Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1.1 Copy and Paste
3020
Solaris
Solaris City

-------------

When an eldritch abomination offers you a chance to travel to a new universe, a new life, and a special ability you of course say yes.

After all, if you are already face to face with an Eldritch creature you are already locked in to having an interesting experience, always better to stay amiable.

That was why I was here. Solaris born and raised. A Lyran citizen, fourteen years old, and in a surprise twist, I woke up this morning with knowledge of another universe, another life, and of course in my hands a noteputer, that was the most advanced piece of technology in the universe. Mostly because it wasn’t actually a noteputer at all.

It was the database and fabricator of a Planetary annihilation Commander. Although the current database itself was limited to three things.

A factory. That currently couldn’t build anything, as I didn’t have any designs.

An incredibly powerful sensor system that I could make, that would allow me to ‘scan’ tech and copy it into the database.

And of course. A metal extractor. Because even if I wasn’t a massive metal monstrosity I was still a Commander now. And somewhere in some universe a Commander begins building a metal extractor.

Or at least that was my first step.

But first. I had some people to recruit.

----

So I was an orphan in this life. My mother was a Solaris jock, and had unfortunately lost her life during a match when I was pretty young. I didn’t know who my father was, and no one in the Solaris government knew either so I was placed in the orphanage and forgotten. I took a moment to cross my fingers that my father wasn’t some infamous leader of an evil faction or something.

I walked into the open living space of the orphanage to look over my future troops. There were a lot of orphans that passed through this building. but I had been here a long time, so just about everyone knew who I was, so when I whistled loudly to get everyone's attention I had an audience, if not a happy one.

“Listen up everyone! I got a mission!” I called out as I looked over the other youngsters. I wasn’t the eldest Orphan but at fourteen I wasn’t the youngest either.

“I need tech scrap. Anything that has been beat up but might be fixable gather it up for me, It’s for a secret project. But if any of you help me out, I promise you will make a nice little reward.” I offer, rubbing my fingers together in the universal sign of cash.

There were some mumbled replies, but a few of the kids nodded along hearing my offer. Gauge, my best friend in this life, looked up from the bits of tech he was fiddling with. The poor guy even wore an approximation of ComStar Robes as his biggest dream was joining them. Rather than finding a family like most orphans dream. Of course he was only a few months from sixteen, and his time at the orphanage would end, so I wasn’t surprised. I waved him over as I walked out the front doors.

The busy streets of Solaris bustled along but I waved off Gauge's obvious questions as I simply pulled him along after a quiet “Not here.” As we made off towards our secret hideout.

All kids had secret hideouts especially here on Solaris, although most just just became Gang hideouts in the end. Ours was an old abandoned Mech bay that had been heavily damaged years ago. It’s entrance was completely sealed shut, but Gauge and I had found an entrance way through some old rubble we had excavated out. Apparently the old owners of this bay had their pilot go crazy and take his mech out and then try and blow the place up. He had been stopped eventually but the entire place had been trashed.

It was only a few miles up the road from the orphanage, but it was still a long walk with Gauge pestering me about what was going on and me denying him.

Finally we both sneaked into our little base and I grumbled as I wiped the dust from my clothes as I settled into the chairs we had gathered from dumpsters all over the city I turned to look at my annoyed friend.

“I’m gonna be opening a Merc company. I want you in on it. I need your tech brain.” I tell him which causes him to blink at me for a few moments before sighing.

“Vicky. How are you supposed to start a mercenary company without… Anything? Money, equipment, people… Mechs?” He asked, waving his arm around at the abandoned Mech bay that was stripped bare and empty other than the junk we brought in.

“That isn’t entirely the truth anymore.” I offer. “I got something coming up. It’s huge, but I need an assurance here and now Gauge. Are you on my side, on the Lyran side, or on Comstars side? You'll need to pick.”

I gave him a minute as he looked at me like a fool for a time. “What? Are you asking me to commit treason against the Archon or something?”

“No… Maybe. Only in the loosest sense. I don’t plan on betraying the Lyran Commonwealth, I’m just asking you to maybe lie to them if they ever ask you questions about what I’m doing, or what is going on.”

He goes silent for a moment. “I’m starting to get actually concerned here Vicky. What exactly is going on?”

“No, not without your word. An oath. Hell I’ll take a blood oath if I thought you would actually care. I’m about to do some crazy stuff Gauge, but I need to know if you are with me. Operational security. This is big, it means if what I am planning gets out, it all falls apart and I end up with nothing. So. Are you with me?”

He taps his foot for a time. “I’m with you. We are family. As far as that thing matters to us orphans.”

I nodded. “Here is what is happening. I know where a lostech find is. A big one capital B. The kind that when it’s over I won’t be worrying about getting a family name, I’ll probably just take the name of the planet the Archon gives me as a family name. That sort of big.” I give him a second to process that.

The fact all the orphans entered into the orphanages here on Solaris had their last name removed, as a way to make them acclimate better into their new circumstances, and to make it easier to get adopted, meant a last name, a family name was something we all seemed to strive for. In the end, there were only two ways to get one. Get adopted, or age out of the Orphanage. Most of the kids would argue about which one they wanted more.

“Okay... Where did you find your information on this mythical lostech find? While sleeping in your room all night?”

I could hear the dismissal in his voice as he spoke but I shook my head. “Nope. Can’t talk about it. I’m calling in my F-bills, friend-bills, right now. I need you to believe me, trust me, and help me. If it all crashes and burns, it won’t cost you anything but some time.” I offer out my hand then. “Join my mercenary company, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

He groaned. “I already do.” But he took my hand. I shook it once firmly before dropping it.

“Great. Now. I need some metals, it doesn't matter if they are junked, but the higher grade the better. So Mr. ‘I work as an apprentice mechtech’ where do they drop the scrapped mech armor, and stuff that doesn’t get recycled or used?”

He takes my question for a minute to the very obvious ‘why do you need scrapped metal?’ left unsaid after a moment before shaking his head. “Okay now I really regret this.” He grumbled, and despite the fact I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like this, I nodded. Step one complete.

----

It was a junkyard.

But not the sort that people go to scavenge for usable equipment. The inner sphere were like packrats. If something was fixable it went back into circulation, but this junkyard was where the stuff that couldn’t be fixed was dropped off at.

It had taken almost three hours by public transport and foot to end up here. On the outskirts of the bustling metropolis. In the end we had actually jumped onto the back of an old truck obviously hauling scrap to the place we were going to.

Gauge of course complained the entire way. He didn’t understand what the plan was. But that was okay. He got me what I needed to get started.

We didn’t even really have to sneak into the scrap yard. It was more a dumping ground for the mess that came from clashing mechs, most of it was rusted, melted or worse.

There was very little ‘useful’ material for someone looking to gain some scrap for mechs. But for me? It was plenty to get started. I led Gauge deeper into the yard climbing on old mangled hunks of scrap. Until we are well outside of view from the road and drop off point.

“So are you going to tell me what we are doing out here yet?” Gauge grumbled as he nearly tripped on a chunk of melted metal that he was clambering over.

“No, but I’m gonna show you instead.” I pulled out the ‘noteputer’ I had awoken with and activated it’s nanite extraction function.

In a flash, green light exploded out of a port along the top of the noteputer. The light attacked the metal hunk I pointed it at. A moment later the metal simply began disintegrating. Piece by piece. I heard Gauge gasp beside me as in a few seconds the hunk of old twisted metal, that was as likely to be a piece of mech as a chunk of ground vehicle. Disappeared.

I glanced at the screen, noticing that it had stored a small amount of metal, but only about .5% of the metal needed for my metal extractor.

“What in the hell is that?!”

“My Inheritance. It’s a piece of lostech. It can break down metals, And then use those materials to fabricate anything it has stored in it’s construction database. No, it doesn’t have anything really interesting stored. It was wiped as far as I can tell. And no I don’t know where it came from. Other than something my Mother found and made sure would end up in my hands.” I ended with a lie.

“That’s impossible! That sort of technology! Even at the height of the starleague they didn’t have anything like…” he stops shaking his head. “I guess they actually did. Vicky, you understand that something like that it could-”

“It could change everything. Jumpstart the re-production of everything that we lost, and if anyone finds out about it, start a war that makes our little succession wars so far look like kids on a playground. There won’t be any limits, nothing stopping the houses from full scale final war because whoever wins, gets an item that lets them rebuild from an apocalypse.”

His mouth slowly closed mid word from where I interrupted him. “Gauge, this is something that you can’t tell anyone. Ever. If it ever gets out that I have this, no that it even exists? I am trusting you, an oath, remember? Help me keep this secret, I know you want to join Comstar to fix things. But how about you join me and we really fix things.”

He stared at me for a while I mean, we were both kids, I was barely fourteen, and he was almost sixteen. But he took in my warning, took a deep breath and nodded. “You're right. No one can know about that…”

“It’s pretending to be a noteputer so that’s what I’m calling it. Also, just a heads up. It is DNA locked to me. So only I can use it anyways. I think it was probably created by a great great grandparent or something, and my Mom probably couldn’t get it to work, or didn’t know what it did.” I say although I knew that was a lie.

He looks around at the mountain of scrap. “So if you need metal, and that’s why we are here, what are you trying to do?”

“Well it doesn’t have a database… Mostly.” I shrug. “It does actually have just a few blueprints. One is some sort of sensor system, but it’s apparently super strong, like the craziest sensor system the Star League ever thought up. The second is actually called a metal extractor. But that is what I want to build cause it won’t involve me coming out here and shooting green gunk at scrap all day and potentially being seen.”

“What’s a metal extractor?”

“Apparently it uses the nano machines just like these one and it mines metals without actually having to dig. Sooo.” I made sure to lie about how they worked, I didn’t want to bring in the schizo tech where the extractor was basically infinitely generating.

His eyes widened at my explanation. “That’s. Actually impressive.”

“Yep, and then there is the last blueprint saved into this thing… It’s a factory schematic. If we get a complete enough schematic for... anything we can build a factory designed to build it.”

“Mein Gott.”

“Yeah.”

“This… Vicky, what are we going to do?”

I took a deep breath even as I started the Noteputer’s extraction again. “Gather resources. I wasn’t lying about the Lostech find. We need money, transport, and protection. And then we are going prospecting. Then, well. With the Archon's blessing, we expand.”

I grumbled as the numbers towards a Metal Extractor inched upwards. A half a percentage at a time.

----

Gauge and I continued to talk, I explained more about what I was planning as I gathered the metal I needed, and eventually he was nodding along.

Gauge was always my tech guy. Where I was in both worlds more interested in the action parts of life. He was the one who just wanted a pile of electronics or an engineering problem to chew on. I needed him though.

You can’t give someone unlimited power and trust them fully. Not even yourself. Plus an extra pair of hands made things easier. Despite his nerdy looks, he was tall and looked older than he was. He was going to be my face for the most part, until everything was working.

A fourteen year old girl didn’t exactly indicate reliability. Especially one that still looked like a child. I was a bit gangly for my age, thankfully height wasn’t something I would suffer without, but a chest was.

An hour into the constant deconstruction I gathered enough scrap. Although it took longer than it should have since I was constantly moving around and checking to make sure no one was watching us.

But then I ended up making a stupid mistake.

“What do you mean the Metal Extractor won’t build?” Gauge asked me, sounding stressed out as I glared at the noteputer in my hand.

“I mean I click it to start the building process and it gives me an error. Hold on, I’m reading what this error says.”

*Invalid Placement*

“Fucking video game description.” I grumble before I remember a very important fact.

Metal Extractors have to be placed on metal node. It has to have something to extract FROM.

“I’m an idiot.” I utter. “The sensor package isn’t just some weird schematic. It’s what I need to place the extractor!” I turn to Gauge as he slowly nods his head.

“Makes sense. So what do you need for the sensors?”

“Nothing. I already have enough metal for it, but I will need to gather more metal to afford the extractor again. Hold on!” I switched the build order to a sensor package and after a few moments what looked like a backpack with an antenna sticking out of it began materializing in front of me in a haze of green. It took a few minutes as it slowly began forming, almost like watching a 3D printer, except it appeared out of nothing but green light.

When it was finished Gauge and I both stepped up to it to look it over. It was really clean. I couldn’t help but note. Most stuff in this era was something someone had owned for hundreds of years. This was brand new looking.

“It’s amazing! Look at this!” Gauge on the other hand was in tech nerd heaven as he looked it over. He had already popped a hatch on the top of the metal pack and was looking at it’s inside. “The materials inside are perfect. Factory fresh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so new looking!” He muttered which I laughed at. Sure it was unusual in this universe but I had bought plenty of new devices and such in the old world.

But I did want to find out where to build a metal extractor. I tried queuing up a metal extractor again to see if the new sensors would solve the problem, but it had the same error. And then I noticed the data uplink chord that Gauge was playing with.

I grabbed it from him and plugged it into the side of the ‘Noteputer’ . Watching as the metallic backpack suddenly seemed to turn on. Lights along the top activate and the antennae actually extending.

“Oh It's activated!” Gauge muttered as he stood up to look at my Noteputer. The screen had opened into a geomap. Showing a sort of wireframe topography of the area around us. Including the junk we were surrounded by, zooming out at the touch of a few buttons showed the range of the radar seemed to be around one hundred miles despite being at ground level.

I couldn’t help it and whistled, Gauge offering a quiet “Wow” at the same time.

“Okay this is a seriously powerful radar.”

“Yeah, look at the detail, and… It does penetrate ground! This is super lostech, I mean, imagine mining claims! Or just… Tracking a battlemech.” He stopped slowly staring at the same thing I was. The red wireframes that were tracked in real time. Battlemechs within one hundred miles of us, of which there were quite a few.

And even ones that according to the readings were inactive, were still tracked.

“Okay. If watching you create that out of nothing didn’t do it, I definitely believe that is Lostech now Vicky.” Gauge muttered as we both tracked a Mech battle in the arena that was in Silesia near where the orphanage was.

“This would alter any battle it is used in.” I whispered in a mix of horror and delight. This may actually be the most useful part of everything I was given.

I blinked the wonder out of my head and hit a few buttons, looking for a metal node that I could build on. In the entire one hundred miles there was only a single one, and I grimaced. We were already way out on the city limits. This scrapyard was well outside what people would call Solaris city, and then, this metal node was almost eighty miles out farther. For a pair of kids without a car, this wasn’t going to be easy.

----

We spent another hour or so gathering up enough metal to finish an extractor, and I spent a good bit longer as well, so I would have some in reserve. I had an idea.

We hitched a ride or hoofed it back to our hideout to hide the sensor pack, and then to the orphanage which we got to fairly late, and so earned a stern talking to by one of the many matrons that watched over it. Not that either of us cared. We were both well out of the age for getting adopted, so the orphanage was more of a place to sleep, and get free meals than a home.

The next morning Gauge practically dragged me out of bed. He was so excited, but thankfully kept his mouth shut about what was going on. I did have a stack of broken games, and electronics waiting for me the night before that I hadn’t bothered with as I went straight to bed after dinner, but this morning I dragged the small clump of items into a spare bag and we ran out to the hideout.

First thing first. I connected the noteputer to the pack and messed with the settings, and I was right. The sensor pack could also create incredibly detailed blueprints of objects. It had a small hand scanner that popped out of the side and after a few minutes, I had an exact copy of an old game system that not only turned on after, it actually had all the data that the old one had.

“That’s… How the hell does it copy data!? I mean, for it to be that exact it would have to be copying the object to an incredible degree!” Gauge was fascinated with the new game system having instantly pulled out his little electric repair tools and popping it open.

“It’s brand new.” He uttered once again shocked at how clean and working everything was.

“So. We need to get to the metal node that we found, but it’s too far to walk, or hitch a ride, which means we need transport.” I mutter to myself as Gauge speaks up.

“We could buy one. I mean we can make fresh electronics, sell a few of these, and we could probably buy a cycle, or even a small car.”

“True, or we could just find a car parked somewhere and make our own.” I remind him which silences him for a minute as he thinks about that. “But that also has risks. We would have to take the sensor outside and actually try to scan the car. Not something we can do easily without potentially causing a problem.”

“I.. I guess that’s true. We don’t want to let anyone know, and if we go around scanning a car or something someone is gonna notice.”

“Yep. Or. And I think this is the best plan. We go sneaky. Can you fix a few of the old pieces, and get them working using the fresh ones as spares?”
“Oh.. Yeah. I mean why do that though?”

“I want to sell them, or trade. We can rent a cycle or something from the Squatters, bring it here, scan it, and return it. Then we can just make a copy, no one twigs we did anything weird.”

“Why not just sell the brand new ones then, I mean we could get top dollar for this stuff.”

“Yeah top dollar and questions about why a pair of orphans have factory fresh tech.”

He stills at my rebuttal as he nods. “Good thinking. Yeah give me like an hour? I mean I have the perfect copies right here to work off of, soo this shouldn’t take long.

I nodded, turning back to the noteputer. The blueprints for the different pieces of tech were all still saved. But I was more interested in the fact they weren’t broken. Each piece had been fixed as if it wasn’t damaged at all.

“How smart is this thing?” I ask aloud thankfully quiet enough Gauge didn’t hear me.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1.2 Copy and Paste
3020
Solaris
Solaris City

-----

It took a bit longer than an hour unfortunately. But it was done. The gangs of Solaris were everywhere, and as orphans it wasn’t like some of our own hadn’t joined gangs from time to time.

The Squatters were exactly what they sounded like, a small group of drug peddlers you could find on street corners, or near alleys squatting and waiting for a client. But I went straight to a specific alley.

Smalls wasn’t actually small, and nor was he actually that big. He was more average. But he was called smalls because he had been small a few years ago when he aged out of the orphanage and joined the gang.

They had taken him in but he hadn’t forgotten his roots. He sometimes dropped off stuff to us younger kids that had been friends with him before he left. Just candies and stuff, thankfully, he never tried to get the kids on drugs.

But he always hung around a specific alley, and he also had an old dirt bike that he was very proud of. We often heard him driving around even if we didn’t always see him.

“So that’s the deal. Gauge and I need transport for an hour or two, afterwards you get the entire sack of electronics, and we bring the bike back.” I offered to the older boy who was chewing on an old cigarette.

“Hell no.”

“C’mon Smalls, we aren’t going to damage your bike, but Gauge and I have a job and we can’t do it without some wheels. No risk. I just can’t talk about it.”

“I said no Vicky, that ride is my life, and without it, I’m fucked by the first fucker who wants my stock. I can’t risk it.”

Gauge stepped in, the older boy had always been closer to Gauge than I was. “Smalls, C’mon we need this, it’s perfectly safe, I promise, I’ll drive not Vicky so your baby will be in safe hands, plus I fixed everything in that bag, I promise it all works, and it will sell well. If that doesn’t do it, we could go hawk it ourselves and bring back just the bills, but I know you, you are better at selling shit to people than either of us.”

I grumbled a bit as I walked away. I could drive! Sure the me of this world had crashed the last vehicle she had been in, but the damn thing’s brakes went out! I survived without getting hurt even! That was good driving!

“You two aren’t conning me are you?” Smalls finally asked quiet, the boy had a soft spot for us orphans.

“Not a con. We just need wheels. Just an hour or so, and it will be back in your hands.”

“Fuck me. Fine but I’m serious you two, you break my baby and I’ll fuckin end you! You shits will pay back every scratch if I have to sell you to the squatters as ferriers, you get me?”

“We get it Smalls.” I interrupt. “Your bike will be fine. Gauge, let’s go. Time's wasting.” I tell him as I let him jump on first, and then I clambered on behind him. A few moments of starting the engine and the two of us were off.

We slipped it inside our secret base, settling it in an empty section as I slipped out the scanning unit from the sensor pack on my back, although I had hidden it inside an old backpack to further conceal it so I could actually walk around with it.

“Well. That’s step one.” I tell Gauge as we are looking at a perfect copy of a dirt bike that was brand new.

“Yeah. Alright I’ll take this back to Smalls. Vicky, we won’t have time today. That’s a long trip.”

“I know. Tomorrow morning we’ll go. Get that back to Smalls before he blows a reactor, I’ll put this away and meet you at the orphanage.”

-----

The next morning Gauge and I went out on an adventure. I will admit traveling on the back of an old dirt bike for a long trip wasn't something I had ever done in either life. So this was a new experience.

We did have an interesting experience when the bike ran low on gas and I had to figure out how to get the noteputer to actually create gasoline. But thanks to an incredibly advanced sensor and the remains of the fuel in the tank I worked it out. Whatever crazy replicator this thing used to turn one element into another let it turn the steel and iron I had gathered before into usable fuel.

I decided just not to question it. Science. Ain't gotta explain shit? I think that’s how the phrase went.

That afternoon we reached the spot. Using the Noteputer as a map to end up at the right spot. It was an old bit of woods a good few miles off the road that had left us offroading which is an uncomfortable experience to say the least.

The place we stopped wasn’t anything special. There wasn’t a large hill, or a mountain or a clearing that said “Under here is a great place for a mine!” Instead the two of us used the noteputer to reclaim the underbrush and a tree or two until we had a small clearing.

Then I activated the Metal Extractor blueprint, and this time it had no problem being created. The size of the extractor was fifteen to twenty feet tall, and a good ten feet wide, which thankfully meant that it was hidden pretty well in the trees around it.

The problem was I hadn’t expected the length of time required to build the damn thing.

“So it’s gonna take at least ten hours.” I muttered in irritation as I settled the Noteputer onto the ground where it’s stream of green nanites continued to rush out of it in a green light as just the base of the metal extractor was slowly being created.

“I guess we are camping tonight then.” Gauge muttered although I could tell he wasn’t looking super happy about it.

Neither of us had ever been camping before.
“Fire first I guess.” I tell him as I go to grab some gas out of the bike's tank. This was going to be a rough night.

----
Alternate Perspective.

I couldn’t sleep. I watched as Vicky kicked fitfully in her sleep as I kept the fire going by through a stick or two into it every once in a while. Ever since Vicky had shown me her secret my mind was awhirl with what she had shown me.

Lostech, real honest amazing lostech, something capable of creating amazing structures out of nothing. It awed me. With that device the decline of the Inner Sphere could be turned around. I did trust Vicky, she was family but I couldn’t help but want to reveal all of this to Adept Michaelson. He had always been so kind to me, teaching me the secrets of technology and of course some minor teachings of Blake.

But I had promised. I would keep her secret, even if the idea of giving the device to the Steiners made me uncomfortable. They weren’t any better than the Combine! The great houses were the reason that so much technology was lostech, instead of something shared within humanity.

I sighed. Vicky grunted in her sleep as she curled up closer to me, trying to keep warm. The green light of the device was still working even as she slept filling the clearing in glowing green.

My sister in everything but name had been given a gift, a blessing straight from Blake. As I slowly watched the structure she called a metal extractor take form, all I could wonder is if she was going to bring back the golden age of Star League or if her attempts would only make things worse.

But as I watched a structure more complicated than anything but an HPG Array be constructed before my eyes in a glow of technology so advanced, even I was tempted to call it magic I felt a bit of hope.

Vicky was family. She was my friend, and while I would definitely trust this sort of tech more in the hands of ComStar rather than an orphan girl. I couldn’t deny it was gene locked to her, so she was the only one who could use it anyhow. So I leaned back and decided I would do my best to make sure Vicky helped the Inner Sphere, even if in the end that meant when she failed in making things better I could always let ComStar know to step in and fix any problems she made.

ComStar after all, would be more than happy to help guide her in returning technology to the Inner Sphere! It was one of the core tenets they preached!

----

Waking up the next morning was less waking up and more deciding what poor sleep I could get was less valuable than just moving. I groaned working out the knots in my back as I looked over the completed metal extractor. It wasn’t so much as shifting, but I could tell from a faint buzz in the air that it was working. I picked up the noteputer to look over and I smiled as I saw the numbers for my resources shooting up at a ludicrous rate.

Unfortunately, whatever storage space my note puter used was already almost full. It wasn’t exactly a lot of space. Although it was about three times the amount needed to create a metal extractor.

“That’s not good.” I muttered.

“What isn’t?” The voice right at my shoulder startled me as I jerked around before sighing as I felt my chest heaving.

“You ninja don’t sneak up on me!”

“I’ve been standing here since you woke up.”

“Well stop being sneaky!” I grumbled as I looked over the numbers. “The extractor is working great, but there is a limit to how much can be stored. I would assume there would be a metal storage, building, or something that fits with everything, but I don’t have a blueprint for it.”

“So what are you gonna do?” He asked and I shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter for now. The noteputer doesn’t build very fast anyways, but it will be something I have to figure out if I can ever make a faster fabricator, or a factory.”

“Okay. So what's next in your grand plan. You have your extractor, which is hidden, we are way out in the woods. What next?”

“Next I make a second bike, because I’m not gonna ride behind you all the way back to the city, then, we make some money. I need enough C-bills that I can throw around that I can at least pretend to be some young noble girl from some periphery planet and not just a random orphan. Once I have that we hire some people and create a drop ship or two.”

“Dropships! You want to go straight to a dropship?”

“Not straight there, but that is the end goal. After all, I told you, didn't I? We are going Lostech hunting!”

----

The drive back into the city was far faster with each of us having our own bike. Refueling also was easy now that I had so much spare resources. We made it back into town and after storing our new bikes away so no one would question where we got them, I picked up the sensor and dragged Gauge out into the city.

The one thing we needed next was money, and frankly a pair of kids wouldn’t normally get access to anything mech related. Mechs were unsurprisingly expensive. When even the cheapest ones are millions of C-bills, no one wants a kid around them in case they accidentally break something.

Fortunately I had Gauge with me. He was a tech head, and had been training as an AsTech. So he actually did have access to mech parts. Unfortunately I couldn’t really do anything.

Old man Ulrich was a crotchety irritable old Mech Tech. Ulrich worked as a mercenary tech here at Solaris. Unlike most Mech Techs he didn’t work with a single Solaris Stable, and instead tended to pick up whatever work overflowed from their own stables.

Unfortunately he worked with only a few techs at any one time, and his security was way too high for us to just walk in and start scanning what we needed. That is where Gauge’s new orders came in. Go in and ask to work on repairing a PPC, or a Medium Laser. Heck I would be fine if he just goes and gets scans of some standard armor.

Anything I can create a few pieces of and sell off. So he hoofed his way into the mech bay to get some work done wearing my secret scanner backpack.

----

Four days later we finally had our break.

Gauge had managed a scan on a few things that were complete enough to be of use. Over four days, and it had taken almost all four days to get the scans completed. He didn’t want to get yelled at, or worse kicked out of work if he was seen messing around instead of repairing what he was supposed to.

He was tired, as while Old Man Ulrich was happy to accept the basically free help, he still ran his AsTechs ragged whenever they showed up. There wasn’t really a school, or any place to learn for free even here on Solaris after all. The old man was actually pretty kind for allowing basically anyone to come in and learn something.

“I got a complete Defiance B3M Medium laser scan, it was left out from a previous repair that had to be halted, so whenever I was on a break I was allowed to look it over. I also got a scan of 1 StarSlab, Armor. They were working on a locust in the bay, so there was plenty of armor around. Also… It was a Locust 1S so it had SRM launchers, I couldn’t get around the launchers itself but…”

I nodded, pulling up the new blueprints one of which was SRM missiles. So if nothing else I could produce some boom to sell.

“Okay so we have armor, medium lasers, and missiles.” I tap my chin going over the three pieces. I had to be very careful here. Sell too much of any one thing and people are going to wonder where I got it.

“Okay. Let’s do the medium laser arrays. Despite being the most expensive item, they are actually the least strange. To make enough money selling armor or missiles would be way too strange, but we can sell one or two Medium lasers without as much worry.”

“So who do we sell them to?” Came the obvious question.

“Honestly? We sound desperate and try to sell it to anyone. We actually want people to think the few we have fell off a truck somewhere, if we go for a big contract it will just bring attention, but even kids like us sometimes steal something big.”

I took a moment to think everything through, before I sighed. “Crap. I forgot something important.”

“What?”

“How the heck do we haul around a Medium laser without a vehicle? The things are over a ton!”

----

So that was how late at night Gauge and I were doing something I didn’t really want to do. We had taken our bikes out after dark heading way out of our normal haunts. As we didn’t want to be recognized when we started scanning something. Both of us were wearing dark clothes with hoods, I had even forced Gauge to switch out of his Comstar like coat.

