Ngoverse/"The Administrator" series: The Silent Black Ocean.

[Cannonshop]

KCGS Edward Vanh...

"I repeat, this is Commander Phillip Von Jankmon of the Kowloon Coast Guard vessel Edward Vanh, Hull number zero-two-two-three-four-niner to unidentified Clan Vessel, you are trespassing in a peacekeeping area.  Stand to and state your identity and business, Over."

"Zero Two-Two-Three-Four-Niner, did I hear you right, you are claiming to be a Kowloonese vessel, Quineg?"

"AFF that is what I said, identify yourselves and state your business in entering a hazard area, over."

"This is STAR Commodore Leland Khatib of Clan Cloud Cobra, and this is our vessel the Cameron-class Incense, little man By what right do you contend our claim upon the habitable planet below?"

"One question then, are you carrying civilians, Incense?"

There was silence on the channel for a moment.  "yes.  What will it matter when we have destroyed you and your pathetic little fleet of three ships?"

"It determines whether we use megaton yields to pull you over for a safety inspection, You jumped into my pond, the planet is not my pond, if you want to negotiate with the owners of the planet, we will stand by, Over."

More silence on the channel.

"Clarify, Commander, you are claiming the space in the system as yours, but not the planet, quineg?"

"Our jurisdictional writ only reaches fifty nautical miles inland from navigable waterways or everything past the atmospheric interphase of a habitable planet.  The cities on the planet are inland, if the owners offer you safe conduct, we will not interfere.  If they do not, we will," he paused and signaled the RTO to send course adjustments and targeting data to the rest of 2 and 3 Patrol, "this area is navigationally hazardous, I suggest you contact the surface traffic control officers if you wish to land at this world, and obtain clearances, or I will have to ask you to stand to for a health and welfare inspection as well as provide documentation showing you are not engaged in kidnapping or unlawful human trafficking for illegal profit. Over."

for a moment there was more silence, then, a sound that at first sounded garbled, but he realized it was laughter.

"YOU...pull US over?"

"You're in a stolen ship.  slam dunk case, SLS Queen Victoria on your transponder, Cameron class, stolen from the Terran Hegemony yards by one Aleksandr Kerensky 14 February, 2784 in an act of mutiny, brigandage, conspiracy to commit mutiny, and outright treason by a conspiracy of officers seconded to the Star League Defense Forces.  Notably these are aggravated charges due to the fact this mutiny and desertion occurred during a period of national distress, and lucky you, the perps and the victims are all dead now.  over."

[Sharpnel]

You gotta love the moxie of the officers in the KCGM.

[Euphonium]

You gotta love the moxie of the officers in the KCGM.

KCGS Edward Vanh...

"It determines whether we use megaton yields to pull you over for a safety inspection, "

That's one hell of a "stop or I'll shoot" warning right there and I can't tell if the Star Commodore missed it or just glossed right over it.

[Dave Talley]

You gotta love the moxie of the officers in the KCGM.

where do they issue these titanium spines at, and how many old cop movies do they binge watch to get the patter down?

[kindalas]

8 Cutters with nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.

8 Cutters without nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.

[worktroll]

8 Kowloon-doctrine cutters vs 1 Cameron? Lot of unknowns.

- How much the ship's combat role is impacted by civilians on board. Okay, I checked - at best, a Cameron pulls 1.5g. And I quote this from Sarna: "Despite its illustrious name, the Cameron-class battlecruiser was a massive boondoggle, heavily flawed and a literal death trap for its crews."

- What condition the ship is in. They're reported to be sturdy.

- What condition the Clan crew is in. We've seen how well the Bears did vs. Loonie doctrine

Still, the Cameron only needs to be lucky some of the time.

[Artifex]

Yaysus ... that moxie :D

But nice to know that the KGC remembers all those facts about the Cameron-class ship. :thumbsup: Guess the war and skirmishing against the Falcons and Wolves made them refresh memory on all those former SLDF ships :D

[georgiaboy]

The big difference is that SOP for 99.99% of any Navy which has standard or lesser grade ships armor(ie. BT innersphere and clan Naval ships armor) are standard missiles, cause SOP is to use the missiles you have to knock down fighters in first wave attacks since the fighters will get to you before the enemy ships do. and when the ships are in range, you only use kiloton weapons so that if one cooks off on the rails, it does not take the ship with it.

