."
"Anastasia, you told me you didn't want vermin in the tent." Hap said.
"Selene isn't vermin" Anastasia answered. "At least no more than Joker."
Hap sighed and put his arm around Anastasia's shoulder. "I'm still not sure how we're going to sneak Selene onto the Phaidin."
"Oh it's pretty simple mate, First you have Doc Leslie Morgan look her over." Patrick said. "Les loves animals and will make sure she's healthy, and give her whatever shots she needs. Once that's done Fletch and Yorik can't say that's she some mangey disease bearing mongrel. At least no more than Joker."
"Hey! I do a nice thing, get us all a cool pet, and everyone is giving me shit." Joker said.
"Yer right mate, have a beer." Patrick held out a bottle that Joker eagerly accepted, "So once that's done, you'll just need a crate to keep her in, and that's something any of the tech's can weld together for you, if ye askin' em nice enough.
"Yeah there's enough scrap to throw something together." Rolph said as he finished his beer, belched, and grabbed another bottle from Patrick's case.
The conversation continued to a complete plan to sneak Selene on the drop ship and then more discussion on the operations and the other mercenary companies.
Everyone generally liked the tank company even if their commander was a little too bombastic for their tastes. The tankers seemed like a good fit with McFinnigan Company, and Rolph and Crow even suggested inviting them next time they found themselves around the fire pit.
No one had much of an opinion on the White Tails. The pilots generally kept to themselves and given how highly regimented their duty and sleep schedules were it was unusual for the MechWarriors to mingle with their own flight crews, much less pilots from another company.
The special forces detachment, Det 3, was different altogether. They kept to themselves, and they were usually in full kit with their faces covered. They generally ignored anyone's attempt to be friendly or sociable. Everyone felt they were actively trying to not to be social. It felt like they were too good to talk to the companies.
Patrick wished they had been able to trade them out for his cousin Brandon's outfit, Robert's Rangers. Patrick told several stories of his cousins daring exploits, some of them were youthful criminal mischief that Patrick participated when they were teens. Other stories were outright suicidal military operations that were only successful because they were so unexpected and conducted with aggressive speed and violence. The failed plan to steal a drop ship by driving up into it and rushing from the loading deck to the bridge sounded like it would have been an average "day at the office" for the Rangers.
The fire died down and slowly everyone peeled off to their own tent. Eventually only the recon lance remained. Hap gently tried to rouse his napping wife so she didn't wake the small coyote curled up in her arms. Wordlessly he reached out to Mags who was staring at something just beyond the fire light. Hap followed her eye line to see a large dog watching them.
The dog moved, and for a moment Hap thought it was a wolf, but when the animal walked silently into the fire's dying fire light Hap could see it had markings and coloring like Selene. The large Coyote approached Anastasia and Selene and gently touched noses with the sleeping pup.
"Oh shit." Joker whispered, "That's her. She came back for her girl. Maybe she thought I just wanted to borrow her."
"Or-" Anastasia stopped herself as she locked eyes with the coyote. Hap knew Anastasia was going to tell Joker there was no way a feral beast could understand the idea of bartering, but now that he was looking at the coyote he understood Joker's point. It did seem to have a strange intelligence.
"No." Mags whispered, "I think she wanted to make sure we were taking good care of her daughter."
The Coyote broke eye contact with Anastasia and glanced down. She noticed Anastasia's to-go tray still had a large piece of chicken breast in it. The coyote helped herself to the meat before silently leaving. After she disappeared there were a few more howls of various distances, followed up by one that sounded like it was just behind the tents.
"Alright, I know a wild animal can't actually know what it means to trade a ration for a puppy, but how do you explain that?" Joker asked.
Anastasia stood up, "Whatever she understands doesn't exactly matter. Every time we terraform a planet or introduce species to a new world, they adapt and sometimes they don't act in ways we are used to." Anastasia looked over at Mags, "What's important is, even though she's wild, she's clearly smart, and a good mother."
"Uh, okay." Joker looked over at Mags, "you know what the professor is talking about?"
Mags nodded. "Let's take a walk."
-
Another good update, can't wait to read more.
Psy
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Nice. Now we have a pet coyote
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Nice. Now we have a pet coyote
always nice to have something to play with, pet wise
-
Chapter 76
Necromo System
Leopard class Drop Ship Phaidin
April 3030
Anastasia walked across the galley carefully holding her tray of food. She glanced down to make sure Selene was still with her. Dutifully the little coyote was following right at her heels. In addition to Anastasia's breakfast the cooks had given her a metal bowl with some of the meat scraps and leftovers from the previous night. Anastasia sat down in the galley booth across from Mags and Joker. Hap slid onto the bench beside her.
Selene weaved her way under the table as Anastasia held her bowl out. Anastasia made Selene wait a moment before setting the food dish on the deck. The coyote pup immediately pounced and greedily began to devour everything in the dish. As the coyote ate her breakfast Anastasia cozied up to Hap and looked at her plate. Today's breakfast was biscuits with a thick cream gravy made with black pepper and spiced pork. She took a bite as Mike walked up.
"Where's Selene? I got this overcooked bacon." Mike asked, holding out a piece of blackened bacon. The Coyote stopped eating and moved just far enough to peer out from under the table. Selene sniffed at the bacon in Mike's hand, and then snatched it before quickly retreating under the table. She laid at Anastasia's feet and crunched on the crispy bacon.
"Oh Mike, I'm sorry she shouldn't snatch like that." Anastasia said, as Mike gave a dismissive wave as he smiled and leaned back to see the coyote.
This had been the biggest surprise of getting a coyote for Anastasia. It began with an argument between her and Joker about Anastasia's desire for Selene to be an obedient and well-behaved pet, and Joker's desire that she be allowed to be herself, or at least that he not train her. Mags said she would help train the coyote, but Mags had little patience. Hap kept finding other things that "needed" his attention. The result was that Anastasia found herself alone trying to train and domesticate a coyote. After a few frustrating days Anastasia happened to bring Selene down to the 'mech bay to show her to Maja and Taja. Mike saw Selene and took an immediate interest.
Anastasia quickly learned that Mike liked dogs and knew a lot about training them. He talked to her for several hours about how to train Selene. Anastasia was even more surprised when, while they were talking, Mike got the coyote to sit and stay, and almost got her to roll over. He gave Anastasia an extensive workshop in training techniques for dogs. The biggest surprise was he didn't insult her or interject one of his clever backhanded insults.
Mike watched the coyote for a few more minutes and then went back to go get some food, and probably something else for Selene. Anastasia began to eat her breakfast as she looked about the galley. They were a few hours from the mission and this was their last meal before the operation started. They were also going to have a tight beam two way teleconference with the rest of the raiding force. The teleconference would be the final mission brief.
This meant the galley was full. The Detachment 3 team, their three man air crew, and members of the McFinnigan support staff that weren't directly flying the Drop Ship were all eating their breakfast and waiting for the mission brief.
Rowyena was also on the Phaidin. Anastasia assumed it had something to do with having non-company members on the Drop Ship, and if things got weird she could assert some claim of ship ownership for the company. Roweyna had explained some of the Best Business Practices that she was usually doing for her Father, or convincing him that he needed to do them. Anastasia was surprised at how much running a mercenary unit kept coming back to legalities. The business angle seemed obvious but maintaining the fine line between state sponsored military contractor and military adventurer took up a surprising amount of Roweyna's time.
Anastasia turned her attention to the special operations unit. This was the first time she had really seen the Detachment 3 group without their full kit. They had taken over one of the long tables in the galley and it looked like they spent most of their time there. There were weapons and personal items scattered on their table. The Coyotes had spent almost all their time in the "warrior lounge" or the 'mech bays. For whatever reason neither group wanted to mingle with the other and both had actively avoided each other.
Anastasia noted that Det 3 seemed to be a cosmopolitan group. There was a tall stocky blonde-haired man that looked like he came from the Rasalhague area of the Draconis Combine. The co-pilot for the Karnov was a petite woman of Asian descent who looked like she came from the Cappellan confederation. There were two darker skinned men who would have fit into Free World's league populations. The rest of the men could have come from anywhere in the Lyran Commonwealth, Federated Suns, or the periphery states that surrounded them.
Anastasia wondered how the group came together. It was possible they came from one unit or organization, such as an AFFS special operation unit. Every successor state had a majority ethnic group, but most of the nations had members of every race so it wasn't uncommon or impossible for a collection of individuals like this to be in the same unit. Besides, Anastasia reasoned to hereself, Det 3 was also mercenaries, just like McFinnigan and Sons It was normal for mercenaries to draw from all the nations.
As Anastasia considered the other mercenary unit. Mags got up and picked her tray, "Anyone need anything?"
Anastasia reached for Selene's food dish. Even though it was empty the Coyote reached out with a paw to try and keep the metal bowl. Anastasia gently reprimanded the puppy and wrestled the dish from her. Anastasia passed it to Mags and asked, "Would you get some water for Selene?"
Mags nodded and turned to walk across the galley. Selene got out from under the table, caught a glimpse of her food dish and followed Mags. When Anastasia tried to call her back Mags stopped, looked down, and told Selene to go back. The Coyote looked confused and jumped up and Mags stepped back while telling her to "get down."
As Mags stepped she turned and walked directly into the stocky blonde from Det 3. Her tray was upended onto the man and she bounced off of him and fell down. Instantly she was on her feet again, and yelled, "Hey, Look where you're going."
"You ran into me, maybe you should stop playing with your dog and pay attention." The man said.
"Sorry," Mags shouted, "but you need to watch out".
Hap got up and jogged to get between Mags and the tall man. The commander of Det 3, Poityr Wojski, also moved quickly to help separate the Mags and his subordinate. Mike silently slipped in between Hap and Mags. With one hand Mike motioned for Selene to sit, which she did, and his other hand rested on the hilt of the long J shaped knife that he used for cutting through 'mech myomer, cables, and electrical wiring.
"Alright, Mags, why don't you go put your tray away." Hap said then he turned to the tall blonde man, "She said she was sorry, it was an accident. Let me put your tray away, maybe I could get you a cup of coffee. You can go back to your seat, get ready for the brief."
"I was going to get more food." The man told Hap then looked over at Mags, "And you need to watch out, I'm a dangerous man."
"We're all dangerous here." Hap said quietly, "We've all been in combat, we've all fired our weapons in anger. We've all seen some shit."
"Really?" The man turned to face Hap and stood taller, "You ever stab a man in the chest, feel the knife go through heart and lungs and then cradle him like a mother as his blood pours out and life slowly leaves him?"
"Sjorberg enough." Wojski barked, "Go sit down." Wojski turned to Hap, "I apologize my men are impatient right before the operation."
Hap nodded, "Mine too. Once the brief is over we'll load up in our 'mechs, hopefully after the operation we can mingle a little, get to know each other, prevent a repeat."
Wojski shrugged, "Or go back to keeping everyone separated, that worked."
Hap nodded, "It did, but-" As he spoke Wojski turned and went back to sit with his unit.
Hap returned to the booth with Mike and Selene at his heals. Hap sat down beside Anastasia again and pulled Selene up and passed her over to Anastasia. Mike stood over the table and spoke quietly, "Hap I don't trust those ******. They're a bunch of psychopaths."
"Yeah I was thinking that when he asked about my experience stabbing people," Hap sighed, "I can't think of how that could have been weirder or more uncomfortable."
"Oh I can." Joker said, "Imagine if he told you that while you were in that big shower trailer we had back on Daniels. There you are naked, getting ready to lather up and that guy comes up, also naked, and says-"
"What would make you think any of this?" Anastasia asked
"I was using the shower, and Mark and John came in and we started talking about the weirdest shit we've heard in the shower." Joker said, "So I've been thinking lately, what is the most awkward thing-"
Mags came back and sat down next to Joker, "You're not telling them about playing grab-ass in the shower are you?"
"We weren't playing grab ass, we were talking, just three normal guys talking."
"In the shower?" Anastasia said, "Do guys normally talk in the shower?"
"Not usually" Hap started to say.
"When I'm in shower I try not to make eye contact, clean myself, wash my hair and go." Anastasia said.
"That's how you do everything. You just try to not make eye contact, do your business and not be noticed, but you're weird. I know for a fact most women ask the girl next to them to wash their back, help them with their hair, and then usually-"
Anastasia shook her head, "What do you base that on?"
"I saw it in the movies." Joker replied
"What movies are you watching?" Mags asked suspiciously.
"Oh, uh, you know, the movies, like the ones with Brock Armstrong, and-"
"No." Said Anastasia, "I've seen the entire catalog of Brock Armstrong movies and there is no scene like the one you described, and, knowing you, if there was you would insist, we watch it regularly."
Mags looked from Anastasia back to Joker, "Yeah, what movies are you talking about, William."
"Uh…I think it might have been an episode of Brave Sister Sniper"
Mags didn't look amused, "No, I don't think so. I thought we agreed you wouldn't watch those movies anymore. "
"Well just because I stopped watching those movies, doesn't mean I forget what I saw. Besides whats wrong with me-" Joker said.
"You need to stop talking now." Mags said.
Joker and Mags stared at each other, and Mike cleared his throat, "As much as I want to watch Mags and Anastasia tear Joker apart. I need to go sit down. But I'm serious Hap, watch your back with those guys. There's something wrong with them."
The 1MC clicked on, "Standby for the connection with the Tir na nOg." Hawkins said. The screens around the galley turned on and in a moment they resolved to show a split screen with the galley on the Tir na nOg one one side, and Colonel Norton from the bridge of the Leopard on the other. Someone dimmed the lights to make the screens easier to see.
Anastasia nestled up to Hap as Selene sniffed her plate and sampled the leftovers. Everyone in the galley got quiet as Colonel Norton began to speak, "I'd like to thank all of you again for your participation in this operation. We're a few hours from the drop and I'd like to review the mission parameters one more time, ensure everyone is clear on their task and purpose and answer any last-minute questions."
Colonel Norton reached off camera and the screen was filled with a topographical map showing icons for all the forces in the operation. "Starting with weather we'll have clear skies, complete visibility and the ambient temperature will be between 15 and 18 degrees."
As the Colonel continued his brief Selene started eating from Anastasia's plate. Anastasia tried to stop her, but Selene resisted and started to push the plate around. Anastasia gave up, put plate and coyote on the deck and tried to focus on the mission briefing.
"I say again. Mission: the combined task force will conduct a raid on the Necromo research and development center located on the planet Necromo vicinity of 38.73 N, and 194.88 W, on 110300ZAPR3030. Moving onto the execution of this raid."
There was the shuffle of papers as a few people with printed copies of the order followed along. Hap had a printout. Anastasia had made a knee-board size checklist of the operation's phases with the responsible organization, and the suspense times. She was verifying her checklist as the Colonel went through the execution of the raid. Anastasia was also comparing her notes to Hap's copy of the orders.
As the Colonel continued Selene hopped back into Anastasia's lap and curled up to take a nap. Her fluffy bulk covered up Anastasia's kneeboard. Anastasia thought about trying to move the coyote puppy, but she might choose to play, and if she napped now she'd be less of a distraction.
Anastasia also realized she didn't have much reason to care either way. Her "task and purpose" for this operation had been reduced to overwatch and securing the drop zone. This meant she was going to take half a dozen steps off the drop ship, stand around in its shadow, and maybe fire a few parting shots as everyone loaded up. She realized the Karnov could go significantly faster than Mag's Jenner so maybe having her there to discourage anything that might be quick enough to chase it was a good idea. It still frustrated her though. She tried to soothe herself by petting her coyote and snuggling up to Hap.
Anastasia glanced across the table to see that Joker was writing on his checklist. She had made copies for everyone in her lance and she was pleased that he was taking things seriously and using the list. Then she realized he had turned it over and was drawing crude pictures on the blank side. Because the lights were dim and it was upside down Anastasia couldn't tell what Joker was drawing but she had her suspicions.
The Colonel finished the briefing and turned the camera's back on to the split screen between the Phaidin's bridge and Tir na nOg's galley. "That completes the mission brief, are there any questions?"
"I got a question." Wildman Willard said. Anastasia always thought he was shouting when he spoke, and it seemed worse with the camera zoomed in on his table on the galley of othe Tir na nOg. "Actually, I got one question for each of the other commanders. Let's start with you Wojski, how do you think you boys are going to do on this operation?"
Colonel Norton looked annoyed, "What's your point, Willard?"
"Me and the boys were talking. We were trying to figure out what sort of Mercenaries were fighting with. We want to make sure we're not doing a job with folks that will cut and run, or that are in incompetent. So it got me thinking, maybe I should just ask. So Wojski, how do you think you and your boys will do?"
"This seems like a question that should have come up before we were hours away from landing on the target planet." Colonel Norton said, "Further, I would think after the isolation and training period you and, 'your boys' would know the mettle of men and women on your left and right."
"Sometimes you think everything is good until you're minutes from first contact." Willard said.
"Tell 'your boys' we'll accomplish our mission with acceptable losses." Wojski said. "That should be all that matters to them."
"Acceptable losses? You plan to lose some of your boys?" Willard asked back.
"I don't 'plan' to lose any one, but this is war. People shoot back and try to kill you. You're a mercenary? You know this? Yeah?" Wojski said.
"Sure, but when you're good you don't spend time thinkin' about acceptable losses. Am I right, Tommy?"
Thomas Wildermmer was the leader of the mercenary aerospace Squadron. Commander Willard like to call him Tommy and it was obvious he hated it. The camera turned to the whitetails table.
Thomas sighed deeply, "I've been doing this business long enough to know, it's not about vectors, or logic loops, or barrel rolls, it's the quickest finger on the trigger. Me and my pilots are the quickest. I can't speak for you and your crews, but I don't spend much time thinking about losing. We just line up the shot and fly home."
"Fair enough, Tommy. What about your Mechwarriors, Kelly? How'd you think this fight is going to go?"
Patrick and Kelly looked at each other from across the galley, then Patrick began to bang his fist on his table in a slow rhythmic almost drum like beat. He started to sing out slowly and hauntingly, "'Se mo laoch mo ghile mear". He continued to keep time as he sang the strange and beautiful Gaelic tune. When he finished the first verse he paused for a moment.
"What the-" Willard said.
Patrick started the chorus and the entire McFinnigan company began to sing along including the members in the galley on the Phaidin. The hairs on the back of Anastasia's neck stood up as they sang. Anastasia didn't speak Gaelic but she knew this song. Mo Ghile Mear was one of Elinor's favorite songs.
Anastasia asked Elinor and Rowyena what the song meant, and Roweyna and Elinor had conflicting opinions about it. The song was written several thousand years ago and was a combination of even older poems. The literal translation that Anastasia made implied some unrequited love, the sad tale of a man that journeyed to find better economic options and never returned, and the mourning of a great hero or king. When Elinor or Rowyena talked about the song it was about romance, but now that Patrick was singing it felt like it was about the fallen champion.
The song ended and Anastasia realized even Mags was part of the ad hoc choir. Anastasia sat up a little taller. In spite of her diminished role, she felt proud to be part of the company and participate in the mission. She understood Patrick's point, the McFinnigan's were fighting for love and glory.
Willard seemed confused, but spoke anyway, "Alright, so Det 3 is fighting to achieve the standard, the white tails plan to be the slickest and quickest fingers on the trigger, and the McFinnigan's have a battle hymn. Boys I think-"
"That's not a battle hymn, it's the requiem for a great warrior" Anstaisa said.
"What was that?" Willard asked. The lights in the galley came back up and Anastasia could see one of the cameras for the teleconference system was focusing on her table.
"It's not a battle hymn, it's a song singing the praises of a fallen hero." Anastasia said.
As Anastasia spoke Willard could be heard talking to his fellow tank crew, "Who is that? Which one is the professor? That short little glass of sweet tea that pilots the Valkyrie?" He looked directly into the camera, "Professor, I'll tell you what, when we get this all said and done, we'll see if Kelly's singin' fightin' Mechwarriors can make some dancing' music, and you and I will dance the night away."
"The McFinnigan company has many musically talented members that can play and sing a wide variety of songs to include what they refer to as 'dancing reels and jigs', and after this operation I will dance the night away, with my husband." Anastasia corrected.
"Well the McFinnigan has some other winsome young ladies. I'm sure I won't have trouble finding another partner. Where's that little blonde that's usually with McFinnigan?" Willard looked around the galley.
Anastasia glanced over at Rowyena, she smirked her lips and looked annoyed. One of the women at the table leaned over to her and seemed to be teasing her about Willard's proposal.
"Mr. Willard." Kelly said, "If yer referrin' to my daughter, I'd suggest ye think less about her, and more about the task at hand, and prepare for the operation." Kelly's look of annoyance mirrored his daughter's expression.
"And suddenly I miss Kitty." Fiona said. The camera automatically skewed to another table with Fiona, Crow, Rolph and Dillon. Anastasia suspected Fiona didn't realize she was on camera as she continued to talk to Crow. "She'd usually go on the hunt for a new man during an operation. I suspect this would be her moment."
"Yeah" Crow agreed, then looked at the Camera "Hey, Anastasia have you heard anything from Kitty?"
Anastasia paused for a moment waiting to see if the Colonel would take control of his meeting, "Not really." Anastasia paused again, "Mother's note said she was becoming a perfect personal assistant, but she didn't go into any details."
"Oh that's too bad." John said as the camera focused on another table on the Tir na nOg, "I wonder how she's doing. I remember the last thing I heard Kitty say."
"Was that when the Countess asked her if she kept vibroswords under her ballgown, and Kitty said, 'nay, but I'm not opposed to it.'"? Mark asked
"No it was…actually that might have been it." John said. "I was thinking-"
"Alright enough" Colonel Norton snapped. "Does anyone have any questions that are relevant to conducting the raid, or the execution of this operation? No. Then I suggest everyone prepare for the drop. This concludes the briefing."
-
Chapter 77
Planet Necromo
Anastasia's Valkyrie stood next to the Phaidin. They were on the drop zone designated a kilometer south of the Necromo aerospace research and development facility. In front of Anastasia was a sparse forest with a trail leading up to a mountain pass. Among the trees and hills she could see the smoking remains of a defense tower that she had just helped her lancemates destroy. The breaks in the trees revealed a few sections of reinforced wall. Occasionally she caught a glimpse of her lancemates moving through the pass or jumping over a terrain feature.
Anastasia could see the battle unfold around her from her scanners and tactical display as she listened to the command net. Her lance mates were tracing their way through the mountain pass. The rest of the task force was engaging the enemy north of the Capellan R&D facility. She was nowhere near any of them.
After ten days of grueling rehearsals, a harrowing jump into a Pirate Jump point and days of flying on a cramped drop ship with a bunch of psychopaths and a coyote it all came to this. Anastasia was waiting in the drop zone while everyone else fought. Anastasia couldn't wait for the operation to be over. She tried to make the time go quicker by watching the combat on her tactical display and listening to the radio.
The radio crackled, "Hammer lance, I got an Archer and Rifleman setup on the ridgeline given us a lot mischief." Patrick said.
"Give me a grid or a sensor lock, and I'll make it feel like they got a bag hammers dropped on them." Fiona replied
"Wait one. Dullahan four, move forward into that draw and try to get a sensor lock on the Archer."
There was a nervous affirmative from Connor as Anastasia watched his Shadowhawk's icon move forward and turn slightly to follow the terrain feature.
"This is Coyote 1, we're coming up on phase line gold and objective lion. Request artillery on the following lat/long. Target is a hardened military wall and 'mech gate." Hap said. Anastasia could see the quadrants flash across her system and a TRP showed up on her tactical display. According to the plan this should be the back gate for the compound.
"Copy Coyote 1. I see TRP and target is hardened construction. Splash over." Luther, the commander of the Long Tom gun crew. answered Hap. The raid had been rehearsed so many times Anastasia was certain that Hap could have just put the TRP up and the gun crew would have done the rest. There was a pause followed by a small trail of smoke from the north and then Anastasia could see the impact and the ground shook a little.
"Splash out, good contact, repeat" Hap said.
"Splash over." Luther said, and the process started again with the same trail of smoke followed by a ground shaking explosion.
"Splash out, good contact. Target destroyed. Coyote and Det 3 are crossing phase line-"
"Oh shit there's two Rommels back here." Joker yelled over the net.
"Luther, Same TRP, Adjust fire 100 meters north, tank in the open." Hap said. Anastasia wasn't surprised as she watched Hap's mech move to take cover, she could almost hear his PPC fire as she saw him skillfully moving his Griffin in her mind's eye. This wasn't rehearsed but everyone knew there would be some resistance at the rear of the compound.
"Two Rommel tanks?" Kelly said, "Oh, Colonel Norton, yer intel had been golden till jest now."
"Honestly this is still some of the best intel we've had for any job, ever." Fletch said, "Most clients usually just give broad guesses and it's often laughably wrong." Fletch paused then added, "That recon lance is trying to skirt us and move around to the artillery section. Fiona get ready for some company."
"I am starting to think Colonel has man on inside." Tatyana said.
"Something like that." Colonel Norton said. "What's important is you are all doing well and we're on the glide path for success. Keep focused."
"Guzzy, you see that Cicada on your sensors?" Willard asked, "Move your SRM carrier down the hill and when he comes around you give him a wall of SRMs to run into."
"Dillon follow in your Dervish, that Locust is right behind the Cicada, and that gun crew may need a little breathing space." Fiona added.
Anastasia watched as a Dervish and SRM carrier moved to intercept the Cappellan Cicada and Locust. The Cicada moved around the hill where the artillery lance and fire support vehicles were set up. It was destroyed almost instantly. Anastasia was certain it had met a "wall of SRMs". The Locust managed to score a few fits on the Dervish before it was also neutralized.
Anastasia sighed. She felt annoyed that she couldn't do more to contribute. She had left Selene with Mike and the other techs, and now she was wishing she could have been playing with her coyote. It was obvious she had nothing better to do.
"Colonel we got marks coming from the north, looks like a squadron of TR-7 Thrushes. They're coming in real fast." Thomas said.
"They're a little behind schedule, looks like the gamble on pirate jump point is paying off." Colonel Norton answered, "Banshee flight need you to assist White Tails. Need these taken down quick before the next wave of aerospace fighters arrive."
"Affirmative Colonel." Kate said.
Anastasia adjusted her sensors to get a better look at the air picture. She had to zoom out her view and move it north and east before the red triangles representing the enemy fighters were revealed. She watched for a moment as the six fighters changed their formation and angle to engage the White Tails and Banshees.
The Thrushes were a very fast and lightly armed and armored aerospace fighter. According to the brief this would be the first wave of aerospace defense. They wouldn't be a challenge, but it meant the rest of the planet was now aware of the raid and were starting to organize a response.
Anastasia started to recenter her scanner and zoom back in on the local area when she noticed three red triangles to the south. They were several kilometers away so she tried to retune her long range sensors but all they could reveal at this range was three 50 ton aerospace fighters.
"Ops, be advised, I'm tracking three aerospace fighters approaching from the south." Anastasia watched the fighters move and tried to calculate how quickly they would be within range.
"Oh?" Colonel Norton said sarcastically.. He paused, "Coyote 2, you're correct.. I confirm three 50 ton fighters. Not sure where they're coming from. Banshee Squadron break contact with the thrushes, and move toward Drop Zone Beta. I'll vector you in as you get closer."
"Affirmative Colonel." Kate said.
"Subaltern Vallois, try to keep those fighters away from the drop ship, try bull fighting." Colonel Norton added. Anastasia could hear Hawkins talking in the background to his co-pilot, Sarah, about the Leopards defensive weapons.
"Sir?"
"I need you to 'bull fight'" Colonel Norton said. "An aerospace fighter is going to strafe, and if you're paying attention you should be able to dodge them as they come at you. It's like they way a matador waves his cape at a bull and steps out of his way. Most aerospace pilots can't resist a 'mech in the open. Besides, if you don't do it, we might not have a way home."
"Acknowledge, Sir." Anastasia replied as she moved her 'mech away from the Drop ship. She scanned her topographic map looking for a terrain feature or something to help her. In spite of what the Colonel said, the likelihood of her surviving more than one strafing run seemed small. She could see nearby rock and hill formations that would provide her some cover and make it hard for an aerospace fighter to easily engage her. She'd still need to get their attention though, and then she'd have to survive until air support arrived.
Anastasia started to make a plan, and review her NAIS training. The colonel was right, a strafing aerospace fighter would create a 100 meter wide by several kilometer long avenue of destruction. They would hit anything in that avenue with all a hellacious barrage of lasers, but it was only in that narrow avenue. If she could wait till the fighter started its run and clear the avenue, there was a chance she could probably make it to the cliffs and rocks.
Her scanners gave an alarm and Anastasia looked over as her displays showed her two CSR-V12 Corsairs and a Phoenix Hawk LAM. Anastasia looked long and hard at the sensor read out. She knew this had to be the same Phoenix Hawk LAM that had been in the ambush on Monehegan and she was almost certain it had been the lead 'mech for her lance back in Klathandu. On Klathandu this 'mech's pilot, Captain Shaffer, had ordered her other lance mates to abandon her. The Phoenix Hawk was too rare of a 'mech for this coincidence.
The two fighters and the LAM barrel rolled and formed up side by side. Anastasia realized they were going to do a side by side strafing run. This created a much wider avenue of destruction. She needed to move now to escape the strafing avenue. She had her 'mech nearly spin on the balls of its feet as she turned hard to the right and began to sprint.
The aerofighters flew close to the ground and Anastasia could feel the multiple laser blasts pounding into the ground burning vegetation and scorching rocks and earth. She saw the trio of fighters pull up and break formation. The Phoenix Hawk banked hard to line up another strafing run as the Corsairs continued to climb. Anastasia considered they were either trying to cut her off from cover, or they were going to dive bomb her.
She touched off her jump jets to alter her Valkyrie's course. She made her 'mech zig-zag toward the rocky area. She jumped slightly to the right for 90 meters. As she turned her 'mech her firing computer confirmed a lock for her LRM. She confirmed it was on the Phoenix Hawk and fired as she turned her mech back to the left and jumped for another 60 meters. As she leapt one of the Corsairs dived and dropped two bombs.
The first bomb hit in the area she had just bounded from but the second bomb impacted as she jumped and the explosion destroyed the armor and part of the internal structure on her 'mech's left arm.
"Banshee flight, this is Coyote 2, I could really use some air support." Anastasia said.
"Keep 'em distracted kitten, we're almost there." Kate said
"If you could down that Phoenix Hawk I'd be most appreciative." Anastasia said as she sprinted for the rocky outcropping.
"Need to prioritize the Corsairs, Coyote 2." Swanky said, "Those bombs are a bigger threat to the Leopard drop ship."
"Did Giggles just call the professor 'Kitten'?" Joker asked.
Anastasia altered her mech's direction as the Phoenix Hawk descended on another strafing run. Anastasia realized too late she wasn't going to dodge the attack this time. She let out a surprised "oh!" as her 'mech's right arm, torso and center were struck by a barrage of laser bolts. She locked her missiles onto the LAM's afterburners and let a salvo fly as her laser melted armor off the nose of the LAM. She hurried to the cover of cliffs.
"Coyote 2 you need help? I can have Coyote 4 there as fast as Jenner will go."
"Belay that Coyote 1." Colonel Norton said. "Banshee flight has just closed with the new bandits. Continue Mission."
Anastasia saw a flashing light on her radio, and flipped her radio to the private channel she shared with Hap. "What's happening?" Hap asked
"Three fighters came from the south. I'm trying to keep them away from the leopard by making myself an attractive target. Which, once more, I'm finding catastrophic success."
"Well you are attractive and successful." Hap said. Anastasia could tell he was worried, but he was trying to hide it by flirting.
"You might be putting that on my gravestone." Anastasia glanced down at her sensors. The Phoenix Hawk and the Corsairs were circling back around but they seemed to be turning at different rates. She assumed they were going to try to attack all around her in a staggered pattern to prevent her from dodging again.
She turned to face the first Corsair that was coming toward her. It was trying to gain altitude to dive bomb her. She looked at her sensors and tried to calculate what the other two aerospace fighters were going to do while she lined up the shot. Before she could get the crosshairs lined up the aerospace fighter side exploded as lasers and missiles pounded into the wings and fuselage.
Anastasia felt relief as two all white Stukas flew overhead. The damaged Corsair pulled hard away from the Stuka, but still had enough control to climb for higher atmosphere. Anastasia watched as the Stuka's pulled up in response. The large 100 ton Stuka seemed to almost float as it pursued the 50 ton fighter. They had no problem keeping pace with the smaller craft, but the Stukas were so large they seemed to moved with an illogical gravity defying indifference as they chased the smaller fighter.
Anastasia remembered she was still on the wrong side of the fighters. She glanced down to confirm the other Corsair was also gaining altitude in order to better engage the Stuka, she also saw the Phoenix Hawk was now barreling down on her. She jumped her mech up and over a rock formation and found another narrow spot in the rocks as the Phoenix Hawk went screaming by narrowly missing her as its lasers scorched rocks and burned vegetation.
"Well my fortune just changed. I'm still in a fight with a 'mech that out classes mine, but at least it's a one-on-one competition." Anastasia watched as the Phoenix Hawk dodged a few of the larger rocks and hills. The LAM pulled its nose up and started to rapidly climb. As it came out of the cliff area the LAM was struck by a LRMs as it barely dodged multiple large lasers.
"The LAM just took a broadside from the Leopard. Which is likely a mistake she won't make again."
"Think the LAM will transform and just attack you 'mech-to-'mech?" Hap asked.
"That's what I would do." Anastasia glanced down at her 'mech's system monitor. She had lost a lot of armor from her right side, and her left arm was hanging on by a few skeletal steel threads. Her targeting computer indicated the Phoenix Hawk had sustained similar damage, but it still was going to be a challenge. "The LAM is damaged but I'm still outgunned."
"When the aeromech transforms you should get a free shot."
Anastasia studied her tactical display, "I'm not sure a free shot will be enough."
"I'm sending Mags, the Colonel will chew my ass, but this is stupid. Stay alive till she gets there."
"I'll certainly try." Anastasia could see the LAM was moving into position for another strafing run. It had taken a long turn to steer clear of the Leopard and kept low altitude to avoid the Stukas. Anastasia positioned herself near a low cliff and waited till the Phoenix Hawk LAM weaved into the canyon and started to strafe.
Anastasia used her jump jets to rocket to the top of a low cliff and then made a short hop to get to a higher point as the Phoenix Hawk jetted past her. As the LAM entered an opening in the canyon it took a hard turn and spun around as the legs dropped out of the Aerofighter fuselage and the wings half swept back to reveal the arms.
The LAM transformed into an air-mech hybrid. It took the form of an aero-space fighter with arms and legs, as illogical and absurd as it looked it was still effective. In this configuration it could hover around on its jump jets for long distances and bring all its weapons to bear on Anastasia.
Anastasia knew the LAM was an engineering marvel and represented some of the height of star league technology and ingenuity. She also knew it created a mech and an aerospace fighter that were slightly inferior for their weight. Further, it required extensive training and production facilities to reap a few niche tactical advantages. It was in the category of "things engineers can do, but probably shouldn't". Still she hated to do what she was about to do.
Anastasia fully gunned her jump jets and sent her 'mech in a high arc right toward the LAM. The LAM pilot had just pulled a high-g turn and it would take her a moment to recover the ability for her blood to pump properly, and the mech's change in posture and configuration would also keep her distracted. Anastasia locked her 'mech's heels and brought them down on the long aerospace fighter nose and cockpit. The 35 ton Valkyrie struck the cockpit and drove the nose of the LAM down into the dirt.
There was a disconcerting crunch and Anastasia could feel the 'mech break under her. Anastasia's own 'mech was warning her of damage to the feet and she could see that her leg armor was now compromised. She also had to backpedal quickly to keep from falling over. After she regained her 'mech's balance and the dust settled she could see the LAM was kneeling awkwardly and its nose was bent resting on the ground. The Valkyrie's targeting systems confirmed the 'mech was no longer functional.
Anastasia kneeled her own mech down and tried to peer into the ruined LAM's cockpit. The aerofighter's canopy was too darkly tinted and badly cracked for her to know for sure. She quickly popped the quick egress hatch on her mech and disconnected her neuro helmet. She reached for her go-bag and grabbed the combat survival ax as she climbed out of her 'mech. Soon she was sprinting the short distance between the giant combat machines and in record time she had climbed up next to her former opponent's cockpit.
Anastasia could now see the pilot, and she thought she saw movement. Anastasia shoved the pry tip of the ax handle under the canopy's broken metal frame and tried to pry it open. Her initial efforts to muscle it open were ineffective, so she just stomped on the ax. There was the sound of crushed glass and then something metallic snapped and fell away and the glass canopy swung open.
With the ruined and tinted glass canopy gone Anastasia could finally confirm what she knew. "Shafer!" she shouted.
Shafer shook her head and seemed to be half awake. Drunkenly she reached for her side arm. As she pulled it out of her holster Anastasia smacked it out of her hand and sent it flying away.
"Why, Shafer, why?" Anastasia demanded as she pulled out her own laser pistol.
"God I hate you." Shafer said. "Why couldn't you just die." Even through the neurohelmet Anastasia could see the look of rage and hatred, "Are you going to shoot me now? Do it."
Anastasia shook her head, "No. I want to know everything, and I want ComStar to stop this."
Shafer snorted, "You think we're just going to sit here and have 'girl talk' and solve all your problems? Your drop shuttle is going to leave in a few minutes, with or without you. I'll waste your time if that's what you want."
Anastasia looked into the cockpit, she could see that Shafer had been banged around and one of her arms had a bad bruise, but there was no excessive blood and she didn't appear to have any broken bones. "No you're coming with me?"
"Why in Blake's name would I do that?"
"Because if you don't come with me, I'm going to leave you hear for the Cappellans to find." Anastasia paused, "And I'm certain you'll eventually find yourself talking to Maskirova agents."
"I'm not afraid of them." Shafer replied. "I'm a ROM agent, I know how to resist torture and interrogation."
Anastasia put the barrel of her laser pistol into the women's neck, right under the neurohelmet, "Don't move" Anastasia warned as she felt around the woman's cooling vest and minimal clothing, she found a hidden pocket and pulled out a small blue vial. She noted it was similar to the one Colonel Norton had offered her. She threw it as far as she could away from the LAM.
She turned back to Shafer, "Alright you can come with me, and you'll probably be interrogated by AFFS and I'm sure we can all work out a way to stop ComStar from hounding me and threatening my family."
Shafer seemed to be looking to see where the suicide vial went. "Damn you're so naïve. This won't work out the way you think it will. You should also know your MIIO and DMI can be just as ruthless or brutal as Maskirova."
"Well if it's all the same to you and I'll leave you for Maskirova to find." Anastasia replied. She could see the fear in Shafer's eyes now.
"What makes you think I won't kill you once you turn your back on me?"
Anastasia reached into a pouch on her tactical vest and pulled out several plastic disposable "zip-tie" style handcuffs. "I have enough of these to secure your wrists and ankles, and if you do manage to break free I'll just eject and you'll be maimed or killed in that process. Finally, given that this is at least your third failed attempt to kill me, I rather like my odds."
A Jenner 'mech came hurling over the rock wall and landed so hard it almost felt like it was crashing into the ground next to them. Anastasia nodded toward the Jenner. "Also my friend just arrived."
Shafer gave Anastasia another murderous look, but kept her hands visible as she slowly and deliberately removed her neurohelmet and climbed out of the cockpit. She kept her hands visible as Anastasia guided her to the Valkyrie.
Mags joined them at the base of the ladder to climb into the Valkyrie cockpit. She helped Anastasia properly secure and zip tie her prisoner. Anastasia was a little surprised how compliant Shafer was, but she figured she didn't have too many choices, and Mags generally had an air about her that she wouldn't hesitate to empty her sawed off shotgun into anyone that crossed her.
In a few minutes both the Jenner and the Valkyrie were headed back toward the Drop Ship. Mags had warned Anastasia they needed to hurry as Det 3 had nearly secured the objective before she sprinted back to find Anastasia.
As the Leopard Drop Ship came in sight Anastasia could see the Karnov VTOL speeding to drop ship with a large metal shipment container slung underneath it. The shipment container was 10 meters long and about 3 meters wide and 3 meters tall. She still couldn't guess what it was, but she knew it was something AFFS wanted quite badly.
The air picture indicated the Corsairs were destroyed and the Banshees had moved back to help the White Tails with another wave of Capellan fighters. Anastasia glanced over her shoulder to see Shafer looking quietly enraged at her situation.
"Ops, this is Coyote 2. I have a prisoner. I request prisoner reception once we arrive."
"You have a what?" The Colonel demanded
"I captured the Phoenix Hawk LAM pilot. I believe she is ROM agent and I want to-"
"You bring her to me once you arrive." The Colonel seemed angry.
Shafer leaned to get closer to Anastasia and said, "I'll warn you again, this isn't going to end the way you think it will."
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*eats Cardboard in anticipation*
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:popcorn: :brew: :excited:
More please
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Excellent chapter. Can't wait to read more.
Psy
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Inlike Shafer. She has enough moustache bad girl attitude to her to make her adorable. Waiting for more!
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Chapter 78
Hap waited on the Drop Zone. He had his Griffin facing the direction of the enemy facility, and he was ready to leave. Over the radio he could hear the crew hooking the Karnov into its harness system. They had already secured the "objective" or whatever it was in the steel transit container. Now they were hastily trying to get the Karnov VTOL rigged up. Hsp examined his tactical display. Anastasia was trailing behind Mags and apparently Anastasia had somehow taken a prisoner. Joker was already loaded up on the Drop Ship.
Hap was also hearing that at the other drop zone they had already loaded up the fire support vehicles and were getting the rest of the tanks and hovercraft on board. Kelly warned Willard that if he jeopardized the load up his tanks would be unceremoniously tossed to the side and left. It sounded like things were going smoothly but Hap wondered if it was all the practice, or Kelly's threat..
Hap was waiting for the Colonel to get on the net and ask him why Mags was coming in with Anastasia, but so far he either hadn't noticed, or, more likely, he was waiting till they were underway to privately address Hap's insubordination. Somehow Hap was more nervous of a confrontation with Colonel Norton than the 'mechs and tanks he had just encountered.
Mags stepped her Jenner into the Leopard's 'mech bay, and Hap could see that Banshee flight was starting to come back around to escort the Leopard. Anastasia's Valkyrie finally arrived at the drop zone, and Hap followed her to the side of the Leopard and they both quickly loaded into their separate areas and got their 'mechs secured for transport.
The plan was to take off quickly and so the 'mechwarriors would stay in their 'mechs and wait until the Leopard had broken atmosphere and was headed back to their jump ship before anyone unloaded. The drop ship began to lift off even before the doors were shut. Hap settled in and waited to hear that the Tir na nOg was loaded. He felt a wave of relief as it sounded like the raid was successful, and they had taken few casualties. Some of the combat vehicles were destroyed but it sounded like most of the crews were recovered. The White tails reported some damage to their fighters but they were still capable. And as near as Hap could tell the McFinnigans had come out with all their 'mechs.
Hap began the shutdown procedures. He kept the life support system active and listened to the radio chatter. "Looks like you're clear Phaidin." Kate said. "We'll maintain the current heading and velocity a little longer, but then I'd like to dock."
"Acknowledge banshee one." Hawkins said, "We'll begin preparing for recovery operations, then later you and I can rehearse some docking procedures."
"Keep it classy, hawk." Kate said almost dismissively then added, "and I hope you chilled the wine."
"I'm going to proceed over to the Tir na nOg" Swanky said. There were a few moments of silence before he added, "White Tails you appear to be forming to attack. You see something I don't see? You need assistance?/"
"We think we got this under control Banshee flight" the leader of the white tails' commander said."Maintain your current heading and velocity."
"Acknowledge." Swanky answered, "Tir na nOg, I'm moving to you."
"Very good." Michelin replied. "White tails, we are ready to recover you now."
"Standby Tir na nOg. We, uh, we just want to make sure of something."
"Phaidin, my scopes are clean, I'm coming in." Kate said.
"You're clear to proceed." Hawkins answered.
Hap finished the shutdown procedures as the tall blonde member of Det 3 strolled out into the 'mech bay area. He was carrying a large, almost oversized laser rifle. Hap thought that was a bad choice for securing a prisoner but he keyed his mic, "Anastasia, it looks like Sjorberg from Det 3 is coming to secure your prisoner."
"Good." Anastasia said, Hap could hear another woman in her cockpit, "is that your husband? He's going to die too. Or maybe he'll just watch you die, and then I'll be sure to 'comfort' him." Anastasia came back on the net, "I've been sorely tempted to violate the Ayres Convention's articles on rights for Prisoners of War."
"Ye think she's a ROM agent, is she wearin' a uniform?" Roweyna asked, "As we've recently discussed, if she's not wearin' a uniform, and her 'mech had no identifying marks, she's not a legal combatant and ye can mistreat her as ye please. At least per the Aryes Suggestion."
"Be that as it may, I'm bringing her out unharmed, or at least no more harmed then when she surrendered to me." Anastasia said as the hatch of her Valkyrie opened. Sjorberg stopped and casually lifted his laser rifle to his shoulder and pointed it at the Valkyrie. Hap was confused as he tried to figure out what Sjorberg was doing.
Shafer appeared in the door of the Valkyrie cockpit, and the moment she saw Sjorberg she started to back up. Anastasia, unaware of what was going on, shoved Shafer out of the 'mech. Shafer half stumbled and then started to run down the gantry's catwalk. Sjorberg tracked her with his laser rifle. The laser rifle spat out multiple quick bursts of lasers. Most of the laser pulses struck Shafer and she went down hard on the catwalk.
Hap looked beyond Shafer to see Anastasia looking wide eyed but still standing in her cockpit. Hap motioned for her to stay put as Shafer rolled over and feebly tried to sit up, and communicate with Sjorberg. Another burst of lasers struck her and the catwalk as she slumped over.
Hap ripped off his Neurohelmet and pulled hard on the cockpit release hatch and pushed with all his weight as he scrambled out of his command couch. He squeezed out of his half open cockpit as he shouted, "Sjorberg, what the hell-"
Sjorberg gave Hap a bemused look as he turned the laser rifle in his direction and sent a burst of lasers at the Griffin's glass canopy. The pulse laser seemed too underpowered to hurt the 'mech but Hap knew it would certainly hurt him. Hap got back into his cockpit while Sjorberg put two more laser bursts into the catwalk and Shafer's body. Hap held up his Neurohelmet to speak into his mic, "Ops, this is Hap, one of Det 3's men has gone crazy and is firing weapons in the 'mech bay."
There was no response as Hap half stood up and watched Sjorberg nonchalantly drop the power cell from the laser rifle and slam another into its place. He put the weapon back on his shoulder and aimed at Hap. He kept one hand on the rifle's grip, and with his other hand he pointed at Hap and motioned for him to come down.
Behind Sjorberg Mike was swiftly walking behind him. He carried a two meter long torque wrench. He was holding the wrench high and across his shoulders like an executioner would hold a sword. When he got within a few paces of Sjorberg he swung the wrench and brought it down hard at the base of Sjorberg's neck. Hap saw Sjorberg's head move in a sickening and unnatural way and, for a moment, rest sideways on his shoulder. Sjorberg immediately collapsed to the ground. There was a burst of lasers from somewhere below Hap directed at Mike as he dove to the deck.
Hap quickly exited his cockpit and ran to look over the edge of the catwalk. There were three members of Det 3 using parts crates and the foot of his Griffin for a hasty fighting position. Mike was using the body of Sjorberg for cover and was also using the dead man's pulse laser rifle to return fire.
Hap instinctively reached for his sidearm. It was a classic revolver style slug-thrower. His father had given it to him and swore it would never jam and was perfect for self-defense. It also kicked like a mule, was limited to six shots, and was heavy as guilt. Hap put his hand on the pistol grip and hesitated. The revolver could easily go through the armor and skin of the men below him, it would also pierce the skin of the drop ship and cause explosive decompression.
Hap looked around, and grabbed Mike's heavy wheeled tool case. He released the wheel locks rolled it to the edge nearest the combatants. He squatted low and lifted the tool case over the edge of the railing and pushed hard. Hap heard the shocking cacophony of a loud crash, an awful grunt, breaking bones, cracking ceramic armor plates, and metal tools striking the deck floor. Before Hap could peer over the railing several bolts of laser pulses were shot at the catwalk and Hap was forced to retreat to the other side of his Griffin.
Hap glanced back to see Anastasia standing in her cockpit and carefully lining up shots from the hatch of her Valkyrie. Hap wasn't sure if the laser could pierce the Leopard's skin, but Anastasia rarely missed, and this situation was desperate enough to risk it.
Hap realized he needed to get to the deck and stop the Det 3 member from further hurting Mike or shooting at Anastasia. He could see that the Griffin's feet were between the ladder and the men with the pulse lasers. Hap jogged over to the ladder and put his feet on the outside so he could half slide, half control fall to the deck below.
Hap landed hard, and moved to quickly press himself against his 'mech's foot. He looked around the Griffin's leg to watch one of the Det 3 members charge Mike. He let his pulse rifle hang free from the cross body sling and pulled out a short, half-meter, vibro blade. As he ran Mike tried to take a shot at him but the laser rifle's battery was spent. Mike jumped to his feet and held out the rifle to parry his enemy's attack.
The vibroblade cut through the rifle's stock and receiver and slashed Mike across the chest. Mike slammed the broken rifle butt into the nose of his adversary. The man was stunned for a moment and Mike used the time to drop the broken rifle and pull out his J knife. The Det 3 man tried to take another swing with his vibroblade but Mike stepped out of his way and grabbed his wrist. With a whip-like slash of his arm Mike brought the J knife down like he was cutting through myomer. The man screamed as his sword and one of his hands fell to the deck.
A burst of lasers struck Mike across the chest and he staggered backwards and fell down. The man Mike had maimed was cradling his bloody stump under is other arm as he tried to get into his first aid kit. Mike staggered forward, crouched next to him, grabbed him by the hair, tilted his head up, and used the J knife to slit his throat. Mike was hit again by another burst of lasers.
Hap swept around the back of his Griffin's foot and stepped around the ruined tool case that had crushed one Det 3 mercenaries. Hap saw the final member of the Det 3 group looking down his rifle's sights waiting for Mike to move again. Hap grabbed the man's pulse laser rifle and punched his head as hard as he could. The man fell away from Hap while releasing his laser rifle.
Hap put the laser rifle's butt stock into his shoulder as his hand found the rifle's grip and trigger. He saw the man reach for his side arm as he tried to draw his weapon. There was a deafening explosion from a few paces away as Tasja shot the Det 3 member with a shotgun. She was walking with her sister who was now kneeling down next to Mike. Tasja kept walking toward Hap as she put another shotgun round into the Det 3 man. She was next to Hap when she pumped the shotgun, ejected a spent casing, and put a third round into her assailant.
The man was clearly dead or dying and Hap put his hand on the barrel and pushed it slightly down, "Careful, with that. You don't want to shoot through the ship's hull."
"These rounds are designed for ship board use." Tasja said as she moved the barrel away from Hap's hand and put another round into the man. "And the choke is wide open."
Hap snatched the shotgun from the tech, "He's dead. " He said and looked at her. She was starring at the dead man with a look of hatred and vehemence. "We need to help the living."
She nodded and followed Hap as he walked over to Mike. Masja had the first aid hit open, but she seemed at a loss of what to do. Hap could see Mike had several burns from multiple laser bolts and the large slash across his chest was bleeding profusely. "Stop the bleeding." Mike told Masja. "Just like with a coolant or hydraulic leak, stop the leak. Then get me to the sick bay."
Masja nodded and took a small envelope from the first aid kit. She tore the corner and spread the coagulant on his chest. She then pulled out a large bandage and started to prep it. Hap felt helpless as he watched Masja. He wanted to help, and Mike looked like death warmed over.
"I'll go find Doctor Les." Hap said.
"How many of those Det 3 guys were there?" Mike asked Hap.
"Thirteen." Hap said as he looked around the bay. There were the two men Mike had killed, the man that had been crushed by the tool box, and the man that Masja had killed.
"Yeah, so there are still a few more." Mike said as he shivered a little, "Give me one of those red pain killers." He told Masja, motioning weakly at the kit.
"I think it's better if you stay awake and lucid, besides when we get you to the sick bay-" Hap said as Masja took the red syringe and started to prepare to administer the powerful anesthetic.
"I think it's better if you go find the other bastards that are trying to hijack this ship." Mike said before he coughed. "I told you those ****** couldn't be trusted.
Before Hap could respond Joker and Mags came from the corridor that connected the two 'mech bays.
"Hey, Hap, I think there's something wrong the Det 3 guys." Joker said.
Hap looked at Joker and Mags, "You think? They just tried to kill us. What happened to you?"
"Same, Hefe." Mags said, "They told us to get out our 'Mechs, and they were taking this drop ship. I told them to go to hell, and William torched them."
"You used your flamers inside a drop ship?" Hap asked.
"Not flamers, that would be insane." Joker protested, "I just used one flamer." Joker said, "it's no big deal. Mike told me he didn't trust me not to be a dumb ass, so he doesn't put ammo or anything flammable near my 'mech. So I figured one flamer was pretty safe."
"It was actually Erik that told him that, and we don't put anything flammable near that 'mech." Mike said as he leaned heavily on Masja. She was taking the syringe out of his thigh, and pinning it to his collar and bending the needle down. Mike coughed and it sounded wet, "If you ever do that again, I'll kick your ass."
"Everything's fine" Joker said with a dismissive wave, "The Fire Suppression System kicked in pretty fast, but not before I toasted those ass hats, and it took a second for the air to recirculate, but no harm to the ship."
Mags looked around the room. Her eyes lingered on the two dead men next to Mike, "You gonna be okay?"
Mike nodded sluggishly, but Hap was concerned. Several of the assistant techs were milling around. Anastasia was talking to one of them and pointing to the woman on the catwalk. Hap caught the attention of one the bigger techs. He motioned to him and the guy next to him and pointed to a stretcher on the wall.
Mike had a little trouble focusing on Joker, "Yeah, it's going to take more than three of these ****** to take me down."
"There were four." Anastasia said. She was walking toward them now. She had collected the pulse laser rifles and battery packs from the dead mercenaries. "Perhaps you forgot that one that was crushed under your tool case."
Mike's focused seemed to improve as Anastasia mentioned his tool case, "Hap you owe me a new tool box and a new tool set."
"Yeah, sorry Mike. It was a desperate moment and I…"
"Yeah, I get it, you just throw my property around." Mike coughed again, "you're going to buy me a new one and tools. I want both common and metric, complete sets. I want all the power tools to be DeWalt-Milwaukee. The case should be red and brass. I want it in Davion colors." Mike said. "You got that?" Hap nodded as Mike continued, "I think I need..." He leaned heavily on Masja and she looked more worried. "I need to rest. It's getting cold in here, someone check life support, or the hulls." Mike mumbled as he closed his eyes.
Hap handed Tasja back her shotgun and helped the techs get him onto the stretcher. "Let's get Mike to the sick bay."
Mike stirred and pushed Hap away, "secure the ship dumbass, Chad and Kelane will get me to sick bay."
Hap looked over at Masja and Tasja, "Follow them and if you run into the Det 3 team, shoot first." The twin techs nodded and followed the men taking Mike to the sick bay.
Anastasia walked up with an arm load of battery packs and two laser rifles slung on her shoulder. She gave a few of the batter packs to Hap and then started to hand Joker a laser rifle."These are pulse laser rifles. It's similar to a standard laser rifle, but it fires multiple short bursts rather than a concentrated beam. It means more damage over a wider area, but less penetration power." She held onto the laser rifle for a moment and looked Joker in the eye, "They don't seem able to pierce the ship's hull, but you should still fire carefully."
"Bad ass" Joker said as he took the weapon and pulled out the battery pack to check the charge.
Anastasia passed an extra battery pack to Joker, and asked, "Mags you want a laser rifle?"
Mags shook her head as she cycled her shotgun to empty the shells. When it was empty she started to refill it with shells with black casings from a cloth bag Masja had given her before leaving for the sickbay.
"I'm good, sister." Mags said as she loaded in her gun, "These are special shells, with less powder. It's enough to hurt a bastard, put a hole in his ass, but not the hull."
Hap changed out the battery pack in his rifle. "Joker how many men did you and Mags kill?"
"Three." Joker said as he put the battery pack back in the rifle and cycled the firing system.
"Alright we gotta find the other six Det 3 members." Hap said, "They're probably trying to get to the bridge. Or more likely they are breaching the bridge right now."
The ship felt like it took a dive and there was a shift in the pseudo-gravity.
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Chapter 79
Hap and his lancemates exchanged worried looks. The ship's gravity had just shifted and that was almost a guarantee something bad was going on in the bridge. Without talking they started to run for the stairwell leading up to the higher crew and command decks.
As the lance members climbed the stairs, they felt the ship level off and the center of gravity returned to "normal". They started to jog down the halls and head toward the flight deck. As they turned a corner they found three Det 3 members laying facedown in a pool of blood. Hap and his lancemates slowed down trying to figure out what had happened. Two of the men had been shot in the back.
Hap recognized one of them as wearing the same kit as Wojski. As he got close enough to kick his boot he glanced back to make sure that his lancemates were ready. Behind them he saw three men slinking up the hall. A few paces behind them Kate was standing and looking relieved to see her friends.
The three men wore heavy environment suits and had tactical vests with tools, and safety gear in the various pouches and webbing. All three men were armed with needle pistols, and all of them were wearing the McFinnigan and Sons unit patch on their vests and it was also stenciled onto their suits.. Kate was still in her cooling vest and armed with a laser pistol.
Hap knew these men, they were part of the ship's company. The one on the left had sort of stupid and unsavory look about him, and the one in the middle was a tall attractive young man. He also a black eye, and a bandage around his neck. The final man was a large heavy set man with thick jowls and a bushy mutton chop sideburns. Hap knew this was Henry, the chief boatswain mate of the Phaidin.
Hap had seen Henry countless times. He was generally with a few members of the crew maintaining the ship and seemed to lead them. Hap had even worked with him a few times in the 'mech bay, but he was someone Hap avoided if he could help it. Henry seemed like the type of person that sat at the darkest end of the bar, or the dimmest booth in a tavern. He was the regular that every one knew to just leave alone unless you were looking for trouble, or wanted to help him with his criminal enterprises. The other two men looked like they would be his accomplices.
"Are ye for us, or against us?" Henry asked.
"Chief Henry, these are McFinnigan Mechwarriors, they're on our side." Kate said..
"Aye. They're also, like you, new to the family." Henry said. "Times like this it's good just to make sure everyone is who they say they are, and appear to be."
"I'm trying to do the family business, Gno teaghlaigh." Hap said slowly, turning around and keeping his hands visible and his weapon pointed down. His lance mates did similar slow turns.
"Oh. Aye, Gno teaghlaigh." Henry answered. The two men with him echoed the Company's motto.
"Marietta, I hardly know these three, but if you vouch for them then perhaps ye all can help me know what's going on." Henry said.
"They're with me, Henry, and not with these putas." Mags said.
"Start with why you got the same weapons as them." The unsavory man said.
Hap slowly moved next to his wife and Mags. "We took them from the men we killed, here you want to see it?"
Before the man could take the weapon. Henry holstered his needler and put his hand out to his companion. "Keep your weapons lad. I need every trustworthy hand armed. If Camacho's daughter says yer on our side, that's enough. Now,can ye tell me what the hell is going on?"
"The Det 3 mercenary group is trying to hijack the ship. We're not sure why." Hap said.
"If I recall the manifest, there were thirteen of these," Henry looked over at Mags, "Putas. How many of them have ye killed?"
"We wasted seven of them down in the Mech Bay." Joker answered.
"And we killed six." Henry replied, he paused doing the math in his head. "So I'm thinking we've headed off this plot."
"It felt like the ship altered course though." Anastasia said, "Is it possible we miscounted?"
"Best be headed to the bridge to see what happened." Henry said as he started walking and everyone followed him. "To your question, my lady, I'd say no. At least not us, mum. Ye can see the three here, and the other three were in the port side aerospace bay when we opened the bay doors and let the vacuum of space send them to their eternal reward."
"You didn't jettison the cargo we took?" Anastasia asked.
"Mr. Smythe did you properly secure the load in the port side aerospace bay before we performed the recovery of Miss Berlin's fighter in the starboard aerospace bay?"
"Yes Chief." Smythe, the unsavory man, answered.
"No, my lady, We did not jettison any cargo, only murderous traitors." Henry said as he quickened his step.
Anastasia got close to Kate, "How'd you get here?"
"I docked my Stuka, and they assisted in the recovery operations. When I got out they told me the Det 3 team were acting odd, and we followed them. When Henry noticed how they split up and were moving we used a maintenance duct to ambush them. Then we went back to the aerospace bay and, like he said, spaced the air crew that was guarding the 'objective'. We were headed back to the bridge when we heard you coming."
"I have to say I'm a little shocked. Trapping someone in an aerospace bay and releasing them to space seems cruel." Anastasia said.
Henry stopped, and turned to Anastasia, "Dear lady Capetian Vallois Calahad, bare in mind we did not jest open the bay doors on the traitors. I locked the bay's airlocks, opened the doors, and let two of them get sucked out into the vacuum of space. A third one held onto the cargo. So I closed the bay doors and kept the vents open and the recirculators disabled. He's likely suffocated by now, but once we've checked on the bridge the boys and I will go back and ensure he's dead."
Henry paused for a moment reading Anastasia's expression, "It may seem cruel, my lady, but I assure you it had to be done. Understand, if ye face Kelly in open combat on a battlefield, that is one thing. But if ye come on his ship, be welcomed into his house, call him friend, eat at his table, drink from his bottle, fellowship with his wife and children, and then lift yer hand against him to stab him in the back, then I have neither pity or mercy for ye."
"These men, they deserve nothing better than what we've given them. My lady, I try to do as the priest says, treat everyone well and such. But, trying to take a vessel that ye've been given safe passage on. No! That's a betrayal akin to cheating on yer spouse, or not carin' fer your mother. Add to that, Kelly took me from a life o' crime and gave me this job. I owe him a great deal. Anyone that would cross him like this, is going to find nothing but hate and violence from me and the boys." As Henry spoke Smythe and his associate agreed, even Mags nodded along.
"I understand." Anastasia said diplomatically, "I'm glad you are on our side. Also I'm not a titled noble, my mother is the Countess of Hazelhurst."
"Aye, I met yer mother, I know she's a right proper lady, and ye act like a lady. Some day you'll inherit the title, my lady. I know how to show my nobles respect." Henry answered.
Hap could tell Anastasia was uncomfortable, "I think we were a little surprised you took down three special forces operators." Hap said. "Those guys were hard chargin' skull stackin' bad asses."
"I grew up in some of nasty parts of Donnegal Mister Calahad, and I can assure you, anyone can present themselves as somethin' they aren't. And everyone thinks their hard until their friend takes a needler in the face." Henry answered, "And where I come from, if ye hesitate in a fight yer gonna have yer throat slit."
As Henry spoke Hap started to realize he had overestimated the skill of Det 3, or Kelly just had a knack for hiring desperate and capable people, and inspiring absolute loyalty in them.
They were at the bridge door now. It was closed and sealed. Henry knocked on the door with the butt of his pistol. He then holstered his weapon and motioned for everyone to do the same before he turned and faced a dome camera built into the ceiling. "The other mercenary company went rogue on us." Henry said to the camera, "We came to make sure the bridge was secure."
There was a click and the mechanical sounds of the lock disengaging. The door automatically opened and they were greeted by Roweyna with a bullpup laser rifle. Her usually neat and clean business attire was blood stained and there were several rips and tears in her blouse. Her eyes were red, and there were bruises on her neck.
"Henry there has been an attempt to take my father's ship from my control. Tell me you've put the scoundrels down." Roweyna spoke with a no-nonsense tone. Seeing everyone she knew she relaxed and Hap noted the long cut in her arm that was still bleeding.
"Aye. Mum. Smythe and Lucas executed half of them, and this lot took the other. We'll do another sweep of the ship, and I'll have causality and damage reports for ye soon, but I daresay-" Henry looked past Roweyna, "It seems ye saw some action too."
Hap could see Colonel Norton was slumped in the corner. He had several slashes about the arms and face, and there were shattered pieces of china on the floor near him. His briefcase was spilled open and papers and a few pieces of personal equipment littered the floor. Hap looked for his weapons and noticed the knife was buried in his chest and it looked like Roweyna had his laser rifle.
"Yer Colonel attempted to wrest control of the ship from us." Roweyna said to Hap. "I'm now doubting he was an AFFS officer." Roweyna said as she placed the laser rifle down on the table by the navigation station, and took a first aid kit and kneeled down in front of Sarah.
Hap could also see Sarah sitting on the floor with her eyes bandaged. She also had some burns on her hands, shoulders, and face. Roweyna took a small jar from the first aid kit and started spreading the contents on Sarah's cheeks. Hawkins had removed an access panel for the Leopard's controls and was digging into the systems. There were signs of fire and that the console had been shot by the Colonel's laser rifle.
"Schafer had implied that the Colonel wasn't who he said he was, and I was in for a terrible surprise when I learned the truth." Anastasia looked around, "based on that I had considered he might be a ROM agent, but I wouldn't have guessed he and the special forces team would attempt to commandeer the vessel."
"As ye can see they planned to do much more than commandeer." Roweyna continued to gently apply the medicine to the teen's burns.
"Roweyna, what happened here?" Hap asked as Kate took one of the pilot seats and strapped herself in.
"You called up and said members of Det 3 were firing weapons in the 'mech Bay. I looked to Colonel Norton to see how he was going to handle that and, to my surprise, he was reaching into his case to get his laser rifle. I asked him what he was doing, and he looked at me like I was his fiancee, and had found him in bed with my best friend."
"So, as one often does in those situations, I smashed my teacup across his face. In the melee he shot the controls, murdered Dobson there, threw a concussion grenade that injured Sarah here, and managed to carelessly cause injury and destruction until I was able to stop him."
Hap took a moment to take in the destruction around the bridge. There was a man in a McFinnigan and Sons jumpsuit who had been shot in the face by the laser rifle. There were jagged and broken shards of saucer and tea cup. One particularly large piece of broken china had blood on it and Hap assumed that Roweyna had used it until she got ahold of the Colonel's knife. Hap glanced back to Roweyna. There were defensive cuts on her wrists and hands, but she was ignoring her own injuries and quietly humming as she applied an anti-burn cream to the young teenage pilot.
"As one often does?" Joker asked, "How often have you beated a man to death with a teacup?"
"If ye keep talkin' the need might arise a second time today." Roweyna answered as she continued to rub cream onto Sarah's wounds. ""There now, this should ease the pain, and prevent scars. I promise it'll heal nicely." Roweyna winked.
Roweyna helped Sarah to her feet as she half sang, "you'll be the prettiest Colleen, from Bantry Bay up to the Derry Quay, From Gallway to Dublin town, jest like the star of the county down."
"It feels weird." Sarah said, "I'm really worried about my eyes Roweyna."
Roweyna gently brushed a tear away from Sarah's cheek, "There now, yer cryin'. That's a good sign, means yer eyes are still workin' and tryin' to flush out the powder from the flash bang. Let's get you down to sick bay and let Doc Les tell you when you'll be seeing again."
"I want to talk to my mom." Sarah said her voice betrayed that she was barely holding back tears.
"Oh aye. I want to talk to my father as well." Roweyna looked at Anastasia, "But we cannot talk to the Tir an nOg right now because our comms are sabotaged."
"I'll see if I can identify the issue and fix it." Anastasia volunteered.
There was a small explosion and a spray of sparks out from under the console. Hawkins backed out fast while cursing, and waving his hand to dispel the smoke, "Actually Anastasia, I think I need you to figure out how to bypass or turn off the autopilot system controls. Right now we're still headed toward Norton's jump ship."
Kate pulled hard on her control stick, the Leopard altered its pitch and changed course, but as soon as she let go of the control stick the drop ship changed course again and resumed its original heading. Kate leaned back in her seat. "Well I was going to offer to co-pilot for a while-" She glanced at Sarah, "which I'll do until Sarah is feeling better."
"The boys and I will look into the radios while we do a sweep of the ship." Henry said, "The rogues monkeyed with the 1-MC as well, and I'd wager wherever they sabotaged the 1-MC is where they sabotaged everythin' else. We'll find it and fix it, or call Mrs. Calahad to come effect repairs." Henry said as he went to the comms station and started to run a diagnostic.
Hawkins sat down and started to test various systems. For the Leopard to maintain a form of pseudo gravity it had to maintain constant thrust. For the crew's comfort the thrusters located on the bottom or underside of the drop ship were used. In order for the pilots to know the actual ship direction the screens in the cockpit could be turned opaque and a video projection would be displayed for the various directions the shuttle was accelerating. When the shuttle was flying inside a gravity well, or in an aerodyne configuration the screens would be transparent.
Hawkins disabled the projection and turned the screens transparent. They were looking straight down at the Tir an nOg. Hawkins cursed as one of the White Tails Chippewas strafed the Excalibur drop ship. Swanky maneuvered his Stuka behind him and attacked, but the other White Tails were lining up to counter-attack. The White Tails were down to three crafts now, but Swanky was still badly outnumbered. The Excalibur had few weapons and the Chippewas were being careful to limit their exposure to them.
Hap watched as one of the 'mech bay doors opened and Crow's Catapult walked to the edge and used his jump jets to get to the outer skin of the drop ship. Crow used the Catapult's claw like feet to hold onto the edge of the bay. Kelly's Highlander followed behind him and half hung out of the bay while holding onto the side of the bay door.
"I'm going back out." Kate said as she unbuckled and started to get up. A Chippewa flew past Crow and Kelly and took a broadside of LRMs and autocannon. It rolled away and got caught by salvo of lasers and LRMs from the Excalibur. One of the other Chippewas circled back around to attack Crow and Kelly.
Hawkins pushed her back down into the chair, "If I can't disable the autopilot, It's going to be damn near impossible to recover your ship, and if anything happens, you'll be trapped out in the black."
Kate looked upset as she sat back down. She activated the targeting systems and pushed the Leopard's nose down. She waited as the Chippewa started to accelerate toward Crow and Kelly, and then hit the fighter with every forward facing weapon the Leopard had. The Chippewa exploded and the debris passed over the Excalibur. The Leopard self-corrected again as the weapons recycled and reloaded.
"Anastasia I need this damn auto-pilot disabled, time now." Kate snapped.
"Right." Anastasia stripped off her tactical vest and cooling vest and kneeled down to look under the console, "Do you have a manual or tech readout?"
"I do." Hawkins said, "but we've had to modify and bypass some of the systems a couple times, so I don't know how much good it will do you." He pointed to a dog eared and yellow manual that was half rolled up and shoved in a tool box near the open panel. "I'm not going to lie, I think when Kelly bought this thing decades ago it didn't match that manual."
"Oh my." Anastasia said, "This is going to be complicated."
The Tir na nOg and the Aeorfighters were starting to fall away from view, but Kate and Hawkins wrestled the ship to try and get another shot at the Chippewa. The two remaining White Tails seemed confused as to why the Leopard had shot them. Kelly and Crow put more LRMs into one of the Chippewas and sent spinning away out of control. Swanky moved in behind the final Chippewa as the Leopard corrected again and resumed its course.
"I desperately need to speak to my Father now." Roweyna said.
-
*starting chewing Dirt*
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What an update. Can't wait for more.
Psy
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Damm so wtf did they steal?? and from who really??
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"So, as one often does in those situations, I smashed my teacup across his face.
LOL ;D
Comstar has a lot of incompetents in her payroll. A few good ones as well, but those det 3 guys were way out of their league, it seems. It somewhat detracted from my overall enjoyment of this concrete chapter (more casualties on the part of the heroes would have been in order imho) but overall the story keeps being top notch. My fav fan fiction on the site.
-
Chapter 80
"Oh, just when things couldn't get any better, there is a Leopard CV coming around Necromo's moon." Hawkins said, "And they're deploying two aerospace fighters. It looks like two Corsairs. Probably the ones you and Swanky Bob were trying to take down while Anastasia was tangling with the Phoenix Hawk LAM."
"I thought you and Swanky destroyed the Corsairs." Anastasia said. She was sitting on the floor and comparing the manual schematics to what she could see in the console's access area.