Then the two of us used our scanner and map to find what we were looking for. The truck we finally chose was thankfully parked in a quiet area. The scanner kept us aware of anyone coming by as I went over the truck piece by piece with the hand scanner until after a few hours the soft confirmation of a 100% blueprint emitted from the noteputer.

The two of us immediately jumped on our bikes and got out of there. No one saw us but that doesn’t mean we want to be hanging around late at night. The two of us didn’t even head into the orphanage that night knowing we would just get yelled at, instead we crashed on the couches in our hideout snoring away.

The next morning while Gauge got us breakfast I first made sure the old rolling doors for our base still worked, and with only a slight amount of cheating with supertech I got them rolling again. I closed them down and inside I started creating our truck.

It actually didn’t take long. There wasn’t exactly a lot of high tech equipment on what was a space pickup. When it was done I looked over the truck for a while.

The large “Norman.” Symbol on the grill of the truck didn’t mean anything to me, but it was a large pickup style truck that could definitely haul around a ton of Medium laser. That’s all I cared about. I made sure the fuel tank was full and thankfully had a key for the truck as I started it up. It revved nicely, and I nodded before turning it back off. Now the interesting part.

I pulled out the noteputer and started creating a Medium laser in the back of the truck.

By the time it was halfway done, Gauge had my breakfast and we ate as we watched the green light create our future.

----

Learning to drive a future pickup was thankfully not too hard.

It helped that it didn’t matter if I scratched it up, or destroyed it. I could just create another one!

Pulling up to the Ulrich Mech Stable got some attention, thankfully Gauge managed to get us into the bay yard before I pulled off to the side, and Gauge went to go get the Old Man.

He came sauntering out, belly preceding him, and his large white beard reminding me of Santa as he walked up. I stepped up to the back of the truck, and tugged the large tarp off the two Medium Lasers I had whipped up to sell.

“Two Defiance B3M Medium lasers.” I offered as the man nodded looking them over.

“And where did you two brats pick these up?” He asked which I simply shook my head.

“Not your concern, there isn’t any heat on them if that’s what you are worried about, but you interested?”

“Interested, sure. But I don’t buy stolen goods. Usually leads to trouble.” He looked over at Gauge who was looking shifty. Damnit. “Don’t usually have one of my more reliable AsTechs try to pawn off stolen goods either.”

“Not stolen.” He offered before clamping his mouth shut.

“Then how exactly did you get 80 grand in C-bills worth of hardware? I know it ain't from my pay. Cause I don’t pay ya.” He said with a chortle although his glare was firmly locked onto the two of us.

“It was payment for a job I did. Gauge is just the middleman in this, and again, not your concern. They aren’t stolen. If you don’t believe me, trust Gauge. Do you want them or not? Cause I can haul these around town to another Stable to sell off. We are only here because Gauge knows you.”

I watched the old man stroke his beard for a while. “I’ll give you 20k for both of them then.”

I took a moment to take in his offer before spitting off the side of the truck. “If you want to barter me down for a pair of factory fresh lasers, you could have at least tried not to insult me. Two for the normal price of one, is a joke and you know it.” I sighed. “35 each. You know you will need them. Mediums are always in need, and you don’t have to worry about ordering them, or getting a pair of Quickscell.”

He scoffed. “This is Solaris, they don’t even bother bringing Quickscell garbage here. I’ll take them for 30 each then. But if someone hotshot dealer comes up to me asking why I have his stolen goods. I know where you live boy.” He growled pointing at Gauge who backed up in fear.

I think about the offer for a minute before smirking. “I might have other stock in the future. We make this deal now, and if no ‘heat’ bothers you, future purchases are made at closer to standard prices. Interested?”

The hold man huffed. “Let’s say no one bothers me about these two, and they don’t turn out to be garbage or something wrong with them. I’ll consider buying from a new dealer.”

I reach out a hand and we shook on it. A few minutes later the lasers were picked up by a few AsTechs. Gauge to my amusement, forced into helping. I had an electronic check for 60k C-bills.

More money than I had ever had at one time.

Once Gauge was done we pulled back into the truck and headed off.

----

Over the next week I actually sold two more Medium Lasers to the old man. This time at a better 35k deal. Using that money I ‘rented’ a much larger truck hauler for a day and copied it. While the Norman truck was good for 1 ton loads, it couldn’t handle the heavy loads of some of the bigger weapons I would need to haul around. Using almost all the funds I had managed I bought a damaged Donal PPC. Normally repairs on a PPC aren’t easy as they are complicated fiddly things.

At least that is what Gauge said. But after scanning the broken one. My Noteputer pulled through. And I had a full Donal PPC blueprint. This wasn’t something that the Old Man could really just afford normally. But he did point me towards something that would help.

The Stables in the area all used a market to purchase what they needed to fix up broken mechs. So at my request the Old man put an offer for a few PPC’s he had ‘come into’ For a modest fee.

I had agreed because honestly, it was a great deal for me. Finding buyers that won’t wonder who the girl is selling expensive weapons? Priceless.

Well, About 20% in the end, but that’s semantics. Still the Old man was getting very curious on where I was finding my hardware and it was thanks to an accidental slip by Gauge that we came up with a better cover, than “Don’t ask.”

I wasn’t there for it, but the Old man was grilling Gauge on his future plans when he accidentally slipped “Lostech hunter.” The soft reveal that I had in my hands an idea of a Lostech find from my dead Solaris Jock mother, gave the old man the idea I might be selling off pieces of equipment my mother had hidden away.

I had done my very best to confirm that fact with a heavy sigh, and a continued request not to talk about it.

The old bleeding heart accepted it, although I had a very strong conversation with Gauge afterwards about operational security and to keep his mouth shut.

Helm was going to be my cache after all. Can’t let ComStar find out, I’m not Grayson Carlyle after all.

With the Mech Stables market contacts I was able to start taking requests from different stables without any more fear of discovery.

A stable needs a few Medium Lasers? Create a few onto the back of my Little truck, and send Gauge out as a driver to complete the sale.

Someone needs some PPC’s? Same thing, just with the bigger rig. Gauge was getting quite a bit of experience driving.

The money was absolutely flowing in, and it was actually once again the old man that dropped an opportunity into my lap.

----

I was waiting for Gauge to finish helping out the Old Man, despite everything he still wanted to learn to be a Mech Tech, so he spent a lot of time when he wasn’t driving and selling parts in the mechbay working on repairs.

Of course that was when a man who could only be a mech jockey came flying out of the mech bay as if the hounds of hell were on his ass and rushed into a rickety ground car and took off in a spray of gravel.

“Worthless sack of Cappelan shit! Get your ass back here, and pay me what you fucking owe me!” The roar of a wild Old man echoed around the yard as he came absolutely charging out of the mech bay, a shotgun in his hand screaming and hollering after the disappearing car.

I waited a while for the cursing to trinkle off as I approached the old man that was red faced and breathing heavy. “You alright Old Man?”

“Fuck off kid… Piece of shit was the Jockey for the locust, Didn’t have the money to pay me for my repairs, and actually tried to offer to pay me after he won his next match. Can you believe that? Even a fucking Kuritan would offer a down payment or something before trying to fuck you with honor, but that sack of shit is apparently broke.”

I whistled that was actually pretty rare. “You didn’t get paid half before you started?” I asked curious, my knowledge of mech stables repair prices, not something I was familiar with.

“Nein. The trash worked for a stable pay should have been reliable. My fault for not getting an advance. Apparently the kid lost his money betting on the matches this month, trying to win enough to pay for the repairs and then some.” He sighed as he wiped his forehead. “Well. I’ll just repo the damn thing. Fuck. I hate this. Gotta call the fuckin games administration and prove that he didn’t pay and then I have to sell a fucking Locust.”

My mouth moved before my head could think about it. “How much?” He turned to me with a quirked eyebrow and I couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Yeah…. How much?” I reaffirmed.

Then we got to haggling.

----

It took another week before the Solaris administration confirmed lack of payment for the repairs and turned over the ownership of the Locust to Ulrich. Then after a deal of a million and change. The mech wasn’t in the best of conditions after all, even after a month of work under the MechTech.

I was the ‘Proud’ owner of a Locust-1S.

The week before this Gauge and I had been using my Noteputer to clean up the mechbay we had been using, and after reaching out to the Silesia housing authority I managed to officially ‘purchase’ the old mech bay.

Then I had the interesting task of trying to walk the thing to the new mech bay. I mean sure. I had spent a ton of time in the simulators you could find in most shopping centers, ‘learning’ how to pilot a mech, but like most things it wasn’t a perfect representation, especially the crappy sims that were more or less public use.

So when I crawled into the Locust for the first time, the computer having been set to a factory setting thanks to the Old Man I was able to enter my basic information. After a few minutes and putting on the massive Neurohelmet which was actually incredibly difficult I was forced to sit with it resting on the back of the chair as it was so heavy it was almost impossible to keep stable.

But I ran through the startup sequence. Although the mech was ancient it had been factory reset so I had to go through the entire sequence of setting my vitals, and entering a lock on the system.

Finally after nearly half an hour of messing with the basic settings I was ready. The gantry pulled away and I willed the mech to take a step forward as I pushed the throttle.

It was a tottering shuddering step, but it was a step nonetheless. Before I made it out of the mech bay my movement was cleaning up although I was getting a headache from the stupid helmet.

The walk down the road in a locust was an utterly new experience, and I loved it. I kept to a very slow pace, not wanting to accidentally fall, or break something. Thankfully I managed to make it to our secret base. It had been irrevocably changed over the last week. The outside looked the same, but the bay doors now worked, and so opened without even a cry of protest as I walked the locust inside.

Gauge was already inside, guiding me into the once ancient gantry that had been completely ‘replaced’ over the week. My breath released in a heavy exhale when I felt the Gantry lock into place, and I quickly shut down the Locust and pulled the thousand pound Neurohelmet off my head with a groan already rubbing my neck.

I didn’t even have time to pop the cockpit before Gauge was there practically fogging up the glass with his breath. Opening the cockpit I laughed at the look on his face.

It was an undeniable fact that every kid in the Inner Sphere and beyond wanted to be a mechwarrior. It was the one thing that every kid no matter where they are from have in common.

“It’s a shame we have to destroy it.” I mention as I slip out of the cockpit still rubbing my neck at the pain of the neurohelmet.

“W-what!? Why do we have to destroy it?” Gauge quickly grabbed my army to stop me from climbing fully out of the cockpit.

“You know how long it takes to scan something don’t you? There is no way we can scan this locust in a reasonable amount of time using the scanner, plus we only have one mech bay available. Would you rather keep this beat up old Locust, or use the extractor to disintegrate it down, and create a factory fresh locust?”

He stops talking for a moment as a disgruntled look spreads across his face. I understood his unhappiness. The idea of just destroying a battlemech hurt me too. But the extractor could create a detailed blueprint of anything it ‘consumes’ and it was a lot faster than the two of us climbing over and in every inch of this mech to get a full scan.

“Yeah. I guess you're right.”

“I know it sucks, but trust me, I had to actually pilot that thing, it was amazing, but it wasn’t the best maintained, even after the Old Man went through it.” I grunted as I stepped out onto the gantry Gauge helping me out before I pulled out the noteputer aiming it at the locust. The green light that burst out was bright and fierce as the locust began slowly disintegrating.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1.3 Copy and Paste
3020
Solaris
Solaris city
----

I don’t know how long I had been looking at my noteputer the next morning before Gauge poked me out of my stupor. “Hey what is it, you have been silent for five minutes.”

“Something I wasn’t expecting happened.” I angled the noteputer showing the list of blueprints saved into the system including the Locust-1S now, Including all the base parts. I could create LTV 160 Fusion engines as well. Basically if it was a locust part I could build one now. But...

“Locust-NFX what is a locust NFX?” He asked as he met my eyes.

“It’s a Locust that has some of the tech from my noteputer integrated. Look.” I point out the list of equipment including a NanoForge (Small) equipped in place of the Medium laser.

“You can create more of your lostech!” Gauge gasped in shock, but I wasn’t even done.

“It also has the super sensor integrated into this locust instead of the old tracking system. This thing could work as a command and control mech considering how much data it can gather.”

“That’s good isn’t it? Why are you looking so shocked?”

“Gauge, the hand held tracking system has a one-hundred mile radius, Now put that in a mech. We could literally get up to date data on any enemy mechs, or infantry in a hundred mile radius.” I give that a second even I was a little shocked at how powerful that was. “Sneak attacks would be completely pointless, we would always know.”

“Okay yeah... that makes sense.” He muttered, blinking slowly as he processed that knowledge. Gauge was good with tech, but he still had trouble wrapping his head around the use of the tech.

“Okay so let’s make one. I want to know what this thing can really do.”

I settled the Noteputer on the ground after activating the construction of a Locust-NFX. Watching the green nano-machines slowly work together to create piece by piece a full mech was still amazing to me.

Unfortunately the construction time was long, way longer than even a Metal Extractor. I sighed, as I made sure to get the building properly locked down before we left. I had already fixed the hole in the wall that we had originally used as an entrance when we were kids so it was more secure at the very least.

“C’mon Gauge let’s go get some work done while we wait.”

----

The next three days were a slog. I couldn’t build anything to sell, so I felt like I was wasting time. Gauge went back to work with the Old Man so he at least kept busy, and his dedication to learning the AsTech trade had only increased. Nothing quite like offering a starving man a chance at food.

Gauge really wanted a mech.

I intended to give him one.

Of course things had changed for me, even without me expecting it. I had registered the Locust under my name, so I was an official MechWarrior in the eyes of the government on Solaris. Being a registered mechwarrior came with a few benefits I hadn’t realized. There was a certain respect given to Mechwarriors. It was almost like having a minor noble title. It also came with some other benefits.

Like strange men in business suits waiting for you at the orphanage.

Like I said, “benefits.”

“Good evening Ms. Victoria, I am Arthur Wright, of Wright Stables. I heard of a new Mechwarrior on Solaris you see, no longer dispossessed.” The older man hadn’t even waited for me to enter the orphanage before he sprang on me, his voice trying and failing to sound joyous at my good fortune.

I held up a hand to slow him down, closing the door of the Orphanage behind me, the matrons were all looking at the man in shock at having someone so wealthy show up here.

And at his words the entire orphanage blew up. It was a simple fact that if someone rich looking was at the orphanage, all the kids' attention were focused like a pinpoint. And he just blurted out that I had a mech.

Before I could even respond to him, I had a horde of leeches grabbing onto my clothes all speaking in one voice.

Let me see your mech! Let me Pilot your mech! I want to be a Mechwarrior too!

He seemed quite shocked at the sudden raucousness I did my best to tell him with nothing but a glare that this was all his fault.

It took a few minutes to pull the minions from my limbs, and there were a lot of crying children who had never ‘known’ a mechwarrior before. When it was all over I had Mr. Wright in the small ‘meeting’ room that was where prospective parents met the orphans.

“I apologize, I wasn’t aware that it was a secret.” He said after we had settled down, one of the matrons actually bringing in tea and pouring him a cup, I eyed them oddly wondering what they were up to.

“It wasn’t a secret. Just something new, that hadn’t been released yet. The Locust is still being repaired. The previous jockey was rough with her.” I offer. Not admitting that the old Locust was gone.

“Yes, Yosuke was always sure of his skills, despite not having any.” The old man offered with a chuckle, although I didn’t laugh. I had just figured out what the old man's angle was.

“He was a member of your Stable. That’s how you knew what happened.” I prompted, and the older man's silver mustache twitched into a smile as he sipped at the tea.

“Quite right. When a mechwarrior in my stable lost his mech due to failing to pay a repair bill, I had written him off of course, the initial repair costs had come from my pocket, so to learn he had gambled them? Ludicrous. No point throwing bad money after good. I had intended to offer a price on the mech myself to add the mech permanently to my stables, but was quite surprised to learn that it had already been sold.”

“I was there when… Yosuke? Was chased out of the mech bay with a shotgun. I saw an opportunity. Old Man Ulrich was more than happy to not have to deal with selling off a mech that wasn’t in the best of conditions. I get a working mech… the reputation that involves.”

“Oh yes, a tremendous deal. I do admit, I came for a reason today Ms. Victoria. I wished to see the Mechwarrior who managed to sneak such an opportunistic deal through and,” he sipped his tea. “I am interested in how a young orphan manages to afford a battlemech.”

“Good business practices.”

“I see.” He mentions after my response. I was purposefully glaring at the older man now to let him know that topic was over. “Then let me cut to the chase. I run my stable in the class two circuits. Light mechs are my bread and butter, I was quite disappointed to lose the eighth mech in my Stable, especially to such incompetence. As you are far too young to take part in the games yourself, I do find myself in an interesting situation.”

“You want my mech.”

“Indeed. Despite what you might think, finding an open mech isn’t as easy as you might have been led to believe. There are bigger Stables than I that snatch up many of the new visitors, and usually only the dregs come tumbling down to my level. But my self depreciation aside. I had a match scheduled this coming week you see. My entire Stables Assortment of light mechs,Two lances, verse two lances, and now I find myself not only a mechwarrior short, but a mech as well.”

“It’s not for sale.”

“Ah, that is what I feared you would say. Do understand Ms. Victoria, You are just a young woman, and you are on Solaris. You don’t have the protections of a Mechwarrior working in a Stable, nor a family, nor even just the hired guns a mercenary, or a pirate might have with them.” He slowed then, and I knew that he was threatening me.

“I do recommend you sell me the mech Ms. Victoria. I would truly hate to have something happen to it. Or for someone to decide since you have the money to afford a Battlemech, that you are valuable yourself.”

Crap. I was glaring hard now, and his kindly grandfather appearance really did hide a rotten man. I could see the smirk under his mustache as he took another sip of the tea as I considered my options here.

The biggest problem was the locust he was looking for? It was gone. Even if I created a new one, it would be in perfect condition. No one would really be able to notice if I was piloting it myself, but the first thing the Stable would do is have it looked over.

They would notice the mech would be factory fresh.

“Then let me be frank in return Mr. Wright. It’s not for sale. Perhaps I might have offered to rent it to you for the match, but that isn’t happening now. You might make me regret this, Sure. But even if I’m killed that Locust won’t end up in your hands right away. And Solaris doesn’t look kindly to men that kidnap owners of mechs to try and force them to sign them off. So yeah you can cause me trouble. But I’ll bet, you’ll have more important things to worry about until your little match is over. Won’t you?”

“A shame. I considered you moderately intelligent for your age thanks to your new position.” He stands. “I suppose we will have to finish this another time.”

“Oh Mr. Wright. Good luck on your games.” I offer just as the man is about to walk out, which leads him stalking rather like a ruffled cat as the door closes behind him.

“His mother was a Cappellan.” I cursed him.

Unfortunately this changes things. My plans were now shot. Laying low and slowly building up resources until I could get off this rock was no longer an option. Stable masters had a horrible reputation on Solaris for causing trouble. Even a low level stablemaster that takes part in the side games instead of the main circuit still had the money and clout to own multiple mechs. With plenty of men that work for them.

Sabotage was a common and very real threat on Solaris.

Nothing for it then. Time to go a little bit loud.

So as I watched the old man out the front window get into a very nice speeder and drive off. I turned away from the matrons who looked hopeful. Finally realizing they thought he was interested in adopting me. I didn’t bother to inform them of the truth. Instead I headed towards a specific room.

Just outside Marcus stopped me. Like normal the boys had set up a ‘watch’ outside the room. Where a comfortable chair had been dragged out. Of course the door was still open and the three I was looking for were chatting away.

Marcus jumped to his feat as he saw me blocking the door. “Halt... Mechwarrior.” He grudgingly adds. “The Commander is busy we-”

“Sergeant let the Mechwarrior in.” The boy I was looking for called out from within the room, I nodded to Marcus as I entered. Honestly we were friends. Family as all us orphans were. These were just the military nerds. I usually didn’t interact with them much when they were like this. They took larping to the next level.

Or was it really Larping in this day and age? Or was it just considered training?

I entered a room that looked more like a command bunker than a living space. Even the Matrons had given up on trying to tidy the place up. The three I was looking for were settled around a map table. As usual when the boys weren’t out practicing shooting, or in the arcade sims, they were here. Talking strategy and tactics of battles.

Like I said. Military nerds.

“Sergeant.” I call out catching his attention just before passing him. “Close the door and make sure no one listens okay?” I call out as I enter. “We have something important to talk about.” I tell him, knowing hitting the military angle will get him to agree.

The door shuts behind me even as Benny the ‘leader’ grumbles. “Damnit Mechwarrior don’t come in and just order my troops around.” He waves me to a chair across from him that had been cleared. Benny was just a little older than Gauge, he was actually the oldest of the orphan kids so he had a lot of respect from the younger boys. He was the older brother everyone looked up to. And the fact he was so close to aging out meant that everyone felt a little frustrated for him.

Once he hit 16 he was out on the street. And probably joining a military academy to be a grunt somewhere. Of course for Benny, that wasn’t a problem.

The fact he was utterly obsessed with becoming a soldier, and maybe eventually a Mechwarrior was something that made all the other boys look up to him. He was the heroic warrior older brother all of us adored.

“Benny. Elias. Hanna.” I greeted the other two that were now standing behind Benny. Hanna for once not getting into an argument with me, the two of us got along exactly like sisters do. In which every time we saw each other we tended to whisper insults under our breath until we ended up wrestling on the floor.

I usually lost these fights, the girl was built like a football player and had the face to match.

She was also scary with a rifle. Hence why she hung around Benny.

“Commander!” He grumbles at me as I take my seat.

“Commander.” I agree with a dip of my head. “That is actually why I am here. I don’t know if you heard about the old man that just showed up to see me?”

“Heard of it, watched him come and go. What’s going on Vicky?”

So I sigh and explain that the old man basically threatened to have me killed. Or worse. In order to get my mech.

“Mother fucker!” Benny cursed as he stroked his nonexistent beard. “You really stepped in it Vicky, Stablemasters have a lot of leeway. And Mechwarriors that will do what they want in a pinch.”

Hanna grunted. “Yeah but he is targeting one of us. Warriors ain't shit out of a mech. We could take them.”

“He won’t involve them. He thinks I’m some orphan kid with a bit of cash. So he will just hire some thugs, but even one thug is more than I can handle alone.” I put my cards on the table then.

“How would you like to actually be a mercenary? For real?”

The honest, and rather flattering anger on my behalf melted from their faces at my offer.

“Tell me more.”

----

I was lucky that the next morning after all this nonsense, my Locust-NFX was complete. That meant two things. One I didn’t have to worry about my new guards seeing a mech be constructed out of green light, and I had my production capacity again.

“Gauge, take a look at this.” I call out as I am sitting in the Locust cockpit that morning. I jumped in, activated the mech and then opened up the construction abilities of the ‘Small’ Nanoforge.

Inside I was shocked that after looking at the same list of production from my Noteputer. While browsing I idly wished I had some sort of defensive construction to give my new guards a place to protect my Mechbay.

And then. As if by the magic of neurohelmets and space magic science. The construction blueprints for a concrete bunker were added to the blueprints available. I was able, with a few thoughts, to alter the blueprint to my needs.

Gauge pulling himself into the cockpit looked over the screen. I tilted his way as I mentally altered the construction of the bunker in real time.

“So you can alter the blueprints! I thought you would be able to since the noteputer always repaired things, but wow. Vicky, with this is there anything you can’t build… Other mechs?”

I shook my head. I had tried to ‘think’ of other mechs, but nothing happened. Lack of understanding probably.

What was even more interesting was the discovery that while the max range of the sensor installed in my Locust, hadn’t changed at all. It’s minimum range for scanning items in high enough detail to create a blueprint had been extended. I really wouldn't need to spend hours scanning every part of something anymore. The locust could get the detail needed as long as it was around ten feet from my Mech.

Considering this, and the fact I wanted to protect what I had, and retain some security an idea popped into my head. Why not just expand?

“Gauge back up, I’m going to call the housing authority. See how much it would cost to get an expansion permit on the mechbay.” The mech bay had been in a destruction zone that hadn’t been worth repairing before. But if I could buy some more of the land around the mech bay.

Then I smiled even brighter, as I switched over to the sensor package, and started taking ground scans. “Cancel that.” I called out before he even started walking away. “I have a better idea.” I grunted as I waved him off to start the activation of the mech. “Gauge, wait outside for Benny's boys. Make sure no one comes inside.” I call out using the exterior speakers of my mech.

I didn’t have a lot of time before Bennys boys showed up to start their guard duty. And I wanted to make it seem like I hadn’t altered the interior of my Mechbay in just a few minutes.

----

So fully reconstructing interior spaces was incredibly easy when you could make alterations with your mind and then have a billion nanites basically eat away and reconstruct what I wanted. The first step was to completely eat away the mech bay gantry. Saving the blueprints then starting to dig downwards creating a ramp.

This was the hardest part. As the nanoforge wasn’t really designed to break down unusable matter like this. It wouldn’t exactly go into my ‘storage’ after all it wasn't useful metal that could be processed into just about anything thanks to space science magic.

Instead I used it, the nanoforge was incredibly responsive to my thoughts. The ground I dug through to begin a ramp downwards was compressed down into an incredibly firm ground, Harder than concrete, although I might have to go back over it at some point to make sure it was capable of keeping up with the stress of heavier mechs stepping on it.

But that was for later. I continued digging down, until I was well below the surface level. Thanks to the ground penetrating sensor I was easily able to dig down at an angle that wouldn’t interfere with anything.

And so after about four hours of work I had my new mechbay. The old bay opened directly into a ramp that led downwards into a much larger room that was for now about five times larger. I even set up a metal blast door that I could ‘open’ if I ever needed to expand more, although for now there was nothing but rock on the other side.

But every inch of the rest of the space was concrete, and metal. Industrial lights powered the whole thing. And to make up for the increased power usage from everything, I went ahead and modified the LTV 160 fusion engine that was in the locust Blueprint, into a stand alone generator for my new ‘base’

Secret bases were very cool. Especially in the 31’st century. The whole Star League fad hadn’t died out yet, so it was very ‘in’ at the moment.

I completed a final walk through, creating a second ground path that was built into the edge of the wall that would allow someone on foot to go from the surface mech bay into the new underground area. Without walking on the main road.

Then I created a surface blast door. That sealed off the downward ramp. And a second Blast Door at the bottom of the ramp. On the surface two bunkers were created immediately inside on each side of the entrance. The pillboxes on each side were built to house at least ten men each, and had plenty of firing holes that could be used to fend off any intruders.

What could I say? I was still kinda pissed about being threatened.

With that. I was satisfied that our mechbay was secure enough that anyone looking to cause trouble would be at a severe disadvantage.

Once that was complete I settled my Locust back in the new mech bay, stepping out onto the gantry to rub my aching neck. That stupid Neurohelmet was not designed for fourteen year olds. Then I immediately turned back around, got back in my mech and produced one of the Norman pickups at the base of the gantry, before once more stepping out.

I was like half a mile or more underground. I really didn’t want to hike up the incline. So I climbed into my new truck and drove up the ramp until I was at the surface. Where I called Gauge inside. I drove the boy around our new underground mech bay and delighted in his fascination with what I had constructed.

When I finished showing him the Fusion generator I swear he was drooling.

“Vicky, you created this entire place in half a day! Imagine creating a field base in such a short time!”

I nodded, but his statement actually made me push further. “Imagine a lance or so of Locusts running ahead of an army, every time the army needs to stop, there is a fortified base already set up and ready they can move forward or retreat to.” I add which causes his eyes to widen as he goggles.

“That’s insane.” He mutters and I nod. If I ever did become a merc commander. I would really be a pain in the ass to fight. Imagine. Every time you have a battle the enemy builds a fortified base right behind their lines that they can retreat to.

“Anyway Gauge I have another job I am going to need you for. Since you are old enough to get away with it.” At his look I pulled out the stack of C-bills I had prepared this morning and a list. His eyes met mine and when I reminded him I really didn’t like getting threatened he laughed and his smirk was just as nasty as mine.

----

“Benny, welcome to the base.” I said as the boy walked up with the rest of his ‘troops.’ Their numbers were swelling by the hour as news got out that if they wanted, they could join under Benny’s command and get paid for their work. There were plenty of orphans and orphanages. And a lot of them were already beginning to be trained as soldiers. Just about all of us went into an infantry military academy if we weren’t adopted. It wasn’t like most of us had jobs or prospects at 16 after all.