Now small ship tactics you use the biggest boom you can, 5, 10 25, 50(MOAB)* so you pray you can take out all the fighters or the enemy ships before they can kill you. Kiloton weapons do not one-shot Space SHIPS. A 150 kt weapon to the face of a Cameron will only make it mad.

*MOAB: I don't care what kids today say, a LNG or Farmers Fuel-Air bomd is not "The Mother of All Bombs"

only TWO Bombs in histry can have that name:

Trinity and Zar-Bomba! 

[Giovanni Blasini]

8 Cutters with nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.

Fair.

8 Cutters without nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.

Not necessarily.  The Cameron is actually a pretty mean ship that has good dissipation for its weapons, and enough of them to hit fairly hard, barring things outside the rules like the original's power system issues.  On paper, the Aegis refit looks meaner, and does in fact have a bigger broadside, but the Cameron can actually defeat an Aegis in an engagement between the two, because its SI and armor are strong enough to keep from being taken out in one turn by the Aegis, while the weaker armor and SI of the Aegis means that, even once they roll, the Cameron could take out the Aegis on the second turn, thanks to having a broadside surprisingly comparable to a Texas class.

[glitterboy2098]

"They are identifying themselves, Ovkhan."  the technician caste at comms said.  "We are being hailed by...The Kowloon Coast Guard."

"Out here?"

the "oh ******" heard round the galaxy..

[kindalas]

Fair.

Not necessarily.  The Cameron is actually a pretty mean ship that has good dissipation for its weapons, and enough of them to hit fairly hard, barring things outside the rules like the original's power system issues.  On paper, the Aegis refit looks meaner, and does in fact have a bigger broadside, but the Cameron can actually defeat an Aegis in an engagement between the two, because its SI and armor are strong enough to keep from being taken out in one turn by the Aegis, while the weaker armor and SI of the Aegis means that, even once they roll, the Cameron could take out the Aegis on the second turn, thanks to having a broadside surprisingly comparable to a Texas class.

I meant that the Cameron could take out the 8 cutters, especially if it has been refitted.

[Daryk]

I can NOT wait to see how this turns out... MORE PLEASE!!!

[DOC_Agren]

"It determines whether we use megaton yields to pull you over for a safety inspection, You jumped into my pond, the planet is not my pond, if you want to negotiate with the owners of the planet, we will stand by, Over."

"They are identifying themselves, Ovkhan."  the technician caste at comms said.  "We are being hailed by...The Kowloon Coast Guard."

"Out here?"

So Star Commodore Leland Khatib, the really question, do you feel lucky?  Do you punk?

You know who they are and what they will do.

[Red Pins]

Dang it, missed this - thought it was the design stuff.

[Cannonshop]

"you know, Kerenskyists don't have a sense of humor, right?"

Christine asked quietly. 

"I would take offense, but your observations are...on the mark, Bondholder." Gary said, "this armor is terrible."

"Lowest bidder gear, sad to say." she told him,  adjusting the hip actuators on his revised EVA armor.  she looked up at him, "You've been in the Guard less than two months, are you up for what's coming?"

He laughed.  "Your humor is remarkably dry and droll, Chief." he told her, "I studied and passed the qualification for coms, I have studied your 'playbooks' and I have confidence in my own abilities.  I am as ready as anyone in this infantry squad."

she stood up, "eh, check your anchors." she told him, and lofted his helmet to his waiting hand before dogging her own.  "Now, check mine."

He helped her run her own armor's checklist, then they went over the armaments.

"We will be launching a boarding attack, quiaff?" he asked.

"That's what they tell me-these Cobras brought civilians on a battleship, means we have to do things the hard way." she said, "We're in luck though, they're looking at the distraction.  Let's go over the plan again.  We're the sapper team, that means what?"

"We attempt a dive-boarding of the hull of the warship and eva along the hull to the main engine packs." he recited, "Horizontal drop method, off the hull of a smallcraft.  We plant the charges, de-lock, and let inertia take us away from the ship, then trigger the munitions."

"Bingo, right, and what happens if I lose the detonator?" she asked.

"My suit has the backup trigger." he stated, "your suit has a backup to mine."

"correct.  What happens if we run into resistance on the hull?"

"That is why we have guns." he said.

"And if anything unforeseen happens?"

"Also why we have guns." he asserted.

"Have you ever surfed a jump before, Gary?"

"I am unfamiliar with the term."

"When the ship goes into jump, hug the hull, the EMP knocks out most systems, you don't want to be eyes-open during a KF transition as a normie." she told him, "let's get up topside with the rest of the team now."