"No." Kate carefully turned the Leopard's nose so it turned on its axis while maintaining the same heading. "They dropped their bombs and overthrusted right the hell away from us. Colonel Norton told us to let them go and support the White Tails. By that time our former 'friends' were engaging a third wave of Cappellan fighters."
The Leopard CV could now be seen through the Phaidin's viewports. The Leopard CV or Carrier Vessel was similar to the standard leopard in armament and general dimensions, but the CV was designed to carry only fighters. This meant the 'mech bays were removed and replaced with four aerospace fighter bays, and the two original aerospace bays were moved next to the others. Finally, the bottom of the aft portion of the Leopard CV was removed creating a long tail and wing section.
"Any fighter response from the Capellans?" Hap asked.
"We scrapped so much of their garrison they're probably glad to see us leave." Kate said as she lined up her crosshairs to target the relatively delicate place where the elongated and fragile looking tail of the CV was connected to the rest of the drop ship. "I'll try to pound their mother ship as long as I can keep it in my sights. Back when I was in the Hussars the girls and I called shooting the tail off a Leopard CV 'gelding' it."
"I'm a little afraid to ask, especially since you seem really excited about doing it, but why?" Hawkins said.
"Well once you shoot off the tail section of a Cee Vee they can't enter atmosphere. So the crew can still do their job, but they can't ever land, or go to any planet and have 'a good time' Technically they can't 'get it down' rather than 'get it up', but you get the idea."
"Yeah I get it." Hawkins answered. "You sorta of have a real mean streak in you."
"You're not the first man to notice." Kate said.
"I kinda of like it." Hawkins responded.
"You might be the first man to say that." Kate answered.
"Alright you two, Hold your fire." Roweyna said, as she shuffled through Colonel Norton's blood soaked and torn papers. "I think they're jest trying to help their fellow traitor break contact. I'm sure there is somethin' here to explain what is going on." Roweyna turned to look at Henry, "Henry, I need ye to fix the radio. I must speak with my Father."
"Yes mum!" Henry said, "The diagnostic can't tell me a-thing so we'll just start in the aerobay." He then turned on his heels and briskly marched out of the bridge flanked by Lucas and Smythe.
"Wait." Roweyna called out, she put her boot on Colonel Norton's chest and pulled the knife out. She motioned to the dead man with the knife, "As ye go, throw that nasty thing out an airlock." Henry nodded and motioned to his companions. Smyth grabbed the legs, and Lucas took the cadaver by the shoulders and followed Henry. "And send someone to take Mr. Dobson to the morgue, we'll give him a proper sendoff later."
Roweyna motioned to Sarah, "Joker, Mags, please escort Ms. MacGreggor down to the sick bay." Roweyna turned to the young woman, "Sarah, they are both heavily armed, and if there's any trouble ye jest let them take care of it. "
Sarah nodded as Mags took her by the elbow and guided her next to Joker. Mags, Joker and Sarah started down the hall and Joker said, "I once had a buddy that was too close to a flash-bang."
Sarah jerked her head in Joker's direction, "Was he okay? How long did it take him to heal?"
"I dunno. He was running around screaming and got stepped on by a 'mech."
Mags reached over and punched him as Sarah shook her head, "Thanks Mags."
Kate had been turning, or spinning the Leopard to track the Corsairs. "You want to even up the odds for the rest of the family?" As Kate spoke both Corsairs were flying directly toward the Tir na nOg and the Chippewa that was retreating from the Stuka. As the 50 ton fighters passed the bridge crew could see the damage to both fighters. They wouldn't survive any sort of extended engagement even with the odds in their favor.
"Damn, you and Swanky Bob really put the hurt on them." Hawkins said.
"The Stuka wasn't designed to play around." Kate said, "I mean it has enough armor where you could, but it's so heavily armed you don't need too. Those Corsairs can take some punishment, but I was surprised they lasted that long. Maybe it's time I finished the job."
"No." Roweyna said, "I'd wager their plan was to destroy the Tir na nOg and escort us, or the Phaidin, to the Colonel's jump ship. Until we can get control of the ship it's best they think their boys were successful. Besides if I know my father-"
As she spoke the Tir na nOg rolled over to reveal the open 'Mech Bay again. Dillon in his Dervish had now joined Crow's Catapult and Kelly's Higlander. As the Tir na nOg spun around Dillon, Crow, and Kelly launched their complete complement of one hundred missiles toward the Corsairs.
The two Corsairs broke formation, but the missiles traced their way toward the fighter on the starboard side. As the fighter tried to avoid the missiles there was a flash of Kelly's autocannon. The missiles struck the fighter as the autocannon hit the underside of the Corsair. The Corsair exploded, as his wing mate tried to maneuver away from the 'mech's line of sight.
"-that will be unnecessary." Rowyena finished. The remaining Corsair and Chippewa moved past the Phaidin as they raced toward the Leopard CV. "We'll jest play along and hopefully they'll let us get ourselves repaired before they try anything."
Kate took off her cooling vest and dropped it on the deck next to her chair as Hawkins turned the screens to project a "forward" view. Hawkins casually glanced over at Kate. She was wearing simple black stretch-fabric top and bottom. Hawkins noticed Anastasia was wearing the same minimal clothes designed to "help" with the oppressive heat of 'mechs and aerospace fighters. Anastasia half crawled into the panel and started to dig into the cables.
"Woah, I'm surrounded by foxy ladies in their underwear while I'm flying a drop ship. It's like I'm in one of those recruiting holovids." Hawkins said.
"Yeah, especially since you're not actually flying anything." Kate said. "Anastasia put your ass down, Hawkins is getting excited and distracted."
"Anastasia, maybe you should-" Hap started to say,"I think I'll go get your coveralls.".
"It would be more helpful if you held a flashlight, mon amour." Anastasia called out as she turned on her side.
Hap took off his own cooling vest, revealing his bare chest and a simple pair of camouflaged shorts. He kneeled between Anastasia and Hawkins and pulled a flashlight out of the tool box.
As Hap tried to look into the panel and focus the light Hawkins squeezed his shoulder and said, "That's right big boy you just get nice and comfortable next to me."
"I'm about to punch you." Hap warned.
"You're going to punch Hawkins, well now I'm getting excited." Kate deadpanned.
"Hey." There was a pop and hiss and Anastasia flinched, "Okay. That's a power cable. A very small and probably not rated to carry high amperage power cable." She moved around, "You two leave my husband alone."
Hawkins and Kate exchanged glances and looked like they were about to tease Hap.
There was another sickening hiss and the lights dimmed, "Oh it's not that wire, this whole back panel is electrified, that's bad, very bad. Hawkins, how are you not dead?"
"Funny you would ask, see when I was young cadet pilot-"
"I dunno think I need to remind you four, that we're on a drop ship we cannot steer, headed toward a jump ship that I'd wager is going to take us somewhere we don't want to go, and we have no way to call for help." Roweyna said as she collapsed into a chair at the Navigation Station.
Kate glanced over her shoulder, "Roweyna you're not looking so good. Why don't I take you down to sick bay, I promise we'll focus and get the controls fixed."
There was a proximity alarm, and one of the screens altered to show Swanky pulling close in his Stuka. Roweyna pointed to the monitor. Hawkins flipped a switch and the screens turned transparent again. Swanky had matched vector and heading with the leopard and was just a few dozen meters away. It looked like he was flying straight up from the perspective on the Leopard's bridge, but everyone could see each other clearly.
Swanky pointed to them and gave them a thumbs up and raised both hands at them questioning.
Hawkins pointed to his ear and his mouth and held up his arms in a crossed X.
Roweyna collected a few large sheets of paper and began to hastily write "HIJACK STOPPED, DET 3 & COL N DEAD, CONTROLS & COMMS DAMAGED." She passed them to Hawkins to hold up for Swanky to see.
Swanky nodded and gave them an ok gesture. He continued to fly next to them as he spoke over the radio.
He held up a sheet with "GET HOME QUICK" written on it.
"What does that mean?" Kate asked
"It means as soon as we can we get ourselves to Donegal." Roweyna said, "Now I'm going to sick bay. If anything changes come find me."
-
Chapter 81
Anastasia heard the rhythmic thump of Selene's tail on the rolling door of the sleep compartment. She felt the rough wet tongue liking her face as she instinctively pushed the coyote puppy's head away. She got the puppy to settle down and curl up next to her. Anastasia knew this would last for fifteen to twenty minutes, but then she'd have to get up and take care of her coyote. She wasn't sure how long she had slept but it felt like several hours. In the dim light of the sleeping compartment she couldn't quite read Hap's watch.
Yesterday had been a long, and frustrating day. After a life threatening mission she barely managed to dodge an assination and hijacking attempt. It culminated in her trying to fix the Leopard's damaged auto pilot and control the Leopard's control panel had taken hours.
In the middle of fixing the autopilot there was a harrowing twenty minute incident where Anastasia accidentally deactivated the life support and she and Henry had to rush to undo what she had done and manually restart it from the engine room. She had managed to disable the broken autopilot and bring up a backup autopilot system. Everything seemed to be performing properly but once they landed she was going to insist they restore the controls and wiring to the factory specifications before flying again.
After the life-support incident Hap insisted she stop and get some sleep. He all but carried her to the mechwarrior's berthing area, gave her a ration biscuit, pushed her into the shower and then put her to bed. Somewhere in that process Joker and Mags brought Selene to them, apparently they had been playing with her, and just wanted to go to bed themselves. Thankfully this meant Selene was also ready for bed. Anastasia was annoyed with Hap at the time because she wanted to continue working, but once she was settled in her sleep compartment with her coyote and husband she knew it was the right choice to stop and rest.
Anastasia pressed herself closer to Hap. He half-woke up, reached over Anastasia and scratched Selene behind the ears then put his arm around Anastasia's waist and gave her a sleepy hug. Anastasia enjoyed the warmth and intimacy as she relaxed. Selene seemed to understand it wasn't quite time to get up so she responded with a yawn before putting her tail over her nose.
"You awake?" Hap asked.
"Yes." Anastasia said, "How did you know?"
"Usually when I give you a good squeeze in your sleep you mumble in French."
"I don't mumble, Harold." Anastasia corrected. "I sweetly murmur, s'il vous plait".
"Perhaps, if you please, I should say you lovingly purr." Hap said as he gave his wife another squeeze.
"Oui, mon mari bien-aime." Anastasia purred. She reached behind her to caress Hap under the jaw. "How often do you give me 'a good squeeze' while I sleep?"
"I dunno, sometimes I wake up and just need to remind myself that you're there, there are good things around me. It's good to be alive."
Anastasia put her arm on top of Hap's and intertwined her fingers. She pulled his arm more tightly around her and pressed herself closer to him. She knew her husband struggled with the loss of his friends and men he had led. She knew he feared losing her. When they got settled on New Avalon she would insist he get some counseling, honestly she was starting to suspect she needed some herself.
"Well I'm certainly not going anywhere. Is it good to be alive?" Anastasia said.
Hap gently kissed her neck and nibbled her ear, "I think so."
Anastasia turned over so she could face Hap. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, but the sudden desire to be intimate seemed so right and appealing. She couldn't help herself as she kissed him, "Why don't you put Selene in her kennel?"
Selene put her head on Anastasia's shoulder and looked at Hap. Hap nodded, and reached over both of them to open up the sleep compartment and climbed over his wife as he said, "Come on Selene, let's take a walk."
Selene jumped down and followed Hap as Anastasia laid on her back. She knew their first stop would be the head. They had taught Selene to relieve herself in one of the showers. Whoever was taking care of Selene could easily clean up after her and give the shower a quick spray of cleanser and then rinse the stall. It wasn't ideal but the other option was to take her to the mech bay and use the toxic spill kit. As much as the tech's liked Selene, they didn' care for her messes.
Anastasia felt guilty for asking Hap to take care of Selene, but she really didn't want to get up yet. She thought about the things that she needed to do when she finally did start her day, and it felt overwhelming. The auto-pilot seemed to be working, or at least they could turn it off now. She'd have to check with Hawkins or Kate and see if it was still working.
Before Hap had dragged her to bed she had heard the comms were repaired. Henry and his associates returned to the port aerospace bay they found a complex jamming system rigged into the bay's comms terminal. Once they removed it internal and external comms were restored. Anastasia intended to look at the system later, but what she'd heard it sounded like star league tech. It was another data point that Det 3 and Colonel Norton were ROM or some ComStar organization sent to kill Anastasia. It was also looking like they intended to destroy McFinnigan and Sons as well.
Anastasia also wanted to see what they had stolen from the Cappellans, but right now she wanted to just stay cocooned in her sleeping compartment and not address the problems around her for a few more hours.
Mike was dead, as was Dobson, the navigator she had never met. This was in addition to David who died back on Monhegan. Sarah could have permanent vision loss, but they wouldn't know for weeks, and the Phaidin was, for good or ill, a few hours away from docking with a jump ship that would take them to god only knew where.
She felt this was all her fault. Intellectually she knew this was all ComStar's doing, but she was the reason they did it. Without her they wouldn't have brought this level of violence and misfortune to the McFinnigan and Sons mercenary company. The family, or company, didn't seem to think this way, but she was getting people killed. Eventually someone was going to resent her.
There was also the problem with Shafer or whatever her name was. She had somehow survived the attack from the Det 3 members. Doc Les had treated her wounds and, as Anastasia had warned, Doc Leslie kept Shafer restrained. On her way to bed Anastasia had heard that Shafer threatened Doc Leslie several times and Doc Leslie sedated her. Anastasia suspected Shafer was going to spend most of her time sedated.
Anastasia stretched as she heard footsteps coming down the hall, but they were coming from the wrong direction. She leaned over to see Roweyna coming toward her, "Ah, good yer awake. I need ye to get dressed and look at whatever it is we have in the aerobay."
"I was, well Harold and I-" Anastasia hesitated trying to think how to get Roweyna to go away, and give her and Harold some time alone. "Does it absolutely need to be done right now?"
"Yes. I need to answer Father's question while we can still communicate with him. I'm certain you and Harold can attend to yer personal business later." Roweyna said as she opened Anastasia's wall locker and threw a skirt and her silk robe at her. "We've re-established communication with Father, and he wants to know what the hell that bastard Norton had us steal and why it's worth killing all of us."
Anastasia nodded as she pulled on the skirt and put on her robe over her oversized McFinnigan and Sons nightshirt. As Anastasia dressed she looked over Roweyna, she was wearing loose pants and a cropped t-shirt that showed her midsection. This was quite a departure from her usual business attire. Her arm had been stitched up and she had several bandages on her wrists, arms, and another bandage above her hip. Roweyna looked tired, and her usual mischievous air was replaced by a sense of exhaustion.
Harold came down the hall, and saw Roweyna. Anastasia saw his shoulder droop in disappointment as he turned to his own wall locker and pulled out his coveralls and put them on over his shorts. Selene jumped back on the bed and nearly knocked over Anastasia. Roweyna grabbed her and pulled her close to her chest, "Come 'ere, ye four footed miscreant."
Joker opened up the sleep compartment he shared with Mags. "Hey Roweyna" he said sleepily "How you doing?"
"Oh fine, fine. Doc Leslie was about half way through stichin' me up when Anastasia here killed the lights and life support." Roweyna turned to Joker, "Might 'ave a scar or two, but I'll be right as rain in a few days."
"Scars are fierce." Mags said, "Like a tattoo but better, because it means you survived."
"I know ferocity is prized in the Camacho clan," Roweyna said, "but I was raised by a woman who said, 'ye should be like whiskey in a tea cup' Somethin' beautiful on the outside, warmin' to friends and kin, but a powerful surprise to the unsuspecting."
Anastasia stood up, tied her robe belt, and pulled her hair into a quick ponytail, "I apologize for what happened with the life support, but, given your normal modest dress, I doubt it will compromise your ability to 'surprise the unsuspecting."
Roweyna put Selene down and shrugged, "Then I'll continue to find other ways to disappoint mother."
"Where are we going?" Hap asked as he pulled his boots on. He offered Anastasia's her boots, but shook her head and had him pass her sandals instead.
"I need someone to tell me what we took in the raid, and since it's high end miltech and Anastasia has worked around high end miltech, we think it's best she examine it." Roweyna said.
Mags and Joker mentioned they wondered about what they had stolen too, and quickly got ready and followed as Roweyna led them to the Aerospace Bay. When they got there they found Henry, Smyth, and Lucas waiting for them standing between the karnov transport and the large shipping container. Smyth had a large bolt cutter across his shoulder.
"You don't think those Det 3 guys booby-trapped this thing?" Joker asked, pointing to the large container.
"I doubt it." Henry said
"They left the air crew to guard this as they moved through the ship with some stupid lethal overconfidence." Hap said, "They didn't seem to think anyone but the mechwarriors would fight back. They left the air-crew "just in case" but probably because they didn't think much of their combat abilities. I doubt they'd consider the need to protect this thing any more."
"That makes a lot o' sense." Rowena said, "I'm generally impressed Hap, ye've-"
"After everything with Ashley I've been trying to do better about paying attention and keeping my head in the game." Hap said.
"Don't be too hard on yerself, ye had a wife to marry and you were meetin' her mother." Roweyna said, "I mean everyone knew Ashley was trouble but still."
Henry gave Smyth a gentle shove and he awkwardly positioned the long bolt cutters on the lock. The doors had the centuries old standard four bar latch and cam action to secure the door. The doors had two handles, and the door on the right had to be opened before the door on the left. The right hand handle was secured with a large steel lock that Smyth was straining to cut.
Smyth managed to cut the lock and smoothly tossed it aside. He then started to open the doors with Lucas's help. The two men struggled with the doors which seemed to be rusted and possibly damaged or warped in the transit process, or just from years of neglect.
As they struggled to open the door Henry mumbled, "Complete amateurs, those Det 3 bastards. Everyone knows if yer goin' to take a drop ship, ye split yer crew in half with one group hustlin' to the engine room while the other hauls ass to the bridge. Ye don't split into little groups causin' mayhem, like those fn-" He stopped as Smyth and Lucas finally got the doors opened.
Anastasia stared at the inside of the container. She could see several large pieces of non descript 'mech or ship hardware strapped down to the inside of the container. They were large boxy components. There were also several rugged plastic boxes and a large pile of cables, and antennas.
Anastasia took Henry's flashlight and walked around the inside of the container. The devices were dark gray and seemed to be made to be connected together through cables that were wrapped up with devices. Anastasia had to squeeze herself between the wall and the large devices to see everything. Whatever it was it took up most of the container. There seemed to be several warnings on the system, but they were in Chinese and Russian. The device's purpose was a mystery to her.
As Anastasia walked around trying to find anything that would hint at the device's intended us Hap grabbed the nearest box and pulled off the lid. It contained several manuals and more cables. Anastasia saw the books and was immediately drawn to them. They were also written Russian and Chinese, two languages she couldn't read or speak.
Joker grabbed another box, this one contained tools, random papers, a coffee cup, and a family picture. "Did the Det 3 clowns just grab everything they saw. This looks like they just shoved all of some guys desk into the box."
"Probably" Hap said, "They were in a hurry and didn't know what was important." As he spoke Anastasia got close to Hap and leaned over his arm to look at the book.
Anastasia coyly rubbed up against him. Hap raised an eyebrow, "you want this?"
"No. You're fine." Anastasia said as she turned a few pages.
Hap raised his arm so she could get between him and the book. She moved his arms so that they settled into a loose embrace and she could examine the book's contents. He rested his chin on top of her head "Comfortable?"
"Quite" Anastasia answered, "Although I was more comfortable back in the bed chamber."
"Yeah. I was too." Hap said, "As a matter of fact I'd like to go back there."
She nodded, "As soon as were done with this-" She stopped at a page with multiple equations.
"Any idea what we're looking at?" Hap asked
"These are equations for calculating waves, and their reciprocal counter waves, but I'm not sure what the purpose of that is." Anastasia said.
"Like water waves?" Joker asked, "Is this a machine for generating waves in a pool or something? Can we use this thing to make a zero gravity pool?"
"No,." Anastasia said. She flipped a few more pages and was frustrated by more Cyrillic writing and even a few handwritten notations in Chinese. She leaned on Hap's chest as she went back to the page of equations.
"So ye have no idea?" Roweyna asked.
"I'm sorry but no, it's all Russian and Chinese." Anastasia said.
"We don't happen to have any crew members that can read either of those languages?" Hap asked.
Roweyna looked to Henry. Henry nodded gravely, "Aye we took on a new aerospace technician back on Monhegan. Dmitry Khmentsky, He can certainly speak and read Russian, but I'm not too certain about how well he speaks English."
"Let's go find him." Roweyna said. "If father hired him it cannot be as bad as all that."
"You sure?" Joker asked, "because sometimes when your dad and you getting going, I'm not sure you guys are speaking English."
"Perhaps because we're speaking Gaelic." Roweyna said. "Or perhaps ye have a learnin' disability."
"I don't have a learning disability." Joker snapped.
"Are you sure? Depending on the severity of your disability you might not know." Anastasia said.
"Hap tell them I don't have a learning disability" Joker said.
"Sorry, but AFFS regulations state I can't talk about a Soldier's medical conditions in public." Hap said.
Henry suggested they start looking in the other aerospace bay. They walked across the hall and entered the other bay. There was loud music that was a mix of traditional folk-style instruments and synthetic dance beats. There was also a strange harmony of melodic chorus of women and a man half singing half shouting in Russian. Kate was there with a tall stocky man with blue-gray eyes, close cropped hair and a few days old beard.
The man was wearing an oil stained sleeveless tank top with multiple burn holes, his pants were military issue utility trousers with reinforced knee pads. His shirt exposed most of his chest and arms revealing numerous tattoos with religious iconography, military symbols, and Cyrillic words. Most prominent was on his left breast was the virgin Mary and on the other was the house of Davion Sword and Sun burst. In the center was an elaborate cross with a crucified Christ.
The man was smoking a cigarette while using a torch to cut off pieces of armor and was carelessly tossing the broken pieces on the deck. He seemed oblivious to the people entering the bay. His dark welding goggles made it difficult to see anything but what was in front of him.
"No, Dmitry, we need to replace this whole piece. Look, over sixty percent of this panel is damaged." Kate shouted at the man.
He looked in her direction and took his cigarette out of his mouth, "Is fine. We patch."
"I don't think that's going to work."
Dmitry turned off his torch and walked over to a pile of laminated armor sheets. He motioned for the pilot to join him. Kate walked up and glanced at the short stack of armor sheets. "Are there any other armor sheets?"
Dmitry shook his head.
"Oh! We will have to patch where we can then." Kate said, "And you're sure you can make the patches aerodynamically sound? I don't want to enter the atmosphere and have half my wing peel off."
Dmitry looked annoyed, "You have problem last flight?"
"No." Kate said slowly
"Dah", Dmitry hit his chest, "My patches good shit."
"Okay. Apparently your patches are good shit." Kate agreed, as she helped Dmitry pickup a sheet of armor and heft it onto his shoulder.
Roweyna looked around, "What are ye doin'? I thought ye were resting."
Kate started to drag another sheet off the pile, "I called down to ask Dmitry how long it would take to repair the Stuka's armor, and when he didn't respond I realized he was already working it. Given our current situation I thought it was wise we got the Stuka FMC as quick as possible, which means I gotta spend some of my rest time replacing armor."
"God bless ye Miss Berlin, but ye need to be rested before ye get behind the controls of the Leopard. Ye know that." Roweyna said. "If we get killed, have an accident, or if the shuttle is damaged or destroyed there will be an investigation, and if ye haven't had yer 8 hours of crew rest I may lose an insurance claim."
"Wait. You can insure combat vehicles?" Joker said.
"No I can insure transport vehicles for accidents and destruction not related to combat. Now quiet down, learnin' disability."
"It's Kind of hard to sleep in these circumstances." Kate answered sheepishly as Hap helped her by picking up the other end of the armor sheet and followed her to a wing section pock marked with laser and missile holes.
"Be that as it may, I need Mr. Khmentsky to help us in the next bay over, and Miss Berlin, ye need yer crew rest." Roweyna said.
Dmitry slammed the sheet of armor on the wing. "Dah?"
"Yes, you." Roweyna said, "We're trying to figure out what we took in the raid. Everything about it is written in Russian and Chinese, seeing as how it's Capellan, so if ye could help us read what we have, it'd be quite ah help to the family."
Wordlessly Dimtry nodded. He turned off his music system and grabbed a leather jacket. Anastasia noted Dmitry's jacket had the patch for the Sixth Syrtis Fusiliers RCT and the gray "scars of the sword" of corporal in the technical corps. They passed into the other bay and Anastasia led him into the shipping container and motioned to a data plate on the largest piece of equipment.
Dmitry nodded, "Is komplekt elektonnykh kontrmer".
"What is that?" Anastasia asked, "Electronic what?"
Dmitry said it again slower and louder.
Anastasia shook her head, "I don't speak Russian."
"Dah, no problem, is like electronic-ah maskirovka system-chah."
"It's an electronic listening device for Maskirovka?"
"Nyet, no. Not Maskirovka." Dmitry made a throat cutting sign across his neck, and then shook his head. "Not Maskirovka." He repeated as looked around the room at a loss.
"I warned ye about this." Henry quietly sang to Roweyna.
Roweyna took a step into the container next to Anastasia, "Maskirovka can also mean disguise, like a mask. Dmityr, are yer sayin' it's an electronic disguise system?"
Dmitry nodded as Anastasia tilted her head to the side, and thought for a moment. "We were briefed that the Capellans had done significant work on an advanced Electronic Counter Measure suite-"
"Dah, Dah" Dmitry agreed with Anastasia. "System-chah Elektonnykh Kontrmer" As he spoke he pointed to the words on the systems data plate.
Anastasia looked around the container, "The system I heard of was designed for a light 'mech. I believe it was a 30 or 35 ton 'mech code-named Lueduo. Father and I offered to create a similar suite for NAIS, but we were told if the AFFS high command wanted it, they would steal it, or salvage it from a battlefield. This looks too large for a light or even heavy 'mech though. It does explain the guide to waves though, as that is one technique to create an electronic counter measure. Still it seems so large, perhaps it's a proto-type."
Dmitry pointed to the cover of the book in Hap's hand, "Is for Cosmos vessel."
"Like a drop ship or Aerospace fighter?" Anastasia asked.
Dmitry shrugged.
Anastasia looked over at Roweyna, "It appears to be an electronic counter measure suite for a space vehicle. It doesn't make sense for it to be a drop ship because no amount of electric countermeasures is going to hide a drop ship entering a planet's atmosphere, and calculating where a drop ship will land based on its entry profile is relatively simple. Might help on the approach I'd guess.
"It also appears too big and bulky for a fighter. It could be for a jump ship, but jump ships don't move, and are considered non-military targets by nearly everyone. Further jumping into a system creates a very detectable anomaly. All this to say, I'm at a loss as to why the Capellans would build this."
"Well that's more than we knew. Besides, if ol' Maximillian Laio is as insane as some say, perhaps we shouldn't ask too many questions about the why, and focus on what we can do with it. If this system is for a drop ship, can ye hook it up?"
Anastasia looked around the container as Dmitry shrugged, "Probably. But it would only hide our electronic signature, anyone could look outside of a window and see us. It would make targeting us very difficult, though. However, given my recent experience with the ship's power systems, I'm a little hesitant to connect something so large, and quite frankly, experimental."
Henry looked like he was about to correct Anastasia, he cleared his throat, and addressed Roweyna, "Mum, the Phaidin is a good ship, but my lady is correct, is best jest to let sleepin' dogs lie, at least till we're planet side and give the primary power plant and wiring a proper overhaul."
"Very good. Let's go talk to father, ye may as well come if he has any other questions." Roweyna said as she nodded with her head toward the bridge.
Kate checked her watch, "Dmitry I gotta get some sleep before I relieve Hawkins. I'm going back to my rack."
Dmitry nodded, "Dah, I patch stuka."
"I have every confidence in your patches. You want me to ask some of the 'mech techs to help you?"
"You want lose wing in atmosphere?" Dmitry asked
"No, that is something I do not want." Kate said.
"I'll talk to Father about getting more aerotechs, but remind me of this and I'll be sure to include a bonus in yer pay." Roweyna said as she left the Aerobay and turned toward the bridge.
Anastasia and her lancemates followed Roweyna as Dmitry went back to the other aerobay. Kate also left the group as they passed by the air crew's berthing area.
When they entered the bridge Anastasia was surprised to see Sarah sitting at the navigator's station listening to the ship's telemetry and passive radar. Her eyes were still bandaged, but she seemed better than when Anastasia had seen her last. She turned as everyone entered.
"It's jest us and the Coyote lance." Roweyna said. "Ye have anything to report?"
"No Ma'am. I think the other leopard is still next to us, and they are periodically pinging us, and I can hear the long range navigation beacon from the jump ship, but I don't believe there is anything else out there."
Anastasia looked at the radar terminal. There was a marker close to the Phaidin following the drop ship just a few kilometers off starboard. Several thousand kilometers away was the Jumpship. It looked like Sarah was hearing everything the Phaidin was detecting. Roweyna squeezed the young woman's shoulder, "Good work Sarah. Keep us informed if ye hear anything else."
"Yes Ma'am." Sarah answered.
"Hawkins are ye alright?"
Hawkins shook himself awake, "Yeah, yeah." He looked at his watch then checked his navigation systems. "We're still a few hours out before we dock with the Jump Ship."
"Good." Roweyna stood by the communications station, and put the headset on. She flipped a few switches and began talking. She spoke mostly in Gaelic, Anastasia assumed it was to make things more difficult for anyone who might be trying to listen to them. Roweyna nodded as she spoke, she asked a question and raised her eyebrows in surprise at the response. When she was done she turned off the radio and took off her head set.
"Alright ladies and gents. We're going to keep moving toward Norton's jump ship, and it looks like we're about to jump into St. Ives." Roweyna said.
"How did Commander McFinnigan figure that out?" Anastasia asked.
"As you were sleeping I went through Norton's briefcase and found a data stick. All the files were encrypted, so I sent it all to Father to see if Cody or Mal could decrypt it."
"What did they learn?" Anastasia asked
"Not as much as ye'd like. They only managed to decrypt a few files, but we were able to confirm that the White Tails, Det 3, and that bastard Norton were ComStar agents. Also Mal found the ex-filtration plan which included every jump from here to Rigil."
"So Willard and his boys weren't in on this?" Joker asked.
"Nay." Roweyna said, "Seems in the age of BattleMechs everyone hates tankers. Bastard Norton hired them to be disposable and likely die on the field of battle, or in this betrayal. Given how Willard effects people I'd wager he'd pissed off Norton in a past assignment."
"I will add Father tells me Willard and his boys were helpin' with fire suppression and manning guns. Father may not think much of Willard, but him and his armored calvary have certainly redeemed themselves."
"Wait. Did you say Rigil?" Hawkins asked.
"Aye, but if it's up to me, we'll be getting off at St. Ives, find a way back into Federation or Commonwealth space, and make our way to Donegal, or meet up with Father along the way. Father has already managed to arrange a jump back in AFFS space. If he finds another way to link up with us, he'll let us know. Right now we've decided we cannot trust ComStar so unless we happen to find ourselves in the same system, we're not likely to see them again till we get to Donegal."
"How'd Kelly manage that?" Joker asked.
"After the engagement he started moving the Tir na nOg toward the Necromo jump point and reached out to the vessels recharging their K-F drives. He found a crew that was willing to jump across the boarder and, jest like everything a mercenary does, they agreed to a price. If we had the fuel, and it wasn't likely to create a runnin' gun fight we'd be joining them."
"What did he say about the ECM suite?" Anastasia asked.
"He said to hold onto it, and he'd know what to do with it once we were together again."
"I have a question." Hawkins said, "How exactly are we going to convince the jump ship to just release us when we get to the St. Ives system?"
"Well we can try to bribe them, it's how father secured passage." Roweyna said, "but I had the same question because it's likely these are some highly indoctrinated ComStar weird beards drivin' the ship. After all they were willin' to do a pirate jump." Roweyna paused, "Father had another suggestion if the crew isn't easily persuaded by a monetary offer."
"What was Commander McFinnigan's other suggestion?" Hap asked
"Pray the jump ship crew is easily motivated by money, Mr. Calahad." Roweyna answered.
-
gona jump the jumpship crew? Vacuum battles are always risky
-
Chapter 82
Roweyna stood on the bridge of the dropship Phaidin. They were a few minutes away from docking with the JumpShip that had brought them into the Capellan's system. She knew the next few minutes would determine a lot of things for everyone on the Phaidin. Her father would describe these moments as standing on the edge of a cliff before jumping into dark waters. Her father also excelled in these situations; she'd seen him navigate occasions like this with ease.
Roweyna swallowed hard. She and the crew had come up with a plan on how they were going to deceive the crew of the jump ship. They had determined that Ervin and Yamoti, the two pilots of the Karnov, were the most likely candidates to pilot the Leopard DropShip, so Hawkins and Kate would try to pass themselves off as them.
Roweyna was both impressed at how quickly Hawkins, Kate, Hap, and Anastasia had put together the plan to convince the JumpShip crew that the ComStar agents were successful, and they needed to jump out of the system immediately. If Roweyna was being honest she was jealous they had so quickly recovered from the near death and tragedy. She knew this was part of the military training and experience most of them had received from a Great House army. They had the storied "gallows humor" of hardened soldiers, that curious ability to distract with jokes or use sarcasm and humor to hide fears and true feelings while keeping morale high enough to keep a unit moving forward.
She had never exactly learned this ability. She'd grown up around the mercenary company. Sure, she had spent a few years away for her law school and training, but this was the only life she really knew. Roweyna had suffered through most tragedies and equally enjoyed the victories of the company, but she never felt like was part of the company like the techs or the MechWarriors.
She knew part of this was her staff role, and part of it was being the boss's daughter. She was insulated from most of the company, and no one wanted to really get close to her. Maybe she didn't let them either. She had her cousins, Patrick and Fiona, and until his death her brother, but she knew it wasn't quite the same bond.
On most days Roweyna could easily keep up with the darkest and most sarcastic of her father's employees, but this incident had really shaken her. It upset her that while she was standing between two dead bodies feeling light-headed as she wondered if she was bleeding out, they were joking and making lurid comments at each other. They were doing the things that were necessary, fixing the console and engaging the enemy, but their attitude felt off to her. It made her feel she didn't quite understand them, she felt like wasn't "one of them" exactly.
She had also received the beating of her life. When she saw what Norton was doing she knew she had seconds to prevent him from getting his weapons out. She had worked in a pub when she was in law school, and had been in a fair amount of brawls and had to put a few customers in their place, but Norton nearly killed her. He was strong, well trained, and sober, he was unlike nearly every pub regular she ever fought.
Norton was a trained killer and every time she managed to disarm him he found another weapons or put her at a disadvantage. He was also taller, stronger and faster than her. When she had finally got all his weapons from him he just resorted to strangling her. By sheer luck she found his knife and had just enough strength to plunge it into his heart before she passed out. If Norton had crossed her mother the fight would have been over in seconds, and just a little longer if it had been her father. This realization made her feel inferior. She had kept Norton's knife. It was easy enough to conceal and she'd start the next fight with more than just broken pottery and stern words.
After she got fixed up, she spent another restless six hours digging through Norton's briefcase, speaking with her father, and generally trying to figure out their next steps. When she went to find Anastasia she knew that she had stepped in between her and Hap having intimate personal time. She was jealous of that as well. She was exhausted, cold, and her arm hurt, and here they were warmly snuggled together, and doing whatever carnal desire struck their fancy. She was also aware most of the crew that wasn't on watch were probably doing the same thing. It all made her feel lonely.
She hugged herself and exhaled slowly. She was Kelly Mc-damn-Finnigan's daughter. She wasn't a victim. She also knew the crew needed her to keep her head. She just needed to focus.
"You okay Roweyna?" Anastasia asked
Roweyna turned to Anastasia. She was sitting at the comms station. She had modified the radios so that the voice quality of transmitted radio would sound "robotic". They were hoping that if they disabled video and explained their comms and controls were damaged in the hijacking of the shuttle they could convince the JumpShip crew that everything was fine.
"Aye." Roweyna said. Anastasia's concern reiterated that Roweyna was forgetting that these people were her friends, really her extended family. She was far from alone.
Kate got out of her chair and walked over to the navigation center she flipped a few switches as she told Sarah, "I'm disabling the beacon tones and sending the star maps and astro-navigation directly to my station. I want to be able to confirm we're in the St. Ives system immediately after the jump.
"Okay." Sarah said. Without the beacon information there wouldn't be anything for the blind young woman to hear unless another jump ship came into the system. Sarah took off the headphones and put them in her lap. She knew she wouldn't have much to do until Kate turned everything back on and they were close to another celestial navigation system.
As she passed by Roweyna, Kate put her hand on Roweyna's shoulder, "You sure about all of this? I know we're using pirated transponders and the livery was painted over before we left Daniels, but this can get us black listed and possibly never be able to jump out of system again."
Roweyna put her hand on top of Kate's hand and gave it a squeeze. The human contact was reassuring. She nodded. "Oh we'll be fine. I'm generally certain this is going to be our word against theirs. And if we're blacklisted Mother has a friend with a jump ship that can at least get us back to Donnegal."
"We have a friend with a jump ship?" Hawkins asked as Kate squeezed into the seat next to him. "How come we've never used this friend's ship?"
"What makes you think we haven't." Roweyna asked as the radio flashed.
Hawkins looked back at Roweyna and she nodded as he touched the channel button. The speakers were filled with, "I say again, Leopard MCFS-61783, do you copy."
"This is Leopard MCFS-61783. We've had comms problems, please say all again." Hawkins said.
"Ervin is that you? Your radio sounds like shit, need you to adjust the sample rate. Also you have no video." This was a different voice. Roweyna assumed the first voice was the JumpShip's comm's officer, so this may be the Leopard CV's captain or comms officer.
"When we took the ship the comms got damaged, as well as our controls. We've been working to get this system to work this good." Hawkins said.
Roweyna took a step over to Anastasia and put her hand on the Mechwarrior's back and gave her a gentle rub "Well done Anastasia." She whispered. Roweyna was starting to get cautiously optimistic. She also realized a little human contact was what she needed right now.
"Acknowledge, MCFS-61783, can you bring your vessel around to hard point one and we'll initiate the docking sequence. We'll have a maintenance crew standing by."
Hap walked over to the comms station and took the mic. He cleared his throat and spoke authoritatively, "This is Norton, that's a negative. I want to leave the system immediately." Hap leaned down and looked out the window the gigantic solar collecting "sail" was still deployed. This meant at least another ninety minutes before the ship could jump.
"Acknowledge sir. We'll need to recover the sail. We can have the crew come onboard, look over your systems and get an estimate." As he spoke the long booms for the sail bent slightly at their hinges.
"Prefer you wait on the maintenance crews." Hap said. "Some members of the mercenary crew are still hiding on the ship and we don't want to give them a chance to escape until after the jump."
"We'll send a security team." The jump ship crewmember replied.
"I still want to wait till after the jump before we take on the techs and security." Hap said.
There was a pause, "Acknowledge sir. They'll be standing by."
"Well depending on what they bring with them that may reduce our timeline."
Hawkins guided the drop ship toward the long needle like JumpShip. For a moment it seemed like they were going to overfly the ship but then a powerful force pulled the ship down. As it descended Hawkins turned the ship so it faced the aft of the jump ship. The drop ship settled down onto the hard point facing the Leopard CV and the jump sails.
"MCFS-61783, What just happened there, why didn't you dock perpendicular to the K-F Drive."
"Yeah, our controls have been damaged. It keeps yawing at random." Hawkins answered.
"Yeah we saw them do this a few times after the Norton's team took over." The CV pilot added.
"You sure you don't want the maintenance crews now?"
"We'll be fine." Hap said, again imitating Colonel Norton.
Roweyna waited until the channel was closed between the DropShips and JumpShips and then she got on the 1MC, "Henry, we've jest docked with the jump ship."
There was a pause and then Henry's voice came across the intercom, "And ye want us to splice the mainbrace?"
Roweyna smirked, "Nay. There'll be time for drinkin' later. I need ye to get as many rough and tumble lads as ye can, get down to the hatch and make sure no one tries to board."
"Repel boarders, yes mum." Henry replied.
The crew settled in for the long wait as the jump ship crew prepared and stored the jump sail. It was strange and almost graceful to watch as the massive sail was carefully folded and pulled in before the jump.
"Hey Roweyna, what's on the menu for the next meal? When is the next meal?" Hawkins asked.
Roweyna looked at her small gold watch, "Oh I have no idea what time we're using now. Is it almost noon, or the middle night? I'll tell ye, if we escape from the jump ship and survive, then we'll start talking about openin' up the galley."
"Remember how Jerry was always talkin' about Loaf? I could really go for some loaf." Hawkins said.
"Loaf?" Kate asked, "like bread?"
"No. It was like a meat loaf, but not beef…but it was definitely protein based. I think it was fish."
"Fish Loaf?" Kate asked.
"Maybe it was fish." Hawkins said.
"That sounds unpleasant." Anastasia said.
"Ye have to understand Mr. Jerry Westman had spent some time in a penal colony." Roweyna said, "This loaf was some type of institutional food that he craved and was often trying to recreate. I don't think he ever managed to get it right though, or at least I never found the dish appealing."
"It, uh, it was an acquired taste." Hawkins said, "Jerry was pretty sure he got it right though, or at least as right as you could get something like that."
"Is Jerry on the Phaidin? Can we ask him to whip us some of this 'loaf'?" Kate asked. She caught the bewildered looks from around the bridge, "What? I've eaten in DEFACS and ships galleys from across the Federation, and I've had my share of good rats and bad. I like to think of myself as a gourmand or connoisseur of military and institutional food."
"I'm not sure that you can consider yourself a gourmand when you favor prepackaged rations and institutional food. It's like claiming to be a musical critic of military marches." Anastasia said.
"Hey Kate, you know who has the best marches." Hawkins asked.
"The Lyran Commonwealth?" Kate asked
"Hell yeah!" Hawkins nodded as they bumped fists.
"First, Mr. Hawkins an' Ms. Berlin," Roweyna said, "The Northwind Highlanders has the best Marches of any unit in or out of the Inner Sphere. Any fool knows when ye come against the Highlanders and their bag pipes start to hum' yer likely hearin' the last song yer mortal ears will ever know. It's terrifying and beautiful all at once. Jest to hear them pipe Scotland the Brave is worth the near-death experience."
"Second, Ms. Berlin, Mr. Westman fell on Klathandu, but sadly I'd wager his recipe for loaf could be found among our cherished recipes. If Mr. Hawkin would like to try his hand and preparing the dish, we happen to have an excess of fish protein. If he fails and it all goes to waste no one will care if it gets jettisoned in an airlock."
"Is that the Tuna we brought on?" Anastasia asked, "I can't believe there is still some of that in the ship's larder."
"I can" Hap said.
"I'll gladly make Tuna noodle casserole again and save us from the gastronomical horrors of 'loaf'." Anastasia said.
"Loaf is not a…" Hawkins paused and seem to think for a moment, "I think I'm going to bow out and let the Professor cook."
"Good." Roweyna said, "God rest Jerry's soul, but I'd prefer loaf jest as soon followed him to the grave."
"Have the family actually fought the Northwind Highlanders?" Kate asked. "One of the instructors back at NAIS that had strange respect for them. I think he got shot down fighting them, lost an arm, which is how he became an instructor at NAIS. At least that was always the rumor."
"Oh! That's how professor Rasczak lost his arm?" Anastasia asked.
"One time, Miss Berlin. We were doing a raid on, oh I believe it was Foot Fall. As I recall we were destroying some of the planet's industry. I was sitting right here on the Leopard waiting in the Drop Zone for the family to return. All was going well, and our warriors were headed back, when suddenly, o'er the guard channel, we start to hear the hum o' pipes and the beat of the drums."
"The hair on my arms and back of my neck stood up, and, I won't lie, it was grand. Then father starts telling the boys to give it the lash an' get to the Phaidin. About that time I see them crestin' a hill and behind them is two Catapults with LRM racks smokin' and Father is yellin' there was a Highlander and Thunderbolt-5SE backing them up. Every step they took after that could be measured in broken or melted armor. As we were lifting off we could see that they had sent a company to encircle us, and we were chased off by aerospace fighters, and all that for slaggin' a few factories."
"The Northwind Highlander's were as ferocious as they were talented, and oh I dare sat I've never heard pipers like that. After that Father had a stadin' rule that if we were in Capellan space and heard bagpipes we jest turned right back the hell around. I'm surprised he didn't mention it in the mission brief for Necromo."
The JumpShip's sails had now been fully recovered. There were a few of the standard warnings and alarms for an imminent jump. Hawkins got on the 1MC and warned the crew of to prepare for the jump.
Hawkins started a countdown and Roweyna closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat. She'd been on hundreds of jumps but the strange moment where reality was seemingly broken as the ship moved from one star system to another always affected her. There was a crash like thunder and a flash like lightning and Roweyna had the familiar sense of vertigo and shock that instantly moving approximately 30 lightyears always caused her. She took a few calming breaths before standing up.
"Alright everyone, let's begin."
-
Chapter 83
St. Ives System
April 3030
Roweyna watched Anastasia as she quickly "fixed" the DropShip's comms system. She turned the video back on and fixed the sampling rate for the audio. She changed a few more settings and then looked up at Roweyna, "Everything is restored."
Roweyna waited for the Jump Ship crew to start opening the sails, then she took the mic. "JumpShip command deck, request ye release the Leopard Class Drop Ship Phaidin tail number MCFS-61738."
"Who is this? Identify yourself." The Jump Ship crewmember sounded confused.
"Identify yerself first." Roweyna answered.
Another voice got on the radio net, this was a smoother, more experienced sounding man. Everyone listening knew he was a senior. Military officer, "This is Demi Precentor Nikholas Haze, Captain of the Jump Ship Glorious Light, now young lady, if you'd kindly identify yourself."
"This is Roweyna McFinnigan, I have legal and command authority of the Phaidin and her crew. I am requesting you release the Phaidin and allow us safe passage."
"I'd like to speak with Demi Precentor Norton." Demi Precentor Haze answered. "May I ask where he is?"
"Dead." Roweyna said flatly, "If necessary I will compensate ye fair market value for star system travel. 30,000 C-bills. Transferred to any account ye gave me routing numbers for."
"Get the security team on that ship now." A member of the JumpShip crew could be heard yelling.
"Ms. McFinnigan we're not in a position to accept any money you're offering us. We have orders to deliver you to…" Demi Precentor Haze paused, realizing he was about to say too much. "To our leadership."
"I'll double the money. 60,000 C-bills, jest send me yer routing numbers." Roweyna said.
"We're sending security forces to your ship now. It would be in your best interest to stand down and allow them to board." The Demi Precentor said calmly.
"Yer men will meet the same lethal resistance Norton and his boys met. 100,000 C-bills is as high as I'm willing to go." Roweyna said. "If yer not willing to release us, we can start shooting."
"Disable the grav drive, they won't survive a zero-gee fight." One of the Jumpship crew said.
Roweyna put the mic against her shoulder. "Miss Berlin, fire at will on the CV."
The Phaidin's forward battery of LRMs, PPCs and lasers fired on the Leopard CV. Most of the energy weapons and missiles hit the port wing and turret mounted weapon blisters on the Leopard CV.
"What the hell is going on?" The Cee Vee Pilot asked.
"Keep firing Miss Berlin." Roweyna put the mic back to her mouth, "You can either release us, or we'll continue damaging anything we can target."
"I'm certain you know the various treaties and agreements you're currently breaking." Demi Precentor Haze said, he now sounded annoyed, "Our security team is preparing a breaching package. They'll kill you if you if you resist, and I personally assure you that you will be brought to justice. Further your mercenary company will be sanctioned. "
"We've already fought off invaders once. What makes ye think yer lads will be successful? Further, if you sanction us we'll just have to find a Successor State to join, I'm sure the Capellans would be more than happy to take us in, especially after we give them the evidence of who hired us for the raid, and return what ye had us steal. I'll also add if yer security team so much as knocks rudely on my airlock we'll begin targeting your recharge sail."
There was a pause as the Demi Precentor seemed to consider his options. "You cannot fire on a JumpShip." Any charm or calmness was gone from his voice.
"Seeing as how yer going to kill me, what have we to lose? Target their jump sail with a barrage of LRMs." Roweyna said to Kate, "We'll put enough holes into it so they can't recharge, and tell our friends on St. Ives there's a Jumpship waiting for them, jest needs a new sail, ripe for a new nation's taking. Since yer threaten to ruin my mercenary career I'll need to start makin' finding friends in the Successor States. Yer move Demi Percentor."
There was another pause and Kate continued to hammer the Leopard CV. She destroyed the port wing and was starting to target the slender connection to the tail section. Between reloads and the weapons recharging there was the alarms began to signal that they were breaking connection with the JumpShip.
"Oh, well that's all it took. Cease fire." Roweyna said, as she flipped the mic to the 1MC. "Henry, did ye have any trouble."
"Negative mum, no one attempted to board the Phadin."
Kate reached over and punched Hawkins shoulder, "Keep us facing the Cee Vee."
The Leopard kept its nose toward the other DropShip as it started to leave the JumpShip. The shift in gravity was difficult for everyone not sitting down. Roweyna fell back into her seat, as Hawkins maneuvered the DropShip. The Leopard CV was released from the JumpShip and started to move away from both the JumpShip and the McFinnigan's Leopard.
"You going to shoot that?" Hawkins asked.
"He hasn't quite cleared the Jump ship, and in spite of what we said, I still can't bring myself to maliciously target a JumpShip, or risking hitting the K-F drive."
"Thank god for that." Anastasia said.
"I'm pleased they didn't force the issue." Roweyna said as the Leopard CV moved quickly to put the jump ship between the Leopard and itself. "But it looks like the Cee Vee pilot is calling our bluff."
"Where's the Cee Vee going" Sarah asked. "I can hear his transponder, he's moving away from us."
"Moving away to launch his fighters." Kate said while unbuckling her harness. "Hawkins get us ready to launch the Stuka."
"Who put you in charge?" Hawkins asked.
"We're about to have a Chippewa and a Corsair harassing us. I can go out there and Hap or someone can man the guns and help me dismantle them, or we can try to pick them off as they harass us."
"She's right." Roweyna said, "unless ye have better plans, Ms. Berlin get to yer fighter."
"Alright, Hap Get up here." Hawkins said.
Hap climbed into the co-pilot seat as Roweyna grabbed the Mic and got on the 1MC, "All crew be advised we're under attack and will be makin' evasive maneuvers with no warnin' so strap yerself in and hold tight. I also need a few able spacemen to report to Aerobay 2 for an aircraft launch."
Kate walked back over to the Navigation system. "I'm reactiving this station. Do what you can to help." Sarah acknowledged her as she left.
"Alright Hap right now the co-pilot is in gunner mode, so you see this switch?" Hawkins gestured to a switch marked, "SYNC" in the center of the control panel.
Hap pointed to the switch, "That switch?"
Hawkins slapped his hand, "Don't touch that. It will take you out of 'gunner' mode and make you a co-pilot, which will probably get us all killed."
"Alright." Hap said as he gave Hawkins a sideways look. "How do I alternate weapons."
"See the touch screen?" Hawkins said.
Hap looked at a monochrome green screen and started to reach for it as Hawkins swatted his hand again, "Not that one, that's the navigation system, the one on the other side."
"You want me to sit here and not touch anything, or do you want me to actually help defend this boat?"
Hawkins looked frustrated as he leaned over and pointed directly to a large screen. "This is your weapon status and fire control guide." He said. "Use the buttons on the side to toggle modes and weapons. It will map them to buttons on the control stick, I think that's how it works in your 'mech. Also this is a ship, not a boat, jackass."
Hap tentatively pressed a few buttons and checked the status on the Leopards PPCs, LRMs and lasers. Tentatively he checked the mapping to the controls and made a few adjustments as Hawkins continued to fly the DropShip. "Yeah, this looks about the same. Where's the heat scale?" Hap asked as gingerly put his hands on the controls.
"You shouldn't need it unless you fire everything including the aft weapons." Hawkins said, "but it's located here." Hawkins reached over and pointed to a small gauge on the instrument panel.
"Anything else I shouldn't touch?" Hap asked as he cautiously moved the controls and watched the cross hair on his heads-up-display track.
"Yeah every damn thing that isn't the fire-controls." Hawkins snapped, then he straightened the DropShip and sat up a little straighter, "Sorry Hap, I don't usually have a 'mech jock sitting next to me, you guys make me nervous."
"Up until about a minute ago, I would have thought we were pretty cool with each other."
"We're still cool. I just don't want you to screw up and get us killed."
"Your confidence is very reassuring." Hap replied.
"I hear additional transponders." Sarah said, "I think the Cee Vee launched its fighters."
Hap glanced at the radar. "I can see them on the radar they're off the right, or uh, starboard side, how do I change my view to see-" Hap started to reach for the system marked, "View Screen", but Hawkins hit his hand again.
"Damn it Hawkins stop hitting me."
"Stop reaching for things you're not authorized to touch." Hawkins answered, "Just turn your cross hairs and your view will change. It's intuitive, this is a space craft, not some ancient badly welded together walking battle tank."
"Hawkins, did I do something to upset you, or is it Kate out there in the Stuka that's pissing you off?"
"We all got jobs in the company, Hap." Hawkins said, "but, yeah I'm happier when her job has her next to me."
"I'd also like to add that I recently spent several hours crawling through the maintenance areas of this spacecraft, and I saw a lot of ancient wiring and many things that were poorly welded together." Anastasia said.
"Steady lads, we're on the same team." Roweyna put her hand on Anastasia's wrist, "don't add to the problem."
"Hawk, I'm ready to launch." Kate's voice came across the intercom.
"Stand by." Hawkins said as he made a few more adjustments on the controls, "Clear the bay and open the hatches."
"Bay is clear." Kate answered.
A few alarms and lights began to go off on the control panel. Hawkins was watching a particular set of lights that were flashing between amber and green, when they all went steady green he got back on the intercom, "Launch in 5…4…3…2…1…Launch."
Another set of alarms sounded and more lights flashed before going steady green, "Hatches secure."
"I'm clear." Kate said, "Hap, if you and Hawkins can swing it try to take out the Chippewa first, it has a lot of weapons, but not as much armor. Once he's a drifting hulk, we'll move to the Corsair."
Hawkins turned the Leopard hard and began flying toward the JumpShip's sail. As he changed direction he also altered the Leopard DropShip's posture, "I'm going to 'fly-normal', more like aerospace fighter, it'll make it easier to target all our weapons on the fighters, but gravity is going to get weird."
Roweyna groaned as the Phaidin settled into using its aft thrusters and everyone felt themselves pushed back into their seats. It felt sort of like they were now sitting with their backs to the floor.
"Those two fighters are going to try and hit us from all different angles trying to make sure you never get an opportunity to hit them with everything. If I stay close to the JumpShip it will limit their attack angles and maybe keep them from using missiles." Hawkins said. "Also, like Kate said, try to take down the Chippewa first, if these guys know what they're doing they try to confuse you and hope you miss."
"Got it." Hap said trying to get use to the shift in the ship's pseudo-gravity.
Kate brought the Stuka to fly just off the port side of the Leopard. The Chippewa and Corsair were arrayed side by side and coming straight toward them.
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Chapter 84
The scanners alerted Hap to the incoming fighters. They were flying straight at him, but he could only target one. As he placed the crosshair on the fighter on the right a screen brought up the technical information on the Chippewa. He watched the distance between the fighter and the DropShip decrease as he waited for the targeting computer to let him know the fighters were in weapon's range.
"They're going to fire missiles, break and you'll have a moment to return fire with the missiles and hit them with the PPCs." Hawkins warned. As he spoke Hap could see the tiny orange pin pricks of the Chippewa's dual LRM 15s. Hap instantly triggered the Phaidin's three LRM 20s, and started to track as the Chippewa turned to move high and to starboard. Hap managed to hit it with one of the two PPCs as it skirted around the long range edge of the Phaidin's front weapon arc. As Hap tracked the Chippewa the long-range missiles struck the nose and wings of the Phaidin.
The targeting computer indicated the Chippewa had taken significant damage from the LRM barrage. A quick comparison showed the Phaidin had taken only superficial damage to the nose and wings. The targeting computer alerted Hap that the computers had auto-targeted the Corsair. Hap triggered the medium and close range lasers as the corsair closed and struck the Leopard with its own complement of energy weapons. The Corsair dove below the Phaidin and out of sight.
Kate rolled the Stuka over the top of the Phaidin and pivoted to chase the Chippewa. In seconds she was closing with the Chippewa and bringing her considerable arsenal to bear on the unfortunate vessel.
Hap skewed the weapon systems so he could watch the Chippewa as the Stuka's barrage of lasers and missiles sheared one of the wings off and cut deep into the fuselage. The pilot struggled to keep the vessel stable as he tried to give a feeble response with his remaining weapons, but Kate was keeping the Stuka in his rear arc.
"Can he still fly, or maneuver, without a wing?" Hap asked
"It's space, brother." Hawkins replied, "As long as he's not getting sucked out of his cockpit, and his engine is intact he can keep fighting. Now if he was in any type of atmosphere, he'd be fighting to not take a dirt nap."
Hap nodded as he tried to move the weapons and searched for the corsair.
"It sounds like the Corsair is behind us, and maybe below us." Sarah said.
Anastasia unlocked her chair and pushed it on its rail across the bridge to be next to the navigation station. "She's correct, the Corsair is coming in fast bearing 170 mark 15.
Hawkins pulled a hard turn and dipped the wing bringing the side of the Leopard to face the fighter. Roweyna groaned as the ship turned and the inertial forces shifted. Hap could see the fighter was already coming into range of the ship's missile. Hap launched the wings mounted LRM 20 and large lasers as Hawkins continued to turn the dropship.
The Corsair's large lasers carved into the dropship's side as the Corsair pilot accelerated in an effort to get into the drop ship's rear arc and attack its engines. Hawkins continued to turn and accelerate trying to ensure the Corsair couldn't get behind them. The Corsair accelerated and tried to follow Hawkins maneuver as Hawkins tried to pull the turn tighter. The Corsair overshot the Leopard and Hawkins waited until they were close to the JumpShip to pull out of the turn.
"Anyone know what the CeeVee is doing?" Hawkins said as the force of the acceleration altered from pushing them sideways to pushing them back.
"I do not." Anastasia said, "It seems it's using the Jump Ship to hide from us."
"I think I can hear its transponder, but I'm not sure if it's moving."
Anastasia started adjusting the instruments on the navigation station. "The SONAR system uses the same energy as the radar system and turns it into sound. It also receives navigational beacons, transponder information, and the occasional space anomalies that can be translated into sound. It's arguably a holdover from Terran submarine SONAR from centuries ago."
She found the menu she was looking for and quickly changed a few settings, "Unless you can tease out the Leopard CV's transponder, and if the equipment is sensitive enough for you to hear the Doppler effect, you're going to have a hard time getting anything useful. Now if you'll give me a moment-"
"Anastasia, could ye…could ye jest not be yerself for a while and stop explain' things." Roweyna said. Hap noticed that the Cee Vee was now represented by a red delta but it would blink out every few seconds. He assumed the radar was now showing the last known transponder beacon location.
"I got it." Kate said. "The CeeVee is moving beneath the Jump Ship, relative to you." As Kate's Stuka moved her radar caught sight of the other DropShip and relayed the information to the Phaidin.
"Acknowledge" Hawkins said as he pivoted the DropShip to fly up and over the JumpShip. The pseudo gravity shifted again and Roweyna half cried as she searched the pockets of her chair for a motion sickness bag.
"Mr. Hawkins, I need to jest get this tub out of the fight." Roweyna said as she found a bag and snapped it open. She leaned away from everyone as she got sick.
"I don't feel good either." Sarah said. Anastasia noted she was starting to turn green.
"This is why I gotta keep the bridge clear." Hawkins mumbled as he turned the Leopard. "Try to keep it together ladies while I get this ship pointed at St Ives.
"One Bandit down." Kate said. "You got the Corsair doubling back around looks like he'll follow you over the top of the Jump ship."
"What about the Cee Vee?"
"Moving slow turning carefully. It probably lost some structural integrity when I sucker punched it." Kate said. "I could probably finish it off, but I'm trying to line up to meet the Corsair in a time and space that will be unpleasant for him."
"You're the best Katey." Hawkins said, "I'm making the crew sick here, and Roweyna says we need to end this quick.
"Why don't you take it out of Vomit Comet mode, and fly right?"
"Because I'd prefer not to get my ass handed to me."
"Oh you let me worry about that." Kate said.
"You'll handle my ass?" Hawkins joked as Roweyna wretched. Anastasia put a motion sickness into Sarah's hands and she mumbled "thanks" as she opened it and put it to her mouth before she retched.
"I think I agree with the bridge crew." Kate said.
Hap glanced at the holo radar. The Corsair was coming up and around the jump ship as the Phaidin was flying parallel to the jump ship flying toward its nose. The Leopard CV was on the other side of the ship and slowly turning and moving to come back around the Jump Ship unfortunately the Cee Vee was closer to the nose of the JumpShip. Kate's Stuka was located below everyone, but she was changing her speed and vector to close with the Phadin.
Hawkins brought the Phaidin out of its turn and straightened out. He started to accelerate and everyone was pushed back in their seats. It wasn't normal gravity, but it wasn't as nausea inducing as the previous maneuvers. Hap was feeling a little unwell, and hearing and smelling Roweyna and Sarah being sick wasn't helping. He knew he should try to find a horizon or a fixed object, but the weapon system warned him the Corsair coming up behind them.
Hap's weapon monitor changed to show the Corsair was trying to come at them from a low angle making him hard to target. Hap had to depress the weapon blister almost as far as he could. He hit the Corsair's nose and wing with a large laser and medium lasers while the Corsair hit the Phaidin's engines with its complement of lasers.
Hap glanced over at the holo-radar as he waited for the lasers to recharge. Kate guided her Stuka just under the Corsair and closed on the rear of the fighter. He glanced back to his screen as he prepared for another energy weapon exchange.
"Why aren't we rolling-over and assuming normal gravity operations." Sarah asked.
"Because I want to beat the Cee Vee before he comes around the JumpShip." Hawkins said. "Trust me, when we overthrust it feels more normal just to get pushed backwards, rather than getting pushed down like you're in an elevator that going a thousand kilometers an hour."
Hap gave another sideways glance to the holo radar. For a moment he could watch the Cee Vee speed along on the other side of the Jump Ship. It was looking like it was trying to get around the JumpShip to head off the Phaidin, and it was already at the JumpShip's nose. As Kate got closer the radar switched from a detailed icon to a red delta, then the Cee Vee disappeared again.
The Stuka slipped in behind the Corsair and there was a bright flash as Kate unleashed her forward facing weapons. Missiles and lasers tore into the engine and rear of the ship. The Corsair's engine was struck and Hap saw multiple flashes and then the craft exploded.
Hawkins glanced at the radar and then started pulling up on the stick to raise the Phaidin. As they approached the front of the Jump Ship the Leopard CV came around the front and angled itself so it could target the Phaidin with both its forward and starboard battery. Hawkins tried to continue the climb as they were struck by multiple missiles and energy weapons.
Hawkins gritted his teeth as he dropped the Leopard's nose so the weapons were facing the Leopard CV as they flew over the top. The weapon monitor indicated the weapons were recharged and reloaded. Hap quickly targeted the Cee Vee as they flew over, most of the weapons hit the fuselage and starboard side of the DropShip. Hap glanced at the damage monitor. The armor was holding, but they couldn't sustain another barrage. Hawkins touched one of the monitors and pulled up data on the Cee Vee. It's fuselage and port side were ruined, but the nose and starboard were still in good shape.
"Katey I still got my ass, but just barely. Do me a favor and keep that Cee Vee from chasing us before you come in from the cold."
"I know how to get a man to stop chasing me." Kate said. Hap watched the holo radar and saw the Stuka barrel roll till it lined up with the Cee Vee and then accelerate to close the distance. Hawkins switched the center monitor so they could watch as Kate flew over the top of CV, performed a near perfect 180 degree turn, and then launched her battery of LRMs and lasers into the ruined side of the CV. Lasers and missiles blasted through the Drop Ship's armor and began to cut through the internal structure.
There was a flash of fire and smoke as combustible materials were exposed to the vacuum of space and for a moment there was oxygen to fuel the fire. The Stuka turned slowly as the Leopard continued to vent off oxygen and small explosions occured as the tail section drifted away from the main fuselage of the Drop Ship. Kate leveled off the Stuka and flew toward the Phaidin. "One gelded Leopard. By the time their damage crews get that sorted out we should be half-way to St. Ives."
"Damn, I love her and want her to have my children." Hawkins said as tactical display relayed the damage to Leopard CV. It had taken significant damage to its structural integrity and the whole rear tail section was missing. It would be impossible for the ship to enter a planet's atmosphere.
"Now that I've had my fun." Kate said. "Permission to come aboard?"
"What's your fuel situation?" Hawkins asked.
"Good." Kate said slowly. "Why do you ask?"
"Think we're going need a few minutes before the crew will be capable of recovering you."
Kate turned her fighter and accelerated to catch up with the Phaidin, "I was thinking you couldn't really fly a drop ship like a aerospace fighter and not give the whole damn crew motion sickness, and some of them probably got banged around or hit by unsecured equipment. Good job Hawk."
"Better than spaced, besides, it's not the whole crew, the Haphazard co-pilot you left me with is doing fine."
"Barely." Hap said. Hawkins had put the Phadin in regular "normal" space operation and was using the bottom thrusters and a constant thrust to restore "pseudo gravity" to the Leopard. Hap was glad gravity was back to normal, and it was probably going to be a few minutes before he'd feel normal.
"Well the Professor's hanging tough."
"I kept my eyes on the horizon or a fixed object, as best I could, just like they taught us back at the Academy."
Hawkins turned to look at Anastasia. She was pulling up the navigation information for their trek to St. Ives. He glanced over to the comms station she had also been manipulating, and something occurred to him. "How much Drop Ship operations do they teach a cadet at NAIS?"
"Well it depends on the classes the cadet takes." Anastasia answered. "I took a few classes in DropShip operations because I was flirting with the idea of joining team Banzai and they generally like their team members to have two very different MOSs. Mechwarrior and DropShop pilot are almost as different as you can get."
Roweyna was still laying back in her chair and trying to recover from motion sickness, but she sat up and eyed Anastasia, "Did ye mention ye were a qualified DropShip pilot when ye signed up? How'd I miss this?"
"No." Anastasia said, "Because I'm not. I only have two classes and some twenty hours of simulator time, and a few hours in a drop shuttle. I still had to do the two Advanced Drop Ship crew operations classes and Celestial Navigation, plus another thirty hours of simulation time, and another dozen hours of actual flight time, preferably in a drop ship, not a shuttle. Once I did that I'd get DropShip flight crew as a secondary MOS. To get Pilot I would need-"
"Stop." Roweyna said, "Did ye earn your private space pilot license?"
"No, although one of my instructors said between my drop shuttle and simulation times I was probably ready to test for it." Anastasia said. "I was going to do it after the semester, but then Klathandu happened."
Kate maneuvered the Stuka next to the Phaidin, "Did Anastasia just say she was qualified to fly that boat?"
"I thought it wasn't a boat." Hap said.
"Quiet you." Hawkins said as he glanced back at Hap then looked over at Anastasia, "You mean I could have pilot-in-training Calahad here, instead of grabby-handsy-Calahad sitting next to me?"
"I'm not grabby-handsy." Hap said.
"You actually are." Anastasia said, she saw Hap's confused expression, "I mean you did take a lot of liberties with my person that night when Crow forced us to share a berth."
"First, you asked me to share the berth with you." Hap said.
"Given the situation I didn't want to put you out." Anastasia said.
"Second, you generally like, no you damn near insist that I get "handsy" with you. You invite me to take liberties with your person almost daily." Hap said.
"Well just because I like a little physical affection doesn't take away the fact you are quick to give it." Anastasia said.
"Third, that's not what Hawkins was talking about." Hap said.
"Suddenly I think it's something we should talk about." Hawkins said.
"I wish I had popcorn for this." Kate added. "I thought it was going to be bored waiting for the crew to clean themselves up and get the aerobay ready, now I'm happy to wait. Oh! I just found a compressed oat ration bar. Please Anastasia tell us more about the liberties Hap takes with your person. Please be as detailed as possible."
"Explicitly detailed as possible." Hawkins added, "and feel free to make up stuff."
Roweyna cleared her throat, "It's more important we talk about the situation at hand. Anastasia we've lost a navigator and sadly a pilot-in-training who is-"
"Not fully mission capable" Hap said, gently, glad the subject was changing.
Roweyna nodded, "Aye." She reached over and squeezed Sarah's shoulder, "but she'll be FMC again soon enough. In the meantime, Anastasia, and for that matter Hap, any help ye can give to alleviate the flight crew would be appreciated."
"Certainly." Anastasia answered
"Mr. Hawkins." Roweyna said, "I need ye to determine what it will take to get Ms. Calahad her private pilots license, so she can perform operations on the Phaidin. Give her whatever test she needs, but do not change the gravity of this vessel."
"Too easy." Hawkins said as he looked over at Hap and Hawkins jerked his thumb over his shoulder indicating he needed to get out of the co-pilot seat.
"Very good." Roweyna said as she carefully rose to her feet and slowly started to leave the bridge. "Until I recover Mr. Hawkins yer in charge, get the damage crews to figure out how badly the Phaidin is. Hap, call ahead to St. Ives and see if any of your friends can give us a place to repair our ship and maybe give us some work. Perhaps we can find a way to contact dad. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to retire to my quarters, and if ye need me and come callin' I'll likely hurl on ye.
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Great couple of chapters there! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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Should have accidentally destroyed the jump sail. Oooops what is Constar going to censure you for fighting back when Comstar is trying to kill you?
That way Comstar could not jump out and deny that they are attacking the great houses.
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Nice. Awrospace combat that looked like aerospace combat. At least to my totally untrained air combat knowledge.
I would have held the jumpship hostage ("shot on me and you are toast") if I were the crew of the phaidin, but that is me
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..."And feel free to make stuff up..."
ROFLCOPTER... (Three chapters? Oi, you spoil us!) :D
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I like the idea for threaten to take out the Jump Sail :thumbsup:
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Great update and I can't wait for more.
Psy
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Chapter 85
St. Ives System
May 3030
Hap and Anastasia were on the bridge of the Phaidin. About a day and a half had passed since they had fought their way away out of the Jump point. They were now about halfway to St. Ives III. The crew had mostly recovered from the attempted hijacking and the desperate space combat that followed. Minor injuries had been addressed, and the most pressing repairs had been seen too. Normal operations had resumed as best they could.
Anastasia was currently in the pilot's seat on watch. Hawkins had worked out a watch schedule that was four hours on and eight hours off between Hawkins, Kate and Anastasia. Hawkins had determined Anastasia was smart enough and trained to the point she could keep the ship going in the right direction and would know when to come and find him or Kate. He didn't think she was ready to land the drop ship alone, but for intersystem movement she was fine. Kate and Hawkins would also come and go during their "off" time, so Anastasia was rarely alone for long.
Sarah generally followed Anastasia's watches and would ask her about the formal training in space operations that she had received at NAIS. Despite her current blindness, Sarah seemed optimistic about recovering her vision and being a Dropship pilot. Anastasia didn't mind sharing her knowledge, and did her best to teach her blind student.
Hap found himself shadowing Anastasia too. He'd man the comms station and help Sarah with anything she needed. Currently he was waiting for a call from the St. Ives military command. Yesterday he had called St. Ives Military, explained they had jumped in system, and were looking for work. To his surprise the Compact's representative asked very few questions about their story of a contract gone bad. They were given permission to proceed to the planet, and told they would contact them again as they got closer.
Hap was playing with Selene while he waited. He had been working with her on the basic sit, stay, come, shake type dog tricks. He had taken a tuna ration package to use as dog treats. Eventually Selene got bored and snatched the pouch from Hap and buried her nose in the retort package to get all the tuna. Hap was also bored and so he decided they were done. He had to take the pouch away from her once she licked it clean and started chewing on it. With the pouch gone she decided to get one of her favorite playthings, a half-meter length of rope.