I met him just outside the entrance, as he looked around. I could tell the frown on the boy's face as he looked over the Mechbay from the outside meant he wasn’t happy. “This place is a mess. And it’s gonna be hell to keep safe. You know that right?”

He pointed to himself and a few of the kids he brought with that actually had weapons. The rest of the kids would be used more for spotters rather than any real defense.

I gave him a grin. “I think you will find Lieutenant Benny, that the base is more secure than the outer perimeter will lead one to believe.” He huffed at my mention of his rank now, which he accepted. Even kids didn’t go around calling themselves a general or something without the actual army for it. It was a weird quirk of the people here. Even civilians were careful about military rank.

The kids of the Inner Sphere took play time very seriously.

“Alright let’s see what I am working with.” He grunted as he stepped inside and came to a slow halt as he looked around. The interior space looked brand new compared to the damaged concrete of the mech bays exterior. I of course hadn’t done anything to the outside of the building except plug the holes that remained.

“What the hell.” Benny muttered as he looked around, noticing not only the pillbox bunkers, but the large blast door and downward slope. He turned first to the bunkers going through one of them completely to familiarize himself with it.

His orders came fast after that. All the kids were more than happy to follow them, as rarely did they get a chance to play in a bunker that was so very real.

“Well damn Commander. If this is what we are protecting I’m not nearly as worried as I was before.” He grunted out as he watched his ‘troops’ run around getting their stuff squared away. They were actually pretty efficient at it. Although some of the kids I didn’t recognize were slower to keep up. The actual orphan kids that played with Benny all the time were fast to get done what needed to be done.

Like I said play time was serious business in the Inner Sphere. Especially when you have an older ‘brother’ like Benny.

“That’s not all.” I told him. I jump into the truck that was waiting and wave him in as we drive down the slowly opening blast doors. As we headed deep underground I could practically feel the excitement coming off the boy beside me as I pulled up to the bottom floor. And it actually takes a few minutes for him to tear his eyes away from the mech to notice it.

Gauge had been busy. I gave him nearly 100k C-bills. A huge amount for a group of orphans, but nothing to someone who sells mech parts.

And with it, he bought just about one of everything. A good infantry Rifle. A solid sidearm. A BDU that would be perfect for long term use. A helmet. A small medkit. Boots. And finally, a set of infantry armor that was pretty high end. Probably the most expensive single piece outside the big surprise.

Then I copied all of it, and mass produced it all thanks to the Locust. But the metal crates filled with infantry equipment isn’t what caught his attention.

It was the Wheeled APC that Gauge had managed to find. The military supplier had sold it to us on the cheap, since it was heavily damaged.

Well. It ‘was’ heavily damaged.

A machine gun on the top of the thing gave it some punch and meant that Bennys little army wasn't just foot infantry, but motorized infantry.

Let me tell you even if it was cheaper. It still hurt my metal storage, after the damage the Locust had done to it. “Lieutenant.” I called out to him and he actually jumped as he caught my eyes, and for the first time he gave me a solid Salute.

“Commander.” He offered in return and I returned his salute as I waved him away.

“I’ll be busy with some work that needs to be done. Settle in your men Lieutenant. As of this moment we are no longer just some kids. We are a proper mercenary force.”

I had never seen a more childish look of absolute euphoria on Bennys face than when I said that.

God help us all.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1.4 Copy and Paste
3020
Solaris
Solaris city

Thankfully I did have some privacy in my Mechbay. Once all the equipment was handed out to the kids,along with the second Norman truck I had turned over to the Militia giving them a second set of wheels to use day to day. The APC wasn’t exactly great for city driving.

Gauge and I set to work. I needed more cash if I was going to get off Solaris, and that need to leave had only increased despite the coolness of my secret base. Ever since that Jerk had showed up at the Orphanage I could practically hear the ticking in the back of my mind as my time started to run out.

Because I can guarantee that he was watching me now. And if he felt he couldn’t do anything to me himself, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to whisper some questions into certain ears about where my equipment I am selling came from.

Or why an orphan had that much money in the first place.

So yeah I was in a bad place.

But every day that passed made me stronger. The third day after meeting the old man, the thugs started coming in. First they tried to bother me on the street, but the pickup full of armed kids, Shut that down almost instantly. But from there I knew it was going to get more serious.

The first time the Mechbay was hit by a molotov from a vehicle, was annoying. The fact no one was hurt is the only reason I didn’t retaliate. And funnily since I didn’t have any defenses set up outside there wasn’t much to really damage.

The second attack was more damaging. The pickup the kids used was firebombed, thankfully it was empty, sitting outside the orphanage at the time.

They had a new one in an hour, And the scrapped one was hauled away at my cost. The Solaris PD didn’t have any suspects. Leaving it as just a random gang attack. Dang it.

That is what my militia dealt with over the next week. A firebomb here or there, if I left the mechbay I was followed.

I eventually set up a room inside, deciding it was too dangerous to go back to the orphanage.

Most of the orphans that were old enough to fully ‘join’ my little army followed. I let them put up some mobile tents I bought for them.

Thankfully the 24/7 protection worked. I made sure Gauge had guards as well, and the kids actually held good discipline after the firebomb took out the truck.

They were orphans after all, we were all a bit guarded about things we owned. Money came in, as I continued to sell mech equipment. I had Gauge move farther and farther out to sell equipment, trying to hide the fact we were selling so much equipment. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough.

Three days before the mech match that Mr. Wright would be preparing for things got more serious. Two attacks happened at the same time. A firebomb on a truck that was outside the orphanage at the time, but this time the kids were in it. Thankfully they all managed to get out with only minor injuries. The car that threw the molotov out an open window got away, and once again a Norman truck went up in smoke.

The second was more serious. An actual drive-by happened at the Mechbay. Luckily everyone spends their time in a concrete reinforced bunker but the gun fire was serious, if it wasn’t for the concrete bunkers I had made, there would have been more than just injuries. This was a full scale attack.

And there wasn’t anything I could do. We reported it to the police, including who we believed had done it but even Benny who was almost sixteen but not there yet, was just a kid in the eyes of the Solaris PD.

They weren’t going to, or able to help.

So I stayed up late that night running through options. Finally late I realized that I was looking at this the wrong way. I didn’t have any intention of staying here on Solaris, this was just where everything started. Staying here wasn’t actually solving anything.

With a grin I woke up Gauge and gave him a task for the next day.

----

Walking into the local ComStar branches was an odd feeling, part of me trusted them, I mean Gauge was basically an honorary member. Another knew how vile they could be. How much damage they have, and will do.

I shrugged it off, no point in losing sight of what I came here for. I had a meeting with Adept Michaelson. Gauge was standing beside me more than happy to bring me here for a meeting with his sometimes mentor.

Adept Michaelson was someone I had met before. Gauge had dragged me into the comstar building a few times when we were younger. The interior of the building was done up in Comstar colors and schemes, and it was incredibly busy. The HPG right outside was massive and dominated the entire area. After all, everyone wanted the Solaris games vidcasts.

Walking in I followed Gauge as he got us through security quickly enough before I found myself brought into a small but well loved office.

“Gauge! It is good to see you, my boy.” The older Adept was in his mid fifties with a close shaven beard and short cut hair hidden by his hood. But his smile was usually the first thing you notice. Shiny white teeth and it spread his entire face wide. He stood and clapped Gauge on the shoulder as he turned to me. “And Vicky isn’t it? It’s been a few years, but your name is always coming out of Gauge's lips.” He chuckled probably hoping for embarrassment but none was there this time.

The two of us were too serious to let that distract us. “Good afternoon Adept Michaelson, thank you for taking the time to see us. I didn’t know who else to reach out to about this.”

He purses his lips for a moment. “Indeed? When Gauge requested a meeting for a friend I was quite curious about his reasons. I have heard some… Interesting things about you recently Miss Vicky.”

I nodded trying my best to hope they were just the rumors going around, and not that I had the ultimate Lostech. “My Mother left me a small hoard of mech salvage. The actual message about where it was, and how to access it only came to me recently, but I’ve managed quite well with her gift, which is what brings me to bother you today, Adept Michaelson.”

“Then please sit. I am quite interested to hear this!” He chuckled as he took his seat back at his desk and I sat across from him.

“I am looking to register a mercenary company with the MRB.” I tell him directly, and see his eyebrows rise up in surprise.

“I see. I wasn’t expecting that.” He joked out as he looked me over his smile bright, but his eyes were sharp.

“Yes I figured it would be a shock. I asked Gauge if we could speak to you because if nothing else, you are someone we know. I’m going to be looking to expand what I have right now to at least a full Lance, and some more motorized infantry. But I can’t do that here. Solaris has a lot of mech jockeys, and equipment, but not ‘that’ much. It’s too skewed. I need to get off planet, get to a place where we can start really training. I was hoping you would help in finding us either a larger mercenary band needing some additional help willing to offer some training, or at least a planetary guard position somewhere quiet that we could get some time to train up.”

He leaned back in his chair looking solemn as he looked over at me. “Very unexpected indeed. You do know Ms. Victoria that there are training schools all through Lyran space, many of them would be willing to take a girl that already owned a mech.”

“Yes, but all of those schools involve joining the military afterwards. I am looking more towards a mercenary lifestyle. My mother was a bit of a lostech hunter on the side, she never found much actual lostech from what I understand but she did find a few caches of things here and there. That’s mostly what I am selling off to afford this now.”

“I can understand wishing to follow in a parent's footprints, especially one that is now lost, but I must wonder if you are ready for what you are planning to do?”

“I’m an orphan Adept Michaelson. My future is being stuck on Solaris as a low end Mech Jockey until my Locust is too damaged to pilot, Then I end up on the street just another dispossessed. At least with a company under me I have a future. Even if that future ends early. It’s better than dying slowly here.”

“Mercenary groups, especially small ones, don't tend to last very long. I hope you understand for every Wolf’s Dragoons, there are hundreds that don’t survive their first year.”

“I know. Believe me I know, but I have a good start. I sold enough equipment to have a good nest egg, I have my mech, and before I leave I will be buying another mech. Probably a medium. Gauge will be my second Mechwarrior.” I comment purposefully hinting that Gauge was coming with me.

You know in case this man actually did feel any affection for him.

This actually did bring a frown on his face. “I see.” He sighed a little as he leaned forward in his chair. “Since I don’t believe I can convince you otherwise, I suppose it is my duty as a ComStar Representative to assist you in setting up a registration with the MRB. Do you have a name for your mercenary company?”

I nodded really, there was only one name that could ever fit for a group of orphans in a distant mech future. “Iron Blooded.”

And over the next few hours I ran through a lot of paperwork. ComStar bureaucracy isn’t a joke.

----

It was dark when Gauge and I finally left the HPG. The paperwork for setting up a Mercenary Corp wasn’t very hard, although I fudged the numbers a bit. Saying that I was expanding still so only having 1 mech wasn’t right.

The problem of course came in finding a job. I had originally wanted to maybe work as an extra unit attached to a more experienced merc group, but well. That didn’t end up happening. They were a few interested in my mech, but not everything else that comes along with it. Each of them denied the offer once they learned that I wasn’t just a single Mechwarrior but a company of orphans forming an infantry company.

Instead I was forced to change what I was looking for. I needed a planet that required a mercenary contract for a guard. Someplace that I can give the Iron Blooded a chance to actually gain some Iron.

It took hours to find a contract that we were big enough to take. The fact I offered two mechs, one of which I don’t have is the only reason I got it. A guard rotation on a planet one jump from Solaris in the Federation of Skye. A little planet called Zaniah III, it was completely unimportant except for two things. One, it was right on the border with the FWL. And second?

It had a certain Sanctuary on it. A place where exhausted mechwarriors tired of war could go to be left alone. A certain member of the Kell Hounds was currently there, hiding out after his Phantom Mech incident.

I chose it. Despite it being a desert world. With lower than normal gravity and an unfortunate temperature around the equator of 45 C. It was hot, dusty, and a miserable world to live on. Hence why they were willing to accept a small mercenary contract to help defend it.

They struggled to get any who wanted to go.

Three days.

In three days a chartered Leopard would pick us up and take us to Zaniah III. I had that long to get Gauge a mech, hire some actual instructors to train my infantry and Mechwarriors, and of course convince a bunch of orphans to move an entire planet away.

This was going to be tough.

----

Well delegation was the name of the game. I sent Gauge off with enough C-bills to purchase some sort of medium mech. A truck and a few kids to keep him safe. Benny and I on the other hand didn’t get to go buy battlemechs. We had to go hire some old crusty sergeants to train troops.

We had three responses back from the request we sent through ComStar.

The first one, came in, took a look at my age, and Benny who I introduced as my infantry commander and immediately turned around.

It wasn’t really a positive experience.

“Well this ain’t lookin good Commander.” He said and I nodded. The resume we had for the first man was already in the trash as we waited for the second. We had given some time between meetings as we expected to actually have a meeting.

Instead we were waiting for Alfred Kurtz, Ex-Lyran Guard Sergeant. He had completed his years in the guard and resigned to go home. Why he was on Solaris I had no idea. Benny was getting antsy. Despite the fact I assured him he was in charge of the infantry he didn’t like that we were recruiting outside of the orphans.

“It’s alright. We just need someone that can help with training, we have too many troops and not enough training. That’s all.” Before I could say anything further it was time.

The man that entered didn’t quite match his picture on his resume. The picture was in perfect military dress. This man looked like he had a few rough years. Although he still had the military bearing, his clothes were worn, and his once pristine mustache was bushier. He saluted as he entered which Benny and I returned before I motioned for him to take a seat.

“Before we get any further Sergeant let me be clear about what my merc company is. Just so you aren’t blindsided. We are brand new. I am currently the only mechwarrior but we are getting another mech and warrior as we speak. A majority of what we are is infantry. All of whom are recruited from the orphanages of Solaris.”

I gave him a moment to process that as I motioned toward Benny. “This is Lieutenant Benny, who is in charge of our Motorized Infantry regiment. He is currently fifteen. I am Commander Victoria, and I am fourteen. The eldest trooper we currently have is about a month away from sixteen. We are children. Orphans who decided that we were going to do more than just sit here on Solaris and rot. If working with us is something you can’t stomach. Please say so now.”

I am sure he was quite confused to walk into a room with a few young kids, but after that I could see his jaw drop a little in surprise at the true state of my young merc company. He seemed to take a moment after that to really look the two of us over. “Yet you are commanding a mercenary company. I was told in the report that you had mechs and infantry. That is… admirable for one so young.”

“Admirable. Sure I suppose you can call it that.” I accepted after a moment. “I am looking for someone who can train troops. Yes, they are young, and yes they are orphans. But we have gone through all the same schooling as any Lyran. Benny is the top scorer from his military academy. We are young, yes. But just as willing as anyone else, and we do have funds. That isn’t a concern.”

“You’re an orphan as well? Were your parents nobility?” He asked, and I could tell immediately he was curious about pay. The way he kept playing with the worn cufflinks on his arm. That was probably brass rather than gold at this point.

“No. My Mother was a mech Jockey here on Solaris. She had a secondary interest in lostech hunting. She never found any true lostech, but she had left enough salvage in secret to me, that I have plenty of funds to get what we need. Enough to start this company with the mech I already own, and the one that should be on it’s way now.”

He nodded. I could tell he was still hesitant, who wouldn’t be? If a bunch of highschoolers asked you to join their army, would you feel confident? “Your offer for pay… It was quite generous which is why I came, I admit.” He seemed to grimace at that. “I don’t wish to sound… Rude. But can I be sure you can sustain the pay you offered?”

“I understand your worry, I'm young, and not even a noble. Suddenly offering you a hefty pay for your rank and experience. If it will remove any concern. I don’t mind having the pay go through ComStar. We can settle on a set amount of time, say a year? And have it held in trust for you.”

He blinked a bit, before flushing lightly. “I accept. I apologize again, Miss- Commander. Your youth is definitely surprising, but if you set up the pay through ComStar, for a year to start. I believe I will accept to join your company, if you still offer me the position.”

I nodded. Benny nodded his head as well, and I reached out to shake his hand. “We already have a guard contract. Two days from now we are leaving Solaris. Sergeant we have one further meeting to get too. But I will contact you if you are accepted, and once ComStar has the trust.”

“Thank you Commander.”

----

The third meeting didn’t go well. Once I got to the point of the age of the trainees they decided this company wasn’t for them. Fair enough.

With that we had a training sergeant so we could get our troop of infantry trained, but I still had a lot of things to do in two days. I had Benny reach out to the Leopards quartermaster to settle food, and general supplies we would need for our little army.

I had another job. After setting up the trust with ComStar and letting Sergeant Kurtz know that he was hired. I took a squad of boys and hit the town. We had so much more that we needed before we could leave.

Unfortunately the room on a Leopard wasn’t exactly spacious. Thankfully we would only have two mechs, so the captain was letting us use the rest of the mech bay and fighter bay as temporary barracks. Even if the space was still going to be tight.

It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable trip, but it was what the contracting governor of Zaniah had been willing to pay for our small troop. I think she really only wanted the two mechs I had put on the contract. The aide I had spoken too briefly as we completed the contract had been rather uninterested in the infantry company, only really asking about the mechs.

Heading into Solaris I had a very serious purchase that I needed to pick up the moment I realized we were going into a desert world. I wanted to make sure I had a water purifier ready.

There actually was a company that sold industrial water purifiers here in Lyran space. “Water Pure Industries” was a bit of an odd duck company. They had been bombed multiple times, through the Succession wars, but always rebuilt their factories to keep supplying the very necessary equipment.

Unfortunately the equipment was industrial grade. So it was big, heavy, and expensive. I winced at the price, especially since it would be harder to keep making money as quickly once we left Solaris. But I bought one anyway. We dragged it back into the Mechbay, where once I had everyone off doing something else, I used the locust to disintegrate it, loading the blueprints.

I didn’t think the Leopard captain would let me bring the thing normally, so I was gonna have to build one on planet if we needed to. I still wasn’t sure what we were going to be looking at once we got there. They had said an unused military base would be given to us close to the capital city, but I had no idea how comfortable it would be.

Which was fine. I was gonna be cheating anyway.

When I finished deconstructing the water purifier, Gauge arrived with his new mech.

It was a Centurion. Was. Now it was a wreck. He had his small squad of troopers drive it in on the back of a flatbed. It was in rough shape. An unattached left arm, although the arm was on the truck, gave a solid impression that it wasn’t at it’s best. Gauge shooed everyone but me out of the mechbay once it was parked so we could discuss what the best option was.

“It was cheap. And despite the damage, it is a complete mech. Nearly a million Cbills off, because the Fusion engine is scrap at this point but… You said the Noteputer could reconstruct even damaged equipment right?”

I hummed. It was one thing to reconstruct something like broken actuators, or myomer in a damaged mech, it was another to touch a fusion engine. But I shrugged. “I’ll get in the locust and give it a full scan first. If we have to, we just buy a fusion engine before we leave. It should auto fix the blueprint if we have all the parts.”

I scrambled into the Locust, and thankfully since I was able to get very close to the Centurion The scanning didn’t take more than an hour, before the blueprint was completed in my noteputer. Looking it over I sighed in relief. The CND-AL. The energy variant Centurion was a complete blueprint. Thankfully the Noteputer didn’t have any problem with ‘fixing’ the borked fusion engine. Whether that’s because it was just able to fix the problem, or the fact I already have a fusion engine blueprint meant it knew what it needed to fix, I had no idea.

“Good news.” I call out after I once more secure the locust. “Blueprint is completed, We have everything we need.” I step onto the gantry. “Well Gauge. She is yours so it’s up to you. Do we bring her as is, and see how much repairs you can do on the flight over. Will give you something to do, and give the troopers some experience with helping you do some repairs on a mech. Or do we just.” And I wiggle my fingers letting him know I mean to reconstruct the thing from scratch.

He hesitated. I could see in his eyes the desire for a brand new Centurion. “I, I could use the practice. Plus it would be weird to walk out with a fixed Centurion right?”

I nodded, smiling that he picked that up on that issue. I Would have if he asked, but I definitely prefer him working on it during the trip. Waking out with a pristine mech would send up plenty of red flags, people had already seen how damaged it was after all. “Alright. Gauge, you're in charge of contacting the Leopard and getting your mech secure, and beginning repairs. Give me a list of what you need to repair the whole thing, and we will make sure it ‘appears’ on the ship.”

I grunted then as the building shook lightly. Stumbling I hit the gantry railing and held on, before the shaking stopped. Gauge and I were looking around before it hit us. Gauge ran to the Norman that was always stashed down here so no one had to walk up the incline back to the surface, while I raced into my Locust once more.

The radio frequency we used around the Mechbay was already active when it started up.

The noise on the other end wasn't good. Gauge beat me upstairs before I stopped at the fire and devastation that met my eyes. A bomb had gone off. No, I realized in horror. A missile. An Inferno missile. It must have been shot from outside the mechbay because the wall directly away from the entrance was up in flames. I realized with a stuttered heart that is where the old Gantries used to be. And now it was where the tents had been set up for sleeping quarters for the orphans that wanted to stay.

The kids on guard duty were running around, not sure what to do, some were using fire extinguishers to try and put out the flames.

That didn’t work.

Others were just trying to get everyone away from the fire. I switched on my exterior speaker. “EVERYONE OUT. Ignore the fire unless someone is on fire, get out of the mechbay!” I led the group out, My sensors told me that there wasn’t anyone else in the fire. Or at least, anyone still alive. My heart beating I went to the next problem now that everyone was getting out of the burning building.

Using my sensors to try and find out who had done this. I immediately searched for weapons in the area.

I near instantly locked onto the culprit. Unfortunately for them, the sensors I had on this locust were practically magic compared to what a normal locust would have. So the van that was driving down the street already a block over, and well out of sight, that had an infantry SRM launcher resting in the back was instantly highlighted on my map.

Furious I made sure all the kids were out of the mech bay before I called up the Solaris PD. And started off after them. If there was one thing that would bring swift attention from the police. It was a Battlemech heading out onto the street, weapons hot.

The operator for the PD I got through my coms, sounded calm, until I explained I was chasing a van through Solaris that had just fired an Inferno round into my mechbay, while I was in my Locust.

That immediately got the attention I expected. They kept trying to get me to stop, or let them handle it but once I was sure the police were on their way I closed the communications channel.

I raced through the streets, stupid neurohelmet as always making my neck ache as I raced thundered down the road. I hadn’t had a lot of practice driving this stupid thing, but with my adrenaline up I wasn’t about to let that stop me. Thankfully it wasn’t like I was driving over rough terrain. Flat city streets are pretty easy to run through, despite having to dodge pedestrian cars that were in the way.

Although when a land vehicle saw a Battlemech running down the street they usually got out of the way in a hurry. Survival instinct and all.

The van didn’t stand a chance of escaping me. I didn’t even have to fire my SRMs when I caught up. They were stopped at a light. Making sure it was the right truck, I went right for the finale. I kicked the side of the van hard enough to knock it on it’s side. My SRMs pointed at the now crashed vehicle just daring the men inside to try and make a run for it. They didn’t.

By the time the Solaris PD got there. I was more than content to step away, and let them handle everything. They, after all, opened the back of the Van and caught the smoking ‘gun’ in the hands of the men inside.

----

The Solaris PD were not in fact ‘okay’ with me chasing a vehicle through the streets in my battlemech. The fact I didn’t actually fire any shots, or cause any damage other than a few shocked pedestrians as I wasn’t exactly moving ‘slow’ meant that thankfully they gave me a slap on the wrist in a hefty fine, but hauled the two men in the van away in cuffs.

Satisfied that at least that was done. I went back to the mechbay at a more sedate pace. Constantly in contact with Benny who had returned to the mechbay to take charge. Unfortunately it was still burning.

Inferno rounds don’t just ‘go out’ until they are good and ready. Benny had the troops using every fire extinguisher in the building to keep it from spreading any, and thankfully the whole mechbay was concrete and steel, so it wasn’t too much of a concern. What was going to burn, was already burned.

But it was dangerous even so. The smoke kept pouring out of it causing coughing fits in the kids until I told Benny to just let it burn. Anything damaged could be replaced. When I got back I didn’t even put my Locust inside, instead I powered it down outside the mechbay in the lot, and used the extending ladder to climb out, back onto solid ground. I winced as I rubbed my neck as I walked over. Watching the smoke pour out.

The Solaris Fire Department did eventually arrive, but they basically ended up doing nothing once they were sure it wasn’t going to spread.

Like I said Inferno rounds don’t just get put out.

“Benny. Gather up everyone. We’ll be having a meeting here. Now. I was planning on doing this anyways, but hell, might as well use this.”

I climbed back up the Locust and settled in the cockpit. The backdrop of the burning Mechbay would hopefully make a powerful image. It took a little over ten minutes for all the orphans that were part of our group to line up and get ready.

Honestly, there were more than I expected. Some of them weren’t even orphans anymore. Some were already over 16, people that had been released into the world and expected to find an income and a life to live. Most joined military academies. Those that couldn’t. Or thought they wanted to try a different way, usually ended up in the gangs.

It was a rough life for us, to be thrust out into the streets of Solaris at sixteen. Many of them of course kept in touch. After all, we were all the family that each other had. So seeing the numbers standing down in front of my mech, a lot of older teens staring up at me, with a look of awe. They looked at me as the pinnacle, I was what they all wanted. Money, Mechs.

I settled my fluttering stomach as I started talking.

“Today. We were attacked. This shouldn’t be a surprise to any of you. We are orphans. All of us. Attacks from outsiders is what we deal with every day.” My voice echoed nicely, the crackling fire still burning inside hopefully adding something.

“I caught the thugs that made the attack, but as usual, this is Solaris. We all know the people doing the job aren't the ones in charge. I bet some of us have even done things at another's order that they didn’t like. That they found distasteful. We all have. If nothing changes, We will again.”

“That’s why I am doing this. I offered you jobs that you could trust, because I am just like you. An orphan. Just like I am your family, you are mine. So I offered you pay when I was threatened, and gave you equipment that could keep all of us safe.”

“This thing I started building that day wasn’t something I expected. It came out because someone out there wanted what I had earned. They wanted my mech. So I asked my family to join me in my blessings. To earn real pay, for real work and to be treated like more than just familyless orphans. Which we aren’t. We all have a family. In each other.

“This thing I put together grew faster than I expected, and is stronger than I ever dreamed. Look around you. Your brothers and sister stand beside you! I realize though that this can’t be the end. I can’t leave it at this. Some of you have been wondering, what are my intentions with my wealth, Wonder no more.”

“A few days ago I went into the ComStar Office, and registered a new Mercenary Company.” I let that settle over the teens hungry eyes staring up at me, as I stood tall in my cockpit, something I had made earlier hidden in my right hand pulled up as I threw the edge of it over the front of the cockpit.

I had decided I might as well go full ham at this point. If I was going to do this, I would not leave my family wondering where they stood, or what it meant anymore. They needed more than just to be told they were family. They needed esprit de corps. So when I raised the flag, The red flower was bright but covered in splatters of paint as if it was dirty, the cracked white looked more like stone, or concrete. It was anything but pretty. It was rough. And dirty.

It was perfect to represent my little family.

“We are all orphans. Not a single one of us has blue blood. We have Blood of Iron. This is the Eisen-Blume. The Iron Flower that rises wherever our Iron Blood is spilled.” My voice boomed out over the group of orphans from the Locusts system, the look on their faces as I was offering them something more than just a job was settling in.

The hungry looks I saw on every orphan from time to time, whenever someone spoke of a rich noble, or something beyond their reach. “I am not Victoria of no name. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume. I name myself!” I yelled out, and the crowd went dead silent. Names were important to all of us. By picking a last name. Well it was quite a statement.

I had basically told the orphanage that I wasn’t an orphan anymore, that I wouldn’t be coming back.

The flag I hooked onto a hook on the cockpit leaving it there fluttering in the wind as I rose. “The Iron Blooded Company is open for business. We already have a contract to defend a Lyran world. We leave in two days.”

I look down on not a group of children but soldiers as I finish my speech. “My blood is ready to be spilled, but when they cut me, they will only find Iron! What will they find when they cut you!? Blood? Or IRON!”