"How many times have you done this?" he asked as they left the airlock and climbed onto the hull of their cutter.

"Twenty or thirty times." she said, "Don't get distracted by what you see and hear in the transition-I've seen a guy let go of the handles and get lost in hyperspace before, and after the shit I went through capturing you, I am not keen to see you drift off in the colorless void or get ripped in half because you drifted into the interphase between the KF field and reality during the jump."

over their suit comms, the CO's voice began counting down the timing for their KF transition-the target was a nine second zone near the port-side of the Clan Cameron class warship.

"Hug the hull, this is the awesomest." she enthused, as the count reached zero  "You'll never see anyth-"

Discontinuity


The colorless void extended forever, and he could see eternity.  the hours passed, he looked to his left, he could perceive her through her suit, the expression on his bondholder's face exultant, ecstasy written on every molecule of her.  to his left, he could see PO3 Grau and PO1 Wheeler, both looked a little ill and stunned at how very long this was taking.

her voice wasn't filtered through the speakers, he could hear Christine's delighted laughter...could feel the innocent joy from her.  He wanted it to last forever...

Discontinuity

And Space returned, the bulk of a Cameron-class Warship filling the space above him.

"-ing like it! WHOOOO!  Alright guys, ranging Twenty Kliks, we're almost right on them! Stand to and prep for assault!"

The solid rocket booster came out, and they dogged lines to it.

Three..two...one...

demagnetize...

the booster fired, and he felt  his kidneys try to migrate to his feet.

"Yeeehawwww!!" came over the channel, as the squads were hauled away.

[Cannonshop]

Cloud Cobra Warship Incense...

Anyone with experience could tell what had just happened, as the sensor and fire control grids went down and the thermal management sinks went into overload.

"GET THOSE WEAPONS ACTIVE!!" 

No amount of shouting would suffice, of course, but it was clear that the EMP and thermal pulse could only be from a ship pulling a 'crazy jane' maneuver-jumping into close proximity-a maneuver famous, but rationally rare-the risk it poses to both vessels is extreme.

Emergency lighting came up, and emergency power lit the main sensor arrays.

Four ships, not three, and the new arrival was less than 20 kilometers off his port hull, close enough to be a problem for bracketing with point defenses, and small.

but not so small it could not be hit, once the secondary batteries could get a lock, however...

it was positioned between the incense and the assault dropships from her escort group, and those ships, (and their fighters) were still recovering from the extreme-close-range KF wave.

This was a race of sorts-the combatants were racing to see who can get their weapons systems up and running before the other side could.

To his horror, the Coast Guard ship got their guns up first, and began hammering the Dropships with an immediate launch of four missiles from the dorsal mount, while simultaneously firing single bursts from a turreted autocannon that had far too much punch for the size of it.

"Pack tactics..." he marveled, recognizing what had happened while he'd focused his fighter complement on the three pathetic gunships.

A fourth was positioning from anothr location, to strike.

Three silver flashes announced the destruction of better than half a cluster of warriors as the dropships were destroyed by thermonuclear fire.  Of course, they asked about civilians, and presumed we would have the civilians on the main ship so that the warriors could pursue glory in the landings!

The dread certainty of that realization settled in.  "They want us to know they use nuclear weapons, but they also want us to understand they will not willingly use them on civilians."

This was not like the conquest of the Hanseatics. 

This enemy has rules.

[Daryk]

Heh... Rules they're about to clobber the hell out of you with...  >:D

[Cannonshop]

"...three, two...one..."


discontinuity

The Rim worlds officer shuddered a bit on the stake, making a strangled gurgle.  Saul took a moment and prodded the Rimjob with his bayonet, the body still had enough life to flinch.

"Private Shimon, don't do that, it's needlessly cruel."  Corporal Wendt ordered.

"Needless? did you see what they did? to those people?"

"I saw it.  we all saw it. that's why the Colonel had us stake their leaders, but it's disturbing to the Star Leaguers and we need their support. come on, we've got a movement order."

"Kill more?"

"yes, to kill more."

discontinuity

Lance Corporal Sara Shimon-Gui's vision cleared as the ship came out of jump on the starboard side of the enemy Cameron.  "Ready Four, Eighteen Kliks Range, lock-and-release!!"  Gunny Schwarzchild's voice in her helmet steadied her, and she fastened her tow-strap to the portable booster, then released her boot magnets.  "Fire Team Three, READY!" she announced over the channel.