The rope was knotted at both ends and Selene liked to play tug-of-war with it. She went and picked up the rope and brought it over to Hap. He took the free end and held on as she pulled. Hap pulled against her and tried to take the rope away from her for a few moments before letting go. She'd almost fall backward before she took a couple steps and violently shook the rope. She brought the rope back to Hap and after a few rounds took it over to Anastasia and put her head, rope, and all, on Anastasia's lap.
"Non bébé" Anastasia replied, "I must fly the ship."
Selene trotted over to Sarah and hit her leg with a knotted end of rope. Sarah had to grasp around to find the Coyote, but eventually she caught hold of the rope and played with the coyote till she decided to go back to Hap. As Hap reached for the rope Roweyna entered the bridge. She was dressed in a white blouse, a plaid skirt, and a gray cardigan with the McFinnigan and Sons logo embroidered on it. She seemed to be recovering well from everything she had endured.
Selene saw Roweyna and approached her with the rope. Roweyna regarded the young Coyote for a moment, "Does Mr. Hawkins know yer on the bridge?" As she spoke to Selene the coyote cocked her head but continued to wag her tail as she waited for Roweyna to try and take her rope.
"Mr. Hawkins knows." Anastasia answered, "He was very specific that he would tolerate Hap and Selene, but not Joker or Mags. He stated plainly that was the extent to which he'd allow, 'wild and untrained animals' on the bridge."
"Oh! So yer an untrained animal now, Hap."
"He actually said I had the makings of a third class gunner's mate." Hap said. "But the way he said it made it feel like being an untrained animal was better."
"Selene is not untrained." Anastasia said. "Selene, le lit."
Selene walked over to a mat in the corner and laid down. She sat for a few moments before she got distracted by an old bone she had been given a few weeks back. Roweyna watched as the Coyote chewed on her bone, but remained on her mat. "I've seen Mags and Joker working with yer coyote pup and never has she shown this level of obedience. Honestly, I'd consider her and Mags about equally likely to do as they were told."
"I keep trying to tell everyone, she responds best when you speak to her in French. I believe it's her mother's tongue." Anastasia said.
The incoming call light flashed on the communication station. Hap looked over the display, "This is our call from St. Ives."
Roweyna settled into the seat next to Hap as he accepted the call, turned on the camera, and se tup the microphone between them. The holoviewer resolved to show a middle aged Asian woman. Hap could faintly see a few scars on her neck, but they were mostly hidden by the collar of her military uniform. She looked familiar to Hap as he studied her uniform trying to determine her rank.
"Greetings, McFinnigan and Sons, I am Sao-Shao Liu. I believe we spoke before." She looked at Roweyna and then Hap trying to find a look of recognition. "However, I was heavily medicated at the time. Perhaps-"
Hap immediately remembered her. This was the Sao-Shao, or Major, that had interrupted the very rude and patronizing Sang-Wei or Captain that they were working with. "Sao-Shau Liu, hello. I'm Captain Calahad. Yes we spoke last time. My call sign is Haphazard or Hap, and this is Ms. Roweyna McFinnigan You look well, how is your hand?"
"Thank you, Captain." Sao-Shao Liu's face brightened as Hap spoke. She held up her hand. It had several burn scars and there was a faint surgical scar that was barely noticeable in the holo's projection. "It is well. I am told that your doctor's skill is the only reason I still have my hand. Is he with you? May I thank him?"
"No, but his wife is with us." Hap said, "She's also a qualified doctor though, and I'm certain she'd relay your appreciation to him."
"I am quite grateful to your Company, Captain." Sao-Shao Liu said
"Have you recovered from your other injuries?"
"Mostly." Sao-Shao Liu replied, "However my leadership thought that if I were placed on the command staff I would recover more quickly while my skills could still benefit the Compact. So my time of command has ended, but I still aid the Compact, and can speak with you today."
Hap could hear the regret in losing her command, "I'm sorry you lost your command."
"We all must do what is best for the Compact." Sao-Shao Liu said, "Which brings us back to you, we certainly could use additional BattleMechs. There are Capellan partisans in the hill country outside our capital that are using a heavily defended fortress to harass us and wage an asymmetrical war."
"Ye need us to destroy a fortress? That's one of the many services we provide." Roweyna said.
"Sadly it is quite well defended. We would like your 'mechs to augment our assault force, however we have experienced fierce fighting in the last few days and need some time to reset our forces before we begin the assault."
"Very good." Roweyna said, "We're still a day and a half from landing, and we need some time to make our own repairs to our DropShip so we should be there when yer forces are ready."
"This is acceptable." Sao-Shao Liu said, "let us speak of your requirements. You have requested a secure hangar for dropship maintenance as well as access to our equipment and supply stores. I can grant you access to our stores, at fair market value, but we cannot give you a secure hangar. We will allow you to land on a military airfield though."
"That'll have to do." Roweyna said, then quickly added, "Thank you. We'll send ye a list a parts we'd like to have on hand when we land."
"Very well. Now if we could discuss your fees."
"Normally I'd prefer to have more intel before we discuss remuneration. Perhaps ye can tell me at least the type of mission ye'll be looking for us to do."
"Screening operations, possibly a raid or ambush." Sao-Shao Liu replied, "I am told your drop tonnage is 155 tons. We would be looking for you to address the insurgents smaller and faster combat vehicles and 'mechs, we may also need you to possibly draw out a larger 'mech force from the fortress."
Hap closed his eyes and let the two woman bargained over the contract price. Sao-Shao Liu was being careful to only give a little bit of information and Roweyna kept using the vagueness to keep her prices high. Finally Hap asked, "Sao-Shao Liu, Ma'am, what's the disposition of that 'larger 'mech force'?"
Sao-Shao Liu's placid face went blank. She looked down and then looked back into the camera and leaned forward, "When last we worked together we attempted to conceal parts of our intel, and I am sorry, it created unnecessary complexity to your operation. However, today, as then, my superiors would prefer I not reveal that information till you are on the ground."
"And less likely to back-out." Roweyna added.
Sao-Shao Liu looked behind her, and then whispered, "The enemies of the Compact use a heavy lance for point defense, it consists of a Cataphract, a Marauder and a Warhammer. These mech's, plus the fortresses static defense and anti-air towers make the fortress too difficult for us to destroy.."
Roweyna looked at Hap, "Is it even possible for yer lance to take down one of those mechs."
"One? Maybe." Hap said. "I don't even know what a Cataphract is, but a Warhammer or a Marauder we could probably destroy, but only if it was alone. Together though…that's unlikely, and even if we managed we'd probably lose half the lance. With whatever that third 'mech is, it's probably suicide."
"You'll be supporting our lance with our rebuilt Stalker and King Crab though." Sao-Shao Liu whispered.
"Okay if the Heavies slug it out with the Assaults while we harass, then we're fine. I'll just have to make sure Mags doesn't jump into the middle of something stupid. If she keeps moving to flank them, while Joker's Firestarter pushes them to overheat and Anastasia and I keep them in off balance with missiles we can make life real hard on them while the King Crab and Stalker take 'em apart." Hap said.
As Hap spoke Sao-Shao Liu nodded, "Yes, this is precisely the sort of support we would require." She resumed her normal posture and placid expression.
"That's not exactly screening." Roweyna said as her eyes narrowed, "I think 300,000 C bills would be a fair compensation for that work though."
"That's higher than I am authorized to offer, perhaps 225,000 plus priority salvage."
"I'd rather ye guarantee yer not going to "company store" me with supply parts, and waive the landing fees. Grant me that, and we'll do can go to 250,000."
"You have my assurances of fair market value for everything, and we'll waive the landing fees, however 250,000 is still too high. I could go back to my leadership and request 230,000.
"Does that include priority on salvage?" Roweyna asked.
"Yes. At least up to a value of 70,000 on the first item." Sao-Shao Liu said. "I will also add a clause that you receive priority on any 'mechs you company exclusively destroys."
"That's more than fair." Roweyna said. "Ye get me that in a contract and we'll sign it before we land."
"Shall I send it through the MRB?" Sao-Shao Liu asked.
"Oh no need for that love," Roweyna said smoothly, "They'll want to take their cut, and the client that betrayed us was vetted by the MRB. So I wouldn't know why I'd pay extra for their services. You've worked with the family before and I know ye wouldn't betray us."
Sao-Shao Liu nodded, "Very well. I will speak to my superiors and have the contract sent to you shortly." She looked like she was about to shut off the holo, but then she stopped, "The Federated Suns recently opened an Embassy on St. Ives. You may wish to contact them. They own a large, fortified hangar on the edge of the space port. Given your alignment with them, they may be able to support you."
"Thank you Ma'am." Hap said. "I'll give them a call."
"I will send you their contact frequencies. St. Ives out." Sao-Shao Liu said as she disconnected the call.
"Are we calling the embassy next?" Anastasia asked
"I suppose." Hap said as the comms station received the information for the embassy. "I'm not sure who to ask for though."
"The Defense Attaché Office of course."
-
Chapter 86
Hap had to work through a couple different departments of the Federated Suns Embassy before he got transferred to the Defense Attaché Office. The holo screen changed from a very prim and proper librarian looking woman to a very surly fat-jowled Corporal. Even with the holo he looked like he hadn't shaved in days and his uniform jacket was open and badly wrinkled. He was also leaning back in his chair and Hap suspected he had his feet up on his desk.
"Hello Corporal, I'm Captain Calahad. I'm a Liaison Officer with the mercenary company McFinnigan and Sons. Ms. Roweyna McFinnigan to my left represents the company's interest. Not on camera, but also in the room, is Subaltern Capetian-Calahad. We're about to conduct combat operations with the Compact's military, but before we land we'd like to speak to the Defense Attaché." As Hap introduced himself Hawkins came onto the bridge and started speaking to Sarah and Anastasia.
The corporal looked bored and annoyed, "The Defense Attaché isn't here right now."
"That's fine Corporal, but we're landing in about two days. We're told the embassy has a secure hangar facility. If it's available, we'd like to land there. Can you help me get permission to use it?"
"No." The corporal said as he reached for a bag of chips and started eating.
"Okay. Can you tell me who can give us permission to use it, Corporal?"
"I don't know." The corporal shrugged. Hap was starting to get irritated.
Anastasia slid into the seat next to Hap, "Hello Corporal, I'm Subaltern Capetian-Calahad. When will the Defense Attaché be available? Perhaps he can help us." As she spoke she put her hand on Hap's knee and gave it a squeeze. She also gave him a look to remind him not to overact.
"I don't know."
"You don't know if he can help us? Or you don't know when he'll be available." Hap asked, trying not to let his frustration show.
"Both really." The corporal seemed to be getting annoyed too. "Look buddy, the Defense Attaché is a busy man, maybe you should just wait till you get here."
Buddy? If Hap could reach through the Holo he would likely backhanded him.
"We want to land at that secure hangar, Corporal." Hap said, "How is it going to work if I have to come and see the Defense Attaché before we land? You expect us to stay in orbit while I do a combat drop in my BattleMech onto the embassy."
"I don't know" The Corporal said. "I think that's your problem."
Hap wondered if Anastasia could calculate a way for his Griffin to land directly on the spot where the Corporal was casually disregarding every rule and regulation on military customs and courtesy.
Roweyna leaned over to whisper, "Yer handling this masterfully."
"Is there someone else I can speak to? Do you have a Sergeant perhaps?" Anastasia asked.
"Nope. Just me and Private Harmay." The Corporal took a long drink from a soda bottle.
"What is your name Corporal?" Anastasia asked nicely.
"Weber." The Corporal said before belching.
"Corporal Weber, do you or Private Harmay have access to the Defense Attaché's calendar?"
"I can get that ma'am." Said a female voice from off camera. "We can schedule the Colonel's appointments."
A young female soldier came into view and sat down next to the Corporal. She had to push the Corporal's feet off the desk which caused him to have to change his posture. For a second the camera caught the Corporal's large gut and it became obvious why his service coat was open.
"He's not busy tomorrow afternoon, ma'am." Private said as she looked down at the notebook she was carrying.
"If there's nothing on his calendar, he's probably going to play golf or get a massage. He's going to be pissed with you if you schedule anything, Private Harmay." The Corporal told her. The way he said "Private" almost sounded like an insult.
"Meeting with members of the AFFS is part of the Defense Attaché's role. I would doubt meeting with us would upset him." Anastasia said.
"You don't know the Colonel. I'm telling you, he's going to walk in tomorrow and just cancel that appointment." The corporal huffed, "Boot Harmay gonna tell him about it, and he's just going to yell, 'CANX!'."
"Ma'am, what will your meeting with the Colonel be about?." Private Harmay asked.
"We need to encrypt this call." Anastasia said, "Does your system have that capacity?"
"You know you're asking a lot out of us just to do you a favor?" Corporal Weber said.
"I think all we have to do is push this button here. I loaded the encryption on the first of the month like the Colonel told me too." Private Harmay said. The image froze and was replaced by floating text stating, "Request for Secure comms. Press Secure to encrypt call"
Hap hit a button marked secure on the comms station. The text was replaced by system messages reporting "GOING SECURE…SYNCHRONIZING…ESTABLISHING ENCRYPTION…CONNECTION SECURE."
Corporal Weber and Private Harmay reappeared on the Holo. Private Harmay was smiling and looked pleased with herself.
"Well done Private." Hap said, trying to sound appreciative. He was starting to suspect that Private Harmay was a very fresh recruit. She was bright eyed, her uniform fit her properly and she had her hair in a tight bun. She also looked young. She had the general disciplined look of a Soldier that had just left her initial training.
"Yes, thank you Private Harmay." Anastasia said very cordially, "We recently conducted a raid on Necromo, and secured some highly sensitive military equipment. We need a secure location to protect it. We can't trust any Capellan sympathizers that might still be in the Compact's Military, and we can't trust ComStar. A diplomatic site with its immunities would be ideal for us."
Hap cleared his throat "The other reason we need that hangar is that our dropship was seriously damaged during that operation and needs repairs. So if we can be protected from the elements while we fix it that would be an added bonus."
"It also needs several centuries worth of routine maintenance." Anastasia said.
"The Phaidin has received decades, possibly centuries, of excellent maintenance. It has layers of paint and rust that have been maintaining hull integrity long before you were born." Hawkins said as he passed the Navigation station on his way to the Bridge's coffee urn.
"Ma'am, what did your unit take in the raid?" Private Harmay asked.
"We really can't say, but it's brought us nothing but trouble." Roweyna said, "If the esteemed Federation o' Suns would like to compensate us for acquiring it, I'd be more than happy to strike a bargain. It's become evident the villains that originally commissioned us for the job aren't going to honor their contract, and I'm running a business, so I'm willing to make a deal."
Private Harmay nodded, "Okay Ma'am, you need to speak to the Colonel about using the secure hangar, a raid on Necromo, and purchasing 'sensitive military equipment' from the Mercenary Company you work for."
"We're Liaisons, so we work with them not for them, but, yeah, that's close enough Private." Hap said.
"Who is the Defense Attaché'?" Anastasia asked as the Private erased what she wrote in the notebook and jotted down the correction Hap had given her.
"Colonel Bruckner Ma'am." The private replied. "If you call us tomorrow at 1400 he should be available to speak with you."
"What time did ye have there locally?" Roweyna asked
"It's about 1030, Ma'am." Private Harmay answered. Roweyna nodded and started adjusting her watch.
"Thank you again, Private Harmay." Anastasia said. "Also, please note that you should not use any ComStar equipment like HPG to communicate about us, or tell anyone except the Colonel about the things we discussed during the encrypted call."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Thank you." Hap said as he disconnected the call.
"Well I dare say I've never met a Corporal in the Federated Sons that was that fat, or undisciplined." Roweyna said after the holo turned blank and went into standby mode.
"Yeah. That's what happens when Corporals don't have adult supervision." Hap said. He gave Anastasia a skeptical look. "It sounds like the Defense Attaché office is small, and he's not there very often. I'm not sure they're going to be much help."
"I know." Anastasia answered, "but we have to go through the proper channels. As military members we start with the DAT. If he can't help us, he'll either set up a meeting with the ambassador or, if the ambassador isn't available, the Charge d'affaires."
"Is that how embassy's work?" Roweyna asked.
"Mother had me intern at an embassy for a summer, and it was how that one worked. Although given our experience with the Corporal it seems more probable Colonel Bruckner will just tell us to go away."
"Aye, that does seem more probable." Roweyna said as she sipped her tea.
"You're in a mischievous mood." Hap said, "You just feeling better or is there something your happy about that I'm missing?"
"Many things Mr. Calahad, yer missing many things I am feeling better, and thank you for asking. And my conversation to arrange things for the company went perfect, while yers went to shit, so I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm feeling a little smug."
"Our interaction with the DAT's office was…suboptimal, but we do have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow, so I don't believe it went that poorly." Anastasia said
"Very well, we'll find out tomorrow that it went to shit, but the thing that I think is most important is I don't think that fat Corporal laziness will really matter. I could tell from the way Sao-Shau Liu was looking at Captain Haphazard that we're in good standing with the Compact, and they'll take fine care of us."
"How was she looking at my husband?" Anastasia asked.
"Like a fellow warrior." Roweyna said, "Father pointed this out to me a long time ago. When yer dickerin' over a contract if yer dealing with some bean-counting bureaucrat or careless staff officer they sell you short, choose the lowest bid, or agree to exactly the amount they're told to bargain for. But, if ye talk to a warrior, they know that a Mercenary that is treated well and compensated fairly will fight like a professional and endure damn near the same hardships and dangers as their own sons and daughters.
"Now, If ye fought on the same ground as that warrior, 'lose the same blood in the same mud' as Father would say, they'll fight for you to their leadership and ensure yer taken care of. So I'm thinkin' Sao-Shau Liu's word is as good as gold, especially since we personally saved life and limb for her."
"You know we're dealing with people that grew up and were trained by the Capellans?" Hap said, "Sao-Shau Liu and Chyou, or-" Hap looked over at Anastasia.
"Sao Wei Mun." Anastasia said.
"Sao-Shau Liu and Sao Wei Mun were straight with us, but Sang Wei Zhang was insulting, tried to put us at unnecessary risk and was generally an ass." Hap said.
"I read Fiona's report and agree with you, but I assure you that Sao-Shau Liu is going to ensure we get the best that she can get us. Besides the Compact can't afford to ostracize mercenaries and, as far as they are concerned, we're just a one-off from being an official Federated Suns unit. I'm telling you they'll treat us well and we'll be fine, even if the embassy doesn't come through."
Hap wasn't sure how to respond but the communication system indicated they had an incoming call from the Embassy. Hap accepted the call and the encryption system re-engaged and then the holo displayed Corporal Weber and Private Harmay. The Corporal looked kowtowed and the Private seemed nervous.
"Captain Calahad, sir, and Subaltern Capetian-Calahad, Ma'am, we were able to get you access to the secure hangar. I'll transmit the location and access codes now."
"Thank you." Anastasia said as the computer registered receiving the incoming information. "Did Colonel Bruckner return?"
"No Ma'am." Private Harmay said. "We were told the Ambassador is a friend of your mother, and she personally insisted you have access to anything you need, including the secure hangar. We were also told you will need to report to the embassy and we'll coordinate a meeting for you with the Foreign Affairs Department."
"Who is the ambassador?"
"The Countess Clarke-Martin."
Anastasia nodded, "Very good. Thank you Private Harmay. Will the Defense Attache' still be available tomorrow?"
"I believe so Ma'am."
"Thank you, again Private Harmay, I look forward to seeing you in a few days." Anastasia said as she disconnected the call.
"Do you know the Ambassador?"
"No." Anastasia replied, "nor is her name familiar. That's not to say she isn't my mother's friend, but I don't know her." Anastasia seemed to be thinking, "I should have asked for her first name." Anastasia added.
Kate came in and looked around, "Anastasia, Hap I'm surprised to see you both here. I thought once Anastasia's watch was over you'd two would run off to your berth so Hap could take more liberties with your person." Kate was amused as Anastasia blushed and Hap tried to hide his embarrassment and annoyance.
"I'm realizing now I should have never said any of that." Anastasia said as she saw Hap's look.
"You really shouldn't have." Kate agreed
"Don't you have another four hours before your watch starts?" Hap asked.
"I took a nap, now I'm bored. I thought I'd keep Hawk company for a bit then go to Aero-bay 1, run on the treadmill and see how the work is going on the prison cage for that ROM agent you captured. Yesterday Henry and his band of cut-throats were taking one of the old storage containers and welding it into a brig."
"Oh I didn't realize Shafer was doing that well. I assumed she'd be under Doctor Lesley's care for weeks." Anastasia said.
"She's probably not doing that well. Doc Les is probably running low on sedatives, and tired of hearing her threaten and curse at her." Hawkins said. "Hey, who cleaned my coffee cup?"
"I might have." Sarah said, "Sorry, I probably mistook it for mine."
"Damn it Sarah, the most important thing about space operations is to never clean your coffee cup, and for the love of Kerensky you never wash another crew member's cup, unless you want a fight."
"I'm really sorry." Sarah said.
"She's blind, Mr. Hawkins." Roweyna said, "And a clean unbroken coffee cup won't kill you."
"What's going on with Shafer?" Hap asked.
"I told Henry to make us a brig. Not sure how long Ms. Shafer will be our guest, but I don't fancy her taking up a bed in the sick-bay unnecessarily." Roweyna said, "When she's well enough we'll move her. Although now that yer talking to the Embassy maybe someone there can take her off our hands."
"I'll bring that up with the DAT tomorrow." Anastasia said.
-
Chapter 87
Hap and Anastasia walked down the bustling streets of Tian-tan, the capital city of St. Ives. Like a lot of major metropolitan cities in Capellan space it had a mix of architectural designs. Like most major cities in the Inner Sphere there were glass and steel skyscrapers reaching to the heavens, blocky and efficient concrete apartments. There were also random buildings with utilitarian design made for various stores, apothecaries, and restaurants at street level and with an assortment of offices and dwellings on the higher levels. There were also small shanties and other buildings crammed between allies or other gaps between buildings.
Unlike most of the Inner Sphere, outside of the Capellan Confederation, there were also buildings that were based on traditional Chinese building aesthetics. There were tiered circular pagodas. Major streets had paifang gates with thick straight wood or concrete posts supporting ornate green tiled roofs suspended high above the street. Red and Green seemed to be favored colors, but many of the wood and stucco surfaces were darkly stained or brightly painted.
Hap, Anastasia and Rowyena had spent the morning with the St. Ives military representative. Thankfully Sao-Shau Liu was there to translate and be a familiar face that knew them. Even though Sao-Shau Liu had not fought alongside the McFinnigans, she was very complimentary toward their actions from the last time they were on St. Ives, and very appreciative for the medical support they had also lent to the Compact forces. As Roweyna had suspected, Sao-Shau was very helpful and supportive.
The St. Ives military were still dealing with the various pro-Capellan partisan and guerilla groups trying to defeat the nascent Compact government. The center of gravity for most of these groups seemed to be the fortress that Sao-Shau Liu had described. The terrorists were using it as a headquarters to rest, reset, and receive additional weapons or even training. As long as it existed the disruptive elements would have a safe haven.
The Compact military was creating a forward operating base to marshal forces within striking distance of the fortress. The base was about 300 kilometers away from Tian-tan. They were sending regular convoys to this forward operating post, and wanted the coyotes to escort the next convoy. From there they would integrate with the forces there and fall under the leadership of the Field Commander. This caused Roweyna and the Compact to renegotiate their contract and now they were getting paid weekly while the Coyotes worked directly for the Compact's Field Commander.
Roweyna mentioned the Compact forces didn't seem as antagonistic or as belligerent as the treatment she normally got from the Capellans. She said renegotiating the contract was relatively easy and they didn't try to undo anything they had previously agreed to. She thought they were desperate for help, and didn't want to alienate any mercenaries, at least not until they had a stronger standing army. It also didn't hurt that McFinnigan and Sons was associated with the Federated Commonwealth, and they were giving the Compact significant support as they stood up their government.
Throughout the morning the Compact leadership had been careful to refer to the Federated Commonwealth Alliance, the combined super Succession State of the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth. This had been something Hap and Anastasia had known was going to happen, or had happened but they spent so much time in Drop Ships and on the edge of the Federation or Commonwealth, they didn't realize it had been made official. Both of them made note to try and refer to their new joint nation by its proper new title. They likely needed to get new uniform patches and other accouterments.
The McFinnigan's DropShip was in the Federated Commonwealth Embassies secure hangar located on the military side of the space port. Most of the company was working to repair the dropship. For replacement parts they had access to Compact's military stores. The prices were marked-up, but it wasn't excessively expensive. Sao-Shau Liu explained the prices were driven by scarcity and the growing pains of developing their own supply and logistics. Roweyna was content with that answer. Most of the equipment and parts came from Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth companies, so Hap and Anastasia took that as a sign of their nation's endorsement of St. Ives Compact.
After the morning with the Compact leadership Hap and Anastasia excused themselves to go to the embassy for the appointments they had there. The Defense Attaché had canceled their holo-appointment, and had rescheduled for the day they arrived on planet. Corporal Weber forwarded a dozen forms that Hap and Anastasia each had to fill out. It included a very time-consuming form that asked several personal questions. Anastasia thought they were busy work forms, Hap thought maybe the Defense Attaché was going to "mentor" them. Both of them thought it was a waste of their time. Anastasia and Hap dutifully went through the paperwork drill and sent them the forms back.
Sang Sao Liu told Hap and Anastasia that the Federated Commonwealth Embassy was within walking distance of the Compact Military HQ. She also assured them this portion of the city was relatively safe and regularly patrolled by the police and paramilitary forces. Hap and Anstasia considered taking a cab, but they opted to look around the city and enjoy their time off a Drop Ship. They changed into civilian attire and tried to blend into the crowd so they could enjoy a rare moment as "just tourists."
As they walked down the crowded streets Hap glanced over at Anastasia "Remind me again why we are doing this? We got the secure hangar, it's clear the Defense Attache, or DAT, or Colonel Bruckner, or whatever we call him doesn't want to talk to us. What's the point? I'm thinking we also run the risk that when we explain everything with Necromo they'll just take the…whatever we took… and send you and it back to NAIS."
Anastasia shrugged, "First, we don't have much choice. As members of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns we must present ourselves to the embassy, especially if we intend to perform military options that have not been sanctioned by the Federated Suns."
"Second, would it really be so bad if we went back to New Avalon? I could continue my father's work, and I believe you were promised a position with the Guards. It might be nicer to be in one place for a while. We'd also have our own quarters on NAIS's secure campus." She gave him a coy look and tilted her head, "I'm certain it would be a very private and quiet space for us, unlike life on a Drop Ship."
Hap nodded, "This assumes they keep us together. Remember the deal was we spend a year as mercenary LNOs. I don't have any special research skills, that's all you. I'm supposed to learn about deep penetration raids and other high-risk operations. They may make me stay while you go."
Anastasia was about to remind him that his mother-in-law was a noble, who had a proven track record of getting what she wanted, but she caught their reflection in a store window. Before they left the Compact Military HQ they had changed from their utility uniforms and into civilian clothes. Anastasia had a simple white blouse and a long black skirt, Hap was wearing a blue button-up shirt and khaki slacks.
They almost blended into the crowd as there were a few businessmen and women wearing similar attire. Anastasia noted that most of the people were dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, at least the older crowd. The younger generation was wearing clothes more like the fashions of the Federated Suns or Lyran Commonwealth. Anastasia had seen a teenager in a sundress she would have loved to have, and there was also an elderly woman in a beautiful teal and jade dress she thought was a hanfu.
Anastasia still felt slightly conspicuous as they didn't exactly blend in with the crowd. Part of the problem was that Hap was taller than most of them, even the Slavic members of the population. Hap had been well fed as a youth, and a career in the military had added muscle and a disciplined posture to his tall frame. The other issue was their clothes just weren't exactly like everyone else's attire. Her perspective changed as she noticed the store window she was using as a mirror was for a storefront with several mannequins modeling cheongsams. "Perhaps we could do a little shopping?" Anastasia said.
Anastasia remembered a high society party from a few years back where a woman had worn a cheongsam like dress, and it made for a stunning cocktail dress. Anastasia had forgotten how much she wanted one until this moment. The silky curve hugging dress had a high collar, short sleeves, and a long slit going up almost to the waist. It combined elegance, style, and a subtle dash of coquetry. There were several to choose from with various embroidered designs, dazzling colors, and other flourishes.
Anastasia was also sensing her husband's reluctance to go to the embassy. In her mind, his hesitancy and the perfect red cheongsam were fantastic reasons to do a little shopping and get a change of clothes that would help them really blend in. In addition to a new dress, she had seen a designer shoe boutique a few blocks back. The businessmen in the crowd had to get their suits from somewhere, so surely they could get Hap another suit. His wardrobe always needed help in Anastasia's opinion.
"Business before pleasure, darlin'." Hap said as he gently pulled her away from the window and started walking down the street. "Besides I'm probably borrowing worries. Worse comes to worse, we'll be together in New Avalon by this time next year."
They fell back into the pace of the crowd. Sao Shao Liu told them they simply needed to go down the main boulevard until they saw a fortress with Federated Commonwealth banners hung from the walls. Hap wasn't exactly sure what that would look like, but Sao Shao Liu implied they couldn't miss it.
They walked another few blocks, and Anastasia saw a shop that had dresses, skirts, and blouses that caught her eye. She lingered at the window imaging herself in the various fashions on display. Anastasia was hoping she could remember how to find this store again. "We'll need to walk back this way."
"I was thinking we'd take a taxi back to the space port." Hap said "Assuming we find the embassy."
"You said business before pleasure, implying we would go shopping after the embassy."
"So I did." Hap said as he stepped back trying to get his bearings. "We haven't really gone down any side streets, and…" He turned around and looked almost straight up at the large skyscraper behind them. At the top was a large illuminated green sawblade with a stylized S and I on a green background with red Chinese characters. "It looks like we're across from the StarCorps Industries headquarters. I still think we should probably try not to be out too long."
"That's fair." Anastasia made a mental note as they continued walking. She knew it was a risk to be out on the streets, but part of her just wanted a normal life, as normal as their lives could be at the moment. It seemed to her that ComStar would likely be still preparing their next attempt on her life, so they could risk a little time out in the open, at least as long as they were being unpredictable. At the same time she knew Hap was probably right, they should get back to the hangar as soon as possible.
They continued walking and soon caught the warm smells of fried food and saw a food cart with a crowd around it. The signs were all in Chinese, but there were pictures and prices in Capellan Yuan or L-Bills and ComStar Bills. Anastasia and Hap had not exchanged any of their money so all they had were Davion Pounds and C-Bills.
"See anything you like?" Hap asked, "Something smells good."
Anastasia nodded as she studied the pictures, "I want that thing that looks like one of those festival style fried sausages in corn batter, but these appear to have panko batter."
"The panko batter corn dogs?" Hap asked as Anastasia nodded.
Hap and Anastasia got in line for the food and after a minute it was his turn to order. He asked if the man spoke English and he shook his head. Hap pointed to the picture with a panko battered meat on a stick and held up two fingers. The cart worker nodded and took two sticks with meaty lumps out of a large batter tray and dropped them in oil.
When Hap pulled out his money clip and the man saw the C-bills and his eyes lit up. He spoke to Hap in Chinese but Hap shook his head, he tried again in Russian, and all Hap could do was apologize. The cart worker pointed to the row of canned drinks balanced on the edge of the cart, and Hap understood.
Hap pointed to two green cans and the man asked him another question and gestured to his menu as he handed Hap two cold green cans from a cooler. Hap heard a few grumbles behind him and started to understand. "Uh…do we want anything else?" Hap asked Anastasia.
Anastasia wished she had studied Chinese or Russian. She was starting to realize she should know more languages than just the ones spoken in the Federation or Commonwealth. She also realized she was taking too long to decide, "dumplings" she said because it was the only thing she recognized.
Hap pointed to the picture of what he thought were dumplings and held up one finger. The man nodded and said "zha jiao" as he scooped up a dozen small dumplings and dropped them into his frying oil. Hap handed the man a Crisp 10 C-bill note as he turned to his cash register. He rung up Hap's order and then gave Hap a surprising amount of gold and silver coins for change.
Hap stepped aside so the next person could order. He cracked open his can and took a drink. It was a tart ginger soda drink. Anastasia took a sip too, "I like this ginger ale."
Hap held out the handful of small gold and silver coins. "I think he gave me too much change."
Anastasia took another sip, "Well it's Capellan Yuan, the weakest currency in the Inner Sphere. Given what's happened here he's probably happy to have a hard currency."
Hap nodded as he looked around. He couldn't see it in the crowd, but he suspected there was a lot of uncertainty for many of the people here. He could almost sense the insecurity and stress in the lives of the people around him. He did a quick calculation on how the man had exchanged his C-bills, and noted the prices on a lot of local goods, like food, were lower than what he expected. He realized the economy had likely bottomed out when they succeeded from the Capellan Confederation. He pocketed a few of the silver coins but put gold coins in the man's tip jar.
The food cart man yelled at Hap and held out a paper tray of dumplings and with the fried meat on top. Hap took the tray and led Anastasia away from the crowd. They found a low wall near the food cart that they used for a seat. Each took a fried meat stick.
"How is it?" Anastasia asked as Hap took a bite.
"Chewy." Hap said with his mouth full.
Anastasia bit into her meat on a stick, it tasted fishy, and as Hap said it was chewy, almost rubbery.
"I don't think these are sausage." Hap said.
Anastasia continued to chew as she looked back at the food cart and noticed the cartoon squid in the picture of the panko dog. "Oh it's squid." She agreed as she held her hand over her mouth.
Hap looked over his shoulder and saw the same cartoon squid. They both laughed as he said, "Of course it is."
"Lets try the dumplings." Hap said as he took a dumpling and popped it into his mouth. Anastasia took one and bit into the warm delicate fried meat pastry. The dumplings were filled with ground pork and finely chopped vegetables. These were much better than the squid. Anastasia put her squid dog on the tray and grabbed a few dumplings. "Help yourself to my squid dog."
Hap struggled to chew and swallow his bite of squid. "Thanks. Now if we can just find the embassy." Hap glanced across the street to see a large ancient looking Chinese-style fortress. The walls were generally square and nearly 20 meters high. A large open tunnel was built into the wall to allow entrance. The tunnel could easily accommodate two combat vehicles side by side.
From where Hap and Anastasia sat they could see a large pagoda-like tower rising from the center of the fortress. Each floor seemed roughly the same size, and it looked highly ornate. The structure looked ancient and clashed with the concrete and steel structures around it. The building to the left of the fortress had various shops and probably a couple offices or living spaces, on the right was a tall skyscraper that boasted a shopping mall and the Tengo Aerospace company headquarters.
As much as the ancient style fortress seemed an anachronistic paradox, what most seemed of place to Hap were the banners gently swaying in the wind that hung from the fortresses. The banners had the blue fist of the Lyran commonwealth imposed over the sunburst of the Federated Suns. The symbol of the Lyran Commonwealth.
"I think we just found the embassy."
-
Chapter 88
Hap and Anastasia finished their food and crossed the street. As they approached the large open gate they could see a ready-made checkpoint had been erected in the middle of the tunnel. There was still plenty of room to accommodate ground vehicles. The wall was probably 5 or 6 meters thick, making a tunnel to enter the fortress. As they approached the checkpoint the young Soldier manning it watched them closely. When they got close Hap and Anastasia each offered him their blood chits. Wordlessly he took them, and swiped them in his was a faint beep from the computer and then the Soldier snapped to attention and saluted when he recognized they were officers.
Hap returned his salute and noted the soldier's crisp salute and professionalism as he waited for Hap to drop his salute first. With courtesies out of the way the Soldier said, "Sir, I'm glad to see you two."
Hap and Anastasia exchanged confused glances, "Why is that Sergeant?"
"Mechwarriors, Sir. We got an infantry platoon and a couple APCs to defend the embassy and get everyone to the starport, but if the Compact's succession goes sideways, and the Capellans invade, or the terrorist bring some real hardware to the fight, I'd rather have 'mechs backing me up. There's a lot of uncertainty here right now."
"Oh we're not-" Anastasia started to say.
"We're working with a mercenary unit that was hired to help with the terrorists. I don't know how long we'll be on St. Ives, Sergeant, but we'd certainly help your unit evacuate if it came to that." Hap said.
"Thank you, Sir." The Sergeant said as he handed the chits back to Hap. "Who are you here to see?"
"Colonel Bruckner, the Defense Attaché." Anastasia said, "We have an appointment."
The Sergeant nodded as he picked up a phone, "It's probably already been canceled." He said as he dialed the extension. In a moment he was speaking to someone, "No. They're here at the gate. It's a Captain and Subaltern. I'm not going to tell them that. You need to meet with them Corporal, also they're not in uniform so look for their blue badges." The exchange went on a little longer, and it was clear to the Sergeant was about to lose his professional decorum. He hung up and took a deep breath. "Ma'am, The Defense Attaché isn't in, but members of his office said they'll meet you in the cafeteria."
"They'll lead us to the Defense Attaché office from there?" Anastasia asked.
The Sergeant looked uncertain, "The Defense Attaché Office is a little less disciplined than what you're probably accustomed to, Ma'am."
"We noticed." Hap said flatly, "And we've been assigned to a mercenary unit for the last six months. We're accustomed to very little discipline, but that Corporal is so bad we could see his poor uniform and bad attitude from a parsec away."
"We weren't a parsec away, but he certainly doesn't share your military bearing, Sergeant. Also his uniform was…ill fitting, he may need a new larger one." Anastasia added
"You are correct Ma'am, he looks like 20 kilos of shit in a 10 kilo bag, but they don't make larger uniforms for his height."
Hap smirked as Anastasia tried to hide her smile. Hap noticed that behind the Sergeant were two more very fit and very professional looking soldiers standing by the embassy's main door. "I'm guessing Corporal Weber and Private Harmay aren't part of your outfit."
"Correct, Sir. They work exclusively for the DAT. If Corporal Weber were part of our unit he'd be busted down to private and would be doing PT from Breakfast to Dinner and cleaning latrines all night until he found his military bearing and could fit into a proper military uniform."
Hap gave Anastasia a sideways glance, "I'm suddenly looking forward to getting back to a line unit."
"You have every reason to look forward to it." Anastasia said.
Hap turned his attention back to the Sergeant. "We need to go talk to that 10 kilo bag of a Corporal and the Private he's likely leading astray. When we see the Defense Attaché we'll give him your recommendations."
"If you see him, sir." The Sergeant said grimly as he handed them security badges. "These are your badges while you're here. They will mark you as an AFFC military officer to everyone. I need you to return them to me when you leave. I hope your meeting with the Defense Attache staff goes well, and I'm sorry Colonel Bruckner was unavailable."
"He's canceled on us three times now." Hap said, "I'm starting, he doesn't want to talk to us."
"It's nothing personal sir, Colonel Bruckner just doesn't let work get in the way of his good time."
"Why have a Defense Attaché that never meets with anyone?" Anastasia said.
"We've been asking ourselves the same question, Ma'am." The Sergeant replied as he opened the man-gate portion of the barrier.
"Where's the Cafeteria?" Hap asked as Anastasia passed through the gate.
"Sir, if you go up the stairs, through the main entrance then back down the stairs you'll be on the main floor. The Cafeteria is just past the elevators, you can't miss it."
Hap and Anastasia climbed the stairs to the embassy, exchanged salutes with the guards, and used the badges to unlock the doors. To their surprise the inside of the pagoda was completely modern. There were some traditional embellishments such as dark stained woods, painted posts and engraved wall and ceiling tiles, but it had elevators, glassed walled office spaces and a large open cafeteria with tables spread evenly in the open area. The four floors that Hap could see had open mezzanines that looked over the entrance and cafeteria.
Hap and Anastasia walked down the stairs as a nearby elevator opened and two AFFS soldiers in uniform exited with several other people. The male soldier was extremely obese and sort of waddled behind the crowd. Next to him was the female soldier with an average slim build. She was following beside him as he seemed to be doing all the talking.
"Pardon me, Corporal Weber" Anastasia called out. A couple people stopped talking and looked in her direction. The young private paused, glanced over her shoulder and stopped. She tried to stop the Corporal but he brushed her hand off his arm and continued walking.
"Corporal Weber." Anastasia said again as she tried to quicken her step and catch up with the Soldier.
"Corporal Weber." Hap yelled in his command voice. Everyone in the cafeteria and the people on the mezzanine stopped talking and looked in his direction.
Corporal Weber labored to turn around as he shouted, "What? Oh it's you Captain."
In person the Corporal was worse than the Holo. He was morbidly obese and his round face had several wispy hairs around his chin and jaw. His hair had grown beyond regulations, and his uniform coat stretched over his large gut which peaked out from beneath it. His yellow rank, marking him as an admin Soldier, was poorly attached to his uniform, and his boots were scuffed and almost brown.
Anastasia quickly turned to face Hap and whispered, "This is an embassy, not a parade field or a 'mech garage. We cannot demean or discipline Soldiers here. No matter how badly it's warranted."
"Corporal, we need to go to the Defense Attaché' office now." Hap said. His voice was still commanding, but the volume was lower. It didn't matter though because everyone, from the cafeteria to the fourth floor mezzanine, had stopped talking and were watching the drama play out.
"I'm getting my lunch, and Bruckner isn't in." The Corporal snarled. "You'll have to wait, Captain." His tone made Hap's rank sound like an insult.
Hap was now standing in front of the Corporal and was speaking barely above a whisper. "Colonel Bruckner, Corporal, the Defense Attaché is a Colonel. Find your military bearing and use proper rank. Your uniform is a disgrace. There is no way you're within height and weight regulations, and if you don't start showing me and my wife the respect our rank demands I will choke slam all 150 kilos of you, even if I have to get in my Griffin to do it. Now, your lunch can wait. Let's go."
The corporal turned bright red, and eyed Hap angrily. "I don't work for you, and besides we didn't get all the forms we needed to schedule your appointment." He yelled like a belligerent child.
Anastasia turned to look at the female soldier, "Private Harmay, After I transmitted the files, I called you and you confirmed that you had received everything."
"I did receive them ma'am." Private Harmay was also turning red and looking at Corporal Weber for some explanation.
"You were supposed to give us Bios. Colonel Bruckner always requires Bios for officers he is going to meet." Corporal Weber spoke like he had outsmarted Hap and Anastasia.
"I didn't know…" The Private was almost in tears, "I'm so sorry ma'am I didn't know bios were required." She turned to the Corporal, "why didn't you tell me they needed Bios."
"Well you should have known." The Corporal told her smugly.
"If you didn't tell us, or her, how did you expect us to know to send you bios?" Now Anastasia was raising her voice.
"Doesn't matter because the Colonel won't see you without one." The Corporal replied, "Now I'm going to get my lunch." He gave Anastasia and Hap a dismissive wave with his hands. "Come back in an hour, and bring your bios and we'll reschedule you."
Hap considered grabbing the corporal's wrist, giving it a hard twist as he used his palm to drive the Corporal's elbow into his forehead to force his head to bounce off the nearest table. Hap was generally certain he could dislocate the corporal's shoulder before the table broke under the corporal's tremendous weight. As he weighed the consequences of that action two men approached the group of Soldiers.
One was a tall Caucasian man with red hair and a clean shaved face, the other was a shorter slightly overweight Asian man with a Fu Manchu mustache and balding gray-black hair. The Asian man was also a good twenty years older than everyone. He had a broad pleasant face and smiled as he approached, "Hey Private, it's clear you know you're talking to officers, maybe show some respect, stand at attention, try throwing a Sir or Ma'am in there. Also, I'm pretty sure scheduling the Colonel's calendar is your only real job, so why don't you do it before you put anything else in your fat belly."
"I'm a Corporal, and if you don't know anything about military rank and-"
"I know plenty. I fought in the Third Succession war, that's how I know if you keep talking like this to officers, you'll be lucky to keep those stripes. I also know if you were in a real unit right now, you'd be lucky to keep those teeth, because a Sergeant would be beating the hell out of you." Somehow the man still sounded friendly.
The Corporal looked at the short man carefully, "Where do you work?"
"Where do I work?" He exchanged looks with his taller friend, "Well if you don't know, then I could work anywhere, maybe I'm just another guy that scrubs the toilet, or maybe I'm someone that briefs the ambassador every day, and I could tell her that the DAT's enlisted are incompetent, disrespectful, and need to be replaced. The fourth succession war might be winding down but I think I can get you reassigned to a real unit. That way you can see a little action then you'll know how good you have it here. You want to try me?"
"No." The Corporal said slowly trying to determine if the man was bluffing.
"Hey, I'd say take your chances, because that's a good habit for people in combat to have." The Asian man went on, "By the way that Subaltern you're trying to shoo away like a fly, her Mother's a Countess and has a lot of political pull on New Avalon. Seems like a bad idea to piss her off. But you don't work for her, you work for some guy that's never around."
Anastasia's eyes flashed, "Perhaps you will be reassigned to Klathandu. I assure you, they don't need admin soldiers there, rather they need riflemen for patrols."
The Asian man laughed a joyful infectious laugh, "Yeah patrols, I remember those. You're too fat to fit in a combat vehicle so you'll be doing a lot of walking." The Asian man added. "Back in my day we'd take a fat ass like you and have you march in front of the vehicle. That way you'd set off any anti-tank or 'mech mine." He laughed charmingly like a grandpa at his own joke, "yeah fat asses got real thin real quick." His voice dropped, "or dead."
"I don't want to be reassigned." Private Harmay said suddenly and wide eyed. "Ma'am I'll take you up to the DAT office right now. We'll get this fixed."
"Smart girl. You should follow her Corporal, she's going places." The Asian man said as the private led Anastasia and Hap to the elevator. The Corporal begrudgingly waddled after them. As they left the Asian man added, "You might even be working for her before too long."
When the elevator doors opened Private Harmay, Anastasia and Hap entered the elevator. Hap turned around and put his hand up blocking the Corporal, "Go back and eat your lunch, Corporal. We're going to go finalize the appointment with your boss, and then we're going to send a communique to her mother, the High Lady and Protector of Hazelhurst, Countess of Calais Parmi Les Étoiles, Je'anne Amie'e Adelaide Capetain Vallois."
"Wait. Her mother really is a Countess?" The corporal whined.
"Bon Appetit Corporal." Anastasia added and Private Harmay pressed the button for the third floor. As the elevator doors closed Anastasia added, "I suggest you enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables while you may."
-
Chapter 89
As the elevator started to ascend the Private looked at Anastasia and Hap with a mix of awe and terror. "Is your mother really a Countess?"
"Yes." Anastasia said.
"I'm sorry, my lady, If I had known."
"If you had known you would have treated us just the same." Hap said, "You're doing fine Private. The Corporal and your boss are the problem here. Just keep doing your job as best you can."
"Ma'am, are you going to have your mom, I mean, her lady the Countess, send Corporal Weber to a war zone."
"No." Anastasia said, "She would view that as beneath her, 'punching down' as it were. It would demean her and take away from the prestige of our family name. I would, however, like your help preparing a diplomatic pouch, but that is for personal reasons, and has nothing to do with Corporal Weber."
"May I ask what your diplomatic pouch is for?" Private Harmay seemed equal parts impressed and intimidated with Anastasia.
"Let's just say that I don't trust ComStar, and neither should you." Anastasia said.
"I like the idea of sending the Corporal to a warzone though. When he tried to waive us off I was this close to dislocating his shoulder while I used his face to break a table. I'm thinking the reassignment route would be more humane." Hap said. "At least more civilized."
"Mother would be disappointed if I didn't handle this myself. Given that we had a shouting match in front of most of the embassy I'm certain the Ambassador or the Charge d'Affaires will insist they speak to us. At that point in time I will explain our problems with the Defense Attaché Office, and strongly suggest that the Corporal be assigned to the security detachment. The Sergeant we met at the gate seemed to have a plan to rehabilitate the Corporal."
Private Harmay nodded, "They sorta hate him though. Also, that will make more work for me."
"If your boss just wants you to cancel every meeting, does he really need two of you?" Hap asked.
"That's true sir." The doors opened and Private Harmay added, "Oh I just remembered after we're done I'm supposed to send you to the Fifth floor to meet with the Foreign Affairs Department."
Hap stepped up to the mezzanine and looked up. He could see the fourth-floor mezzanine above them, but after that it appeared to be a solid ornate wood paneled roof. He glanced back at Private Harmay, "Fifth floor?"
"I was given a number to call and to direct you to the middle elevator over there." The Private pointed to another set of elevators on the other side of the floor.
"Very good." Hap said. He glanced down and saw Corporal Weber still standing where they left him. He was looking up at them slack jawed and dumbstruck. "Go eat a salad." Hap yelled down at him. The corporal jumped and hustled off to get in line for food.
"You're definitely going to get a talking too." Anastasia warned, "And just so you know the Ambassador can make you persona non grata and order you off the world."
"Alright I'll behave." Hap said, "Although it sounds like I'm getting kicked off-world for trying to address the problems with a Soldier that doesn't meet the standard, and that soldier is getting a simple lateral reassignment."
"Honestly the Charge d'Affaires will tell you not to yell in his embassy again, or, at worse, they'll only let you have two glasses of champagne at the next diplomatic event you're invited to." Anastasia said.
"Jokes on him, I never get invited to diplomatic events."
"Jokes on you, you're going to be my escort to every diplomatic event, political soiree, and any other formal event where I require militant army candy."
"Militant arm candy?" Hap asked.
"Harold, Tuxedo's are like lingerie for men, and the only thing more sexy than a tuxedo is a military uniform."
"I'm not going to question that statement, but…no, but I thought you told me that marriage wasn't a mutual pain and suffering death pact." Hap said.
"It's not, and neither is attending formal events, and if you had read that book you'd know that."
"Maybe being persona non grata would be an improvement." Hap said.
"Sometimes I wish I could get off world." Private Harmay said quietly while she typed in her door code and opened up the Defense Attaché Office. "I don't mean that. I know this is a great assignment. The Colonel and Corporal Weber tell me that every day…it's just…I don't really like this job." As she spoke she turned on the lights.
The bright fluorescent lights illuminated an L shaped working space. The bottom of the L, where they entered, contained a large conference table. The room turned and down the long length of the L were cubicles around the walls and a large private office at the end. Private Harmay went to the nearest cubicle and sat down.
Hap and Anastasia crowded into her cubicle with her as she started her computer. This was clearly her space. There were several framed photos of Private Harmay and a woman that was likely her mother. There were illustrations of a cartoon cat with a pink camouflage pinned to the cubicle's cloth walls. There was also a stuffed version of the cat acting as a book end for several entry level college textbooks. A stylized wood cut of the name Gwendolyn was resting on the case for her computer.
Above her cubicle was a poster of an attractive female Captain in her flight suit standing next to a Sparrowhawk aerospace fighter. The fighter was painted with Third Davion Guards RCT camo specs and had the 3rd RCT's sword and eagle on the vertical stabilizer. Hap could see that each cubicle had a different poster of some branch or organization of AFFS. Private Harmay had chosen the only one with a woman though.
As the computer booted up Anastasia commented, "There's work spaces for at least a dozen servicemembers. Do you know when they'll get more people to work with you and Corporal Weber?"
"No Ma'am, honestly, they don't tell me much. They just remind me I'm a private." Private Harmay said as she logged into her system. "The embassy is pretty new though, I think it's only been here a few months. I just got here a few fews ago."
As they waited for the system to fully load Hap asked, "How often do you see the Defense Attaché?"
"Usually once a day, Sir. He'll come in first thing in the morning, tell us what he wants us to do, check his email and calendar, rearrange his schedule and then he's usually gone before 10:00. He usually doesn't come back if he doesn't have any afternoon meetings but we are expected to be here till 1700."
"Can you schedule us for a 0900 meeting tomorrow?" Anastasia asked.
"He doesn't like us to schedule anything that early, but if you insist-"
"Oh I insist." Anastasia said.
As she worked Hap asked, "When you guys called us back a few days ago you looked a little upset, what happened?"
"That tall redhead guy from the cafeteria just let himself into our offices yesterday. He told us to call you back. When Corporal Weber started to sass him he told us this was coming straight from the Ambassador's office and if we didn't want to do our jobs he'd do it himself but things would get very unpleasant for us. I didn't know what he meant by 'unpleasant', but it scared me. Corporal Weber said he wasn't afraid of that guy, but I think he was lying."
"Did you tell Colonel Bruckner about it?"
"Yes sir, he said if it came from the Ambassador we were right to do it, but Corporal Weber told him he didn't know who that guy was so the Colonel said he'd look into it. That's usually what the Colonel says when he doesn't care about something and doesn't want to talk about it anymore."
Private Harmay's computer finally booted up and in a few minutes they were scheduled to meet with the Defense Attaché the next day. Anastasia also improvised short paragraph length Bios for Hap and her. Private Harmay was extremely helpful and did anything the officers asked her. Everything about her confirmed to Hap that she was a fresh recruit. Being around Officers acting like professional Soldiers reminded her of everything the Drill Sergeants had taught her. It was also evident to Hap that the Corporal would be a bad influence on her.
As they were finishing up Corporal Weber entered the office space. He seemed surprised to see Anastasia and Hap. He looked like he was trying to get to his cubicle without being noticed. Anastasia stopped him so she could explain to both the Corporal and Private that if they needed any more information about them, they needed to use secure means to contact them or to contact any AFFS systems. Anything sent through ComStar would likely be monitored and compromised. The Corporal simply mumbled something and refused to make eye contact. Hap noticed that even Private Harmay became subdued.
Seeing the Corporal made Hap angry all over again. "It's probably about time we go. Private Harmay, how do we get to the Foreign Affairs Department?"
"I give them a call and you go to those elevators I pointed out, Sir." Private Harmay said.
Hap led Anastasia left the DAT offices and walked around the mezzanine. "Dealing with the Corporal is infuriating." Hap said, "I suppose you're going to want to buy two dresses instead of one."
"I was already going to buy two dresses and shoes." Anastasia answered, "however your instincts are correct, now it's double."
"Very good." Hap said as he shook his head.
"I've never seen you particularly angry about the disrespect Joker shows you."
"Joker and I have been through a lot. He's sort of earned the right, and he knows when to stop complaining and do what he's told. With Joker it's just him being undisciplined when he thinks he can get away with it. Corporal Weber was just disrespectful. I shouldn't take it personally though."
"Well, you shouldn't have a physical altercation with him, that's for certain. I'm thinking instead of trying to get the Corporal moved I should request Private Harmay by name and make her my enlisted assistant. I like her."
Hap gave her a quizzical look, "You're a subaltern in a non-leadership position, you're not authorized an enlisted assistant. When I was a lance leader I was lucky to get a Sergeant and not just a Sr. Corporal."
"Well I'm a noble, there are ways I can get whatever I want."
"Oh really?"
"I have my own personal Captain."
Before Hap could respond they had made it to the other set of elevators and the center one opened automatically as they approached. Hap and Anastasia stepped inside. Hap asked, "Do you know what the Foreign Affairs Department is?"
"I'm not sure." Anastasia said as the elevator went up one floor, and opened to reveal the Asian man and his tall redhead companion. The redhead motioned for them to exit the elevator and Anastasia and Hap found themselves in a small room with the single elevator door on one side and a steel door with a safe lock across from it. There was also a small sign that said, "Foreign Affairs Department ''.
The redhead opened the door to usher them into another enclosed room with a short ramp leading to another door across from the one they entered. This room appeared to be a cloak room with multiple bars and hangers for hanging coats and jackets, as well as small lockers built into the wall. Most of the lockers were closed, but a few were open and had a key in the lock.
"Do you two have any electronics or comms gear? Any recording devices?"
Hap pulled out the small short range radio he had for talking with the Phaidin, but they didn't have anything else. The redhead directed Hap to secure the radio in one of the lockers and then they led them up the short ramp and through the other door. The ceiling was lower in this area, and it felt like they were in a building built inside the embassy.
Before them was a hallway with two doors on either side, and at the end of the hall Hap could see a large open office cubicle space. The doors on the hallway were open and the first two led to relatively small conference rooms each with a table that could comfortably seat six. The other two doors were larger conference rooms one contained a massive V shaped table, and the other had chairs setup like a classroom. At the end of the Hallway was a closed door.
"I wouldn't have guessed this floor existed." Hap said.
"If you counted the floors from the outside you might have." The redhead man said, "but the high wall makes it hard, and once you're in the courtyard it's quite difficult." The redhead gestured for them to enter one of the small conference rooms.
Hap and Anastasia walked around the conference room's table and took seats near the far end. Hap glanced around, there was a holo projector built into the table, screens on two of the walls, and beside the door was a metal plaque. The plaque was a large diamond with four stars between the points. In the center of the diamond was a circle with a sword.
"You guys are MIIO?" Hap asked.
"Yeah, you didn't really think I cleaned shitters did you?" The Asian man laughed as he sat down. He saw Hap's confused expression, "Look man, I don't know if you've ever been around an embassy, but almost every one of them has a Foreign Affairs Department or Regional Affairs Section or some other thing that is MIIO."
"Did you know this?" Hap asked
"Perhaps? The summer before I went to NAIS Mother had me intern in an embassy, she was trying to get me to take an interest in political affairs. I worked directly for the Ambassador, but the chief of station or one of his analysts would brief her daily. It's sort of an open secret that no one ever talks about. I think they might have called themselves something else though. Department of Regional Affairs, I believe." Anastasia looked to the two men sitting across from her, "I assume you gentlemen are analysts, can you give us names that we can refer to you by?"
"I like how you said that." The Asian man grinned, "Call me Sam Pek, at least if you see us in the embassy, outside the embassy don't talk to us unless we talk to you."
"I'm going by Rich Brown." The redhead added. "I feel I should add, everything we tell you while we're here must stay here."
"Yeah, but before we get started, there is one more analyst that needs to join us." Sam said as there was a knock at the conference room door. Richard opened the door and let in a short overweight man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He was wearing a large but fitted suit with a coat, vest, and bow tie. He gave Hap and Anastasia a wide toothy grin as he entered. There was a certain air of charm and neatness about him.
"This is Kurt Larue." Sam said, "He's a signals analyst, me and Rich here do more human intelligence or HUMIT. We need to talk to you about Necromo."
-
Chan chann CHANNN!!!
*Takes another bowl of popcorn*
-
Chapter 90
"How do you gentlemen know about Necromo?" Hap asked.
"We were monitoring the calls coming into and out of the Embassy, even encrypted ones." Rich said
"Especially the encrypted ones." Sam added with a laugh.
"And my team intercepted several messages sent from Necromo to Sian." Kurt added.
"Before we get how we do our business we'd like to ask you a few questions." Sam said.
Hap looked around as the men settled into their chairs and pulled out large notepads and pens. "I'd like to record this if no one objects." Kurt said as he started to press a few buttons on the noteputer built into the table. Hap and Anastasia nodded, thinking they had little choice and Rich and Sam mumbled their agreement.
"Let's begin at the beginning." Sam said, "Tell us how you and your company came to conduct a raid on Necromo."
Hap and Anastasia explained everything from their introduction to Colonel Norton, the training on Daniels, the actual raid, and then the failed attempt to hijack the ship. The interview felt like a mix of a post mission debriefing and what Hap would imagine a police interrogation would feel like. The men didn't ask too many questions; rather they just let Hap and Anastasia tell their story, at some points they wrote a few notes, other times they would just look at them and nod.
When Hap and Anastasia were done, the MIIO agents went back through the items they were unclear about. Rich and Sam tried to get as much of a description of Demi-Precentor Norton as they could. They seemed to have a vague idea who he might be. Kurt was more interested in the Electronic Countermeasure device. He was impressed Anastasia was able to recognize the purpose of the device based purely on mathematical equations in a technical manual. She explained how she had to piece it together with the help of their non-English speaking Aerotech.
The questions then started to become in depth. The analysts began asking about Daniels and the training center that was used there. They wanted to know how similar the facilities there were to the actual fortress from the raid. They then started to ask questions about everything they saw and experienced on Necromo, from objects or platforms floating around the planet to the installation and even surface conditions, flora, and fauna.
When they were done with their questions Rich and Kurt turned to look at Sam.
"We're going to need everything you took in the raid, and whatever you got from the ComStar ROM agents. Equipment, papers, that demi-precentor's briefcase, and all the data discs or drives he had, and every last thing they took in the raid."
"We don't want the precentor's briefcase." Kurt said, "It likely has a suite of tracking devices and other nasty things that we probably don't want anywhere near our offices."
"You don't want to look over a ComStar suite of tracking devices?" Rich said, "I'm disappointed Kurt."
Kurt held up his hands placatingly, "fine bring us everything. I won't have you spookies thinking I'm not up to the challenge."
"Now you said this ECM suite thing was in a 10-meter-long shipping container?" Sam asked, "We don't have any way to move that, not without renting a vehicle, but that might draw attention. We also don't have any good place to really look it over. Honestly the best place for it is probably NAIS, but Kurt,"
"Yes?" Kurt sang out.
"Do you want your people to look it over and see what they can figure out?" Sam asked.
"I'd be quite disappointed if you did not let my team of scientists and cryptologists examine the device, but I agree we can't really move it. It sounds like there is some personal trash and detritus for you to sift through so you can 'profile' the great minds that made this device."
Hap was starting to get the sense there was a professional "friendly" competition between the Signal analyst and Human intelligence gatherers. Instinctively he sided with the HUMINT guys, "We have a ROM agent if you gentlemen would like to take her off our hands." Hap offered.
"Not really." Sam said, "The more truth serum you feed them the more they start howling about Blake this and holy prophet that. Honestly you talk to one of them, you've sorta talked to them all. Or it's like reading their damn book. I'd rather have Kurt explain how he can tell a Maskirova agent is a native Russian or Chinese speaker based off the oscillations of their noteputer's power supply when the type."
"Oh so you did read my whitepaper."
"Someone left part of it in the staff toilet." Sam answered.
"That probably has more to do with the shipping problems we had when we first stood up the embassy, and toilet paper started getting scarce." Rich said.
"Someday you'll come to understand the genius of what I do." Kurt answered.
"I believe we are getting off topic, Gentlemen." Anastasia said, "I'd point out the ROM agent in question is certainly highly indoctrinated, but I've never heard her speak of Blake, and I worked with her for a few months before she tried to murder me."
Kurt looked confused and gave Sam and Rich a questioning look. "Why does ROM have a special interest in the daughter of one of our nobles?"
"Anastasia here was a researcher at NAIS while she was studying there. She was helping her father working on an experimental weapon project. He was an industrialist, scientist, and businessman." Sam said.
"He's more of a polymath really." Anastasia said. "and the business was sort of a side hobby."
Sam nodded, "Either way her father, like a lot of scientists, happened to have an 'unfortunate accident' followed very quickly by her father's business partner and fellow polymath killing himself under suspicious circumstances. The usual self-inflicted execution style gunshot wounds to the back of the head. We figured it was ISF, but honestly we usually blame Kurita for a lot of things until we have evidence to the contrary, sometimes we still blame them anyway." Sam laughed. "Man, we hate those guys."
Kurt sat up taller, "This is why the science of electronic intelligence is superior, if you give me a signal I can-"
"Yeah signals get spoofed or redirected all the time, so don't start." Rich answered.
"Wait, my mother has evidence that ComStar assassinated my father, and likely killed his friend."
"We saw the report." Rich said. "And given ComStar's attack on NAIS and the whole interdiction episode, it's pretty obvious it was them, but given the concessions Prince Davion himself had to make with ComStar I'm not sure accusing ROM of assassination is something he wants to do right now."
"What happened with ComStar?" Hap asked.
"Have you been living under a rock, my boy?" Kurt asked.
"Take it easy Kurt." Sam said, "He's a mechwarrior that means he's been living on a Dropship jumping between systems and only visiting planets long enough to destroy things. When he's not doing that he's 'getting to know' his gorgeous new wife, or trying to figure out what it means to be married into a noble family. Which is tricky for him because he grew up in a 'mech garage and had to work his way through a second-tier military academy."
"I see you did your research once you were done eavesdropping." Hap said. He wasn't sure he liked being reduced to a few succinct statements.
"Would you expect anything less of MIIO?" Rich asked.
"No, but I wouldn't consider Albion a second-tier school" Hap said.
"Let's ask your wife." Sam said.
Anastasia looked apologetic, "Albion is not NAIS, and he was right about me being gorgeous, and Intelligence is their name. I personally feel we really can't question Sam's assessment, Harold."
"Oh don't look so hurt, and Kurt's right Captain, you should watch a news holo once in a while." Sam chuckled. "And it looks like our reports were right that you're as smart as you are gorgeous."
Rich cleared his throat "In regards to what happened with ComStar, in June of 3029 ComStar perpetrated a raid on their on HPG facilities on Sarna, but framed AFFS for it. They used this as a pretext to put most of the Federated Suns under an HPG Interdiction. Then in September a unit, who we've all but confirmed was the ComGuards-"
"But I'm still blaming Kurita" Sam added with a smile as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
"- attacked New Avalon Institute of Science. They did some damage to the grounds, but nothing serious. Between the interdiction and the very intentional attack on our Science and Technology research centers it became obvious that ComStar was trying to cripple the new Federated Commonwealth. By December the Prince negotiated a peace with ComStar. The interdiction would be lifted, but they could station ComGaurds units-
"And those nasty ROM bastards" Sam interjected
"Around their HPG stations." Rich said.
"Wait." Hap said, "We were using the HPG on Monhegan in October."
"The interdiction was primarily aimed at New Avalon, the AFFC, and the military industrial complex. Although, to our surprise, they allowed MRB contract work to go through." Rich said.
Sam smiled, "Even ComStar seems to respect a mercenary's honest hustle in the business of violence and murder." Sam paused to collect his thoughts, "For the first couple months it looked like a complete comms black out, but then on some worlds particularly on the edge of the empire, like Monhegan, they'd let civilian traffic pass, and maybe some diplomatic things. Some worlds, like New Avalon, stayed dark though. It was sort of random where ComStar would allow traffic and where they wouldn't. It was more annoying than a complete blackout. But it could have been worse."
"Anything encrypted they'd refuse to send, and if they thought you were trying to secretly pass troop orders or something like that, those messages would be 'garbled' or would be key missing parts." Rich said.
"It hurt, and even with our black box 'fax machines' it's pretty much stalled the war effort." Sam added, "Damn shame because we were really giving the Combine hell."
"Fax Machines?" Hap asked
"A K series transmitter. It's like a mini HPG. It sends an omnidirectional message instead of a focused signal. It's not as effective and can't send messages as far or as quickly, but it is FTL communications, and an alternative to ComStar's HPG." Anastasia said.
"How do you know about these devices?" Kurt asked. "I thought you and your father worked on an x-weapon project."
"My father was interested in building an HPG network for the Federated Suns. When he heard that the Department of Military Communications and Research had an alternative to HPG he asked to see it."
Kurt looked half shocked, "Build an alternative HPG network? That would take significant resources…it's almost impossible without the resources of an empire."
"He knew." Anastasia said, "that's why he hoped if we did well on the experimental weapons project he could prove to someone at NAIS or in the DMCR that he was capable of such a thing."
Kurt still seemed flabbergasted, "I couldn't imagine where to even begin such an endeavor."
"With a functioning K-F drive from a decommissioned JumpShip and a lot of test equipment." Anastasia answered.
"See Kurt this is why unimaginative old bastards like us work in government." Sam smiled.
"It would be impractical to try and build anything like that." Kurt said. "Further I'm not unimaginative."
"Yeah, but it would have been real nice a year ago." Rich said dryly.
"It'd be nice today. I'm sick of dealing with ComStar." Sam shook his head, "I'm sick of every time we call the home office I got to give money to the competition. Alright, here is what we need to do. When is your meeting with the DAT?"
"Tomorrow at 0900." Anastasia said
"Good that's probably too early for him to cancel." Sam said, "Alright Tomorrow we'll send a vehicle to pick you guys up, but I need you to be ready to fill it with everything you can, prioritize the technical things that ROM took on the raid, and everything you got from the Demi-Precentor."
"The mercenary company is probably going to want some compensation for all of that. It's like salvage, and ComStar hired them but, backed out of the contract for obvious reasons. We're not sure what happens next with them and the MRB." Hap said.
"Bring whoever does their money." Sam answered, "We'll work out a fair price. After that we'll need to contract your friends to help us get this thing back to NAIS. I need to talk to my boss and see what she says, but we can't keep this thing here. And speaking of things that can't stay here, can I offer you a ride back to your hangar?" Sam asked
"Wait, before we go, I have a question" Hap said, "What do you guys know about Necromo?"
"Well we've never visited." Sam said. Both Kurt and Rich looked at Sam. After a moment he nodded, "They've been in the Necromo system twice now, and their both cleared for Top Secret information."
"It's likely one of the most secure and secret places in the Capellan Confederation." Kurt said. "Right up with Romano Liao's underwear drawer."
Rich shook his head, "Necromo has a Capellan top secret research site for aerospace technology. The planet also has shipyards and repair facilities for all classes of Drop Ship and Aerospace fighters, possibly even Jump Ships. There are unfounded, but persistent and frightening rumors they may have the capacity to repair Warships. Only the most fanatically loyal and faithful citizens of the Confederation are allowed on Necromo."
"'Unfounded, but persistent and frightening rumors'? Tell me this is not what you base your work on. Next you'll be repeating some spacers legends or that conspiracy theories about the warship the Taurians found."
"Kurt, you try to filter out a good signal from background noise, you ever mistake one for the other?" Sam asked.
"I might have." Kurt said quietly, "I see your point."
"Right," Sam said, "so we sent the Smithson's Chinese Bandits to conduct a raid on Necromo about a decade ago. I'll admit they didn't find a warship, but they met the Big Mac and it went pretty bad for them. Bad enough we didn't try it again." Sam said. "A few months back we decided to use a small merc company to conduct a raid and mess up the systems advanced warning post. You might be familiar with that action. It took us months just to find a Jump Ship pilot that would take a bribe and get you into the regular system traffic."
"Once the post was destroyed we bribed a couple bureaucrats to get a particular construction company as one of the sub-contractors doing repairs. They happened to add a few extra sensors and detectors, and most of them were pointed the wrong way, if you catch my drift."
"Even with all that we still can't tell you much more about Necromo." Rich said. "We can confirm it has extensive repair facilities and even some aerospace manufacturing factories, but exactly what the Capellans are doing there, and what ComStar wanted with their work is something we'd like to know."
"So tomorrow we'll get a look at whatever you got, talk to the ROM agent you brought with you, and see if we can make some sense of things." Rich said, "In the mean time though, you guys want a ride back to your company?"
Hap and Anastasia exchanged glances. "We wanted to do a little shopping before we returned."
"Surely you jest." Kurt said, "According to everything I've heard today, you're a significant science and technology research asset. This is an asymmetrical warzone, and you are personally being hunted by ComStar. Do you really think it's wise to just wander the streets looking for the perfect shoes?"
"ComStar seems to make convoluted plans and rarely strikes in broad daylight." Anastasia said. "I thought if we went today it would be before they figured out some over-wrought plot to kill me."
"Has it occurred to you that you've only been lucky up to this point?" Rich asked.
There was a quiet moment Sam laughed again, "Tell you guys what, We'll sign out a vehicle, get you a driver, maybe that Private in the DAT's office, and she'll take you to the up-town shopping center. It's nice, and has real good security. ROM wouldn't suspect it, and I'd feel good about letting my grandkids shop there, if I let them visit us here."
"But would you let your wife shop there?" Kurt asked
"No man I don't feel good about letting my wife shop anywhere. If I'm not watching her she'll blow through my whole paycheck in one go." Sam said with a laugh.
-
Chapter 91
Hap and Anastasia were finishing their breakfast in the embassy's cafeteria. It was the day after their meeting the MIIO agents. The MIIO agents had arranged for a visit to one of Tian-tan's nicer upscale shopping centers and then took them back to the hangar. The shopping center had a fine wine store. After purchasing a few dresses and a new suit for Hap, Anastasia bought enough wine to restock the Phaidin. Hap thought they would donate most of the bottles to the galley's wine store, instead Anastasia had it taken to the warrior lounge and promptly opened a bottle and filled glasses for her and Hap.