The roar back at me, locked it in. If nothing else, I would have plenty of troops to transport. I almost sighed but I kept my back straight as my men, my soldiers roared their approval. I had so much work left to do.

Once everything calmed, I directed everyone to Benny. For a list of those who were willing to leave Solaris, and join the Company in full.

Not one decided to stay.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1.5 Copy and Paste
3020
Solaris
Solaris City

----

When the flames of the Inferno missile finally died down, I piloted my Locust back downstairs. The destruction of the tents was a hard hit for us. A lot of the orphans, or those who were too old for the orphanages had basically started living here. They stored their personal items here. Irreplaceable things. Things that had been left by their dead family. Now gone up in flames.

I was furious.

But the only reason I wasn’t creating an army of Centurions to go have a talk with Mr. Wright, was because no one had died. Yet. There were a few burns. But Benny had those injured in a truck and sent to a hospital. They would be fine.

Fortunately we had caught the people. Not even the Solaris PD would be able to just wipe their hands of this one. The two men that had been caught would probably lead to some trouble at the Wright Stables.

Hopefully it was enough to get us some space until we were gone.

Once I was downstairs I couldn’t even get the stupid Neurohelm off and rest, Gauge had a list of parts he needed to repair the Centurion.

So I went through them. Creating them directly onto the flatbed already holding the Centurion in small metal containers, so no one would think it weird. Everything was ready to go for Gauge to begin repairs.

But now I have almost a hundred soldiers signed up. Mouths to feed. And lives that are now my responsibility. I groaned. Why had I done this? My first plan had been to go straight to Helm. Make a copy of the core and go straight to Tharkad. Get a noble title, and a planet, turn it into a Forgeworld that would make the imperium weep. But things weren’t that simple.

This world was dangerous. Only now that I had a small Company of troops, and half a Lance was I feeling at least safe enough not to be completely pushed around. “It’s fine Vicky. You got this.” I mumbled to myself as I thumbed the radio. “Benny, once you get everything solid up top come down here, we have some things to discuss.”

“Roger that Commander.”

----

The conversation I needed to have with Benny was an important one. Gage was already down here looking over the mech when he arrived and I waved them both over. I had created a small table and a few chairs in order to have a place to eat while down here, and that is where the three of us sat.

“So Benny. It’s time I explain everything about what is going on.”

“Commander?”

“W-wait, Vicky, are you sure you should be telling him that?”

I nodded. Benny was throwing an annoyed look at Gauge at that, but I grabbed his attention back quickly. “Gauge. Benny is going to be in charge of defending us, keeping us all alive. Benny, there is something you need to be made aware of. About how we are going to be getting supplies so you know what is going on. Otherwise you would have figured it all out eventually, and maybe started asking uncomfortable questions. Before we start… I need your word Benny. This goes no farther without my permission. No matter what. You can’t tell your friends. You can’t let this get out. Ever.”

He cocked his head to the side, Bennys blue eyes piercing as he nodded. “Alright Vicky. You have my word. Whatever this is about will go with me to the grave.”

I smiled nodding. “I knew I could trust you.” I pulled out the Noteputer and placed it on the table. “This is my noteputer, it was my mothers. It is in fact not a noteputer at all. It’s an incredibly advanced piece of Lostech. Something I am pretty sure was created by an ancestor, as it’s Gene locked to me. No one else can use it.” I once more went with my lie, it was easier than saying eldritch abominations gave it to me.

I pointed it away from the table and hit the option I already had queued up, and a metal box appeared, with hundreds of Eisen-Blume patches. Something for the soldiers to add to their BDU’s to mark their Company.

“It can create anything it has a blueprint for, as long as I provide the raw materials.”

“What the fuck.” Benny muttered wide eyed as he stood up and walked over to the box that to him appeared out of nothing but green light. After pulling out one of the patches and looking it over he slowly put it back with a nod

“Yeah that’s how I felt when she dragged me out to a junkyard and showed me.” Gauge grumbled loudly as I beckoned Benny to retake his seat.

“This is how I was able to afford all of this. We can create copies of parts, vehicles, and weapons. Then sell them, a factory that can create anything in the palm of my hand.”

He looked quite shocked as he processed what I had just told him. “Why not just go to House Steiner, or hell ComStar. This would…”

“It would change the balance of power. I said this to Gauge already but let’s break it down Benny. Let's say I tell the Archon. Give it to her. What happens? They start production the likes of which has never been seen. They restart the war, and so does everyone else. We are in a slow period of the war now, but imagine what happens when they start creating hundreds, thousands of battlemechs a day. Someone finds out. They always do. You can’t keep production like that a secret.”

He slowly nodded as I continued. “The Combine of course finds out. What would they do if they knew that all they had to do is win the next war. No concern for the future because after they win the war then they get to rebuild everything just like new, without any loss in tech. Nukes would only be the first act.”

Slowly he nods. “Okay. Okay… I agree. You’re right, this can’t get out. Fuck.” He muttered, shaking his head as he seemed to wipe away the images of war in his head. “Okay so you have this Lostech, it lets you build anything. But you need to keep it a secret. You can’t just reveal it to anyone so you keep it quiet… You’ve been telling everyone that what you are selling was from a cache of equipment your mother had from her Lostech hunting…”

“That’s the trick. It’s something believable. How many people have made it rich off a cache of equipment found while hunting. Nothing I have sold is really Lostech though. That’s the point. I tell them I have equipment my mother had and everyone is at least willing to believe me. More believable than some kid with a pocket factory right?”

“Okay yeah it makes sense. Shit, everything you have got for us… The trucks. We kept losing trucks, but more always showed up.” He says as if striking a eureka moment.

“Yep. The Locust can create things now too. It’s not the original Locust I purchased. It’s actually a brand new one. One that has the lostech integrated into it. Again though, Gauge and I tested it. It’s still genelocked to me.”

“What happened to the old Locust?” Benny asked, almost slyly his eyes glowing with greed.

I laughed loud and sharp as Gauge chuckled too. “I destroyed it!” I couldn’t help but say, seeing his face fall as if I just stabbed him. “Sorry sorry. I shouldn’t joke, but creating a ‘new’ blueprint from something takes a long time, or at least it did. Originally we only had a handheld Sensor system that could slowly create a blueprint, but you had to slowly scan something from top to bottom by hand. It would have taken weeks! Instead we basically had the noteputer extract the blueprint from the Locust. It is much faster, so instead of weeks it only took a few days to get the scan, and then produce a new mech.”

The look in his eyes was once more hungry “In that case making a mech. How much would it cost for another one?”

I chuckled at his question. “You’re next for a mech Benny. I plan on having you in charge of Bravo Lance when we get there.” I tell him and he bursts into a smile as I just offered him his childhood dream. Which, I had. “Right now we only have a Locust, or a Centurion blueprint. So you will probably get a CND-AL. Like Gauges. But I’m not producing any more Battlemechs until we get situated on Zaniah, when we have a little more privacy if you get my drift.”

“Right. No right. Commander, I can wait. It’s not like I can do much with one while traveling.” He said but I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

“Soon Lieutenant. Can’t have the man in charge of my army not be a Mechwarrior, can I?”

“Of course not Commander! It would be embarrassing, for sure.” He was smiling his boyish grin at that. Which the three of us all matched. Mechs were a big deal after all.

“Good. So that’s the deal Benny. We need a list of equipment we have to get. Anything too big can be broken down and recreated on Zaniah. I am giving you carte blanche. What do we need for the future?”

That pulled him from his dreams of the future as he considered. “Well if we are talking about things we need, we need some anti-air defense, and some anti-tank.” He muttered. “Right now we are good on infantry equipment. The armor you picked up is really solid… Although that makes more sense now. That stuff is expensive per kit, but you basically gave me a box of the damn things in different sizes even.” he muttered.

“Okay let’s focus on that then. Anti-air, and anti-tank, vehicles and equipment. I hadn’t considered air. Which is a mistake, you are right. We have mechs for anti-tank, but we do need something for the infantry as well. I don’t want the kids running around without any way to protect themselves… SRM launchers.” I called up the Noteputer Blueprints, and smirked as I realized that while chasing after the assholes in the van I had scanned the man portable SRM launcher.

“Okay we have infantry anti-armor covered. I can create SRM launchers.”

Benny nodded. “That’s great. Those are solid, if dangerous to use, but better than nothing. Now if we are talking vehicles. Since you want us to be a motorized company? LRM Carrier would be amazing. Those are pricey though.” He offered.

I stilled. Before gritting my teeth as I wanted to bash my head in. “I am a complete moron. Stupid stupid!” I grunted as I slowly calmed, breathing out as I nodded. “I forgot about SRM and LRM carriers.” One of the scariest vehicles at least in the games. But here they were still just as deadly. “LRM carrier. Benny. I don’t care what the price is. Gauge go with him. We need one. Just one LRM carrier, I completely forgot about LRM Carriers!”

“What’s so special about LRM carriers Vicky?” Gauge asked slowly after a moment, the boys shock was obvious at my outburst. But they just couldn’t see it!

I took a moment to calm myself, turning more towards Benny who was also looking at me curiously. “One of the few blueprints that were still on my Noteputer when I got it was a sensor system. It came in a man portable one like I told you, but what I didn’t mention is that the thing is probably the most powerful Sensor package in the Inner Sphere. One hundred miles Benny. It tracked every mech, every person, every vehicle. In one hundred miles. The normal ECM that interferes with sensors didn’t do squat to stop us from seeing what we wanted.”

Unlike Gauge who always failed his strategy courses in school Benny picked up on it immediately. “These sensors… Can you install them in the carriers?”

I took a moment. It would be a risk. I could always just rely on indirect fire orders for the carriers. But I was fairly sure I could. “Yes. it would be risky, if anyone finds out, but yes. I could.”

“Okay. Gauge. Let’s go. We need an LRM carrier, and we don’t have much time!”

“Benny bring it down here ASAP we won’t have the space to bring it with us, So I’ll need to break it down for the blueprint. But get that carrier!”

“Yes Commander!” The boy yelled backwards while running towards the Norman truck. Gauge drifted along after him more slowly, his lack of understanding on what we were getting at would be something Benny could explain on the drive. Hopefully somewhere on Solaris someone was selling.

I couldn’t wait to see the faces of the first enemy that tried to attack the Iron Blooded Company. I wonder if I should tell them before it happens, that we are beginning operation Stehl RAHN?

I shook that silly thought away. That would be saved for the mass air drop of power armored infantry.

----

Time flies when you are busting your ass for an interplanetary expedition without a competent logistics officer. Sergeant Alfred Kurtz ended up joining me the day before the trip working as such, but even his experience was limited. But it was more than mine.

We stocked up on everything we needed, and a few things I had forgotten. “Toiletries!? Crap!” But in the end, the trucks were going out, and dropping things off at the Leopard, and as the rumors spread about what I had done. What I had created. Benny was inundated with orphans, from other orphanages looking for work. Most of them were older. Even more already aged out. But if they were an orphan. We accepted them.

It did stretch supplies a bit. Worse because I wasn’t about to actually ‘create’ anything on board the Leopard. It would be a suckers bet to assume the captain didn’t have cameras in every section monitoring my group of troublemakers.

So I had to make absolutely sure I would have enough. I also went out of my way as dusk was coming down to purchase as good of a vid player as I could find, and as many current vids on the market as I could afford without destroying my already diminishing budget. Even with Gauge selling off parts like I was having a fire sale. Money kept slipping right out of my fingers.

There were always more things to buy.

The sun broke on the day that we were leaving. I had slept in the cockpit of my Locust, just because I kept being woken up in the middle of the night to produce something, or copy something Benny, or Gauge brought me.

But in the end. Trucks left the Mechbay for the last time. I still held the ‘lease’ on the building for a few years, but I closed down the blast doors leading to the downstairs, and once everyone else was gone. Covered them in a pseudo concrete to hide the entrance.

Then it was off. The trucks heading towards the Leopard were covered in my soldiers. The flatbed with the Centurion had a group of them resting on top of the mech, and all of them were armed. I wasn’t going to allow anything to interfere and nothing did. A quiet drive up to the spaceport to finish our final loading.

The initial load went quickly, my Locust pulled into it’s gantry without a problem, when I realized I had another issue. With a sigh of frustration I realized that I wouldn’t be getting my Leopard blueprint today. The range of the scanner meant that even if I could move my Locust inside the Leopard I would never get a complete scan.

Plus the Captain would probably toss me out the airlock if I tried to move my Locust around inside her Leopard. She was a fearsome woman.

It was only after I docked and headed outside to finish everything that I noticed it. A very shiny expensive looking speeder car. The same one Mr. Wright had driven to the orphanage in.

As soon as I noticed him, he stepped out and seemed to exude the quiet confidence of a wealthy man knowing he was protected.

I headed over. Despite being busy to see what this was all about. I highly doubt he would attack here. Not at the spaceport.

That would be suicide.

“Miss Victoria.”

He called out to me as I stopped well out of his reach a harsh glare in my eyes. “Mr. Wright. What do you want?”

“Why just to see you off. You see it’s rare that someone I decide to be annoyed with manages to slip away.”

“Picking on kids usually leads to that. Yeah.” I retorted back swiftly, earning my own glare in turn. “I hear if you target people that can fight back you end up running into trouble. How are your two men by the way?”

“If you are speaking of the unfortunate attack on your mechbay I had heard about it. A true stroke of luck, they didn’t damage anything valuable, was it not?”

“Luck had nothing to do with it. Your men were incompetent. I wonder how long before they chat up the Solaris PD about who gave them that launcher?”

“Not something I concern myself with. I heard both suffered an accident. Didn’t you hear?”

I grit my teeth at that. I hadn’t in fact heard that they were dead. It seems Mr. Wright had more connections than I had expected for such a low ranked stablemaster.

He nodded, smiling. “Yes, don’t think this is the end of this Miss Victoria. You will be back, and I have a long reach.”

I huffed, as if he could threaten an entire merc company. Deciding to poke him a bit more I switched tracks. “How was your match the other day? The Wright Stables, VS the Adrian Light Cavalry right? Heard your lance and demi lance, got crushed. I didn’t get to watch it, you see. I was too busy dealing with a certain attack. But I heard the words ‘crushing’ as a good descriptor.”

“Hmm yes. Attacks do happen here on Solaris, and other places as well. Zaniah III wasn’t it? That isn’t very far at all.”

“Send as many thugs as you want. Here on Solaris, we play by the city's rules. On Zaniah? You would play with mine.”

“Perhaps. We shall see won’t we? Good luck Miss Victoria.” He said before turning and heading into his speeder. I watched him drive away and the only thing I could feel was amusement.

“I really hope you do try to send some trouble my way, old man. I’ll devour them.”

----

It took four hours after that to get everything secured to the Leopards quartermaster’s satisfaction. Four long hours.

Finally it was done. And I learned a very valuable lesson about myself. “Oh god oh god, I’m gonna be sick. Oh god oh god!”

I didn’t really like space travel. I’ve been in planes before in past lives. Hell, I've piloted one before. But nothing I have ever experienced matched the feel of a Leopard not so much flying out of the atmosphere, but more like punching through the air that dared try to impede it’s path. It was a rocket that wasn’t shaped like a rocket. I hated it.

Benny thought my reaction was hilarious.

Although he was nice enough to get me a barf bag. In return I used it. Instead of just puking on him. Cause I’m nice like that.

----

It’s really hard to put into perspective a travel speed measured in days or even weeks. The longest trip I had ever taken in either life was just a day or so. And even then, that was with the ability to stop and go look at a museum, or at least get out of the car.

Space was amazing. Looking out into the stars was incredibly distracting. For the first few hours.

Then it gets boring, and there is absolutely nothing to do otherwise. I made sure to make a ton of Vid players and had passed them around to the kids, so there at least was something to watch for everyone.

Mostly mech battles, but hey we’re from Solaris.

But even that got boring by day five. I had Sergeant Kurtz set up small training rotations in the cargo bay where there was space. Most of it was basic exercises. Or some basic positioning training for infantry, give them a gun, take the ammo out and let them clear the ‘spaces’ of the cargo bay to get experience working in a team to do it.

It kept a lot of the kids busy. I joined in both the exercise and the training. I needed it too. But other than the game consoles. The same ones I had Gauge sell off the fixed versions of to rent Smalls dirtbike, there was nothing else to do, but exercise, train, or watch vids.

Boring.

Day eight is when we finally jumped. Normally the trip is only five days out from Solaris, to the jump point but Jumpships run on their time, not yours.

Especially if you aren’t important.

So eight days of sitting around, and then another forty to reach Zaniah III. The jump though.

The jump though.

Well let’s just say I’m really glad I don’t have jump sickness. Sure it made me dizzy, and my sense of balance was 100% sure that the left was up for a good thirty minutes after, but I was fine otherwise.

Some of the kids though? TDS is not fun.

Ten of them had it. And it was only thanks to everyone pitching in to help take care of them that the barracks set up in the storage bay didn’t smell like puke for the rest of the trip.

The rest of the long boring trip. Over a month. Stuck in a small metal box with an army of teenagers.

----

By the time the ship hit atmosphere. The situation in the ship had become a little tense. Tempers flared pretty consistently, and I had been forced to order a few punishment details for the soldiers that stole or broke something, or worse, got into a fight.

And for the young girl that had tried to sneak into the cockpit of Gauges Centurion. She got put on the shit list by everyone. That was a big no no.

In the end though thanks to the vid screens, and games, and the large amount of exercise I started mandating. The peace was mostly held inside a cargo bay full of teenagers.

The crew of the ship had sealed off the front of the ship on day fifteen and refused to deal with the nonsense again.

I didn’t blame them.

Once again landing in a Leopard wasn’t flying. It was smashing the planet's atmosphere, like the planet owed the Leopard money. Rough, would be a gentle term for it.

By the time the flight did slow down and even out, we were already on approach to the planet's starport. Landing was swift, and the message from the captain to hurry up and depart was the last I heard from her.

I couldn’t blame her. Day 20’s karaoke rock show, performed by a bunch of teenagers with the only musical accompaniment from some movie end credits was not easy on the ears.

----

The unloading was interrupted by a very expensive limo pulling up to our hangar. The man in suit and sunglasses that stepped out couldn’t be more obviously a professional bodyguard if he tried. The woman that stepped out after was wearing a very expensive business suit with a pencil skirt. And as she looked over at the activity I could see her nose scrunch up as she started stalking, the click of her heels on the concrete audible even over the trucks beginning to move.

I waved Sergeant Kurtz, to continue unloading as I headed her off. Stopping infront of her I was annoyed to notice that she was a good head and a half taller than me with her stupid heels.

“Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. Are you our contact Governess Alessa?” I asked as I stood in their path. The older woman’s Brunette hair tied back in a fierce knot behind her head didn’t shift as she nodded.

“Governess of Zaniah III Baroness, Maria Alessa a pleasure.” She offered her hand, although I could tell it was anything but a pleasure. I kissed the hand anyways.

“The Iron Blooded Company is here to assist Zaniah III, in the protection of the capital city Starboro.”

“Yes.” She offers in return looking over my troops in displeasure. “The Tenth Sky Rangers are housed near here. They will contact you soon I am sure. If they try to command you to focus your defense on Hartzborg Starport, refuse them.The tenth refuse to follow my requests to offer protection to more of Starboro’s factories. The city is large, and in the last three attacks, the League has damaged us almost irreparably. I won’t stand for it again. I need another unit closer to stop the next inevitable raid.” She looked me over.

“The Iron Blooded won’t let you down. Lady Alessa.”

She frowned even deeper when she noticed the lack of mechs moving out of the leopard. “I was told you had two battlemechs.”

“We do. My own mech will be last off the ship. And we have a walking wounded Centurion that they are testing the new fusion engine now. It should be back to fighting fit in a few days once we settle in.”

She nodded slowly once more looking over my infantry. “I suppose in the end I get what I pay for.” She tells me directly. “I don’t expect much from your company ‘Commander’ just enough to slow the League's assault on my factories. When the attack comes, I expect you to fight, mercenary. I expect you to fight and save what I am paying you to protect.”

I can’t help but feel a little heated at how low in esteem my company is being treated but really. She is sort of right. We aren’t just green.

We are super green. Completely unrated by the MRB. Even if we are at least listed. So I take a deep breath and decide to play nice. “We won’t run. Our company is new, but I promise you Lady Alessa, we are expanding quickly. If someone comes to make trouble we will fight. There is no other option for us.”

She huffs, as if she had heard the same before, which considering mercenaries and their reputation being their main currency she probably has.

“General Faulkner will be over soon to escort you to the base you will be using for the duration of your contract. Commander Eisen-Blume, I do hope you remember that promise when it comes time to actually perform.” With that stinging endorsement she turned and left.

“What a charming woman.” I couldn’t help but say softly at her back long after she got back in her limo.

----

General Faulkner was a paper general if I had ever seen one. The general was easily two hundred and fifty pounds if not more, and the heat of Zaniah meant that by the time he clambered out of his very expensive looking Limo to greet me he was sweating like a pig.

By this point everything was unloaded from the Leopard, even my Locust I had moved off to the side so the Leopard's Quartermaster could take on whatever goods they were planning on picking up before they left.

I approached quickly, before offering him a salute, which he lazily returned. “Ah. And you are the young Commander are you not? General Ernst Faulkner.”

“Commander of the Iron Blooded Company, Victoria Eisen-Blume. It is a pleasure to meet you, General. I was told you would be taking me to where we are bunking?”

“Oh yes, here here. It’s all on here. It’s a good trip from here, I do apologize, but I am sure your people will enjoy the chance to get some fresh air!” He chuckled to himself as I took the manilla folder from the aide that was at the generals side and opened it up.

It was a map. Showing where the base was. It wasn’t like I was familiar with the land after all, so it took a while before my smile hardened a little.

The capital was probably a hundred miles all around. Almost all of it butting up against a large river that was crossing the entire area. We were on the complete opposite side of the city from where our base was located.

“Yes, a bit of a trip. I am sure my men will be happy to take in the sights. It will be helpful to see what’s around after all.” I agree despite the one hundred and ten degree weather making me want to murder whoever thought to come to this planet.

Oh right.

“Very good! My aide here will escort you to the base. I am afraid I have a very important meeting to get to, so I won’t be able to join your escort, you understand!” He said with a jovial laugh, and I was actually happy the tub of lard wouldn’t be going with. He would probably need to stop every ten minutes to piss.

“Oh General. How will I get in contact with the guard unit, The 10th?”

“Oh yes yes. My aide will take care of that for you. They will handle any of the minutiae, Leutnant Conor here will be your liaison with my office. I must be off, Commander. I am pleased to see another mercenary company fighting to defend the Commonwealth!” He offered with barely a backwards glance, waddling back towards the limo.

Probably to get out of the heat.

I wait until he is back in the car and it’s moving before turning to the Lieutenant “So what did you do to get stuck with being the liaison to my company. Must have been pretty bad.” I joke causing a crack in his facade as he smiles lightly.

“I am sure I have no idea what youre talking about. Leutnant Fredrich Conor. I look forward to working with you.” I laughed as I shook his hand.

“Well Leutnant,” I purposefully enunciated the Lyran way of saying it, “In that case let’s get my boys moving so we can get settled in. I have a lot of work to do. Also, is it always this hot?”

“Oh no. This is pleasant weather. The breeze helps. Of course that means we will have a dust storm sometime this afternoon, which can be deadly.”

“Wonderful.”

----

I left Beny in charge, as I raced ahead with my Locust. For one I wanted to get used to moving long distances in the thing, and for two I wanted to get to the base before the rest of the troops to make some ‘modifications.’

Gauge was stuck traveling with the convoy in his Centurion that was walking wounded. Thankfully, that meant we could pack more men on the flatbed we brought with us, Although the heat was the problem.

Bennys problem for now.

Racing through first the outer streets of the Hartzborg spaceport, and then into the brown dirt of the desert around it I let my speed really go. Letting the Locust hit it’s top speed for the first time. It only took me a little over an hour racing through the desert to reach the base coordinates. While it would take the convoy much longer.

The base was a shit hole.

That was my official military description for it. When they said it was an unused base, I expected, one that was a little ill kept, but still a military base. Instead what I got was what could only be described as an ancient wreck. The only reason I even found it, is because the planet didn’t have any concept of plantlife.

An absolutely ruined ancient wall surrounded the base. Most of it had been destroyed, and just looking I could see the chain link fence that was supposed to denote the border had been knocked over, or destroyed in the who knows how many years it has been since anyone has been here.

With a grunt I did a full scan of the base to get an idea of what I was looking at.

The hangar that made up the only building still completely solid was coated in sand. Apparently the doors had been blown open, or been left open, and the inside of the mech bay now had a sand dune.

The scans showed that the water system was broken as well. The pipeline it had once drawn water from was broken and so we would be without water if I didn’t do something. Luckily. I was alone. I had already checked the sensors for anything that could spot me, camera’s, people, anything.

It was completely dead. So I went to work. I fixed the pipe, although I actually had to dig it up first, but that wasn’t too bad. Locust feet were pretty good for chicken scratch digging. Once I got the pipe fixed, and cleared to let the water come in I already noticed an issue with the water not being clean. The sensors were reading it as dangerous to drink. Lovely. They were shipping dirty water to the base.

But I had a fix for that.

Heading into the Hangar I used the nanoforge to collect the sand dunes into balls of solid compact sand that I kicked out of the building and then dispersed with another burst of nanites. Satisfied once the entrance was clean. I picked a spot and went to work on a ramp downwards. Just like back home. I excavated an underground mechbay instead of using the destroyed one on the surface. Having done it once before it was actually fairly easy. Although I tried to match the interior as being similar to the surface barracks.

I didn’t want anyone in my army wondering why everywhere they went there was an underground bunker that matched the one on Solaris. That would raise questions. Well, more questions than it will already raise.

The industrial water purifier was created in green light and billions of nanites, and I routed the water pipes through it, and then put the clean water into a tank that would be our source of drinking water for now. At least it would be safe for the kids to drink when they got here. Plus another fusion engine to power the purifier and the building. I was pretty sure they weren’t going to provide me normal power.

Then I once again covered the ramp down with blast doors. Before coating them so the door looked just like the rough concrete floors. Thankfully the neurohelmet Nanoforge gave me more control on how things looked as they came out than the noteputer did.

This mechbay was not nearly as large, or deep as the one I built on Solaris, so I had time to head back out, and look at the barracks buildings before the kids got back. My first impression was horrid. The old buildings had been half overrun with sand, and some had collapsed because of it. Knowing I couldn’t do much about the buildings, my initial thought was to build a new barracks, or transform the mechbay into a workable sleeping space.

That was when I noticed another problem. My metal intake had dropped to zero. It froze me for a moment before I remembered I was now 24 light years away. Of course the metal extractor stopped feeding whatever storage space I apparently had.

“Crap, shoot!” I grunted. I checked the scanner, and while there were metal nodes in the area I could use. It would take too much time to make one, and be back in time to fix this kerfuffle. I did a swift check and noticed that between constructing the hidden bay and the water purifier, I wouldn’t have enough to even build a metal extractor, if I did much else.

Furious at myself for not noticing sooner, and, and for the damn Governess for giving us a fucking ruined base. I started calculating what I could use at least to get my people some comfort from this heat until I could ‘find’ the hidden mechbay downstairs. Which I would now have to expand even further to have an interior barracks.

An air conditioning unit was what I decided on. If even for one night. I wanted my people to be as comfortable as I could make them. It was quickly built directly into the hangar, hiding its existence from casual notice. I immediately turned it on, to try and cool down the hangar bay before everyone arrives. It would be where everyone would stay at the start. It looks like our tents would get some early use.

With that done. I didn’t have much time left. About three and a half hours had passed, and the convoy finally arrived at the ‘base.’

I parked my Locust outside the mechbay, and climbed down the ladder as the convoy’s dust appeared over the horizon. I still had a lot of work to do but at least when the kids got here, they wouldn’t die of dehydration, or heatstroke. With a grimace I wondered what other surprises I would be having in the next few days.

With a shake of my head I started moving as the trucks arrived. Later tonight I would head out, because as they say. Somewhere in the galaxy a Commander builds a Metal Extractor.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2.1 Raise your Flag
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City
Dilapidated base.

“Okay make sure everyone is cooled off and has had enough water! Gauge, your Centurion is on forklift duty! You two! You're on tent duty inside, hop to it!” I yelled out orders as the field of kids around me jumped into action. The trucks had rolled up to the base and now it was time to get everything settled.