"Team away!"

the SRB pack hauled them off at ridiculous speed.  Ludicrous speed even.  enough speed that the shock-absorbers built into her legs would get a REAL workout when they hit the target hull.  Already, the Shot from the Evelynn was backlighting the target, while her own ship, the Kelli Whyte was beginning the support run-firing warshots with the ventral tubes at the enemy dropships and spraying down sensor emplacements and small weapons bays with the 208mm augmented deck-gun, a 'sub Capital' cannon mount firing hypervelocity shells at a somewhat slower rate than a proper 'Naval autocannon' would.

She enlisted to become a Marine, she'd dealt with freezing cold and the depths of deep ocean exercises, to become a marine.  She'd frozen her ass off in antarctic ice flows, suffered under sadistic desert sunlight from two suns to be a Marine, she'd covered her TDS in interviews and studied her ass off to become a Marine.  Three years of Basic, Environmental training, parachute, jump pack, battle armor, sniper, and demolition schools, endless hours in Parade and Dress, Jungle training in places where the insects are lethal and the plant life is trying to kill you, to become a marine.

"Hey-ha gunny, who buys the beer ya?" she asked.  Banter was better than watching that huge armored bulk race toward her feet.

"Last one down buys the beers yah." Gunny Pheltzer answered.

"race yas?"

"Stick to your spot, Shimon-Gui, we'll all get down in one piece."

"Aye sirrah."

it raced up, and then, shockwave as her boots hit, and the hydraulics absorbed the impact before the mag-clamps activated.

pleasantly, the battery levels spiked and leveled off as the kinetic-generators built into the legs of her suit converted impact energy to electricity, fed it through dampening and charging circuits, and slammed the remainder into the reserve capacitors for her antipersonnel gauss rifle.

jump with a short load, land fully armed.  These guys aren't going to know what hit them.

her lips skinned from her teeth, Teach you bastards to desert. 

she disconnected from the now useless booster pack, and began a slow, shuffling trot along the enemy's hull, as the Clan ship's external marker lights came back on.

[Daryk]

Those Marines better get a move on, or there won't be any ship to go back to... :-\

[Euphonium]

Those Marines better get a move on, or there won't be any ship to go back to... :-\

The marines will be fine, they'll being going home on a Cameron  >:D

[Cannonshop]

Just when it looked like things were going well...

The plan had been solid, and with a fraction of the tonnage, they'd been giving the Clan Cameron class vessel hell....literally.  But as Charlie Vanh was wont to say during the various conflicts of the 3050s, "Then shit goes downhill."

'Downhill' could be code-speaking dogwhistling for 'The clanners bring in their buddies.'

Seven Cutters at 98,000-something tons plus one smaller one at 77,000, is almost a tonnage equal to 860,000 tons of Terran-built, Clan-refitted advanced warship-if you screw your eyes the right way.  there's a small advantage in being able to execute unconventional tactics, and with the nuking of the combat dropships and the EMP flatlining of fighters, things were almost...but not quite even.

for example, this is a Coast Guard unit-naval personnel clinging to an organizational ethos that civilians must be preserved at any cost, fighting Clanners who brought their civilians in the hold.  this means no nukes, the single biggest equalizer the cutters have, neutralized from the start because...well...you don't nuke civilians.  This isn't the Quarantine, they aren't carrying a world-ending plague.  You just don't fire nukes at them.

Because it's the Coast Guard, the move to board-and-neutralize is within both organizational experience running down bandits and shipjackers.  they're pretty good at this, pretty good at null gee combat, and pretty good at knowing HOW to make a ship stop working enough to take it over-but that's not against 860,000 tons of Warship carrying infantry in larger numbers, that are better equipped, and have at least practiced counter-boarding techniques enough to boil out of the airlocks that weren't shot to hell by the two cutters yet.

There's also the matter of achieving concentrated firepower without breaching the pressure envelope.  Preferably without shutting down your own people...the time frames to achieve that having vanished to nothing with the elimination of point-gravity sources via the destruction of the separated dropships.  There just isn't a window, and the whole time, the Incense has been flying straight-and-level out of the stable point's 'incoming zone'.

which leads to the next set of problems.  Namely, the next three warships to emerge from jump.

Eight cutters might have a chance against one Cameron, if they are going all-out and have no restrictions.