They didn't speak much of what they learned from the MIIO agents. They both seemed to sense that things were going to change soon, but neither said anything about it. Instead they drank several bottles of wine, and made love.
To Hap's surprise they had no problem getting up the next morning and helping the MIIO team load the large empty moving van with the things that were taken during the raid. The MIIO team also included SIGINT specialists that Anastasia helped inspect the device. They opened up every panel and took detailed notes and pictures. There were also two of the security detachment soldiers to secure the ROM agent When the vehicle was loaded they all went to the embassy together. Roweyna joined them so she could negotiate with the MIIO agents.
After helping the team unload the vehicle Hap and Anastasia changed into their military utility uniforms and went to get breakfast. Breakfast at the Cafeteria was a good selection of local fruits and vegetables, fresh bread, and an omelet bar.
Hap looked across the table to Anastasia. She sipped her coffee and starred at the logic puzzle in one of the papers that were provided by the embassy, "I don't know about you, but I'm surprised I don't have a hangover after all that wine we drank."
"Good quality wine does not cause a hangover, love." Anastasia said as she tentatively wrote down a number.
"So we could drink like that every night?"
Anastasia nodded as she wrote down another number then filled in several others in quick succession, "We certainly could."
"You sound pretty confident. You have a lot of nights where you put away a couple bottles of wine?"
"Not that many. Although I have learned it helps to drink water throughout the day and have a little food, at least bread and cheese. I will add, I've never had an experience with wine like we had the night we played poker with Commander McFinnigan."
"That was quite a night and a lot of beer and whiskey." Hap said, "But you won your poker game, humbled Joker, and showed Kelly McFinnigan you could mostly handle your liquor. All told I think it was worth the hangover."
"Perhaps, and yet I'd prefer to stick to the wine." Anastasia said as she completed her puzzle, and tentatively picked up her coffee mug as she checked her work.
"Yeah, last night was a lot nicer than that." Hap said as he also took up his coffee cup. "Of course if we have too many more nights like this, you'll end up pregnant."
"Yes. That's a very strong possibility." Anastasias agreed as she sipped her drink.
"Yeah, it is." Hap said as he took the paper and looked at the leader board for the Solaris VII matches.
"Thankfully we have plenty of wine, so we can try again this evening." Anastasia said.
"Wait. What?"
"We should do what we did last night. Find somewhere quiet and private, drink wine, enjoy each other's company and have another intimate congress. I suppose the wine's not actually necessary in this equation though, but it certainly makes things more fun."
"You want to get pregnant?"
"I'm certainly not opposed to it."
"You're not opposed to it?" Hap looked at Anastasia to see if she was kidding. He could see a slight smile on her face as she looked over her coffee mug and shrugged.
"If it were to happen, now would likely be as good a time as any." Anastasia said.
"As good a time as any? You're the woman that plans out what she is going to have for breakfast for months at a time." Hap said.
"I generally eat the same thing for breakfast. If it's available coffee, a croissant, poached egg, cheese, cucumbers, and tomatoes. That's hardly a significant data point."
"You know what I mean."
"Perhaps you're a bad influence on me." Anastasia said, "Look, my mother wants grandchildren, we both enjoy our intimate time together, I know you do. We both want children. In a few months we'll be going to New Avalon. Why not now?"
"When were you going to let me in on your plan?"
Anastasia looked guilty as she gently set her coffee mug down, "I honestly hadn't thought that far. Last night we were drinking, and things were heading down a particular path, and I thought to myself about potential pregnancy, as you just did, and I considered perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. I see how I probably should have mentioned this to you."
"Especially if you keep planning to ply me with wine and seduce me."
"You believe you're being seduced? Well then perhaps now isn't the best time to have a child, and it's something I should avoid at all costs."
"Now I think you're overreacting." Hap said as he stood up, "Tell you what, lets go meet with the elusive DAT, and then we'll go back to the Hangar, see if the Compact's convoy is still moving out tomorrow, and prep our 'mechs. Then after dinner we'll discuss this some more over some wine."
"And I shall pick the wine, the most seductive of wines." Anastasia told him as she placed their used dishes on a tray.
"What's the most seductive wine? Is it port or mead?" Hap asked.
Anastasia hesitated a moment. "I was thinking of a bourbon barrel aged Cabernet Sauvignon, but I could see why you might think Port as a very seductive wine."
Hap took their dishes to an alcove with a conveyor belt that took the dirty dishes back to the kitchen area. "My roommate back at Albion called port 'a bottle of panty-dropper'."
Anastasia gave Hap a reproachful look and shook her head, "With that endorsement I'm suddenly feeling hostile toward port, and Mead isn't exactly a wine."
"Mead isn't wine?" Hap asked as they left the cafeteria area and approached the elevators.
"It depends on who you ask, I suppose. Like wine it improves with age, but mead in its simplest form, is made with honey not grapes. The yeast strains are the same as those used for wines, particularly champagne, but nearly everyone agrees wine is, by definition, derived from grapes."
"All right, I thought mead was honey wine, but I'm pretty sure it's seductive." Hap said as the elevator opened and they entered it.
"I don't have any personal experience with mead, but when my parents married they received thirty bottles of mead from one of Hazelhurst's breweries and the master brewer personally told mother that if they drank one bottle each night they would certainly conceive a child before they ran out of mead." "Did it work?" Hap asked
"A lady never tells." Anastasia said as she used her thumb to count on her fingers, "My parents were married in June, and I was born in Mar…Oh!"
"So the seductive powers of mead worked." Hap said as he pressed the button for the third floor.
"It may have been a contributing factor, but I'd prefer not to speak about mead anymore." Anastasia said as the elevator door closed.
"Fair enough"
After a moment Anastasia added, "On their anniversary daddy would bring her a bottle of mead and they would laugh and laugh about it."
"Well, they were married."
"And then the butler would see the empty bottle the next morning and make comments about it."
"Sounds unprofessional."
"You have no idea, he would say every time he saw that bottle he would find ladies undergarments in odd places."
"So it is like port."
"I told you I don't want to talk about it."
The elevator doors opened and Hap and Anastasia started walking toward the Defense Attaché office. "Perhaps we should try mead." Anastasia said
"Perhaps we should"
"I'm curious about anything that could make my mother compromise her regular sense of decorum and poise."
"Your mother's poise is formidable."
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look, "As formidable as she may be, my mother gracefully maintained her composure and wits as she went glass for glass with Elinor McFinnigan.
"And the McFinnigans are accomplished drinkers."
"Exactly."
"We can see if the embassy's commissary has any mead."
Anastasia nodded as they stopped in front of the Defense Attache Office's closed door. Hap knocked on the door and was greeted by Private Harmay.
She looked at the two officers nervously, "Good morning sir, ma'am. Please come in. Colonel Bruckner told me to ask you to wait until he is ready for you." As she spoke she motioned to a small couch near the closed door of the corner office.
Hap and Anastasia settled into the couch. Hap checked his watch it was ten till 0900. He felt Anastasia lean on him so she could see his watch.
"You know you could get your own watch."
"Why? I have you."
"What did you do before we met?"
"I was at NAIS, cadets are generally required to be at the same place at the same time. If I followed my peers I was almost always where I needed to be. There were also clocks everywhere."
"I'm guessing your mom's not big on being punctual."
"Quite the opposite, Mother has always made it clear that timeliness was the height of good manners. If she arrived early to an event she would be infringing on the time of her host, if she was late she was wasting everyone's time. Therefore she maintained that being promptly on time was the definition of polite and well mannered."
"That's a little different than the 'ten minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable' concept that got drilled into my head as a young officer."
"As clever as that axiom is, I've been a member of the last squad of the last platoon of the last company enough to know that if every leader tells their subordinate unit to be ten minutes early you'll have people standing in formation hours before they need to be there. It's foolishness. If more people were like my mother, significantly less time would be wasted."
"I've also worked with people that are just incapable of being on time, so telling them to arrive fifteen minutes early was the only way you could hope they'd be at the right place at the right time.
Anastasia smirked, "That sounds like a leadership problem."
"You live and work with Joker, you think I could be doing more to 'lead' him?"
Anastasia crossed her arms and leaned back, "I have often thought that you should consider a cattle prod."
"If you threaten him with a cattle prod, I'm pretty sure he'll tell you he likes the sound of that."
"Remind me to buy one for Mags next time we find ourselves at an agricultural supply store."
Hap glanced around and noticed a few magazines on a side table. "I certainly will."
Hap picked up Federated Commonwealth Joint Officers Quarterly. He had never seen this magazine and it was from October of the previous year. The cover was glossy, and the paper was thick. He flipped past articles about combining military forms and manuals with the LCAF and AFFS forces, and another article discussing the successes of the new Regimental Combat Teams. He settled on an article describing the HCT-3F Hatchetman.
Hap noted that Team Banzai was behind the design and creation of the 'mech. The captions for several of the article's pictures stated they were taken at NAIS. "You ever seen one of these? '' Hap asked as he nudged Anastasia. He looked over at his wife. She was staring at the closed office door, and Hap knew immediately she was annoyed.
She glanced at the magazine. "Yes. That is a mech designed to skulk in dark alleys and literally cleave other 'mechs in the back."
"So it's like an Urbanmech's bigger brother?" Hap glanced back at the magazine and a picture of a Hatchetman slicing into a Vulcan's arm mounted flamer.
"Yes, but Dr. Banzai would be offended if he heard it compared to the Urbanmech. Although, Dr. Banzai is uncertain if axes will catch on as standard equipment. He also jokes about the Hatchetman being a proof-of-concept platform, where he, as an engineer, demonstrates he could make something he probably should not have made. I will add, the ejection system is brilliant and the most underrated aspect of the design."
"They interview him here and he uh…" Hap skimmed the interview section of the article, "He seems quite proud of everything about this design." Hap said.
"Oh he is." Anastasia said dryly. She grabbed Hap's wrist and looked at his watch, "Why are we out here waiting?"
"Well it's classic military punishment between officers. We're going to wait here as long as the Colonel wants us to wait, which is about as long as he thinks we need to learn our lesson about wasting his time. Then he'll talk to us and if we need his help or assistance with anything he'll likely ensure we get exactly what we don't want."
"I know that, but this is still foolish. It's not a very effective way to punish anyone."
"Are you annoyed?"
"I'm livid"
"Then it's effective."
Anastasia pinched Hap until he pulled his arm away and told her, "Ow that hurts"
"Then it's effective." Anastasia said as her eyes flashed.
"Look I'm not the one that insisted we meet with Colonel Bruckner. We got the secure hangar, we talked to the embassy staff and we got the MI-foreign affairs office looking into what we have and helping us. We did everything you said we should. I think we've done our due diligence. It seems meeting with Colonel Bruckner is a formality that no one wants.
"This is more than a mere formality. Colonel Bruckner should keep his appointments rather than constantly rescheduling them. It's a common courtesy." Anastasia said.
"Common courtesy aside, What do you hope to get out of this conversation? Like I said, I think we got everything we need out of the embassy. We should just help out the Compact forces while the guys in the foreign affairs office dig into everything we took from Necromo. I think you're taking this personally."
Anastasia paused, "No I just feel...Okay I may have taken this personally." Hap nodded as Anastasia thought, "Well we should still make sure that our operations aren't going to conflict with any of the embassy's initiatives or any other AFFC's activities."
"We'll I anticipate we'll be doing a lot of listening, so be polite and hopefully this will be quick." Hap said.
"I'm always polite." Anastasia said as the phone rang.
Corporal Weber answered and nodded. He hung up the phone and called out, "Bruckner will see you now."
-
*CLAPS* Ok, I was howling in giggles at times... I swear the MIIO gig was like dealing with 3 X-Files members (or the dudes from Temporal Affairs on DS9).
and the topic of wine? You can smell the smiles happening... :))
-
She glanced at the magazine. "Yes. That is a mech designed to skulk in dark alleys and literally cleave other 'mechs in the back."
"So it's like an Urbanmech's bigger brother?" Hap glanced back at the magazine and a picture of a Hatchetman slicing into a Vulcan's arm mounted flamer.
Best description of the hatchetman EVER.
great update. looking forward to more!
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This is a really great story that I've enjoyed and have been waiting on updates.
But two things kinda stood out -
The agents slipping and talking about fax machines - wasn't this like super top secret? And they just casually mention it? And if someone doesn't realize that Anastasia is apparently a gigantic security risk at this point, good grief.... xp
The 2nd point is Albion being classified as "2nd tier" ???
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Chapter 92
Hap and Anastasia approached the office, and Hap knocked loudly on the door. There was a muffled "enter" and the two junior officers walked into the office. It contained a large desk and a very large man seated behind it. He was balding and his face was heavily jowled. He barely seemed to notice Hap and Anastasia enter. The walls to the Colonel's office were covered with memorabilia of his career and other AFFS and AFFCS items and collectibles. There was even a framed signed photo of Prince Hanse Davion.
Hap and Anastasia approached the desk and both gave crisp salutes.
"Colonel Bruckner, Sir, Captain Calahad and Subaltern Capetian-Calahad reporting." Hap said loudly.
The man behind the desk gave them a half-interested wave as he looked up at them and then back at the papers on his desk. "So you wanted to meet and discuss an upcoming operation you are going to conduct with mercenaries and you wanted to talk about a raid you conducted in Necromo?" The man spoke with a gravelly voice.
"Yes Sir." Hap said, "We wanted to-"
"Before we start, we need to address a few things. First, we need to talk about you being out of uniform."
"Sir?" Hap said as Anastasia leaned forward and looked over his uniform.
"Lieutenant Calahad, you're wearing the wrong rank."
"Sir, Major Braun sent promotion orders directly to our company before he visited-" Hap said.
"Not you, her."
"Sir?" Anastasia said shocked looking down at her tunic.
"Yes. You. Promotion to Lieutenant is automatic unless you did something that would preclude you from being promoted. Your date of rank for Subaltern was October of last year, You should have known you were now the rank of Lieutenant."
"Oh, of course. It had not occurred to me that I had spent the prerequisite time in rank." Anastasia said, "However, if I had known I would not be so presumptuous to assume I could just promote myself."
Colonel Bruckner snorted, and held up the papers on his desk, "You wouldn't be so presumptuous? Just look at your records. You used the full force of your mother to get into NAIS's highly competitive mechwarrior program. You should be court-martialed for desertion and yet somehow you find yourself in an extremely selective program designed to create elite experts in deep penetration raids, even though nothing in your records implies you have any experience, proclivity, or will have a future in conducting such operations. You and your new husband are serving in the same unit, even the same lance, in spite of a long standing AFFS tradition against that very thing. Your career to date is you being presumptuous and doing whatever the hell you feel like. Am I wrong Lieutenant?"
Anastasia shook her head, "Sir, if I may, there are several mitigating circumstances-"
"Yes, it seems your mother is often the mitigating circumstances to your advantage."
Anastasia gave Hap an imploring look.
"Sir, I'll make sure she gets her uniform squared away." Hap said, "If we can talk about our current situation. We have an upcoming mission-"
"Not yet Captain. We'll discuss your upcoming operation in a moment, right after we talk about how you were abusing my corporal. First though, let's talk about the raid you and this mercenary company just conducted. I spoke with the Foreign Affairs Office but they can't, to my satisfaction, explain what you took on Necromo, who authorized that operation, and why you brought it here."
"It's a bit of a long story sir." Hap said
"A long story? You two worked so hard to have a meeting with me. We're all here now, go ahead and start at the beginning."
"I'd submit sir, if the members of the Foreign Affairs office couldn't explain it, I'm not certain we can do any better, nor do I think we should try here. It would be best to discuss in a secure area."
"Right." Colonel Bruckner said, "After the conversation with them I was so frustrated I decided a few things for myself. First I sent a message directly to Major Braun telling him he should immediately remove you from the mercenary liaison program and have orders cut that you and whatever these mercenaries took from Necromo be immediately moved to NAIS. Then you, Lieutenant, can give up this delusion of being a mechwarrior. Assuming your academic records are accurate it looks like you'd do more for the Federated Suns in a lab than you would in a 'mech cockpit"
Hap felt the annoyance growing in him. "Sir, she's a qualified mechwarrior and has been serving-"
"Says the guy that's sleeping with her. Thanks Captain." Colonel Bruckner said dismissively then turned his glare back to Anastasia, "I know your type, the child of nobility born into privilege and wealth. You see something you want or don't get your way and you can just ask your mother to fix it for you."
"Sir, I'm not some spoiled and petulant child." Anastasia's voice was starting to rise.
"You're not a child? Listen lieutenant. You are just like every other noble. You throw around your money and your influence while us normal folk have to smile and take it, and hope you throw a few scraps our way."
Hap glanced around the office. There were several pictures and trophies from the Colonel's previous units and assignments. Hap took a moment to look at them carefully. They told him a story. The Colonel started as a CRD-3R Crusader pilot. His first assignment was in the Crucis Lancers as a Lance Leader and then as an assistant Operations Officer. He was then transferred to the Sytris Fusillers where he was a company commander.
This is where things took a turn for the young Captain as his Company Command Guidon was in an elegant shadow box, but it was torn and a portion was missing with burned edges. Likely it had been shot by a laser. The emergency ejection handle-bar for a 'mech's ejection system was also included with the Company guidon in the shadow box. Hap couldn't read the small placard, but he knew what it meant. The Colonel had been "dispossessed". He'd lost his 'mech, and given the state of the guidon, his command post had been overrun.
Whatever had happened was bad enough that AFFS high command never saw fit to give him another operational command or even a 'mech. The rest of the memorabilia was of staff positions and his time as the commandant of a training academy. He had kept his commission and had somehow made it to the rank of Colonel even without a combat command position or transferring to infantry or armor. This meant he likely had at least one high-ranking or influential friend on New Avalon.
"Sir," Anastasia said, "I saw an opportunity to serve our nation, and defend our people. I fought for it, even when it was, unfairly, denied me. Ask anyone I've served with…"
"You saw an opportunity to do what you wanted to do, not something you should have been doing. Your gunnery scores and piloting checks are clearly inflated to placate your mother and keep you in the program."
"Sir, that's an unfair assumption. I assure you-" Hap said.
"Am I talking to you, Captain?"
"No Sir." Hap said, trying to control himself.
"Sir, it's bad enough you are accusing me of misrepresenting my piloting skills and gunnery scores, and by extension, my integrity, but now you're besmirching the NAIS cadre and their honor and integrity." Anastasia said in a voice that even Hap found irritating. "Everything I achieved at NAIS was based on hard work and earned merit, I would never- The cadre would never allow some privileged and effete person to pass their program and bring dishonor to their work, or risk the lives and operations of the Federated Suns military."
"I happen to know from personal experience that actually happens all the time." The Colonel's voice matched Anastasia in volume, timber, and emotion. His face was also turning bright red.
Hap glanced around the office as both Anastasia and the Colonel started to really argue. There were several models of the Crusader 'mech. A rather large Crusader model was on his desk. The model was highly detailed, and had the arms akimbo, but it inexplicably had the Stealthy Tigers camo spec. Hap could also see a handwritten letter beside the model. The letter's paper was thick and cream colored. It had a family coat of arms embossed in gold at the top.
Due to the handwriting and the letter's orientation, it was hard to read, but it began, "My Dear Friend Wilhelm, I hope you are enjoying the new posting…." Hap tried not to look like he was reading the letter even though the Colonel was too focused on dressing down Anastasia to notice. From what he could read it appeared the author of the letter had gotten Colonel Bruckner this posting. There were some references to old times, and a "heartfelt thanks" for his "service and sacrifice". The letter was signed by Marques Tomas Santiago De Silva Carvalho.
Hap looked at the pictures on the bureau behind the Colonel. There was a picture with his first lance, his promotions, ceremonies, a few different organizations, and his assumption of command at the training school. There was an attractive woman that was with him for his first few promotions, then she seemed to gain weight between his captain and major promotions, but she was absent by the time he made Lieutenant Colonel. There was an olive skinned man wearing a military uniform in the lance picture, and then he was in nearly every promotion and assignment photo. Somehow the olive skinned man managed to find a way to prominently show up in every picture.
This was likely the Marques De Silva Carvalho. By the time Colonel Bruckner was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel the Marques was no longer wearing a military uniform rather he seemed to show up in business suits with a bright red sash and a large gold and silver medallion with the De Silva Carvalho coat of arms engraved on it. Hap guessed the Marques owned a large military business or something that gave him enough influence to help his friend.
Hap started to suspect the Colonel had saved the Marques life and he was the "privileged and effete" archetype, but had befriended the Colonel for some reason. It seemed implied that when the Colonel's career should have ended with his 'mech the Marques helped him out, but over time the Colonel grew to resent him as much as he needed him. Hap wondered why he never got him a new 'mech though. Maybe the Marques only had influence, or didn't realize how his friend wanted to be a 'mechwarrior, not just a staff officer with a patron.
Hap glanced at Anastasia as she continued to argue with the Colonel. The Colonel was almost purple and shouting at her, and Hap was surprised that Anastasia was still speaking English, and not angrily cursing at him in French. She was slightly shaking with rage even as she rigidly stood at attention.
Hap considered for a moment if the Colonel's fate could happen to him. For the last few days Anastasia had told him that they could have virtually anything through her mother. Hap glanced around the Colonel's office again. The pictures, the trophies, memorabilia spoke volumes of a man whose whole identity was wrapped up in being a military officer and a Mechwarrior, even though he didn't have a 'Mech. Hap considered, he was a 'mechwarrior, but that wasn't his complete identity.
The lesson was clear to Hap, anything he received from his wife or mother-in-law needed to be something he wouldn't mind if someone pointed out it was given to him, not earned. Already he was receiving career opportunities just because his wife was nobility. Further, as Anastasia was currently demonstrating, even when you worked hard and earned your accomplishments some people would always wonder or accuse you of being unfairly handed it.
Hap's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and Colonel Buckner bellowed, "What?"
Corporal Weber opened the door, "Those guys from the fifth floor want to talk to you, and they said to bring these two as well."
"We're not done here." Colonel Bruckner said, "Tell them to wait."
"Okay" Corporal Weber said. He smiled and gleefully turned to walk away. He seemed to intentionally leave the door open.
"Like I said Lieutenant, no one needs your mother disrupting military decisions. We have enough problems with the infantile glory-and-money-centric generals that we've been shackled to due to our alliance with the Lyran Commonwealth. Further we don't need another unskilled, untalented person sitting in a 'mech cockpit."
"Sir, I don't think we need to argue over something that is simple to prove. if you truly believe I am unskilled and untalented, perhaps you and I could face-off against each other in 'mechs. We could put the weapons in training mode. We can lend you a 'mech seeing as you don't have your own."
Colonel Bruckner stared at Anastasia. The hate and anger just seemed to roll off him. Hap realized he probably needed to do more to support his wife, and he was tired of the misplaced anger the Colonel was projecting on Anastasia, "I understand if you're afraid sir, she's been up against a Thunderbolt and a Quickdraw in a Valkyrie and didn't eject."
The look of hatred was now directed at Hap. Colonel Bruckner also turned a deeper shade of purple. The office phone rang, and the Corporal picked it up, "Yeah, I'll let the Colonel know."
The Corporal walked back over to the office, "Colonel Bruckner, the Ambassador is waiting for you in the Foreign Affair offices."
"Tell them I'm busy." The colonel said darkly, "I'm this close to ending the career of two very undeserving and entitled officers."
"Sir, If I may, we should really report to the Ambassador and then you can return here continue to admonish us." Anastasia said.
"You think you're funny Lieutenant, or that your mommy can protect you?" Colonel Bruckner sneered.
"If I'm being honest, sir." Hap said, "I don't think you can end our careers. I think you'll have to appeal to your patron, the Marques De Silva Carvalho. Since he won't even get you assigned a new 'mech or a combat position I'm inclined to think he won't be interested in trading favors or fighting a Countess to destroy the careers of her combat veteran daughter and son-in-law."
The Colonel jumped to his feet so quickly he sent his chair crashing behind him. He stared at Hap in wordless rage, his mouth moved wordlessly before he said,, "Watch your mouth Captain."
Hap knew he'd gone too far; he was now dangerously close to being brought up on charges of insubordination or conduct unbecoming an officer. If it came to that, he figured his mother-in-law would help him out, or he'd just resign his commission and go work for Kelly McFinnigan.
Anastasia looked shocked at Hap and then she glanced around the room, trying to figure out what he was referencing or how he had learned so much about the Colonel. She quickly skimmed the opened letter, glanced over the pictures, and then glanced up to see the shadow box with the ejection handle.
"Oh! The gate guard told us there were no 'mechs assigned to the embassy. I didn't realize you were dispossessed." Anastasia said sincerely,. "I apologize Sir, if I had known, I wouldn't have-"
"What." Colonel Bruckner whispered dangerously.
The phone rang again, and Corporal Weber picked it up, "He's busy. He'll come up when he's done." He said before slamming down. Hap glanced over his shoulder to see the corporal with a look of barely concealed glee as he watched the two jr. officers being reprimanded by the Colonel.
Anastasia looked over at Hap, "Harold, you said we should be polite. Emotions are running high, and we're the juniors here. Please apologize, a gentleman should never offend by accident."
"I'm not sure I'm a gentleman, and I knew he was dispossessed." Hap looked back to the Colonel, as much as it hurt his pride, his wife was right. "Sir I apologize, but I think you are being unreasonable and you're taking out all your pent-up anger on Anastasia. I don't know if you're mad at yourself or angry with the Marques because he won't buy you a new 'mech or get you combat posting, but we're not part of that. We just came here to ensure that our combat operations didn't interfere with your work with the Compact forces.
"You don't know me. I don't need your pity, and I don't give a damn about the Compact forces or any of their shit operations." The Colonel said, "Let me make one thing very clear to both of you-"
There was a loud knock at the main door to the office suite. Anastasia turned to look, "Corporal, or Private, I believe one of you should quickly see who is at the door."
"Don't." The Colonel warned, "Whoever it is can wait. I'm not through with you two."
"Sir, it may be the Ambassador, it would be unwise to keep her waiting." Anastasia said trying to sound polite and respectful.
The Colonel turned, "Unwise Lieutenant? When you say something wise may be I'll consider- "
There was another knock at the main door. This one sounded louder and somehow angry.
"I'll get that." Private Harmay said. Hap could see she looked nervous. She'd probably never seen senior offices behave this way. Hap knew it was a rarity for him.
"Private this is my office, and I'll tell you when to let someone in my domain."
"Yes sir." Private Harmay said quietly as she sat back down.
"Make yourself useful Private, go make coffee." The Colonel said and then looked at Hap and Anastasia again, "We're going to be here awhile."
There was a strange series of clicks from the door. Hap wasn't sure what he was hearing, but both he and Anastasia turned as the Colonel seemed shocked as he looked over their shoulders in surprise. There was the click of a lock's bolt being released, then the door opened.
Framed in the door was a tall Asian man in a black business suit. His hair was black except for a small shock of white that he brushed to the side. Beside him was a small white skinned woman. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a short sleeved white blouse. The blouse was tailored to hug her every curve, from her thin waist to her disproportionately large chest. Her left arm and hand looked like it was completely encased in silver and she was flicking her wrist like she was trying to "pop" the joint into place. Just behind them was a short stocky woman with shoulder length brown hair. She was wearing a pantsuit and had a hospitable and maternal look about her. When she saw Anastasia she smiled warmly.
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Chapter 93
"Did you not hear me knocking?" The tall Asian man said in a booming bass voice.
"What?" Corporal Weber asked.
"Did you hear me knocking on the door?"
"Uh yeah." The Corporal answered
"Then why didn't you answer?"
"Uh, my boss told us not to."
"Did he also tell you to slam the phone down while I was telling you that the ambassador and the Chief of Station were waiting for the Colonel and these two junior officers?"
"Uh…"
The Asian man stalked forward toward the corporal. Every step looked like a dangerous threat, "I am not the sort of man that arbitrarily crushes an insect. I know it would demean me, but when something creates such a nuisance that it prevents me from doing my duty, I'm inclined to ensure it stops."
The stocky woman brushed past her female companion and laid a gentle hand on the Asian man's arm as she passed him, "I'm not sure we have time for that." She said sweetly.
The Colonel looked like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "Countess, my lady, I take full responsibility for my Corporal, but had I known you were-"
"Oh you knew." The countess replied coolly, "and I don't appreciate being made to wait."
"Wait till you hear what the Colonel's done." Sam said. Hap hadn't noticed but Roweyna and Sam were behind the other three. Sam had a bemused look as he closed the door. Roweyna gave Hap a mischievous wink as she looked around the room.
"Anastasia, is that you? You look just like your mother." The countess said as she swiftly approached Anastasia.
"My Lady, I assure you, if I had known it was you at the door-" Colonel Bruckner tried to apologize.
The countess wrapped Anastasia in a tight hug as she looked over the younger woman's shoulder she gave the Colonel a reproachful look, "You only hurt yourself when you lie."
The Ambassador let her go and stepped back to look Anastasia over, "It's so good to see you."
Anastasia seemed slightly confused. "My lady, this is my husband, Captain Harold Calahad." Anastasia said as she motioned to Hap, "Harold this is-"
"I'm still your Auntie Marlene, dear."
"This is Aunt Marlene, but she is also the Countess Marlene Clarke-Martin, and apparently the ambassador of the Federated Commonwealth to the St. Ives Compact." Anastasia said.
"You're as quick as ever, my dear." The Countess smiled before turning to Hap. "Your mother told me you found a dashing young officer, but I gotta say, she really undersold just how tall and handsome he is."
Hap felt his cheeks blush as he found himself pulled down and embraced by the woman, and he also received kisses on the cheek. "Ma'am, It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady."
"Please, call me Auntie Marlene. You're family now."
"Yes Ma'am, Auntie Marlene, my lady." Hap stammered.
"Oh Je'anne must have had a holiday when she met you." The countess laughed.
"My Lady we have pressing things to discuss." The Asian man said.
"Yes certainly Fenhua." The countess looked back to Anastasia, "But I haven't seen my god daughter in…how long has it been?"
"Since the last time you, Baron Rupert, and Freckles and Squints I mean his lord's daughters Francine and Samantha came to visit us on Hazelhurst. I believe it was about five years ago."
The countess suppressed a polite laugh, "'Freckles and Squints', oh I had forgotten your mother's names for my nieces. Five years sounds right, but also such a long time. You've really grown. Well not really more than a few centimeters, but military life has been good for you." The ambassador stood a little taller and straighter and got into a pseudo fighting stance, "You look tougher and fiercer."
The woman with the silver arm stood near the large table in the office suite's open area and looked around.
"Do you have a private conference room?" Fenhau asked.
"No." The Colonel answered as he quickly came around his desk and out of his office, "I hadn't seen the need to set one up. I usually go directly to the Compact's Military HeadQuarters."
"Oh is that what you call those golf courses and massage parlors." Sam mumbled as he placed a brief case on the table and opened it up to reveal a portable holo viewer.
As Hap followed the Colonel to the table he whispered to Anastasia, "I thought you didn't know the Ambassador."
"I didn't realize it was Aunt Marlene. We rarely use titles with her, she's one of Mother's best friends and her holdings are on Bastrop just a jump away from Hazelhurst. I had forgotten she's also an ambassador." Anastasia whispered.
As Sam set up the device Fenhau addressed Corporal Weber, "You will go outside this office and prevent anyone from approaching the door. Do you understand the instructions I am giving you?"
"Yeah."
"See that you do. Anyone that opens this door will be met with a lethal response, and I will hold you responsible for your failure. Do you understand?"
"Yeah I get it, you're threatening me, fine I'll go stand outside the door. Damn."
Fenhau gave the Corporal a warning look as Colonel Bruckner cleared his throat, "Corporal you just do what he says." As he spoke Colonel Bruckner walked around to the head of his conference table and pulled the chair out for the Ambassador, "My lady to what do I owe this pleasur?."
"I don't honestly know. I got a call from Natalie" the countess nodded at the woman with the silver arm, "She said we all needed to talk immediately." The Countess said as she sat down.
The woman with the silver arm, sat in the chair next to her, but said nothing. The Colonel glared at the woman as he sat down across from her. Hap sat down near the other end of the table between Roweyna and Anastasia. "How is your morning going? We spent the last half hour waiting to get yelled at by a superior officer." Hap asked as he pulled his chair closer to the table.
"Mine was fantastic, yer MIIO agents are giving some good work at a fair deal, and buyin' anything we kept from those ComStar rogues. I must say that before ye joined the family my life was dull, the most exciting thing that happened to me was the periodic battle side contract negotiation. Now I'm negotiating with MIIO, ye and Anastasia give me an endless source of amusement, and then there's whatever this drama is."
"Don't forget a few days ago a ROM agent trying to kill you, probably because of us."
"Ye got to learn to take the bad with the good, Mr. Calahad." Roweyna chidded.
"So Natalie why are we here?" The Ambassador asked as she got comfortable in the conference room chair.
"We intercepted a message from the Defense Attache's office to ComStar's office. Colonel Bruckner requested they relay a message to the AFFC regarding the items taken during the mercenary's raid, and how they had contacted the embassy staff." Natalie said. Hap could almost detect a Capellan or Russian accent as she spoke.
"My Lady, that's easy to explain, I was contacting my leadership with a recommendation that they have these items moved to NAIS and that Lieutenant Capetian-Calahad be reassigned to work on the equipment. The reassignment was for her own good, her safety, I assure you. I also wanted to confirm your niece's promotion." Colonel Bruckner tried hard to sound magnamious.
"First she's my god daughter, and second, her promotion to Subaltern? Didn't she leave the academy with that rank?"
"Thank you, my lady, I meant her promotion to Lieutenant." The Colonel said politely
"Oh! And is she promoted to Lieutenant?" The Ambassador asked.
"I haven't heard back, yet, but I can't see any reason why she wouldn't be." The Colonel said, sounding generous.
The Ambassador beamed at Anastasia, "Well very good. Congratulations Annie. The rest of that sounds reasonable, Natalie. What's the problem?"
"This equipment that the Colonel spoke of was taken from ComStar. They had arranged for it to be stolen from the Capellans. The Colonel has tipped our hand that we have something they want, and he has, in his ignorance, told them what we intend to do with it."
"How was I supposed to know that?" Colonel Bruckner snapped.
"How indeed" Natalie said as she reached for a small metal box tucked away in the briefcase with the holo viewer. She opened it and pulled out a cigarette. Hap noticed there were a few rifle cartridges among the cigarettes. Natalie gave Hap a sideways glance and snapped the box close.
"If you had confirmed with us before contacting ComStar we could have prevented this." Fenhau said.
"I have no reason to talk to you before speaking with my leadership." Col Bruckner said, "and I'd prefer you not smoke in my offices." Colonel Bruckner told her.
Natalie put the cigarette in her mouth with her right hand, and held her silver hand to her face and glanced over the outstretched fingers. The thumb went down and there was a metal click followed by the hiss and woosh of a torch and a thin tail of smoke emerged from behind Natalie's silver hand. The whole time she boldly stared at the Colonel.
"And I would prefer that, the one day you decide to work, you would not reveal to our enemy that we have something they prize while you tell them where we are moving it." Natalie said before inhaling deeply.
"Natalie, I'd prefer you not smoke in the embassy." The Ambassador said.
"Forgive me, my lady, but it is one of the few luxuries I still enjoy." Natalie said as she blew smoke in Colonel Bruckner's direction.
The Colonel coughed and waved his hands as Natalie pulled out a long silver tube and fitted the cigarette to one end and put it in between the fingers of her silver hand. The cigarette holder was made of the same silver as her hand and it fit into it like it was made for it. Natalie took another long drag as she stared at the Colonel daring him to try and stop her.
"So what do we take from the Capellans or was it ComStar?" The Ambassador said.
Natalie glanced at Sam.
"Actually, both my lady." Sam turned on the portable holo viewer as Private Harmay came with a tray of cups and a carafe of coffee. She looked nervously around and started setting cups in front of everyone and pouring coffee.
"Do you have a Top Secret security clearance?" Fenhau asked Private Harmay as he took a cup from her. Hap glanced over at him. He had a certain charm, polish, and menace about him all at once. Hap could also see the pistol grip in a shoulder holster just under his designer sport coat.
Hap understood that Natalie and Fenhau were MIIO field agents, not like Sam or the other analysts he had met yesterday. These were dangerous and capable individuals. When they walked into the DAT's office he assumed that Fenhau was the senior office, but after watching how everyone reacted to Natalie it was evident she was the superior. Hap looked over at her again. Up close he could see that she was older than he first thought she had a few slight wrinkles at the edge of her lips and there was the subtle hint of crows feets at the edges of her eyes. She was probably in her mid to late 40s, maybe older. It occurred to Hap she was probably the head MIIO agent of the embassy.
Natalie seemed to sense that Hap was looking at her and turned her head to meet his eyes, "Do you have something to say Captain?"
"I was about to offer to get the lights." Hap said quickly. His heart raced as she raised an eyebrow. She was definitely beautiful even if she was years older than him. She seemed to be judging him as she took another drag off her cigarette. This brought her silver prosthetic to Hap's attention. It looked decorative, almost like a fashion piece. It didn't have any obvious markings, but the edges around the joints and fingers had an intricate filigree design. It looked and moved so naturally it could have been a piece of jewelry or pseudo armor that covered her arm, wrist, and hand. Hap also noted it was proportional to her and ended just above the short sleeves of her blouse. With long dress gloves she could easily conceal the device.
"The private can get the lights." Natalie said, and Fenhau looked at Harmay and snapped his fingers, "Have you seen many prosthetics, Captain?" Natalie asked, Hap felt again like he was being judged.
"I have." Hap said "They were just usually bigger and bulkier." Hap said thinking of Major Braun's prosthetic devices. Not only were the Major's devices larger, but he also didn't have the near natural dexterity that Natalie was demonstrating.
"They're all the same." Natalie said, "They hold things, little more." She said as she raised the hand to her mouth and inhaled from the silver tube. Hap couldn't see it, but he knew her prosthetic clearly concealed tools and weapons. Hap wondered if the bullets in the cigar case were for a concealed weapon in her arm, or if the case could shoot them. It occurred to him it could be both.
Private Harmay turned off the lights and it became easier to see the holographic image. It was several rectangular boxes and it took Hap and Anastasia a moment to realize this was the contents of the container they had taken from Necromo.
Sam cleared his throat, "My Lady, what we have here is a very large Electronic Countermeasure Device. It's designed to jam radios, defeat radars, interfere with sensors, basically anything electronic that can be used for wireless communications or targeting, it hates and makes them no-worky."
"Makes comms and targeting computers no-worky. Got it." The Ambassador said, seemingly proud of herself.
"The problem is, we don't have the ability to create anything quite like this, and it's big, like really big, like it has to be carried by a Drop Ship big." Sam said.
"Do you launch it like a 'mech from the Drop Ship, or does it make it so comms and targeting computers no-worky around the drop ship?" The Ambassador asked.
"Good question, my lady." Sam said. Hap got the sense that Sam had anticipated this question and probably briefed the countess daily, "It would be used by the Drop Ship to protect it."
"Oh!" The ambassador seemed alarmed, "Does this mean the Capellans can land a drop ship on a planet undetected?"
"No." Fenhau answered, "Maybe use it to slip past an orbital defense platform, but it wouldn't do them much good. Once a drop ship hits a planet's atmosphere it's pretty easy to detect. They create enough friction that you can see them, and there's no way to hide that. They could use it for an undetected lunar landing maybe, but we're still trying to sort out the tactical purpose or advantage to this thing."
"Maybe this was just the prototype. A large system they've since miniaturized for use with Battlemechs. There was that 'mech you were telling us about-"
Fenhau cut him off, "This was taken for an aerospace research center, it's related to the BattleMech research, but this is designed for aerospace vehicles."
"Okay the tactical purpose is something I'll leave up to you." The countess said as she sipped her coffee. "I'm guessing you're telling me about this because now that ComStar knows it's in our custody they're going to do something to get it back?"
"They may 'leak' word of it to St. Ives Compact." Fenhau said.
"I would." Natalie added.
"Well that would be annoying, I'd get so many questions from…" The Ambassador reached over and put her hand on Natalie's silver arm, "This could be a real problem for us."
Natalie nodded as Fenhau turned to Hap, Roweyna and Anastasia. "What did you tell the Compact about what you had taken in your raid?"
"Nothing. We just told them we had been on a raid that had gone bad." Hap replied.
Fenhau looked back to Sam and nodded.
"Good, good, here's your story," Sam said as he smiled, "Your raid went bad, we'll stick with that truth, but your employer had you raiding an alleged Star League cache. Turned out to be full of junk, office supplies, jammed-up staplers, broken office furniture, centuries old candy, the regular shit you find in abandoned cache."
"Ye find a lot of these abandoned caches?" Roweyna asked.
"Not exactly." Sam said, "But the Star League's Military was a big organization with a lot of bureaucracy and staff, and when the staff bugged out they'd generally leave all their crap. Wait a couple centuries and you get a star league cache full of broken office equipment."
"That does seem probable now that you mention it." Anastasia said.
"Yeah, and you know what's even more probable?" Sam asked. "No one is going to talk about having a damn near big lostech score, and it turns out to be a bunch of busted coffee makers and office chairs with missing wheels."
"Which is why we never hear about them." Hap said.
"Exactly." Sam said, "So you and your employer had an argument about paying for the raid since you didn't bring back lostech. While you were arguing another company moved in trying to steal the lostech, and you had to fight them. That's why you had to limp into this system looking for work. Remember to act extremely embarrassed about the whole thing." Sam looked at Roweyna and Anastasia, "Try to score some sympathy points."
"Oh aye, that does sound too terrible to speak of." Roweyna said.
"Well keep it vague and sad then." Sam answered.
"What if they want to see this collection of broken office supplies?" The Ambassador asked, "Some of our friends in the Compact don't trust us and they may demand that we show them something."
"We got a basement full of garbage, it's easy enough to rent a truck and fill it with that stuff. You can show whoever you like. We can drive it around real conspicuously before taking it to Area P so ROM can take a shot at stealing stuff we don't care about from a site we won't mind if they break into."
"Remind me what Area P is again?" The Ambassador asked.
"My lady, it's that bunker on the outskirts of the small village east of here." Fenhau said.
"It's not the half-flooded concrete tunnel with the leaking nuclear reactor?" The Ambassador asked.
"That's the one. The Compact guys told us we could have that as our COOP site, for obvious reasons we've been shopping around for an alternative." Sam said,
As Sam spoke, Hap watched the people around the table. Fenhau looked bored. Not in a rude or impatient way, just that he was waiting for the meeting to end so he could go work. Natalie was casually smoking and showing Colonel Bruckner indifference and contempt. The Colonel was giving her a cold hard stare and it looked like he was trying to figure out the fastest way to get them out of his office.
The Ambassador looked happy to receive the briefing. She smiled warmly as Sam talked, although as Colonel Bruckner and Natalie continued to pick at each other she seemed annoyed with them. Initially the Ambassador struck Hap as naïve but very likable. Hap was starting to realize this was her charm, she was just someone you couldn't help but like and want to help her. Sometimes Hap felt that she might be a little out of her element as an ambassador.
The MIIO team was taking it all in stride and apparently humored her, or it was a masterful act. Hap realized his mother-in-law didn't suffer fools, and Natalie and Fenhau certainly wouldn't either. Maybe she was a shrewd politician, more skilful than he was giving her credit. Sam finished talking about their plans to create a decoy and the ambassador asked, "So when are you going to get the ECM suite of the planet?"
"We've begun arrangements, but it will take a few weeks." Fenhau said.
"Do you need my help with anything?" The Ambassador asked.
"No, My Lady." Natalie said
"Why did you bring your garbage truck operation to me?" Colonel Bruckner asked. It was obvious he had as much contempt for the MIIO agents as they did for him.
"Technically we asked you to come to our offices. You forced us to come to you." Fenhau said.
"You are wondering why you are here? I am wondering the same thing." Natalie said.
"Look, Natalie, or Ivanka, or Fiona Vulpine, or whatever your name is today. I don't know how most MIIO officers act, but I would expect they know how to treat a Colonel. But if you want to be rude and passive aggressive. I don't mind doing the same, especially since I heard you slept your way up the ranks. It's bad enough you all barge into my offices, I'm not going to sit here and let you insult me." Colonel Bruckner said.
As he spoke Natalie continued to smoke disinterestedly. When he was done, she inhaled deeply and then leaned across the table, blew smoke in the Colonel's face as she said, "You could say, I slept my way to this promotion. Yes. It was my job to get as close to a target as I could, and gain information to help our country. Risk life, limb, whatever is required." As she said "life, limb" she used her prosthetic hand to tap her cigarette on the side of the Colonel's coffee cup, dumping ash into his coffee. "It was my job, I did what was required. I didn't have a rich noble patron to watch over me. I was promoted based on the quality of work I do."
"The work you do? Does anyone see the work you do?"
Fenhau tensed as Natalie stood up to her full height and stared down the Colonel, "Very few see the work we do and live, but every day you wake up and Maskirovka hasn't shoved your balls down your throat before slitting it, you are seeing evidence of the work we do." Natalie sat back down in her chair and stared at the Colonel contemptuously.
Colonel Bruckner snorted, "How would I wake up with my throat cut." He picked up his coffee cup and held it out for Private Harmay, "New cup, Private." Colonel Bruckner leveled his glare at Natalie, "It must be easy to defend your value when you can just say, 'I could tell you but I'd have to kill you.' Most of what I see from you is just some childish posturing and insults."
Sam cleared his throat, and pulled out a folder from the pocket of the briefcase, "If the Colonel wants us to do some business in the open, where everyone can see it, I got this folder we can talk about." Sam slid the folder across the table to the Ambassador.
The Ambassador opened to reveal the picture of a young Asian woman. It looked like an identification photo. There were other photos of the Colonel with the same young woman. Under the ID picture was a list of names, Wai Yeoh, Michelle Lin, Lay Ling, the list contained several more. The Ambassador's eyebrows raised as she examined the contents of the folder.
"My Lady, that's my masseuse. I hurt my back when I ejected from my 'mech some years ago, but a good massage helps a lot. Once I find a good masseuse, I try to take care of them."
"That would explain why your masseuse made house calls, and often stayed the night." Sam said.
"I think it's a little petty of MIIO to dig into my personal affairs like this, my lady. I would submit that they should have better things to do."
"Prevent a spy from compromising a high-ranking military officer? This is core of my job." Natalie said as she lit another cigarette. Hap could see this time that her prosthetic thumb folded down to reveal a small torch. She snapped her wrist, and the thumb went back into place as she took a long drag on her cigarette.
"We should talk about this in my offices, and with a smaller crowd." The Ambassador said as she closed the folder. "We'll do it immediately after this meeting."
"It should be a short meeting." Colonel Bruckner grunted, "I haven't seen Lay Ling in a few days, her co-workers said they thought she didn't like the changes to Sian and was going back to Capellan space."
"Is that what they told you?" Fenhau said.
"You know something different?"
"She won't be coming back." Natalie said ominously as she fit the cigarette into her holder. "Also you should find a different brothel."
"You mean massage parlor." Colonel Bruckner looked at the Ambassador, "It was a massage parlor where I met Lay Ling, my lady."
"So you say, Colonel, so you say." Natalie said as she exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Stop." The Ambassador said as she gently tapped the folder's cover. "We aren't going to discuss this now."
"I must say Hap, I've sat at tables with pirates and periphery warlords, and they were better behaved, and I daresay a little more subtle." Roweyna whispered to Hap.
"When you deal with peers and people deserving respect, you deal with subtlety and civility. When you deal with crude animals, you treat them as such." Fenhau said as Natalie continued to casually smoke.
"Thank ye, that is sage advice." Roweyna said.
"Who are you again?" The Ambassador asked Roweyna
"Ah, forgive me mah lady, I'm Roweyna McFinnigan of McFinnigan and Son's Mercenary Company." Roweyna said as she stood and curtsied. She offered the Ambassador a business card, "If ye need large scale military grade murder, destruction, or jest a reinforced mech company worth or firepower we're at your disposal, ye jest call me up. Seeing as how yer related to the Professor we'd give ye the family discount."
The Ambassador took the card and smiled as Roweyna spoke, "The Professor?" She pointed to Anastasia, "Is that you."
"Yes, Aunt Marlene." Anastasia said.
The Ambassador exuded sincere warmth as she laughed, "I can see how you'd get a name like that. That's right up there with Freckles and Squints." She turned her smile and attention back to Roweyna as she motioned for her to sit, "Well I don't often need that sort of military hardware in my personal life, but I'll keep that in mind. Like I said earlier, I'm not Annie's, or rather the Professor's biological aunt. I'm more like her godmother."
"Aye my Lady, that's close enough to family in our company. Of course, next time we entertain the High Lady and Protector of Hazelhurst, Countess of Calais Parmi Les Étoiles, we'd be honored if ye also graced us with yer presence. My father would be quite pleased to have you dine at his table, and spend a night drinkin' from his deep store of wine and whiskey as ye told us yer favorite stories of the young Professor."
"Oh I could never intrude like that ." She said as she nodded, "though that is a very compelling offer, perhaps I'll mention it to Je'anne next time we talk." The Ambassador looked over the business card again, "Though I could use a reinforced company to help the Compact, at least if they asked for it I could."
"That actually brings us to the next order of business, my lady." Sam said, "We need the McFinnigan and Sons to work with the Compact forces, both to hopefully help them turn the tide with the Capellans, but also so that the Compact will be too distracted to notice what we're doing with the ECM suite. To that end, we wanted to brief the Captain and Lieutenant on what the Compact is up against." Sam touched a button on the mini holoprojector and the projected image changed to show a large walled military complex built into the side of a mountain.
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Chapter 94
Sam pointed to the holo of the mountain fortress, "The Capellan Partisans use this as their main headquarters and to stage their attacks. They train their forces, reset here, and cache the supplies they steal." The holo moved around the fortress and then the view tilted and zoomed out to show the fortresses interior. The fortress was located on top of a large hill surrounded by steep mountains on either side. It was built with a similar Chinese aesthetic to the embassy. It had high steep walls, but there were also multiple weapon emplacements and several pagoda style buildings and other hardened military structures. There was also a large courtyard for mustering troops, but the image showed artillery pieces positioned to fire over the wall.
Colonel Bruckner looked unimpressed, "Why hasn't the Compact wiped this thing off the map?
"Oh, they've tried a few times." Sam said, "I'm kind of surprised during your many meetings with them that they haven't brought it up, seeing as how it's the Cappellan's center of gravity here on St. Ives."
"They might have said something, now that you mention it." Colonel Bruckner quickly said, "I guess I didn't understand why they couldn't just destroy it." Colonel Bruckner looked at the Ambassador like he was trying to reassure him.
"Well I'm sure they mentioned it has anti-air defenses, and the fortress's garrison is pretty good at counter battery. Also, from what we've seen the compact struggle with combined arms maneuver. You got a military with a mix of people who are trained by the Cappellans which means they're more afraid of their leadership than they are of the enemy. That breeds a certain type of solider that will fight and die long before they'll surrender. The other part of their force is new recruits that are long on loyalty and desire for the Compact to succeed, but short on experience and training.
So they'll fight and die when others would cut and run." Col Bruckner said, "What's your point?"
"Sometimes you need them to just win, and that means being creative instead of afraid or brave and stupid." Hap said.
Sam tapped his nose and nodded at Hap, "To that end Lady Candace Laio had to withdraw her units to make a quick reaction force to support her other holdings, but she left a siege force. When you lack creativity war generally falls to the old ways of entrenched forces waiting for one side to make a mistake, give up, or die from exposure, sickness, or starvation."
"Unfortunately the partisans are using the mountains and caves to move around. Whenever the siege force locates a tunnel or cave they seal it, but they partisans still find a way, and they are getting help from some of the surrounding villages and settlements. So it's a very slow and incompetent siege."
"We were told the Capellans garrison has a Warhammer, a Marauder, and a Cataphract." Hap said.
Sam nodded, "Yeah When the fortress is threatened they like to park those on top of the hill, right outside the fortress's gate, sometimes with an UrbanMech. They just hurl PPC bolts and AC-10 slugs at anything that tries to climb that hill."
"I gotta ask, what's a Cataphract? Our contact with the Compact mentioned it, but none of us were familiar with a 'mech or tank by that name." Hap said.
"Oh yeah, you've probably never seen one of them." Sam said as he started pushing button on the holo viewer. The image of the mountain fortress disappeared and was replaced by an image of Candace Laio, Sam grimaced as he hit a few more buttons and the image was replaced with a planet that Hap was pretty sure was Necromo. Sam shook his head again and hit a few more buttons.
The planet disappeared and was replaced by a slick bird-like mech. It looked similar to a Locust or a Jenner but it was more streamlined and had a dual-laser pod for one arm, and an SRM 6 rack for the other. Sam hit another button and the bird-like mech was replaced with a large assault 'mech. Hap thought for a moment that he was looking at an Awesome 8R, the variant with the LRMs. Hap quickly realized this mech was something much different as it had four torso mounted auto-cannons in addition to the LRM 15 racks.
Sam hit one more button and smiled, "Sorry about all of that, I didn't come prepared to talk about the Capellan's X 'mechs. But lucky for me I happened to have them loaded up in the holo ready for another brief. Alright so what you're looking at here is the CTF-1X Cataphract."
The holo showed a loop of the 'mech running then switched to a standard sensor schematic with front and side views. It took Hap a moment to realize that from the waist down the mech looked like a Marauder, but the upper torso was very different. To further the confusion the right arm ended in what looked like the marauder's over-and-under PPC and medium laser weapon pod. The left arm looked under-sized for the mech. Everything about the 'mech looked familiar, but not from a single 'mech.
"Was this 'mech damaged? I believe that's the left arm from a SHD-2H." Anastasia said.
"It's not damaged, but that is the same arm from a Shadow Hawk." Sam smiled, like was trying not to laugh at his own joke, "Imagine a Phoenix Hawk and a Shadow Hawk had a love child, but they were also brother and sister. Then a ****** Marauder got a hold of it and they had a child, their spawn would be the Cataphract."
"That's not an inspiring endorsement." Anastasia said.
"I agree Annie, that's an unpleasant sounding 'mech all around." The ambassador said.
"Don't underestimate the inbred country hick." Colonel Bruckner said, "I've seen those boys wreck a lot of bars."
"That's probably the closest I've ever gotten to agreeing with you." Sam said. "So the Cataphract is not the cleanest 'mech design out there, but it works. Basically, the Capellans needed something a little heavier than a Vindicator but not necessarily as big as Battlemaster, and apparently the Riflemen and Warhammers they produce on Nanking and Menke just weren't cutting it.
"That's odd, the Warhammer is a well built 'mech, dangerous at any range." Anastasia said. She glanced at the Cataphract's weapon load out: 4 medium lasers, an AC-10, and a PPC. It also had 11 tons of Armor and sixteen heat sinks. "I suspect the Warhammer would outperform the Cataphract at long and close ranges."
"That's what our simulations indicate." Sam said, "Maximillian's logic can be hard to follow, but we also think this platform may be used as a test bed for other technologies. Whatever the case he wanted something new and this is the best their engineers could do with their limited infrastructure. On the one hand it's a marvel the damn thing works, on the other hand, it's like Frankenstein's monster. It's a bunch of stitched together 'mech parts to make a whole. We haven't seen a lot of these in combat, but for point defense backed up with a Warhammer and a Marauder, it's competent enough."
"I believe our information on the Cataphract is classified, should she be seeing it?" Colonel Bruckner said, pointing to Roweyna.
"Her clearance checks out, and she signed the NDAs." Fenhau said, "This information is necessary to the prosecution of her company's mission."
"Yes but your briefer also showed her the schematics for the Raven and Linesman." Colonel Bruckner added, "are her mercenaries likely to see those?"
"No. Which is why I didn't go into any detail on those 'mechs or even give her their names." Sam said.
"And once more, even with limited knowledge, you've managed to give away state secrets." Natalie said coolly before blowing more smoke in the Colonel's direction.
Roweyna smiled mischievously, "Jest because I'd name my first born after yer high prince, fer the right price, does not mean I'd betray yer secrets. Every good mercenary knows ye can only betray yer clients one time before ye have a reputation an' no clients."
"She is a mercenary with mercenary ethics, and her father has been doing his business for longer than you've been doing yours, and with significantly better judgment. Now, I do not tell you how to get seduced by spies in brothels, do not tell my people how to conduct their business." Natalie said.
"I've about had enough out of you." Colonel Bruckner snapped. "And your guy was the one flashing state secrets ."
Natalie dismissively continued to smoke. "Sam stop being sloppy."
"Yes Ma'am." Sam said.
Hap studied the Cataphract trying to identify the various parts of other 'mechs. He hoped it would be engaging the Compact forces while his lance did their work. "The Compact said they would do a front assault, as a feint, while we slipped in the back. What else is in their garrison and what should we prioritize when we get into the fortress?"
"They got a handful of light 'mechs like Stingers and Cicadas. We heard reports of a Javelin but we haven't seen him in our Satellite passes. I suspect they've all been modified for a complete energy load out. That's the good news. The bad news is they also have a Charger."
Hap and Anastasia exchanged glances, "If they got a Charger, I think we're going to have to do a quick hit and run."
"Well if you guys see that Charger it will be more of a hit and chase, cause he's about as fast as your Griffin and Valkyrie, and I've never met a Charger pilot that didn't want to run down a smaller 'mech and 'throw hands'." Sam laughed, then quickly added, "Don't worry kids if the Compact decides to march a lance of mechs and drive some tanks up that hill I'd imagine he'd go out to stomp on them, at least that's what happened last time."
Sam adjusted the holo projector to show the fortress again, "When you get in the fortress I'd recommend you try to take out their artillery battery." He pointed to fixed gun emplacements behind the fortress's high wall. "The Capellan garrison is really good at counter battery so anytime the Compact tried to hit the fortress with indirect fire they'd destroy their guns after the first salvo. We think they're low on ammo because they only seem to use them when the Compact fires first."
"What about their anti-air system?" Anastasia asked.
"Fire control is probably in this hardened building." Sam said, "It would take some time to destroy that. But the generators that power the AA are on the side of the mountain" Sam pointed to a small structure underneath a rocky overhang. "The Compact has tried to hit that thing a few times, but it's a hard shot with indirect, and they've never been able to get a 'mech close. I think you're not likely to hurt that system without a lot of effort." Sam looked over the fortress for a moment, "I think their ammo dump is here. For good measure, I'd wreck their antenna farm and satellite array, just to hurt their C2. After that I'd di di mau off the objective."
"I'm sure the Compact is going to give you a prioritized target list." Colonel Bruckner said, "I'd defer to their guidance. I'm sure it will be less guesswork."
"Sir, our experience has been that the Compact is less than forthcoming with their intel." Anastasia said.
"Aye, and in the mercenary business ye can never have enough intel." Roweyna said.
"Well spoken ladies." The Ambassador added, "I've found the Compact to be less than forthcoming as well." She gave Anastasia a wink, "And I like to get as much intel as I can too."
"This is our opinion as well." Fenhau said,
"Of course we actually interact with our Compact counterparts." Natalie added
"I don't appreciate your tone, or your passive aggressive bullshit. If you got something to say, just say it."
"It's all in our report, Colonel." Fenhau said, "We're ready to go over it when the Ambassador is ready."
The Ambassador sighed, "Well this won't be pleasant, we may as well just get it done. Harold, Annie, I'd like to talk to you after this" The Ambassador looked around the room, until she saw Private Harmay, "Gwen is it? Gwen, can you take Captain and Lieutenant Calahad, and Ms. McFinnigan to my office? Maybe stay there with them till I return."
"Sam, you won't be needed for this conversation." Fenhau told him, "Let the Corporal know he should take an early and long lunch."
The Ambassador had opened up the file she had been given earlier and looked troubled, "Tell him to find his way to the gym instead. I think I'm about to take a more active role in my Defense Attache office, and that corporal looks about as militant as a honey bun."
Sam nodded as he shut down the holo projector and prepared to move it, "I'll let Corporal Honey Bun know."
-
Great update. Can't wait to read more.
Psy
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Uhm.... Yep. That Col... may end up being a major threat to our heros, revenge-style...
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They better watch out for the Colonel and Corporal Honey Bun. Both are likely to cause trouble. :thumbsup:
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Chapter 95
June 3030
St. Ives
Hap tried to follow the convoy brief. He thought he understood most of what was needed from the Coyote lance. They were going to escort a supply St. Ives Compact convoy several hundred kilometers to the Compact's Forward Operating Base. Most of it was along a highway, there would be one area where they'd have to turn off the road and ford a river because the Capellan partisans had destroyed a bridge. Generally, it looked like a straightforward escort mission.
The briefer was a young Sao-wei who apparently only spoke Chinese. The brief was being translated by a Lance Sergeant, or Si-ben-bing, who spoke some English, but Hap suspected Russian was his first language. It was moments like this that made him look forward to returning to a regular Federated Commonwealth line unit.
Hap wanted to pay attention, but he couldn't. The annoyance of a multilingual brief demanded too much mental energy, and Hap's mind kept drifting back to yesterday's events. They had returned to the embassy to meet with the Defense Attaché and that had been, as Anastasia described it, "a very negative interaction". Hap considered that a significant understatement. The Colonel was annoyed with them for wasting his time, and generally seemed to feel that Anastasia's career was based on undue influence from her noble mother. He seemed to hate her for it.
For Hap this highlighted the contrast of the nobility versus everyone else, but it wasn't something Hap had ever thought much about. Hap had grown up pretty far removed from nobility. When he went to Albion many of his classmates were nobility but he never really had a problem with them. Of course Hap had been a "middle-of-the-pack" student who always found a way to get his projects done and still had time for girls, games, and other amusements.
He didn't concern himself with politics, and generally wasn't competing with anyone to be the best. He did his work, and spent his free times with his friends. A couple of his friends were low ranking nobles, but it rarely mattered, at least for them. If anything their noble titles were something they'd joke about while they were watching a game or playing cards.
One of the guys would sometimes mention he was a baron to pick up girls, but his family's holdings were small and they weren't wealthy. He learned quickly most of the ladies were more interested in the fact he was in the MechWarrior program. Being a low-ranking noble wasn't a guarantee of much, but being a MechWarrior in a House Army meant a paycheck, and some general prestige.
Hap had seen the sycophant behavior that accompanied nobility, as well as how some nobles would use their title, or their parent's title, to get them special treatment. It was annoying but it didn't really impact Hap, at least not until he got close to Anastasia. Now he was part of the nobility, and Hap wasn't sure how he felt about it. As much as he now loathed Colonel Bruckner, Hap could at least sympathize with the idea of waking up one day and realizing that you owe your success to someone's influence rather than your own efforts and skill. That could certainly be hard on a man who prided himself on hard work.
Hap glanced over at Anastasia. She was carefully listening to the brief and taking notes on the small clipboard she'd attach to her kneeboard. She was smart, industrious, gorgeous, and when she put her mind to it she could even be charming. When those things failed her, her mother, the countess, would come in with her charisma, noble title, and a will like a 'mech's fist and would politely ruin things until she was satisifed. At least that was based on what Anastasia had told him, and what Hap had seen in the last year.
Hap shook his head, he had to focus. He took a deep breath of the cold morning air, and let it chill him. He shivered a little under his thin military coveralls. He was standing with Anastasia, Selene, and Brant, the 'mech tech that usually worked on Joker's Firestarter. Around them were the St. Ives Compact vehicle drivers, and they were all gathered around a map table made of a piece of plywood balanced on tires and ammo cans. They were receiving a nearly incomprehensible brief about an operation he didn't really want to conduct. Hap was trying hard to at least look like he was interested. He knew they needed to work with the Compact to earn a little money for the McFinnigans and to keep the suspicion off the MIIO agents as they tried to arrange for the mercenaries to move some sensitive cargo.
The Sao-wei clapped his hands and looked around the crowd expectantly. The Si-ben-bing flicked his cigarette, "You have questions?"
"I do." Anastasia said, "The Sao-wei mentioned the use of mines and improvised explosives being used along the route. Can you show us where those have occurred in the past or where they would most likely be employed?"
Sao-wei took a long drag on his cigarette as he nodded. He spoke to the Sao-wei in Chinese and everyone laughed. The Sao-wei was using a bayonet as a pointer. He motion starting at the Forward operating base, and moved all the way to the point on the map where they were currently standing.
The Si-ben-bing chuckled, "Sao-wei would like our most honored-"
"Thank you Si-ben-bing Chorkoff, I believe I understand the Sao-wei's answer." Anastasia said.
The Sao-wei asked if there were any further questions and this time no one asked any. He gave a few more closing comments and Si-ben-bing explained that they would be departing in 30 minutes. As the crowd dispersed Anastasia walked up to the map and made a few last minute notes. Hap and Selene followed her. Brant looked down at his clipboard and wrote a few things.
"Professor, since I lost the bet, and have to drive. You mind if we compare notes?" Brant asked.
"Not at all." Anastasia said as she looked over the map, "What part do you have questions about?"
"Everything."
"Standard convoy rules." Hap said, "Keep 30 meters between you and the next vehicle. Standard speed is 60 kph, if you fall behind speed up to 85 kph to catch up. If we're attacked, do a herringbone, where you turn out in the opposite direction of the guy in front of you."
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look, "That might be the standard for convoy operations for the RDM Militia, but that isn't what the Sao-wei just briefed. The Distance between vehicles was 20 meters. In case of attack, fight through or drive through and continue the mission. However, Harold was correct about the speeds."
Brant nodded as he wrote down a few notes, "20 meters distance, 85kph catch-up speed, if attacked fight through."
"Sorry Brant, I guess I misheard." Hap said.
"I was having the same problem." Brant said as he finished his notes, "Crazy trying to hear a Chinese brief in Russian and expecting to learn anything."
"It wasn't quite that bad." Anastasia said as she studied the map.
"What are you looking for on the map?" Brant asked
"Likely areas for an attack, choke points, hard turns that make for a good L shaped ambush. This pass here looks like somewhere I'd consider trying an ambush, and there's also the river crossing."
"Given the Sao-wei's response to your question I suspect the Capellans are going for the element of surprise and creating ambushes where you'd least expect them." Hap said. He looked at the river, it looked wide, but their 'mechs could use their jump jets to cross it. "Of course the river crossing is a pretty easy ambush to setup, sorta hard not to try something there."
"I presume you have some plan to mitigate the risk." Anastasia said.
"I'll put you and Joker on the far side and Mags and I secure the other. We'll form up in a square and that will give us LRMs on either side of the river. Hardly requires extensive planning. Figured we'd just make it up as we went along once the enemy shows up."
Anastasia nodded as she wrote down a grid quadrant. "Perhaps, but it's best to have a plan, my love, because if you fail to plan-."
"You plan to fail." Hap finished. "Brant, you gotta plan?"
"Yeah, I'm just going to do what the guy in front of me does, that's how I got through tech school."
"Sounds like a good plan." Hap agreed
"Until that vehicle is destroyed." Anastasia said
"Then I'll do something else." Brant said.
"Sounds like my kind of plan." Hap said.
"That's hardly a plan." Anastasia gave Hap a reproachful look, "and you need to get your head in the game."
Hap nodded, "Brant what are we bringing on the convoy, aside from the vehicle you're driving?"
"Uh, me, Masja and Tasja" Brant fished around his jacket pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, "Here's the list of supplies Roweyna told me to bring. It's mostly armor, and missiles though."
Hap glanced down at the hand written note listing out armor patches, crates of LRM and SRM reloads, a few medium lasers, and heat sinks. "This should do, but just three techs for four 'mechs?"
"Everyone else is trying to overhaul the Phaidin. Roweyna told me to tell you, 'don't let all yer lance get shot up, or ye'll be fixin' yer 'mech yer-own-damn-self'." Brant gave a passible imitation of the McFinnigans thick Irish brogue.
"Always sage advice from our legal counsel." Hap said.
"I'm just pleased to hear they are fixing the Phaidin's electrical system. The previous state of the wiring bordered on creating a death trap." Anastasia said as she tucked her pencil into the loops on her knee board.
"You know from what I seen the Phaidin's setup isn't all that unique. I mean the wire-up is unique to the Phaidin, but centuries of jury-rigging jury-rigs is pretty common." Brant said.
"That's not something to joke about." Anastasia said. "A Dropship's electric systems should be life-cycled or restored to factory specifications every 25,000 operational hours or 5 years."
Brant looked like he was about to say something, but Hap gave Brant a warning shake of his head. Hap put his arm around Anastasia as he led them back to the 'mechs. Selene followed at their heels. "Brant, you mind adding a Coyote to your inventory?"
"No problem boss, as long as you don't mind if I just open up the window and let her stick out and enjoy the wind though."
Anastasia looked down at her coyote, "She'll appreciate that."
They found the rest of the lance at the foot of Hap's Griffin. They were sitting at an ad hoc table, similar to the map table, it was made of ammunition and ration crates and dunnage. Hap could see they had a standard deck of cards, and as Hap approached he suspected they were playing Spades.
"Yeah, you think your five is so great? How about this seven hearts. Yeah! You'll take that just like your mother took it last night." Joker slammed the card down so hard it made the ad hoc table bounce and caused the pile of L-bills to scatter. It was now obvious to Hap they were playing Spades, and Joker was losing badly.
At the table with Joker were two members of the Compact's forces. From their uniforms they looked like tankers. They exchanged looks and spoke to each other quietly in Chinese. One of them looked at Joker, "You gave my mother a seven of hearts? Why would she want a card? You make no sense."
The other tanker member put a nine of hearts on Joker's card, "You still think the seven is so great?"
Mags sat across from Joker. She had her coveralls zipped down to her waist exposing her black sports-style bra. She had her cards neatly stacked in front of her and was smoking a cigar. She was trying, with some success, to blow smoke rings as she casually took the top card of her hand, flipped it over to reveal a Jack of Hearts and neatly tossed it on to the cards in the middle of the table. Without saying a word she swept the cards away from the center and pulled the next card off her stack, revealing a low diamond card. She tossed the card into the center of the table.
The tanker to her left put a higher diamond on top and then Joker slammed the two of spades onto the table, "That's right fools! A two of spades card. How do you like that? I got no diamonds so suck on my two spades."
The tanker to Joker's left shook his head as he tossed out a five of Diamonds. Joker swept the cards up and put out the three of hearts.
Anastasia took her cooling vest and moved behind Hap so she could use him to give her a little bit of modesty as she took off her coveralls and put on her cooling vest. Hap thought it was a little unnecessary since her cooling vest barely covered more than the undergarments, but he understood she didn't want anyone staring at her while she had to bend over or awkwardly take off and put on clothes. Hap reached behind him and held onto Anastasia's coverall collar to help her get out of it without wriggling and shaking..
Selene sat down in front of Mags and waited as she blew another smoke ring. Mags dug into a pocket of her coveralls and pulled out a piece of meat jerky. She ripped a piece of jerky off and tossed it to the coyote. Selene easily caught the piece of dried meat as Mags turned over a ten of spades from her card stack, and took the remaining cards. She revealed the Jack of spades and the Compact soldiers cursed as they each surrendered a spade card.
A whistle blew and someone with a hand-held PA system began to speak loudly in Chinese. Both of the tankers stood up. "We must go." The other tanker started flipping his cards, "Quickly, show hands." Mags nodded as she flipped cards and laid them out flat. Both men groaned as Mags revealed the Queen, King and Ace of spades. She smoked for a moment, "That wins us all the bids we need." She reached for the pile of L-Bills that was in the center of the table.
The tanker on the right looked at her hand and seemed to try to figure out if there was any way she could be wrong.
"Don't spend our money." The other tanker said.
"Yes. We'll play again tonight, and reclaim what is ours, and take what is yours." His crewmate added.
Mags nodded as she took the L-bills, folded them and tucked them in to her bra. "Sure, just bring more money," She took a long drag from the cigar, and blew a long stream of smoke, "and more cigars."
"Wait, you guys didn't see my hand." Joker held up a few low club and heart cards. "I know you chumps weren't ready for this."
The men paused a moment to look at Joker and shook their heads, "Maybe you should find a new partner before tonight." One of the men told Mags.
Anastasia stepped out from behind Hap as she swept her braid on to the outside of her vest, "Are you certain that is what you want? Given how effective she was with an incompetent partner, imagine the outcome if her partner didn't have the wits and behavior of a donkey."