I was thankfully not as tired or hot as the rest, although now that I was outside my Locust, I was dealing with the heat just as badly. It wasn’t pleasant. 110+ degree temperatures during the day were brutal.

I noticed some of the kids started stacking a few boxes outside off the trucks, when I realized what was inside, “Hey hey! No! Get that food dropped off inside, we can’t leave it out here in this heat!” Their groan made me wince, as the trip over hadn’t been pleasant for my kids.

I promised them quietly that when they left this place, they would all be inside, and comfortable. Until then we still had work to do. I was on the ground doing my best to get everything stored away correctly, although my biggest concern was making sure my overheated kids weren’t going to get heat stroke and die.

“Hey! If she is overheated, get her inside! That can be finished later!” I called out to a group that had a teenage girl sitting with her head between her legs.

“These kids are going to be the death of me.” I grumble, as Benny comes jogging up to me.

His own hair was sweatstreaked, just as badly as the rest. “This place is a shithole Commander.” He points back towards the ruined barracks buildings I had given up on. “That building isn’t safe. When I walked in, the damn place almost collapsed on me.”

“I know tents inside the hangar for now. I turned the AC unit on, so it will cool down once we get the doors closed, when everything is inside.” I waited for a group carrying a metal crate to run past me before leaning in. “Don’t worry I already have a plan for housing, Just bear with it tonight. Tomorrow morning we will ‘find’ it.”

He blinked a few times in confusion before it hit him, and his smile lit up. “You got it Commander. I’ll keep morale up… And keep anyone from dying.” He ran off, to help another soldier that wasn’t looking great.

-----

It took most of the day to get everything settled inside the hangar, and what didn’t need to be stored in a cool place stored outside under some netting.

I unfortunately wouldn’t get a chance to cool off inside. I had to jump back in my Locust. “Okay Gauge, you read?” I ask flipping on the radio as I powered up my ride. I was thankful for the kinda mediocre cooling vest that I slipped over my head.

The radio connection from the Centurion pinged back. “Coming in loud and clear I was about to shut down, what’s going on Vicky?”

“Problem with that thing we made out in the forest, we are too far to connect, I need to go make another one. Once I get back I’ll be working down. So set up some noise inside, okay, try to keep it loud enough that some idle shakes aren’t noticed by anyone.”

“It’s late Vicky, are you sure you need to do this tonight? You’ve been up all day.”

“I’ll live, but if we don’t get this place fixed up, maybe everyone else won’t. Don’t worry about me. I’m sleepy. But I'm not tired yet. I’ll be good for a few hours to get everything sorted. Out.” I flipped the switch as I checked the sensor map. A metal node was only about twenty miles out from the base in the desert. Time to get to work.

Racing out in darkness took some getting used to. The desert was strange at night. The limited vegetation meant that most of what I had to worry about were strange boulders that blended into the ground. Night vision was thankfully something the Locust NFX came equipped with.

The run out had been quiet, although unfortunately not relaxing. I had to focus too much on making sure my legs didn’t hit a ditch, or worse. But I found the position for the metal node, I quickly had it built, it only took about an hour, and I even went ahead and created a pseudo rock face around it. Protecting it as there frankly wasn’t anything but flat dirt and rock for miles.

It was on my way back that I had some trouble.

I came too with a gasp as I groaned in pain. I stumbled around in the dark cockpit for a moment before I flicked the interior lights on and managed to get an idea of what happened. I hit a rock. The Locust went ass over teakettle, and I suffered the effects of a twenty ton vehicle going 129 KPH suddenly not going that fast.

Thankfully, as I slowly checked myself over, other than some muscle pain, I was alright. The next problem of course was the Locust was on the floor.

I hadn’t ever ‘stood’ up in a mech before. It took a while, as I ran a system check, made sure the neurohelmet was connected and started trying to work myself onto my feet. If I was in a fight, I would be dead. It took nearly five minutes of fiddling before I managed to get the legs of my mech under her, and slowly rose up back to my feet. The gyro whined as it handled the unbalanced mech back onto its feet.

With my own whine of pain I started heading back again. This time, with a lot more care put into where I was stepping.

I stopped about half a mile outside our base. This was where the annoying part came in. I angled my Locust down, and began digging out a ramp downwards into the dirt and stone. Hopefully the green light wouldn’t be noticed for the few minutes it would take to disappear into the ground. Using the sensors I went down until it was on the same level as the addition I already added into the Hangar before I began tunneling towards it.

When I finally broke through I was ready to stop. Exhausted and in pain, my neck was killing me, but instead I took a long exhale and got back to it. The tunnel I just excavated was sealed off back at the entrance, the blast door was covered in a coating of faux-rock and stone to mix it into the terrain before I went back and this time created a new extension. The feeling of playing a dungeon builder game surged through me, as I started slowly making rooms. Each one was the same length, had a bathroom attached, and on and on I went. Until I had more rooms than I had people sleeping above me.

Honestly that was the easy part, but connecting every room to fresh water for the bathrooms, and connected an AC unit so they could be climate controlled took far longer. I was really glad all of this was connected to both a large water reservoir that my Water purifier was pumping out, and a Fusion engine. Power and water was not going to be an issue.

Once I was done. With the rooms I spent some extra time making everything was working before heading out of the long and unfortunately tall corridor I had been forced to make to fit my Locust, back into the main room.

With that I created a few more ‘fake’ doors. I could open them later when I needed to expand, but I ‘locked’ them for now.

I did a big circle running back out and around back to the Hangar shutting down the Locust outside. It was so late, everyone was asleep as I stumbled into the hangar. Groaning quietly in pain I found the cot that was put up for me and fell into it exhausted.

-----

I didn’t get to sleep much before I was awoken early in the morning by the hangar coming alive. I moaned in pain as I rose up. The flurry of movement was mostly caused by hunger. The soldiers were quickly making breakfast using the ration packs we had brought with us. I was glad, even if we ran out of food, despite how nonsensical it may seem, I was able to produce food with the nanoforge. How does metal become food?

Space magic. Obviously.

So I wasn’t worried about the hungry mouths devouring their breakfast. I would make sure there was always more. Standing out of my cot, I groaned as my entire body ached, although a gasp got my attention as I looked around.

“Shit, Vicky, what happened to you!?” Gauge asked as he set down a MRE that was obviously my breakfast and started poking and prodding at my face.

“OW! That hurts!” I hissed at him as he poked a sort spot, and I noticed he was trying to wipe my face clean of dried blood. “Oh. I was bleeding?”

“Yeah Vicky, your nose is purple. What happened to you?”

“Crashed my Locust. I’m okay, it's more sore pain than anything. Didn’t notice my nose was bleeding though.” I mutter looking down at my formly white tank top that was now stained very obviously red with blood.

“Yeah well you look like shit. C’mon let’s get you cleaned up before you head out, I really don’t want everyone freaking out about you dying when we are still settling in.” Gauge huffed, turning full big brother on me as he left to go get some water and rags, and a few pain killers.

He was nice.

----
We were doing quite well settling in, of course that didn’t mean there weren’t problems.

About an hour after getting up and finishing my morning meal Benny jogged up. “New problem for you Commander.”

“Lovely. Hit me, lieutenant.” I grumble, hiding a wince as I felt a muscle pull.

“Well the supplies we are supposed to be given by the Governess arrived. You need to see this.” He huffed in frustration as I stood, slipped on my boots and headed outside.

A single pickup was there dropping off a few cardboard boxes, and what looks like a tank of water. Even an idiot would immediately notice the problem.

“Hey, where are the rest of our supplies?” I called out to the driver who was unloading the boxes out of the back of his beat up old pickup.

“This is it. Bought and paid for. Here is the delivery notice.” He offered as he sat the box down, and pulled out a piece of paper which I quickly looked through. I noticed the problem right away. The amount of supplies we were set to receive in contract was based on a certain amount of money. Basically we receive a stipend and from that a month food and water are delivered to the base.

The apparent problem?

Water is expensive on Zaniah III. Which wouldn’t normally be an issue. Despite the fact the planet sometimes ships water from offworld due to shortages, the price of water wasn’t excessive in the capital, but unfortunately despite being here to protect the capital we were just outside the limits. Which means we bought our supplies from the local market, The market of thirsty thirsty farms, factories, and civilian housing.

In other words, we were purchasing our supplies at the highest price on the planet, as we were buying it from the most drained sector. Just the water that he brought along was worth 90% of the monthly supply value.

I exhaled in irritation. This guy had nothing to do with this, he was just a delivery driver. “Thanks.” I grunted as I turned back towards the base. I had a call to make.

----

“Leutnant, please, while this does follow the letter of the contract, we both know that this goes against the spirit. How am I supposed to provide for my forces when nearly all of the stipend is spent on water at a price that is nothing short of exorbitant!”

"I apologize, Commander, but it is according to the contract. Pure water prices have risen exponentially, we lost a water purifying plant last year from a League raid. Due to this, and your distance from the remaining plants, the price is steep.”

“How am I supposed to defend anything if all of my men are dying of dehydration!”

“Commander... I am sorry, there is nothing I can do about the supplies. All I can say, as a reminder for you. If you fail to keep combat effective, based on the contract your equipment may be impounded for failure to meet the contract requirements.” He offered calmly, “I understand this situation isn’t one you expected Commander, but my hands are tied, these orders come straight from the governess’s office, and the planetary guard are unfortunately following her lead on this. General Faulkner is unfortunately unable to do anything to assist. That is a direct message from him.”

I realized the Leutnant Conor was actually trying to help even if the whole situation was trying to screw me over. “I see. So I should expect the same level of supplies in the month ahead. And I assume a surprise readiness evaluation, in the coming months?”

“I can’t confirm any future surprise inspections that the Governess’s office is planning.” He informed me, basically confirming that fact.

“I see. Leutnant. I have work to do.”

“Commander.”

I pushed the receiver back onto the hook with a grunt. Then I laughed. There had been a stipulation in the contract that if I couldn’t keep my company combat effective, the contract would activate a failure clause, and I would have to pay a huge chunk of C-bills. Or equal cost in equipment.

They thought limiting the supplies they gave me, or hiking prices for food and water would break my company, leading to them getting my mechs for cheap.

If this was a normal company, it likely would. Spending a huge amount of C-bills on just water, since the water coming through the pipes was deadly, and the purified water was both expensive and needed transport by truck out to our distant base. Add in the lack of shelter we were issued.

Yeah we likely would have had to break the contract within the first couple of months, after which they would stop us from leaving until we handed over our mechs. I wondered if the 10th was in on it, but I could only hope they weren’t. But I realized I doubt it would matter. Even if they weren’t in on this scam, they would still likely be forced to act, or ComStar would.

I shuddered. That would be the worst possible outcome.

But you might be asking. Vicky, you moron, if they had clauses like that in the contract why did you take this job?

Well it was pretty much the only job that would accept a long term defense contract from a Demi-Lance company. And, honestly? It’s sort of hard to force a company with infinite production to drop below combat effectiveness.

“That didn’t go well.” Benny said, he had been beside me listening in. “What’s got you so amused?”

“Benny. Benny. Benny. Are you not a Lyran? I smell commerce in the air, don’t you?” I smirk, my fingers itched to get into my mech and produce a few water hauling trucks. Thanks to our water purifier I could turn the garbage water they were sending down the pipes into clean drinking water, and whether the water shortage was real or not, I was betting there would still be a lot of thirsty people all around us in the towns neighboring my base.

“Put together a squad of those who can drive, we are going to have some water trucks selling water to the locals soon, should cover our food bills quite nicely.”

It seemed to take him a moment to understand but then his smile took on a nasty edge. “Understood Commander!” He offered running off into the dust to track down our new money makers. Unfortunately, there was never a break.

“Vicky!” Gauge ran up to me looking shocked as he nearly manhandled me to look up towards my Locust. The paint was stripped off the nose of the mech, and it looked like it had taken a tumble.

Because it had.

“Vicky, What happened to your Locust!”

“I crashed last night in the desert. It sucked.”

“Wha- Buh. Look at how much damage it took! I’m gonna be spending… Oh Mein Gott. No, I still haven’t finished my Centurion. You can’t just create more damage for me to fix!” He nearly shrieked.

“Relax Gauge, relax. It’s just cosmetic, and I don’t mind it.” I shrugged. It hadn’t really damaged the armor plates, too much, just… Scraped the paint off.

“You are the Commander! You can’t go around in a busted up mech! You already are in a light, instead of taking the Centurion!”

I snorted at him. “What are you saying I should claim the Centurion now?”

The glare he gave me had me laugh, that was a no. “Leave it for now Gauge. We are going to be doing a lot of training in our mechs once everything gets settled, it won’t be the only paint that gets scraped off. Believe me.”

With that cleared up I headed inside. There were enough kids around that it was time for my ‘Surprise.’

I wandered around, acting as if I was inspecting the building before I ‘found’ a hidden switch that had been pretending to be an electric outlet. When I started messing with it. Suddenly the Hangar jerked, as the secret doors began shifting open. Thankfully I had purposefully ordered nothing to be placed in that area of the hangar, so when the concrete shifted and slowly opened red lights popping up and flashing alerting everyone that heavy machinery was in use, I put a confused look on my face and began giving orders.

----

That night instead of sitting around crappy fold out tables to eat our evening meal we were in the new cafeteria. It was large, had seats enough for everyone, and the tables were less likely to fall over and spill food everywhere.

Once my kids finished eating I stood up and stood at the head of my table, Benny calling for attention as he rose as well.

“I am sure all of you are surprised at what we have discovered here today.” I began, waiting for the cheers of happiness to calm before I continued. “But I am going to remind you all of a very simple fact. No one, not us, and not the governess office that sent us here knew this bunker existed. That means our stay here was meant to be like it was yesterday. Uncomfortable, with crappy food, and little to no water.”

I waited for that to process through until the whispers quieted again. “I came prepared for some issues that I expected to have. Water was something I figured might be a problem. That’s why I brought along our water purifier. Heat was an issue I expected, so I brought some extra AC units. What I didn’t expect is for our contractor to try and screw us over.”

That brought a lot of furious whispers through the room as I raised a hand to quiet them. “The contractor Lady Alessa has a failure clause in the contract. I knew it was there, and I didn’t expect it to matter. I didn’t have any idea that we would be set up to fail.” I exhaled loudly a sound of frustration that echoed around the room.

“But we won’t fail. Not today, and not a month from now. The Governess thought she could put us in a trashed facility, restrict our water, and food, and eventually come in to claim our equipment, our mechs. When we failed to muster out.” I Gave it a beat. “Look around you.”

I watched as they did so, not sure what they were looking at exactly, but they did as I asked. “Does it look like in a month we are going to be starving, dehydrated, spending every c-bill we have on food and water to keep our bellies full?” I laughed then, long and loud.

“No! They expected a bunch of orphans. Who couldn't put a company together, couldn’t keep everything running and working. Look around! They expected us to be living upstairs in ruined buildings barely getting by!”

“Which is why I am issuing a strict order right here, and right now. This bunker is absolutely not to be spoken of, with anyone not in our company. If we have someone dropping off supplies, we are all upstairs, making it look like we live up there. If the Governess comes by for an inspection. No one speaks about this facility. They can learn about it when we leave. I’ll be nice enough to inform them of its existence. Until then, it’s existence is classified within our company.”

Everyone nodded seriously. A few had smirks on their face as they liked the idea of tricking the adults that were trying to mess with us, but mostly everyone understood how serious I was being. I let it settle for a while before I once more raised my hand.

“I said before that they tried to set us up to fail, but they didn’t expect me to actually make some plans. Right now we are eating our rations. I know they aren’t great.” I waved to the table I was sitting at and my own opened ration pack. “This won’t last long. The morons thought they could cost us thousands of C-bills a day just for water, without realizing that we can make our own drinking water. More than we could ever drink ourselves. So we won’t. Tomorrow I’m going to go buy some water trucks. We are going to fill up, and a unit of you will go out into town. The new Supply Corps will be in charge of selling or bartering the water for food supplies. Lieutenant Benny will inform those of you who have been chosen.”

There were quite a few happy cries at that. The Lyran rations I bought were edible. That was about it. “It might still be a few rough days. We have growing pains to go through! But it won’t break us! We are doing well. Better than even I expected. Take heart Iron Blooded! We don’t bleed, when they strike us they only find iron!” I ended my little speech and the cheers that went around had me smiling.

We might be able to do this.

----

“We can’t do this.” I groaned as I waved a paper in front of my face trying to cool off. I had to run out in the Locust to ‘get’ some water trucks, which meant Gauge and Benny had to come drive them out, but today was even hotter than the day before. The damn thermometer in my Locust registered the heat at 47 degrees Celsius.

There was no wind today. Just a miserable everpresent heat, and a really really hot sun. “The kids can’t go out and do any work because they burn up. How is Seymour?”

“He is doing better. They got him downstairs where it’s cool. Alfred took a look at him, said he would be okay with lots of water and rest.”

“Fuck. I forgot sunscreen. Benny, I forgot sunscreen while going to a desert planet!”

He listened to my whining for a moment before shrugging, “Growing pains Commander. Just growing pains. The supply corps have orders to pick a ton of it up.” And then he leaned in to where I was sitting to whisper. “Once you get a little you can just make a lot more. Don’t stress.”

“I know… I know. It’s just aggravating. I want to be better than this.” I grumble looking out. The supply trucks had barreled off with two kids to a truck. The water tanks on the back were huge and completely full of pure water. Enough to make us some pretty serious cash if the price of clean water was anything like what it cost us, but I was being nice. Supplies first, even if it meant far less cash coming in. I don’t want to rip off the locals. Especially since if water was that expensive to get out here, they were already being screwed.

“It’s fine. PT was moved inside. The long halls of the Bunker are actually pretty good for PT runs. Our little boot camp is going just fine. Once we get the sun screen we will start doing more outside.” Benny as always was confident that it would work out. “The Iron Blooded won’t give up at such a minor setback Commander.”

“That’s heartening.” I grumble. Although I nod as I get up. “Well Lieutenant, go get ready, since everything outside is on hold, we have work to do as well.”

Benny blinked at me, his confusion obvious.

“Oh Benny. Did you forget? Just because we are the commanding officers, doesn’t excuse us from boot. Get dressed in PT gear. Let’s go.”

His sudden look of horrified exhaustion got me going through the afternoon.

----

After that things slowly settled in. I created a sunscreen dispenser that was situated in front of every exit outside, so that anyone leaving could sunblock themselves up without issue.

The fact it led to an underground reservoir that I made sure had enough sunscreen for a month meant my own feelings of failure were assuaged. Then things started happening. The supply unit came back with an empty water tank and enough real food to feed a small army.

You know like the one I have.

“Any issues?” I couldn’t help but ask as I helped unload the boxes of food. Fredrich Klein, who had actually worked as a chef at a restaurant on Solaris after aging out of the orphanage, had been put in charge of the supplies groups. Mostly to make sure we got supplies that we could actually use. No point if all the teens came back with nothing but junk food. I was glad he had come along, at eighteen he was one of the older orphans, and he had a maturity to him that most of the younger teens didn’t.

“No Commander! They were pretty shocked at first, but after they tested the water to make sure it wasn’t a scam, they were more than interested. You were right though. They don’t have much cash, the water supply in the area really is horrible. There has also been a drought, so they can’t even rely on the rare rain clouds to fill up their tanks. They were more than willing to give us some food, which hasn’t really increased in price, in exchange for water. Although the mayor of the town did want to discuss a more permanent water transfer.”

I nodded. “Tell him I will consider it next time you see him, but for now, I want a reliable way to get supplies that the governess won’t be able to interfere with. Tell him that if nothing else I will consider offering our water purifier to him cheap once we leave.”

“You got it Commander!”

With the food that night cooked up, although not all of it came out well even with Fredrich supervising. Some of the teens are better cooks than others.

-----

“Wait, what is that?” I asked, as I popped into the Centurions Cockpit where Gauge had been finishing the tests on the now ‘fixed’ arm. My eyes locked onto something that filled me with fury.

“What? My Neurohelm?”

“Your very comfortable looking normal Neurohelm!” I yelled back at him. Slowly I realized the truth. I had been a moron. Complaining about my massive oversized uncomfortable Neurohelm all the while Gauges Centurion had a better quality one. “Fuck!” I growled as I turned and ran. I needed my noteputer. No way was I going to put that massive stupid Neurohelm on ever again! I idly chucked the old Neurohelm into a forgotten corner of the hangar.

Wouldn’t ever need that piece of crap again!

----

“Eeeeee!” The scream that came over the radio had me flip a switch to mute my mic so he couldn’t hear my cackles of laughter. Gauge was discovering what I meant when I said that we would be scraping off a lot of paint on our mechs.

The desert turned out to be pretty treacherous for mech feet. At least it was for kids with no experience. I had taken another tumble during our training already, but thankfully not carrying ten pounds of Neurohelm on my neck meant the whiplash wasn’t nearly as bad. Gauge on the other hand, kept falling.

This was his third fall so far. All while just doing basic control training.

“Oow. I know your laughing. It’s not funny.” He grumbled over the radio as I reactivated my own.

“Yes it is. Well, you hurt too bad?”

“Only my ego this time.” He grumbled as he started the slow process of getting back up. In my eyes it was a good thing that he kept falling. Better to fall and learn to stand back up when no one is shooting at you.

“Good, once you get back up, let’s get back to our laps. I want to be familiar with our entire area so we know where the rough spots are.”

“Yes Commander.” He grumbled back as he rose back to his feet. And we set off again. Our circuit took us around the fence that was slowly being repaired. I had a unit doing a bit of it each day, both to get it fixed, and to help everyone get acclimated to the heat. I had been in the first unit so none could argue about being forced to do it.

As we circled we ran around the entrance checkpoint, a few guards were settling into the guard house that I had done some secretive repair work on to make sure it was livable. The new AC unit helped a lot in making it a position no one dreaded anymore.

While I was there, I went ahead and set up a sign with the new name of our base. ‘Red Base’ wasn’t the most powerful of names but it worked for me, and whatever this base had once been called was long lost even to the planetary defense force. So I unanimously decided to rename the place. It was ours now after all.

Gauge and I continued our course, running and slowing, and struggling where the ground turned from packed dirt into sandy dunes, then into jagged and brittle rocks. The jogging pace we kept was as fast as we could move without falling.

Or I noted with a chuckle, as fast as we could move with only sometimes falling. “You alright Gauge? Good! Now stand up, you are under fire, move move move!” I yelled into the mic. As I watched him clamber back to his feet. I took the time to consider what else I could do to push forward our training.

“Oh targets!” I muttered to myself as I considered how easy it would be to set up some targets at night with my Locust. “Alright. Keep moving!” I called out as I set myself back into my jog struggling through the sand that felt like it wanted to eat my Locusts ankles.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2.2 Raise your Flag
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City
Red Base
----

The first week passed in relative peace. But I figured it was time to start passing out some rewards. I took my Locust out once everyone was in bed, and entered one of the side passages I had started to build out most nights. Slowly I was creating a spiderweb of tunnels surrounding the base. The hope would be we could pop out of the ground from any direction to surprise invaders. Plus it gave me plenty of space to build things out of sight. Tonight. I created the first big step for the actual military side.

It took me all night, and a huge chunk of the metal reservoir. An issue that I realized I would have to work on fixing. Plans for the next night to place more metal extractors. But that was for the next night. Because in the morning the company is going to party.

As soon as the morning wake up alarm went off and everyone swayed sleepily into the cafeteria for chow. I was ready. Once everyone was sitting I stood. “Company meeting in the Main Mechbay after chow. Everyone needs to be there. Enjoy your breakfast.” I called out before retaking my seat and finishing my own food in a rush. Benny Gauge, and Alfred, my current command staff of sorts all looked at me in confusion but I waved them away. This was a surprise after all.

I ate quickly and headed over to the underground bay. We kept the mechs during the night, although I made sure to keep the mechs mostly above ground during the day. I didn’t want a surprise inspection to come through only to not see the mechs in the Hangar.

Standing on the foot of my Locust I waited for everyone to file into the room, the hundreds of voices filling the room with noise as they whispered and talked about what was happening. Once everyone was inside I raised my hand.

“Attention!” I barked out, and despite a bit of sloppiness here and there, my soldiers stood quickly to listen to what I had to say.

“This company is more than just some merc unit. We aren’t just soldiers looking for a paycheck. We have all lived the same life, we all suffered the same injustice,and we are the only family we have left.” I looked over the rows of young soldiers and felt a good burst of pride. I had done this. Brought them this far.

“It is with that in mind that I remind you that family, look after each other. Help each other, and at times when someone in the family does something deserving. Reward each other. Lieutenant Benny. Step forward!” I shouted, and the young man did so jerking forward in surprise as he came out of the horde of soldiers.

“Today. I am going to show all of you what your future holds if you go above and beyond in this company, and in this family.” I pushed a button on a small remote I had hidden in my pocket. And one of the blast doors that had been locked shut until now opened, slowly. The lights didn’t come on, revealing a shadowy corridor and nothing else, I could see everyone squinting and trying to see what was in the darkness. Only once the doors were fully opened did I hit the second button to activate the lights.

It took everyone a minute to figure out what they were seeing. After all, a few did double takes looking towards Gauges Centurion that was still in the gantry besides my Locust. Then to see the second and third Centurion that was standing freely in the large hall. Both were pristine, and in the colors of the Iron Blooded. A rusty red and a grayish white.

“Lieutenant Benny. For the effort you have put in, I acknowledge this company could not have begun without your support. No, I suppose, it’s no longer Lieutenant. MechWarrior! I award you the third mech in our company!”

The look of shock on his face hit me. I suppose the few weeks we had spent settling in made him think I wasn’t going to give him a mech?

Silly kid. He was way too busy getting everything sorted out to take on Mechwarrior training as well! But things had become routine now, and well.

I needed a jump in fighting strength. A full lance? Yeah that would be a much better deterrent for nonsense than a demi-Lance.

I strode down and pulled him into a hug for a moment “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone you are crying.” I whisper into his ear before I pull him out of the roaring crowd towards his new mech.

“Vicky. I…”

“Don’t mention it. Besides, it comes with a cost. You get to figure out who gets the second one. So have fun with that. You are going to have every soldier in the company coming to you to beg to be the pilot. Enjoy.”

Despite that curse I put on him, I was pretty sure he didn’t care. At that moment Benny would have taken the pleading of the entire planet as long as he got to keep his new mech.

“But that isn’t all!” I called out over the noise and had every eye in the room focus back on me. “There has been an issue I have been considering for some time. Benny. Gauge. Step forward.” I waited for the two other Mechwarriors to move before I pointed.

“We orphans have some traditions. Most of them aren’t something we chose, but were forced on us. We aren’t the same as we were on Solaris. Gauge, Benny. Mechwarriors! How can you stand before us having reached such heights.” I paused letting the tension build for a few moments.

“Not having chosen a family name.” I let my words drift through the room. “We aren’t ruled by the matrons who took our name to make us fit into their world anymore. Pick a name. A name that will be synonymous with the mechs standing beside you. These machines are yours now. And some day, they will be your childrens.”

Both boys looked quite shocked at the request. Sure, they were both getting to the age they would have been given their original family names, or just choose one of their own. But this wasn’t about aging out. It was about becoming more than just the orphans we all were.

While Gauge hesitated, obviously unsure Benny didn’t. “Commander! My name it’s Benjamin Rommel! From now until I die.”

I smirked. “Big name. Are you up for that challenge?”

“I am!”

“Well then Lieutenant Rommel! Know that it won’t be until you die. It will be your name for far longer than that!”

The whispers and comments were flying through the room as I turned to Gauge, “Do you have your pick yet?”

“I do. Gauge Blake.” That was a name alright. I felt my eyebrows quirk up but only for a moment before I smiled and nodded. If that is what my best friend wanted, then that is what he got.

“Well. You also have a big name to live up to then!” I congratulated him. “Everyone, let's hear it for Benny Rommel, and Gauge Blake!” I called out to the group getting a cheer from the crowd of teenagers, Gauge and Benny both being swamped by the crowd.

I put out one final word before the crowd was dispersed to enjoy a small party I had set up. Everyone should start thinking about their own family names. It put an odd air on the party after, but at least it started the process.