Doing it against a McKenna?

ehhh...not so much?  This one had a huge roundel on the side, a triangle with a canine face painted full-on.  Clan Coyote.

two clans.  Two sets of forces, and this new arrival is bigger, more powerful, and launching fighters while releasing dropships.

Not that that's quite the problem yet.  The problem is that the incense has gotten their fire-control power back up.  This being demonstrated by the fact that the KCGS Kelli Whyte was speared through immediately while trying to break contact with a single concentrated volley that included far more overkill than the little hull could take.

the second volley speared the Nathan Roshak at the same time.

In both cases, it took multiple hits, effectively having to annihilate the little ships because for some reason, they didn't 'brew up' properly.  Clan gunnery officers were able to really narrow in their calibrations due to the lack of visible catastrophic kill results.

Size, well...it matters and tonnage does have right-of-way.

Naval historians on both sides will note that Commodore Von Jankmon didn't abandon his men, or their mission, or their morals, when he brought the rest of his squadron into play.  He did, however, order LtC. Consuela Apone to take ACGS Melinda Castellanao out of the fight, to reach a system with a working HPG to send calls for help.

ACGS Melinda Castellanao was the only Coast Guard vessel left intact by third hour of the engagement, being as they were, at the fringes of the battle zone to monitor the situation and with Clan warships erupting from the stable points in the system, the most interesting part from a navigational perspective, was that the older, Sampan mk III* was cornered, running at full thrust, with a Clan pursuit cruiser on her tail, when she left most of her dorsal and ventral missile mountings behind, taking a four second leap of faith in the shadow of a rogue asteroid seconds before the enemy's weapons would have caught up with her.

this wasn't facing the Jade Falcons-gone-mongol, these guys know what they're doing.

[Daryk]

Ouch... and I thought the first boarding team detonated its charges??  ???

[Nikas_Zekeval]

Ouch... and I thought the first boarding team detonated its charges??  ???

Even if they disable the Cameron, there are all the other Clan Warships.

[glitterboy2098]

i'm gonna guess that Christine and Gary are going to end up captured (probably after being injured) and will thus end up our viewpoint characters to find out what the heck is happening with the homeworlders that led them to pull an exodus to the "tainted" inner sphere..

[Korzon77]

You know, I just had a terrible thought as to why the Clan might not be talking that much.

The aliens used remote weapons and nanite goo to sterlize the world.

The WOB was really into biological and cybernetic weapons.

What if the Clan's actually think that the WOB or some Inner Sphere faction were behind the attacks?

[Cannonshop]

Breathing got harder after the fifth day...

in space, nobody can hear you gasping on carbon dioxide.  "You still with me, Gary?" she asked.  she had to ask, she couldn't feel her hands anymore.

"I remain." he wheezed.  "How are you doing?"

"Still alive." she answered, "great view, huh?  you know..when I told dad I wanted to stargaze with a boy, I don't think I was imagining this."

"How old were you?" he asked.

"Five? not sure. it was a long time ago.  I can't feel my fingers."

"I have you." he answered. not reminding her that her right arm ended just below the elbow now-the suit's blowout protection had sealed the damage by cutting off the ruined remains of that hand with the emergency valve.

"Sorry about it going all ******, Gary..."

"You fought well, Christine, I am honored to have fought by your side."

"Would've been better if we'd made the getaway." she told him.

"We did." he told her, "Our ride, however..."

"Yah.  good people lost."

her vision grayed.

"Christine, stay awake!" he bumped helmet to hers. "Do not go to sleep!"

"I'm cold..."

"Do not leave me here!" he commanded her, and grappled her limp body to his. "Stay..."

light played on them, from an NL-42 as it pulled in close.

Gary briefly wondered what would happen to them, in Cloud Cobra captivity.

[Cannonshop]

"Vanh, Christine Amanda, Chief Petty Officer Marine Branch, Kowloon Coast Guard Service number 525055801."

Name, rank, and service number.  Point Three Dell Mannix was impressed.  The young woman in the interrogation couch had suffered from carbon dioxide poisoning from a malfunctioning scrubber in her suit and five days on dwindling battery reserves, was largely still in shock from losing a limb, doped to the nines on expired drugs, and in every way should have little to no resistance under narco interrogation.

and she had offered nothing except name, rank, and service number.

The scanning equipment showed little to no brain damage beyond some old scarring from what was presumably a childhood head injury. 