The men exchanged looks. One said, "See you both tonight."
The other tanker added, "Be sure to bring money."
Mags slipped out of the top of her coveralls and slipped her arms into her cooling vest, "Got all my money in a safe place." Mags said as she provocatively adjusted her bra before zipping up her cooling vest. "Pretty sure, I'll just be adding to it tonight."
The men gave her a dismissive wave as they walked toward a Striker Light Tank.
"Hey professor, stop calling me donkey brains. I know you're too smart to see it or understand, but this act of mine, it's all part of me and Mags hustle."
"Mags and my hustle." Anastasia corrected as she put on her pistol belt, and adjusted the holster's thigh straps and her kneeboard holder. Joker rolled his eyes at having his grammar corrected.
"We all get that you're acting like a jackass while Mags coolly takes their money, and they're too off balanced and annoyed by your antics to pay Mags enough attention to stop her." Hap said as he took off his own coveralls and put on his vest.
"Exactly this is me helping you perpetuate your moronic attempts at deception and misdirection." Anastasia added as she picked up Hap's neurohelmet and handed it to him.
"So you're helping me with my act?" Joker said as he donned his cooling vest.
"I wouldn't call it an act, but yes, that was me helping," Anastasia paused before adding, "Mags."
"Alright, let me explain what we're doing and then we'll load up." Hap said before Anastasia and Joker started really bickering.
"What's the plan, hefe?"
"We'll be protecting the Compact's convoy as they move along the main highway to their Forward Operating Base. The FOB is a couple hundred kilometers away, so this will likely take all day. Convoy speed is 60 kph." Hap said as both Mags and Joker cursed.
"Can't be helped, not everything in the convoy can go fast." Hap said as Mags offered Joker one of the cigars she had won during the spades game, and both of them nodded as Hap spoke.
Hap continued, "Once we get to the FOB we'll fall under the Operational Control or OPCON of the Compact's commander in the field. We'll receive new orders from there. The escort route looks pretty routine except we have a river crossing. Anastasia will send the location when we get in our 'mechs."
"When we get to the river Joker and Anastasia will jump across the river and establish security on the far side while the convoy crosses, Mags and I will stay on the side of the river with the vehicles while they prepare to cross. We'll form up in a square and face out. Joker you face Northwest, Anastasia Northeast, Mags you'll look Southeast and I'll take the Southwest piece. All our 'mechs can swivel at the torso so we'll establish a 360 perimeter and we'll have LRMs on either side of the river so we should be able to react quickly to an attack from any direction."
"Right." Joker said, "What's our order for the escort?"
"Joker, take point." Hap answered, "Anastasia and I will be near the center and close to our supply vehicle, Mags hang back in the rear." Hap looked at her," You're fast enough to catch up to any point we might get attacked."
Mags nodded.
"Your fire power is also sufficient to dissuade any one that would attempt to penetrate our formation from the rear." Anastasia added.
"Yeah, and Mags hates penetration from the rear." Joker said.
"Everyone does." Hap said quickly before Anastasia or Mags could respond. "Get to your 'mechs-"
"Some people like it." Joker interrupted.
"Are you 'some people'? Are you trying to tell us something?" Mags asked as Anastasia tried not to laugh.
"You know Professor, you shouldn't look down on something before you try it."
"I'm not going to give you the pleasure of asking you to clarify what you're implying. It sounds unpleasant, and it's counter to what we're trying to do right now."
Mags gave Anastasia a hard look and raised her eyebrow as she continued smoking.
"What are you trying to do right now?" Joker asked.
"Trying to escort a convoy" Hap said, "Keep up, Joker, and everyone get in your 'mechs."
-
Chapter 96
Hap went through his Griffin's startup sequence as he surveyed the convoy. The McFinnigan Techs were driving a modified Swift wind scout car that had the comms gear removed so it could carry more cargo, it was also pulling a trailer stacked with missile crates and other supplies. The rest of the convoy was a mix of supply vehicles, a commercial freight hauler, a couple APCs and a few dedicated combat vehicles. Specifically, there were a couple Skulkers, a hover tank, and two Strykers.
Hap wondered what was keeping the convoy cruising speed at 60 Kph. It was likely so his 'mech could keep up, but he scanned the vehicles again and remembered the Strykers max speed was around 85 kph just like his 'mech. The Stryker was a pretty standard AFFS combat vehicle, cheap, easy to maintain and effective at both long and short ranges. A pair of Strykers could put up a good fight especially with a few other vehicles to support them. The Strykers were probably gifted or sold at a very nice discount as part of the AFFS backing when the St. Ives Compact was formed. When Hap and Anastasia were being entertained by the Ambassador she mentioned coordinating Foreign Military Sales, and this was probably part of what she was talking about.
The Convoy Commander said something in Chinese to the convoy. Hap waited for someone to translate but instead the vehicles started to pull out and began going down the road.
"Confirm, we're moving out." Hap said
The husky voice of Si-ben-bing Chorkoff came on the net, "Dah, Dah, 'mechwarriors stand-by. Convoy is beginning to 'move out'. Fall in as it goes."
"Acknowledge, Tango Mike."
"What?" Si-ben-bing Chorkoff said.
"Thanks much." Hap replied.
"You're welcome." Si-ben-bing Chorkoff replied.
Hap turned over to the lance's internal radio channel. "Brant, you on this net?"
There was a moment pause then the radio crackled to life and Hap heard music and a coyote barking, "Yeah what do you see from up there? I'm just looking at the back of a skulker."
"I think we're moving out. I see the vehicles at the front getting on the highway. Joker, get to the front of the formation."
"I'm on it." Joker said. Hap watched the Firestarter move around the vehicles as they started to pull out of the marshaling area and onto the highway.
"Brant, I think it's best you just stay in the convoy order they have you in and follow the vehicle ahead to you." Hap said as more vehicles started to move.
"Just like we talked about, brother." Brant asked.
"Exactly, and Anastasia will fall in behind you."
"Acknowledge." Anastasia said in her quite professional voice. "Also, given that our Compact allies warned of mines and improvised explosives. I recommend we stay on the road as much as possible."
"Agreed. You got that Joker and Mags?" Hap stepped the Griffin forward, and waited for more of the line of vehicles to pass him by him as the Mercenary's supply vehicle and Anastasia's Valkyrie fell into line behind them. Hap could see Selene's head sticking out of the window.
"Acknowledge." Mags said.
"Whatever the professor says." Joker replied as he stepped his 'mech back onto the road and ran down the incoming traffic lane. Thankfully there were no vehicles in the lane, but Hap grimaced as Joker ran his 'mech to the front of the formation.
"Mags once the final vehicle pulls out I want you to fall in behind it." Hap let a few more vehicles passed before he slipped into the convoy.
"Too easy, Hefe." Mags responded.
Hap settled his 'mech into a near jog next to one of the vehicles in the convoy. 60 kph was a little faster than his 'mech's walking speed, but not an all out run. He settled his 'mech into an easy jog and kept pace a few vehicles behind Anastasia and the McFinnigan's supply vehicle.
As far as missions went escort missions were Hap's least favorite. They could potentially be the safest, but there was a lot of time where nothing was happening. It also required the mental energy to keep his 'mech moving in a generally straight direction at a set speed, and not stepping on a vehicle. There was also the problem that if he lost focus he might walk into an obvious ambush, but it was grueling to be hyper vigilant. Long escort missions were a careful balance of paying attention but not to the point of exhaustion or distraction.
There was the other problem, time like this meant time in his head, thinking. Hap glanced at his tactical display and then his 'mech's GPS. It gave him the speed, location, and the time. All these things confirmed it was going to be a long day. He glanced at his tactical display again and then out his cockpit canopy. He could see the back of Anastasia's Valkyrie and he imagined her quietly sitting in her command couch fine tuning her sensors.
"Hey Brant, you got any good music there?" Joker asked, "Think you could pump it into the lance net?"
Hap heard the squelch of the radio broken by music and Selene barking, "Yeah Joker, I got some of the best music, let me see if Tasja or Masja can pipe it into the lance channel." Brant answered. Hap could hear Tasja and Masja talking and then there was the clear sound of a violin being played energetically followed by a crowd cheering.
"Oh is this part of Aaron Copland's Rodeo Ballet?" Anastasia asked.
"Uh, no it's called Orange Blossom Special by Hyades Raised and Samantha's daughters." Maja said.
"Yeah, this is some fine Blue Grass from the Taurian Concordat." Brant replied as a woman began singing about a train, "Definitely not a ballet. Although a ballet about a Rodeo might be worth seeing at least once."
"I see. Very good." Anastasia said.
"Why would anyone think ballet is good music?" Joker asked.
"How many ballets have you actually heard?" Anastasia asked.
"Enough to know they're not good music." Joker shot back.
"If you guys are going to talk over my music, maybe you should take it to another channel." Brant said.
"Actually Brant, switch the music to the alternate channel. Keep the primary channel clear and stay focused, before something bad happens." Hap said. The music might help the lance stay sharp, but it was usually a bad idea especially if they started complaining about certain songs or styles of music.
"Something bad? Like Anastasia makes us listen to ballet?" Joker said.
"More like we walk into a firefight." Hap said.
"I think I'd prefer the fire fight." Mags added as Joker laughed.
"Receiving an education in art and culture is not a punishment." Anastasia said.
"Maybe not, but you know Mags, she'd rather shoot at people than dance."
"Not always." Mags said, "But ballet isn't my style of dance."
"I'm guessing Joker is not your preferred dance partner, either." Anastasia said.
"Not if he's going to ballet dance." Mags said.
"I don't know how to ballet dance, so I don't know what you two are talking about." Joker said.
"I've seen your attempts at dancing, Joker. I'm not convinced you know any style." Anastasia said.
"Hey Professor, right before we loaded-up into our 'mechs you were 'trying to do' something, and Hap changed the subject real quick." Joker said. "What are you trying to do?"
"Hap didn't change the subject Joker." Anastasia said, "To paraphrase things I've heard you and others say, I'm here to accomplish the mission, and enhance your knowledge of art and science. Currently my mission is being accomplished and only demands a modicum of my attention. Where does that leave us?"
"You're saying you're here to kick ass, and give lectures?" Joker asked
"In the most succinct terms, yes, but you'll note there is nothing hostile to kick, therefore-"
"If there's no ass to kick I'm going to listen to music." Joker replied.
"Stay focused and make sure you switch back if you start seeing activity on this net." Hap said.
There was a few minutes of silence and Hap glanced again at the GPS. They were still hours and kilometers from completing their mission or even the river crossing. It was going to be a long day. Hap chuckled to himself as he realized he agreed with Mags, getting ambushed would be a welcome distraction, especially if Joker and Anastasia went at it again.
Hap checked his tactical display again and tried to settle into the escort duty. His mind drifted to the events of the previous day. After the conversation with Colonel Bruckner, and a meeting with the local MIIO office they spent the rest of the day, and the evening with the Ambassador Countess Marlene Clarke-Martin, who happened to be Anastasia's godmother. The ambassador insisted Hap call her Aunt Marlene and she also insisted they stay the night at Davion House.
Part of the embassy was a personal residence for the Ambassador called Davion House. Hap got the sense that most embassies had a Davion House or something similar. It was large enough that she could entertain large parties, and had enough bedrooms and bathrooms to comfortably accommodate multiple guests and visiting delegates.. The Davion house had a complete staff and Aunt Marlene had them prepare a full course meal.
Hap honestly couldn't remember how many courses there were, but the meal took several hours and had multiple appetizer dishes, a soup, two main dishes, cheeses and several desserts. One of the deserts was a Kincha tort that Anastasia stole from him. Marlene also had multiple wines from all over the Federated Suns, the Lyran Commonwealth, and the St. Ives Compact. She freely shared more bottles than Hap could count,
The conversation with Marlene ranged from everything to family gossip, to Federated Sun's Grand Strategy. As Hap suspected Marlene's generally bemused and scatterbrained demeanor was an act. She was sharp and fully understood her role and how to interact with the Compact's leadership. Hanse Davion had initially wanted to either absorb the Compact or make it into a proxy state that he controlled. As Candance Liao resisted both of these things, Marlene was sent to "make nice" and generally be a non-threatening representation of the Federated Commonwealth. If the Compact wanted assistance, she was to give it in full measure, if they declined an offer she was to politely ensure they knew it was waiting when they changed their mind. Her mission was to ensure the Compact was a friendly buffer state that enjoyed a good relationship with the Federated Commonwealth.
Her Defense Attaché's negligence wasn't helping her, but the Compact was trying to assert their own independence so it hadn't cost her anything yet. She made it clear she was sending Colonel Bruckner back to New Avalon in disgrace and would make it clear that the AFFC leadership needed to replace him with an officer that was more capable and committed. She also wanted a full military staff for the Defense Attaché office.
At the end of the evening she even gifted Hap and Anastasia several bottles of Lyran Riesling. Anastasia mentioned they were looking for mead, and Marlene produced what she described as a very potent mead from the Draconis Combine's Rasalhague Military District. Marlene was unclear about how she came by the Mead. She simply said it was the closest thing she had to Cholobara, she hoped they would drink it in good health. Of course the way she said, "Good health like your mother and father enjoyed." seemed to imply she suspected they were trying to start their family. .
Hap changed his radio to the channel he shared exclusively with Anastasia. "How's it going over there."
"Fine. Quiet. Scanners are clear. We are near the river crossing."
"I wanted to talk about Joker and Mags. When do you plan to tell them we're trying to have children? I'm pretty sure Joker is suspicious and he's going to keep hounding you until you tell him."
"I was planning to wait until I was actually pregnant, probably when I was starting to show and couldn't deny it was anything else." Anastasia answered.
"I think you're underestimating our lance mates."
"I think I'd prefer if our lance mates weren't inquiring into our intimate affairs. I'd like to avoid the 'hey has Hap been successful at impregnating you, yet?' questions." Anastasia said with a mock imitation of Joker.
"Now you're overestimating our lance mates, Joker would never say anything like "impregnate", he'd just ask, if you 'got knocked-up yet?'."
"Or he'd find some other tawdry metaphor, and that interaction is one I'd prefer to avoid."
"I don't think you can avoid it, he's going to say something that will annoy you one way or another."
"Still I find it odious how everyone takes an unhealthy interest in our process of making a family."
"Yeah even Aunt Marlene seemed like she might be curious where we were at in the 'process of making a family'."
"Oh she was, however she waited till you were out of the room to inquire. It's to be expected from Aunt Marlene, she's my godmother and lives vicariously through me and Francine and Samantha. She's also my mother's best friend, and a compulsive gossip. I'd be more surprised if she didn't show a certain level of interest in our efforts."
"I gotta say Aunt Marlene didn't seem like a noble." Hap paused, "That sounds like an insult, I mean she wasn't-"
"Aunt Marlene lacks illusion, pretense, and is not self-aggrandizing."
"That's what I was trying to say."
"Daddy felt she was the most 'grounded' Noble he had ever met as well."
"Okay that's what I was actually trying to say. I think if we had stayed another day I'd probably have learned that me and Aunt Marlene had something in common."
"Her and dad would bet on Solaris matches. Their only argument was usually over the types of matches. Daddy preferred the light and medium class leagues. He liked the speed and creativity of the pilots with the smaller tonnage. Aunt Marlene preferred watching assault class 'mechs use their extensive arsenal, and massive limbs to destroy each other."
"Alright when this is done we're going to watch a match with her. Out of curiosity, which do you prefer, Mediums or Assaults." Hap asked
"I think I just preferred the good pilots. There was one match with a Marauder 3D versus a Warhammer 6R I remember quite distinctly. They began by exchanging PPCs fire while the Warhammer tried to close, but the Marauder would alternate between one PPC and his large laser, so he kept up a sustained rate of fire the Warhammer couldn't match. The Marauder pilot would just fall back and stay out of medium and short weapon ranges."
"He eventually found a good spot on a military crest and went hull-down. He was able to fire his large laser at the Warhammer while it was forced to move in the open. When the Warhammer finally closed, the Marauder popped up and executed an Alpha strike. After the previous weapon exchanges it was more than enough to force the Warhammer pilot to eject."
"That sounds like good tactics, but a boring match."
"That's what Daddy and Aunt Marlene said too. The commentators were more colorful in their denunciation, but from my perspective he was quite good. I should add, I was reading a book about the Hidden War and the old Star League Gunslinger program at the time. I imagined this was how a duel between a Star League Gunslinger and one of the rogue Kuritan Ronin would have looked."
"So everyone hated that match, but you enjoyed it?"
"Yes. I really did."
"Did you ever see that mechwarrior compete again?"
"No. At least I never saw another match quite like that. Daddy said his stable would probably teach him what made a good and exciting fight, and no promoter would ever let him back into a large arena. I suspect his next fight contained less tactical competence, more violence, and what Aunt Marlene describes as 'style'."
"That is generally what people want out of a 'mech duels, violence and style."
"People are generally stupid."
"That's easy for you to say, you have an IQ that's double or triple the people around you."
"That's not…It's certainly not triple, at least not in most cases." Anastasia paused, "I really shouldn't say stupid. Aunt Marlene is quite intelligent, and there was no one smarter than daddy." Anastasia paused, "I think one of the things that pushed me to learn as much as I could as quickly as I could was so that I could help my father."
Hap saw Joker's Fire Starter rocket into the air. He glanced at his tactical display and saw they were at the river crossing and already the vehicles were pulling off to the side of the road. Mags' Jenner was running from the back of the convoy to the front. Hap stopped his Griffin and stepped out of the formation.
"We should probably switch to the main channel."
"Yes, I suppose." Anastasia said and Hap heard a quiet click as he changed command channels.
"Joker, is everything good?" Hap asked.
"Roger Hap, I'm on the far side of the river, and my scanners are clean and green. It looks like the Compact guys are moving their engineers up."
"I'm movin' up Hefe." Mags added and Hap could see her 'mech's icon moving swiftly on his tactical display.
Hap waited for the last few vehicles to pass by him before he followed them to the river. Anastasia had already jumped her mech across the river and was tuning her sensors to try and get some extra distance and fidelity. Mags got her 'mech into position and a few of the combat vehicles parked at her feet.
Hap moved his Griffin to form a square with his lance mates. They were exactly how Hap wanted them. Each mech was facing in a different direction with their backs to the river crossing area. They made a 360 degree perimeter, and any would-be adversary couldn't sneak up on them.
"Brant, you got eyes on the engineer team?" Hap asked as he looked over his tactical display.
"Yeah boss, they're in knee deep water and got some long poles out and are probing the mud. Looks like real crap work. Glad I'm a mechtech." Brant said, "Hey brother, I see some of the vehicle crews are getting out, we're thinking about stretching our legs, and letting Selene take care of any business she might have."
"I'd suggest you remain in your vehicle as this would be an ideal place to deploy small, anti-personnel mines designed to wound or maim." Anastasia said.
"Good copy." Brant said. "Oh shit!"
Hap thought he heard a small explosion and saw the main command channel was flashing. He switched over to the command channel as he half rose in his seat and swiveled his 'mech as far as he could to look around the area. He could see the carbon streak pattern of an explosion on the ground, and there was a crew member a few meters away on his back holding his leg. Two other men were trying to help him, as everyone else was looking confused. The radio was full of Chinese and Russian chatter, probably telling everyone to get back in their vehicles.
Hap switched back to the lance channel. "Anyone see what happened?"
"Yeah, Tasja said that one of the Compact guys was kicking rocks when the ground exploded. It looks like one of the rocks he kicked hit a toe-popper, and he caught some rocks. His guys got him up, and he's limping, but he's walking." Brant said. "I don't see any blood so he'll be okay.
Hap glanced down at this tactical display but there was still nothing. This would have been the ideal time to attack. "He's damn lucky. Stay sharp everyone. Most people don't create a minefield and then leave it unattended."
"Most combatants don't, but these are terrorists, and the mine could have been left over from a previous attack." Anastasia said.
"Hey Professor, I hear your sensors can detect anything, why didn't you warn 'em?" Brant asked.
"Many anti-personal and even some vehicle mines are made of non-metallic composite materials. My scanners struggle to detect such things. Also there is a great deal of iron and other metals in the area, which further degrades their capacity to detect mines. I would also add we have every reason to assume there are additional mines."
"Well aren't you just full apples and carrots." Brant said.
"Yeah, the Professor likes to just tell everyone hard truths. The worst part is she's usually right, but hey you didn't lose any toes today, so there's that." Joker said.
"Good point." Brant said, "It looks like the engineers are restacking a few sand bags and signaling to the vehicles to start moving. I'll be glad to get moving again."
Hap glanced down at his tactical display again. No sign of the enemy. Maybe it was a leftover mine and this was going to be a long day. The convoy started to form-up and Hap jumped across the river and guided his mech back onto the road and into the convoy. In a few minutes all the 'mechs and vehicles were back in line and moving toward their destination.
-
Chapter 97
Hap settled back into the tedium of the escort mission, and again let his mind wonder. He thought about "the process of family making" and how he'd soon be a father. He wasn't sure if he was ready for that. He wanted to be a dad someday, but was now the right time? In nine months, they should be on New Avalon, he'd be in a new unit, and still trying to prove himself, probably competing for a command. It might not be the best time, but having a child seemed like one of those "no time is the right time" situations. Then again, was Hap ready?
He considered what it meant to be a father for a few kilometers. He thought of his own father. The radio flashed indicating Anastasia wanted to talk on their private channel. Without thinking he pressed the flashing button, "Yes, darlin'."
"Mon amour" Anastasia said in her quiet professional voice, but Hap could still hear the smile, "I fear the tedium of this operation is becoming a distraction. I was thinking I could probably maintain the prerequisite situational awareness and have a conversation with you. It might help me stay alert."
"I agree. It beats just quietly thinking and trying not to be distracted or zone out."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Being a dad, my dad, that sort of thing."
"You rarely talk about your father. What was he like?"
"Yeah I don't talk about Dad, because he was the sort of guy that didn't have much of a personality, just another job or chore to do."
"I'm certain there was more to your father than that."
"Not really, he was a quiet, hardworking practical sorta guy. He owned a 'mech garage and had a few contracts with the local garrison, plus we had a small town arena, so he'd fix up some of those 'mechs. Generally speaking when I came home from school if I didn't have homework he'd have me turning wrenches or greasing something. There was always work to do. He'd tried to put my sister to work doing the books but she didn't really have a head for math, so sometimes I'd help out in the back office too."
"That's odd."
"Alright I might not be able to calculate a planet's location 50 light years away, but that doesn't mean-"
"No a 'mech and a tank moved into range of my sensors for a moment then moved back out. Your math skills are satisfactory for what you do."
"Do they know you saw them?"
"I don't think so." Anastasia said, "Let me try to boost the signal and confirm it's not a sensor ghost."
"I'll warn the convoy commander." Hap said as he saw the red triangle designating a 40 ton 'mech and 35 ton tank appear on the edge of his tactical display. "Meet me on the lance net."
As Hap touched the button to change his radio to the command channel there was an explosion and the lead vehicle went flipping into the air. All the vehicles started to accelerate as the 'mech and tank made a hard turn and started coming toward the convoy. Hap heard multiple screamed orders in Chinese and all the vehicles in the convoy started to accelerate. Hap turned back to his lance control channel.
"Mags stay with the principal, and especially watch over our supply vehicle." Hap said. He was about to turn his 'mech when he thought he saw half a dozen clouds of smoke break out from a grassy ditch near the road. He realized too late it was infantry with handheld SRM launchers. One Platoon launched a salvo at him, and other platoon targeted one of the Strykers.
"Joker I got infantry with man pads on my 3 o'clock. I could use some help." Hap saw several hit indications across his left arm and leg. He turned his mech slightly to he could engage the oncoming Cicada and Pegasus hover tank.
"My 'mech was built for this." Joker laughed as he sent his Firestarter rocketing into the air and turned it around in mid air to face the infantry. "You know what's better than engaging infantry with a Firestarter"?
"Joker stay on the road." Anastasia warned as the Firestarter landed and there was an explosion engulfing the 'mech's right foot.
"Damn it now I'm mad." Joker cursed as he fought to keep his 'mech upright, he sprayed the ditch with his flamers and machine guns as the infantry used jump packets to try and escape the fire and bullets.
Hap had raised the Griffin's Arm mounted PPC as was getting the cross hairs lined up one of the jump infantry soldiers flew in front of him. He swung his free arm at the Soldier like he was swatting an annoying insect. Another Jump infantry Soldier landed on the Griffin's shoulder and ran up to the emergency egress hatch. Hap glanced down as the second Jump infantry platoon bounded away from the Firestarter and were swarming his mech. He used his right arm and PPC to sweep some of them off his front.
"Joker my problems are getting worse." Hap said as he tried to sweep away the infantry that were climbing on his back. As he move his mech's arm the shoulder baffle nearly crushd the Soldier near his head, but they ducked just in time. When Hap relaxed the arm the Soldier stood up and Hap realized he was looking eye-to-eye with a woman.
She pulled out a tech's "paint gun" and loaded a blue canister that held an isothermic chemical that was designed to rapidly freeze circuitry or other 'mech components. It would make plastics and metals brittle and easy to break. She sprayed the lock mechanism on the egress latch, and then struck it with the hilt of her vibro-dagger. There was an ominous snap and clang as something broke and fell inside the hatch.
Instinctively Hap grabbed the release bar on his side and held it closed as he felt her try to open the hatch from her side. She raised her leg and brought her combat boot down hard on the handle and Hap heard it snap and she fell forward onto the canopy. Hap was pretty sure the freezing chemical had made everything inside the access hatch brittle. She had just broken her side of it, and Hap suspected he'd have a hell of time getting out later, but for the moment no one was getting in.
She looked dazed as she tried to pick herself up again. Hap pulled out his side arm and made sure she saw it. She had to know he wasn't going to let her take his 'mech without a fight. He raised the arm to try and crush her with the shoulder baffles again, but she kneeled down and shoved her vibro-dagger into the lock and tried to see if she could engage the release mechanism.
Hap moved his arm again to sweep the front of his 'mech as two more Jump Infantry Soldier joined the woman. One pointed his laser rifle at Hap and started shooting at the canopy glass, as his companion continued to try and gain entry into Hap's 'mech. The third soldier pulled out a vibro-blade and began hacking at the armored hinges of the hatch.
Hap was starting to realize his options were going to be real limited if they breached the cockpit. He'd might get one chance to shoot one of the Soldiers, but he'd need to eject before the woman or her vibro-blade companion tried to stab him. They'd take him and his 'mech out of the fight, but it would probably cost them an arm or a leg.
A shadow passed over them as Joker landed his Firestarter in front of the Griffin."You're mech's looking defiled, Hap. I think you need a baptism from St. Ignite-us." Joker said as his flamers washed over the Griffin.
Without looking Hap knew his heat scale was spiking and he could even feel the heat rise in the cockpit. Hap was looking at shock and horror in the eyes of the Jump Infantry Soldiers as the flames incinerated them and caused their jump packs and the paint gun to explode.
"Thanks." Hap exhaled slowly and tried to coolly re-holster his weapon and watched his mech's heat scale climb down. "Your 'mech okay?"
"Yeah that mine stripped the armor off my right leg, but nothing vital yet."
"Alright, let's get back with the convoy and help the ladies." Hap said, trying to shake the look of terror the woman had just before she died. One second she was his enemy, the next she looked young, maybe Anastasia's age. She was a young woman with hopes and dreams and friends, and then she was dead. Hap knew he couldn't think about this right now. He took in a deep breath exhaled and tried to focus on the situation at hand. The few remaining members of the jump infantry were scattered and leaving the field. He no longer had any animosity for them.
Joker's Firestarter would probably haunt their nightmares for life. Hap suspected this incident would cause him to lose some sleep as well. He could see the Cicada and the Pegasus hover tank were harassing the convoy. A second Pegasus had joined them which was keeping the strykers and skulkers busy.
Hap jogged his 'mech forward, until the Cicada was in range. His tactical display told him this was a Cicada 3C, the slightly slower variant with the PPC. Hap's tactical display also told him that while he and Joker were fighting the Jump-infantry the Cicada had been exchanging PPC bolts and Long Range Missiles with Anastasia and her Valkyrie.
The residual heat from Joker's flamers was gone so Hap engaged both the PPC and LRMs, He watched as the azure beam struck the Cicada in the leg, which had been weakened to the point that the PPC sheared off the leg and caused the 'mech to fall over as the missiles struck it across the chest and left torse. Mag had her Jenner within range almost before the 'mech hit the ground and she quickly destroyed it with a quartet of medium lasers and missiles.
"We still need to engage the Pegasus light tanks." Anastasia said, "Also Joker, it's pronounced Ignatius not 'Ignite us'. Saint Ignatius is the Patron Saint of Soldiers."
"I know who Saint Ignatius of Loyola is, the baptism of Saint Ignite-Us is what I call it when I use my flamers to burn off infantry swarming a friendly 'mech."
"I got swarmed." Hap added, "Joker used his flamers to-" Hap paused he remembered the fear and panic he saw in the woman's eyes he thought he could remember hearing her scream in pain. Suddenly the flippant gallows humor and jargon of a soldier seemed inappropriate. "Joker was helping me."
"I saved your life, brother."
"You did. Thank you." Hap said. His Griffin and Joker's Firestarter had almost caught up to the convoy. The Pegasus hover tanks were nearly flying as they moved between the vehicles trying to race away from the ambush. They were firing their SRM's almost indiscriminately. Miraculously no additional vehicles had been destroyed, yet, but several were badly mauled.
"Yeah so I think you owe me." Joker added.
"I suspect if we counted up all the time Hap has saved your life you would find that you are still significantly in his debt." Anastasia said. She sounded defensive.
"You really think so? Because I might be willing to bet on that." Joker said.
"Hefe doesn't owe you shit, William, and Anastasia you can't just count up everything to solve a problem" Mags said, "We're a lance, and family, we take care of each other. It's not about who owes who or math. Now help me kill these tanks."
"Unassailable logic." Anastasia said as she positioned her 'mech to intercept a Pegasus. The hover tank turned hard so that she couldn't physically attack the tank. The tank was now driving parallel to the road and it made it so that Hap had a clear shot at the tank's rear armor.
Instinctively he raised the PPC and lined up the shot, but before he could pull the trigger a nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him the Pegasus had a crew of four. He and Joker had just taken out two jump infantry squads, and he had helped Mags and Anastasia take down the Cicada. That was almost four dozen people that had died, did he need another four to that? He was going to be a father soon, how do you explain that to your child?
"When it comes down to war it always comes down to you or your enemy." Hap could almost hear the instructor from Albion lecturing, "If you are in this profession you will do violence on behalf of your nation. If you believe our cause is more righteous and just than the choice should be easy. Even if you don't, remember you represent your unit, your planet, the Nation. If that is enough, remember it always comes down to you or him. The enemy you fail to kill today, will be stronger and more deadly tomorrow. If none of that is sufficient to overcome your fear or timidity, then just don't fail the Soldier next to you, because god help you if you ever do that."
"You got the shot Hap?" Joker asked.
"Yeah" Hap almost whispered as he squeezed the triggers for the PPC and the LRM 10 rack. He felt numb as the energy from the PPC struck the rear armor of the Pegasus tank. It slipped to the side as it was struck by the missiles from his 'mech and an additional twenty missiles from the two stryker vehicles. The Pegasus exploded as missiles dug into the internal structure and hit the vehicles vital equipment.
Mag's cornered the other Pegasus as it tried to make another run on the convoy. The skulkers cut deep furrows into the hover tank's side armor while Mag's lasers and missiles further exploited the compromised armor. Hap noticed Mags was alternating her lasers, demonstrating she was making an effort to manage her 'mech's heat. The compact's Saracen Medium Hover tank moved out of the convoy formation and with a broadside of SRMs finished off the Pegasus.
The convoy commander got his vehicles back into formation and slowed them down to the 60 kph convoy speed. Hap instructed his lance to resume their positions in the formation and they continued their mission.
The rest of the convoy mission went by in a blur. For the first few kilometers Hap's hands shook with the post battle "deer fever". It was similar to what happened the day David was killed. Hap was thankful no one really wanted to talk. He was sure Joker would entertain or annoy everyone with an exaggerated recounting of the battle later that night. Hap would probably help the tech's fix his 'mech. He'd need some time to process this day. He'd find some quiet place and time to talk to Anastasia, he could do it now, but he wasn't ready.
When they arrived at the Forward Operating Base Hap was surprised the access panel was still in working order and he was able to get it open with no additional effort. As he was exiting his 'mech he saw that the Jump Infantry Soldier's Vibro-Dagger was still in the ruined lock mechanism.
He wrenched it from the lock and looked it over. The handle was wrapped with pink paracord, most of it was melted on one side. Hap hit the thumb stud and the vibration mechanism whirled to life. He shut it off and turned to look over the blade. The knife had seen some use, the edge was good but he could see where there had been nicks the owner had tried to sharpen out, and and it had scratches like it had been used as a pry bar or a hammer. Hap wondered again about the previous owner of the knife, and the nature of war.
-
... excellent... and presumably, Accurate AF.
the Mine detonation at the river also served another purpose: audible Tripwire
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Really nice update. Keep it coming! I like the more introspective and character exploration of this entry. Not just on Hap, but the other lancemates as well
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There are times I love Joker and times I think WTF would I do with him in my group.
:thumbsup:
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It's taken about a week to read it all. I am certainly looking forward to the next installment. Well done. The various characters are well written and quite human. Which is quite possibly the most entertaining part for me.
Though I found Hap's ongoing naivete after he knew about Comstar, especially once he read the correspondence to Ashley, broke my suspension of disbelief a bit. But that was the only hard sell from an otherwise quite enjoyable series so far.
I am glad I found this and thank you for sharing HFC05.
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Chapter 98
Hap stood at the foot of his Griffin surveying the damage the Jump Infantry Platoon had done to his 'mech. There were pot marks and cracks all over the armor. There was also a dent he suspected he had made when he tried to "sweep" the infantry off his mech. On top of all this were the scorch marks and blistered and peeling paint from where Joker had sprayed his 'mech down with his Firestarter's flamers.
Hap glanced at the other 'mech's in his lance. Joker's Firestarter had lost most of the armor on its right leg from an anti-mech mine, and there were a few pot-marks from infantry crew-served weapons. Mag's Jenner had a deep crater in the chest armor, it looked like an energy weapon had made it. Finally was Anastasia's Valkyrie. Her 'mech didn't appear to have any damage.
Mags and Joker approached him, "Man those infantry bastards really did a number on your 'mech." Joker said. "Lucky for you I was there."
"Yeah. Thanks again." Hap said as he felt the heft and weight of the vibro-dagger that had previously been owned by one of the ill-fated jump-infantry.
Anastasia walked up to Hap and pushed herself under his arm. The techs and Selene also walked up. Selene stood next to Anastasia and with a simple hand motion Anastasia commanded the coyote to sit. Hap wondered if Selene would obey a command from him, let alone a casual hand wave.
"Damn Hap, what the hell happen to your 'mech?" Brant asked
"Jump Infantry." Hap said.
"I should have guessed." Brent seemed to be mentally calculating the amount of work. "It's probably not as bad as it looks."
"You can't see it from here, but they also damaged my cockpit hatch, I'll come by later and help you fix it."
"Don't worry about what Roweyna said, we'll get you taken care of. No worries. Mags' Jenner just needs some armor replaced, the Professor managed to avoid getting her 'mech damaged, and I can tell from here that the damage to Joker's 'mech is pretty easy too. It's usually easier to replace a whole portion than to patch."
"What you got there, Hefe?" Mags asked
Hap passed the vibro-dagger over to her, "A jump-infantry vibro-dagger. The last owner was trying to use it to pick the lock of my 'mech's hatch."
Mags took the vibro-dagger and weighed it in her hand. She skilfully flipped it a few times before she activated the vibro function and then turned it off before turning the blade in the sunlight.
"Looks like she used it more of a tool than a weapon." Hap said
Mags nodded, "My old man used to tell me when you're an infantryman every microgram counts. He'd said they'd never carry anything more than you had to. So the knife you cut your rations with, was the knife you pried open your ammo crate, and the knife you used to clear your weapon, dig out an ingrown nail, and the knife you used to kill your enemy. He said he was always looking for one good knife would do it all."
"I hope he cleaned it before and after meals and personal hygiene" Anastasia said.
Mags shrugged and continued to examine the knife as Joker said, "You know once you're in the field you get dirty, you may as well stay dirty, right? A good layer of filth can protect you from a lot of things."
"Not cholera, dysentery, or food borne infections like e. coli or salmonella, botulism-"
"I don't think you can get botulism from a rusty knife, I thought that was bad rations." Joker said.
"Well you can certainly spread it with your unwashed knife." Anastasia replied
"Maybe I want to give my enemies botulism." Joker said.
"That would mean you are intentionally using bacteria as a weapon which is a violation of the Ares Convention, and tantamount to a war crime."
Mags rolled her eyes as she pulled out a silver tube from one of the pouches on her pistol belt and shook out the half of the cigar she'd been smoking earlier. "You going to keep this knife Hefe?"
"I don't have a sheath for it."
Mags nodded as she continued to examine the knife. She looked over at Joker, "Hey, give me a light."
"Funny thing, I don't have a light." Joker said.
"Really? You pilot a-" Anastasia stopped herself, "I see why that's a 'funny' thing."
Joker laughed maniacally, as Hap pulled a lighter out of his go-bag. "I got ya, Mags."
"Why do you have a lighter?" Anastasia asked.
"For starting fires?" Hap said, and saw Anastasia's sour look, "Sorry, that was flippant. It was my dad's lighter, he gave up smoking after my Uncle died of lung cancer, but used his lighter for starting welding torches." Hap gave Mags the lighter and she used it to toast her cigar while he explained, "When I left for Albion he gave his lighter to me and told me, 'everyone you meet, you'll give a little something of yourself, and everyone will give you something of them.' He gave me this lighter to remember that."
Mags lit her cigar, blew through it, then inhaled and held the smoke in mouth before exhaling. She offered the lighter back to Hap. Anastasia took it and examined it. It had a simple shield with a cross and "O L'aide Dieu" engraved beneath it.
"What's this?" Anastasia asked.
"Dad said this was Calahad family coat of arms, something that goes all the way back to old terra. The crest is a red cross on a white shield, and 'O L'aide Dieu' is our Family Motto. Dad had no idea what it meant, but thought it was Latin. I always meant to look it up."
"It's French, love, it means 'With God's help', and a red cross on a white field is the crest of Sir Galahad, the purest of King Arthur's knights. Perhaps your ancestors can trace their lineage back to Galahad. Calahad is similar enough to Galahad that it could be explained with linguistic alterations over time."
"Sounds like you're pretty excited about this idea. What's so great about Galahad?" Joker asked
"As I said, he was the purest of King Arthur's knights, considered to be the most gallant and chivalric."
"So among a group of bad asses Hap's ancestor was known for being the most polite and least likely to get laid?" Joker said.
"Joker don't use my possible ancestry to pick fights with my wife." Hap reached over and kneaded the back of Anastasia's neck, "maybe you shouldn't let him bait you."
"No. This is important, Galahad's martial skills were equal to the other knights of the round table, and Merlin prophesied that his Valor would exceed his father Lancelot. Galahad's adherence to the code of chivalry set him apart even more than his valor. His purity of motivation made him worthy to pursue the Holy Grail, the very cup that-." Anastasia said.
"Wait, the Holy Grail is a cup? I always thought it was a spear or some weapon. You're saying this guy had a choice of sex, or finding some cup?" Joker said.
"The Holy Grail isn't just 'some cup'. It represents the highest and most noble of honorable quests, and speaks to the greatest of chivalric ideals. If that doesn't make it compelling, then perhaps the fact the Holy Grail granted immortality."
"Immortality without sex? No thanks." Joker looked over at Mags, "What are you thinking?"
"Hefe is here with us, Donkey Brains, so Galahad must have had a wife." Mags said
A Compact officer with an upside-down V scare on his face approached the group of MechWarriors. He snapped his fingers and looked expectantly.
Selene made a quizzical sound as she looked at the stranger, "She's generally friendly, but she doesn't often respond to strangers." Anastasia said
"She is not the dog I am calling." The man responded. Something about the man seemed familiar to Hap, but he couldn't quite place it. He also didn't think he liked this man.
"Is there another dog around here?" Anastasia said looking around.
"Which of you mercenary whores is in charge?" The man said, "You must follow me."
Hap suddenly realized this was Sang Wei Zhang. The scar was new. It probably happened when his 'mech was destroyed, but Hap knew the sneer and the voice. They were both familiar just like the urge to punch him. On the best of days Sang Wei Zhang tried Hap's patience, but today Zhang was probably going to push him too far.
"Beg pardon." Anastasia said
"You heard me. I did not stutter, and my English skills are far superior to yours. "
Anastasia responded by raising a questioning eyebrow.
Hap decided to literally and figuratively step between Zhang and his lance, "Zhang, let me make this clear-"
"Do not attempt to speak to me like an equal. You and your kind are all wh-"
Before he could stop her, Mags tackled Zhang and knocked him to the ground. In a moment he was on his back and she was straddling him. Mags had one hand on his neck and was pinning him down with her weight, and she raised the arm and activated the vibro-dagger. Selene was just as quick and had caught hold of Zhang's sleeve. Zhang was trying to get Mag's hand off his neck with his free hand as he tried to shake the Coyote off of him.
Hap grabbed Mag's wrist and held it so she couldn't bring the vibro-dagger down. "Selene, drop it. sit." Hap commanded, and to his surprise the Coyote let go of the Compact officer's sleeve and sat but she continued to growl and bare her teeth.
Zhang tried to get up, but Hap put his boot on Zhang's shoulder and pressed him back down. "I could have sworn we've talked about this before, and I guaran-damn-tee this will be the last time. I get you don't like Mercenaries, and you like to push people around. What you have to understand is you're dealing with trained killers, so show a little respect.
"You should also know that my wife and I are liaison officers with this company. We're members of the Federated Commonwealth Armed Forces, and here to help you. Call my wife a whore again, and I'll pay this very skillful woman to cut you."
"I'll do it for free, Hefe. Hell, I'll pay you." Mags said
"You dare threaten me?" Sang Wei Zhang said.
"A threat would imply that Mags does not intend to cut you. I assure you the only thing between you and serious bodily injury is my husband. Further, when it comes to your mastery of English, I would submit that ending a sentence with "yours" is not the best grammar, or at least not formal grammar, which you should use to showcase your alleged English skills. It's bad form, similar to ending a sentence with a dangling participle. If you wish to demonstrate unquestionable proficiency in English you should say, 'My grammar is superior to your grammar'."
"Now apologize for how you spoke to us, and thank Anastasia for helping you improve your English." Hap said.
"Wait." Joker said, "While we're giving advice, I'd like to point out it's important to provoke the Professor only to the point she gives you short answers, and you got a face people just want to punch." Joker added.
"I don't believe your last statement is an observation, not advice." Anastasia said
"But it's a correct observation, right?" Joker said.
Anastasia gave a simple nod in response.
Another compact officer approached, "I was sent to see what was delaying you." She paused and looked at the four mechwarriors and her prone comrade. "I see that Sang Wei Zhang has fallen and you were attempting to assist him."
"Yeah, he almost fell on this vibro-dagger." Mags said as she shut it off.
"Let's get him up before that happens." Hap said as Joker helped Mags get up, and Hap took his boot off of the Compact officer's shoulder and offered Zhang his hand.
Zhang scrambled away from Hap and onto his feet. "If you lay hands on me again-"
"It will be life alternating." Hap said.
"For you, puta." Mags added as she gave Zhang a cold stare.
Anastasia looked at the female compact officer, "Chyou, it's good to see you again. Are you well?"
Chyou smiled warmly, "Yes, my friend. It is good to see you and Hap again, Anastasia. Who are these? They are different than your other lance mates."
"This is Joker and Mags." Hap said, pointing to his Lancemates. "The mercenary company we're with is a reinforced company, and we were part of a force package last time. This time we're with our normal lance."
Chyou nodded, "Very good, I am pleased to meet you, Joker and Mags." She said as she politely bowed to each of them and awkwardly shook their hands. She turned back to Hap and Anastasia, "We must hurry now, you are expected."
"Yes." Zhang said as he dusted himself off, "You have much to answer for." He shook his finger at Hap and then noticed the bite marks in his sleeve.
"Oh don't have hard feelings." Joker said, "just because you tripped and we were trying to help you up."
"No, you have to answer for our injured comrades, and the vehicle that you lost."
"That vehicle got hit by the enemy." Mags said. "Seems to me your comrades were driving. I think you should say they lost it, or the enemy destroyed it."
"An enemy you were supposed to protect it from."
"We agreed to ensure no more than 10% losses." Anastasia said, "The loss of one vehicle is within the acceptable margins of the contract."
"You may discuss it with our Commander." Zhang said, "And I assure you will not like this discussion."
Chyou started to walk away, "Please follow. I believe our commander wishes to discuss our upcoming operation."
Zhang half jogged to distance himself from the Mercenaries and get in front of them so it would be clear that he was leading them and Chyou.
"I am pleased to see you Anastasia." Chyou almost whispered to Anastasia. "Lately I have felt surrounded by psychopaths. It is refreshing to be around a friend who is also a person of grace and good manners."
"I quite agree." Anastasia whispered back, "It was very comforting to see you as well, and I know the feeling of being surrounded by violence and impulsive individuals."
Hap fell into step behind the two women comforted by the fact Anastasia didn't revel in the death and destruction. He looked forward to a long talk with her later.
-
Chapter 99
Zhang led Chyou, Hap, and Anastasia to a large prefabricated building that had been fortified with cubic meter bags that were filled with earth and rocks that were put in metal cages or boxes. The fortifications were stacked almost three boxes high around the building. One of the cages was missing its front and the bag had spilled out onto the ground, next to it was another cage with the tail end of an LRM exposed. Above the bags several plywood sheets covered portions of the building that had apparently been damaged.
"Shouldn't your engineers remove that" Anastasia said motioning to the LRM.
"We were told it was likely fine as long as it was undisturbed. However, none of us tarry long outside the command building." Chyou said as Zhang briskly passed through the main door. Chyou caught the door and motioned for them to enter.
Inside the building they were confronted by a pair of guards standing in the HQ's antechamber. Zhang passed by the guards and waited near the main hallway as Chyou stopped and showed her ID card. She explained who Hap and Anastasia were to the guards as Zhang looked impatiently and crossed his arms. The guards sensed Zhang's impatience and seemed to go slower. One of them produced a clipboard and passed it to Chyou as he slowly explained what he needed her to do.
Chyou nodded as he spoke and she quickly filled out and passed to Hap. "You'll need to sign there, and Anastasia will sign in the box beneath."
Hap looked over the form. It seemed like a standard AFFS secure-area sign in the roster. It looked nearly identical from formatting even to the small block print at the bottom that listed the forms number and dates. The text was in Chinese and Russian, so it was impossible for Hap to read it, but the setup made it easy enough to understand. He signed and passed the clipboard to Anastasia.
"Oh, this looks like an AFFS Form 4843." Anastasia said as she signed.
"In order to move further from the Capellan Confederation, we have found the need to move closer to the Federated Commonwealth." Chyou said. "This is reflected in many changes in our military."
"Enough, lets go." Zhang said.
Zhang led Chyou, Hap, and Anastasia into the center of the Ops center where a middle aged Asian man was standing behind a holoprojector waiting for the 'mechwarriors. He was tall and lean and looked stern. He wore a Cappellan military uniform, but the patches had been replaced with St. Ives patches and badges. He had a gold bar with two thick green hash marks pinned to both collars and underneath one of his chest pockets hung a piece of fabric with two downward facing red triangles with a circle in the middle and black sword centered on the arrows and circle.. Hap and Anastasia immediately recognized the epaulet as a Mechwarrior Sergeant Major rank. Beside him was a shorter barrel chested man dressed similar but on his collar was a gold bar with three silver triangles, and he had a Major's epaulet.
Zhang respectfully approached the Major and spoke to him with something that resembled respect. The man only watched Zhang warily as he spoke. When Zhang was done the Major said a few curt sentences and then pointed to the holoprojector.
Zhang worked the device so that it showed a display of the Cappellan fortress. It looked similar to the holos that the MIIO team had shown Hap and Anastasia. It had the fortress sitting atop a steep incline and nestled between high cliffs. Turrets and other defensive structures and features were also marked on the holographic terrain model. The Major said a few curt things to Chyou, but they didn't seem as harsh as they way he spoke to Zhang. She bowed and nodded and turned to Hap and Anastasia. "I will be interpreting for you."
The Major gestured to himself then to the Sergeant Major as he spoke in Chinese. "This is Sergeant Major Pock and Major Nguyen. Major Nguyen is the field commander for this operation." Chyou said.
Hap nodded, "I'm Captain Harold Calahad, and this is my assistant Lance Leader Lieutenant Capetian-Calahad. We're AFFCs officers assigned as Liaison officers to the Mercenary Company McFinnigan and Sons. We're here to support your operations.
The Major gave Hap and Anastasia a cold and disappointed look, as he spoke Chyou nodded. When he was done Chyou turned to them. "The Major is disappointed with the loss of the combat vehicle during the convoy operations. Though it should be noted, this convoy suffered significantly less losses than most."
Zhang looked up from the holoprojector, "That's not what was said. My leadership is disappointed with how you have conducted yourselves before the real military operations have begun. They note that you have already allowed precious men and material to be destroyed through your negligence and carelessness."
The major said something to Zhang that immediately silenced him. Hap glanced sideways to see Chyou suppress a smile.
Before Hap could answer Anastasia bowed slightly, "Forgive us sir, we have faced an odious and ignominious adversary that prefers to use cowardly and disgraceful tactics like roadside bombs. I believe this is the same adversary that holds up in this fortress and refuses to give you a fair and honorable fight."
The Sergeant Major gave Anastasia a shrewd look as the Major responded. Hap could see Chyou deflate slightly as she nodded. "Tomorrow you will have an opportunity to redeem yourself as you will perform a frontal assault on the fortress you see before you. Your mission is to draw out the defenders, engage them, and fix them in the open until our superior assault lance can outflank and destroy them."
"Sir, where will your forces be flanking from?" Hap asked.
Zhang pressed a few buttons and a lance consisting of a King Crab, a Stalker, a Vindicator and an Urbanmech appeared at a point along a path at the rear of the fortress.
The Major spoke as Chyou interpreted, "This assault lance will move up along the rear path and will destroy the fortress before they assist you in defeating the enemies you will be engaging."
Anastasia sighed in the way that Hap was feeling. "Perhaps it would be better if-" Chyou gave her a very subtle shake of the head and it became obvious there would be no altering the plan, "Perhaps it would please the Major to tell us the disposition of the defenders we are to engage and fix?"
Zhang pressed a few buttons and a Spider and a Cicada appeared near the fortress's gates. Chyou marched around the holoprojector as she spoke in a tone that sounded like boiling water. At the same time the Major and Sergeant Major both spoke sternly to Zhang. Zhang reluctantly retyped in the commands and the holoprojector showed a Warhammer, a Marauder and an Urbanmech.
"We are uncertain of exactly how the Garrison will respond." Chyou said, "They retain a lance of Heavy 'mechs and have an additional reserve of light and Medium 'mechs, and tanks and infantry. The siege makes them rely heavily on platforms with energy weapons. They have shown themselves hesitant to fully engage their forces. Our experience leads us to believe this is how they will respond to your lance, at least at first. They may commit additional forces at least until our lance initiates its attack."
This wasn't exactly what MIIO had told them, but at least it looked like it could be an honest estimate from Soldiers on the ground, "Once we engage them, and get them 'fixed', how long till you'll be in position to outflank them." Hap asked.
Chyou nodded and interpreted Hap's words, as Chyou spoke Hap could see the Major and Sergeant Major nodding. They answered the question, and Chyou responded, "Once we have positioned our lance you we will signal you to begin your attack. We believe it will take ten minutes to neutralize the base's other defenders and then move into position to defeat these units."
Anastasia and Hap exchanged looks, the "ten minutes" were likely going to be twenty or thirty. "Ten minutes is a long time to keep a Marauder and a Warhammer busy with a light lance." Hap said.
"Is it possible to get artillery or air support?" Anastasia asked.
"Provide it yourself." Zhang snorted.
Anastasia nodded as Chyou explained the question to her leadership. The Major pointed to gun emplacements in the fortress and to multiple air defense towers on the mountains and hills near the fortress.
"The fortresses defenders have destroyed the artillery pieces we were allotted for this operation, and the fortress has a formidable, automated air defense system. Artillery is unavailable and air support will not be provided."
Anastasia nodded as she studied the holo. The placement of the defenses were identical to the map that Hap and Anastasia had seen the previous day, even down to the air defense's power generator nestled under a rocky overhang.
"Do you know if these generators are the sole source for the Air Defense System?"
"We suspect so-" Chyou began saying
"Those generators have proven impossible to destroy. The rock overhangs have prevented our best indirect gunners from destroying it, and there are automated defenses along the tower that have prevented our ground forces. However, if you wish to waste your energies and lives attempting it, be my guest. It's likely a good way to keep your adversary 'busy'." Zhang sneered.
"Noted. Thank you. When are we conducting this operation?" Hap asked.
"You will need to have your 'mechs in position before dawn. The sun rises over the rear of the fortress and we hope to use it to blind our enemies as we advance." Zhang said. "You will muster your forces in this ravine" As he spoke a McFinnigan and sons icon appeared in a ravine. "You will proceed to assault the fortress on our orders." The ravine appeared to be difficult to observe from the fortress.
"Oh good, you're not having us charge up a hill to attack a fortified base in broad daylight."
"You might be surprised to learn how similar that is to the plan Zhang originally proposed." Chyou said quietly.
"That doesn't surprise me." Hap said as he felt Anastasia gently brush his arm above the elbow then pinched him. The Major and the Sergeant Major gave Hap a questioning look.
"Can we get a paper topo map of the fortress with its defenses?" Anastasia asked.
Chyou started to interpret and the Major snapped his fingers and pointed to one of the young soldiers manning a terminal in the Ops Center. The young man quickly sprung to his feet and ran out of the ops center. He returned shortly with the paper topographic map.
"Does the enemy patrol around the fortress?" Anastasia asked
"Yes." Zhang said as he gave her a hard look, "But we do not have the specifics of the enemies patrol."
"You're sieging an enemy fortress where the defenders conduct patrols, but you don't have data on how often they conduct those patrols or their routes? I understand now why they are easily slipping through your siege."
Chyou looked worried as Zhang stood up. "How dare you question me.-"
The Major barked at Zhang and Zhang sat back down and quickly said something to the Major. The Major gave him a curious look, then said something that sounded like an order. Zhang looked angry as he responded, "You will have the information for the enemies patrols before you leave for this mission tomorrow."
"Thank you." Anastasia said brightly.
The Sergeant Major spoke quietly to the Major, and then the Major spoke to Chyou. "Our leadership has other matters to attend to. The commander suggests that you prepare tomorrow's operation."
"Yes, and you should control your wild animal, before someone puts it down." Zhang added
Hap looked squarely at Zhang, "I was trying to think of a polite way to tell your Commander the same thing."
Chyou gasped as the Major laughed, "I like you AFFC Captain Calahad. I like you a lot." He glanced at his officers to make sure they were seeing he wasn't angry. "I hope our adversary under-estimates you and your lance. Notwithstanding, I need you to draw out their garrison and keep yourselves alive until my lance and I can come and deal with this 'odious enemy' personally."
"Yes, Sir." Hap said smartly and saluted.
"You are dismissed. If you have any other questions or require any additional assistance please speak with Lieutenant Mun. Lieutenant Zhang, you will not interact with the Mercenaries without my express permission."
Chyou led them out of the Ops center and back toward their 'mechs. As they walked Hap asked, "When we first heard about this mission we thought we'd be the ones sneaking through the Fortress's backdoor while your much more heavily armed and armored lance 'drew out the garrison'. What happened?"
"Zhang strongly recommended that we use the mercenaries, you, to draw out the garrison." Chyou said. "Our commander was unwilling, but Zhang's was persistent and convinced many of the other officers and men that the most prudent course was to preserve our combat forces by employing your forces at greater risk.
"Perhaps we could have convinced Major Nguyen that his original plan was wiser." Anastasia said, "Casually risking the lives and equipment of mercenaries is certain to make it difficult to hire more in the future. It's a short sided tactical choice with strategic repercussions for the Compact."
"Perhaps." Chyou said carefully. "However, I could not allow you to question him in front of his subordinates, he had already lost some face from having to condescend to Zhang's near mutiny. Besides we are children of the Confederation, little else is expected of us." Chyou said quietly.
"What is Zhang's problem with us?"
Chyou walked quietly for a moment. "I don't believe it is with you personally. I once thought he was a great believer in the Compact, a fanatic soldier full of fervor, but now I have seen that he was an unremarkable mechwarrior who saw an opportunity to rise in the ranks by throwing his lot in with the Compact. He sees mercenaries as a threat to someone like him. Your skills are sought after and command a high price, his skills were only accepted because there was little other choice. Taking to the field with you risks a comparison that would greatly injure his pride."
"You still believe in the Compact?"
Chyou nodded slowly, "I do, but it is hard when we conduct ourselves like the ones we fight."
"We'll be fine Chyou." Anastasia said, "I have a plan."
They were now standing near the mercenary's 'mechs. Chyou looked at the four 'mechs. "I fear your 'mechs may not be sufficient to the task, no matter how cunning your plan."
"You have a plan?" Hap said.
Anastasia nodded, "We'll need to call Roweyna, but if she'll authorize the company's Stuka we could…
Did we not make it clear that there were automated defense turrets?
"Yes but they are powered by that single generator unit, I am confident we can neutralize those systems."
"We have tried every conceivable method to destroy that generator. It's impossible."
"I have something you don't." Anastasia said
"May I inquire what that is?"
Hap cleared his throat, "Chyou, if we destroy the generator and bring in our air support, how quickly before your Commander will try to reprioritize it?"
"I would anticipate Zhang would demand it be reprioritized instantly, and Zhang would badger our Commander to insist he take control of it."
"Then it might be best if you don't know what we're planning." Hap said. "I'd hate to put you in a bad place with your leadership."
Chyou nodded, "It might be best that I were ignorant. I certainly wish you luck, and I pray that you don't unduly risk the life of your pilots. If the Compact falters, or I lose my faith in it, I may be looking for a Mercenary company to join."
"You know we'll put in a good word for you." Hap said.
Before Chyou could respond Mags jogged up, "Hey, Hefe, the Compact guys wanted some of our rations to make, 'Army Stew'. Not sure what it is, but they told us we'd love it, and there'd be enough for everyone. Brant said you gotta authorize it."
"What's Army stew, Chyou?"
Chyou's normally placid expression changed to one of excitement and she smiled as she explained, "Budae Jjigae. This is a legendary dish of allies that traces a storied lineage back to Terra. Once there was a great army of the West that came to aid a smaller army in the East. As the war continued they would mix rations. The army of the west gave their canned and salted meats and cheeses, and the army of the east provided kimchi, noodles, rice, and locally grown vegetables. It was a fusion much like the armies that invented it. I assure you it is a wonderful dish."
"They want our salted pork and processed cheese? I say give it to them." Anastasia said.
Chyou grabbed Anastasia's arm and shook her, "Trust me my friend, you will find this is a very delicious dish."
"Chyou, I'll don't mind sharing what we have, but lets just forget about our previous conversation."
Chyou looked at Hap with a near religious fervor, "The promise of Budae Jjigae has driven all else from my mind. All I can remember is our mutual disgust of Zhang, and a promise of a mercenary career to fall back on if the Compact fails me.
"Fair enough." Hap Said, "We can't let Zhang ruin a good meal. Mags, tell Brant I'm authorizing the ration sharing. Anastasia and I got to call Roweyna and then we'll talk tomorrow's operation."
"Aye, aye Hefe."
-
Chapter 100
Mags and Chyou went back to talk to their people and start dispersing rations as Hap led Anastasia toward the McFinnigan and Son's recovery vehicle. "Let's use the comms in the tech's ride to call Roweyna, but first, what's your plan?"
"I think I can modify my target and tracking system to work similar to the ECM suite we stole from Necromo. With that Mags and I should be able to run through the ravines and draws and use the terrain to get up the ridge. We will evade enemy detection and destroy the power generators for the air defense system without the defenders in the fortress detecting us.
Once the generators are destroyed and the air defenses neutralized we will return to the release point in the ravine that Zhang assigned us. Mags and Joker can then proceed toward the fortress until they draw out the defenders. Then we'll cover their retreat back to the ravine, and we'll call in Kate and her Stuka to strafe the OPFOR while they're in the open. We can snipe and continue to call Air Support until we've cleared the objective or we're relieved by the Compact forces."
"Maybe Joker and I should make that charge at the fortress and draw out the OPFOR. I'll probably draw more fire because I'm bigger and do more damage. That way we can get their attention while you two fall back to the ravine. I think your plan is putting Mags and Joker at some undue risk."
"I think you're feeling guilty about staying under cover, and I'd never put Mags at undue risk."
"What about Joker?"
"You and I have 'mechs with LRMs, and your PPC is the standard in long range precision heavy fire. It makes more sense for us to establish an overwatch. Also, Mags has a very fast 'mech."
"And Joker?"
"Well his Firestarter is faster than ours 'mechs."
"Alright, it makes tactical sense" Hap agreed as he pulled open the gull wing style door of the Swift Wind scout car. Anastasia slid into the passenger side and got behind the communication system. The Mercenary company had removed the stock sensor package and reduced the communication systems to just a holo radio. This included taking the large foldable radar dish assembly and replacing it with a long whip antenna. Before Hap sat down he unhooked the whip so it stood straight up.
Hap scooted closer to his wife as he told her, "Antenna is up and ready to go."
Anastasia nodded as she turned the radio on and went through the start up sequence, "McFinnigan Ops, This is Coyote 1 and 2."
"Ye got the Family, Coyote 2." Roweyna spoke as the holo system picture started to sharpen and showed her head and shoulders, "How can we help? I got the report that ye had made it to the FOB, ye get something more?"
"Yeah, we had our brief with the Compact forces. They switched our role for this operation. They decided that instead of us sneaking into the back door of the fortress, they'd rather we haul our Lance up hill, in the open and draw fire." Hap said.
As he spoke Roweyna nodded, "Aye, I thought they'd try some mischief like this. How bad do ye think it will be? There's a few things I can remind them of from the contract, and I can try to argue that they're intentionally putting yer lives and equipment at risk, but without the MRB protections it's probably jest going to be me arguing we'll walk."
"I have a plan that does not involve us standing in the open while a superior force maintains the high ground, however we'll need Kate and the Stuka."
"I seem to recall our friends in MIIO tellin' us there was a sophisticated anti-air jest waitin to humble anything that rockets through the air and space and send it back to earth."
"Both MIIO and the Compact have shown us that the Anti-Air defense is powered by a single power system. All we have to do is destroy it and the Anti-Air system will be neutralized.
"Oh! Yer jest going to march up the side of the mountain and destroy their Anti Air system?" Roweyna said as she sipped tea. "And the enemy is jest going to watch thinkin' 'oh why didn't we think of some one tryin' that?' "
"That is my intent, at least in part. I believe I can modify my Valkyrie's target and tracking systems to work similar to the ECM suite we stole from the Capellans. The Compact wants us to conduct the operation at sunrise, so if we get there early we can use the cover of darkness to prevent us from being seen, and we should be undetectable from regular sensors. Further there is a draw that we can use to close to the generator without being seen."
As Anastasia spoke Roweyna looked over her tea cup and raised a questioning eyebrow. When she was done Roweyna set her tea cup down, and leaned close to the camera, "Jest so ye know, if any of the regular fools and proper madmen in my father's employ had said somethin' such as this to me, I'd strongly suggest they reconsider. After they assured me they'd prevail, I'd politely ask 'em to update their will, ensure their affairs are in order, and make sure I had everythin' to contact next of kin. But when you say it, I'm generally convinced ye may jest have be able to pull it off."
"So you'll authorize Kate and the Stuka?" Hap asked.
"Well I need to check the contract and we'll have to ask Ms. Berlin. Seeing as how if yer wrong she'll either be wasting her day flying in orbit, or getting shot at." Roweyna looked over her shoulder and spoke to someone off camera, "Go find Ms. Berlin."
Roweyna turned back to the camera, "While we're waiting let me see if the contract has a Sua Sponte clause."
"Sua Sponte?" Hap asked.
"Its latin for 'voluntarily' or 'of it's own accord'." Anastasia said, "I'm not certain what it means in the context of a mercenary contract."
"It's a clause that allows you to engage military targets that yer employer didn't specify. It has to be within the constraint of yer mission, and can't violate anything they told you to do or not to do. Generally it also has to be related to prosecuting the mission at hand. Some mercenaries prefer not to include it so they can use it as an excuse for not doing more than they were ordered. Father prefers to have it because it gives him more tactical flexibility, as yer seeing here."
As Roweyna spoke she flipped through a thick stack of papers that had been stapled together, "Of course some employers don't want a company to act Sua Sponte, usually in cases where they don't trust them, or if there is a particular risk to collateral damage. Some are jest ****** micromangers…" She flipped a few more pages, "And here it is, right after the brilliant paragraph I added on salvage. Yer cleared to act of yer 'own accord' to destroy the anti-air system, this is assuming the Compact didn't forbid it."
"Zhang stated we should provide our own air support, and wished me 'good luck' when I mentioned the possibility of destroying the generator."
"Sounds damn near like he ordered ye to do it then." Roweyna smiled, "or it's at least a strong endorsement."
"You're looking pleased with yourself." Hap said, "Am I missing something?"
"Aye, I actually thought something like this might happen, so I added to the contract that we would have priority salvage rights to any 'mech or tank that we destroyed exclusively or without the Compact's assistance. I had written it to encourage them to be sure and 'assist' you with the enemy, and not leave you trying to take down an Assault lance on yer own. I was a little surprised they agreed to it, but the Compact is a scrapy lot, and they seemed confident they would be fast or efficient enough to prevent us from getting multiple unassisted kills.
"So you're saying if we can create a kill box for Kate it's we're guaranteeing a massive amount of choice salvage for the family?" Hap asked.
Roweyna shrugged, "In a perfectly legal world, yes. However, I'm a realist and a businesswoman, so yer probably guaranteeing me a post battle-side argument, as they're not likely to give us priority for salvage from a lance worth of heavy mechs. At least I'll be negotiating from a position of strength though. We all take the field for the family family Mr. Calahad, ye have yer 'mechs, I have me contracts."
"Did someone say, 'create a kill box for Kate'?" Kate appeared behind Roweyna, "Am I going to do some close air support."
"We were going to offer you the opportunity, yes."
"I'm in." Kate said excitedly.
"Do you want to know the particulars of this mission?" Roweyna asked.
"Won't change my mind. I'm tired of dragging cables through tight spaces that everyone else claims they can't fit into, and yesterday Hawkins nearly set my hair on fire with his sloppy welding. I'm ready for anything else, especially if it comes with a chance to wreck some 'mechs."
Roweyna winked at the Hap and Anastasia, "There ye have it, ye have yer air support. I'll make some calls and get the airspace cleared. May have to talk to yer god-aunt."
Anastasia explained the operation to Kate, and what they would need from her. Kate seemed excited for the chance to get away from the repair work on the Phaidin. When they were done Anastasia said she needed to start work on the Valkyrie and Hap went to brief Mags and Joker on the upcoming operation and make sure the techs had everything they needed.
Hap found Joker and Mags setting up their assigned quarters. The lance had their own portable shelter. Mags and Joker were setting up their sleeping kit on one of the built in bed shelves. They had brought Hap and Anastasia's gear, and Hap chose the shelf across from them and explained the upcoming operation and Anastasia's plan as they laid out there things.
"So the professor's right now working on some science experiment for tomorrow? You think she's pulling her hair out yet?" Joker asked as they stepped outside of the shelter.
"Joker, Anastasia is not pulling her hair out" Hap said "I don't know why you keep saying this."
"It's because of what happened when the life support went out on the Phaidin-" Mags said.
"When she knocked out the life support on the Phaidin." Joker interrupted.
"Old boats have old boat problems, cabron." Mags replied, "Hefe, you have to admit, when she gets worried, she starts pulling on her braid until it comes undone and goes all slavaje y loco."
Hap nodded. Anastasia usually kept her hair in a long braid, that she would play with or stroke when she was bored or stressed. When she accidentally disabled the Phaidin's life support she started pulling on her braid to the point that it came undone, and began to unravel. As she continued to work through the problem she ended up with half her hair down and a very uncharacteristically sloppy braid. Joker had made this joke a few times since then, and Anastasia didn't particularly like it. He knew better than engaging Joker, but today he was having trouble playing it cool and ignoring the things that Joker did to annoy him.
"I'm sure she's fine." Hap said, "I'm going to go talk to the Techs and then give her a hand."
A crowd started to gather around the field kitchen and there was an increase and noise. Hap and Joker and Mags exchanged looks. "What's going on over there?" Joker asked.
"I think dinner is ready." Mags said as they started to walk over. As they got closer they could see people queuing up in line near the field kitchen. There were a few people already sitting at tables or helping themselves to drinks from coolers stacked on a table near the kitchen.
"I better go grab the techs." Hap said, as Mags and Joker started to wash their hands at a foot pump hand wash station.
"They're already in line." Mags said as she pointed out the trio of tall fair skinned mercenaries who towered over the members of the Compact forces that were near them in line.
As the mechwarriors walked over they could smell the pungent herbs and exotic spices. "I wonder if that's Army Stew." Joker said as they found themselves at the end of the chow line. "It actually smells good, and I think I might enjoy doesn't make sense for something called Army stew."
"Well you know it has canned pork, sausages, and processed cheese in it." Mags said.
"That actually deepens the mystery." Joker said.
One of the Compact service members in line ahead of them turned, "Budae Jjigae, good. You like." He hit his chest with his fist. "Make strength, good fight tomorrow."
"Thank you." Hap said. "I'm sure we'll enjoy it."
"Make strength, good fight tomorrow." Joker repeated as he hit his own chest.
More of the Compact members turned to look at Joker. He hit his chest again, "Boo-dee ge-gay. Make strength. Good fight tomorrow."
A few of them nodded but gave him a questioning look, the previous Compact soldier said, "Yeah good fight." But it sounded like he knew he was being mocked.
"Hey, don't be an ass." Mags told Joker quietly.
"He's just excited about Budae Jjigae." Hap said. "Please ignore him."
The men nodded and turned back around. Hap looked over at Joker and the stress and exhaustion of the day felt like it was coming back on him, "Do me a favor, and try not to start anything for a couple hours."
"You worried about tomorrow? Worried our girl's not going to come through?"
"No. I'm worried you're going to cause problems." Hap snapped, "Anastasia will come through. She always comes through." Hap added as he tried to consider how best to answer Joker, "It's still a risky operation though, and it would help if we had all the compact forces on our side."
"If you say so boss." Joker smiled with a look that Hap knew was going to wait till later to bring this up again.
They were quickly to the front of the line and a red soup with exotic vegetables and thick slices of pork and sausage floating in it. The soup had a spicy and pungent smell about it. One of the people working the line threw a square of yellow cheese on top of the soup before they passed it to the mechwarriors. Hap led his lance mates over to the beverage station to grab a few cans of Ginger Soda, before he joined the techs at their table.
Hap stirred up the cheese and watched as it turned the red stew orange and some of the noodles that had sunk to the bottom rose to the top. The vegetables were plentiful and Hap had trouble getting them out of the way so he could admire how thinly the meat was cut. He glanced around and noted that it seemed like everyone had a good amount of meat and vegetables. Everyone also seemed to be in a good mood.
"How much of our rations did we give away?" Hap asked.
"Well Roweyna gave me what was left in the Phaidin's larder." Brant said, "A lot of it was getting close to being expired, so she told me to eat it, trade it, or get rid of it. When the Compact guys started talking about this stew I figured it was a good deal as long as you were good with it, ."
Hap nodded, "Do we have anything left?"
"Don't worry they said they'd feed us for as long as we're out here, but if they welsh on us we got a weeks worth of prepackaged meals, and a couple bottles of supplemental pills."