----

In the end Benny decided to hold the fourth Centurion as a reward for the ones who did best in our little ‘boot’ camp. And let me tell you. The increase in discipline in my soldiers was astounding. Everyone was suddenly deadly serious about being the best soldier they could be.

Good job Benny.

But while everyone else was running around in bootcamp. Gauge, Benny and I were training. “C’mon Benny! Get up! How are you going to survive a battle when you fall on your ass, and it takes you a week to get up!” I yell at him over the radio as he staggers trying to crab walk back to his feet.

Benny had hit a sand dune, and it had slipped out from under him. This was not the first, nor the last time he had ended up flat, Gauge was getting better as well, but he still ate shit whenever he wasn’t focused.

I was still rubbing the bruise on my shoulder from where I had tilted sideways as a chunk of dirt had given way under my feet sending me tumbling into an old wash. The faint humm of a Large laser firing in the background hinted that Gauge was still working on his aim. Benny would be there soon once we got him secure enough on his feet.

“This… Is harder than it looks!” Benny grunted out as he seemed to finally get the position right, and with his gyro screaming he slowly righted himself regaining his feet. “Okay okay I got it, I got it.” He muttered over the open line as he slowly began taking a few more much more hesitant steps. I followed my own footing more confident, although I was keeping a close eye on the ground as I moved along with him.

Falling over in a Battlemech wasn’t a joke. Even if it was hilarious.

“It takes practice, honestly I’m not sure if it’s a good, or a bad thing, the ground out here is so bad. If it was better, this would be easier, but we wouldn’t be getting so much practice!”

The huff of irritation that came over my radio as my only response as Benny continued moving around in large circle, around the base. The path Gauge and I had started was becoming our unofficial Mechwarrior training course at this point. As we moved we eventually caught up to Gauge near the range I had set up.

“Gauge! No standing still. If you are shooting you need to be moving!” I yell at him as soon as we get close enough to see what he is doing and I could see the shoulders of his mech hunch in irritation as I see him start walking around as he is taking shots at the targets. His large laser was thankfully set to training mode, so he wasn’t burning through them with each shot letting him refine his aim over the hours we had been out here.

“Don’t complain. You wanted to be a Mechwarrior Mr. Blake? Then practice practice practice!”

The streaks of the Luxor 3 LRM 10 shooting off a moment later had me chuckle, as all the missiles ended up missing the targets. “Try again! We have plenty of ammo, and it’s good practice, for the techs to learn to reload our mechs.” I tell him watching him start shooting off the last few reloads for him LRM.

His jog back to the hangars where the mech techs were on duty to resupply our mechs ammo when needed was slowed when he nearly fell, but after a few moments he managed to get his gyro working for him, and he stepped over the shifting sands to keep moving.

We were all getting better. Slowly but surely.

-----

“Say that again?” I couldn’t help but ask, looking up from an update that Sergeant Kurtz had given about the training he was supervising.

Benny nodded. “Freddy came back with half the supplies he was sent out for. I was going to have a stern word with him but… He found the orphanage.”

“From how you are acting, and for Freidrich to hand away our supplies, it must have been bad.”

“It was. Freddy says the kids were basically starving. Apparently the water shortage has been… Rough for the orphanages. He dropped off enough supplies to help, but well. It’s getting around. Everyone is talking about it.”

I eased back away from my papers to think. Of course there were orphanages on Zaniah III. This was an age of war. Orphans were everywhere.

And of course my orphans would want to peek in on their cousins.

“Tell Freidrich he made the right choice. But next time he wants to hand over supplies he calls it in first. We have radios for a reason.” I grumble as I stand. “C’mon let’s go see what we are dealing with.” I grab my jacket and hat as I leave the comfortably cool room downstairs, to slowly rise up the ramp into the hell that is the Zaniah III surface.

Freidrich was waiting up top near his supply truck the fact he was wringing his hat in his hands at least told me he realized he had messed up.

Good thing for him, this was not just a military company but also a family. “You screwed up.” I told him as I walked up. Stopping close enough to jab a finger into his chest. “Tell me how you screwed up.”

I gave him a moment to process the question watching as the older boy hesitated before nodding. “I gave away supplies. Supplies that were meant to feed our soldiers, an-”

“Nope.” I cut him off instantly. “Wrong wrong wrong. You didn’t screw up by wanting to help the Zaniah orphans, Freidrich. We all know what it’s like, you screwed up because you didn’t use your radio to let us know what you were doing!” I poke him again just to get the point across. “If you had messaged us, we could already have another water truck filled and headed out. You are part of a group. Communication can not be something you leave until too late.”

With that I turned. Hopping back into the truck that he had driven back in. “Well, let’s go, I want to see this orphanage with my own eyes.” I ordered out. I amused myself counting down until Freidrich realized I had just given him an order as he hurriedly hopped into the truck to drive us off the base.

I wasn’t sure I was prepared for what I would find at this orphanage.

----

Pulling up to the ancient building that looked like it hadn’t had a coat of coat in a century didn’t leave me with great feelings. The old building looked run down, and doubly so when I noticed just how many kids were wandering around.

The fact every window was open told me they probably didn’t have a working AC. The moment I stepped out of the truck I could feel the heat slam into me and I began sweating. It was a hot day today. Even for Zaniah.

The many heads of young orphans, some younger and some older than me were peering out windows and up from where they were resting in whatever shade they could find. Freidrich stepped out beside me as I looked it over.

“It’s a shithole.”

“Yeah.” He stepped forward heading up the broken wooden steps that lead to the front entrance. Where a woman was just stepping out from deeper inside. “Ma’am. We brought some more water.” He offered. To the older woman who looked just as sweat soaked and tired as the orphans watching what was happening.

The look of relief I was expecting didn’t appear. Instead she hesitated before nodding. “Thank you, that will help.” She offered distantly.

Interesting.

“Freidrich, this the Matron here?”

“I am not.” She offered. The girl was probably mid twenties, early thirties with a harsh glare, and her dark hair tied up in a ponytail to keep the heat off her neck. “There hasn’t been an official matron to take care of the orphanage in a decade. I’m… The oldest. So I stayed. Sasha Frumpt.”

“Victoria Eisen-Blume. While Friedrich didn’t have permission, I have no problems with him delivering some supplies. If you let us know what you need we will make sure it appears.”

She seemed taken aback by the offer as her eyes narrow. “I don’t know you. What do you want? Normally, I would assume you’re here to buy slaves, but you are way too young for that.” She offered, and the fact she even had that thought in her head meant someone probably had come by at least once wanting to do just that.

I felt my fists clench.

“I’m an orphan. So is Freidrich if he didn’t tell you. So is everyone in my company.” I let that fill the air for a moment. “I’m Victoria Eisen-Blume, Commander of the Iron Blooded Company. But I suppose it would be more accurate to call us the Iron Blooded Orphans.” I say feeling a smirk stretch my lips despite myself.

I was never going to get tired saying that to peoples faces and being the only one to get the joke.

“Freidrich is my supply officer, he was checking on the orphanages in the area, call it checking in on distant cousins. He was not supposed to deliver the supplies here, but considering your situation. It’s obvious he did not deliver enough.” I stepped back and pointed to the truck. “It’s full of clean water. Where do you want it?”

Her hesitation appeared again before she swallowed it. “Around the back. That is where the water tank is located, we can fill it up there.”

“You heard the woman Freidrich.” he nods seriously before running back to the truck. “So, I’m curious what happened to the matrons that are supposed to be here. Katrina Steiner is pretty good about making sure us orphans are looked after if nothing else.”
“Pay. This isn’t the first year of drought. It’s been bad for a while. The money that gets paid to the Matrons of the orphanages, or at least this one hasn’t been available for years.” Sasha shrugged. “The last Matron, old lady Maria, died years ago. All the rest left when the pay stopped coming in. We still get some money for supplies, but well. That’s it. And it’s not enough. No with water being so expensive.”

“And the Governess hasn’t stepped in, or anyone in the Zaniah government?”

“Who would? I doubt they even know, that would involve them actually coming down here, to see how the orphanage is going… They only do that when they want one of us. Usually not even to adopt.”

“Well. We are here now.”

She looked me up and down. Being something like half her age, I doubt my assurance meant anything.

She would see. I would make sure of it.

----

The news took a while to reach us. Not least because we were so far outside of the city, but also because most kids, especially kids that are busy training in bootcamp, or working to keep everyone fed don’t really care much about the news.

That we did hear about it, says a lot about how much of an impact it was having on the sphere.

‘Katrina Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth offers to all the great houses peace. An end to the Third succession war!?’

The paper was dropped onto my desk by Freidrich after another one of his much more common supply runs. The boy had to head out more often now that we were supplying the orphanage.

Although I had a feeling that wasn’t going to last long. I had already started to see some new orphans among my troops. Starting fresh in our little bootcamp.

My family was getting bigger.

But the headline was what everyone was talking about. Too bad for Bennys face that had been so interested in my reaction. I already knew this would happen.

“Too bad only the Fed Suns will actually agree.” I told my command staff after they dropped the paper off on my little desk.

“Aww c’mon Vicky! This might really be the end of the wars!” Gauge was eager, happy. As if this would finally stop the decline of the sphere and bring back the peace. Of course if you asked him, it was always ComStar that would eventually put an end to the wars.

“It won’t. The snakes will never accept this. They will treat it as a show of weakness. The League won’t either. They will think the same. Liao are too crazy to think that they are losing, so they will never accept peace. Davion will accept. It makes no sense for him to refuse, but that won’t be the end of the problems there.”

“You're no fun Vicky.” Gauge grumbled, while Benny chuckled. “I don’t entirely agree. I bet the League will accept. It would cover their most difficult border. Marik could finally take care of their internal issues. And probably take Canopus.”

“They won’t.” I argue with the benefit of hindsight. “That would require them to have more control than they have. Too many factions in the League want the fighting to continue.”

“Pff. We’ll see Commander.” Benny teased before turning serious. “Do have to worry about this. If the war ends, we might have trouble finding work in the future.”

Considering just how wrong that thought was, I almost burst into laughter, but I managed to keep my face straight. “There will always be fighting. Don’t worry. The Iron Blooded Company isn't going to run out of wars to fight anytime soon.”

“If you say so Commander.”

“Well this doesn’t change much, but it is interesting. I guess if nothing else we have a good Archon in charge right now. One that is shooting for peace.” I offer aloud.

----

I should have expected something like this, but when I got a radio message about a month after starting to supply the orphanage, that Sasha was hitching a ride to the base, and wanted to speak with me, it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise.

But I really hadn’t been expecting a woman to hijack a military supply truck and basically demand to be taken to our base. Friedrich did learn from before so he called it in, and I gave the go ahead, but I could hear the strain in his voice while he requested permission for her to be brought in, and well.

I doubt this was his idea.

So there I was waiting outside in the heat, my Locust parked as we had been training when I got the call, when the water truck came to our base. Was stopped at our checkpoint and then was driven up the no longer dirt road to where I was standing.

The road was actually a massive pain in the ass. I had wanted something more secure, but couldn’t just ‘create’ a road out of nothing without letting everyone know something was off.

So I cheated.

I created a bunch of road chunks that could be connected together to make a pretty smooth concrete road, so that between Gauge and Benny working together they could fit together with their Centurions. Giving them something to do while getting used to their mech, and fixing our crappy dirt road from checkpoint to hangar.

Thinking I was ready I waited for the truck to pull up and out stepped Sasha Frumpt. Who I would soon learn no one was ever truly ready to deal with.

No, the moment she stepped out of the truck she stomped over towards me, and actually picked me up right off my feet with a fist in my tank top. I realized she was in a mood.

“Where are my little brothers!” She growled the woman, easily picking me up to stand on my tip toes as I startled at her sudden attack.

“W-what?” I stuttered as I felt my boots scrabble on the ground to get traction before she suddenly let me go and I was flailing to keep upright.

“Don’t mess with me. I don’t care if you are a mercenary commander. My little brothers are coming home. Now.”

I blinked for a moment before realizing what she was getting at. “Ah, gotcha. Well that’s up to them. We aren’t kidnapping them, or keeping them hostage. I haven’t accepted any official new soldiers into the company since we landed, so if they are here, they are here because they want to be.”

“You are going to get them killed! They aren’t soldiers!”

“No, they are worse. They are ‘non-combatants’ you know the ones that when the battle breaks out, they don’t even have a gun to defend themselves with.” I snarked back but at least it quieted the argument for a moment. “I’m not exactly happy about having a bunch of kids as an army either. But frankly. I would rather do it my way than join some military unit at 16 and end up dying on a distant battlefield just because it was convenient. Look around. Every one of the kids you see around you are my family. Brothers sisters. And dammit. They are soldiers. Or they will be. At least I can make sure they get training and equipment to keep them as safe as possible.”

She grit her teeth. “They all left.” She finally said gritting her teeth. “I woke up this morning. And there wasn’t a single one of my brothers left. They are all here.”

I winced. There had only been like 20 orphans at her orphanage, but to hear they all had left leaving their eldest behind? Ouch.

She breathed deep and sighed. “I won’t be able to convince them to come back. Why would they? The orphanage was dying. Even if they came back, what would they get? A few years of peace before they have to leave? Fine. I’m staying too.” She poked me in the chest hard, and I winced.

That hurt.

“Don’t think I accept this. I’ll be here to watch over my brothers. If you screw up. I’ll drag them out of here. Regardless of what you say.” She hissed, before turning around and heading towards the PT course. I could see some of the newer trainees running around our course perk up as she approached.

Well that happened.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2.3 Raise your Flag
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City
Red Base

Time passed quickly enough after. Our short bootcamp did wonders for the kids, especially since limitations like ammo, or fuel didn’t exist for us. Every day there were lines of soldiers shooting out into the desert under Sergeant Kurtz. Who seemed to be doing well actually. Despite being out in the desert he looked more put together than he had been just a few months ago back on Solaris.

The older man was clean shaven other than his mustache that now looked better than it did when we met on Solaris, plus, he actually looked rather pleased as he would run the kids through training every day. It seemed to agree with him.

During their training there was a group I made sure to tell Sergeant Kurtz to mark down. The calmest least aggressive kids got noted down, and out of those, I passed a secret to each of them with orders to not tell anyone and keep it to themselves.

Each secret would lead to a stash of snacks. That would be much appreciated by the teens running through boot camp every day. Those that managed to keep silent, and not hit the stash were added to the list, and one day I pulled them aside. One by one. With a simple question.

“What is the most important job in our entire Company, and why isn’t it filled yet?”

The question stumped every person I asked. When they gave an answer that wasn’t the right one. I simply shook my head, told them, there would be a meeting soon.

That built up a certain amount of mystique to the question. In the end, a week after the questions I pulled them all into a meeting downstairs. The group was thirty six of the quiet soldiers, those that were calm and tended more towards taking care of the others. When they gathered it went silent. The discipline that had started to come out as the Centurion reward hung over their heads was still incredibly effective.

“I have asked all of you a very important question. None of you managed to give me the correct answer. Today I am going to tell you that answer.” I let that statement echo around the dark room. I was currently standing on a vehicle that was hidden by a white tarp, and the entire rest of the room was dark, not a single light active.

“The Eridani Light Horseman learned this lesson three hundred years ago. They attempted to leave Kuritan space, finding the next Dragon to be too dangerous to continue to work for. Ah. I bet with that little hint most of you know the answer now. The non-combatants of the ELH were taken prisoner while the main forces were off working. They didn’t have anyone there to protect them. So in the end. They were massacred. Every one of them. That is why the ELH created the most important job in their company. Those that don’t stride forward to fight the enemy. But instead stay behind. To protect that which is most important.”

I stopped there. Letting the knowledge stew around the room for a while. I could see the understanding flow through the room. “You are the ones that if you accept this appointment won’t receive the accolades on the battlefield. In fact if we do our jobs right, and our employer never betrays us, you may never see combat. But I don’t find that likely.”

I stepped down from the vehicle, grabbing one end of the tarp, and pulled hard. The entire sheet came fluttering down beside me revealing the utterly pristine, LRM Carrier.

“This is what I decided on. A unit of LRM carriers, who’s only job is to stand not on the battlefield for money, but on the battlefield where loss means the end of us all.”

“Commander.”

I turn towards the voice. Marcus. He was someone I knew well. We were around the same age, and had lived together in the orphanage for years after all. “Marcus?”

“I’ll be honest, when you gave us that question, we all thought the same. Mechs, or maybe officers. And when you brought us down here I expected to maybe get offered a mech or something like that. But you're right. This is important. Defending our family, even if all of our mechs are away we need to be able to hold off any trouble… I’ll take this position.”

“So will I!” Another voice called out from the crowd, and then another. And another. I smiled. As I took in their support. It seems I wasn’t the only one that remembers the EHL’s woes, especially since we kept seeing it. Wolf’s Dragoons being a very recent example as well.

I nodded pleased that Marcus and the others were taking this so seriously.

“That’s not all.” I tell them as I turn, pushing a button to light up the room. The room now lit is revealed to be full of LRM Carriers. The walls are covered in boxes of ammo, and fuel ready for them to burn through to get the training they will need. “These aren’t just normal carriers.” I said giving them a chance to look over the fleet of vehicles and enough resources to keep them going for months.

“Each of these vehicles is equipped with Lostech.” I tell them. And the room went dead silent.

“The sensor systems of each of these carriers has been upgraded. This knowledge doesn’t leave this room. It doesn’t get spread among everyone. Not because we don’t trust them, but because if no one else knows it doesn’t put a target on our back.”

It took a moment before anyone spoke. But as much as we were training for military diligence, we were still teenagers. “We won’t Commander. None of us will. We swear it.” Marcus spoke out. His eyes were firm. They would keep silent.

“I know.” I walked through the crowd and put my hands on shoulders, looked into eyes. “None of you would be here, if I didn’t have that confidence. I am asking you to be our protection group. Your first duty will always be to make sure the rest of us are safe. It’s a heavy duty, but I trust you. We all, every Iron Blooded past, present, and future. Trust you.”

The rest of the meeting had me explain what the sensors could do. They would soon be busy every day full of training to make sure they would be ready.

----

A Different Perspective.

The entire room was tense. Hanna herself had the jitters. She was sure of it. She had done everything asked of her. Worked harder than any of the others, and had defeated every challenge placed on them during their two month boot camp.

Now they were waiting around the rec room underground for the results. The final ‘day’ of the official bootcamp just ended, and Sergeant Kurtz was in a meeting with Lieutenant Benny, and the Commander.

God the Commander. Vicky had been normal until suddenly she wasn’t. Mechwarrior. Commander.

Rich.

No one knew how it had happened, Gauge refused to say anything, and Benny had just told her not to worry about it, that Vicky was on our side. At first she hadn’t been sure. But this?

Giving Benny a mech had swayed everyone quite a bit. He wasn’t just one of the oldest kids, he was everyone's Big Brother.

But then… Then the offer had gone out. Another mech to the one who performed the best? Hanna took a deep breath, even just thinking about it made her so nervous!

“How much longer do ya think?” Lenden asked as he continued to pace around the room.

“Long as it takes, I suspect.” Carl said from where he was laying out on the couch, a throw pillow over his head.

“Yeah but how much longer!” Lenden growled out.

“Stow it! Keep your head. Acting up now will tank your chance if you were chosen.” Hanna scolded although everyone in the room knew Lenden wouldn’t be chosen, a bit too hot headed, and he hadn’t performed great on the physical tests, until closer to the end. It had taken a lot of work to get him to do, instead of complain.

Not like Hanna had. She had been the best almost every day. She offered a silent prayer to Benny for forcing her to workout so much back when they were younger. She had kept the habit even through the long trip to Zaniah which had only helped.

She hoped it was enough.

“Fuck! Don’t joke. We all know it ain’t gonna be me. You're the one likely on the short list Hanna!”

“Hey she is right, Lenden cool your exhaust, I mean, shit man we might not be in the list for this one, but the Commander already brought in three mechs! Three! I’m gonna keep my shit stowed, and in perfect form cause next time a mech comes through I want to be on the short list.” Vooren said from where he was doing a set of pushups. The boy used to be a troublemaker. One of the orphans most likely to be brought home late by a cop.

Now? He turned that around hard. He was clean cut thanks to Sasha who was good with scissors and kept everyone trimmed up when they needed. His performance had improved so much he was basically the second performer behind Hanna herself.

Before anyone could respond to that, the door opened. The door that was mostly used as an office for the ‘command’ staff.

And out she stepped.

The Commander.

“Commander on deck!” Hanna stood to make the call, and everyone jumped to their feet. The kids that had been loitering around in small conversations jumped to their feet.

Like usual the shout caused a bemused smile to cross Vicky’s face. “At ease.”

Everyone gathered in the room stood at attention and the Commander rolled her eyes. “Alright since you are all here. Put out the word, gather everyone in the mech bay for a general meeting. Hop to it!” She called out, sounding amused at how quickly the news caused them to start running.

Hanna was the first out the door to spread the word. She made sure to slam a palm against every door down the barracks hallway in case someone was napping or just spending time in their rooms, as she ran around. A few kids stopped her but with her news they soon raced off as well.

It was probably the fastest muster in the company's entire history.

Looking doubly bemused the Commander was sitting lazily on the still unclaimed Centurions foot, one leg dangling down as Gauge, who didn’t really have a rank, but everyone knew he was basically the Commanders right hand man and their mechtech. And Lieutenant Benny standing on either side of her.

“Well. That was quick.” She joked as she stood up. Despite the fact she was in charge of them, she still treated them more like family, than soldiers. “Iron Blooded!” She suddenly called out loudly, her voice echoing through the hangar. Silence followed.

“You know why you are here!” And we did. We had been waiting for this day for weeks, ever since Benny had revealed the reward for the one who did the best in boot. “This Centurion needs a Mechwarrior. One of you has been chosen to take up this task. Not as a reward, but a duty. These Mechs behind me represent the future of our company. Of our family. Without them, we will never have a future. Which is why I made sure we had them. Now. You are all ready to kill me if I don’t get on with it.”

There were a few scattered chuckles, but well there might have been some truth in that.

“Soldiers of the Iron Blooded Company! Salute your comrade who has earned this duty! Hanna step forward!” The room went silent. She was sure. Despite the fact she could see her family around her all cheering and screaming, she couldn’t hear a thing. It was completely silent, she was sure of it.

Was the room always spinning like that?

A push from behind had her stumbling forward. “Stop fucking around Hanna! Get your ass in gear!” A growled voice from behind her finally tore her mind back to the present. Lenden, she realized as she took a peak before looking forward.

Vicky was smirking down at her, as if she was enjoying her freakout. “Bitch.” She grumbled at Vicky, a familiar catcall between them. Vicky would respond with Gorilla if she was being mean, Hanna hated being compared to a gorilla. Or Vicky would call her a bitch back, or asshole, or all the little snips the two had for each other.

But not this time. No this time the word out of her little sister's mouth was something unexpected. “Mechwarrior.” She said and it all hit her again.

She felt herself swaying and it was only thanks to Benny grabbing her shoulder that she didn’t fall completely on her face.

“Come on Mechwarrior, straighten up.” Benny whispered into her ear and it was only his voice that made her legs find the strength in them she needed to stand up straight. Vicky pulled something from on the foot of the Centurion where it had been resting and offered it to her.

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. A neurohelm. She took it with shaking hands as Vicky continued, “Hanna! Just like the others before you. You have a big decision to make right now.” Vicky offered, smiling down at me. But then she spoke loudly, yelling it out into the room so everyone could hear, “What is your name Mechwarrior?!”

She swallowed. She had been trying to figure that out. They all had, each of them had to pick a name, either from their family, or as had become a tradition, copying the first two, picking a last name from history. To try and emulate them. There was actually a Kerensky somewhere in the defense unit. Although Tanya Kerensky always complained she was emulating Natasha Kerensky not THE Kerensky.

But now it was Hanna’s turn. She had to make a decision. She had a few ideas, but like many of the orphans, hadn’t settled on one yet. But this was it. No more waffling. She took a deep breath letting it out. “My Name is Hanna Hayha.”

Vicky blinked for a few moments before nodding at the name chosen. “It seems everyone likes to pick a name with a weight to it. It’s a strong name.” I nodded slowly as the crowd around us cheered.

Then Vicky jumped off the foot of the mech… No my mech. She thought a shiver running through her. Realizing she was being led up and around, towards the gantry by the smaller girl, “N-no Vicky I’m not ready!” She squeaked out which earned her a smirk she knew meant this moment would be used against her in the future forever, before she was tugged along regardless.

Up the gantry and into the cockpit of her new mech. Hers. Vicky walked her through the entire startup sequence. And the cheers of the entire hangar echoed around her when the mech finally came online.

-----

I was never going to let her live this down. “C’mon Mechwarrior! Stand up! Shake it off, if someone is shooting at you staying down means death move move move!” I called out into the mic. This had somehow become one of my favorite parts of training with my lance.

Gods it was a full lance now! “Red 4 I see your face stuck in the sand still move!” I yelled again reminding Hanna of her lance position. It seemed to spur her on, as she struggled to raise up in the horribly shifting sand.

Gauge was running along beside Benny, the two of them, actually performing an obstacle course that I had set up weeks ago. Having to duck, or jump to get over obstacles, and fire at the targets meant they were constantly training the movements needed to really pilot in combat.

Hanna wasn’t there yet, but she would.

I loped around the rising mech, seemingly zig zagging over the rough terrain. It had been the most important act I was practicing.

When the battle eventually came, my ability to keep moving without slowing was going to mean life or death.

“R-Red 1 I’m ready to continue!” Hanna called out over the line, she sounded a little wet.

“Broke your nose?”

“N-No. I think it’s just bleeding. I’ll be fine!”

“Good! Get moving. Left, right. Start marching. This is the terrain we will be fighting in, in the future, if you can’t even keep your feet you can’t fight!” With that I continued moving Hanna moving with me. Her stilted movements fighting her gyro at every step as the sand attempted to shift under her feet, or the rocks cracked and splintered.

Seriously the ground was either quicksand, or walking on glass. Sometimes changing from one step to the next.

As we moved I noticed the horde of watchers hanging out by our new fence. They were gawking and watching, enjoying the sight of the four mechs in Iron Blooded colors running around.

The company's first lance. Red Lance. Everything was on our shoulders.

“C’mon Red 4. More laps until you feel as comfortable walking in this as you do on your own two feet!”

And so the training continued.

----

The completion of the first bootcamp had a drastic change around the base. Everyone received actual rank pips to add to the collars of their jacket, and because of them a hierarchy was forming.

It wasn’t a bad thing though. The higher ranked kids were soon leading. Squads formed, and then units. The infantry started to figure out almost on their own what they were going to do. Rough Squad for example started training using the Norman trucks, in guerrilla warfare. Sneaking out into the desert and working together to take out a camp of soldiers by surprise. The Camp was usually manned by the kids that started taking over guard duty. Dubbed Delta Squad. Those that spent a lot of their time at the checkpoints, and would act as MP’s, needed training to handle sudden attacks. Rough Squad was happy to help.

It was wonderful. More and more squads and units began breaking into specialties. Sasha Frumpt had taken over Medical, and had a small army of some of the younger kids working as nurses.

Watching them drag, literally drag one of the kids from Rough squad who had taken a nasty cut out in the desert to medical despite his resistance and struggles, had been a good time.

And I did my best to keep in touch with what every group was doing and needed. Benny was better at it than I was, but I could actually figure out how to supply what they needed.

Rough Company earned themselves a fleet of Technicals. The Norman trucks, with SRM launchers bolted to the back. Delta really liked their machine gun nests.

Medical was happy for the ease of access to supplies. Although nothing fancy yet. Getting access to a hospital's machines was proving annoying.

It was like that across the Company. Small squads breaking out into specialty units. Now that everyone had a rank beyond Sergeant Kurtz constant bellows of “Maggots!” Those that earned their leadership positions were starting to take initiative. The fact I not only condoned it, but rewarded the squads for doing so meant it was almost explosive. Thankfully not literally.

Which is why I was frustrated with one of the men under my command.

Sergeant Alfred Kurtz, wasn’t one of us. Nowhere did that show more in this. His job to train us through boot was basically done. Yet he hadn’t truly dedicated himself to do anything more. Over the past week other than running some of the kids from Sasha’s orphanage through some PT he hadn’t really done much else.

Which is what brought us to this meeting.