She was deeply interesting however, because so few of these space-soldiers had survived to be recovered at all, and because of the pendant on her Dogid.

a six pointed star, and what was in her 'breadbag'-along with the detonators, was a copy of the Torah, not in proper Star League english, but instead inscribed like some of the very old copies still brought out by the Loremaster of the Ka'an cloister for festivals.

Kowloon was known to be one of the havens that had large concentrations of jews, even reports from before the sundering of the Clans showed that the blood of israel was a major factor in that world's resistance.

He tried Hebrew as a last resort, certain that the language was long dead in the corrupt inner sphere.

"what is the law?"

the girl in her drugged stupor answered.

"I am the Lord Your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods beside Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord Your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord Your God, in it you shall not do any manner of work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord God gives you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, his man-servant, his maid-servant,
 nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."

Dell's breath caught.  her accent was harsh, somehow more primal than the recitations by his cluster's chaplain.

more real, even in the fervor she recited it with.

her voice segued to a sing-song.

"Hear o israel for our god is the one god, and his promise is true..."

on the imager, scenes of unimaginable beauty played out, unearthly and impossible images played out in colorless splendour.  Her song went on for minutes, praising G-d, as if those were memories of seeing something completely alien.

"Listen to the chorus of the angelic host, praising HIM! Amen!!"

what the interrogation scanner was picking up and translating from her brain's electrochemical signals was incomprehensible, her tone in singing her little impromptu hymn was exultant, more joy than he had heard in his life...and completely impossible to justify given her condition and injuries.

"Where...is that?" he asked, forgetting to use the language.

"On the hull. during jumps." she whispered.  "hull surfing is the best."

[Cannonshop]

"If you harm her, I will rip your arms off, and shove them up  your rectum."

Gary said it as a simple fact, facing his own interrogator with his hands folded in aplomb, his EI tattoos slick with sweat.

"You are a Trueborn, Quiaff?"  the warrior across the table from  him asked.

"Aff."

"What line?"

"Hazen." he said, "my gene-mother was Kleia of the line of Elizabeth.  My Genefather was from the Icaza line."

"Impressive pedigree.  You are not bloodnamed, quineg?"

"Neg.  the tags say 'falcone' because that is the default for Trueborns of Falcon lineage in Hue, and the paperwork for Inner Sphere militaries requires a surname, earned or not."

"So you are a Kowloon Abjured?"

"Neg.  I was captured, after evading the destruction of my Clan due to Malvina's mad folly...which is another reason not to seek to claim that bloodname." he rumbled.

"What is your relationship with the fem?"

"Christine defeated me in single combat and accepted my bond-when that is no longer the accepted practice after Malvina's treacheries-she brought me back to the honor road...and if you harm her, I will tear you and this whole facility down with my bare hands if necessary in reprisal-or die trying."

"Why such loyalty? you are among the Clans again, and yet you make such...florid threats on behalf of a mere Spheroid-and a cripple at that."

Gary studied the Elemental across from him.  "You wish an explanation? very well.  Imagine someone who will run into a fire to save a stranger, who does not ask for honors or glory, who will challenge a combat-hardened elemental twice her mass, a man with nothing left to lose, for people who denigrate her faith and her heritage.  I want you to imagine someone willing to place their life and faith on the line, constantly, without complaint, for those too vain and ungrateful to even comprehend the sacrifice...now, imagine that character, in someone who is also a cunning and resourceful fighter, who will risk their life to prevent a death."

he laid his palms on the desk, "She is truly good.  Not just 'honorable', but good...and if you harm her, I will harm a disproportionate measure in reprisal, or die trying.  I will do this, because she has made it possible for me to be better."

[ThePW]

*Derp!*  :)

[glitterboy2098]

Gary studied the Elemental across from him.  "You wish an explanation? very well.  Imagine someone who will run into a fire to save a stranger, who does not ask for honors or glory, who will challenge a combat-hardened elemental twice her mass, a man with nothing left to lose, for people who denigrate her faith and her heritage.  I want you to imagine someone willing to place their life and faith on the line, constantly, without complaint, for those too vain and ungrateful to even comprehend the sacrifice...now, imagine that character, in someone who is also a cunning and resourceful fighter, who will risk their life to prevent a death."

he laid his palms on the desk, "She is truly good.  Not just 'honorable', but good...and if you harm her, I will harm a disproportionate measure in reprisal, or die trying.  I will do this, because she has made it possible for me to be better."

Kowloon in a nutshell.