"How are things with the 'mechs?" Hap asked.
"Good. Like I thought, your 'mech wasn't as bad as it looked." Brant.
"Yeah, We had to patch a few sections, but it was mostly filling the cracks with ballistic epoxy and smoothed it out with my paint gun." As Tasja mentioned the paint gun Hap suppressed shudder and tried not to think of infantry from earlier that day.
Mags took a tentative spoonful and hummed in approval. "I think my old man mentioned having this one time, he talked about some spicy soup. I remember he said it was the only food the Cappellans gave him that he didn't want to throw back at them."
Joker took a mouthful, then coughed. He had to drink before he could hoarsely say, "It's good." He cracked open the can of beer he had taken, and took a swig before having a second bite.
Hap tried the soup for himself. He made sure to get some of the mushrooms and vegetables and a portion of the canned salted pork. It was a strange symphony of flavors. There was pungent kimchi mixed with something like fresh green onions, earthy mushrooms, and fresh crunchy vegetables Hap couldn't recognize. There were also thin Asian noodles and what Hap could have sworn were canned beans in tomato sauce.
He bit into a piece of the pork and warmth and salt enhanced the other spices and flavors that somehow blended together harmoniously. After he swallowed he felt the heat hit the back of his throat. He took a careful sip of the ginger soda.
"I get why our allies were excited about this." Hap said, as he took another spoonful. Hap looked around the table, everyone was here but Anastasia. He tried to eat his soup quickly because he needed to bring some of this to Anastasia. But the soup was hot and flavorful, and something that needed to be savored.
"Hey where's Selene?" Joker asked as he pulled a few vegetables from his soup.
Tasja swallowed and looked like she was about to speak as two of the Compact Soldiers sat down at the table. Hap recognized them as the Tankerst Mags and Joker had been playing Spades with.
"Hey have you guys seen our Coyote? You don't actually eat dogs, right?" Joker asked.
The compact soldiers looked at each other and nodded. "We eat lots of things." One said.
His companion took a spoonful of stew, "Do you hear a bark when you bite into this? I hear a bark."
"You guys are real funny." Joker said.
"She was with Anastasia." Masja said.
Joker stirred his stew, "Hey you guys see me earlier today? I wasted a bunch of those Capellan dismounts."
"We were busy wasting Capellans ourselves." One of the tankers replied, "Took out a tank, not a bunch of guys running for their lives."
Hap knew he didn't want to hear Joker retail his exploits from earlier. He stood up, "I think I'll go check on Anastasia and take her some stew."
"Yeah go see if she's pulling out her hair." Joker said, then looked at the Compact tankers, "You guys still want to lose more money? I'll tell you all about how I expertly used the most effective anti-infantry system ever built."
Hap mumbled goodbye as he walked away from everyone.
-
Chapter 101
Hap got a to-go container for Anastasia and walked to the area designated as the 'mech stables. He could see that his Griffin's armor looked whole. He wondered if the tech's had been able to fix the hatch. He saw that the right torso for Mag's Jenner had a new clean looking piece of armor, it needed to be repainted but it looked whole. The leg of the Firestarter had been prepped and the broken edges had been cleaned up, and it looked like all the tech's had left to do was re-cover the foot and the lower leg actuator of the Firestarter.
Anastasia's Valkyrie was kneeled and had a wheeled staircase positioned next to it. There was also a set of stadium lights near the 'mech, but the sun had not quite set, so they were off. Hap could see the cockpit was open as he climbed the steps.
He climbed the steps to find Selene sitting calmly on her belly chewing on a large bone. Anastasia was at work behind the multiple monitors in her cockpit. She glanced up as he came to the top.
"Hey you." Anastasia said as Selene glanced up at Hap for a moment before returning to her bone.
"Hey. How's it going?" Hap noticed Anastasia's braid was in good shape and she seemed comfortable.
"It's going very well. At the risk of evoking superstition, we're exceeding my expectations." Anastasia said. Hap could see she had an open three ring binder in her lap that looked like a technical manual for her sensor system. She also had a smaller journal with hand written notes. "I think my father considered doing something like this."
Your dad was working on ECM?
"It's more likely it was something he may have considered. This sensor package was meant to be a test platform, so he designed it to be easy to modify. I thought I would have to alter the configuration of the sensor's antenna grid, but it appears I can make all the changes we need through the software.
"I'm not sure I follow."
"Sorry. I feel like a young girl all over again, sitting in my father's workshop. Learning scientific truths and theories that most of the inner sphere had long forgotten. "
"How does an eccentric genius teach his young daughter and protégé?" Hap asked as he squatted next to Selene and passed the to-go container to Anastasia.
Anastasia looked up at the darkening sky. "I don't remember how it started, I know my father liked to show me something practical and then explain the science behind it. One of the first times I remember learning in his workshop was when I was five or six, and I was hiding from my grandmother, probably because she was insisting I speak French, and I was feeling a little stubborn."
"I thought you loved the French language" Hap said
"Oh I do, it was my grandmother that was the problem. Honestly so much of my interactions with my Grandmother really came down to her and I trying to prove which of us could be more stubborn. Mother said it was an inherited trait, so I suspect our daughter will likely be quite stubborn."
"Don't you mean our child?" Hap asked, "We could have a son."
Anastasia shook her head, "We could, however no woman in my family has had a son in so many generations that it defies probability. My grandmother tried to convince me we had been cursed by a gypsy sometime around the fall of the star league."
"I see why you and her didn't get along."
"She was more than a little superstitious. However, she's generally remembered as a good leader, a worthy Countess, and popular among the people of Hazlehurst, but yes even young Anastasia knew she was going senile in addition to being a superstitious old bat." Anastasia said as she opened the container, "Oh my. That smells quite interesting." Selene stood up and leaned into the cockpit and sniffed the soup.
"Yeah it's a mix of our rations and whatever the Compact had handy. It's pretty good though, albeit a little strange. I'm not sure what all the vegetables are, but there's a lot of them. It also has mushrooms, canned pork, canned beans and cheese." Hap said as he handed Anastasia a spoon and napkin.
Anastasia nodded as she took the spoon and scooped out a large hunk of pork and flicked it at Selene. The Coyote easily caught it and swallowed the pork whole.
"Selene, asseoir mademoiselle." Anastasia commanded the Coyote and she immediately sat down, while watching Anastasia expectantly.
Anastasia stirred the soup and took a careful spoonful. "Hmmm, that's interesting." She then coughed, and added, "and quite spicy."
"Yeah, here." Hap said as he passed her a can of the ginger soda. "I think this is the same drink we got from that guy sellin' fried squid across from the embassy." As Hap spoke he easied himself closer to Valkyrie's cockpit. He let his legs hang over the edge.
Anastasia took the can and opened it and took a long drink, "Ah, merveilleux! Merci, mon amour."
"You're welcome." Hap said almost like a question.
"See you're learning," Anastasia said as she took another bite, "Somehow I got away from my grandmother, and made it to Daddy's workshop. He would always smile when he saw me and he'd say something like, 'Annie, you ever cook a sausage with just electricity?'"
"Then he took two wires and pushed them into a sausage and it subsequently exploded. Then he showed me how to wire in a dimmer switch and explained Ohm's law and resistance and some electrical safety. Then we cooked a few more sausages and we had lunch. With him it was always practical, mixed with the science."
"This was when you were five or six?"
"I might have been a little older, but not much. My Grandmother died when I was eight. However, I'm not saying I mastered Electrical Engineering as a six year old, rather I was the most fortunate child that had this enigmatic genius that would teach me scientific facts and let me play with technology, and could answer almost any question. He was also insatiably curious and encouraged the same in me. Young 'Annie' was taught by doing, and experimenting, and fun lectures with her father."
Anastasia continued to eat as Hap explained, "Yeah I had a similar childhood, but it was in a 'mech bay, and fixing 'mechs. Of course one of the differences was my dad tried to encourage an insatiable work ethic in me. He taught me a lot of practical methods to fix a 'mech, but not a lot of scientific theory. Young Hap might have known 'lefty loosey, righty tighty', and definitely where to find any tool dad asked for. Also it wasn't usually fun."
"What do you think your father would have reacted had we met?"
"I dunno. He'd be impressed with you. He'd probably think you were too smart, too noble, too beautiful, and too good for his son." Hap said as Anastasia made a contrary sound,
"It's not that my dad didn't like me." Hap said, "You have to understand, he spent his whole life scrimping, saving, piecing together a Griffin, and keeping a 'mech garage running. He made sure his children were fed, and his employees and bills got paid. That was success for him. Getting me a 'mech and me earning a scholarship into Albion, that was almost more than he could have hoped. He thought anything good had to be earned, and took time or hard work, or both. The idea that a beautiful noble woman would just drop into my lap-"
"Technically you ran into me."
"You eventually fell into my lap."
"I maintain that you running into me, caused you to fall into my lap."
"Be that as it may, my dad was also a man of few words, so he'd probably just ask you, why did you marry me, and no matter what you said, or how much you gushed over me, he'd just nod and then look me in the eye and tell me 'don't ruin this'. After that he'd go back to watching a game or out to his garage to fix something."
"He wouldn't ask me if you had impregnated me outside of wedlock?"
"No, he'd ask me that later. He was a little old fashioned. He wouldn't question your virtue, at least not publicly. He was also the sort of man that didn't pick fights with nobility. He was content to live a quiet life turning wrenches."
"Well very good. If you met my father, and after you were done gushing over me, would you care to guess what Daddy would ask you?"
"Did you impregnate my daughter outside of wedlock?"
"Certainly not. He'd let Mother pry that information from me. What He'd say to you is, 'Hey Harry, you ever cook a sausage with electricity?' " Anastasia said in a deep voice. Both Hap and Anastasia laughed.
"So that was your Dad, always teaching?"
"No, he was a mad genius eccentric who enjoyed his sausages fried by passing an electrical current through them." Anastasia said as she resumed typing, "I'm just kidding of course, he wasn't mad, or at least no one ever definitively proved it." She tried to suppress a smile.
"You know when we were getting to know each other-"
"After you ran into me, and fell into my lap."
"Right. After that. You described your childhood as being generally lonely, but you had your Dad, Aunt Marlene, your Mother, the house staff, and Freckles and Squints. It doesn't seem that lonely"
"We only visited Aunt Marlene, and Freckles and Squints once, maybe twice a year. They lived on a different planet. Father and Mother were quite busy and the house staff were employees. With the exception of the head cook whose maternal instinct compelled her to pity me, like I was her granddaughter, the rest of the staff were polite but ensured their relationship was professional. There were also tutors, but again, they weren't friends or family. Perhaps my childhood wasn't as lonely as I implied, but I craved time with my parents, especially my father."
"Never enough time with your parents?"
"Never enough." Anastasia said. She finished her stew and left several large chunks of pork and put the leftovers near Selene. She greedily gobbled the leftovers as Anastasia returned to her work. Anastasia alternated between typing and referencing the books in her lap.
Hap watched her work as Selene picked up her bone and dropped it in Hap's lap. The Coyote laid her head on his lap and used one paw to pin the bone to his leg so she could continue to chew on her bone. "How long do you think this will take?"
Anastasia glanced sideways and smiled, she tugged on the bone and the coyote growled as she asked, "Are you talking to me or Selene?"
Hap scratched the Coyote between the shoulders, "You."
"Almost done." Anastasia said as Tasja came up the staircase.
"You guys need anything?" Tasja asked.
"I don't believe so. I need to test my modified target and tracking system and see if it can disrupt other sensors and radars. I think I'll need Hap to fire up his Griffin and see if he can track me. Although if we start marching our 'mechs around we may draw unwanted attention."
"We have radar guided man-portable SRM launchers. Would one of those work?" Tasja asked.
"Yes. I didn't know you or the tech team normally carried those."
"Yeah, the Commander insists we have them for defending any forward repair or rearming point. He'd often tell us that if we encountered a 'mech all we had to do was pop off a few SRMs and inferno rounds and it would 'discourage' most smart mechwarriors."
"That is more true than you know." Hap said as he recalled the swarm attack.
"Can I trouble you to employ one of those in a test configuration, and try to engage my Valkyrie?"
Tasja nodded and started down the stairs as Hap rose and said, "I'll help her out." He pulled a small handheld radio out of a belt pouch. "I'll tell you what we see."
-
Chapter 102
Hap followed Tasja to the tech's scout car. She opened the back trunk area and pulled a large green case. She flipped the case open to reveal a large shoulder mounted rocket system.
One side had a rail designed to fit a rectangular magazine for two rockets. The system looked relatively simple with an exhaust pipe that connected to the back of the magazines. At the mid-point of the launcher was a padded shoulder rest built into the pistol grip and trigger group. The exhaust pipe also had hand guards around the shoulder rest and exhaust end of the system. Above the magazine area was a carrying handle and a video display with buttons on the side.
"How often you fire these things?" Hap asked.
Tasja removed the launcher's magazine and turned the launcher so she could expose the bottom of the shoulder rest. Where the shoulder rest met the pistol grip there was a hollow area that looked like it was a ballistic magazine well. Tasja pulled a magazine shaped power pack from the weapon case and checked it to make sure it had a full charge before slipping it into the hollow battery well. "I've fired this a few times. Once in anger."
"In anger? Can I ask what happened?"
Tasja nodded as she pulled up the packing foam from the lid in the center of the SRM's shipping container, she exposed a compartment with two blue SRMs marked "INERT TRAINER". Tasja took the blue SRMs and slid them into the magazine and locked the magazine into the launcher. Before closing the case Tasja also grabbed a small remote control device and clipped it to her belt.
Tasja and Hap started to walk away from the Valkyrie as Tasja explained, "We've been over run a few times, usually by light 'mechs. Like the Commander said, we'd hit them with a barrage of SRMs and an inferno or two. They'd lose a weapon system, get close to overheating and realize they were dealing with a bunch of people that had all the tools and know how to take apart a 'mech, so they'd turn tail and run."
"Once again proving the far reaching wisdom of Kelly McFinnigan."
"His mother didn't raise a fool, no matter what Elinor says," Tasja replied quietly, "One time though a sniper attacked us. I think we were doing a mission somewhere in the Combine. The sniper was good. He'd shoot, relocate before we could figure out where he was, then hit someone else. He wounded Drew, and then killed the medic when he tried to help."
"Next, he gut shot this new guy that had just signed on. Dad and Mike called him 'Baby Face', but he was a few years older than Masja and me. His name was Danny, and I thought he was…Well it doesn't matter what I thought, I just remember he was screaming and dying."
"I got so angry I took one of these and loaded an Inferno, and turned the rangefinder over to Infrared. I thought I saw something or someone crawling in the woods and I shot at a large tree near them. The whole forest exploded in fire. Everyone started yelling at me, we had to drag the ammo and P.O.L. away from the forest fire I started."
"Did Danny make it?" Hap asked, trying to think if any of the techs looked like a "Baby Face".
She simply shook her head as she shouldered the missile launcher.
"What about the sniper?"
"The forest burned to cinders and he didn't shoot at us again. That was enough for me."
Hap nodded, "I understand. In a strange way I was sort of in a similar situation today."
Tasja nodded, "We saw the burn marks and infantry damage to your cockpit when we were working on your hatch. After everything was said and done I was shaking with rage, and crying. Mike pulled me aside, walked me over to the burned forest and told me, 'Don't let this business change you. Protect yourself, defend the family, do your job. Lose yourself to creating or making something better, but not to this'."
"Damn." Hap whispered, "I miss Mike. If we had talked about this yesterday that would have hit differently."
"Yeah, that's Mike for you, he ignored us or treated us like garbage most of the time, but then when you didn't expect it, he'd tell you something that let you know that he cared."
"Even from beyond the grave." Hap shook his head, "I never understood why he was like that."
"Probably so we'd listen when he had something important to tell us." Tasja said as she pressed a few buttons on the side of the SRM launcher's viewfinder.
"And all this time I thought he just liked being disagreeable, and keeping people at arm's length."
"Well there was that too, the man did have a reputation to maintain." Tasja smiled. "I miss that mean old bastard. He was pretty much our uncle, you know."
Hap nodded, "When this is done we'll drink a pint in his honor, and maybe you and your sister can share more of his wisdom."
Tasja nodded as the SRM launcher made an almost happy chirp noise. "It's ready."
Hap pressed the button on the side of his radio, "We're setup and ready to go."
"Okay go ahead and do a normal engagement as a control."
Hap nodded to Tasja and she pointed the SRM launcher at the hills, high above and away from anything. Two green lines formed an arrow on the SRM's rangefinder indicating it was detecting an active 'mech' to the left. The launcher also started to beep. Tasja turned and the beeping got faster until she was facing the Valkyrie. The beeping became a steady tone, and the arrow became a box that flashed around the Valkyrie's center torso.
Tasja squeezed the trigger slightly and the green box turned red and the tone changed slightly. Tasja squeezed the trigger the rest of the way, and the tone stopped. "Engagement complete."
Hap keyed his radio, "Looks like the SRM launcher is working. You ready to test?"
"Standby." Anastasia answered.
Tasja removed the missile magazine and then reloaded it, she hit a few of the buttons on the side of the rangefinder. "We're ready for round two".
After about thirty seconds Anastasia came on the net, "The system should now be actively canceling or 'jamming' sensors."
Tasja shouldered the launcher again and pointed it generally away from anything. The launcher beeped and the green arrow indicated a target for a moment, but then disappeared. Tasja turned the launcher toward the Valkyrie and the system beeped a second time but stopped before the arrows formed. Tasja pointed the launcher directly at the 'mech but the launcher made no indication of detecting it.
"It looks like it's working, Anastasia." Hap said into the radio.
"Let me stand the mech up and see if that changes anything." Anastasia said as her Valkyrie rose from kneeling to standing. The SRM launcher beeped, and the green arrow or box almost formed for a moment but it still couldn't make a lock. The arrow pointed to the right but when Tasja started to move the launcher it indicated it was detecting something above, then back to the left, then down.
"I think the launcher is malfunctioning." Tasja said.
"Anastasia can you-" Hap thought he caught a whiff of ozone but it was more acidic. "Shut it down." Hap said as he reached over grabbed the power pack from the launcher and threw it to the ground. The plastic case of the power pack expanded around the seam line and a gray-green paste boiled out.
"What happened?"
"The SRM launcher cooked its battery. I don't know if you were jamming its sensors or if it's just a coincidence."
"No. I could see that I was being detected and I could see the launcher was trying to overcome the jamming. I programmed the system to keep increasing power. I believe it raised the heat in my 'mech slightly. I should have anticipated it would cause the SRM launcher to function outside its designed operational parameters."
Hap looked over at Tasja, "Do you have spare power packs?"
"Just one, and I don't think we should risk it. Also if Anastasia is going to do weird things to her 'mech that is going to break stuff I'd like to know in advance. Especially if she's going to involve me."
"Agreed." Hap said, Hap keyed the radio, "I think we're done testing Anastasia. We're out of spare SRM power packs."
"Very good." Anastasia replied, "I'm confident this is operating satisfactorily, but now that I'm done additional complications to this plan have occurred to me."
"This plan has other complications?" Tasja said as she nudged the power pack with the toe of her boot. The battery sizzled then it started sparking and burst into flames.
"There's always some complications." Hap and Tasja got a safe distance from the small fire caused by the burning power pack.
-
Chapter 103
Anastasia met up with Hap and Tasja at the back of the scout car. "So what are the other complications?" Hap asked
"It's not too many. First this system is going to create voids in a sensor's picture. This means if the sensor normally detects something like a group of trees, or a mech size hill or rock it will disappear as I pass between the sensor and that object."
"I don't think that's going to matter to most automated sensor systems." Hap said
"Someone monitoring the sensor may notice though. This brings us to the second point, as you saw it causes anomalies for sensors. A savvy technician will quickly ascertain their system is being affected by an external source. This will compel them to investigate. Therefore there is a likelihood all this does is buy us a little time before the fortress sends a force out to look into the anomaly, which will result in us being detected."
"I think you're putting a lot of faith in technicians knowing their kit, and giving a damn. Just in case though, we'll reiterate to Mags that if the defenders detect us, she'll need to be ready to act quickly and aggressively, which is rarely her problem."
"Right. Finally, there is the small problem that I won't be able to target anything while my system is configured this way."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm using my target and tracking system to target sensors, track their frequencies and then respond with a carrier wave that will cancel them. This means my weapons have to be fired in manual mode. I've also programmed it to slightly over power anything it detects, which may also raise my 'mech's heat. Especially if I have to engage multiple sensor systems. This is another reason why I'm not sure I should employ my weapons."
"Of everything we talked about just now, this actually seems like the biggest problem."
"Once we've destroyed the air defense's power generator I should be able to return my 'mech to normal function, so it's only a problem for the first part of the operation."
"The part where we don't have air support."
"Ah yes, this is another potential point of friction. There is a small chance I won't be able to restore my system. Should that occur you'll have to direct Kate."
"Anastasia why didn't you bring these problems up when you first had this idea?"
"I wasn't sure how things would work honestly." Anastasia shrugged.
Hap shook his head.
"You could use a grease pencil." Tasja said
"I'm sorry, how would that help?" Anastasia asked
"You take your 'mech to a known distance range, fix the right arm to 90 degrees at the shoulder and engage a target at about 150 meters. Then you take the grease marker and make a mark on your canopy where the laser hits and where the majority of your missiles fall. You now have a reference point for firing." Hap said.
"That sounds wonderfully primitive." Anastasia said, "How do you know so much about it?"
"We had a guy back in the RDMM who had a Centurion-AH, the variation with the AC20 class Luxor DDX-5. His T&T had some serious problems. Command told him they were going to fix it, and revert his 'mech back to standard Centurion CN9-A."
"The problem was he'd burn through ammo too fast and between the extra AC20 rounds and him having to come off the line to rearm it was generally a headache for command. He preferred the heavier cannon, so instead of letting his mech go into maintenance he just used the grease pencil method. He rarely hit anything with his missiles, but he was murder with that DDX-5. As long as he could qualify at the range, command couldn't make him send his 'mech off."
"You can also just make a mark and then just adjust your fire off of that. I don't know we have a good range here." Tasja said offering Anastasia a black pencil.
"Thank you." Anastasia said gracefully, "See Harold, one of the issues is now resolved, and once more, one of your irrational adhoc plans is coming together."
"You know this is more your plan than mine."
"Doesn't really matter as long as we're successful and everyone comes back, right?"
"Yeah." Hap nodded, "Tasja you guys need any more help?"
Tasja looked over to where Masja and Brant where welding armor plates back to the foot of Joker's Firestarter. "No. I think we're good. You guys should get some rest. It sounds like you'll need every advantage tomorrow."
Hap and Anastasia started to walk back to the main area of the camp. "You want to go find Joker and Mags and build a bonfire? I know how much you enjoy just sitting around with everyone. I'll go get your poncho liner and 'fall into your lap'."
"I don't know. Joker will probably talk nonstop about how he used his Firestarter to incinerate two platoons of jump infantry. Of course he's probably been retelling that story enough now it's two whole companies."
"You could prevent that by telling him, and everyone about the brilliant work I just did."
"You really think I could explain what you just did in a way that would interest Joker, Mags and whoever else is going to be drawn to our bonfire?"
"I think you'll do your best."
"I think I'll just call it a night."
Anastasia looked him in the eye, "What's wrong?"
It was the swarm attack. There was this woman trying to break into my cockpit, and for one moment our eyes locked and I could see that she was as old as you or Mags. Then Joker hit her and her platoon mates with flamers and she was dead. I was just struck by how this woman had hopes and dreams and then she was gone."
"Her hopes and dreams were to kill you and take you 'mech."
"I know. It was just…it's one thing when you're squaring off against another 'mech, and you take them down. If the mechwarrior doesn't eject they'll probably die, we all know it, but at least it's a relatively even match. If they die there is some space between you and them. Even taking down tanks didn't feel like this. It was…" Hap looked at her, at a loss for words.
"Visceral" Anastasia prompted.
"Yeah, I just saw these soldiers get incinerated, I even thought I could hear her scream. It was something the day David was killed and I fought with that tank lance. I think in 90 seconds I had either destroyed or called down fire on three out of four of those less than two minutes I had almost killed twelve people.
"The crew in the tank that was left surrendered, and I let them help one of the other tank crews who had been burned. I think by the time the crew got to them only one was still aive, and he was badly burned. I watched them try to help their lancemate but they realized he was too far gone, so one of them chose to give him a lethal dose of painkillers, and then they all started arguing about it. I couldn't help feel like I was part of that miserable situation ."
Anatasia held up her hand, "Your part in all of these things is as a combatant, just like everyone else. If one steps onto a battlefield in a mech, or drives in a tank, or walks on as infantry they are responsible for their risk to life and limb."
"I know, but it doesn't change how I feel." Hap said, "How do you handle this?"
"I haven't seen quite the same things you have. I feel some responsibility for David's death, but I didn't pull the trigger, nor did I order anyone else to do it. I feel like I put everyone at risk because Comstar is hunting me, but I'm not directly at fault, and I'm doing everything I can to limit everyone's risk. I try not to think too much about it, rather I focus on us, my studies, and training Selene.
"Yeah Mike said something similar about not losing yourself to the death and destruction, but instead working hard and being creative."
"Mon Amour, Mike is dead, nor does that sound like something he would say." Anastasia's look of concern increased.
"Sorry, Tasja and I were talking and I'm doing a bad job of remembering exactly what she told me. Basically Tasja used an inferno round to kill a sniper that was harassing one of the Company's forward re-arm points. The sniper had killed or wounded several of the techs, and I think she had a crush on one of the techs that was killed. Afterward she was nearly inconsolable with rage and loss and Mike told her she couldn't let things like this change her. He suggested she work harder or get a hobby."
"That sounds more like Mike, though a true Mike quote would generally end with a backhanded insult that almost sounds like a compliment."
"Yeah, I'm still not getting it right. I'm worried Anastasia I'm not cut out for this life. I think when we get to New Avalon I'll need to find a counselor."
"Okay, find a counselor, but that doesn't mean you're not fit to be a mechwarrior. You went through the psychological evaluations at Albion, and clearly they felt you were mentally and emotionally capable. There is nothing wrong with seeking mental health."
"We'll see if my leadership agrees. I'll be the new guy that shows up to the unit and one of the first things I'm going to tell them is I need time off to see a psychologist. How's that going to look?"
"If they're smart, they'll think your wise." Anastasia said quietly, "The unit may have a counselor that you can check in with. You're trained in counseling, how would help someone like yourself?"
"Anastasia, I got a four year degree in psychology with an emphasis in family counseling. I'd need practical work with a real counselor, and more training before I could hope to help anyone."
"But you have had some training, what does that training tell you?"
Hap shook his head, "I don't know." He thought for a moment, "Mike might be onto something. Sometimes when you feel overwhelming stress over time you need some stress relief. A hobby or a creative outlet is usually good for that."
Anastasia gave Hap a coy look, "I know another outlet for stress relief."
Hap looked at her confused for a moment, "I don't know if we're going to find a private place, but I could use some stress relief."
"Privacy is not a problem. We have a coyote trained as a guard dog. We'll go to our sleeping area, put Selene outside and 'relieve some stress'. Selene will ensure no one disturbs us."
"Selene can be a guard dog?" Hap said as he put his arm around Anastasia's waist and started to lead her toward their shelter.
"Oh yes. Mags trained her to stay in front of a door and bark if anyone comes near, and Mags knows what it looks like so she'll probably steer her and Joker clear until we're done."
"How'd I miss this?" Hap asked.
"They did it while we were on that 4 and 8s watch schedule for the Phaidin. Remember that one day we came back to the warrior lounge and Selene sat there and barked at us?"
"And when we got Selene to calm down and got into the lounge we found them looking a little guilty…I should have guessed."
"Yes Mags explained it to me later, it seems that even though Mags enjoys a reputation of being wild and reckless, she prefers privacy when it comes to certain aspects of her life. So she taught Selene how to stay in front of a door, and bark if anyone tried to enter."
"Clever." Hap said as they came to the prefab shelter.
"Selene, sit." Anastasia said as she pointed to the ground. "Stay and guard. Guard." Anastasia handed Selene her bone and pulled out a dried beef ration. Selene watched her as Anastasia opened the ration, ripped it in half and gave the Coyote half. "Guard."
Selene quickly finished the meat then sat down and looked alert as Hap and Anastasia stepped over her and entered the shelter.
-
I like the micro-view of a Mech lance and interpersonal relationships and stressors. Looking forward to the next battle.
Also thanks for the reminder about “Army stew”, been a long time since I had Army stew, seen it on a menu at Korean restaurants a time or two, but it always comes as a pot prepared to feed a group of people.
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*SQEEEEEEEEEEE* More pages than i have time to read... :'(
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Very nice update! Thank you! Looking forward to the fortress operation.
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Well done! I'm looking forward to seeing what twist happens so the plan doesn't survive engagement with the enemy!
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Chapter 104
Hap heard the door to the sleeping shelter open and Selene gave a questioning woof. Anastasia mumbled in French as Hap half turned and saw Mags and Joker stumble into the sleeping shelter.
"I thought I told you guys to go to bed…" Hap detangled his arm from Anastasia, and checked his watch, "We got about four hours before we need to be crossing the wire."
"Oh we actually have some time to sleep, we were just coming back here to fool around."
"I told you we're not doing that." Mags said as she turned her back to Hap and started to undress, "I just…dormir, dormir, sleep." Even though there was just a dim safety light illuminating the shelter Hap could see a few L bills flutter to the ground as Mags took off her bra.
"I thought we lost all their money." Joker said as he started picking up the money.
Mags shook her head as she held up a piece of leather wrapped around a bundle of cigars. She waved it as she spoke quietly in Spanish.
"Yeah those are probably worth more than a couple lousy L bills." Joker agreed as she handed him the bundle and climbed into their bed. Joker put the cigars on the shelf next to their tactical vests and neuro-helmets before following her into bed.
Hap snuggled up to Anastasia. She murmured as she pressed into his chest. Selene yawned and gave a half whine before stretching and walking over to Hap and Anastasia's bed. She jumped up half between them and half on top of them, and tried to get comfortable.
"Non Bebe" Anastasia said sleepily and gave the coyote a half hearted push. Selene moved to the foot of the bed and curled up at Hap and Anastasia's feet.
"I said no." Mags hissed and Joker grunted as Mags elbowed him.
Hap gave Anastasia another squeeze. Hap knew he should sleep, but part of him wanted to enjoy the moment. He was surprised the anxiety of pre-combat wasn't keeping him awake. He remembered the old Soldier's adage, never run when you can walk, never walk when you can sit, never sit when you can lay down, and if you're laying down you may as well sleep. He knew he should sleep, but he wanted to savor this time.
Joker started snoring and Mags mumbled something and then Joker grunted and rolled over.
Hap closed his eyes and settled into a more comfortable position as Joker began to snore again. Part of him knew the very real possibility that in a few short hours one or all of them could be dead or seriously injured, but that always seemed unlikely. It felt more likely they'd complete this mission and in a few days they'd be on the Phaidin headed toward New Avalon. This meant they'd be splitting up soon, at least Anastasia. Hap gave her another squeeze, he wanted to hold on to these moments while he could.
Anastasia's travel alarm went off. Selene looked up but remained curled up as Anastasia sat up and stretched. Hap rolled over and started reaching for his clothes. Mags sat up and pulled the blankets around her as Joker groaned.
"Joker get up." Hap said.
Joker groaned again and tried to pull the blanket back from Mags.
Anastasia looked at Selene, "Where's William? Get William."
The Coyote's ear twitched as Anastasia spoke to her. Selene hopped off the bed and touched her wet nose to Joker's bareback. Joker yelped and immediately stood up. He looked angrily at Selene then at Anastasia.
"Don't be mad at her." Anastasia said.
"I'm not." Joker said as he grabbed his pillow and hurled it at Anastasia. She dodged by ducking behind Hap.
Hap got off his bed, "It could be worse, it could have been her ice cold feet."
Anastasia gasped, "traitre" as she pummeled Hap with Joker's pillow. Selene glanced between Joker and Anastasia, and started barking excitedly.
Hap pinned Anastasia's arms to her side with a bear-hug as Selene stood on her hind legs and put her front paws on Joker's chest and barked. "Hey, you're upsetting Selene." Mags said. "stop."
Hap looked around. Selene sat down and looked between Joker and Mags as her tail swept up the dirt and dust on the floor. Mags shrugged as her eyes met with Hap. Hap glanced down at Anastasia as she blew a strand of stray hair out of her face. "Mags is right." Anastasia said quietly.
Hap again felt a longing to enjoy these moments while he could, but he let her go as he said, "Yeah, we need to get ready."
Within a few minutes the mechwarriors were ready and headed toward their 'mechs. The area for the mechs and combat vehicles was illuminated by a few stadium lights. Hap could see the Compact techs working on their allies 'mechs. Brant met the Coyote Lance at a folding table by the tech's car.
"Sorry boys and girls, I couldn't pull hot chow, but I got instant tea or coffee, and ration bricks." Brant said as he motioned to the cups and square boxes on the table.
"I'll take a coffee. You got a chocolate bar?" Mags asked as Brant pushed a brick and a cup to her. Mags turned the cup upside down and pressed a small metal button and then shook the cup. Hap knew shaking the cup was unnecessary. The ration heating element used an electro-chemical reaction of the chemicals trapped in the double wall of the ration cup.
"May I have a tea and fruit flavored bar?" Anastasia asked.
Brant handed a cup to Anastasia and then selected a bar marked FRUIT and passed it to her. The ration bricks were probably some of the least loved rations Hap had experienced. They were the size and shape of a large bar of soap and were generally considered about as appatizing. It was one homogenous lump of roughly a days' worth of calories. Because they were extremely shelf stable, and relatively small and light these were usually packed in survival kits or used for a lifeboat rations.
Hap could see these weren't quite like normal military rations. They were white and marked "Federated Suns Assistance for International Development (F.S. A.I.D.) Not For Military Use or Sales."
Anastasia either didn't notice or didn't care as she activated the cup's heating element and set it on the table. She pulled off the cup's lid and flipped it over and peeled back the foil that separated the sugar and cream packets from the tea. Shet emptied both into her cup.
"You're not surprised that food was allegedly given by your government for aid or development has found its way to our military operation?" Brant asked.
"Brant, there's a lot of ways these rations could have gotten here." Hap said. "These things are notorious for becoming black market contraband."
Anastasia flipped over her bar showing a stamped date, "It expired last year. Someone in the compact probably figured their poor malnourished people had enough problems and gave them fresher rations. They sent them our way because instead of just disposing of the rations, it pleased them more to show their disdain for mercenaries. That's my theory. If you have another Taurian conspiracy about Federated Sun's hypocrisy can we save it till after the operation?"
"It's not a conspiracy, we got the proof right here. I just wanted to point out the evidence of sloppy accountability or how your government says one thing, but does another." Brant said as he took a cup, activated the heater, and shook it. "Look I know your family has sworn fealty to one of the most hypocritical and I'd argue worst House Lords in the inner sphere, I can't do anything about that, but I can at least make you aware of who you're dealing with."
"Very good. Thank you." Anastasia answered, "But we have a more pressing issue we should be focused on."
"Yeah" Joker said, "We should be focusing on if these rations are still good." Joker opened his ration, looked it over and sniffed it, then tried to take a bite. "These things are fine, they just got hard. That's all that expiration date means. You just got to soak them longer in your coffee." Joker said as he took the lid off his coffee cup and dipped his ration brick in the steaming coffee. "Just make yourself a field expedient mocha, and you're good to go."
Hap activated the heater on a cup of coffee and took a chocolate bar. He gave the heating element a minute to do its work. As Hap waited he looked at Joker's ration wrapper. "I think you grabbed a meat flavored ration, Joker."
"What?" Joker said as he grabbed the wrapper. "Oh damn. I mean it's no big deal, it's like steak and eggs for breakfast with coffee, right?"
"You tell me." Hap said as he pulled off the lid and dipped his chocolate bar in the warm coffee.
Joker took a careful sip, "It's a little salty." He then took a bite of the soggy ration brick, "but at least it's softer."
"How's it taste?" Hap asked.
"Meaty…and coffee…it's fine." Joker said as he took another bite. "You know it's a whole days' worth of ration, so I think I'll just save some for later." Joker said, then dumped his sugar and creamer into his coffee. "Hey Hap, you drink your coffee black right?"
Hap passed his coffee lid with the cream and sugar packets to Joker.
Brant chuckled, "Joker you're always good for a laugh. Well while you guys enjoy your breakfast, Masja and Tasja and I will get your 'mechs prepped. You know, because some people actually have to earn their pay around here."
Anastasia spread out the map and used her mechanical pencil to explain the operation. She started by pointing out their location and where they needed to go. She detailed the path that her and Mags would take to get to the generators. Most of their path was in a draw and it looked like it would keep the two mechs from direct observation from the fortress, but the last couple hundred meters were in the open. Anastasia also pointed out a few of the automated turrets that she remembered seeing on both the compact and the MIIO's maps.
As Anastasia briefed the lance Selene put her front paws on the table and pulled herself into a standing position. For a moment it looked like she had joined her lance mates to look over the map, but then she snatched up Joker's ration bar and disappeared under the table and sat down at Anastasia's feet as she chewed on the dry ration bar.
Anastasia looked startled as she glanced down at the coyote and back at Joker. There was an uncomfortable moment before Anastasia spoke, "Sorry. Do you want the rest of my ration bar."
Joker glanced at the small pile of rations that Brant had left them. All the remaining bars were labeled "MEAT FLAVOR", but there were a couple more cups of tea and coffee. Joker nodded as he took one of the teacups and activated the internal heater.
"I should warn you it has a slightly fermented taste, but I believe the ration still retains most of its nutritional value. The taste is reminiscent of Guignolet."
"What's Guignolet?"
"A cherry flavored liquor" Anastasia replied.
Joker snatched the ration that Anastasia offered him and dipped it in his tea. He used the ration brick to stir his tea as the ration warmed up.
"Did either of you receive any patrol information from the Compact forces? Zhang said he would send it to us," Anastasia glanced at Hap, "however we retired early last night."
"Yeah we saw that you put out a guard Coyote." Joker said as he gave Anastasia a suggestive look.
"No, Professor, no one came and found us." Mags said.
Hap glanced around, "I doubt a runner is coming." Hap pointed back to the map. "Alright, we move here. This is the release point the Compact gave us. From there Mags and Anastasia stay together, but proceed as quick as they can to the generator, which will probably get the attention of the garrison."
"And once they are arrayed and exposed, we call down our air-support." Anastasia said.
"That's the plan." Hap said, "Hopefully we survive. Any questions?"
Joker took a swig of his tea. "Nope, but I can tell you this is good cherry liquor tea." Joker took a bite of his ration, "and that's like eating cherry liquor butter. New best ration."
"Now I'm questioning if I did the right thing by giving you the remains of my ration." Anastasia said.
"No no, I had the Budae Jjigae last night." Joker hit his chest with his fist. "Make strength, good fight. I'm ready to go." Joker took another long drink of his tea.
Anastasia stopped drinking her tea mid sip, "You're suddenly not making sense, and I'm significantly concerned about this ration."
"He's fine, he just repeating something the Compact soldiers said yesterday," Mags said, "but I'm with the professor on this, you need to focus and take this seriously."
"I'm serious." Joker said, "I'm good. Let's go kick some ass."
"Mags, you good?" Hap asked as he took a sip of his own "field expedient mocha".
She nodded her head as she took a bite of her ration bar.
"Alright load up." Hap said.
-
Chapter 105
A few minutes later Hap was in his Griffin, settled in his command couch, and had completed his 'mech's security startup process. He watched the monitors as the 'mech ran its startup diagnostics and system checks. The armor sensors looked like they had completed their startup, but they indicated multiple points of damage and cracks in the armor. Hap had seen the armor had been fixed, and he was even more impressed with the work on his hatch. It just seemed the armor sensors hadn't been reset. He'd have to wait for Brant to reset the system.
He glanced around at the other three 'mechs in his lance. Like his they were kneeled, and Tasja, Masja and Brant were working with his lancemates. They were performing all the last minute checks and final things that were required before a 'mech could take the field. Since they were one tech down, he'd have to wait his turn.
"All systems nominal, armor integrity is at 90%" said the female voice of the Griffin's internal systems. Hap brought up the armor sensors configuration menu as Brant jogged from Joker's Firestarter to Hap's Griffin.
"You good, Hap?" Brant asked breathlessly as he pulled himself up the 'mech's rope ladder and climbed onto the Griffin's shoulder. He fished a noteputer out of a satchel and handed the free end of one of the attached cables to Hap.
Hap plugged the cable into the diagnostic port, "I think the armor sensors need to be reset. Everything else looks good though. I appreciate the quick turn on the armor, and good work on the door hatch."
"Too easy, brother. Tasja filled the cracks, and I told her I'd reset the onboards, but we've had a busy night. As for the hatch it was a pretty clean break. You said the jump infantry used a paint gun to 'freeze' the lock?"
Hap nodded as Brant worked on his noteputer and then hit a few buttons of the armor display. "It never occurred to me to try and break a lock with the endothermic spray. Before I saw how it worked, I would have thought it was a clever idea, but she broke the connection arm between the release handle and the locking mechanism, so maybe not that clever."
"Well I held onto my side and she gave the outside handle a good kick. When I felt the mechanism give I was worried it was going to be hard to fix." Hap said.
"Naw, not hard at all. Our Compact friends had no problem coming up with a good piece of steel, and I cut it down, drilled it out, and bolted it on. Believe it or not, the Compact techs I talked to are really hoping we can help them finish this fight."
"Glad to hear they're ready to kick the Cappellans off their world, and I'm even more glad to help."
"I think these guys are just tired of being out in the field, and they can't go home until that fortress is either flattened or flies St. Ives flags, so however you guys do it. They're happy to help."
"Yeah, I can respect trying to get home. I think that's what I've been doing that since I shipped out to Klathandu."
"What are you talking about? You're with McFinnigan's and Sons, your home is wherever the family is." Brant gave him a playful punch on the shoulder before grabbing the data cable from the diagnostic system.
Brant sat down on the 'mech's shoulder. "Give the armor system a moment to reset." Brant said as he squinted trying to find the stars in spite of the light pollution from the stadium lights. "I do miss MacLeod's Land though. I haven't been back in a long time. Where's your home, Hap?"
Hap was watching Anastasia and Masja. Masja seemed to be trying to figure out something on her noteputer. She shook her head and passed it over to Anastasia. Anastasia began to quickly tap the keys. It looked to Hap like whatever modifications Anastasia had made to her sensors was causing problems with the diagnostic system and Anastasia was clearing the errors, and making sure they weren't serious. The two women were laughing as Anastasia worked. Even from this distance Hap was captivated by Anastasia's charms.
"Hap, buddy, you still there?" Brant asked.
"Yeah. I think my home is Hazelhurst now." Hap said as he watched Anastasia smile and hand Masja back her noteputer, "I've been away from everywhere else for so long I can't think of anywhere else it could be. Funny thing is, I've never been there."
"You know I met the Countess of Hazelhurst once."
"Yeah, I was there when she visited for my marriage to her daughter."
"Were you though? I heard that her personal assistant was some type of assassin and you saw the kill order for her and your wife and you thought it was a joke."
"I didn't see a kill order. I saw a weird ComStar memo, and her personal assistant tried to pass it off as a joke, and the countess told me not to worry about it. The Countess also told me she'd address it. Look I had a lot on my mind, and that woman, my mother-in-law, is charming but not someone you can really question."
"The woman I met was pretty charming. I'd consider moving to Hazelhurst, except it's in Davion space."
"It's pretty far from New Avalon." Hap said.
"Not far enough" Brant said as the armor system completed its self-check and showed the Griffin's armor completely intact. Brant got back to his feet and grabbed the hatch, "Everything checks out, you good to go?"
"Good to go" Hap said as he gave Brant a thumbs up. He took one more glance at Anastasia and her Valkyrie and noticed Selene sitting at the 'mech's feet looking up at her. "Hey, can you take care of Selene? She got a hold of Joker's ration and is going to need some water."
"Oh yeah, the Coyote is the only one of you I actually like. Joker's not nearly as funny as he thinks he is, Mags is borderline psychotic, you're a commissioned officer in the Armed Forces Federated Suns, and you know the only thing worse than all of that?"
"Being a noble and an officer in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns?"
"Being a noble and an officer in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. Right." Brant repeated and almost completed for Hap.
"Well, thanks for taking care of Selene, and on that note. I'll see you after the op."
Brant nodded, "Bring them all back. You know, for the sake of the coyote. She seems pretty attached to you guys, probably because she's too stupid to know any better."
"Thanks Brant." Hap said as Brant closed the hatch. Hap was glad to hear the reassuring sounds of the locking mechanism. In a moment Brant disappeared down the rope ladder. After about half a minute Hap could see him standing on the ground and motioning at him to reel in the rope ladder and stand-up his 'mech.
Hap keyed his mic as he brought his 'mech from a kneeling position to standing. "Alright Coyotes form up on me. Coyote 2-"
"I'll activate the electronic counter measure once we're away from the Compact forces. I don't want to interfere with their systems." Anastasia said.
"Banshee 1, this is Coyote 1. We're about to cross the wire."
"Coyote 1, this is Banshee 1. Good copy. I'm proceeding to low orbit. When you have that A2 system down, let me know and I'll come and join the fun."
"Acknowledge Banshee 1. Standby."
"I probably should have asked this before now, but what happens if our little science experiment doesn't work." Joker asked.
"Destroy the generator for the anti-air system, call down air support, and hope there is enough salvage to rebuild our lance." Hap said, and then added, "and yeah you should have asked before now."
"You don't sound too confident, there boss." Joker said.
"No one has given us a straight answer on what we're up against here, but it's potentially some real heavy metal." Hap said. "If the ECM doesn't pan out, we're going to be in for the fight our life. It's not that I doubt the ECM work, but you asked the question."
"We'll be fine Hefe. The plan is solid and the Professor always comes through."
"Thank you." Anastasia said.
"Sorry darlin'." Hap started to stay.
"No, I feel the same way." Anastasia replied. "But I'm still confident we can accomplish our objective."
"Then let's get this over with. Form up into a wedge." Hap Said. "Coyote 2 get in the center. How close do we need to be for your modified sensors to cover all of us? Can they cover all of us?"
"Yes to the later question, and to the former, for the Electronic Counter Measure or ECM to work you need to be within 30-50 meters."
The lance drew close together in a tight wedge as they exited the Compact's base area. After a hundred meters Anastasia came on the radio net, "I'm activating the ECM system now."
There was a moment where Anastasia's 'mech disappeared off Hap's sensors, and then the terrain clutter of hills and trees and rivers disappeared from his sensors. It reminded Hap of how sterile his sensors looked when he was in a large open desert.
It sounded like Joker was trying to talk on the radio but there was high interference and he was garbled. "Hey, Prof…my sensors…lot of…nothin'…" There was a loud pop, and then "I thought only your systems would be unable to target shit." Joker's voice quality got better as he talked.
"Standby." Anastasia said. Her voice sounded robotic and clipped.
Hap watched as the background clutter of the terrain came back on to his sensors. Every few steps it would disappear for a moment, but it would return just as quickly. Everything looked almost normal.
"Your systems should now be functioning within acceptable operating parameters." Anastasia said. "My radio is on a very tight beam, so my voice may sound under sampled and synthetic."
"I thought maybe you were giving up pretending you're not a robot." Joker said.
"Let's keep chatter to a minimum" Hap said as he directed his lance into a dry river bed that led to a deep ravine just at the foot of the hill that the fortress was built on. This was the release point that Zhang had indicated they should use. Hap glanced around and had to take a few steps back just to see the top of the Fortress.
"Alright, we're in position, and we've got ten minutes before the Compact will be at their release point." Hap said, "Coyote 2 and 4, now is the time for you to move up the hill, remain undetected and destroy the generator for the Air Defense system." As he spoke he felt his heart race, he tried to ignore it and not let himself panic.
"Acknowledge." Anastasia's voice still had a flat synthetic quality.
"Cee Hefe." Mags replied.
Anastasia's Valkyrie and Mags Jenner started to move away from Hap's Griffin and Joker's Firestarter. After a few steps the Valkyrie and Jenner disappeared from Hap's sensors. In the morning gloom Hap could see the head and shoulders of the mechs' silhouettes, but they were blind to his Griffin's sensors. His lancemates 'mechs disappeared as they turned the corner and started climbing the draw.
"This looks like a pretty good spot." Joker said, "You could probably hide a whole company down here."
"Yeah. The Compact probably used this area to muster their forces when they attacked the fortress" Hap said. His sense of nervousness started to increase.
"Probably means it's a TRP for their artillery." Joker laughed for a moment, "Suddenly I'm not sure this is a great place to wait around."
"Agreed, but we need to stick to the plan" Hap said
"I thought your deal was improvising." Joker said.
"This is Anastasia's plan, and for it to work, we have to follow it." Hap said as he watched the seconds pass on his watch. Time seemed to slow down as he waited. He glanced up constantly trying to guess where Anastasia and Mags were. He closely watched his sensors hoping to see an anomaly that would indicate where Anastasia and Mags were. He glanced again at his watch. Only a few minutes had passed.
Suddenly Mags Jenner rocketed into view. She spun her 'mech around and fired lasers and missiles as she disappeared behind the terrain. Hap glanced down to see the Jenner's blue indicator appear and then disappear on his tactical display.
"We encountered a vehicle patrol." Anastasia reported. "We've neutralized a Skulker and a Scorpion light tank."
As she spoke the lights around the fortress lit up and spot lights began to search the open fields and tree line near the fortress. One immediately shone directly on the generators.
The light for the Compact channel began to flash. Hap studied the point he had seen Mags on the holo map and tried to mentally calculate how far the tank and wheeled vehicle would have traveled in the few minutes before the Coyotes were supposed to be at the release point.
Hap turned his radio to the Compact channel. "This is McFinnigan-"
"Mercenary, why have you initiated your attack on the fortress early." Zhang snapped, "Was it not made clear-"
"Zhang, recall how we asked for the patrol routes, and you pretended not to have them? Then you said you'd give them to us, but then you didn't? Well we got to our release point early, and I sent out part of my lance to screen and they ran into an enemy patrol. The funny thing is, it looks like they would have met us at the release point if we arrived when you ordered us to be here, or they'd be in the perfect position to ambush us once we initiated an assault on the fortress."
"What are you saying, mercenary?"
"I'm saying after this operation we're going to have a talk and I'm going to figure out if you're just incompetent, or if you just ordered us into an ambush."
"You had better watch your tone, Mercenary or I'll-" As Zhang spoke A Marauder and a Cataphract emerged from the fortress. Anastasia and Mags were now in the open and sprinting up the hill. Hap could see the PPCs and Autocannon tracer fire sailing past the Valkyrie and Jenner.
"We'll talk post mission Zhang." Hap said as he switched back to McFinnigan radio net.
"What the hell is that thing next to the MAD-3R?" Joker asked.
Hap could see his targeting computer was trying to make sense of multiple mix of 'mechs.
"That's a Cataphract. Its chassis is a marauder, the left arm comes from a shadow hawk, and I think the internals come from Phoenix Hawk."
"Are you kidding?"
"He is not." Anastasia said, as she spoke an AC salvo struck the ground just in front of her and a PPC bolt passed narrowly between the Jenner and Valkyrie. "Mags, I suggest we jump, turn sixty degrees for a few hundred meters."
"Cee." Mags groaned. As both 'mech's lifted into the air and barrage of PPC bolts and autocannon rounds passed harmlessly below them. They hit the ground and turned almost in unison and continued to run as another barrage of particles and auto cannon slugs missed them.
"I don't want to jinx this, but I think this just might work." Joker said. As he spoke a Charger came bursting out of the fortress, moved past the Marauder and Cataphract and sprinted toward the generator.
-
Chapter 106
"Damn, why'd I have to open my mouth?" Joker asked as the Charger ran to cut off Mags and Anastasia from the generator.
"Something I wonder every day." Anastasia said.
As the Charger moved near the generator the ground exploded around it. "Apparently the generator had vibromines set for light mechs implaced around it." Anastasia added, "This was another minor concern I had."
"Well there's one problem that took care of itself." Hap said as he studied the tactical display. The fortress was built on a hill over a river valley. There were multiple cuts, draws, and terrain features that they could use to even-the-odds. It also helped that everyone was focused on Anastasia and Mags.
"Gracias a Dios por las pequeñas bendiciones." Mags added. Hap could hear the stress in her voice.
"Thank God indeed," Hap said, "Joker, now's the time we improvise. I need you to slip up behind the Marauder. He's panic firing and his heat should be getting high. Send him over the top."
Joker laughed, "That's the one thing I'm better at then BBQing infantry."
"Try not to talk while you do it." Hap said, "I'm going to 'hop and pop' out of this river bed trench and engage the Cataphract. If I do it right they'll think that I'm more than one 'mech and give me more attention. Ladies stay focused on the generator."
"Yes my Armor." Anastasia said, but the synthetic transmission made it hard for Hap to know if she was annoyed, stressed, or teasing him.
Hap jumped his mech onto the bank and landed where he was angled slightly to the rear of the Cataphract. He lined up his cross hairs on the rear right shoulder, hoping the armor was thin and there was something explosive underneath. He sent a PPC bolt followed up with 10 missiles but didn't wait for them to hit as he jumped back down into the trench. He moved down the trench before jumping again onto the bank.
His targeting showed he had hit the Cataphract's right arm and side, but the armor was thick. He took another shot with both PPC and missiles and then disappeared back into the dry riverbed. He realized he was starting to run a little hot as well. He glanced at his tactical display to see that Joker was working his way closer to the two heavy 'mechs.
Hap ran up the embankment this time and as he came up a PPC bolt struck his right shoulder. He had the Cataphract's attention. He was just out of range for the Cataphract's AC10, which gave Hap an advantage, at least for a moment. He sent another barrage of missiles and a particle bolt at the 70 ton mech. The Cataphract started to step toward Hap.
Joker's Firestarter rocketed out of a draw and landed less than a hundred meters from the Marauder and bathed it in flame. The 'mech was already running hot and the arm mounted weapon pods were smoking and the long autocannon barrel was cherry-red. It sent another barrage from its PPCs and autocannon just as Joker attacked. The additional heat from the Firestarter's flamers made the 'mech glow bright red in the pre-sunrise twilight. It went limp as the safety systems engaged the auto shutdown.
Hap glanced over as Mag's jumped over the Charger as it lunged for Anastasia. The Marauder's autocannon hit the Jenner squarely in the leg but the PPCs passed harmlessly under her. The Cataphract and Marauder were too distracted by Joker and Hap to see it, but Mags was too far away from Anastasia to receive the ECM's protection. An automated weapon tower near the Jenner sprang to life and sprayed lasers at the light 'mech. A few ruby medium lasers found their mark and melted armor off the Jenner's chest and other leg.
Anastasia jumped out of the way as the Charger tried to perform its namesake. In spite of failing to connect the charge, the Charger pilot moved swiftly and caught Anastasia as she landed. He punched her once in the shoulder, and she blocked another blow with her arm. He attempted a sweeping kick as she jumped again and landed next to Mags. The Charger relentlessly moved to pummel the lighter 'mechs.
Without thinking Hap brought his PPC up to target the Charger. Then he heard the distinct thumps of artillery. Fear struck him as remembered Joker's comment of the river being a pre-registered TRP. He jumped his 'mech as far as he could away from the riverbed. This confirmed for Hap the Capellans were getting desperate. They were bringing their precious artillery into the fight.
Hap turned mid-air so he could engage the Charger when he landed. Before he could fire an artillery round slammed into the Charger. Mags had jumped away, but Anastasia took damage as she was mid-jump as the artillery round struck. The blast knocked the Charger flat on the ground. The fight was desperate enough they were calling down artillery on their own 'mechs.
Anastasia landed on the edge of a ravine as the Cataphract's PPC and Autocannon finally found their mark and struck the Valkyrie across the upper torso and chest. Anastasia's Valkyrie tumbled from view. Hap glanced down at his tactical display but her 'mech was still cloaked by the ECM. He had to fight the urge to chase after her.
"Generators down." Mags said, her voice was tinged with exhaustion. Hap looked up, she stood next to rock outcropping that almost looked like a cave. The red lights on the anti-air and automated weapon turrets began blinking out. A hundred meters behind Mags the dust and smoke had cleared, but the Charger was still on its back. Hap had to focus on the battle.
"Confirm A2 is down?"
Hap looked around, all the automated systems looked dark, and the automated towers weren't attacking him or Mags., "Confirmed, Anti-Air is down."
"I'm starting my descent now. Coming in weapons hot." Kate said.
Hap turned his tactical display to go from a topographic map to the two dimensional display with reference grids. He hadn't called for fire or air support in so long he was struggling to remember the steps. He wanted to know how Anastasia was doing, and the fact she wasn't talking implied some things he didn't want to think about. Hap exhaled slowly and steadied himself. He had to focus on the task at hand.
"Mags distract that Cataphract, stay in close to him and the Marauder so they can't use their big guns." Hap said as he fumbled through display settings.
"I'm on it, Hefe." Mags said as Hap glanced up to watch the Jenner sprint toward the much larger 'mech.
Hap noted the sun had risen now and the blue dawn was giving way to a bright sunny day. The sun was still behind the mountains, but the Marauder still glowed brighter than anything else. "Joker keep that Marauder overheated."
"What do you think I've been doing boss?" Joker replied.
"Same thing you always do, give people grief. Just get them lined up for Banshee 1." Hap said as he finally got his tactical display to show the grids. Just as he got his tactical display lined up the radio flashed, and the display jumped to show the Compact forces that were trying to call him. Hap cursed as noted the Compact forces were nowhere near the fortress and he was annoyed with this feature of tactical display that he had never seen it do before.
"Banshee 1 this is Coyote 1, prepare for a strafing run, I got 3 mech's in the open, Need you to run a North-to-South-". Hap almost had his display recentered when the proximity alarm inside the Griffin sounded. Hap brought up his left arm and leaned back as the Charger slammed into his left side.
Hap was forced to back-peddle and shuffle his feet to stay to avoid falling over. The Charger's hit stripped armor off his left arm and caused the large armor baffle to fold. The armor on his left torso and center torso also took extensive damage. Hap got his footing and jumped backwards and to the side as he fired. He had to ensure the Charger couldn't hit him like that again.
He could see the Charger had taken significant damage to its right leg from the artillery. He dropped the crosshair and fired his PPC and LRM at the mech's exposed leg. The PPC struck home and Hap was relieved to see the lightning dance around the hip, even as the missiles went wide and struck the assault mech's chest.
In spite of the injury the Charger hobbled to where Hap landed. Hap angled his right shoulder to bear the brunt of the 'mech's physical attack. He ducked under the Charger's right fist as the left caught him in the arm and crushed the armor baffle. The Charger tried to kick him, but Hap managed to shuffle his feet and then delivered a solid kick to the Charger's ruined right leg and two quick punches to its chest. The punches were almost meaningless given the Charger's armor and mass, but there was a satisfying snap as the Griffin's foot broke the Charger's foot actuator.
"Hefe we could use that air-support." Mags said. "I just lost two medium lasers"
"I'm in the pipe. ToT 30 seconds." Kate replied. "Just need to know where you want these lasers pointed."
Hap started to jump his 'mech backwards so he could concentrate as the Charger slammed its fist and delivered a sweeping kick that knocked Hap flat on his back. He braced as he fell and felt the wind escape his lungs. He struggled to breathe as he tried to right his mech.
The Charger took a step forward and raised its leg to crush his cockpit. Before it delivered the coup de grace the Charger turned its cockpit as half a dozen LRMs slammed into it. Hap turned his own cockpit so he could see Anastasia's Valkyrie standing on the edge of the hill. Her mech had two holes in the chest and the left arm was badly mangled. Hap felt a sense of relief as Anastasia raised Valkyrie's right arm and sent a ruby red laser beam into the Charger's shoulder.
"Banshee 1, this is Coyote 2, requesting a strafing run North to South beginning at grid 0501 and ending at 0517 with a return run south-west to north-east centered on grids 0214 thru 1508. I have 'mechs in the open. Adversary 'mechs are Capellan Confederation olive drab and yellow. Priority target is a CGR-1A1 vicinity grid 0512. Danger Close."
"Good copy Coyote 2." Kate said, "commencing strafing run now."
Hap could feel the ground shake and shudder as it was pounded by the lasers of the Stuka. He pulled with all his might to get the 'mech to roll to its feet and got away from the Charger as the Stuka came barreling down. He had just gotten safely away as the Stuka came in low and fast the fighter's wings were lit up with lasers. All three of the Cappellan 'mechs were caught in the barrage.
The Charger turned drunkenly toward Anastasia's Valkyrie. Hap was surprised it was still standing, but before it could take a step toward Anastasia she fired the Valkyrie's laser and LRM neatly shearing off the Chargers right leg. The Charger fell as Kate performed her second pass and again peppered the Charger with lasers, but on this pass she also fired the fighter's LRM rack and sent 20 missiles into the prone 'mech.
"You okay?" Hap asked, looking directly at Anastasia.
"Nothing, a few bottles of wine and a long hot bath won't fix." Anastasia said. Her voice no longer had the synthetic tone.
"That how I feel." Hap said as he looked at Mags and Joker. Both their mech's had taken significant damage. Mags' Jenner had lost its right arm, and there were numerous holes in her armor particularly along the legs and the other arm. Hap could also see the Jenner's engine shielding. Joker's Firestarter had faired better, but most of his armor was melted off.
The Cataphract and Marauder were trying to break contact and retreat into the fortress, and neither Joker nor Mags were in a position to keep up the fight.
"Banshee 1, adjust for another strafe run." Anastasia said, "Corridor north-east to south-west starting on grid 1501 and ending on 0108. Two 'mechs in the open. Priority target is a Cataphract, it's a-"
"Wait. Tight turn." Kate groaned, "Yeah I know about the Cappellan walking Frankenstein's monster abomination 'mech. Starting my run now."
Hap now had a good view to watch from the side as Kate again came in low and fast pounding their adversaries with laser fire. The Marauder raised its arm and the barrel of its autocannon to engage the Stuka but Kate corkscrewed her aerofighter so the energy weapons and autocannon rounds passed harmlessly through the air. The Marauder was then struck by a medium laser and a quartet of large lasers. Most of them struck the chest and torso. One of the lasers found the autocannon magazine and the 'mech exploded.
The Cataphract was trying to turn and get away from the Stuka, but it was caught sideways by the aerofighters lasers and long range missiles. The right arm and torso were destroyed but the 'mech was still up.
"Damn, vector me back in on him Anastasia, just give me an easier turning radius."
"Acknowledge, proceed to grid 1317, and commence another south to north strafing run."
"This is the most amazing air show I've ever seen." Joker said.
Hap tentatively approached the Charger. His sensors indicated it was still partially functional but the mechwarrior hadn't made an effort to get back up. There was gray smoke pouring out of a hole in the mech's chest. Hap remembered how he had been tricked by the Charger when it stayed down after the artillery strike. Hap put a PPC bolt into the smoking hole and the gray cloud turned black before there was a brilliant flash as the 'mech's fusion engine was breached.
-
Chapter 107
The Compact's radio channel flashed, and Hap reluctantly switched channels. "This is McFinnigan and Sons."
"Mercenary whore, it is unacceptable how long you failed to respond. We demand you give us tactical control of your air support immediately." Zhang said.
"Zhang, I'm not a Mercenary. I'm a liaison officer assigned to McFinnigan and Sons. I'm also a Captain in an allied nation, and you're a lieutenant. Cut the crap, show some professional decorum-"
"I don't have time for this Mercenary whore representative, you will relinquish-"
"I'm sorry my radio was breaking up for the parts when you said, 'yes sir' and 'please'. I'm going to reset it and see if that fixes it."
Hap switched his radio back to the McFinnigan's radio net. There was the thump of the artillery and Hap realized that it had fired multiple times but he hadn't noticed it until now.
"That was probably unwise." Anastasia said quietly.
"I know you're right, but I'm about this close to punching that guy in the face, with my Griffin's fist.." Hap said. "Besides, we're going to help them, but I just need to teach Zhang that there are consequences for his attitude."
"Very good." Anastasia answered in a tone that implied it was anything but good. "Hopefully no one gets killed while you are teaching him a lesson."
The Stuka made another strafing run and as Kate pulled up the Cataphract exploded from a breach to the fusion reactor.
"Banshee 1, the Capellans need some help, how much longer can you stay on station?" Hap asked.
"You got more ground pounders who need air support to save their sorry asses? I can do this all day."
"Right." Hap said "Let's start with the artillery emplacement in the fortress."
"You know the deal. One of you give me a vector and I'll make your problems go away."
"Joker, hop over the fortress walls and guide Banshee 1 down on the artillery." Hap said.
"Why me?" Joker whined.
"You're the only one of us that doesn't have any internal structure exposed, and if there is infantry on the other side of that wall you're the best one to handle them."
"Roger that." Joker said as he activated his Firestarter's jump jets and sent his 'mech up and over the fortresses wall.
"Banshee I got artillery, in, uh, it's set up in a dirt berm, vicinity grid 0086."
"Okay, Good copy. I'm not set up to dive bomb, so you want to give me an east-west or north-south strafing axis?" Kate said.
"Uh…" Joker said, "wait one."
Mags hadn't moved her 'mech. The Jenner was looking down, it seemed to be resting. Hap started to walk his Griffin toward her. Hap had seen this posture before. It was usually when a 'mechwarrior' just let go of the controls and had to take a moment to make sense of things. When Hap had seen it was because they were shocked or amazed after surviving something.
Anastasia followed Hap as she called out, "Banshee 1, conduct a strafing run east to west from grid 0084 to 0068. As stated, priority target is artillery in defilade, vicinity grid 0086."
"Hey, I'm right in the middle of that." Joker said.
Anastasia sighed loudly "Danger close, friendly 'mechs in the open." Anastasia added.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Joker asked.
"I have been thinking I need to be less passive aggressive toward you." Anastasia said.
"I see him. Joker, get out of my strafing lane. I'm about to go nose done and tail up."
Joker jumped his 'mech up onto the thick wall of the fortress. "Wait there's a joke there, but I need to say something to Anastasia before I can think of it."
"Let me help you" Kate said as the Stuka started another strafing run, "nose down and tail up is how your mom spends her Saturday nights."
"What, no. Damn it. I forgot what I was going to say now." Joker huffed. "Mom jokes are also the worst form of humor you should know."
"Yeah and you should know how to call for air support. Maybe you can ask Coyote 2 to teach you and your lancemates." Kate answered.
"I try to explain so many things to them, what's one more thing?" Anastasia said with quiet exasperation.
"That's why you're the Professor, Kitten." Kate answered
The Cappellan command net flashed again on Hap's radio. He switched the system over.
"This is McFinnigan and Sons."
"Captain Calahad. This is Major Nguyen, we humbly request air support." The Major's voice had an edge of icy annoyance.
"Yes Sir. Banshee 1 is currently strafing the artillery emplacement. I'm transferring tactical control of our air support to you now. My lance is able to enter the fortress now. We'll destroy the artillery and neutralize any resistance they're holding in reserve."
"Thank you." Major Nguyen said coldly.
Hap flipped back to the McFinnigan net, "Banshee 1, move over to the Compact net, and support the Compact forces."
"Roger, I think I at least sent the artillery crew running in terror." Kate said.
"Yeah, I'll burn down what's left of the tubes." Joker said, "What's the situation with the Compact lance? They had assaults, they could have easily crushed the 'mechs we were up against. What's taking them so long"
Hap could see the Stuka come up from its strafing run and bank hard over to the North. "Iit looks like they're dealing with a Warhammer and a Rifleman standing on the high ground." Kate said, "and their being harassed by a couple hovertanks. I see an urbanmech missing a leg. They're moving very slowly and single file, so. I'm guessing they're in a minefield. Oh! The Compact is trying to talk to me. Well, heart-breakers and life-takers, I'll talk to you later when we're Mission Complete.
"Hey boss there isn't much left in the fortress, at least as far as 'resistance' goes." Joker said as he jumped back into the fortress, "At least there won't be once I'm done with this artillery."
Hap was close enough now he could lean his 'mech over and look into Mag's cockpit. "Hey, sister, you good in there?"
Hap could see Mags head was bowed, but as he spoke she looked up and nodded to him.
"I don't think we're quite done yet." Hap said, "The Compact still need our help. We gotta clean out this fortress, and probably slip behind a Rifleman or Warhammer and remind them that a Jenner can be just as dangerous as an Atlas."
The Jenner straightened up, "Lets get this done Hefe. I want to go eat some real food, like a steak, maybe get laid." Mags said, and Joker hooted.
"Artillery cannon is now a pile of melted slag. I don't think there is anything else to neutralize in here. The Capellans are either dead, gone, or in getting strafed. Also I'm with Mags, we need to finish the op, get some real food, and get laid."
"If I see Zhang, though, I'm going to cut him." Mags added, "That's also on my list."
"That's my girl." Joker laughed. "What about you Professor."
"I concur with Mags. I'm ready to complete this operation. I'd also like a Steak with a good Cabernet Sauvignon. I feel I should add, I have a mild headache, and I suspect I may have a concussion so I may apologize for my behavior later.
"So if you have a headache, does that mean-"
"Alright." Hap said. "Let's get this operation complete."
There was the tone of a system entering the radio net, "Alright I'm back. The Compact are going back the way they came, because they don't want to risk going through a minefield." Kate said. "I took down the Warhammer and the Rifleman, and the rest of the Capellan forces scattered. You're to hold the fortress until they can send a force to secure it."
"Is Major Nguyen angry with us?" Anastasia asked.
"Couldn't tell you, but one of them called me a 'mercenary whore' and the Major ordered him off the net. If I knew which 'mech he was piloting I might have accidentally caught him in a strafing run."
"That was Lieutenant Zhang, I believe he was assigned the urbanmech." Anastasia said.
"Oh damn, that would have been an easy 'accident' to make. I'll have to better next time." Kate said. "If you guys are good, I'm going to go back, refuel, have a hot meal and pick up Roweyna. We'll see you at their FOB."
-
OF course, there was an unmarked 'mech onsite... >:D
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Great update.
Psy
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Really enjoyed the combat scene. Thank you for this update!
Not much salvage withbso many exploding mechs. Maybe the charger, even with a busted reactor?
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I am looking forward to the next chapters.
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Lieutenant Zhang just doesn't seem to learn
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He pilots an Urbanmech. That explains a lot of things.
-
Chapter 108
Hap led his lance back to the Compact's FOB just as Kate's Stuka was landing. The Compact had sent a lance of tanks to secure the fortress and relieve them. As they were leaving Hap grabbed the broken remains of Mag's Jenner's arm. The limb itself had been severed by laser fire, so Hap wasn't sure how easy it would be to re-attach, but the medium lasers on the arm could at least be reused. Hap also suspected the conversation over salvage would be contentious so if he brought in "their equipment" it would be one less thing to argue over.
As they walked down the hill toward the road the McFinnigan and Sons tech car pulled into view. The radio immediately began flashing. "Hap, what the hell happened to your 'mech?" Brant asked. "It looks like you let someone take a wrecking ball to it."
"Yeah I got hit by a Charger going full throttle."
"How did you not notice an 80 ton mech running full tilt at you?"
"Don't start with me Brant, there was a lot of going on, and-"
"Yeah, the Professor was down, Mags and I were tangling with heavies and Hap was trying to remember how to call in strafing runs." Joker said.
"Run that by me again." Brant said.
"The plan was for Coyote 2 to call in the air support, so I didn't have my tactical display setup for calling in CAS. Like I said, a lot was going on." Hap said lamely.
"Alright so you need to review some basic Lance leadership skills, but that doesn't explain how a Charger just snuck up on you."
"Wait." Masja said, "Anastasia went down? What happened? Are you okay, Coyote 2?"
"Yes. I'm fine. My 'mech sustained moderate damage from a Charger and a Cataphract, but I'm fine. I never considered a Charger to be a credible threat, at least not compared to other assault 'mechs." Anastasia said. "And then it manhandled my Valkyrie."
"Would you say you got 'mechhandled?" Joker asked.
"Yes. I would say that. I should add, I generally I find your sense of humor to be a spectrum of annoying to offensive, however I do appreciate a good pun." Anatasia's tone was emotionless.