I watched as Sergeant Kurtz entered my little office, he offered me a salute which I returned.

“Take a seat Sergeant.” I told him. Watching as he settled into the chair. “Something to drink?”

“No, no thank you Commander.”

“Well Sergeant, you joined our little company for a specific reason. I needed a soldier that could teach my kids how to soldier. You have done a good job. I am completely pleased with your work.

“It wasn’t me at all, Commander. Your reward kept them all eager. Never trained a group of people more eager.”

“Take the compliment Sergeant. Now, what am I gonna do with you?” Sure the kids weren’t fully trained up. But Sergeant Kurtz wasn’t a professional drill sergeant either. He was just a soldier I had hired because he was the only one that would take the job.

“Commander. I still have much to teach.”

“We have much to learn, Sergeant, but you don’t have that much left to teach, at least not as just a drill Sergeant. Now that the soldiers are done with your bootcamp, they are out learning on their own what they need. You haven’t moved.”

He flinched lightly at that, “Yes Commander. I… wasn't sure what to do next. I’ve offered some advice to Rough Squad, about guerrilla battles i’ve been in, but they have already learned everything I know about that.”

I nod. “I heard. Your advice was good, and it gave them a starting point, but frankly Sergeant, You aren’t a drill sergeant, although you have done a good job getting everyone through a basic boot camp. You don’t have the experience to do much more. I’ve noticed it. Benny has noticed it. So Sergeant, what am I to do? We had you contracted for a year. I can keep you on, move you to a different position officially, your experience is useful still. There will always be a need for experience, especially since that is something we lack the most, or we can finish your contract here. A severance pay that will more than pay for your ticket offworld if you choose.”

He hesitated. “Commander. I, permission to speak freely?”

I chuckle. “Granted.”

“When I joined up, I didn’t expect this to be anything more than a shit show. I accepted because the pay was good. That’s it. You didn’t impress me when we first met, and I expected to have a miserable experience. But I was desperate. The money you offered, and were kind enough to guarantee, was worth a rough deployment in my mind. I didn’t expect to actually find myself liking your little company. The kids are a pain in my ass. Teenagers always are, but I can respect their desire to be something more. They train hard. They keep discipline which is something I wasn’t expecting to see.”

I waited a moment as he trailed off, before prompting him “But?”

“No. No, buts. If you will keep me, I would be happy to continue to work for your company. I’m not an orphan, but I can offer my experience and my work.” He said standing straight and tall.

I leaned back for a moment. “Sergeant, I have a new job for you then. I still want you keeping an eye on the training of my kids. They are kids, so not all of them can keep a constant level of fitness. That’s your first job. You're the adult in the room. I want you to keep an eye out. So I’m assigning you as part of our supply squad. Friedrich is great with handling the water and food convoys, but I still need to be aware of when a soldier's boots wear out. Or if something gets destroyed and needs to be replaced. Your job is to be the one aware of it. One of my kids lost their helmet? You find out, and get them a new one. Their gun breaks? Report it, and they get a new one. You follow?

“A quartermaster? Never done anything like that Commander, but yeah. I think that I could learn. And I think I’ll be able to wrangle the kids and keep them ready.”

“Good. Sergeant. I’m glad to have kept you on.” I pull out an Eisen Blume patch from my pocket and toss it at him. “Next time I see you I expect you to be in regs for our unit.” I tease as I dismiss him. His uniform was still a Lyran infantry BDU. His salute was sharp. Seems that we managed to keep ourselves together long enough we earned some respect.

Hopefully it will spread.

-----

“Sorry I’m late. Got caught up making sure our ammo stores are up to date, our defense unit is going through LRM’s like they are candy.” I call out as I enter the meeting room. Gauge, Benny, and now Hanna were residing inside.

Hanna wasn’t aware of everything yet, but I knew we would need to expand our command staff pretty quickly to handle the amount of people we are dealing with, so bringing her into our meetings was useful.

She had been one of the grunts up until a week ago after all.

“No Problem Commander. Also I finished putting together our ORG chart!” Benny said, looking quite pleased with himself.

“That’s good. It’s been kind of awkward trying to figure out what ranks to use. I think we have a few of everything until now.” I say flopping into the chair.

“Which is why I made sure to take care of it. Now. I figured simple is best, Private for our base infantry. Corporal for our squad leaders, Sergeant as the highest non officer rank. Then we move into officers, and Lieutenant is a good one to start with. Our newly gazetted Lieutenant Hanna joins this rank. Hauptmann for unit leaders, then we have Colonel. We aren’t big enough for a colonel but it’s good to have the rank there if we need it. We are just a Merc corps, so we don’t really need to go much more in depth than that.”

“That sounds fine, Hauptmann Benny. Let me know what kind of marking we want for each rank, and I’ll make sure a few boxes of them end up in our stores. Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Yes Commander!”

“Gauge, how is our repair unit going?”

“Ah, Vicky, not great. I picked everyone that had the knowledge, or interest which already wasn’t a lot, but getting everyone to sit down and try to learn some repair tricks, that I remember from the old man? It’s not going well. There is a sentiment that the combat troops will have a better chance of becoming a mechwarrior, so why would they want to spend all their time just stuck on the backline, repairing.”

I scratched my head, groaning at that. “I don’t have a great solution there. They are right. I’m not going to be passing out mechs to those on the back lines.”

“Well reward them another way then?” Hanna piped up from her quiet corner.

“How? I’m not gonna offer them a mech.”

“What about salvage?” She offered back. “We can salvage all the mechs we want but if we don’t have a repair group it’s not gonna matter, so maybe offer if they can fix the broken mechs we bring in through salvage, they can pilot it?”

I thought about the offer, but Gauge actually beat me to responding. “It’s not a bad idea, but we will have to have it formally laid out about who gets to pilot the mech, and maybe in combat situations that is put to the side, because we will need them repairing in an emergency not fighting over who gets to repair the mech they want?”

“Well Gauge, congratulations, as the Lieutenant in charge of our repair squad, you get to put it on paper. It’s a good idea. I like rewarding them for working hard. Put something together and we will see what we all think at our next meeting.” I said, switching topics, “Benny, you’ve been getting Sergeant Kurtz’s quartermaster reports, how are we looking? I know we got another waste of time and money from the Governess.”

“We did this time, it was actually less than before. I checked the water they sent us, and frankly Commander? It wasn’t fit for drinking. For them to send us unsafe water? I don’t like it, it smells fishy.”

“That’s because it is.” I acknowledge with a sigh. “We knew they would pull something like this eventually. Benny, Gauge, Hanna. Make sure the mechs stay above ground, and pass word around for everyone to keep a close eye on our perimeter. Tell them, it’s a training exercise, and there is likely to be a breach in the coming month. Whoever spots it first, give them a snack ration as a reward.”

“You think they are going to try and break our contract?” Hanna asked, almost gasping in shock. “B-but. We are in Lyran space!”

“Just because all of us are Lyrans doesn’t mean all Lyrans are our friends Hanna. The governess likely feels that our mechs would do better in the hands of her Mechwarriors.” I offered and the look of utter offense that spread across her face had me laugh.

“Don’t worry.” Benny offered, “We are far better supplied than they expect, our water purifier alone is making us money hand over fist. I’ve had to expand our water selling expeditions three times in the last few months, and now that Sergeant Kurtz is assisting Freidrich, I expect to make even more.”

“But we are here to protect them. Why would they do this?” Hanna asked quietly, the large girl despite everything else, had a special faith in the Lyran military.

“Greed Hanna, and our military liaison was kind enough to hint that something was going on back when this all started. So this is a trick from the Governess’s office. But don’t worry. We know they are looking to break our contract, but as long as we stay prepared we will be fine. They don’t even know about our full Lance.”

“Oh. You didn’t inform the Governess about the new mechs?” Hanna asked, shocked, knowing that if I had, an expanded mech roster could potentially earn me additional pay, if I felt like renegotiating the contract.

“Of course not. When they come to disturb our anthill thinking we are dying of thirst, they are going to find an army come rushing out.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2.4 Raise your Flag
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City
Red Base

I dropped the receiver of the phone back in the cradle with an annoyed exhale as I turned to see Benny looking up from some reports he was putting together. “The 10th blow us off again?”

“Worse. They put me on hold, and just left me sitting there. I expected better from the 10th Sky Rangers. They are supposed to be more professional than this!” I growled, grabbing a drink to sip on and simmer.

“Our Liaison wasn’t any help?”

“No. Conor informed me that Lady Alessa has very little power over the 10th, and they basically do what they want. Requesting a meeting got us nowhere. I tried that a month ago. I just want to have a conversation to make sure we are on the same page if a raid happens. We don’t even have any emergency frequencies!”

“That and you really wanted to ask for some training between them and us.”

“That, and I wanted to set up a training day between us, yes. They have centuries of experience, and are veterans. We are still so green Benny.”

“Well they aren’t going to help. So stop stressing about them.”

“I know.” I grumble before shaking it off. “So. We can’t rely on the official defense force. Or the Governess office. We can only rely on ourselves. I’m gonna go help with the static defenses.” I bit out as I headed outside into the searing heat.

Unfortunately my Locust didn’t have hands, so the only way I could help was by grabbing a shovel.

The massive chunks of solid concrete that the entire company was working on digging in to create a wall high enough to offer us some real defense. The two Centurions piloted by Gauge and Hanna were working together to place the concrete, then in a swarm the kids would swarm it, and pile dirt and sand around the edges, helping to lock it in place.

I joined these crews just to distract myself with something. The horrible heat made this a rough job, but the discipline that had bubbled up after the bootcamp reward was still there. My kids were eager to work. Happy to do something and prove themselves.

I would have to get a new mech soon. Maybe another Locust? Start a scout lance? I had told Benny way back that I was planning on having him leave Bravo Lance, so maybe another medium to complete the Lance? I let my mind fall into such thoughts as I dug into the dry earth to pile dirt up around the concrete wall that was slowly forming. The physical work helped distract me. I did my best to seem confident around everyone, but I was nervous about what tricks the Governess might try.

It could very easily become a she said he said issue, and the governor of a planet had a bit more clout than the Commander of a small merc company.

I just hope our rate of expansion will be enough. Unfortunately time was one thing we were running out of.

“Commander!” A shout rang out, and I glanced up to see a kid running towards me, he huffed for a moment “We’ve got a problem at the checkpoint! Not sure what’s going on, but we are holding them off for now.”

I passed the shovel over to one of the other workers, heading over to grab my officer’s jacket. My sweaty tank top wouldn’t be a great first impression so I slipped it over my shoulders, although I didn’t bother with the sleeves. It was too hot here to wear it fully, but wearing it like a cape meant I could slip it off when jumping into my Locust.

“What did you see?” I demanded as I took off at a brisk jog, the boy keeping up easily, thanks to our hard months of bootcamp. “Three fancy cars, and a horde of guys in suits with guns. They were really arrogant, almost drove right past the checkpoint until we got them sighted with the guns, that slowed them down quick. They were arrogant though, some guy was thinking they could just demand whatever they want, but Joshua is on guard duty, and he didn’t take none of that. We put our weapons on them, and well. Joshua, He told me to come get you.”

“Good. Alexa! I need a ride, Now!” I called out to one of the girls that often drove our Norman trucks around the base, or into town. I grabbed onto the side of the pickup as the older girl had swiftly jumped into the driver seat at my order, “Hop on!” I called out to my messenger, Gregory! I remembered his name as he clambered into the back and the truck set off.

I could already see the vehicles blocked at our entrance checkpoint. Not only were the mounted machine guns mounted by a gunner, but our APC had been parked there, and hidden inside a bunker so no one realized what it was until they got too close and had another set of heavy machine guns pointed at them. I mostly gave them one so they had a place to run too if there ever was an attack. Better to escape in an APC than stand and fight to the death after all.

The heavy set man in a suit screaming at my guards told me that he wasn’t happy about the situation. The truck slowed down and I hopped into a gentle jog to bleed off the speed as I walked up to the situation. The three very high end ground cars stopped at our checkpoint caused me to frown. Especially since one of them had the symbol of ComStar on the hood.

That is not good.

Someone was making a move. I stomped forward as if I owned the place, because I did.

“Joshua. Report.” I ordered, ignoring the sputtering suited man as I looked to the Corporal in charge.

“Just these three vehicles, we alerted the rest of the guards to check the perimeter. Marcus was pretty sure that these are it.” He commented, although I suppressed a smile, I was the only one in the area that knew why Marcus was so sure.

“Okay so they weren’t trying to sneak anybody in while we were distracted, Good. I won’t have them shot then.” I turned to the man that had been arguing with my guards and gave him a once over. His hand clutched a batch of papers that he was gripping harshly, as he glared down at me. “I’m Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume, you are trespassing on a military installation.”

“It is not trespassing! I am Zachary Constance, an official of the Zaniah Government directed by Lady Alessa to conduct a surprise inspection!” He ranted, fisting the sheaf of papers at me, which I snatched from him before he could say anything more.

“I never received any communication that an inspection was on its way, and as a military base, no one gets on site without my direct knowledge.” I inform him as I flip through the papers. They looked legitimate and I spent a few minutes reading through them, letting the man seethe at my nonchalance.

When I got to the last page, I flipped the packet closed. The man immediately began speaking, trying to move forward, “There. Now step aside, so I can complete my inspec-” He was stopped both from moving forward, and from speaking as Joshua put his rifle at his throat.

“Joshua. If this man tries to break onto the base again without my permission, shoot him.” I was getting quite irritated at this point. As I walked past the man and towards the three vehicles that still had a few guards surrounding the unmoving vehicles.

There was only one vehicle that really mattered here.

The two Com Guards in their little wizard hoods took notice of my approach. But before they stopped me, the door of the very high end car opened, and out stepped . That wasn’t an adept the robe was different. I slowed as he stood to his full height and approached me. “Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume.” I introduced myself, offering my hand for a shake which he took calmly.

“Demi-Precentor of Zaniah III Gabriel Franks.” He returned, and I shook his hand for a moment, as we sized each other up.

“Pardon my bluntness, Demi-Precentor, I don’t allow civilians, even ComStar on base without my knowledge. But I do understand that you are in an interesting position. Do I have your word that the man you are escorting is in fact a member of the Governess staff and is here for an inspection, and that this isn’t some strange spy game being played on me?”

He takes a moment to take in my question. “Hmm. I can assure you Mr. Constance is here at Lady Alessa’s order.” He informed me calmly, and I nodded.

“I’ll have to speak to her later then. And do I understand you are here to be a neutral observer of this ‘surprise inspection’ acting on behalf of the MRB?”

“Exactly so. Lady Alessa is concerned about the Iron Blooded Companies combat readiness in case of an attack, as dictated under page 78 of the Mercenary Contract.” He said calmly, and I snorted. Amused that he knew the exact page.

“Well then Demi-Precentor as much as I don’t like surprises, welcome to the Red Base.” I offer, turning and waving Joshua away from the ‘official’ “Mr. Constance, I also welcome you to Red Base.” I told him as I walked up to the man. Who at this point was glaring at me with a truly enraged scowl on his red face.

“The Governess will hear about this.” He hissed in a low voice.

“Yes she will. I will be calling her once we are finished here, to let her know I am very dissatisfied about this surprise visit. But that’s for later. Mr Constance. Complete your inspection.”

I watch him scowl as he returns to his car, as I clamber into the cab of the Norman. “Go ahead and lead them to the hangar.” I told the driver of the truck I had commandeered as I rested back. This was going to be interesting.

The small convoy pulled up to the hangar. The kids were all looking and lollygagging wondering what was going on, “Get back to work!” I ordered out in my boss voice sending most of them scurrying away although a few sent me smirks as they fake drank water, or ate food. I snorted, smiling despite myself, troublemakers.

The convoy stopped and I could already hear the harsh words coming out of the cars as Mr. Constance was scowling and nearly yelling at a younger man that stepped out of his car right behind him.

The four Battlemechs that were standing around the base were getting more than a little attention. Benny’s Centurion and my Locust were both idle, Benny himself walking out to meet me, but the two active Centurions still working on the wall were getting a lot of concerned looks from the furious official.

What was more interesting was the second car. The one that had also followed and two Mechwarriors stepped out.

I knew they were Mechwarriors instantly. I was a Solaris kid in this life afterall. That swagger, and movement? Definitely Mechwarriors, and they were eyeing up my mechs as if they were holding the keys about to go for a joyride.

The Demi-Precentor on the other hand, seemed to note the mechs, and an adept that followed him as his assistant, made a mark on some noteputer, at the low response from the man.

“Hauptmann.” I spoke up as Benny joined me at my side.

“Commander. What’s the word?”

“Trouble. Get a few guards to help escort our guests. They have their orders that we have to follow since they brought the MRB into this, but no one says a word to them. They can inspect the base. Nothing says they can interrogate our people.”

“Understood Commander. I’ll go grab a few.” He says hurrying off as I approach the perpetually red faced official. “Mr. Constance. I hope to get this taken care of quickly. Get to it.” I tell him plainly, as Benny returns with a few kids who very obviously bracket me and start watching with sharp eyes.

Good kids.

“This is Preposterous! You are only supposed to have two mechs!” He growled at me as he turned, seemingly finally having enough berating his aide.

“Yes. When I first took the contract I only had the two. My Locust, and a Centurion, before heading off Solaris, I made a deal that went through that got us the second two Centurions. They were delivered in secret. I wanted the eventual League raid to run into a full Lance, instead of a Demi-Lance. This was meant to be a military secret.” I stepped very close to him, close enough I could smell his rather foul aftershave. “Now. When the raid comes, instead of sending a single Lance against my Demi-Lance. They will send two Lances, against my own.”

He seemed quite taken aback at my anger. “W-what nonsense! You should have informed the Governess’s office about the increase in military power! And any such secret you seem intent on keeping will remain kept! This is a Lyran world. We don’t worry about SAFE here!”

“I am not worried about SAFE, Mr. Constance. But you brought a ComStar MRB Official on an inspection. What do you think happens when his report goes through regarding the improved status of my Mercenary Company?” I hiss at him, and for just a moment the man seems slightly abashed, at the fact I was right.

ComStar Was a ‘neutral’ entity. One of the things they did was try to keep their Mercenary ratings completely up to date. So that when someone requests a mercenary company they know what they are buying. But when ComStar improves my company's rating, well… Surprise was always useful. And now some of it was gone, because the Governess wanted to play politics.

It was a good excuse at least. If they hadn’t brought ComStar I would have argued about SAFE instead. After all, it seems Lady Alessa is an enemy as well, keeping her in the dark can only help me at this point.

“I worry about all of my enemies, Mr. Constance.” I said turning towards the two men who I had been eyeing as they made their way towards Benny’s Centurion. “Mr. Constance is here at the orders of the Governess. And ComStar is here as a representative of the MRB. Who are you two, and I will only say this once. Don’t touch my mechs.” I call out loudly, towards the two men.

Both of them turned at my call, although the younger of the two, more a boy than a man, scoffed, turning back to eye Bennys Centurion. The elder turned and it seemed transformed his face into a sharp grin that probably worked quite well to charm young women. “Forgive me and my younger Brother Commander, but when Mother ensured there would be an inspection on her newest mercenary contractor, we had to come take a look.”

He turned away from the mechs and approached. His charming facade was rather pointless on me, as he bent over and took my hand to lay a kiss across a knuckle. “Arthur Alessa, Eldest son and heir to the Governorship of Zaniah III, at your service Commander.”

But I wasn’t a fool. His eyes and manners had been full of nothing but greed upon looking at our mechs. I had no doubt about why the two brothers were here.

Two mechs for two brothers after all.

Lady Alessa intended on walking away with the mechs, this little ‘inspection’ was probably already assumed to go her way. I would just have to see about that. “A pleasure.” I grunt out. “If you are going to be taking part in this inspection. Very well. But my equipment isn't a toy.” I call out looking behind him which he follows to see the younger brother, who was probably in his late teens seemingly checking over the Centurion. “And the owner of that Centurion will shoot him if he keeps that up.” I add.

“Hah! Forgive him, he is a bit foolish at times!” Arthur offers before raising his voice. “Vincent! The mech isn’t going anywhere. We have work to do!” He called out, and I noticed he spoke of the mech as if Vincent the younger brother would have time with it later.

He would not.

“Mr. Constance. Get on with your inspection. You are disrupting my base enough already. As you can see we were improving our defensive wall when you showed up.” I growled, turning away from the two brothers whose greed was plain as day to see. I noticed that the Demi-Precentor was watching this all with a careful eye.

He was dangerous.

----

The inspection went on and on. I led the little group on a tour. Showing off our surface armory, our fuel supply, food and other normal supplies. Mr. Constance once again glared and had a whispered argument with his aide when the water supply was covered.

Instead of revealing the truth I just showed them one of our water trucks still full. Letting the group make their own decisions on our water supply. Our secondary kitchen upstairs in one of the hangar side buildings I had ordered to keep stocked, once I realized there would be a need to keep our underground bunker secret.

I was glad I had done so, as the aide made a long amount of notes about our food supply. Which by this point I was getting really frustrated with.

What exactly was this ‘inspection’ supposed to find that would assure them a contract dispute? Mr. Constance never paid any attention to the things that would actually indicate our ability to fight. Defenses? Ignored. Vehicles? Given a look and then passed over. Weapons? He apparently had more important things.

Food? Water? Medical supplies? Those held his attention.

Finally after an hour of waiting I began losing my temper.

“Is there a point to this Mr. Constance? My company is completely ready to fight per our contract. We are even above strength from our original posting. What exactly has the Governess so concerned, that she sent you for this inspection?”

“The governess is always concerned about combat readiness and the fact she is paying your contract she has the ability to commit surprise inspections at any time.”

I waited a beat to see if the red faced, and now very sweaty man had anything else to add before I turned to the seemingly only adult in the room. “Demi-Precentor. I would like to know what it was that caused this MRB Arbitration. A ‘surprise inspection’ by my contractor wouldn’t require arbitration, and wouldn’t have brought your attention without a serious case.”

For the first time the old man seemed surprised at something, as he nodded “An astute observation. You are correct, MRB arbitration was requested under this contract. During this inspection, it is my duty to determine if the request was valid.”

I turned to the official that had been leading me around my base for over an hour. “Mr. Constance. If the Governess has an issue with our contract I am more than happy to discuss that with her. Do you wish to ‘inspect’ any further, or are we done here?”

The man seemed quite off balance at the reveal from the Demi-Precentor. “T-that, is none of your concern! I will continue the inspection until I am satisfied!”

“My patience for this farce Mr. Constance has just about reached its end. I would decide quickly, what else needs to be ‘inspected’ and get around to it.” I grit my teeth, my temper getting the better of me.

I really just wanted to shoot him. Or get in my Locust and stomp him. Whichever was more painful.

Yet thankfully that seemed to spur him on, and after a few more minutes of obvious dawdling. The official finally turned to the Demi-Precentor. “I believe that concludes everything we required during our check… I have been informed by the Governess to request the arbitration decision immediately, Demi-Precentor.”

“Hmm, is that so?” He nodded. “Very well then. As a representative of the MRB I am here to declare my decision on the arbitration request between the Governor of Zaniah III and the Iron Blooded Mercenary Company. I see no sign of the Iron Blooded company failing in its duty to remain combat capable. The only other concern has been a lack of military patrols requested by the Governess office to the Iron Blooded company. An explanation to the MRB is requested by Commander Eisen-Blume.”

“Patrols?” I couldn’t help but blink in surprise. Taken off guard at the information. I turned to Benny who shrugged his shoulders at me. “There is no requirement for patrols listed in my contract, and this is the first I have heard about them.”

“The Governess has informed the MRB that all patrol requests sent to the Iron Blooded company have been ignored.”

“I never received any requests for patrols. How exactly have these patrol requests been sent to my Company?” I didn’t bother asking the Demi-Precentor. Instead turning towards Mr. Constance.

“Preposterous! Claiming at this time that you haven’t even received the basic duties we requested of you!”

Seeing as he wasn’t answering I turned back to the Demi-Precentor. “Did they inform you how those patrol requests were sent to us?”

“I was informed they sent the request through the global defense frequency.”

“Ah. The frequency, I have sent at least a hundred requests to both the 10th, and the Governess’s office requesting access to? The one that I inform my Liason that I have not been given access to for the entire three month stay. That Frequency Mr. Constance?” I ask turning to the man.

“Ridiculous. General Faulkner assured the Governess office you had been completely set up and ready as required by all Mercenary Companies.”

“General Faulkner never gave us any emergency defense frequencies, and that has been made evident by my constant requests for them.”

“Is there any evidence of these requests, Commander?” I was pulled away from my argument with Mr. Constance after a moment and I smiled.

“There are in fact! I have a communication log of every contact I have with both my Liason, and my attempts to contact the 10th, and if that isn’t good enough. My Liaison Leutnant Freidrich Conor will speak of my constant attempts to request access, despite never responding I am sure the 10th have logs of my requests as well.”

“Very well. The MRB has declared the status of this arbitration on the first count, failure to maintain readiness as denied.”

“W-what! That. Demi-Precentor! The Lady Alessa has heard rumors of the company failing to keep it’s people fed and watered, and it has not received any word of ammunition requests from the company. They are undoubtedly low on ammunition at this point. The Contractor has a serious concern about the company's ability to remain at the required standard!”

I didn’t get a chance to respond when the Demi-Precentor replied immediately, “That was the reason for this arbitration given to me, yes, and during this inspection I discovered no sign of the company's failure. If the Governess feels a company doubling in strength over the course of three months is a sign of them weakening. I am sure she could cancel the contract with the Iron Blooded Company at any time. Until this arbitration is complete, The MRB views the contract as valid.”

Before Mr. Constance could even reply I stepped forward this time, not willing to let this continue to play out. “And what exactly has prompted the idea that my company is failing in upholding our side of the agreement Mr. Constance?”

The man seemed quite startled at the changing circumstances. He had thought this would be a snatch and grab. And now he was finding the neutral arbiter wasn’t on his side. “I-I was not informed what prompted the concern, only that your military readiness was in question.”

“Then I will be having a firm conversation with Lady Alessa. Until then. Demi-Precentor, can you advise me on the actions needed to request my own arbitration over the contract. It seems I have been dealing with some irregularities over the last few months, and I have serious concerns.”

The looks of shock on Mr. Constance's face warmed me as the Demi-Precentor agreed.

Although I noted out of the corner of my eye, the two sons of the Governess were looking very displeased. The younger, already whispering furiously with his brother and seemingly told to be quiet.

“Oh? This is quite an unusual situation. Before I accept. Do you have any evidence of malfeasance on part of the Contractor Lady Maria Alessa on behalf of the governorship of Zaniah III?”

“I believe I do. Mr. Constance spoke on a lack of resources, that is still true. I kept the shipment orders for supplies the Lady has sent over, and they are obviously inadequate for a Company, regardless of size. The cost of the supplies dictated by contract was correct, but the cost of even basic purified water was exorbitant, making up over 90% of the cost.”

“There is a water shortage going on!” Mr. Constance interrupted, his distress audible. “The cost for the water is higher than standard!”

“I am not arguing that Mr. Constance, but what remains to be seen is why our last shipment of water was well below safe drinking water. If I hadn’t noticed it before it was issued to my men, many would have been sick, or even died. I did notice as well Mr. Constance, you were very interested in my sick bay, which we don’t have one, as the only sickness we end up dealing with on a daily basis has been heat stroke, or sun burn. Where exactly did you get knowledge that my people would be sick before you arrived?” I pressed immediately, furious with the fat clerk.

“Oh? Do you have any evidence to back up this claim, Commander Eisen-Blume?” The Demi-Precentor interrupted. His face still had that blank mask, that gave me no clue on his thoughts.

“I have the water still in it’s container, but it has been opened, so I am not sure how much trust the MRB will give to that. Otherwise, I still have the shipping order. It might allow one to track down where the water came from. Otherwise. No.”

“You are correct, the water can be tested but, it will supply little evidence. The shipping manifest may be useful, But I can offer no promises on what it will show.”

“N-Nonsense! You can’t do this! Lady Alessa is requesting arbitration against this company, they can’t not request it in return!”

“My Constance. I am afraid the MRB is in the habit of neutrality especially in regards to disputes between Mercenary Companies and Contractors. They most definitely can, and the MRB will do everything in its power to investigate these concerns.” He turned, and headed away, his Comguard staying with him as he headed out towards the vehicles. Obviously done with this entire clusterfuck.