"Really?" Joker asked, "You like puns? Did your mech land on the cockpit when you went down?"
"No. Puns require a certain intellectual finesse, a large vocabulary, and an understanding of languages. When you indulge in puns I actually suspect you might be smarter than you normally act."
"Thanks. I think. Are you sure you didn't take a hit to the meat?"
"As I stated, no. When the Charger engaged me I jumped away and I was struck by the Cataphract's PPC and autocannon. I found myself falling backwards over the side of a ravine. Thankfully I landed on some trees which managed to soften my fall, and ruin only my rear armor.
"I found myself with my 'mech in the prone thinking the Charger would descend on me at any moment. As I got to my feet Mags reported she had destroyed the generator, so I decided to reset my tracking and targeting system so I could contribute to the fight with accurate weapon fire."
"We do appreciate when you 'contribute to the fight with accurate weapon fire'." Joker said.
"Yes. It is the most basic of courtesies one can give her lance mates." Anastasia replied dryly. "So as I waited for the system to restart I found myself considering how this could be my last battle."
"Yeah you get the slop beaten out of your 'mech you start to think that," Joker said. "but I find sometimes I do better after my 'mech's taken a few good hits."
"I was more considering that soon I will be at a research lab and not being 'mech-handled', although I was also considering that I should have followed my mother's strong suggestion that I work in an embassy or other 'cushy' political postings with significantly less life-threatening incident."
"You don't want to be a mechwarrior anymore?" Mags asked.
"No. I find being a mechwarrior quite rewarding." Anastasia said, "I think it's more just the realization that I will not be part of a military operation for quite some time. I suppose I should just be content that we achieved our objective and we all still have our lives."
"And most importantly our 'mechs." Joker added.
"I wouldn't want to be disposed, but I'm with Anastasia, life and operational success are more important than not losing our 'mechs." Hap said. "As long as we control the field at the end of the day, there's a good chance we can repair or replace our 'mechs."
"I've been thinking I'd like to replace my Valkyrie. It's too slow to keep up with the majority light 'mechs, and can't outrun many medium and some heavy 'mechs, and today I was confronted with the fact a Charger can easily keep up with it. The Valkyrie's armor is good, but it doesn't last long against the armaments most medium or heavy 'mechs will employ against it."
"And a Charger will simply knock the armor off of it." Joker said, "Kinda like how Hap gets you out of your clothes."
"Charger will beat the armor off of any mech it catches." Mags said. "Did you see what happened when he slammed into Hefe?"
Hap glanced down at his armor diagnostic monitor. His Griffin's armor was significantly compromised, and he wondered what it looked like on the outside.
"Mags, what happened after I fell into the ravine and you destroyed the generator?" Anastasia asked.
"Hefe, told me to get after the Cataphract. My old man told me that the Jenner can take down just about any 'mech if you run at it full throttle, jump over their head, and alpha strike them in the back. That's what I tried to do."
"I sprinted at that big Bastardo, even ran a zig-zag so he couldn't touch me with his PPC or autocannon. I got up close, jumped over him, spun around and fired everything, but two lasers hit his right shoulder, two hit his left and only three missiles landed. Then he tried to shoot me with his rear mounted medium lasers. The first time he missed, but we started to turn-"
"I like to call that the Firestarter Foxtrot." Joker said.
"It was more of a pequena hilado Paso doble, because I was staying close, and spinning at a double time. I was there in his rear arc trying to give him hell, but then his laser cut my Jenner's arm off, and I was starting to overheat. It helped that William kept the Marauder overheating, but the Cataphract pilot was tearing me apart, and just with two lasers."
"Yeah, that Marauder pilot was a real boot. He was panic-firing the whole time, both when he was trying to hit the girls, and even when I started to tangle with him. I thought he'd either try to back up and use his big guns or take a swing at me, but he couldn't figure out which one he wanted to do."
"I just kept hitting him with flamers and trying to get behind him, but his buddy in the Cataphract was making it real hard for me. At least until Mags started messing with him."
"Then Banshee 1 came down and saved your asses before you completely ruined your 'mechs?" Mike asked as he parked the car between the broken Cataphract and burned out Marauder.
"Yeah, that's when she came in all 'nose down and tail up', but we could have finished them ourselves without her." Joker said.
"I'm sorry, when I rejoined the battle the Charger's foot looked like it was about to have an altercation with Hap's cockpit. Mags had just lost 40% percent of her weapon systems, and her armor integrity was less than that. Somehow you had avoided any significant damage-"
"Because I'm an ace pilot" Joker interrupted.
"More likely it was because no one takes a Firestarter seriously when there is a Griffin and a Jenner on the field." Mike said.
"Hey!" Joker yelled.
"More likely because he didn't receive unwanted attention from an 80 ton pugilist. Be that as it may, Joker, you're insane if you thought our tactical situation was anything other than precarious trending toward disaster."
"I thought you were going to nicer to me." Joker said with mock hurt.
"That was idle thought that was apparently caused by head trauma, thankfully the effects were temporary." Anastasia said.
"Alright well we're on site now to start salvage ops, and I want to get a look at this Cataphract thing before the Compact techs show up and we start arguing over who gets what. Why don't you four try to get back to the base without any more damage to your mechs?" Mike said.
"That sounds like a good plan, Mike." Hap said.
"Yeah, and maybe you can start fixing your mech's when you get there." Mike added.
"We'll see what we can do." Hap said.
-
Chapter 109
Anastasia brought her mech to a stop next to Harold's Griffin and the Compact's urbanmech. She kneeled the mech down and deployed the 'mech's rope ladder. Anastasia started the safety procedures for putting the 'mech's reactor into standby. She took off her neuro helmet and placed it on the dashboard of her mech, and cracked open the cockpit to let cool air in.
She took out her leather journal and began to take notes on the performance of her modified sensors. She also wrote down a few additional ideas she had about what it would take to create a true electronic counter measure suite. She was certain if she saw the technical readouts on a Guardian ECM suite she could easily recreate it, or something like it. Especially if she could get someone to translate the Capellan's work into a language she could read.
She sighed as she remembered the military team she worked with at NAIS really wanted the Gauss rifle, even the double efficient heat sinks seemed trivial to the General leading the team. She thought for a moment of Joker causing the Marauder to overheat, and it occurred to her that the General must have never been a mechwarrior, or he piloted something extremely heat efficient like a LCT-1V Locust or a CGR-1A1 Charger. She shuddered as she considered how fast and relentless the Charger pilot had been.
She finished her notes and put her journal away and rested her head on the back of the command couch. Her headache was just a dull ache now. She suspected she had a mild concussion from hitting her head when her mech fell. She sat up and reached back to feel her head and make sure there wasn't a contusion or bleeding. She couldn't feel anything as her hand passed over her hair. She had set her hair into two loose long braids that were resting on her shoulders. It had taken some trial and error to get her hair just right so it wouldn't interfere with the neurohelmet.
She quickly undid the braids and shook out her hair and dug her fingers closer to her scalp to search out any injury. As she probed the back of her head Hap's head appeared as he climbed to the top of the rope ladder.
"You okay, darlin?" Hap said.
Anastasia smiled faintly, "I believe so Harold. I hit my head pretty hard though. Would you be so kind and make sure I'm not more seriously injured than just a slight headache? I may have a contusion."
Hap looked around her cockpit crowded with the additional displays and equipment for her experimental sensor package. "I think you'll have to come down before I can help you."
Anastasia nodded and handed Hap her go-bag and neurohelmet. He connected the helmet to her bag and slung it over her shoulder. He helped her climb out of her command couch and then descended the rope ladder and waited for her at the bottom.
She followed him down the ladder and turned her back to him so he could examine her.
"I don't feel or see any blood or bumps or bruises, but you to gotta lot of hair…" Hap said as moved her hair around, "Loosen your cooling vest and straighten your back." Hap said as he pulled on her vest. She unbuckled her vest and turned to face him. He ran his hands up and down her back as they looked each other in the eyes.
"You're back feels alright, no protruding vertebrae." He looked deeply into her eyes for a long moment, "No weird dilation with your eyes." Hap said as he put his hand under her chin and tilted her head to the side. "No weird fluids coming out this ear," He turned her head the other way and brushed her hair aside. "or this one. You look fine, at least from untrained medical opinion. We'll have the Doc check you out later."
Anastasia nodded as Hap started to turn away. They were so close she was disappointed that they didn't kiss. "Harold, would you help me with one more thing?" She asked.
"Certainly." He said as he stepped closer to her, "What do you need?"
She reached behind his head and pulled him close and stole a passionate kiss. After a moment they stopped. She had unconsciously put her hand on his chest and could feel his heart beating faster, "Merci mon amour, that's what I needed."
Hap gave her a wry smile, "You trying to start something?"
Anastasia shrugged, "More like I didn't want to miss an opportunity."
Hap handed her back her bag and helmet. "Tell you what, I'm going to go check on Joker and Mags, then maybe we can find some place quiet to give you a more thorough physical exam."
"Or skip that first step, and we could go right to the second."
Hap looked like he was seriously considering her proposal. "You and your engineering efficiency." He glanced over as Joker descended from his Firestarter, but Mags was still in her cockpit. "I'm a little worried about Mags, let me just make sure she's okay."
"Suit yourself." Anastasia said coyly. "I've been thinking about how I need to be kinder and more considerate to people, but I'm told that sometimes after a concussion one's moods can change quite suddenly and dramatically."
"Yeah, I thought it was a little odd you were considering being nicer to Joker, but you're generally good to me." Hap said, then reluctantly added, "I just want to talk to Mags real quick. I things got a little too close to her having to eject, and it's really shaken her. Give me five minutes and try not to let your mood shift."
"Me and my engineering efficiency and you always playing the odds." Anastasia held up two fingers, "two minutes."
"Three, and I'll make sure Joker comes with me, he's the most likely one to change your mood."
"True." Anastasia said. She could see that Hap was seriously considering if she was teasing him. She felt guilty as she had seen Mags struggle and Hap's reaction. She wasn't sure exactly what happened with Mags, but it had been a stressful fight for everyone. Only Joker seemed unphased, but Anastasia assumed that was because he was too foolish to recognize how close they had come to dying.
Anastasia smiled at Hap, "Go talk to Mags, I'll be here waiting. I'm glad we're all alive and not much could change my mood."
"Glad to hear it. I won't be long."
"Yes, that is wise." Anastasia set her things down and began to rebraid her hair as she surveyed her Valkyrie. It looked bad, but most of the damage was superficial. The left arm's lower actuator was ruined, but that was probably the worst of it. She sighed remembering the last time her 'mech had suffered this much damage. It was here on St. Ives, and that time they had a full tech crew. This time she was likely going to be helping with patching the armor and fixing the actuator. At least the arm was still attached this time.
Still that didn't diminish her attitude. She was glad they were back and safe. She watched Selene lope up to Hap and without missing a beat he pulled out a meat stick ration and bit off a piece for himself and gave the coyote a portion. Her tail wagged as she trotted next to Hap. Anastasia smiled. There wasn't much that could change her mood.
"Mercenary." Zhang's shrill voice immediately made Anastasia's headache return with more intensity. "You must tell me how you were able to destroy the anti-air systems."
Anastasia turned around to see Zhang standing behind her. "Quality training, taking tactical advantage of the terrain, and using our battlemechs to their full capacity."
"I will not listen to your foolishness. Better warriors than you tried and failed to destroy that anti-air system. I must know how undisciplined and unscrupulous mercenaries happened to achieve victory."
Unconsciously Anastasia tilted her hide to the side as Zang talked. Zhang had blue bruises under both eyes and it looked like his face had been slammed into the controls of his 'mech. His nose was also crooked, but it looked like that was from a previous injury, likely when his Blackjack had been destroyed.
Zhang angrily continued to criticize Anastasia and her companions, and his angry expressions looked almost amusing to Anastasia. She debated how best to respond when, or if, he ever gave her an opportunity. Anastasia considered how Zhang was rude, impatient, and abusive. She had also never been impressed with his skill as a mechwarrior. She smiled as she could hear Kelly McFinnigan in her mind add, "and ye can safely wager, his whiskey is foul too".
The idea of insulting one's preferred drink suddenly amused Anastasia. This reminded her one time her mother made a disparaging comment about Baron Rupert's wine cellar being full of "late vintages, and bad years". Anastasia had assumed it was meant to be a critique of the Baron's "trollop of the week" who was barely older than his daughters. Now Anastasia wondered if it was meant to be a critique of both his preferred wines and his womanizing. Given her mother's penchant for wine and general cleverness, it was likely both.
"Are you even listening to me, mercenary, or were you knocked senseless in the battle?"
Anastasia straightened her head and stopped smiling her headache seemed to grow in intensity. "No." She considered for a moment about how to address Zhang. Normally she'd point out that if his "warriors" were so much better than her, why was she standing here talking after her lance and their air support had routed the Cappellan forces when his champions had failed?
Her father once warned her that being the smartest person in the room generally meant you could win any argument, but logical matches weren't like physical altercations. When you physically defeat an opponent, they generally understand they've lost, but depending on the stupidity of your logical opponent, they may never understand how badly they've been beaten. As a child Anastasia thought she knew what he meant, but it wasn't until she really got out into the galaxy and met some people that she fully understood her father's words.
Maybe it was blow to the back of her head, but she was starting to think that she needed to conduct herself more like a noble woman. Less insulting, less sarcastic, and less passive aggressive. She took a moment to consider how her mother would respond to someone like Zhang. She looked around to get her bearings then turned so she could motion to the mountain fortress.
"Lieutenant Zhang, right now we, our two lances, have denied the Cappellans their last major foot hold on your planet." Anastasia gestured to the fortress, "We shouldn't be overtly concerned with how it was done. We should be celebrating this victory and the establishment of your nation. This is a great day, and you were part of it. You were at the battle that broke the back of the Cappellans, this is something you can tell your grandchildren about." Anastasia stopped herself before she added, "tell them how you were piloting a Urbanmech and stepped on a mine because you were hiding behind mercenaries that you forced into conducting a suicidal frontal assault."
Zhang seemed to consider her words for a moment before he shook his head, "Do not try to change the subject or confuse me with your mercenary propaganda. I've asked you a question, and I demand you answer me, now, Mercenary."
Anastasia exhaled and looked at Zhang defiantly. She remembered now why she was usually dismissive and argumentative with people like Zhang. Good manners usually just invite them to behave poorly. Her father was correct that fools never knew when they had lost, but she was about to give Zhang the sort of argument that would leave deep psychological scars.
Before she could begin Roweyna walked up carrying a large leather briefcase. She was dressed in a smart gray business suit and skirt combo with the McFinnigans and Sons logo embroidered on the left breast pocket. She smiled as she saw Anastasia, but then her expression froze as she looked over Zhang.
Roweyna turned her attention back to Anastasia, "Ah, there ye are, I was looking for you and yer lancemates."
"Are you the owner of these Mercenaries?" Zhang said "mercenaries" like it was an insult.
"Aye." Roweyna said slowly, "I need to speak to yer contracting official or someone authorized to speak to and direct military personnel under contract."
"I know how to speak to mercenaries just as I know how to speak to any other prostitute. Whatever you have to say you can say to me."
"Well I don't much care for yer tone, or yer allusion, but if yer a bonafide contracting officer than I have a few matters we need to discuss." Roweyna pulled up the briefcase and pushed it into Anastasia's arms, "Hold that dear." She said as Anastasia held the briefcase so Roweyna could open it and pull out a thick bundle of papers. Anastasia glanced into the case to see the same combat knife Roweyna had used to kill the ROM agent, the case also contained a thermos and a scattergun that had been cut down to be illegal throughout most of the inner sphere, but instantly lethal at point blank range. There was also a sloppy stack of papers that concealed the rest of the contents of the case.
"Now then, we need to discuss the change of mission and the intelligence that was provided to accompany that change of mission." Roweyna said as began to thumb through the contract.
"I have an issue to discuss with you. Your mercenaries refused to provide air support."
"Aye." Roweyna said as she continued to thumb through the contract, "ye didn't negotiate for air support per the contract, ye requested a lance, ye were given a lance."
"You brought additional forces to the field, and we needed those forces to support us. I demand that you explain why your lance refused to provide air support to us in a timely fashion."
Roweyna glanced up from the contract. Without looking down she began to flip pages in the other direction. "Yer certain you're a contracting officer? Yer able to speak for your nation, negotiate moneys, ye've been granted fiduciary responsibility, and the like?"
"Did I not already answer this question?"
Roweyna looked at him skeptically. She folded back a few pages and handed the contract to Zhang, "Oh ye answered, but I'm not sure ye understood the question, but I'll play yer lil' game. Here is the standard contract rider. As ye can clearly read it describes the services that were negotiated for, which, as ye can read are Operational Control or OPCON of a 'mech lance with a drop weight of 155 tons, suitable for reconnaissance, screening, pursuit, and raids. Time was limited to two weeks, with an option to extend in two week increments indefinitely. You'll note air support is not included there."
Zhang seemed to be studying the contract hard looking for some type of exception or mention of additional forces.
"If it helps the same contract is in Chinese on the next page." Roweyna added.
Zhang mumbled in Chinese under his breath as he violently flipped the page.
"So's yer mother." Roweyna said as she reached into her case and started to pull out a thermos. "Anastasia, ye fancy a spot of tea?"
"What did you say?" Zhang glanced up at Roweyna.
"Oh ye heard me," Roweyna said and then spoke to him in Chinese. Zhang's face flushed as he gave Roweyna a hateful stare.
Roweyna snatched the contract back from Zhang and ignored his murderous expression, "Now back to the matter I actually came to discuss. A member of the Compact forces gave the McFinnigan and Sons lance some intel-"
"I gave these whores that intel."
"Good, that was part of what I needed, a name for the MRB." Roweyna looked over Zhang's cooling vest and then scribbled his name down in both English and the Chinese Hanzi characters at the top of the contract. "Right, so, jest to make sure I understand what happened, members of McFinnigans and Sons requested intel, specifically enemy patrol information and ye, Lieutenant Zhang, refused to give them that information."
"I didn't have it available at the time when they requested it."
"And yet you gave them explicit direction to move to a release point that ye knew would place them directly on an enemy patrol route at such a time when the enemy could be expected to be patrolling that route."
"I can't be held responsible for where the enemy patrols"
"But ye knew the patrol routes and could reasonably expect the enemy would be there."
"It was important that the actions your mercenaries were tasked to perform began before we attempted our assault. I felt the need to ensure your cowardly mercenaries didn't attempt to flee or wait until we were engaged before entering combat."
"So ye did intentionally deceive us?"
"I didn't deceive you, I was intentionally ensuring that these fools accomplished their mission."
Rowyena reached into her briefcase and pulled out a yellowed and dog-eared book marked Mercenary Review Board guide to contracts, and laws and rules of warfare. She flipped several pages and came to a section marked "Intelligence provided by employers to vendors".
Rowyena cleared her throat, "Allow me to read ye a section from my MRB handbook on contracts. 'Upon request an employer' In this case, that's you, as employer of my Mercenaries, 'must provide all pertinent known or supposed intel with levels of confidence of that intel to the vendor.' Vendor is me, and my lance as we're the ones providing services."
"Now it continues, 'If no intel is available the employer should give reasonable explanation as to why it is unavailable and prove due diligence has been attempted to achieve actionable and helpful intel. If a vendor intentionally denies, misrepresents or fails to provide reasonable information that would enhance tactical operations, risk mitigation, or force preservation this can be considered a bad faith action and subject to punishments and fines as outlined in the contract or in Appendix J TAB D."
"If an employer is suspected to have knowingly fabricated or denied intel with the purpose of deceiving, putting at risk, creating tactical failure and/or imperiling the vendor they will be subject to investigation by the MRB. If found guilty the employer will face censor, possible denial of future MRB contracting actions, and the punishments and fines as outlined in the contract or in Appendix J TAB D and TAB E."
Roweyna slammed the book shut, "So, Mr. Contracting officer, I'm putting ye on notice that I'm submitting a formal complaint to the MRB that ye have intentionally denied us intel so ye could put us at risk, potentially create tactical failure, and knowingly imperil us. Do ye think you'll have yer rebuttal ready a'fore I submit this, or are ye going to need the full 90 days? Either way I'll need you to sign and initial a few documents to acknowledge that we've had this talk."
"I think you've misunderstood me, I'm not contracting officer, I said I knew the contracting officer. I shall go get them now." Zhang said as he walked away.
"Smartest thing ye've said to me all day." Roweyna said, "Off ye go, and make sure ye hurry back. I'm already this close to given ye lessons in lawfare. Press me and I'll find a way to have yer wages garnered and I'll be sellin' yer mech for scrap to yer enemies."
Zhang looked like he was about to respond, rudely, but instead chose to turn on his heals and quickly disappear.
"That's right ye little bastard, run along now." Roweyna said under her breath as she pulled out her thermos, and produced two metallic tea cups. The cups were elegantly made to have and had the shape of a Montrose style tea cups. They were made of a dull silver metal with intricate flowers and leaves etched and molded to the cup. "Now about that tea."
"Are you going to submit an actual report to the MRB?" Anastasia asked as she set the briefcase on the foot of her Valkyrie. "Or is all this to improve your bargaining position?"
Roweyna passed a tea cup with warm tea toward I'm sorely tempted, and ye have to understand, it's not jest about us, there are other mercenaries to consider. Jest cause the Compact is now a successor state with a noble house doesn't mean they can push around honest mercenaries. Besides every house has similar complaints lodged against them from time to time. I'm honestly helping the Compact be more credible. Her Grace, the Duchess Candace Liao, can sit at the table with other house lords and compare treachery now. In truth, she should thank me."
Roweyna took a sip of her tea, "Of course trying to murder mercenaries while making it look like an accident is pretty much like planning a tea party for the Kuritans, and when you look at the work Allesandro Steiner this level of deceit and betrayal is merely a social faux pas. But it's a good start for a burgeoning young House Lady."
Anastasia shook her head, "But we took this contract outside of the MRB, I would assume they will ignore our complaint."
"Well there are provisions where a company can negotiate follow-on work under a previous contract vehicle if it's within in a given time period, or the work is related to the previous contracts objectives or mission. It does require me to give the MRB their cut though. Damn greedy wolves always want a cut."
"I still question the wisdom of bringing the MRB into this. The MRB is part of Comstar and their intelligence service is trying to kill me. Further, it wouldn't be surprised if they haven't targeted McFinnigan and Sons for destruction. Honestly it makes the most sense."
"Aye, but I still have a professional obligation to the other mercenaries, besides the MRB rarely shies away from an opportunity to get into someone's business, nor are they hesitant to shake them down for money. I'd be doin' the right thing here, I assure ye."
"Are you sure it's worth the risk?"
"Oh aye, risk." Roweyna said as she closed her briefcase and pulled out a flask and added a splash of whiskey to her tea. She offered the flask to Anastasia, but she shook her head.
"Ye have to understand there are multiple ComStars. First, there is the Comstar ye encounter when you go to send a message using their HPG. That ComStar will tell ye things like "boogety-boo if Jerome Blake wills it we'll send yer message across the inner sphere in a matter of days". These mystical idiots somehow have control of the massive HPG infrastructure and in spite of their jackassery and general asinine methods they actually manage to make it work.
"Then there is the ComStart that I actually interact with, the Mercenary Review Board. These are an army of evil bureaucrats that span the Inner Sphere. They spend their days arguing over contracts, laws, precedence, and how to accurately fill out forms. Sure they may occasionally thank their founder or some saintly member of their order for divine help, but most of their work is spent in administration and law and moving paperwork from one side of the galaxy to the other."
"Like any administrative body of that scope and span they work by the simple rule of, 'we're not happy till yer unhappy.' In other words, they're a massive bureaucracy that ensures that each and every contract contains something to disadvantage both parties, but everyone is content with the money and the labor and due to mutual mistrust, this techno-cult business gets a piece of the profits."
"Finally, there's the ComStar ye keep finding yourself interacting with. I honestly doubted that ROM even existed, except once in awhile my mother would talk about how her and her mates would be doing ah job and run afoul of them, or somethin' would happen and she'd mention how they were a capable lot prone to some nasty skullduggery. I can't figure if they've grossly underestimated you, if ye've been exceptionally lucky, or if my mother has been deceived."
"I have reason to suspect it was the former two. I've been quite lucky, and they underestimated me and sent inexperienced agents who have, thus far, been unlucky or attempted naive or foolishly contrived methods to kill me. It's quite likely the next attempt on my life will come from a more experienced and determined agent. In all probability my luck is about to run out." Anastasia said.
Roweyna topped off her tea cup with more whiskey and mumbled, "I forget to mention the explorer corps. Father thinks they'll run into some dreaded terror beyond the stars that will come to murder us all. But that's not relevant to us right now," Roweyna shrugged, "I'm not certain these three ComStars actually talk to each other in a meaningful way that would allow them to do us any real mischief. At least not quickly."
"Is that a chance you want to take though? I understand the inherent inefficiencies of massive bureaucracies, and I've seen the whimsical and ridiculous ceremonies the ComStar acolytes participate in just to turn on a simple holoprojector. However, ROM should have access to both everyone's HPG messages and the ability to track every mercenary company through the MRB, otherwise they would be incompetent and ineffectual. This seems like a great risk."
Roweyna took a long drink, "I'm a mercenary by trade, love. Risks are part of the business, jest as they are for a good AFFS or AFFC officer. I have to choose which risks to avoid and which ones to accept and mitigate. I often have to use logic, experience, and my instincts to make those choices. I also have a sense of justice, that demands I not let these bastards take advantage of us. Even if it's just one stupid little staff officer who thinks mercenaries are little more than prostitutes. Everyone needs to be reminded we're a noble professionals and deserving of respect, not abuse nor contempt."
Anastasia sipped her tea, "I appreciate your sense of justice, and I concede that ComStar has a sprawling and inefficient bureaucracy but I still question the wisdom of telling them where we are and what we are doing."
Roweyna topped off Anastasia's tea from the thermos than added a splash more to her own cup followed by a generous quantity of Whiskey. Roweyna took a long drink before continuing, "They know where we are, and if they have any people on the ground they also know what we're doing. Me submitting a grievance to the MRB doesn't change the fact there could be a ROM agent among the Compact's forces who could walk up to you right now and attempt to murder you. Are ye sure ye wouldn't like some whiskey?"
"No." Anastasia said, "I think I need to avoid risk and stay sober." Anastasia heard footsteps behind her and nearly jumped as she turned to see Mags, Joker and Hap.
"Oh that's not really avoiding risk." Roweyna said as she emptied the flask into her tea, "Avoiding risk is you hiding in yer auntie's house in a panic room."
"Hey Roweyna." Joker said, "Did you hear how we liberated this whole damn planet?"
"On the flight up, Ms. Berlin mentioned how ye were hoppin' about while she turned the course of the battle." Roweyna slipped the empty flask back into the brief case. "Though I believe she mentioned some rogues managed to break contact and flee into the mountains."
"Well yeah but-" Joker started to say.
"What's that?" Mags asked, pointing to the gun and knife in the briefcase. "You never used to carry weapons before."
"Well my mother always says, 'if a man stabs ye with a knife once, shame on him, but if he does it a second time, shame on you'."
"Didn't you kill the guy that stabbed you?" Joker asked, "How's he going to try it again?"
"Aye, I think yer missing my mother's point. I'd add though, that should I encounter another individual who wants to lay hands on my person, I'd prefer to start the interaction with something more than stern words and broken china."
Mags put her cigar in her mouth and pulled out the shotgun. She held it by the rifle stock that had been cut down to make a pistol grip. She extended her arm to feel the weight and balance of the weapon. "I don't think it'll be a very long fight, but you might break your wrist when you shoot."
"I told that auld pirate, Henry, I wanted a slug-thrower that could stop a fight before it started, and this is what he offered me. I'm hoping once I pull this out I won't have to shoot, though Henry also mentioned I should hold onto with both hands." Roweyna answered.
Mags nodded and smoked, she looked impressed with the weapon.
Zhang returned and looked at the mercenary. He seemed humbled and he only made eye contact with Roweyna. "My commander is ready to speak with you now, and he hopes that you and him can have a serious conversation like professionals.
Roweyna drained her tea cup and placed it back in her case. She then gingerly took the shotgun from Mags, placed it next to the teacup, and shut the case.
"Wait before you go, if you can speak and read Chinese why couldn't you help me with the technical manual?" Anastasia asked.
"I can speak Mandrin Chinese, and read a little, but not what ye needed, now lead the way Lieutenant Zhang."
-
Chapter 110
The fire popped and hissed as the wood burned. The sun was going down and the temperature was starting to drop. Anastasia was tired. She had spent the afternoon helping re-attach the arm of Mag's Jenner. Because she was notoriously bad at repairing armor she was stuck with the task of reconnecting and testing the 'mech's lasers. Most of this was running the wires and power cables, splicing the broken ones and making sure they were properly secured in their trays and conduits. When she was done she found herself helping Mags pull the myomer 'mech "muscle" and reattach it to the arm. It was nearly four hours of work and the armor still needed to be mounted on the armor.
She had multiple cuts and burns and sore muscles, but she felt good about her work. Now she was curled up with Selene on a pseudo-couch made of palettes stacked in front of LRM reload containers. She was happy though, Brant was impressed. He usually found some way to make a snide remark about House Davion, and remind her and everyone that she did a pour job of patching armor. Today Brant seemed genuinely happy with her work.
Anastasia never got more than a few private minutes with Hap, but he mentioned Mags was struggling with how close she came to ejecting. It sounded like there was a series of complex emotions from feeling incompetent, to feeling that even considering ejecting was betraying her father. Hap tried to assure her it was more his fault for ordering her to engage the Cataphract, but Mags maintained if she had been better, or a little quicker she would have prevailed. Hap mentioned she no longer felt invincible in her 'mech, but maybe that was a good thing.
After work was finished and she had gotten cleaned up Anastasia had also found a sweatshirt among Hap's clothes. It was oversized for her, but warm. It was almost like wearing a blanket with sleeves. It was warm and comfortable and smelled faintly like Hap. All of this made up for the fact it had the Albion Military Academy logo embroidered on the left breast.
Hap hadn't noticed that Anastasia was wearing his sweatshirt. At the moment he was standing with the other men around the grill that Brant fabricated. Brant's grill looked similar to the outer casing for a jet engine but he swore he could cook any meat with any fuel. He touted the grill's double wall construction and specially designed grill created a super efficient cooking surface. Anastasia was too tired to care how it worked.
Roweyna and Kate walked up and found their own camp chairs around the fire and sat down and got comfortable.
"Are ye sure we cannot fly back tonight?" Roweyana leaned
"Outside my duty day, Roweyna." Kate said, "I warned you this would happen when you told me you wanted to fly with me."
"Well then ye may as well have a bit of this." Roweyna said as she pulled out another hip flask from a different pocket of her briefcase. She took a swig and passed it over to Kate.
She shrugged as she drank. "8 hours bottle to throttle, when do you want to leave tomorrow?"
"Oh 0800 I suppose."
"Well that gives me plenty of drinking time between now and midnight." Kate said as she took another swig before passing the flask toward Anastasia.
Anastasia took a tentative sip. It was a smokey scotch whiskey. She swallowed the mouth full of alcohol, suppressed the urge to cough, and gave the flask back to Roweyna, "How was your conversation with commander Nyugen?"
"Oh good, good. He explained that there was a mis-understandin' with his staff and he personally took responsibility for it. Claimed he told his subordinate to ensure that ye did not get placed in a position to run afoul o' the enemy patrol."
"And you believed him?" Kate asked.
"Well I've met his subordinate and he's a right nasty piece o' work. He seems like that perfect blend of stupid and mean. So if his commander told him to do somethin' I would not be surprised if he found some malicious way to make it look like he was tryin' to obey when disobeyed."
"That's a very accurate assessment." Anastasia said.
"Aye, and the commander let our techs have a go at selecting some of the best salvage. I think between that Marauder and Cataphract we can build out a Marauder."
Kate gave a low whistle, "That's a pretty sweet deal, but I'm sure I strafed both those 'mechs to scarp. If Brant can resurrect that Marauder from that slag, he's a better tech than he's been letting on."
"I'm better than that vodka swillin' Aerotech you got." Brant yelled from across the fire. "At least I can speak English."
"As long as the armor holds, and the wings don't fall off, Dmitry is good shit in my book. I don't care what he swills or how he speaks." Kate replied as she took the flask from Roweyna.
"We have half o' Marauder back in the Tir na nOg, so once we meet up with father we'll be able to put it into service, or sell it for mint."
"Are you still going to report our mistreatment to the MRB?" Anastasia asked.
Roweyana shook her head, "Nay, it jest wouldn't do. The commander and I had a long talk and I truly believe he lost control of his subordinate and he wanted to make it right. No need for raise the issue any higher."
"What about all your talk of mercenary professionalism and keeping faith with other mercenaries?"
"Anastasia, I know I said some high an' lofty things, but ye have to understand when a field commander offers ye good salvage ye know he's tryin' to make amends. No one died, and we have our 'mechs. If my father were here he'd be tellin ye the same thing. 'Pocket yer money. Take yer salvage, and at least act grateful'."
"Sage advice." Anastasia said.
"How much whiskey did you bring with you?" Kate asked after taking another swing from the flask.
"Enough to last me till 0800 tomorrow, so make sure yer ready to go wheels up by that time." Roweyna said as she opened the outer pocket of her brief case closer and pulled out a slender curved bottle containing a brown liquid.
Brant came by with a tray that looked like it was made of sheet metal. The tray was laden with hamburgers. "Alright ladies, the Compact was kind enough to give us a couple kilos of ground beef and we found some bread for buns. So, we're having a good old fashioned Taurian burger burn. We also got some type of root vegetable like potato that Masja and Tasja are frying into chips." As he mentioned them Brant nodded his head toward the twin techs standing over a large pot full of oil.
Hap walked over and passed a bottle of wine to Anastasia, "I had to trade our ration of beer for this, and I think it's just a red blend, but I thought you'd like it more than rice beer."
Anastasia smiled as she accepted the bottle. She looked over the label it, like everything she had experienced on St. Ives was in Chinese, Russian, but there were small gold letters that read, "red wine" at the bottom and "3025".
Anastasia reached into her go-bag and pulled out a wine key and began to cut the foil. "3025 was at least a good year for technical readouts, lets see how the wine fared."
"You carry a corkscrew in your go-bag?" Joker asked as he took a hamburger and sat down in a folding camp chair next to Mags.
"How else would one open a wine bottle?" Anastasia screwed in the cork.
"Well the one time, and I should clarify this was the only time before today, that I ever saw a wine bottle anywhere near a battlefield Hap just broke the neck off of it and we drank out of our canteen cups."
Hap shrugged as he took the wine bottle from Anastasia and pulled hard, "You've had a certain civilizing effect on our lance." As he spoke the cork came out with a pop.
Anastasia nodded as she took the bottle, put it to her lips, and tipped it high for a long drink.
"I think we've had the opposite effect on Anastasia." Joker said.
She handed the bottle to Hap, "No, wine should be enjoyed from glass, not a steel cup. The steel will chemically interact with the wine and spoil the taste. Glass is inert, and since this is the only potable glass container we have handy I'm using it as a field expedient wine glass."
Hap took a long drink from the wine bottle. "I'm still a little concerned about how hard you hit your head."
Mike brought the tray of burgers over to Hap and Anastasia, "Mighty generous of the Compact to give us some real beef."
"Oh, you think so?" Kate said, "You should see what they had back at the head shed. I think the evening menu was lobster in a cream sauce with capers and Ouzo served over linguini. The Capellans had apparently poached some real choice supplies. Which the Compact found and dispersed as they saw fit."
"To the victor goes the spoils" Roweyna said as she lifted her glass bottle in a mock toast.
"And somehow we still get the scraps." Mags noted
"It's all good." Joker told her, "The fact the Cappellans were saving it up for our victory party makes my burger taste better." Joker said as Masja and Tasja came up with a try of fried potatoes. "Thanks ladies." Joker said as he grabbed a handful then tried not to howl when he burned his fingers on the hot oil. Tasja shook her head as she put the tray down on a large upturned cable spool near the fire.
"You gonna be okay dining on this peasant food while our allies enjoy their Lobster Thermidor?" Brant asked.
Anastasia swallowed a mouthful of hamburger, "I suspect our allies are enjoying Lobster with pernod-capers butter. Lobster Thermidor is usually made with brandy and the lobster is served in the shell. However, no, I'm right where I want to be." She leaned into Hap and smiled, "I'm in good company with good food and drink. We're all safe, and like Joker said this is one of the best hamburgers I've ever had. Thank you for cooking."
Brant looked taken aback, "Alright. Yeah. You're welcome." He took a few steps away, "Hey maybe you could cook Lobster Thermidor for us sometime. Let us see what it's like eat like a fancy noble."
"We'll need fresh lemons, lots of eggs and cream, gruyere cheese, brandy, and of course lobster." Anastasia answered.
"I'll talk to Henry about getting all of that, might be a nice meal to celebrate getting off this rock."
"I'll make you a list with all the acceptable substitutions in case Henry has trouble finding everything."
"Much appreciated." Brant said as he offered burgers to Masja and Tasja.
"I'll not authorize extra money for purchasing food for the ship's mess." Roweyna said, "but I'll offer up the brandy."
"Henry's a pretty savvy scavenger, that shouldn't be a problem." Brant answered as he took a burger and put the rest of the tray on the spool by the potatoes.
"You know for someone who doesn't eat much you sure know a lot about food." Joker said to Anastasia.
"I try to make every calorie count." Anastasia said.
"Not me." Kate said, "I try to eat like every meal is my last, and run it off later if I manage to survive. Although my survival rate has been pretty good so I might need to cut back." Her voice dropped as she added, "little Katey is having trouble outrunning her inner fat girl."
"You consider yourself a connoisseur of military rations, how is that 'eating like every meal is your last." Joker asked.
"I'm enjoying every meal, that's how." Kate said. "Good burgers by the way, Brant."
"Salt, pepper and beef, can't go wrong." Brant said as he took a second one.
Chyou walked into the fire light, "May I join you?"
Anastasia used a piece of hamburger to entice Selene to move off the bench and lay down at Hap and Anastasia's feet. Anastasia and Hap moved to accommodate Chyou, and she thanked them as she sat down and stared at the fire.
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Anastasia offered Chyou a hamburger.
"Thank you my friend, but-"
"Wait, didn't you have fancy Lobster dinner?"
"Our meal was an unpleasant and quarrelsome affair where Zhang attempted to turn several of the other officers and NCOs against the commander. He felt that the Commander showed too much generosity and respect toward you and your company, and encouraged the other officers to join him in his displeasure."
"Yeah I know a lot about unpleasant and quarrelsome meals. They happened every time my uncle came to visit and tried to borrow money from my mom." Joker said.
"Quiet Learnin' disability," Roweyna said as she slouched in her chair and took a long drink, "Yer commander jest let that little shitehawk try to raise a rabble against him?"
"Not for long. Zhang has on several occasions spoken ill of the commander's decisions behind his back. Today he made a malicious comment at the officer's mess and the Commander ordered Zhang to speak plainly and explain his meaning. This led to Zhang to impugn the Commander's leadership and decisions openly. The result is that Zhang has now been removed from active mechwarrior status, and will be transferred to command of an infantry basic training company."
"Your leadership is putting Zhang in charge of a basic training unit? That doesn't sound wise." Hap said
"He will be surrounded by professional NCOs so there is little risk to the trainees. He was also told explicitly that if his performance fails to be satisfactory he will spend his career as an infantry officer with no opportunities to be on mechwarrior status again. This is his last warning."
Everyone was quiet for a moment as the fire hissed and crackled. A log broke in two and Mags used a prybar to catch it before it could roll away from the other logs. She added another log to the fire.
"Damn. Zhang got dispossessed by his own Commander. That's cold." Joker said.
"Aye, I recall once we came to a Jump point and there was no Jump Ship for days. We were in enemy territory and too low on fuel to get to a habitable world even if we wanted to try. One of the crewmembers started similar mischief talkin' about how Father was a fool, and he was going to get us all killed."
"When Father got wind of it he called everyone together and confronted the man and any other would be mutineers. Henry damn near marched the dissenter to the air lock, but Father confined him to his bunk, forbid him from speaking to anyone. If'n he failed to abide by that, he'd be removed from the vessel. When we got to a friendly port Father terminated his employment, cited him for breach of contract and warned him not to use him as a reference."
"Damn, where's 'the family love'?" Joker asked.
"Mutiny aboard a space vessel is no joke." Kate said as she took another sip from Roweyna's liquor bottle. "It seemed every class I took at NAIS on ship board ops at least mentioned that a mutiny was something to be taken seriously. Obviously the focus was keeping high moral and being transparent with leadership decisions, but if that failed…"
Brant motioned for the liquor bottle, "I gotta know, how did the morally upright and virtuous academies of House Davion suggest dealing with mutineers?"
"In the most Taurian of fashion." Kate said grimly, "Aggressively, decisively, but with restraint so that the crew wasn't decimated. Kelly's response would have been textbook, Henry's response…well depending on the circumstances, not to many Drop Ship Commanders I know would have questioned it."
Brant took a long drink than passed the bottle back to Roweyna, "Aggressive, decisive, but with restraint, that's the Concordat's style alright. Maybe there's hope for House Davion yet."
"Or maybe were not so different." Kate said quietly.
"You know, given the choice I think I'd rather be spaced than dispossessed." Joker said.
"That right there is why people think you have a learning disability." Mags said.
"What's next for you Chyou?" Anastasia asked.
"My work and experience for the Compact has been noted by my superiors and Her Grace has been made aware that I was the daughter of landed nobility. I have been told I will receive the title and holdings of my father, but I must still serve in the military." Chyou said.
"Our holdings included large tracts of farming land for rice and grains. Soon I will take leave, find worthy stewards and ensure that the farmers have what they need, lest we create a famine. Once the farming is secure I will return to the army and defend my people while I govern from afar."
"Have you heard from your father?" Hap asked.
"Mother has sent a note that he is quite conflicted and has seen things within the Confederation that has made him question the war and his loyalties. She says the news lies about the Compact, and they have seen for themselves that Maximillian Liao is selfish, abusive, and possibly insane, and his daughter Romano is little better. There are problems caused by the war with the Federated Suns, but the selfishness of the Laios and the brutality of their government has exacerbated the tragedy."
"Do you think he'll rejoin you, maybe help you?" Hap asked, "Could he be one of those stewards?"
Chyou shook her head, "His pride and the politics makes that impossible. He would lose much face to return now, especially now that I have received his title and our holdings. Further, it would create a question of our family loyalty. Were we opportunist that played both sides? Is our loyalty only to our holdings? Will we run back to the Cappellans if the Compact appears weak? No. He must stay where he is, at least for now."
Chyou was quiet again and the fire continued to crackle and pop. Anastasia looked over at her friend and saw a tear streak down her cheek.
"Even if your dad can't come back, does he at least acknowledge he has a daughter again?" As Hap spoke he reached over Anastasia and gave Chyou a friendly shoulder squeeze.
Chyou nodded, "Yes. Mother says that father no longer considers me naïve and impudent, but wise and honorable, and it pleases him . That at least has been some comfort to me."
The conversation turned as Joker argued why losing a 'mech was a fate worse than death, and the other MechWarriors weighed in on what they would do if they lost their 'mech or could no longer pilot a mech. Anastasia snuggled up to Hap and imagined a day when she was quietly governing Hazelhurst with Hap at her side. The conversations continued until the drinks ran dry and the eventually the fire burned down to embers. After that everyone split up to their sleeping areas.
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Nice post battle scenes. Keep it coming!
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This continues to be a great read. I look forward to more.
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enjoying the chapters, finally caught up. Hopefully more will be coming. There a lot depth with this story.
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Chapter 111
St. Ives System
July 3030
Roweyna stood on the Bridge of the Leopard looking out over the controls into the vastness of space. She didn't know why, but she felt if she was on the bridge, she needed to look out the windows. Hawkins and Kate were going between their instruments and generally ignoring the windows. Sarah was at the Navigation station and equally engrossed in her systems. Roweyna knew that good pilots were supposed to rely almost exclusively on their instruments, but it still vexed her that no one was paying attention to what could be going on outside the window. Of course, they were thousands of kilometers from anything so there was nothing to see.
"How much further till the jump point?" Roweyna said.
"You want that in distance or hours?" Hawkins asked.
"Hours Mr. Hawkins. How long till we arrive at the Jump point." Roweyna answered, "I'll not have ye telling me were millions of kilometers away but were going thousands of kilometers an hour and pretending that it means anything to me."
"Um, it is about a million kilometers." Sarah said, "But we've been under constant thrust since we left St. Ives III, so we are going…"
"Come on Navigator, how fast are we going, and when will we get to the jump point?" Hawkins said.
"Uh…" Sarah started to look at her charts and the navigation station monitors, "Okay, so we're about here, coming up on the last planet in the system, and we left St. Ives III about a week ago."
Kate got up and walked over to the navigation station. She started to press various buttons on the different monitors as she explained, "There's your accelerometer, that is our current speed. Here's your digital star charts. If you press this it will triangulate our location based off of the constellations the ship can see, and here you have direct access to the ship's clock. Speed, location, and timing, those are the three things you need to navigate this or any other vessel."
Sarah nodded, "Okay, I didn't know all that. Whenever you guys ask Anastasia a question, she just seems to have the answer, and knowing her I thought she was using some weird academy math to guess."
"Anastasia doesn't guess, and if you had asked her she would have told you exactly what she was doing." Kate said. Sarah nodded as Kate continued, "However considering you spent most of your time at the navigation blind during our last voyage, it's probably more the Pilot Commander's fault than yours."
"Wait, what? How is this my fault?"
"You're supposed to be training her."
"Damn it, this happens every time. You start sharing a bed with a woman and next thing you know everything's your fault."
"Mr. Hawkins, I believe yer gettin' off topic. I need to know how many hours 'afore we're at the jump point."
"About 12 hours." Kate answered as she pointed to various pieces of pertinent information on the monitors for Sarah. Then she hit a button and pulled a display that read, "Time to location: 12:08"
Sarah nodded as she quickly wrote down notes on her scratch paper.
"I have a few items I need to attend too. When my father's jump ship arrives in the system call me. I'm certain he'll want to talk."
"Too easy." Hawkins said as Roweyna left the bridge.
Roweyna walked down the hallway as she mused. She needed to make sure everything was in order on the drop ship. She knew her father would want to see the Phaidin as soon as he had an opportunity, and he would complain to her about anything he found amiss. Roweyna also knew he would always find something amiss, but she was going to at force him to get creative.
Roweyna opened the door to engineering and slipped into the small control area that overlooked the massive engines. It was little more than a control panel with multiple lights, monitors and dials. Even though the room was soundproofed but the hum of the engines could still be heard, and almost felt. Two men swiveled around as she entered their workspace. She knew the men were brothers, but they couldn't be more different. The older brother, William, was shorter, slim and had a full beard and long brown hair. The other crew members referred to him as "Nuke Jesus" because he looked like the classic Jesus of iconography, and he was in charge of the fusion engine. His brother Charles was tall, stocky and had a military style crew cut and clean-shaven face.
"Alright gents, how much have we improved the performance of the Phaidin? I put up a lot of money to fix the internal wiring and after two weeks, I'd like to know what I have to show for it."
"Uh…" William looked at the various dials and monitors on the table, and then he walked up to a blank portion of the wall and began to write with a dry-erase marker. The wall was covered with various equations, scribbles, notes on things and other almost indiscernible information. William asked Charles for various pieces of information as he wrote out a long equation and put the data in as Charles called it out.
"Well…it looks like we're at 87.2% engine efficiency, which is pretty good, given that this is a centuries old fusion generator, and it was generally neglected till I was hired."
"Aye, that does sound promisin'. How much of an improvement is that?"
"Let me look in the log" William said as he grabbed an oversized green book from the top of one of the consoles and started to flip the pages. He started to write on the wall. After a few minutes he looked back at Roweyna, ".5%"
"5%, That's not too bad." Roweyna said.
"No, point five percent.", William said as he circled 86.7 on the wall and then drew an arrow to the 87.2%
".5? Do ye know much money I spent fixin' the power cabels?" Roweyna asked.
"I do not." William said.
"How am I going to explain to father that we spent several million C-bills to repair this floatin' slag heap and in the end, it only improved her performance by .5%?" Roweyna said.
"I thought we were repairing the electrical system because it was a safety hazard." William said.
"Yeah, the storage locker on the second deck was a death trap." Charles added.
"What?" Roweyna asked.
"The storage locker where we keep all the dunnage, extra cables, paper, linen. You know the big room where we store all the stuff, we can't think of any other place to put it." Charles said.
Roweyna looked confused, "The purser's locker was a death trap? I get things out of there all the time, what was wrong?"
"The ceiling was electrified." Charles said.
"How is that- Why would you think-" Roweyna shook her head, then snapped "How often do ye find yerself walkin' on the ceiling of the purser's locker?"
"Rarely, or more accurately never." Willaim said.
Charles quickly added, "but when we were burning away from that Jump Ship under full thrust and Hawkins decided to fly this bird like an Aerofighter someone could have ended up dead."
"Were ye traipsing about the ship pillagin' the purser's locker while Mr. Hawkins was engaging in extreme maneuvers? 'Cause if ye were, then I'd suggest the state of the ceilings electrification would be the least of yer problems." Roweyna could barely keep herself from shouting.
"Well, no, but you asked." Charles answered.
Roweyna collected herself, "So I did Mr. Calhoun. So I did. Now, if ye'll excuse me I have other things to attend to. Perhaps ye can see if he can improve the engine's performance by more than .5% before Commander McFinnigan sees you again."
"Sorta hard to do when we're underway." William replied.
"I leave it to both of ye to find a way." Roweyna left the engineering area and resumed walking down the halls. She could already hear her father's unimpressed groan as she explained the cost of repairing the ship and how it was admittedly safer, but it wasn't performing any better. He'd understand the need to spend the money and he'd say that safety was always a priority, but he also liked to get a good deal and he'd be happier if the safety improvements had made the ship operate better. Perhaps he would be pleased knowing the ship had less "death traps".
Roweyna passed by the flight deck and slipped into the bay holding the Stuka. Everything was in order including two tons of armor replacement sheets. She quickly walked around the craft and ran her fingertips across the skin of the nose as she walked. The Stuka looked in good shape and everything appeared in order. The new Aerotechnician was proving to be a good hire, and Kate was a welcome addition to the family. Having an aerospace fighter was probably the only reason she still had four 'mechs in the dropship's bay.
Roweyna walked across the passageway to the port side aerobay. She had sold the Karnov to the Compact forces. Hawkins and Kate had convinced her that the Karnov's tilt rotor design was dangerous, and since it couldn't travel in space and didn't have weapons neither of them were interested in learning to fly it. Roweyna managed to sell it, but most of what she made went to buying supplies to fix the Phaidin. As she entered the bay Roweyna was greeted by the MIIO agent tasked to escort the ROM agent Shafer and the mysterious ECM device that the company had captured.
"Ma'am I'd prefer everyone stay away from the prisoner and the asset." The MIIO agent said.
"Oh aye." Roweyna said "We're nearing the jump point and I wanted to make sure everythin' is in order. I'm jest doin' my rounds."
As she spoke Roweyna looked over the agent. He was wearing tactical civilian clothes and looked tired. The MIIO office could only spare one agent and so it had been understood the company would help him, but so far he had refused any assistance. He seemed very young and inexperienced to Roweyna.
She glanced over his shoulder to see a cot set close to the storage container that had been made into a brig. There was a small folding table with cards and a few other items. It looked like he was living and sleeping in the aerobay just outside the physical reach of his charge.
"Thank you, everything's in order here." The MIIO agent said as he physically blocked Roweyna.
Shafer, the ROM agent looked up at Roweyna. Her skin was sallow, and her shoulder length black hair hung down limply. She looked unhealthy, and her shirt was open exposing the bandages wrapped around her chest. There was a small blood stain on one of the bandages. She looked tired but as she studied Roweyna there was a cleverness and anger in her eyes.
"Has the doctor been to see ye recently?" Roweyna said looking at Shafer. Even if the MIIO agent didn't like it, Roweyna had obligations to any prisoners her company had in their care.
"For what it's worth, yeah." Shafer answered, "You're dressed nicely, you don't stink like 'mech coolant, and you don't have that slack jawed idiotic look of the rest of the crew. Do you own this floating trash barge, and all the garbage in it?" Shafer asked.
"For what it's worth, ye could say that." Roweyna responded, "though I'd submit yer mistaken in some of yer assumptions, particularly when it comes to the quality of this vessel and all it contains."
"When my associates come for that," Shafer nodded toward the container holding the ECM device, "There going to free me and make you regret everything you've done. You have no idea what you are up against."
"Yer associates have tried to take things from us afore, and, given the half-assed methods they used, I'd suggest they're the ones who have no idea what they're up against."
"They won't make the same mistake twice."
"Be that as it may, I also seem to recall they tried to kill you, so I'm thinkin' yer chances of survival, one way or another, are better with me, as I have a contractual agreement to deliver you. Further, in my experience, most spies that are compromised don't receive a warm welcome from their agencies."
"We'll see." Shafer said, but Roweyna could see some of the hate and energy seemed to disappear from her expression. It seemed Roweyna's words had some effect on the ROM agent.
The MIIO agent pushed Roweyna out of the door and started to close it, but Roweyna put her hand up. She spoke quietly so only he could hear, "Ye look like shite and that's a dangerous and cunning woman. I got two AFFS officers that could relieve ye, if only for a few hours to let ye get some sleep."
"This is my assignment, and I can handle it." The MIIO agent said as he closed the door.
Roweyna stood for a moment outside the closed door. This was her ship, and she could demand several things, not the least of which was that she not be locked out of her own aerobay. Her father would have never allowed this. She sighed as she started walking toward the crew's berthing areas. She'd talk to Hap and Anastasia and see if they wouldn't come and convince the MIIO agent to change his mind. It suddenly occurred to Roweyna that the MIIO agent never introduced himself, she had a name for the flight manifest, but she was certain it was an alias. Everything about him shouted inexperience.
Roweyna walked through the crew's berthing areas. Most of it looked in order, or at least the doors to the sleeping areas were closed and the wall lockers were secured. There were no strange smells of rotten food, soiled clothing, or vermin so she decided it was good enough. Roweyna looked into the crew's lounge. It was unoccupied, but everything was in order.
She came to the MechWarriors area and found their spaces in a similar state of cleanliness and tidiness. The warrior's lounge was open, and she could hear two people talking softly. The lights were dim, and she could see the back of Hap and Anastasia's heads. They were sitting in the circular couch and watching the holoscreen project the view from one of the ship's external cameras. The screen showed the last planet in the St. Ives system slowly fall away and shrink as the ship flew to the system's jump point.
"I don't know what I'll miss the most." Anastasia said as Rowyena approached them.
"We had an old Sergeant, old enough we'd convince the new guys he was a vet from the third succession war. Hap chuckled. "He probably was, to be honest. He had a really long break in service, but managed to re-enlist before he got too old. He was always complaining about how he could have been Sergeant Major if he'd stayed in. One day I asked him why he came back."
"What he'd say?"
"He hated the circus but missed the clowns."
Anastasia gave Hap a questioning look before her expression softened and she smiled, "I think I'll miss the clarity of sitting in a 'mech cockpit. From there it's simple to recognize enemies and allies. In the academic research community, it seemed like everyone is out for themselves. Most of them are driven by greed and jealousy. They'd turn on you in a heartbeat for grant money or recognition."
Anastasia sighed, "That brings up what I suppose I really miss, being part of a team where the individual knows their survival is incumbent on the warrior to their left and right.
"So, you will miss the clowns." Hap said as he kissed the top of her head.
"Just you." Anastasia answered with an impudent smile.
"Hey! I'm not a clown."
"Allow me to correct myself, I won't miss you, because I'm going to take you with me."
"Eventually."
"Eventually." Anastasia agreed, then added quietly "or perhaps sooner."
Before Hap could correct her, she continued, "I will miss the McFinnigan family. Somehow Kelly's inculcated that collective survival sentiment into nearly every member of the Company. Although my experience is limited to the RCT, the techs and astechs were generally indifferent, the air crews seemed to view the 'mechs as garbage they needed to clear out of their Drop Ships, and it felt like most of the Companies and Lances were competing with each other."
"He does that by being generous with bonuses mostly." Roweyna said as Hap and Anastasia turned to look at her and Selene's head popped and swiveled to look at her, "and the fact that since everyone's family is aboard it gives everyone a vested interest in keeping these boats flying and out of weapons range. As for the pilots, it took a lot of work, but father has them mostly convinced they shouldn't call the 'mechs and mechwarriors garbage, at least not to yer face."
"Hello Rowyena, you startled us." Hap said.
"Pardon me." Rowyena said "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I'm jest doin' my rounds, makin' sure everything is ship shape before we get to the jump point. I was wondering if I could trouble you. Would ye find Dr. Les, and ask her to check on our guest, and while yer there, insist the MIIO agent take a few hours and sleep while ye watch the prisoner?"
Hap nodded as Anastasia said, "We offered earlier, but he made it clear that our assistance was not required."
Hap stood up, "We'll grab the doc and see if he hasn't changed his mind. It's been a few days since we talked to him."
"I appreciate it. Ms. Shaffer looks like a particularly cunning and nasty individual who will take advantage of our poor MIIO agent the moment she gets an opportunity."
Hap gently pulled Anastasia to her feet as Selene hopped off the couch and stretched before following them. Roweyna left them and continued her rounds.
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Chapter 112
Roweyna came to the mech bay and found the techs and Joker sitting around a folding table playing cards. It looked like Dmitry was winning, although Joker had a certain earnest look about him which made Roweyna think he was either losing badly or had a good hand and was trying to make the most of it.
She glanced around the bay area. The 'mechs were secured for transit, all the tools and equipment were in their storage locations. She could see the missile crates were properly marked and secured. Mike's old tool cart was in the corner. It had a nasty dent in it where Hap had pushed it over the side of the gantry railing to kill a ROM agent. It seemed the other tech's had reverently put it back together and placed it where Mike normally kept it. As Roweyna started to walk toward it she noticed Mags bent over another workstation.
Rowyena walked toward the young mechwarrior, "What have ye there Mags?"
She glanced over her shoulder and held up a piece of leather that had "JEFE" stamped into it. As Roweyna got closer she could see it was a knife sheath and Mags had sewn up half of it. On the workbench next to the leather tools was the vibrodagger the sheath was being made for.
"Where'd ye collect this lovely piece of kit?" Roweyna asked as she picked up the knife. It was heavier than it looked, like most virbroweapons, and the weight was concentrated in the handle. Mags had wrapped the handle with coyote colored paracord and the blade's edge shone like it had recently been grinded and rehomed.
"Jefe found it. One of those jump infantry putas was trying to use it to break open his cockpit when Joker barbacoa-ed them."
Roweyna nodded, she had heard bits of this story in the after-action reports from their operations with the Compact forces. She nodded as she put the dagger down. "So he asked you to make him a sheath?"
"Not exactly. I asked him if he was going to keep the dagger and he told me he didn't have a sheath for it, so I thought I'd make him one."
"That's a great kindness." Roweyna said, not sure what else to say.
"Yeah, Jefe was talking about how every time we meet some one we give them something of ourselves, and we take something of them with us. I wanted to choose what he got from me."
Roweyna nodded, "I'd wager he was talking about lasting memories that ye all have made from trainin' and fightin' together."
"No, he was talking about his dad's lighter. It's little things like this that are evidence that you're respected by other warriors. People ask you, 'hey, where'd you get that.' And you tell them about the bad ass warrior who gave it to you, and they know you're a bad ass too. It's a sign of honor."
"My old man gave me all my kit, and he told me I could have medals from some army, but any fool could earn those. Instead he gave me a gun. I also got my uncle's belt buckle, a holster from a family friend, and a knife from my cousin. I also have my grandmother's crucifix and virgin of Guadalupe medallion. My papa told me anytime I wore this I would know my friends and family cared for me, had my back, and wanted me to conquistar my adversario. I remember that every time I go into battle."
"Aye, my father calls that 'artifacts of a life well lived'." Roweyna said, "I'm certain Hap will greatly appreciate yer gesture. Father has often asked me, what sort of things I could point to show people that I was loved by family, respected by my peers, and feared by my enemies."
"What do you tell him?"
Roweyna sighed, "I could come up with some empty whiskey bottles and broken China, but little else I'm afraid. Though I've recently come into possession of a knife, and much like Hap the sheath for it seemed to have been lost when the previous owner met their untimely end. Perhaps ye could-"
"You need a badass warrior to make you sheath?"
"If ye have the time and leather to spare."
"I got some extra leather."
"All this talk reminds me though, I had a task for Henry, have ye seen him?"
"I think he was looking for you."
Roweyna nodded, "of course. He's likely on the command deck."
"I think Smythe and Lucas were with them."
"When aren't they?" Roweyna asked as she started to walk away.
Roweyna moved from the mech bay to the personal spaces and started moving between decks. She found herself in front of the storage locker. She paused for a moment before entering the large storage area. She looked around the room. Everything was in order. Her father insisted everything in the locker be organized by the classic military classes of supply, and it all seemed to be laid out that way.
The first section had rations and a few shelf-stable food products, and water purification tablets. Next was the McFinnigan themed clothing, shirts, coveralls, shoulder patches, a few miscellaneous uniform items. There was a small section of lubricant for small arms, and some of the Petroleum, Oil and Lubricant or POL needed for the ship, though the POL for the 'mech's parts was kept down in the mech bays, similarly there was some ammunition for sidearms and personnel weapons but larger ammunition, like missiles and large caliber machine gun ammo was also in a the mech bays. Between the POL and ammo was construction materials and dunnage. There was a large section of personal items like hygiene products, writing materials and batteries. Toward the back were the extra medical supplies, and some small repair parts.
Roweyna surveyed it all for a moment before staring at the ceiling. She wondered how long the ceiling had been electrified and how close she had come to either receiving a bad electrical shock, or even dying. As looked at the ceiling she heard a soft cough from behind her.
"There ye are, mum. We was lookin' for ya." Henry said. "Is somethin' wrong with the upper deck there mum?"
"I don't believe so." Roweyna said slowly as she turned, "The chief engineer told me the roof had been electrified in the locker here, and I was considering all the times I must have been unwittingly cheatin' death."
"The Phaidin is a good ship mum, I find if ye respect her, she takes you where ye need to go. I think some members of the crew had grown overly sensitive to some of her quirks."
Roweyna knew her chief boatswain's mate was probably personally insulted by the demand to overhaul the ship's electrical wiring. The condition of it had been dangerous, but it had also been considered acceptable for so long. There was also no money or time set aside to fix the wiring. He really couldn't be blamed for the condition of the electrical systems, and it was a sadly common situation on many drop ships in the inner sphere.
"Yer right, Mr. Henry, she's a good ship and has never failed to get us where we needed to go." Roweyna said. As she spoke Roweyna turned around to see Henry flanked by Smythe and Lucas. Lucas had the long two meter long 'mech torque wrench balanced across his back and shoulders, it looked like he was struggling with the weight.
"Ye told me ye wanted to hang this on the wall above Mike's photo. Figure we should do it afore yer father comes aboard. He's gonna want to make sure we gave big Mike a proper sendoff."
Roweyna nodded as she motioned for Henry to lead the way. They walked down the passageway toward the galley as Henry spoke, "I thought Mister Calahad did a fine job at Mike wake. Said many stirring things, talked about his skill, hard work, and his generally kind demeanor."
"He toasted the man and said his 'mech 'never worked finer since Mike became his tech, and when Mike gave a man a compliment, he had earned it."
"Aye. Kind an' truer words were ne'er spoken." Henry said wistfully.
"It was also short so we could start drinking sooner." Smythe added. "But I don't know why we didn't hang this thing when we hung his picture on the wall."
"Because on our equipment lists this is as 'Battlemech hand actuator adjustable torq wrench, 2.5-meter, titanium alloy.' What I didn't know was that it was used only for adjusting a Shadow Hawk's hand actuator and it's only needed for some very specific maintenance. Mike apparently kept it around to periodically use a pry bar. We're not currently fielding a Shadow Hawk, and even if we were adjusting the hand actuators is a very rare bit o' maintenance."
"Or knock the head off a man." Smythe added, "I heard he killed a dozen men by sneaking up behind them and then braining them with this thing."
"So heavy." Lucas groaned.
"Aye it weighs over 50 kilograms." Roweyna said, "And apparently only Mike could hope to lift it and use it as a tool. I should say, he didn't kill a dozen men…though he did use it to protect the family on a few occasions… All that to say, Brant told me we this is thing sorta summed up ol' Mike. It's big, powerful, a little misunderstood and special. So I'm putting it on the wall. He defended the family with it. He was a warrior jest as true as fierce as any other in the company."
They entered the galley and Henry walked to a table where he had already laid out tools, the wiring diagram for the room and the ship's plans. He ordered Lucas to hold the wrench against the wall above Mike's photo as Smythe prepared an impact hammer.
Roweyna stood back and looked over the wall of fallen company members. The Tir Na nOg had a similar wall and most of the pictures were the same between the two galleys. Her father had founded the company some 20 years before, when she was not quite a teen. She knew most of the men and women on the wall. She looked long and carefully at each of them. Most of their names she knew, and she had some memory of almost all of them. Her eyes rested on two pictures located over a corner booth.
Henry, Smythe, and Lucas completed their work and Henry turned to the contemplating Roweyna. "Pardon us mum, but this has been some thirsty work, perhaps ye could…"
Instinctively Roweyna wanted to turn down the request. Before she could stop herself, she nodded and fished out the keys to unlock the cover for the galley's taps from her sweater pocket. "Alright lads, one drink, I won't have father think that I'm allowin' this to be a booze cruise."
Henry tapped his nose. "Yer secrets safe with us, mum."
Roweyna pulled pints for the sailors as she put them on the bar as she looked at the booth in the corner. "Here ye are lads."
Henry looked at Roweyna and then glanced over his shoulder to see what she was looking at. He nodded, "Come along boys" Henry said as he led Lucas and Smythe to the far corner of the bar. Roweyna pulled three more pints, and pressed all three into a triangle between her hands and took them to the corner booth.
She set the three pints on the table then put one below the picture of her brother, and the other beneath the picture of her uncle. "It's been a long-time gents." She said as she sat down next to her brother's photo.
She studied both photos for a moment. Her uncle's photo had a small brass plate beneath it with "Llewyn McFinnigan'' engraved on it. The photo was of a middle-aged man standing on the shoulder of a Victor battlemech surveying something off camera. If she asked her father what Llewyn was looking at he'd tell her how he was studying a grand battlefield and then he'd tell some embellished tale of epic combat that he and Llewyn had participated in. It was rarely the same story, and each time Llewyn's exploits grew. If Roweyna asked her mother she'd consistently reply, "That rogue was as always lookin' for a pub."
Roweyna used her sweater sleave to polish the brass plate marked "Richard McFinnigan" as she studied her brother's photo. It was a scene at the beach with both Roweyna and her brother. She remembered the time well. Her brother had gotten leave from the Donnegal guards at the same time she had a break from her law studies. The whole family went on a beach holiday. Her brother was looking straight at the camera and Roweyna was behind him with a big toothy smile. She was looking to the side, probably at her mother. This was part of a larger photo that also had her mother with an equally large smile. Roweyna realized her and Elinor didn't smile like this anymore, not since Richard had died.
There was a small shelf beneath each picture. Beneath Richard's photo was a small statue of a Orion and on her uncle Llewyn's shelf was a Victor and an old pipe and tobacco pouch. Roweyna took the Orion and polished it with the corner of her sweater before putting it back on the shelf next to a wooden rosary. Roweyna had an identical rosary, but she kept it in her briefcase. Her mother would prefer she wore it around her neck, but it would too often remind her of her brother, so it stayed in the briefcase until she needed it.
"Well gents, it's a fine mess I find myself in, and I think ye both know it's yer fault." She took a sip and then set her pint down. "I was jest going to be the company lawyer. That was the agreement. I went to law school, and uncle Llewyn you'd help father run this company, and someday, Richard, ye and Patrick were supposed to inherit the whole thing."
She took a long drink, "But yer both dead now, and Patrick is a drunk. Father's not getting' any younger, and honestly if some jammy bastard doesn't kill him, mother will make him retire sooner rather than later. It's jest a matter of time before I'm doing yer jobs."
She downed half the pint, "and my job too. And I have to tell ye, if this job is any indicator of my future performance leading this lot…well McFinnigan and Sons will end pretty quick. And another thing, jest to add insult to injury, Mother expects me to find a husband and give her another half a dozen cryin' grandchildren like our sisters, Richy." She set her glass down and admired the quarter full pint for a moment, "Like she needs more grandchildren. She must have at least two dozen between our sisters, and when do I have time to find a man?"
She took another drink, "If I'm being fair, Patrick is an amazing mechwarrior and leader when he's sober but he misses ye Uncle Llewyn." Her voice got quiet, "Father misses ye too…I suppose we all do, 'cept maybe mother."
Roweyna shook her head, "Of course Patty's wife doesn't see how good he is. Maybe she does, but she doesn't care for him when he's been in his cups. That's why she's livin' on Donegal with their son. Mother's been trying to convince her to come back to this…vagabond life."
She nearly finished her pint, "Of course once she's back she'll be focused on me, and again I ask ye, where am I going to find a man? Not from among the amadan father hires, no sir. You know the one of these fools that I'd actually consider marriage material brought a damn noble with him? She, of course, used all her charms and noble privileges to trick him into marrying her. It's jest not fair."
"I should tell ye, the closest I've come to any romance was a client that nearly strangled me after he tried to kill our flight crew. If ye see a saint, perhaps ye'd ask him to change my luck?"
The 1MC cracked to life, "Roweyna, the Tir Na nOg is on station, they want to speak to you."
Roweyna looked across the bar to Henry, "Tell 'em I'm comin'."
Henry pointed to Smyth who had to get up and take half a step to hit the intercom button on the wall, "She's on her way." Henry called out loudly.
Roweyna finished the pint, "Well gents, duty calls. It will be good to be talkin' to Father, and let him resume runnin' this armored circus." Roweyna kissed two fingers than pressed them to the frame of her brother, then did the same for her uncle, "watch over me gents." She whispered.
Roweyna stood up and started to leave, "Henry have yer lads take care of these pints, and then" She tossed the keys to the bar, "lock up everythin'. I'll get the keys from ye later."
Henry caught the keys as he nodded, "yes mum."
Roweyna looked over the photos of her brother and uncle again and then walked out of the galley and walked swiftly to the command deck. She used her sweater sleeve to wipe her eyes. She walked onto the bridge and approached the comms station. On the holo screen was Willard, the commander of the Tank Company.
"Well howdy little darlin' aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Willard called out.
Roweyna sat down and tried not to sigh obviously. "Mr. Willard, hello."
"Please Ma'am, call me Charlie."
"I think Mr. Willard will do." Roweyna answered coldly.
"Alright, play hard to get. I like a challenge." Willard didn't seem phased by her cold response, "You surprised to see me?"
"Aye." Roweyna said, "I had imagined I'd be speakin with my father, so perhaps-"
"Before you talk to your daddy, I have something to discuss with you. See he liked what my boys and I bring to the fight, so I suggested we join our companies."
"and he agreed?" Roweyna said. Willard's bombastic style annoyed Roweyna and she knew her father had a similar view. She figured her father would have dropped him and his company off on the first planet they landed on, or just tossed Willard out of an airlock when his personality got too big for the ship's cargo hold.
"You know your mighty cute, when your eyes get big like that, and yes he agreed. He told me he could use more fire support, but he wants to get another Long Tom. My strike lance and recon lance got mauled pretty bad on Necromo, but he wants to just build out the recon lance. He says he has mech's for using as a strike lance, though he likes the idea of having some real fast tanks to scoot and shoot, and he might consider something defensive to protect your drop shuttles." Willard said. "I need you to convince your daddy that he needs a complete armored company, not just some self-propelled artillery and rockets with a few hover tanks."
"Mr. Willard, I don't make it a habit of giving my father tactical advice, and I dare say, he and I have more important things to discuss."
"Oh I know that, but when the time is right, if you could ask him, for me, I'd be much obliged."
"I'm not sure-"
"I wanted to add too, your mother has come back, and I see where you get your good looks. She brought with her a little gal with a child. I think it's your cousin's wife and son."
Involuntarily Roweyna blushed at the compliment. "Mother's back, and she convinced Bonnie to come with her?"
"Yup! Bonnie. That's her name. Your Mother also brought some mean lookin fellas too. All of them got that same Donegal accent as you. I gotta say that accent though when you ladies talk it's something else. It's like half singing, and I gotta say, it can make man go wild."
"Can ye go get my mother?" Roweyna asked, then added, "Charles."
Charles smiled, "Yeah, her and Kelly were talking. They said they'd be on their way up." Willard glanced over his shoulder, "here they are now."
Willard got up and disappeared from view and Elinor's head floated into view as she sat down. She looked off camera and smiled politely before turning to look at her daughter. When she saw Roweyna she really smiled, "It's good to see you love, are ye well?"
"Fine, fine. I didn't expect ye'd return so soon. It's only been a few months."
Elinor nodded, "Well I cut my trip to Donnegal short, not as much time as I would have liked with yer sisters and my grandchildren. I heard about the trouble we were in though, so I decided to hurry back."
"Bonnie came with you, and ye brought Brandon and his lads?"
Kelly sat down next to his wife and put his arm around her shoulder. He looked off camera and motioned to someone that Roweyna assumed was Willard. It was obvious whomever he was motioning too he was trying to get them to leave.
Elinor glanced over her shoulder then turned back to Roweyna, she flashed her daughter a mischievous grin, "I happened to find some help as I was on my travels, I see yer father's done the same. Though I believe the help I've brought will likely leave before they've worn out their welcome."
Kelly shook his head, "I've been thinking about changing our business model, try to get more of those garrison details and protect a planet, or some key cities or infrastructure, and having artillery would help with that…but that man Willard, I suspect if I keep him in my employe-"
Elinor looked at her husband, "he believes he's yer partner."
Kelly and Roweyna groaned in unison, "He'll be the death of us." Roweyna added.
Kelly could only grimace and nodded. "I'll speak with him and get it straightened out, but for now, give me some good news lass. Take my mind off of these troubles."
"I've negotiated with the Federated Commonwealth to escort the prize we took from the Capellans. It's not the most lucrative job, but they've seen to the logistics. We're going to lose the Professor and her 'mech when it's done, but I believe we'll break even, and still be in good standin' with Feds. I also did some work with the compact, they'll might have a planet they need a garrison for. I'm sure we won't have much trouble lining up another contract either way."
"Aye, as long as we can avoid any more complications." Kelly said.
"It's a few short jumps in Compact space." Roweyna said, "I think we can avoid complications."
Every alarm seemed to sound in the cockpit. Hawkins and Kate's hands were a flurry of motion. Sarah looked concerned as she glanced around the navigation station and started changing displays.
"Commander, we've got a JumpShip inbound. It's a couple thousand kilometers off from the jump point, and it looks like it's going to be within 100 kilometers of us."
There was a flash like lightning and then a large ship appeared in front of the Leopard.
"Brace for full stop." Kate said over the 1MC as she flipped multiple switches on her control panel. She pulled back hard on the yoke as Roweyna felt the ship lurch. Instinctively she grabbed the underside of her seat with both hands. For a moment it felt like she was going to dislocate a shoulder, but then she was suddenly weightless. Several papers, cups and personal effects bounced off of the walls and then floated away.
Roweyna grabbed her seat's harness and started to put it on as she glanced out of the Leopards viewports. She couldn't believe her eyes. "What's that?" Roweyna said.
"Complications" Kate said, "Complications that shouldn't exist."
"The scanners indicate it's a Black Lion" Sarah paused, "Warship?"
-
Oh.... fudge. Where is a Ngo Type-51 when you need it?
-
That's something you don't expect to see in early 31st Century. I guess ComStar has come calling, they're not going to take no for answer.
-
Comstar is really interested in their prize if they are risking discovery of this asset.
-
Personally, this bit over reaction. Nothing I've seen so far in the story should add up sending a lost Warship showing up out of the blue / black to wipe out a mercenary company. Warships is their final card (next to the near SLDF sized army)
-
It can also be that the computer is wrong and he is just looking at a Monolith jumpship or something. With an Avenger.
Or it might not be a Comstar ship. (Who am I kidding?)
-
Chapter 113
Roweyna looked at her father and mother and saw the exact same shocked and anxious feeling she felt. The light for an incoming call flashed on the communications terminal. She pressed a few switches to disable her parents video feed, and merge their audio chanel with hers. They wouldn't see anything, but they would hear everything she heard. From the warship side they'd only see and hear Roweyna. The holo of her parents disappeared. She then hesitantly pressed the flashing button.
A stern looking older man suddenly appeared before her. He had slicked back hair and a high widows peak. Roweyna recognized him instantly as Tempes, a man that had presented himself as a an MRB representative. He seemed surprised to see her.
"Ms. McFinnigan." He said slowly.
"Aye, Mr. Tempes. Were ye expectin' my father?"
"It's irrelevant. Do you understand the circumstances you are in?"
Roweyna studied Tempes face, trying to discern any tells or anything she could use to help her persuade or talk her way out of this situation. Her mind raced and she could feel her heart beating like she had sprinted a marathon. She took in a deep breath and smiled serenely as she had seen her mother do countless times.
Roweyna nodded, slowly, "I understand ye haven't started shooting, so I'm inclined to think ye want to talk. I suspect it's about some of the cargo I'm currently holding."
"Do you have the cargo that was taken from Necromo by your company?"
"Aye. I do." Roweyna said with a shrug, "I'm under contract to move it, but if yer lookin' to make a counter offer, I'd be willing to listen."
Tempes's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Roweyna, "I am willing to extend to you the opportunity to surrender, and hand over your cargo."
Roweyna gave him a skeptical look, "Well that seems quite magnanimous of ye." Roweyna answered, "However that doesn't exactly sound like an offer."
"It isn't. You will surrender the cargo, and if you attempt to run you will be destroyed."
"If I surrender, does that come with any assurances?"
"No." Tempes ran his hand through his hair, "You will dock your drop ship with my warship, lay down all weapons and surrender."
"So to be clear, if I refuse your warship will jest destroy us at yer leisure, and if I surrender yer not guaranteeing ye won't just kill us?"
"It is in everyone's best interest if you simply comply."
Roweyna shrugged, "I'm not the sort of woman that simply complies."
"You will dock with my warship; any resistance will be met with overwhelming force." Tempes broke the connection, Roweyna flipped a switch to bring her parent's video back into view.
"Ye heard all of that?"
"Aye." Kelly replied, "We checked with the jump ships here. No one is ready to execute a jump. Even if ye could outmaneuver him, he'd have plenty of time to ravage the lot of us."
Elinor nodded, "We need ye to find a way to keep everyone alive for as long as ye can. We'll find a way to get all ye out of this. Ye need to make the transfer of that thing he wants take as long as ye can."
"All of us? You're a lot more confident than I am."
"Don't talk back, dear heart." Elinor said, "Yer father and I have some planning to do."
"Ye have a suggestion how I should make things take as long as possible."
"I'd start by inviting him to tea, love." Elinor replied, "Like the tea I threw for those members of the LIC that were looking to purchase weapons. If a nice high tea isn't sufficient I'd suggest ye keep finding ways to not close any deals at least until they've recharged their drive batteries."
"Mother, that's not-"
"Now's the time for you to comply dear."
Before Roweyna could respond the screen went black. She glanced over at the controls to see Hawkins and Kate looking at her waiting for instructions. "Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Berlin, move us into position to dock with the Warship."
"Aye Aye" Hawkins said.
"What does 'tea' mean in this context?" Kate asked.
"It means we're going to host a high tea." Roweyna answered, "The thing Mother is referring to is a long, and as things are often with Mother, convoluted situation where she and some of her Heimdall mates were running a black market to distribute weapons and equipment to other Heimdall cells. The LIC thought they were training and equipping members of the Rasalhague resistance and either wanted their cut, or wanted to seize the goods for their own illicit uses. She eventually made them regret trying to purchase from her.."
"Did your mom just poison them?"
"No. That would have jest brought more attention to her operation. As simple and straightforward as that sounds, I doubt it would work on Tempes either. We don't have much time. For now, jest get us to docking position as slow and careful as ye can…though we'll need gravity to make this work."
Roweyna looked at the Warship as she felt the ship begin to move. Soon she felt the ship's inertia create pseudo gravity as it pressed her into the chair. She cued the 1MC. "Mr. Henry I need damage reports."
"Yes. Mum."
"After this tea, what do you have planned?" Hawkins asked.
"I have no idea." Roweyna said.
"How'd your mother make the Loki agents regret trying to buy what she was selling?" Kate asked
"She arranged to drop off the goods in a field that the Heimdall agents mined, but the mines weren't active until the agents tried to open the container they thought contained the weapons. Instead of weapons they got instructions on how to purchase a map to help them get out of the minefield. Mother and her mates were much richer and long gone before those agents escaped the trap"
"Yeah. I don't think you're going to trick this warship into a minefield." Hawkins said.
"Aye. I wonder what mother was thinking. If I asked her she'd probably tell me some nonsense like, 'if ye can't bring them to the minefield, bring the minefield to them'." Roweyna added. Her eyes widened, as she picked up the mic for the 1MC again, "Mr. Henry."
She waited a moment before he responded, "Yes Mum. The lads and I are movin' about, seein' what broke loose, and looking for injured crewmembers"
"Belay that. How much explosives do we have?"
"Ah…maybe a hundred kilos of plastic and a palette of vibrobombs."
"Gather as much as we have and take them up to the aerobay 1."
"Aye aye, mum." Henry said.
Hawkins and Kate both studied Roweyna hard, "Um, you do know that if you blew a hole in the ship's hull we'll all probably die." Hawkins said.
"Aye. Ye also know Mr. Tempes will probably kill us one way or the other." Roweyna said as she picked up the 1MC mic again, "Any other able crewmembers I need ye to sweep the ship for the injured and any damages. Then report to Aerobay 1."
Roweyna hesitantly stood up and then looked again at the warship that was slowly growing larger.
"I'm almost terrified to ask what your planning with the explosives in the aero bay, but what makes you think they won't kill us once we dock?" Kate asked.
"I'm a silver tongued Irish woman, trust me when I say I can talk my way through that." Roweyna answered "I just need to invite Mr. Tempes to tea, so he can bargain with me like a good honest rogue. Failing that, I'll ensure we take as many with us as we can, and their precious prize is destroyed."
Kate shook her head, "When I flew with Apes I figured her incompetence would result in us not getting paid and me starving to death. I suppose this sort of thing happens to you all on a weekly basis."
Hawkins shrugged, "Well we get put in harm's way at least once every couple missions, but a warship, I gotta say, this is something new. It's pretty rare that I'm personally threatened by a piece of star league era interstellar force projection."
Roweyna asked, "Is that better than starving to death, Ms. Berlin"?
"I suppose." Kate said, "At least it's quick and people will remember how we died."
"I'm leading a Mercenary company, not a death cult." Roweyna said, "I plan to ensure we get out of this situation and turn a profit. That means we need to complete our current-"
Doctor Leslie's voice came across the 1MC, "Roweyna, we got a problem. Shafer, the ROM agent, got her hands on the MIIO agent. He's bleeding to death and she's threatening me with a makeshift knife."
"Does she have his service pistol? Is she still in her cell?" Roweyna asked.
"She's still in her cell, and…oh damn-" The 1MC channel went cold.
Rowyena exited the bridge and jogged to the aerobay. She was almost out of breath when she got to the door. After pausing a moment, she entered the room and stood for a moment taking in the scene before her.
Hap and Leslie were crouched over the MIIO agent as he laid on the floor. There was a wide bloody trail that stretched from the agent to the makeshift brig. The agent was pale, but Dr. Leslie was doing her best to try and stop the bleeding from multiple stab wounds. Roweyna noted several fresh slashes to Dr. Leslie's arms and hands.
At the cell Anastasia struggled with the ROM agent. She was using her body to pin Shafer's arm against the outside of the bars and was trying to pry a makeshift knife out of the ROM agent's hand. The ROM agent was keeping a white-knuckle grip on her makeshift weapon as she swung at Anastasia with her off hand.
Roweyena kneeled next to Hap, "What happened here?"
Doc Leslie looked up at her and shifted her weight back. She brushed her forehead with her arm and spread blood across her forehead. "We were coming up here to check on Shafer and insist the MIIO agent sleep for 8 hours." Leslie looked down at her arm and realized how profusely she was bleeding.
"You want me to dress that?" Roweyna asked.
"No I'll be fine." Leslie said as she pulled her medical bag over to her, "So we got here just after the Leopard stopped suddenly. Apparently, the MIIO agent lost his balance and got too close to the cell. Shafer grabbed him and started to go to work with her blade, or shiv, or rusty piece of god knows what she has.
"It appears to be a piece of band steel that was likely part of this makeshift detention quarters."
"Thanks. Remind me to give myself a tetanus booster later. More Pressure Hap." Doc Leslie said grimly as she pulled out a large square dressing from her bag. "Anyways, Hap and Anastasia charged over to help him while I called it in. Then I saw that Shafer was trying to pull the pistol from the holster, but Hap and Anastasia thought they were fighting with her for the agent. Thankfully she couldn't overcome holster's safety mechanism before Hap and I finally got him untangled and away from her."
Roweyna nodded. "Is he going to make it?"
Leslie shook her head as she worked to apply a bandage to the agent's chest, "If he was in the sick bay and I was setup to give him three or four, or six units of blood right now, and if he didn't have a punctured lung and I'm guessing a shredded ventricle…and if I could get the bleeding to stop…I'd still doubt it." Leslie sighed, "Apply more pressure Hap."
Roweyna looked up as Anastasia wrestled with Shaffer. The women were evenly matched. Shaffer attempted to use her empty left hand to push up Anastasia's chin and dig her thumb into Anastasia's eye. Anastasia slapped her hand away and grabbed Shaffer's hair behind her head and yanked hard. Shaffer instinctively pulled away and Anastasia let go then slammed the ROM's agent head hard into the bars. Shaffer dropped the knife as she fell to the floor dazed.
Anastasia kicked the knife away from the cell as Shafer shook her head and tried to recover. "Damn, Anastasia I'm an unarmed prisoner." Shafer moaned.
"You weren't unarmed. You were trying to escape, and may have killed a man. You had a weapon. Further, you refused to stop resisting." Anastasia said.
"And I'd do it all again." Shaffer said as she touched her hand to her forehead and looked at her hand for blood.
"You should have knocked her out." Hap sighed.
"Yeah leave it to Anastasia to not get the job done." Shafer said as she backed away from the bars and leaned against the wall.
"Keep up the pressure, 'mech jock." Leslie said as she prepped another dressing. "or maybe you should just go over there wipe that smirk off her face."
Hap gave the doctor a questioning look as Mags and Joker charged into the bay short of breath. "We would have been here sooner but-" Joker said. "Shit, our g-man isn't looking too good. Is he alive?"
"Glad yer here." Roweyna said, "You and Hap need to help the doc get him to the sick bay."
Doc Leslie looked up and shook her head, "He's probably about as stable as I'm going to get him, but I'm not sure-"
"If we're going to hand a dead body over to our employer, and I'd like to prove we did all we could."
"Glad I restocked our medical supplies." Doc Leslie sighed as she stood up. "Gents grab that litter off the wall." Leslie turned to Roweyna, "do me a favor and get rid of that woman." She pointed to Shafer. "She's been nothing but trouble since she came on board."
"I intend to jest as soon-"
"No, I mean like now. Toss her out an airlock for all I care. I've been insulted, and now," Leslie held up her injured bleeding arm, "Directly attacked. That woman makes me lose my religion or Hippocratic oath, which is pretty much the same thing right about now."
Roweyna raised a questioning eyebrow, "Ye sure you don't want me to dress that?"
"No. I'll have my assistant fix it when I get to the medbay. Plus I need to take a full round antibiotics and antivirals." Leslie's shoulders slumped, "Sorry, I don't tell you how or your father how to run your company of murders for hire, and I have an oath to do no harm." Leslie looked defeated, "At least make sure she's truly unarmed."
Roweyna nodded as Hap and Joker set the litter down next to the MIIO agent, then carefully lifted him onto it. "Captain Calahad, pass yer wife the agent's sidearm."
Hap reached over and smoothly withdrew the weapon from its holster and passed it to Anastasia. She took the needler pistol, checked the ammunition and ensured it was charged as Roweyna told her, "Lieutenant I'd like you to keep this weapon aimed on our ROM guest, while Ms. Camacho goes into her cell and ensures she doesn't have any more nasty surprises."
"Why me?" Mags asked
"Because yer father often talked about yer uncle who'd compete in machete fights in a blacked out room. I figure that makes ye the most qualified to go in there and see to it that Ms. Shafer is well and truly disarmed."
Mags nodded, "Are you talkin' about Uncle tres fingers?"
"I don't recall the name but given the context I'd assume he was the one." Roweyna answered.
Mags nodded as she started to pull out knives and other weapons and place them on the folding table next to Anastasia. Her hair fell down as she pulled out two long metal spikes from her hair bun, and placed those on the table.
Anastasia motioned to Shafer to move away from the cell door. "Face the wall and place your palms on the wall above your head."
Shafer smirked as she complied. Mags quickly walked up behind her and pushed her roughly closer to the wall as she quickly patted her down. Shafer's smirk disappeared as Mags manhandled her. It became a sneer as Mags started turning out her bed and going through the spartan furnishings of the cell.
Henry, Smythe and Lucas entered the aerobay. Henry was holding a spools of thick yellow and green striped cable balanced on top of a box with explosive markings. Smythe had an ammo cart stacked with vibro mines and two other boxes of explosives. Lucas gingerly carried a box marked, "EXPLOSIVE DETONATORS". The box also had several symbols for explosives and hazardous material. The contents and warnings were also listed in several languages.
Shafer looked over her shoulder, "What are you planning to do with all that?" She thought hard for a moment, "I thought the leopard had a hard stop because of a maintenance problem, what actually happened?"
"I'd prefer to keep ye in the dark, however, I'll have to explain this to the whole crew, and you'll probably overhear us anyways. A warship jest jumped into system."
As Roweyna said warship, Anastasia said "Mon Dieu!" and Mags said "Madre De dios!" almost in unison. Shafer looked shocked. And Henry and his crewmates paused to look at Roweyna.
Roweyna motioned for Henry and his men to continue, "Exactly how I felt. But before I could recover from the shock of seeing a nonexistent relic threatening us, yer man Tempes demanded that we dock with the ship. The fact that our remains are not currently floating among the stars tells me that he desires this," Roweyna motioned to the large shipping container containing the electronic device, "enough to not risk damaging it."
"It could be he wants to ensure Anastasia is actually dead." Shafer added, "Seeing as how she tends to survive, like a cockroach."
"I note that you're not inclined to think they could be trying to save you." Anastasia answered, "I've heard of the cold reception a compromised Maskrivoka agents would receive. Given ROM's reputation I strongly suspect you're in for something similar."
"I'm probably going to live to tell about it. Which is more than I can say for you."
"As charming as this clever banter is, I need to stop it. I intend to bargain for our lives by not destroying the…whatever the hell this is, and that means giving you back to yer people. If I don't have another opportunity to tell you, it will be good to see ye off, we can't miss ye till yer gone, and I hope you receive a just reward for how ye've conducted the mission ye were given."
Shafer looked like she was about to give a rude gesture, but Mags hit Shafer with her shoulder as she left the cell. Shafer looked like she was about to retaliate but Anastasia motioned to her with the Needler pistol.
Mags closed the cell door and Anastasia lowered the weapon as she turned to Roweyna. "I'm not an expert in demolitions, but that seems like an excessive amount of demolitions."
Roweyna nodded as she watched Henry work, "Aye, I intend Mr. Tempes to understand I may jest damage his precious warship if our bargain goes foul."
Henry pulled out a small brass wire cutter and carefully cut a long run of demolition cord, "If that's the case, mum, ye want me to move the missile ammunition from the magazine and wire them in?"
"That would be lovely." Roweyna answered. "I want it rigged to explode with enough force to vaporize that damn thing and possibly damage anything near the Phaidin. I need ye to rig it up with a command detonator set with a deadman's switch."
"Aye mum."
"I'll need a hand grenade as well. Something that fits easily in the palm of the hand." Roweyna turned to Mags and Anastasia, "I also need help with hosting a high tea."
-
Chapter 114
Roweyna was standing in the quarter deck waiting for the drop ship to dock and the connections to be put into place to allow access between her drop ship and the ComStar warship. Henry waited anxiously by the hatch. She felt the drop ship land or be magnetically pulled onto the warship's hard point. There was a moment where she felt weightless and was afraid that they'd have to operate in zero-gravity. The weightlessness passed and the warship started to move and gravity resumed.
Roweyna held a grenade in one hand and a remote explosive detonator in the other. Her heart was beating furiously in her chest. She was concerned her hands were shaking so much that she might drop either device.
The last connection clicked into place, and Roweyna nodded to Henry. He groaned as he pushed the metal lever across the door and released the locks. Henry had to step out of the way as the door was forced open. In a moment they were surrounded by six heavily armed men dressed in black and wearing body armor, helmets, goggles and face masks.
The first man through the door shoved a short-barreled laser rifle into Henry's chest and yelled, "Get on the deck, now!"
More men rushed onto the drop ship. One of them man swiftly approached Roweyna, "Get down, now!"
She smiled demurely as she slowly raised her hands showing the grenade that was missing its safety pin, but she was still holding the "spoon" lever that would initiate the grenade fuse.
"Grenade" several of the men yelled as their weapons came up and they all seemed to aim at Roweyna and the grenade in her hand. Instinctively several of the men stepped away from her and back toward the main hatch.
"Alright lads, settle down and get Mr. Tempes down here. He and I have business to discuss."
"Negative. You're in no position to negotiate." The soldier seemed uncertain what to say next.
Roweyna angled her body away from the man speaking to her, but ensured everyone could see the grenade. She made a show of loosening her grip on the grenade and letting the spoon play out a little. She then held up the detonator clutched in her other hand.
"Aside from the grenade that will surely kill everyone in this room I also have this remote detonator rigged to a massive quantity of explosives around the prize that Mr. Tempes wants. It's set up in a deadman's switch configuration, so if I let go of this device it will explode. I've placed my entire ammunition magazine around it as well. I daresay it will likely blow a hole in this beautiful antique of spacefarin' warfare. So ye tell Mr. Tempes I am someone he desperately wants to negotiate with."
"Ye should negotiate with her." Henry said as he pushed the laser barrel out of his chest and crossed his arms. "Negotiate like yer damn life depended on it, seein' as it does."
"Best hurry gents, my hands are gettin' tired and once I lose my grip…and that'll be all she wrote."
The leader of the group put his hand to an earpiece. He adjusted the mic built into his helmet and spoke quickly. "Alright, Mr. Tempes has agreed to meet with you. Just follow-"
"I think not. Mr. Tempes will come to me. I've prepared a lovely tea and we can sit and discuss business."
The leader looked hesitant but he again spoke into his mic and had to answer several questions. After a prolonged back and forth he finally nodded. "Mr. Tempes is coming down, but he has requested you render the grenade safe and surrender it."
"In the spirit of negotiating I agree." Roweyna said, "But first I'll need to get the safety pin. Mr. Henry please retrieve it."
Henry nodded and walked over to the door that led into the Drop Ship and opened it. As soon as he did Hap, Mags, and Smythe entered. They were also heavily armed and wearing armored vests. They quickly formed a ring around Roweyna as she handed the grenade to Mags.
Mags took the grenade, and pulled a long metal pin out of her pocket. The pin was shaped like a lower case letter "b" with a long pin and a ring. Mags threaded the safety pin into the hole that kept the "spoon" from flying off. She bent down the long pin down and then placed it in a pouch on her utility belt.
"We agreed to 'surrender' the grenade." Roweyna told Mags.
Mags shrugged and pulled the device back out, "Who gets it?"
"I'll take that" said a tall man with silvery hair as he ducked under the main hatch and stepped onto the quarter deck. He was dressed in a black jump suit and carried no weapons, but he had a walking cane. He was flanked by two more heavily armed soldiers dressed all in black. Followed behind them was a middle-aged woman in a green jumpsuit. Her graying brown hair was cut in a pageboy style, and she had the "fragile" look of someone who had lost bone density from long periods of time in zero gravity.
Mags held out the grenade and Mr. Tempes snatched it from her and handed it to the ComStar soldier on his right. Roweyna watched the soldier clip the grenade's safety pin to a snap link on his body armor. She immediately marked the man as a novice because most experienced soldiers and sailors knew how pouches and weapons on body armor could get snagged or tangled, especially on the confined passages of a ship. A grenade attached to armor by its safety pin was a recipe for trouble.
Roweyna turned her attention back to Mr. Kristoff Tempes and the woman following him. "Pardon me, I met Mr. Tempes a year ago, but I do not believe we've had the pleasure. My name is Roweyna McFinnigan, I'm the daughter of the proprietor of this mercenary company."
The woman in green jump suit smiled warmly, "Thank you, may Blake's blessings be upon you and your vessel, I'm Demi-Precentor Dana Myers. I serve, by Blake's good will, as the captain of the Veil of Light."
"Is that the name of your warship, the Veil of Light?" Roweyna was surprised by the woman's cordial attitude. She wanted to learn as much as she could about her as quickly as she could.
"Yes, it was recently re-commissioned though-"
"I'd like to get down to business." Tempes interrupted.
"Right this way, please." Roweyna said as she motioned to the door and started to lead them to the aerobay. "I've prepared tea, so we can sit and discuss this situation like civilized people. If ye believe that's within the will of yer order's beloved founder."
Tempes looked incensed as Myers smiled, "Yes, of course, this is a business transaction, and I believe he would want us to conduct ourselves decently and in ways that encourage culture and the appreciation of beauty."
Roweyna and Henry exchanged looks. Was it possible Myers wasn't completely privy to the situation. Perhaps this wasn't Tempes operation, or maybe she just outranked him. This made Roweyna wonder about the relationship between Myers and Tempes. If she was the ship's captain, what was he, and what was his rank? She could sense Tempes annoyance though and wondered if she could exploit the tension between them.
"Your ship is quite clean and orderly, this isn't what I expected for a mercenary vessel." Myers said.
"Thank you, Demi-Precentor." Roweyna decided to start using the ComStar ranks to see if she could goad Tempes into revealing more of himself, "I can't speak for every company, but in this company we're like a family and everyone has chores and an obligation to clean up after themselves."
"In the explorer corps we simply use military discipline to enforce the standards, but the results are the same I suppose. It also helps we all have our common beliefs in the teaching of Blake." Myers replied.
Roweyna stopped herself before asking if Blake wrote of the proper way to store one's soiled undergarments, but she did add, "We have our desire for money in common, I suppose."
"We really don't have time for this." Tempes said under his breath.
"Is that so? Does yer warship's K-F drive not need time to recharge?" Roweyna asked.
"It actually does. And it will take several days once we get into position to began the recharge process."
"Thank you Demi-precentor, I note we still have nominal gravity, where exactly are we moving."
"For obvious reasons I'm moving the Veil of Light away from the jump point and the common shipping lanes. I've instructed my crew to move us above the orbital plane and then to position us into an optimal recharge distance from the star. By Blake's good will, and the star of St. Ives it should take roughly a week to recharge though."
"Well, then we have a bit of time, although I'm hoping our business will be concluded afore a week."
"I assure you it will." Tempes said darkly.
Roweyna walked into the aerobay. She had explained her plan to most of the crew, and even though no one was comfortable with it, they had all generally agreed to play their roles. The flight crew, engineers and doctor were at their stations. The Coyotes, Henry, Lucas, and Smythe had agreed to be the "muscle" in the aerobay. They were all fully armed. Everyone else standing by damage control stations. Roweyna tried not to shudder as she considered what would happen if the explosives were detonated.
The aerobay had the shipping container brig in one corner, and the shipping container primed with explosives and surrounded by ammunition in the other. Between them was a small table set for tea. The table had a floral tablecloth, and a tiered plate set in the center with small sandwiches, pre-packaged cookies and chocolates. There was a complete ceramic tea service. This was a new one that Roweyna had purchased on St. Ives. There was only two chairs, but Henry saw the problem and motioned to Smythe to grab a folding chair and place it near the table.
Roweyna walked to the table and turned and faced the Demi-Precentors. She smiled warmly as she gestured to the table. "Please sit." As Roweyna sat down Tempes and Myers joined her. Tempes two soldiers flanked them and Roweyna noted the man with the grenade on his snap link stood across from her.
Tempes eyed the cargo container across the bay, "So you expect us to sit here next to primed explosives, sipping tea, while you believe you can convince me to let you all go?"
As he spoke Myers gave Tempes and Roweyna a questioning look.
"I believe our relationship is built on mutual mistrust, but it doesn't have to be based on lethal intentions." Roweyna held up the detonator. "You want what is in the cargo container, and I'm willing to cut my losses. What I'm proposing is you take the cargo container and we fly out of range of this detonator. There should be no need to destroy us, and ye and yer warship can go on your way."
Tempes gave Roweyna a look of cold indifference. "How do I even know this container has what I want."
"Do ye have some sort of expert that can verify the cargo?"
"I'll call up my engineer team, they are the ones that will be installing the ECM suite." Myers said. She motioned to the man next to her and he spoke into his mic as she eyed the tier of food.
"Please help yerself." Roweyna said, She started to reach for the tea, but realized it would be difficult to pour with the detonator in her hand. She looked over her shoulder and motioned to Smythe who was standing next to Henry and Lucas near the cargo container.
Roweyna carefully handed Smythe the detonator and made sure he kept his hand tightly grasped around the lever. "Stay here next to me, and don't let go of that detonator. If ye release that lever everyone dies." Smythe nodded as Roweyna repeated, "Hold onto this with your life."
Roweyna turned back to the Demi-Precentors and started to pour tea, "Now I picked up this tea from St. Ives. It's a blend of green tea and jasmine berries. Do you take cream?"
"Yes, and honey if you have it." Myers answered.
Tempes glowered as Roweyna offered to pour tea for him, "No thank you."
"Mr. Tempes, I feel yer not enjoying my hospitality. Here as a sign of my good will I'll release Ms. Shafer to your custody." Roweyna motioned to Mags who was already opening the cell door.
Shafer walked tentatively toward Tempes who looked at her with almost as much rage and annoyance as he was showing Roweyna. As she neared he hoarsely whispered, "Go stand in the corner and when our business here is complete we'll discuss your failings."
Demi-Precentor sipped her tea "oh that's quite good" she said as she added another generous spoon full of honey. "I know we agreed that I would not interfere with how ROM conducts its business, but perhaps it was the will of Blake-"
"Her and I will discuss Blake's will in private." Tempes responded quietly.
Roweyna noted everything Myers was saying, "So Demi-Precentor, ye mentioned this was an ECM suite, and ye were going to connect this to yer warship."
"The Demi-Precentor has already said too much." Mr. Tempes said, "and given the company you keep," Tempes glanced over at Anastasia, "I'm little surprised you hadn't already figured out what you had. Please don't try to leverage us for additional information or think anything you say can improve your position. Your options are virtually nil and you situation is hopeless."
Myers again looked puzzled, "I'm sorry. We paid this company to bring us this ECM suite, but both of you are behaving like we are going to kill this company. What am I missing? They've done a great service to Blake's work and taken dangerous technology from an inferior state."
"Oh he hasn't told you?" Roweyna said as she smiled warmly and stirred her tea. "I'm certain Mr. Tempes would love to explain why everyone here is fearing for their lives."
"It's not because we have a warship, is it? I assure you we didn't come here to destroy you, my orders stated there was a mission imperative-"
"You need to stop speaking to them like they are trusted agents." Tempes glowered.
Two men in yellow jump suits entered the bay. They looked around confused. Roweyna pointed to the shipping container surrounded by missile crates and land mines. "That container has the ECM suite. Henry will open it up so you can inspect the goods."
Henry pushed a missile crate away from the door, as Lucas moved a vibro-mine and rerouted some of the detcord. They opened the doors so the engineers could inspect the ECM device. They looked skeptical as they had to step over and around the explosives to enter the container.
"I assure ye, we've not tampered with the ECM suite."
"Other than placing enough explosives on it to destroy your vessel and possibly mine." Tempes replied
"Well other than that." Roweyna said as she sipped her tea, "I understand your desire to keep this warship secret, and yer mission imperatives, so I'll assure you that no one from our company will report it, if ye promise not to use the MRB to either starve our company or set us up to be destroyed."
"Kristoff." Myers said as she sat down her tea cup, and picked up her third tuna salad sandwich. "Someone needs to explain to me right now why these mercenaries think you intend to kill them."
Tempes watched the ECM container waiting for the techs to re-emerge, "I'll fully debrief you once our business here is conducted and we are safely aboard our vessel.
"Allow me to explain then." Roweyna smiled, "After we completed the raid the man that hired us and his hand selected hit squad turned on us. He had claimed to be an AFFS officer and when we took the evidence of the betrayal to them, House Davion's representatives told us he was actually ROM. They even offered to pay us to bring this thing to New Avalon. Claiming those men were ROM seemed like a stretch, but here you are, with a Starleague warship and some dozen heavily armed men. Forgive me for our less than cordial reception, but even in the days of the great Star League, rarely did one jump a warship into a system and than make a convincing claim of coming in peace."
"That's fair." Myers said, then put her hand on Tempes wrist. "Is this true? You need to speak to these allegations." Myers looked at Tempes critically, "I thought it strange that I'd be ordered to take this vessel out of mothballs, but the orders appeared to come from a senior explorer corps precentor.." She looked critically at Tempes., "We're my orders a fabrication?"
Tempes brushed her hand off his wrist as the engineers came out of the shipping container. The older man of the group looked at the Demi-Precentors, "Everything appears to be all here, at least as near as I can tell. I'd prefer the explosives were removed."
"So there ye are Demi-Precentor Tempes, yer prize is there for the taking. All I'm asking is safe passage and an assurance that we don't interfere with each other's work. I think we can be reasonable."
"I have a counter-offer." Tempes said as he leapt to his feet, and grabbed Smythe's hand with the detonator, "Kill them all."
-
Chapter 115
Roweyna cursed as she stood in front of the soldier near her and grabbed the grenade. With a hard tug she pulled the grenade free but the pin stayed on the snap link. Roweyna let the spoon slip free. The soldier realized too late what she was doing and yelled "Grenade" as she tossed it behind him and at Shafer and a group of the ComStar soldiers.
Roweyna grabbed the Soldiers vest at the shoulders, kneed him hard in the groin and pulled him over her as she pulled them both down to the deck. There was a deafening explosion and she felt the soldier slam into her as they slid across the deck.
Roweyna tried to get out from under the dazed Soldier, but he recovered too quickly. He pinned her down as he looked over his shoulder and saw his injured comrades. "You bitch." He yelled as she put his weight on her and balled his fist to punch her face.
Roweyna saw the first blow coming and managed to get her left arm up to deflect some of the force, but he quickly straddled her and sat on her chest as he raised his hands to rain down blows on her. She put her hand under his chin and tried to push him off, but he was too big and strong. As she tried to free her right hand she felt the cold hard handle of a knife. Without thinking she pulled it from its sheath drove it hard into his armpit. Her attack cost her a punch in the face, but as the Solider tried to bring his left arm down it was stopped by the knife's hilt, and he drove it further into his heart and lung. The soldier let out a sick wet cry as he tried to reach for the knife, but his armor prevented him from reaching it.
He tried to use his left hand to extract it but Roweyna reached it first, "Please, allow me." She cruelly wiggled and twisted the blade as she pulled it out. Blood gushed from the wound as Roweyna worked the knife free. The soldier must have been in shock or knew that he was dying because he didn't resist as she pushed him off. He didn't struggle as she rolled him over, pulled his laser pistol from its holster and got to her feet.
The aerobay was in complete disorder. The mercenaries were crouched behind stacks of mech and aerospace armor they had strategically placed. A couple of the ComStar soldiers had fallen back to the bay's entrance and were keeping up a steady rate of fire so the other Soldiers could retreat.
Henry had one of the ComStar engineers in a half-headlock and was using him as a human shield as he tried to move away from the ECM suite. Lucas and the other male engineer were dead on the floor. One of the Soldiers was dragging his friend who had been severely wounded by the grenade and three other soldiers were protecting Demi Precentor Myers as they tried to get her out of the aerobay. Shafer fired blindly as she ran for the door.
Demi-Precentor Tempes stood over Smythe's dead body. His cane had concealed a sword that was now out and the tip of it was buried in Smythe's neck. Tempes had Smythe's arm out-stretched and painfully hyper extended. He stood tall as he carefully pried the detonator out of the dead man's hand while making sure not to trigger it.
Roweyna aimed the laser pistol as she walked and demanded, "Give that here."
He gave her a sideways glance as he continued to work. She pulled the trigger and felt the safety prevent her from fully pulling the trigger. Tempes smirked knowing exactly what had just happened. Roweyna fumbled with the pistol for a moment, found the safety and disabled it.
Tempes turned to look at her as the safety made a loud audible click. Roweyna stopped a few paces from the Demi-precentor as she raised the weapon, "Don't make me repeat myself." All firing seemed to stop and Roweyna could feel all eyes on her and Tempes.
Tempes let go of Smythe's arm as he held up detonator. "Now, now, shouldn't you be concerned I might drop this? I'm actually curious if this is truly armed." He looked around the room and considered the fact no one had shot him as evidence he was indeed working with live explosives. "I fundamentally hate you all, but I have to give you credit for the inventiveness you find to manage to survive." He glanced over at Anastasia, "You especially."
"I'll not ask again." Roweyna said.
With one fluid move Tempes pulled the sword cane from Smythe's neck, took a step forward, and rested the sword on her shoulder. Roweyna knew the blade was directed at her neck. "I suggest you don't." Tempes said ominously. Roweyna kept the laser pistol aimed at his heart.
"Stop this." Myers said as she strode toward Rowyena and Tempes. She was still flanked by soldiers. "You're going to get us all killed."
"Demi-Precentor Myers, We'll have this situation under control shortly." Tempes said as he and Roweyna continued to stare each other down.
"The Veil of Light bridge is reporting an Excalibur class drop ship shadowing us just outside of weapons range. I want that ECM device installed before we engage them, and certainly before we begin the process of recharging the K-F drive." As Myers spoke Roweyna noted a tinge of anger or fear in her voice.
"That would be my father." Roweyna said, "Ye have his property, employees, and daughter. Short of returning them I'm not sure how yer going to discourage him from bird dogin' ye while vectoring St. Ives or AFFS or, quite frankly, any available aerospace force on to yer warship."
"That would be foolish." Tempes said "We have a warship."
"We do, but my orders" Myers gave Tempes a suspicious look, "insisted I take only a minimal crew, and get you to this system as quickly as possible. We don't have a complete crew, or a fighter wing, and the majority of our weapons are missiles and autocannons. If anyone chooses to play the odds…"
"Oh for a warship, ye can bet every successor state will play the odds." Roweyna goaded.
"…They could wear us down quickly. We're stuck here for a damn week, that a long time for several states to marshall their forces."
"My offer still stands." Roweyna said, "Ye let us go, keep yer ECM system, we leave the system, and we never breathe a word of any of this as long as ye don't weaponize the MRB." Roweyna offered.
"You know entirely too much to be allowed to live. Now that I have this," Tempes held up the detonator, "you have nothing to negotiate with. Lay down your weapons and surrender."
"If yer tellin' me we're going to die no matter what." Roweyna nodded at the laser pistol. "My mercenaries and I will make a grand last stand and manually trigger those explosives."
Henry held up a maxi grenade as the engineer he had been using for a human shield slumped to the deck. "Say the word mum."
"Stop this." Myers demanded, "You have my word you will not be harmed."
"Your word?" Tempes asked.
"I am captain of this jump, ah warship, and my authority is supreme." Myers said to Tempes then turned to Roweyna, "I swear by Blake's name that I will personally ensure none of you come to any additional harm."
Roweyna could feel Tempes slightly adjust the sword on her shoulder and she wondered for a moment if he wasn't about to strike down Myers. Smoothly he took the blade off of her shoulder and took a step back so he was between both woman. He lowered his sword so that the blade's tip pointed down and barely rested on the deck. Roweyna understood he could easily strike either her or Myers with almost no warning.
"You should re-examine your orders Demi-Percentor, as you will find that I have the final authority for this operation." Tempes said.
"I'm starting to suspect those orders were a forgery, and once we return I intend to report all of this to our superiors." Myers replied.
Roweyna could sense the change in Tempes posture. Myers was one step, or more precisely one word, from a lethal sword slash. She noticed several red dots on Tempes chest.
"Demi Precentor Tempes." Hap said loudly and clearly, "We'll lay down our weapons when you and your men do the same." Roweyna could see Hap and Anastasia standing behind the armor sheets and had their weapons trained on Tempes. Mags was sitting on the deck and had her back to the shipping container brig. Joker was putting a bandage on her shoulder, but Mags had a Needler pistol pointed at Tempes.
Tempes raised a questioning eyebrow, "I still hold this." He held up the detonator. "If you're desire is to die-"
"Like Roweyna said, if you're telling us we're going to die one way or another, I assure you we all die together." Hap said.
That's unnecessary." Myers said. "Ms. McFinnigan, Roweyena was it? I want you to contact your father and tell him to dock with our warship. We will guarantee your safety but he and his crew will have to promise to not report our position or assist anyone with locating us."
"I don't recommend that." Tempes cautioned.
"I want the ECM suite installed as soon as possible." Myers said, "Where are my engineers?"
"Didn't survive the fire fight." Henry replied gesturing to the yellow clad corpses near him. He was kneeling next to Lucas's body trying to do what he could for his deceased crewmember.
Myers looked mortified, "how are we going to get the ECM mounted and online now?
Tempes sighed, "These were your only engineers?"
"We have an acolyte, but she doesn't exactly inspire confidence." Myers said.
Tempes turned to Anastasia "I assume you can get this system hooked up."
"It's highly likely, but I would need the assistance of someone who can read Russian or Chinese. However, why would I?
"Because if you don't, I'm going to murder every member of this Mercenary company." Tempes said.
"I don't believe I should enable your warship to jump into a system, destroy vessels and defense platforms without detection and then move to a location where it can't be found to recharge and thereby move into another system and repeat the process."
"Do you think I'm joking when I tell you I will kill every member of this crew?" Tempes nearly shouted.
"I think you're going to kill us no matter what. Therefore-"
"When I'm done executing these mercenaries in front of you, I'm going to take this vessel back to our base. I'll find techs that can get the ECM connected to the ship, and then I will take you to Hazelhurst and make you watch as I nuke it from orbit. After I've turned everything you love about your homeworld into ash and craters I will maroon you on the surface so you can die a slow painful death of starvation and radiation poisoning among the surviving people you condemned to death."
Anastasia's shoulders slumped as she holstered her laser pistol, "I can't allow that either."
Myers gave Tempes a horrified look, "Blake's will is that we reunite mankind into a civilized society that achieves greatness through cooperation, the preservation of knowledge, and the pursuit of peace. I won't allow this either." Myers looked at Anastasia, "Child, trust me as I assure you that your work will only be used for peaceful purposes that further the greater good and brotherhood mankind."
Anastasia kept her eyes on Tempes, "forgive me if I'm skeptical. "
Myers cleared her throat, "I certainly don't want to diminish your free will, but we have little time. Ms. McFinnigan you will contact your father and have your mercenaries disarm these explosives. Young lady, Anastasia was it? I have an acolyte that can read Russian…she is an engineer and will assist you. I want this device online as soon as possible. Tempes, sheath your sword."
Tempes remained unmoved, "How do you think this will end? We just give these mercenaries a ride to another system and send them on their way and alls well that ends well?"
"No. The Explorer Corps has discovered several Star League era sites out beyond the Draconis Combine. There has been some discussion about how to use and protect these sites and I think I can advocate for a very long term garrison contract."
"I doubt father is going to agree to being abandoned on some barren rock out beyond the periphery."
"Your father should know his options are quite limited." Myers said reproachfully. "Get your people to work." Myers turned to Tempes again, "Demi-Precentor Tempes, put that weapon away."
"It's hard when I'm still holding this." He held up the detonator.
"If you're going to complain about it, you shouldn't have insisted on keeping it." Anastasia said.
Tempes looked incensed and stared at her coldly. After a moment he glanced around the bay, "Shafer, come here and make yourself useful."
-
I know I should not complain (MOAR! MOARRRRRR!) but lots of mild editing is needed. That said...
Holey Fuq. Mr. Tempes talks an aweful lot like a 6th of June-type of Comstar member...
-
Yikes
Talking about a situation.
-
Chapter 116
Anastasia followed Demi Precentor Myers as she led her through the warship. Anastasia, like her crewmates, had been forced to surrender her weapons and remove her armor and tactical vest. She was wearing her black coveralls. The shoulder patches for the McFinnigan and Sons, and the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth were still on her coveralls as well as her name and rank badge. She still had a few personal items in her pockets, but she was for all intents and purposes a prisoner. Anastasia was also carrying two large manuals for the ECM devices.
"Demi Precentor, Ma'am, what will happen to the crew of the Phaidin?" Anastasia asked.
"If it's up to me I'd confine them to their drop ship. This vessel has limited facilities for holding captives, and my crew is too limited to guard anyone. Though I suspect Demi Precentor Tempes may prefer to keep everyone somewhere he can see them. His cadre of agents probably need something to do anyway. Before you ask, the crew of the Excalibur drop ship will stay on their vessel, at least for the time being."
The two women walked in silence for a moment.
"Demi Precentor Tempes believes you're a technical expert and have proficiency with lostech," Myers said. "May I ask how you gained your knowledge? I've heard New Avalon's Institute of Science has access to a digital library of Star League era data, however you seem young and, as I recall, they've only had that data for a few years ."
"I had a genius father who could seemingly teach himself and me anything. He could reverse-engineer any technology he could find, and replicate it. Often, he could even improve it. He encouraged my innate curiosity and desire to learn."
"That sounds wonderful." Myers smiled, "The day is coming when Blake's goal for a reunited mankind will be realized and we'll need smart young women like you to help restore the star league and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. Have you ever considered joining our holy order? We could take your natural talents and skills and put them to great use. Great use for the greater good."
"I don't think so."
"Perhaps you should speak to your father. He sounds like the sort of man that would encourage his clever daughter to make wise choices."
"He was…until he was killed by members of ROM."
Myers stopped and looked Anastasia in the eyes, "That's absurd ROM stopped…that's not something ComStar does."
"And yet Demi Precentor Tempes just threatened to brutally massacre an entire planet all because I didn't want to help him potentially threaten other systems. Which brings up the next fact that we're standing on a war ship. It seems contradictory to claim your order's goals and aspirations are peaceful when we're preparing a warship for conducting clandestine operations, particularly if nuclear weapons are going to be involved."
Myers started walking again, "Tempers were running high, and I suspect Demi Precentor Tempes rarely has anyone tell him no." Myers snapped, then sighed, "However, I can understand your perspective, and there is no excuse for Demi Precentor Tempes comments, and I wasn't pleased with his outburst. I'll speak to him."
"I wouldn't speak to him alone. " Anastasia said.
"I'll keep my own counsel on how I interact with my peers." Myers replied.
"You mentioned you had a significantly reduced crew, but it appears that Demi-Precentor has at least a squad of heavily armed men. He's a dangerous man that may use-"
"Yes. I'm very familiar with his men, I was in the middle of the same fire fight that you were in."
"Do you have a personal security detachment?"
"I realize our ranks may be simple and difficult to understand when compared to your military's, but I'm captain of this vessel, Leftenant. You should treat me as you would a Sr. officer in your own Navy."
"Yes ma'am." Anastasia said realizing she likely over stepped multiple lines of military professionalism and decorum, but at the same time Myers seemed too trusting of Tempes.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before they came to the engineering section. There were several adepts and acolytes working at various stations. A large man with short curly brown hair seemed to be in charge. When he saw Demi-Precentor Myers he approached her."Ma'am, you need help?"
"Chief Engineer Adept Reilly," Myers greeted him, "This is Leftenant Anastasia Calahad. I need you to find Acolyte Corvus and have her work with the Leftenant to get the ECM installed. They are also going to need a few able spacemen to move the ECM from the Leopard to the engineering section."
Reilly nodded, "Yes Ma'am." He glanced around and looked downthe passageway. "Where is our comms section? Where's adapt Jones and adept Rayburn?"
"Demi-Precentor Tempes and his adepts…there was an exchange of weapon fire, and Adept Jones and Rayburn…Blake has willed that Jeremiah and Michael cease their labor."
Reilly whistled. "Damn. The comms section was already thin and running double duty for sensors and avionics, of course all our sections-" Reilly stopped himself. "Adept Jones and Rayburn were worthy adepts and laborers in Blake's work. They will be missed. They have earned their rest and Blake's peace."
"Peace of Blake." Myers said in agreement. "Can you spare any engineers from other sections?"
Reilly scratched the back of his head, "Propulsion team is struggling, because they've never worked with engines of this scale. My team and I are trying to make sure the battery is good, and we're prepping for the recharge operations. According to the log this is the first time this vessel has jumped in centuries. Power distro keeps chasing down weird anomalies, and Sub-systems and weapons team-"
Myers nodded impatiently. "I understand all hands are engaged, and not enough hands to go around. Take the Leftenant to the comms stations, and introduce her to acolyte Corvus. I need the ECM installed and operating as soon as possible."
"Aye Aye Ma'am." Reilly leaned in closer and half whispered, "She's one of the mercenaries, right? Is she a prisoner, or how should we handle her? I don't really have anyone to spare to guard or babysit-."
"I promise to not cause problems." Anastasia said, "It's been made evident that any misbehavior or noncompliance from me will have significant consequences for my friends or home world."
Myers shook her head, "I appreciate your willingness to assist us, and I'm certain you understand that on a space vessel we all have collective responsibility to keep the ship operating. That said, I will not allow Demi-Precentor Tempes to harm you, your colleagues, or your home world."
Anastasia was unconvinced but she politely nodded, "Thank you."
"On that note, I need to have a long talk with my fellow Demi-Precentor. I also need that system online without delay, give the Leftenant and acolyte whatever assistance they need."
"Ma'am, Acolyte Corvus isn't exactly…have you talked to her for any length of time?"
"Acolyte Corvus has some of the highest technical marks I've ever seen. I had to quickly gather this crew, and I chose her because of her technical abilities. From what I understand she'd be an Adept if she'd put forth more effort." Myers said. "If Demi-Precentor Tempes is correct about the Leftenant, they should have no problem with installing this equipment."
"Yes Ma'am, I'll get them moving." Reilly motioned to Anastasia. He led her through the engineering section. As they walked Anatasia could feel the eyes of the crew on her. She felt conspicuous as they all wore similar white or yellow coveralls with various piping and accouterments that had a vaguely military look about it.
Anastasia and Reilly came to a juncture of passageways that had a large column. It was like a tower that stretched up several decks, and an access ladder led down several more. Multiple cables and conduits ran into the tower, and Anastasia could see this was probably the nexus of a great many electronic systems on the warship. She also thought it might even extend outside the ship's super structure and be part of the vessel's antenna array.
"Acolyte Corvus." Reilly called out, "Where are you?"
A woman's head appeared over the tower's second deck railing.
"Come down. I have a task for you."
A young woman in white coveralls came down the ladder and approached Reilly and Anastasia. She was short, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. Her coveralls had few embellishments and as near as Anastasia could understand she was a very junior or low-ranking member of ComStar.
"Acolyte Corvus, this is Leftenant Calahad, she'll be assisting you in installing the Electronic Counter Measure. This was the equipment you were briefed that your section would install once it was delivered. Do you remember the briefing?
As Reilly spoke Corvus simply nodded. Anastasia couldn't determine if her look was patronizing or if she was a simpleton.
"Right well, Adept Jones and Adept Rayburn suffered some misfortune and they are no longer with us. So Calahad here is going to help you, do you have any questions?"
Corvus simply shook her head.
"Acolyte Corvus?" Anastasia said, "Hello, my name is Anastasia. We've been tasked to install an experimental ECM device." She held out the technical manuals she was carrying, "These manuals contain the instructions we'll need to perform the install. I'm told you can read Russian?"
Corvus nodded again as she took the books that Anastasia offered her. She seemed to be ignoring both of them as she opened the top book and began examining the contents.
Reilly turned to Anastasia, "The Skipper told me to give you whatever you needed, so, what do you need?"
"The ECM is still on the Leopard dropship. It's located in a transportation container in the port aerobay. If you could send a detail to bring it here, that's the first step." Anastasia answered.
Reilly nodded, "I'll get some of the boys to bring it here. How long do you estimate this will take?"
"There was an appendix that appeared to describe how to install the equipment, and I believe it stated 36 hours."
"You 'believe' it's states 36 hours? The appendix 'appears' to describe? Are you a technical expert? Do you know how to read?"
"These manuals are written in Russian and Chinese, which are two languages I can't read. However based on the diagrams and formatting it looked like installation instructions. I can understand numbers, math, diagrams, and symbols. I just can't read the specific details."
"The details you actually need install the system."
"I apologize, I can only read English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Can you read Russian or Chinese?"
"We're not talking about me here." Reilly said.
"No we're talking about someone who can be helpful." Anastasia said as she felt her annoyance grow. Acolyte Corvus looked up from the book and looked at Anastasia curiously. Anastasia thought she saw a hint of a smile.
"Be careful, Leftenant." Reilly threatened.
"I apologize." Anastasia said, she felt annoyed with herself for again overstepping the bounds of military professionalism, decorum, and good manners.
Anastasia took in a deep breath, "The fact remains, I need the help of someone who can read Chinese or Russian. I also need someone who understands this vessel. However, to go back to your original question, I doubt this equipment was intended for a warship, and from my understanding the equipment has to be installed in different sections of the vessel. Therefore, I suspect 72 – 80 hours is more realistic estimation."
"Skipper said without delay, I read that as you got 10, maybe 12." Reilly said.
"Where was this appendix?" Corvus asked.
"It was in the back of the second manual. After the OV graphics."
Corvus switched books and quickly flipped pages, as she quietly said "after the operational viewpoint graphics." She stopped and nodded quickly . "Yes. You're correct about the 36 hours and the installation guide calls for a team of 5 techs."
"I'll talk to the Skipper, make sure she understands this may take some time, but I don't have any techs to spare." Reilly said. "Start figuring out where you want that equipment brought." He turned and walked away.
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Chapter 117
Anastasia watched Adept Reilly leave, and then turned to find Corvus staring at her. "I'm sorry about your crew mates." Anastasia said as Corvus continued to stare. "Do you need a moment?"
This was the first time Anastasia really got a good look at Corvus. She was the same height as Anastasia, slender and Anastasia would have guessed they were the same age. Corvus had thick blond hair that she wore long. Her hair was mostly down but there were a few random braids among the thick chunky curls. Corvus's blue eyes were large and it looked like she was perpetually surprised.
"A moment for what?" Corvus asked. Her voice had an airy almost sing-song quality to it.
"We're you close to your crewmates, Adept Jones or Adept Rayburn?"
"Not really. Adept Jones was always talking about the will of Blake and insisted on performing useless hand gestures and other pointless rituals instead of just doing what needed to be done. I was ambivalent toward Adept Rayburn until I was told he wanted to get into my pants."
Anastasia nodded, "Yes, I've seen members of your order waste time on their pseudo-religious and superfluous actions when they could just turn on a system, or press a button. I also find that annoying."
Corvus nodded politely as Anastasia spoke.
"I've also experienced male co-workers like Adept Rayburn that allowed their carnal desires to cloud their judgment and make professional interactions difficult."
Corvus stopped nodding, "I'm not certain that was my problem." she seemed lost in thought, "Adept Jones said that adept Rayburn was 'trying to get into my pants'. I told him I was indifferent toward cross-dressing, but I didn't tolerate stealing, and was concerned that he would stretch out or ruin my clothes. That may seem trivial to you, but the order only issues new clothes once a year."
"'Get into your pants' is a common idiom for a desire to…copulate."
Corvus tilted her head to the side, "That actually makes more sense, and explains his general rudeness and cold demeanor after I spoke to him about cross-dressing and thievery." Corvus was quite for a moment than added, "I feel I should warn you, that I have been told I take things too literally."
Anastasia understood what Myers meant when she said that Corvus "didn't inspire confidence", but she was all she had to work with, "Acolyte Corvus-"
"Please, Anastasia, call me Victoria."
"Victoria, if we could, I think we need to figure out the most efficient way to install the ECM equipment. I worry that if we take too long Tempes will hurt me or my friends. Perhaps you could help me go over these manuals while we wait for the equipment to arrive."
Victoria nodded and led Anastasia to a small shelf-like table built into the tower. They poured over the manuals and Anastasis was pleased to find that Victoria could easily read the manuals and most of her assumptions were correct. After several minutes Victoria looked over at Anastasia. "I don't believe you have anything to worry about."
"You think this will be a simple install process?" Anastasia gave her a skeptical look.
"No. This is quite complicated. I was referring to your safety. I know enough about this crew to assure you, you and I are the only two people here that could hope to perform the tasks listed here."
"Noted." Anastasia answered. She was starting to sense that Victoria liked her, so she risked asking, "Victoria, what were you told about the current mission of this vessel?"
"Very little, honestly. I'm not considered a true believer, which is fine because I'm not. However, this means many of my questions are viewed as disingenuous or as things that should be obvious, so that annoys my superiors. Recently I've just stopped asking questions and tried to just do what they ask. This strategy also seems to annoy them, and periodically I've misunderstood their intent."
"I can see how that would happen, especially when you take things literally."
"That said, ComStar actually needs technical experts. As much as they wish their weak-minded rank and file could actually run a Hyper Pulse Generator or maintain a ship like this, they just aren't up to the task. That makes them compelled to work with the few people they find like me."
"I suppose no amount of religious indoctrination can replace an education in the science and technological disciplines. Does that mean most of the engineers on this vessel are like you?"
Victoria shook her head, "No, most of them are just smart enough to do their job, and content to repeat the sayings or asinine philosophies of some dead man or woman when they're prompted. Depending on who's around they may even do a few of the rituals."
"Suddenly, I'm even more surprised anything in ComStar works."
"Most of the systems on this ship are built around a 'square plug goes in square outlet, blue round connector connects to slightly bigger blue round connector' design philosophy. It's nearly all shapes and colors. Most routine operations are almost self-explanatory, and the acolytes are taught that if they are using significant force or things don't match up they should ask an Adept or Precentor. The HPGs are similar."
"Do the Adepts and Precentor's receive advanced technical training?"
Victoria laughed a light airy laugh, "Not in my experience. If anything they received advanced religious indoctrination. Honestly, if Blake was such a visionary you'd have thought he'd have foreseen that writing his meandering journal of philosophy and mysticism would do more harm than good. Of course his predecessors are to blame as well, especially Toyama."
"So you're saying Blake's religion has reduced the inheritors of the prime circuit into intellectual children waving their hands in meaningless ceremonies before matching colors and fitting shapes into holes?" Anastasia paused, "Except for those violent once in ROM."
Victoria's whole demeanor changed as she smiled and her eyes brightened. "I think you're the first person to ever truly understand me." She pulled Anastasia away from the comms tower and into a nearby alcove between two bulkheads, "Can I ask you something?"
"I suppose-"
She stared at her for a moment, then leaned out to look up and down the passageway. She looked Anastasia directly in the eye, "Do you constantly feel like everyone around you is an idiot?"
"Yes, I mean no." Anastasia shook her head. Victoria was starting to make sense to Anastasia. The patronizing looks, the distance from others, and social awkwardness. Victoria was like her, extremely intelligent capable of understanding great technology but struggling to interact with the people around her.
Anastasia was initially surprised as she assumed ComStar's education system would be the best in the inner sphere, given their access to high technology. She'd anticipate that if she could get past the religious exterior she'd find some of the brightest minds in the inner sphere. Of course, her experiences should have told her differently. ComStars education apparently focused primarily on the teachings of Blake. Any advanced technical education was accidental or done at extreme effort by the scholar.
Anastasia realized she didn't necessarily have time for this but she needed to handle Victoria carefully, "Victoria, Demi Precentor Myers said you had this highest technical acumen she'd ever seen."
"Given what I've seen of Comstar's best and brightest I'd warn you it's a low bar."
"That's fair, centuries of war has hurt education systems throughout the inner sphere. However you and I had the benefit of good education and have been able to intellectually thrive and flourish."
"You might have, my parents were anthropologists that were killed by some odd tribe of periphery cannibals they were studying. My grandfather then gave me to Blake's holy order because he thought they were actually lizardmen that controlled the galaxy. He was convinced they wore human skin masks and the robes were to hide their lizard bodies."
Anastasia had to process all of that. If it was anyone else she'd have thought that was a joke, but Victoria looked so sincere. She had thought she'd found a kindred spirit, now she wasn't so sure. Perhaps it was a joke. "Why did he force you to join Com Star if he thought they were actually a duplicitous race of lizard alien overlords disguised as humans?"
"He was dying and he told me the lizardmen were extra-dimensional and would reward us both in the afterlife." Victoria said plainly like it was obvious.
Anastasia didn't know how to respond to this. Victoria's antisocial behavior may have less to do with her intellectual abilities, and was either the result of a very traumatic childhood, and there was a real possibility she had a tenuous grasp on reality. She wished Hap were here, he seemed to instinctively know how to handle people.
She tried to think how Hap would treat her. He generally assumed or expected the best out of people, "So, your grandfather was insane, or perhaps he didn't want to deal with you, but was too kind to be honest with you."
"That may be partially correct." Victoria nodded, "If I'm being fair, I was young and very inquisitive, though I never felt he was kind nor unwilling to be brutally honest."
This felt more relatable, and Anastasia wanted to keep the conversation here, "I know my grandmother found my overly inquisitive nature to be tedious, however once she grew weary of telling me that all my questions were un-lady-like she'd send for my tutor."
"Questions weren't exactly encouraged by the Adepts who instructed young children in ComStar's schools. What was encouraged was reading Blake's work until your brains turned to mush."
"That sounds like more of a punishment than anything to invigorate learning and curiosity."
Victoria nodded, "It was a punishment. I read Blake's writing so much that there was a time where I thought that they had reanimated Blake's head and were keeping it alive in a jar so it could reveal new 'words of wisdom'. However, eventually I was taken to see Blake's body in state. Also if I had thought about it I would have realized ComStar didn't really have the technology or the people smart enough to make it work. It should have been obvious they were just making things up and attributing it to Blake."
"Was Blake's reanimated head another of your grandfather's theories?"
"No. Why?"
It was obvious to Anastasia that her and Victoria had some distinct differences. Curiously she found she liked Victoria, but Victoria's literal view of things, and ability to imagine almost impossible things probably caused her a lot of problems. Anastasia was certain where the theories of extra-dimensional lizard men and reanimated heads in jars were just theories or true beliefs. She wouldn't be too concerned but the lives of people she cared about depended on Victoria.
Anastasia nodded back to the passageway, "We should go back to the main juncture and wait for the men that are bringing the ECM equipment."
"I'd rather stay here and talk. This is the first time in a long time that I've had a conversation with someone who didn't want to tell me about the word of Blake or some other ignorant thing from their imagination. What do you do for fun?"
"I read a lot and I enjoy logic puzzles." Anastasia said as she repositioned herself so she could at least see the juncture.
"Logic puzzles? Like the ones where you have to work out the grid with the patterns of 1 thru 9?"
"Yes. Those are my favorite." Anastasia stared at the juncture trying to will someone with some equipment to show up. She tried to remember back to the prisoner of war training and methods for avoiding Stockholm syndrome. For a moment she realized that stockholm syndrome worked both ways, but there was a innocence and naivety about Victoria and the very idea felt immoral.
"Do you ever get very drunk and try to solve the puzzles to see what it's like for the idiots and normal people?'
"No. What?" Anastasia was again focused on Victoria.
Victoria barely let her answer, "No. Why would you? You don't need to know what it's like to be them, because you're significantly smarter and you don't need them to be your friend."
Anastasia was starting to sense that Victoria had a lot of disdain for people that weren't as smart as her but she was also extremely lonely. Anastasia understood that too, "I do struggle with interacting with some people," Anastasia replied, "however my husband-"
"Wait. You have a husband? Is he a genius like us?"
"Not exactly." Anastasia could see the disappointment from Victoria, "You and I have rare intellectual skills and talents." Anastasia and Victoria might not be alike, but Anastasia was coming to the uncomfortable realization that her and Victoria exhibited some similar antisocial behaviors. "Although I'd submit we're not exactly unique in the galaxy. You'd find your peers, at least intellectually, in some of NAIS's R&D programs." She'd also find quirky intellectual peers with a similar disdain for people they considered less smart than them.
"If your husband isn't a genius, why'd you marry him?"
"Foremost he loves me, and puts up with my…foolishness." Anastasia was starting to wonder just how insufferable she was. Victoria wasn't exactly a mirror, but she knew they weren't too far removed either. "Harold also has other talents, for example he tends to get along very well with others, which is a talent I lack."
"Oh, so you do want to relate to other people, even if they are all stupid."
"Well some days they seem to be in the majority." Anastasia said before she could stop herself. "Victoria we should go and wait for gentlemen that are bringing the ECM."
"I suppose." Victoria said as she led Anastasia back to the juncture near the comms tower.
Anastasia was relieved to see several of the crew members carrying boxes and two of them even had one of the larger pieces of the ECM between them. She then became anxious as she saw Demi Precentor Tempes swiftly marching up the hall toward them. Adept Reilly was struggling to keep up with the Demi-Precentor.
"Acolyte Corvus, explain to me why you think it will take over 30 hours to install the ECM device." Tempes said as he came down the passage way.
"Demi-Precentor, sir, she's not-" Reilly said as he tried to catch up with the Demi-precentor.
Victoria's head tilted to the side as she regarded the Demi-Precentor, "I believe I agreed with Anastasia's assessment that this would take over 70 hours."
"Unacceptable." Tempes said as he came to tower over both the young women, "I need this installed immediately."
"Even if we had five techs I doubt it will take less than 40 hours, allow me to show you-" Victoria grabbed the binder and started to flip pages. Tempes used his cane to knock the binder out of her hands and across the passageway.
"I don't care about the complexity of the task." Tempes turned on Reilly, "Did you know this task requires more technicians?"
"Violent men with the mentality of children." Victoria grumbled as she went to collect the manual.
"Uh…no, sir. If I had known how many techs were needed…" Reilly said as he tried to answer Tempes.
"I've brought this warship out of moth balls explicitly to have it equipped with this ECM. Do you understand that?
"Yes, sir. I'll do, but it's the fact that-"
"Perhaps I could be of assistance." A wizened old adept walked over, "I see two acolytes here, but it sounds like you have a significant task that will require wisdom and experience."
"Uh. Adapt Gallen-"
"Please brother William, ranks have no place when there is work to be done."
"Brother James, I'm not sure this is the job for you." Adept Reilly said.
"Blake wisdom allows us to accomplish all tasks." Adept Gallen replied nonchalantly.
Reilly looked concerned as Adept Gallen walked around the ECM equipment and started to motion to the men carrying equipment and indicated they needed to place it in a very particular pattern.
Anastasia glanced over at Victoria. She had the ECM manual clutched to her chest and was looking placid, and emotionless. "Is this normal?" Anastasia whispered.
Reilly grabbed the arm of one of the acolytes as he passed "Fuentes, need you to help out with this detail. I'll let your boss know you're not coming back to the power distro team till this is done."
"I don't know, sir, none of this equipment is up to Comstar's standards. There doesn't seem to be color-coding for the cabling. It's going to be impossible to install, and I don't believe it will work. I've heard it was made by the Capellans."
"My boy, we just need to believe and trust Blake's wisdom." Adept Gallen said as motioned to Acolyte Fuentes to stand near him.
Victoria leaned over to Anastasia and whispered, "This happens every time we are asked to do something non-standard or that the crew is uncomfortable with. Some olde tech comes around talking about Blake's wisdom and doing weird things, while the young acolytes complain that it's outside their training and it won't work. Eventually it all comes back to Victoria to figure it out, so yes, this is normal, it's an average Thursday afternoon."
"Come daughters, let us ask Blake's blessing over these gifts that we have received." Brother James waved to Anastasia and Victoria that they should join him and Acolyte Fuentes.
"Not you." Tempes snapped his cane up and blocked Anastasia's way.
"Demi Precentor, do not threaten that acolyte." Adept Gallen said.
"She's not an acolyte," Tempes said as he to Anastasia motioned with his cane, "She's an uninitiated outsider that serves a successor state. She has no interest in Blake's will, nor will she ever."
"Not with that attitude. Allow this one to know the grace and mercy of Blake and his vision, and see if she doesn't come to desire his purposes." Adept Gallen said.
"I need a word with 'this one' first." Tempes grabbed Anastasia by the arm and roughly pulled a few paces down the passageway. "You will ensure this equipment is installed as quickly as possible or I will start cycling mercenaries through an air lock."
"You've saddled me with a woman who may be delusional, an acolyte who has clearly never done anything as complicated as this, and an Adept who has put himself in charge because he believes your dead prophet will somehow guide us. How do you honestly expect me to install this equipment in a timely fashion without real assistance?"
"Fear." Tempes said coolly. "If I think you, and the people you have so little faith in, are taking too long I'll start by expelling your husband into the vastness of space."
"Meet me half-way, among the McFinnigan crew is an aerospace tech-"
"No." Tempes said.
Anastasia glanced past him to watch the rest of her detail..
"Look, none of this makes sense and we all know acolyte Corvus is madder than a bag of cats." Acolyte Fuentes said.
"I don't know why you're collecting cats in a bag and antagonizing them, but I am annoyed that you can't seem to follow simple instructions." Victoria sighed, "I'll try again, we need to connect the main processing unit here, and then the power amps will go half-way and at the top of the antenna tower. The multiplexer Adept Gallen is sitting on-"
"Are you following any of this brother James." Acolyte Fuentes asked.
"I believe Blake may be guiding her. We should follow where he leads, through her. I also just learned that I am sitting on a multiplexer. Tell me child, how does it plex multis?"
Anastasia glanced back at Tempes, and drew in a deep breath. Before she could speak he looked at her coldly, "I've already answered your question, if you'd like to try my resolve we can see how well your coyote handles the vacuum of space."
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Thank you! I was missing this :)
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This seems less and less like an Authorized operation from Comstar...
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Yep. Tempes/ROM (maybe Waterly?) definitely took things on their own hands. This is not first circuit authorized stuff.
What I am less sure is how the McFinnigans are pulling out of this mess. Unless Corvus allies with them and Anastasiaq and her tamper with the sensors to.make.it appear like the ECM is working when it is not...
Or the system does not work properly, of course.
Because a working ECM warship is a far departure from canon that I do not see very fitting at this stage.
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Nice see this back
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How the heck have I missed this until now???
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How the heck have I missed this until now???
In your defense I'm a very irregular updater and when I do post it's lot of content. I suspect many forum members see my work and intend to read it later (when they have time and the mental energy for a couple thousand words) but by the time they get to it the other, more dynamic, threads get their attention. Also because I tend to update once a month, this tends to get buried. Which is the nature of forums.
I also started a few years back so catching up to this point is a real time investment.
I really do appreciate everyone that takes the time to read this work, and indulges me in how I've been pushing it out. I don't often respond to the comments because I'm worried I might reveal too much (this story is not as "made up as I go along" as it may appear), but the comments are greatly appreciated.
My thanks to all of you that have been reading and enjoying A Warrior's Family.
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I suspect you're right on all counts there, thanks!
If I had the time, I'd offer to help you copy edit, but things are a little busy right now. Your storytelling is otherwise top notch, please keep up the good work!
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I've been reading the story since I cam across it, with permission been archiving it on the Fanon Wiki. It's enjoyable story.
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I've been reading the story since I cam across it, with permission been archiving it on the Fanon Wiki. It's enjoyable story.
I've appreciated you, Outsider7724, and I suspect a few others work on that. Thank you.