“Do not believe this will go your way. Lady Alessa is not pleased with your conduct so far! The arbitration is not completed yet.” Mr. Constance hissed out before stomping off. Leaving only the two sons who were still whispering to each other.

“I believe that this surprise inspection and arbitration is complete for now. Get off my base.” I jerked my head at the guards that had been following us around, and they walked up to make sure these two left as well.

“I see. An unfortunate situation Commander, Until next time.” The elder son spoke with an unbothered grin, while the younger kept a glare on his face. I could see his eyes looking towards the standing Centurion over and over, as the pair left.

Only when their dust cloud finally disappeared over the horizon did I let the emotion flow through me.

“Gotcha.” I grinned. This was the best they could do?

----

Despite all of my calls being ignored by the Governess over the next few days I was feeling pretty good. The MRB was investigating the water issues, and of course the proof I didn’t have the defense frequencies and so couldn’t have done any patrols requested.

Unfortunately any sense of pleasure at defeating the first half of the Governess’s attack vanished three days later. And it wasn’t anything she did.

The call came mid morning, and when I answered, I was rather surprised at the voice on the other line.

“Commander Eisen-Blume.” Governess Alessa’s voice spoke.

“Lady Alessa, are we finally having the past due conversation?”

She was quiet for a minute and when she responded her voice wasn’t the dangerous edge of a noble lady, it was tense. “No. Despite everything Commander. I will have to trust those words you spoke to me when you first landed hold true. An hour ago a merchant Union deviated from its projected path. When hailed they failed to respond. We have confirmed this to be a raid.”

We both were silent for a time. I was no longer smiling, or joking with a woman that had overreached.

No, I was dealing with an actual attack.

“How long until they land?”

“My General’s have informed me that we have ten hours.”

“Then Governess Alessa. Despite everything I stick to my word. Our issues you started aren’t over. And don’t expect that when this is done, that I won’t be holding you accountable, but... My Iron Blooded Orphans will fight.”

She was quiet for a while. “I understand. The planetary Militia will assist you, your Liaison is already on his way, he will work as a go-between for the defense.”

We didn’t spend much more time talking. Although I did learn that my Liaison had the planetary defense frequency codes. So I would finally be able to connect with the rest of the defenses.

I settled the phone back on the receiver and sat back for a moment. My office was quiet, but I could still hear the shouts and voices of my kids fighting and playing in the underground bunker.

It was time to see if all the preparation had been enough. I stepped out, noticing that everyone came to attention as I did.

“Benny! We have confirmation of a raid coming. Get everyone ready. It’s time.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3.1 No Guts, no Galaxy.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City
Red Base

A different perspective.

Alfred Kurtz had been in plenty of battles, he had actually worked in a planetary guard regiment when he was still with the LCAF before he eventually retired. This wasn’t his first time defending against a raid. Nor did he expect it to be his last.

But it was his strangest.

This whole damn operation was oddball. The amount of fuel and ammunition the Company burned through just in training would have given a planetary guard General a coronary.

Yet here for these orphans it was just normal. Everyone could at any time get to the armory, get some ammunition and get to the training yards.

Hell. There were some kids here that had probably shot more rounds down range than Alfred himself had.

Also these kids seemed to love pulling tricks out of their ass.

Rough Squad were a group of little shits. The hard headed ones, the teens that don’t like rules, or being told no. So it was no surprise they were becoming annoying little guerrilla fighters. The fact they were supplied with some scary equipment by the Commander only made it worse.

The amount of Inferno missiles the kids carted off in their Technical would be enough to set a world ablaze. For a moment Alfred prayed to God in thanks that there are no trees on this world, at least none he had seen.

He really didn’t want to deal with a forest fire.

When word went out, the kids started deploying. Rough Squad disappeared not long after the Commander's speech. They would be harassing these raiders in their own way.

The Defense Unit disappeared. The group of quiet kids had listened to the speech, and for a moment when they heard they could be attacked? Well… Those kids were scarier than he expected. Considering Alfred had seen the stocks of LRM missiles deplete to a ludicrous degree every damn day, and the fact that it was always after the group disappeared, and explosions sounded far in the distance? Well Alfred had his suspicions on what they were up to.

Like he said, strange. Everything was strange, but it wasn't a bad strange. Hell he could have used this sort of strange years ago in the LCAF when the snakes attacked. Instead he had his old General who thought that bayonet charges were inspiring.

He offered a second prayer in thanks to God for not dealing with that sort of crazy anymore. No he much preferred this new sort of crazy.

“Ah, Sergeant. Good. I’ve been looking for you.” Hauptmann Rommel jogged up, although it was still common among the orphans to just call him Benny.

“Hauptmann.”

“We want you in the command post here on base while this is happening. The Commander's exact words were, ‘You're going to be looking over our shoulder and pointing out any stupud mistakes.’ So. We want you there, getting set up.” The Hauptmann looked annoyed at having to relay these orders.

Alfred could understand. Benny was the sort that thought they knew it all. The thing was his type tended to know enough that they could get arrogant, but not enough to realize that arrogance was killer. Alfred had no issues offering his advice.

“Understood. I’ll head up presently.” They saluted and headed out. Hauptmann Rommel heading towards his Centurion, nine hours were up, and it was getting close to when they would find out where the raiding force was going to drop.

Alfred checked his service pistol. The same gun he had was issued in the army. The same gun that had saved his ass more than once.

“Once more.”

He whispered thinking back to the speech the little Commander had given just a few hours ago. He hoped it kept everyone on point. Discipline and not getting distracted would be the main things keeping the kids alive.

Or killing them.

----

Perspective shifts

Colonel Herb Enders had been in charge of the 10th Skye Rangers for almost a decade now. He worked hard, fought hard, commanded hard.

It was why he hated being stuck on this dustball planet.

The 10th had been torn up after their raid on Shiloh. The running battle they had been forced into in an effort to extract the shuksam crystals that grew on the planet. Snoord, who had asked for the help in the first place, had been sure the crystal would be useful. It was. They had more than made up for the battle, but even now a few years after the raid the 10th were recovering. They had taken a beating, and despite their best efforts some of their mechs were still mauled. Replacement parts, either still on the waiting list, or just not coming, although that should finally be clearing up soon. After they re-armed he might finally get off this rock.

Still Colonel Enders would do his duty to Duke Lestrade. The orders had been very firm. The only important defensive objective on Zaniah III was the spaceport. The factories could easily be sacrificed as long as the spaceport stood.

So he had done so. Keeping the spaceport from taking any damage in the years he had guarded it. Not a single raid, pirate or League had made it to the spaceports walls.

The Governess hated him for it though.

The factories were civilian infrastructure, and their damage really only hurt her wealth. So her demands for more and better protection for her factories came often, and came furiously.

They were all ignored.

Not the 10th’s problem.

So then the Governess had hired a merc company.

A small one. When the report hit his desk that he was sharing the planet with a demi-lance company. He had scoffed. What were they going to do? It had only grown worse from that. They were all kids. Teens playing at war.

When they started trying to contact the 10th through civilian frequencies he put it down to incompetence. Children not understanding that you don’t speak about anything over unsecured coms.

It had taken almost a month for him to get what was really happening. The Governess was playing games. She had sent an order to him one that he couldn’t ignore like her request to protect her factories.

Don’t talk to her Mercenaries.

That was that. The Mercs were on their own. It was why he was so surprised that once the Union was spotted, confirmed to be League affiliated, that it was only a few hours after that he had his first conversation with Commander Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Orphans.

Yeah the fact she introduced her company that way had been confusing until he had actually asked the 10th’s own liaison with the planetary guard.

Turns out they weren’t just kids. They were orphans. Every one of them.

Strange.

But not unheard of here in this age of war. The fact their leader was so young, was an oddity though.

That he learned she had actually expanded to a full Lance, and of mostly mediums at that? He had to admit while reading that he had been impressed. Considering what was coming for her, and her people? He hoped it was enough. Hoped she had enough sense to survive.

Because the raids that came to Zaniah III were usually fairly bloody.

“Good Luck Commander.” Were the words he left her with after they confirmed the 10ths plans to not leave the Starport. She was on her own.

----

I had managed to sneak in a small nap after the initial flurry of activity had winded down. I needed one after my big speech. It had been so embarrassing, standing in front of everyone. Talking as if I was actually competent, as if I had any idea what I was doing. I was just a fraud.

My descent into a pity party lasted through my nap. I had just taken a long shower. The warm water dripping down my short hair as I stared into a mirror. I had known this day was coming. The Inner sphere was simply not a safe place. No matter where you were, men wanted to take what you had.

I had been prepared. I was sure of it. I had done so much. Sure I made mistakes. Now that it was coming, and time was up the ideas kept hitting me. “Mines” I said aloud. Shaking my head. I had spent most of the shower cursing myself for a forgetful fool.

There was always something more, something I could do, or create, or prepare. But in the end, time was always the one resource I couldn’t cheat.

My hands were shaking.

I had been staring into the mirror for too long, but I couldn’t get myself to calm down. All the kids looked to me. To keep them alive. Alive in the face of an enemy, that would kill them without mercy.

“Hey.”

The voice startled me from my cycle of staring as I blinked. “Sasha.”

“Vicky. You doing okay?”

I exhaled. “Yeah.”

“Liar.” She moved up and before I could move dropped a towel on my head and began scrubbing my head. “Better get you ready. After the big speech you gave everyone is ready, even the kids that were afraid are more excited now.”

“I’m terrified. I’m gonna get them killed.”

“Some of them.” She offered and I startled under her hands whipping towards her. “There is a reason I didn't want my brothers to join up, Vicky. No Mercenary company, no army, has ever stood without some casualties. It’s gonna happen. Here. Today most likely. Some of them won’t come back to the barracks tonight.”

I pulled the towel from my hair to turn to her. The older woman sighed. “But that is life. You convinced me you know. At first I was sure you were some noble kid playing at being an orphan, planning to use us to launch yourself back up to nobility, or maybe some disinherited noble trying to build an army to take back your title. But you aren’t. You're just an orphan like the rest of us, trying to find a path forward. You created a path that we are following. Not all of us will make it to the end, but I have to admit Vicky. I really want to see it. Where this path eventually ends.”

She dumped the towel over my head once more and scrubbed down until my hair was staticy and dry. “Get ready. We don’t need Vicky who is freaking out right now. We need our Commander, the kid that has done things that mystify every one of us. I’m twice your age Vicky, and you still do things I don't understand. So get up.”

Well.. what else could I do? I got up.

-----

I walked past many wide eyes as I headed towards my Locust. I was ready. I was wearing my mechwarrior outfit, which really is just as little as possible, with my Officers jacket over my shoulders as I had taken to wearing it.

The eyes of all the kids followed me. Those that were still around. Nearly half my infantry had disappeared into the dunes hours ago, when I first made a speech. I was the last one to reach the mechs. Gauge was waiting for me at the bottom of the gantry, while Hanna and Benny were already starting up their mechs.

“You look nervous.” I tell my friend as I walk past him, his hands wringing together as he turns to follow.

“Of course I’m nervous! Why aren’t you?”

“I’m the Commander. I can’t be nervous. Every eye is on me. If I am freaking out, they will doubly freak out. So I am calm. We’ve prepared for this. We can do this.”

“Yeah well. I’m not.” Gauge hissed. “We are about to go to war. Oh Blake. Why did I do this? I could be working for ComStar right now. I could be learning the secrets of technology and working my way through as an adept. Imagine me working on the HPG network!”

“Yeah, but ComStar wouldn’t have given you a mech. So fair is fair.” I teased as I stopped just before turning towards the Locust. “You can do this Gauge. We trained so hard for this. Just imagine how much fun it’s going to be to watch those assholes slip in the sand dunes while we shoot them. It’ll be great.”

He blinked at me for a moment before rolling his eyes. “They are trained soldiers. I doubt they will fall over Vicky.”

“Well, then we will just have to make them fall over. Make someone else eat sand for once. Mount up Gauge. Time for worries is over. Now it’s time for action.”

“Easy for you to say.” He grumbles but heads over to his Centurion.

As soon as I mounted up, and the hatch of my Locust closed, I felt my facade fall. “Fuck I am going to screw this up so bad.” I moan into my hands before taking a deep breath. No time for this. I pulled my Neurohelm on and switched on the Coms. “Red Lance, report in.” I demanded over the radio.

“Red 2 active and ready Red Leader!” Benny answered.

“Red 4 Ready.” Hanna called out.

“Red 3, Powering up, give me more than a second to get in my Mech next time Vicky.” Gauge grumbled.

“Mechwarriors. This is it. This is the moment that defines your story for the rest of your life. Are you ready? You don’t sound ready.”

“Ready Commander!” Benny was already making his way out of the mechbay. Climbing up one of the paths to the surface.

“Stop trying to hype us up. I’m killing so much raider trash today, just you watch Commander.” Hanna as always had to be antagonistic.

“Vicky. Let’s just get this over with.” Gauge moaned.

“Alright. Powering up. Red Lance. Let’s move out.”

----

A more explosive perspective.

Rough squad was ready. They had set up a few miles from the factories that were the probable target. Each Technical was loaded and ready. Their secret weapon was finally done. Despite how long it took to set up. Each member of Rough Squad took a moment the last time they would all be together. Lenden walked to each of them. Grasping arm, and shoulder looking into their eyes.

“You heard the Commander. Her speech about keeping us all alive was strong and sweet… Ignore it. That’s not Rough Squad. We aren’t the safe ones. We joined together today and every day in the future for one purpose. A one in a million chance. The act that turns men into gods.”

The squad of boys had all agreed to this act one night. Not long before Hanna was chosen as the fourth Mechwarrior. Lenden grew up with each of them. They were his brothers. But all of them knew they had no future in a normal life. They were all destined to be grunts. Too stupid. Too hot headed. Too quick to pick a fight, or argue.

It had started as an innocuous question. “How far would you go?”

They all had known what the question was about. It was what had created Rough Squad. A pact between boys becoming men.

The Commander didn’t know. If she did, they all knew that she would pull them back. Vicky had always been kind, wanting the best for all of them. But Rough Squad understood. As orphans, the only path forward for them would be through risk.

“Brothers. If we don’t see any of each other again. Know that I am proud to fight at your side. There are no better men to die with.” Lendens speech was nothing like Vicky’s. Hers had been full of hope, and warning. An order that Lenden had no intention of listening to.

The boys stood to face each other around their central shrine, each of them carrying a chip in their right hand that they held up in front of them. It was their lifeline. They had spent weeks preparing them thanks to one of the Mechtechs, being willing to help out. Then each put their left hand forward onto their shrine. The one thing that made all of this possible.

“Whoever survives, whoever succeeds, know that the rest of us will be with you, always.”

Their hands rested on their shrine, each of them imagining wearing it.

----

“Commander, we have confirmation of the drop trajectory. Sending it to you now.” The voice of Leutnant Connor came over the radio startling me out of my daze.

I glanced at the data sent over and whispered a soft thank you, they weren’t landing near our base.

It looks like they were either not taking us seriously, as a threat or they were intending to make this a fast raid. Either way the base was safe.

“Do we have a guess at what they’re aiming for?”

“Yes. Twenty klicks from their landing position is the ZanTek ground vehicle facility. We believe that to be the primary target. We are asking you for reinforcements on the factory, and confirmation there aren't any secondary targets.”

“Understood. Red Lance will move to defend. Sending the request for scouting to my control. Eisen-Blume out.” I closed the com before sending out a few orders to the men back at the base. Thankfully Marcus was already doing his job of keeping an eye out. And little did the planetary defense know, I had all the scouting ability we would ever need.

As the orders went out to each unit and squad of where the attack would be coming from, Red Lance moved. The steady tromping of my Lance dulled behind me as I raced ahead. Everyone was more than experienced enough on the shifting Zaniah terrain to no longer worry so much about falling anymore.

Not that it didn’t still happen, but usually only when they were trying out on the obstacle course.

I left the group far behind me, as I raced. I wanted to make sure they were within my sensor bubble before they landed. Just to make sure there weren't any tricks they wanted to play.

Five minutes later I slowed as I watched the streak of fire cut across the sky. The union was magnificent as it came down. I saw the sensor system start cataloging everything that was coming down.

That was a lot of hardware.

As I watched, the battle above me began. The ASF’s of the planetary guard made contact with the ASF’s the Union had come down with. And as I watched explosion after explosion I knew it wasn’t looking good.

Whoever these raiders were? They were good. Probably actual FWL veterans, and not just pirates or irregulars.

The Union landed without any concern. The two birds it deployed both returned to support from the sky not long after.

The birds the defense sent crashing into the dunes far below.

“Showtime.”

I grabbed the list of hardware they landed with and sent it out to my command post. I watched as three Lances of mechs sauntered out of the union only minutes after it had landed and began moving.

I labeled them in my systems as Alpha, Beta, and Charlie lance. Sending the data to Benny to look over. He would know more about each mech than anyone. While I read it over. Feeling very not good about how outgunned we were.

Alpha Lance. A Rifleman, RFL-3N, A Trebuchet, TBT-5N, and TBT-5S, Along with a Locust LCT-1M. A Long Distance Lance? I wondered, Probably meant for fire support, and anti-air in case they didn’t have air superiority.

Beta Lance. Two Hunchback, HBK-4P The ‘swayback’. A Firestarter, FS9-H, and Wolverine, WVR-6M. Cavalry. Tough mediums, with a scary light.

Charlie Lance. Two Phoenix Hawk PXH-1’s, an Orion, ON1-K and finally a Awesome AWS-8Q. The command and Assault Lance.

Honestly it was a ludicrous tonnage, 615 tons worth of Battlemech. But that’s just how these raids were done. You either go all light in and out, or you carry so much tonnage that the enemy doesn’t want to stick their head out.

And here I was between them and their target readying to stick my head out. “Alright Red Lance. Operation begins. I want everyone on their best here. Let’s pluck their eyes.”

----

While that was beginning Infantrymen were setting up. Over and over, small squads were deployed from the back of Norman trucks, each squad carrying as many SRM launchers as they had men. They would disappear into buildings. Their radio’s hooked into lan lines to reduce any chance of being heard, and they would prepare, all of it guided by the short blurbs I sent out to command, and was relayed to the infantry.

Metal was also moving into place. The Iron Blooded hadn’t picked up any tanks yet, but deploying a single Lance of the *special* LRM carriers out of the base would be a hefty stick against the enemy. Although I didn’t take this group out of the Defense Unit. They were very firmly locked into place at the base in case the raiders had a funny idea.

No this was the newer Artillery Unit.

It was a shame I hadn’t been able to get an actual artillery piece yet.

Next time. I promised myself as I followed all of these movements from my Locust. The Artillery unit of course wasn’t alone. It was probably the most defended of any of the units out there. Mostly because of the Lostech involved. The crew of each piece had very firm orders if they should become disabled.

Burn it.

I hope it never came to that. But I knew it eventually would.

While that was happening I watched the planetary guard move into position to try and protect the factories. It was mostly tanks, and to my regret not even good ones. Scorpions. And unfortunately for the guard. There weren't even enough of them to really be a threat to anything. Sure, they would probably scrap hard against a light lance. But the raid group was full of monsters.

I watched, keeping an eye on things, my commands updated consistently to get everyone where they needed to be once the enemy began moving. It was easy enough to see their path forward.

Unfortunately, the planetary guard was out of position. Too many of the allied tanks were clumped up on the entirely wrong sides of the city. Too far south, or too far north.

Seeing the battlelines slowly form, I commed my Liaison. “Get me in contact with whoever is in charge of the Scorpion tank defenses.” I waited silently, while the request ran through, watching the mechs move closer and closer. It wouldn’t be long now before they will be able to bring their weapons to bear against the tanks. If there aren’t enough tanks in place… They would be taken apart piecemeal.

“This is Colonel Vertz. I was told you needed to speak to me Commander.” A rather posh german voice came over the line and I was already sending the data through the connection.

“Colonel, you should be receiving my sensor data from my field scouts. Your tanks are out of position, the Enemy Lances are about to hit your scattered forces. Pull them back, or group them up here.” I sent a waypoint, hoping I was in time.

“You have more up to date data than I do. Very well Commander. I’m pulling my men back from that point. I won’t throw their lives away, Thank you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief as the few tanks that were in the path of the Mechs slowly pulled away, giving ground, but at least they might offer more assistance later in the fight.

“Might I ask Commander to be included in your scout reports.”

I hesitated, before nodding. “I’ll put you in contact with my Command group. They will keep you apprised. Commander Eisen-Blume out.”

Well that went… Well.

Of course that also meant that the enemy lances weren’t even slowed as they pushed towards the city outskirts.

Switching frequencies I switched to my lance channel. “Move it Red Lance. Our timetables have just been moved up.”

I waited impatiently, as I watched the dots slowly move across the terrain. Although I took note, the tanks seemed to be getting into better positions, now actually aimed and congregated to blunt any charge into the factory district further into the city.

When my Lance had caught up to the ambush point. I signaled them to settle in. This ambush point didn’t look like much. Some old buildings on the edge of the city. This section had mostly been reclaimed by the desert at this point. And I could only guess why it had been abandoned so utterly, but my guess was probably pretty accurate.

The massive amount of ancient battle damage told me this wasn’t the first raid against the factories blunted here.

This abandoned section of the city was the closest heavy cover where the enemy was looking to pass into the city. It was just a bit south of their projected path, and thanks to the heavy buildings here it did a great job blocking sight and scanning. Hopefully it would be enough for our surprise.

Of course if it wasn’t, and they decided to chase? Well. The buildings had plenty of my kids hiding inside. Ready for a surprise attack. I noticed the enemy coming closer and closer, and finally it was time.

My lance all lined up. And I sent the targeting data.

One by one. All three Centurions opened fire with their LRM/10. Still well out of sight of the enemy. The missiles shooting up over the buildings we were hiding behind. Not a single inch of our mechs could see the enemy, nor could they see us. Just how I liked it.

I kept sending them targeting data. Over and over. I updated the data. Making sure every volley would be more likely to hit. Aimed for their lightest mech first. Pluck their eyes. Protect my infantry.

It didn’t take long. Locusts aren't the toughest mech out there. Four volleys, and I confirmed on my sensor the LRM equipped Locust was offline.

I didn't hesitate. A moment later the next target was queued up. Missiles flew.

----

The opposite perspective.

For Captain Isabella Nash, this was her chance for glory. Given command of a raiding taskforce, and told to impress. She planned on it. The chance was too good to pass up. Her family had called in more than a few favors to ensure she had more tonnage than this pitiful dustball would be able to handle.

After moving far enough south that it wasn’t a straight shot from her Union to the factories she adjusted their course and aimed right at her objective. She knew these dustball militias wouldn’t be expecting her this quickly, and certainly wouldn’t be expecting them from the ‘wrong’ direction.

She actually laughed a little as one of the hunchbacks in Zaviers lance almost lost his balance as the sand beneath him shifted. This planet was actually pretty rough with it’s terrain, but Isabella was a Nash, she was an elite, trained since childhood to smash the enemies of the League. And she was a veteran. She had fought the Wolf’s Dragoons during the civil war and lived to tell the tale, although it had taken a few years to get her baby back up and running after. Fucking Marauder II. Bullshit! Assault mechs shouldn’t fly!

Pulling her mind from that old memory she moved forward. Her Awesome stomping through the sand and dirt, and she took a moment to curse whoever thought building anything on this world was a good idea. The terrain was bad enough for her more incompetent pilots, but the heat! The heat meant even just firing two of her PPC’s had warmed her cockpit up uncomfortably. She would have to be careful not to overheat on this hellhole.

“Warning LRMS!” Came the sudden call over her comm and she kicked her sensor system, it hadn’t picked up anything, much less someone close enough to launch LRMS at her!

She rolled her shoulder raising her battle first over her cockpit just in case but none of the missiles came anywhere near her.

No, the volley was all focused on fucking Charles.

He tried to run, to move out from whatever it was that was spotting, but it was pointless. Three volleys of what she could count as 30 LRM she guessed? Struck the Locust. As always plenty of missiles didn’t hit, but enough did. Charles punched out after the third volley, before any more missiles could take out his cockpit.

The arc of his ejection seat sent everyone in the company into battle mode. “This isn’t a walk in the park, people. Keep steady. Find me that scout! I want to know who is spotting for those missiles. Zavier, take your Lance, I want those LRMs flushed out.”

And so Zavier in his Wolverine turned to their right and started pushing the speed on his mech. His lance following.

The rest of the groups continued ever forward.

----

With the Locust down, I had our Lance move. I could see their Cavalry Lance, that I dubbed Beta angle towards us, and I was gonna lead them on a deadly chase.

“Are you sure Vicky, we could stay, city fighting gives us a good advantage here.” Benny asked as I ordered them to move out.

“No, we have the range advantage. I intend to keep using it. We need to hit them as hard and as often as possible without taking any damage in return. It’s the only way we win this.”

I angled my Lance further into the city, keeping out of sight as the Beta Lance moved towards our last position. Once they started walking into the city it happened again. “Okay here are the coordinates, full volley!”

Beta Lance got hit once again from LRM’s well outside of their view. Of course I once again targeted the light mech. The Firestarter had more cover here than the Locust. The first volley hit fine, but the second was only a partial according to the sensors. The third volley hit nothing.

But that was fine. I started trooping my Lance again right away.

----

A different perspective.

Elias had never expected to be in this position. Sure back in the day Benny talked a good game, about how when he joined the army, or a Merc group he would bring them along and lead them to glory.

But Elias had never actually expected it. None of them really had. It was just talk then. They all did it, talk. About the great things they were going to do, the feats that they imagined. How important they would become.

It was one of the things the orphans wanted the most. To be important.

Wanted.

So it came as a shock some days to wake up not on Solaris. Not in the orphanage. And sometimes when he woke up from a nap sitting in a weapon of war, it took him a minute to remember where he was. Or what he was doing.

“Commander?” Barry called up to him as Elias wiped away the fog on his mind.

“I’m here Barry, and it’s just Corporal. We only have one Commander.” He grunted as he focused his eyes once more on the sensor system.

The damn Lostech sensor system. That was probably more valuable than a regiment of mechs considering just how powerful it was. And Vicky had enough of them to stuff into LRM Carriers.

Madness.

Elias knew when he had first been told, sworn to secrecy about the Lostech, he had been sure she was insane. Why would you put something like this into an LRM Carrier and not a mech!? Or if you had to a Command vehicle. Considering he could literally see what was happening over the entire battleground, he watched in real time as the Commander, and the mech lance, ran a FWL raiding party around in circles while softening them up with LRMS.

When he asked, and he had asked of course why put them in the carriers. Vicky who he had known for years, the little brat, had just smirked that damnable smirk and told him he would figure it out.

He still hadn’t figured it out.

But that was for later. The order came down. “Commander wants those mechs slowed down. Artillery unit. Slow them down.” Sergeant Kurtz ordered out over the line. Elias shrugged. Time to get started then.

The Artillery Unit had been training damn near day and night every day for months at this point, at least it felt like it. They weren’t quite as crazy as the Defense Unit, but well.

Not many were.

So it didn’t take long for the carriers to shift slightly adjusting it’s aim, where it was idling on top of an old bridged highway where they had parked. All four carriers wiggled to angle their launchers, and under Elias’s command, which he sent with a few presses of a button. Each Carrier targeted the same Mech, and fired one volley.

Two-hundred and forty LRM’s launched into the sky, on the other side of the battlefield in the view of enemies that had come here to destroy, the sky darkened.

They were forced to fight in the shade.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3.2 No Guts, no Galaxy.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro City.
Abandoned Sector.
----

A different perspective.

Carl was ready. His squad was holed up in an old building. The Commander had given them a simple order. Be here, and when the LRMs hit. Fire. Then run.

It was a simple order, but Carl was nervous. This wasn’t the crazies of Rough Squad, this was just Delta unit. They hadn’t done anything interesting enough to get their own moniker. Nor had they bothered to pick one. They showed up, and followed orders. That’s the only special thing about them.

Sitting in an abandoned shop front, while watching battlemechs wander up the street was pretty horrifying. Just one of those things noticing them could kill the entire squad. Hell. He recognized that mech.

It was a Firestarter. Anyone who is going into infantry makes damn sure they recognize that mech above all others.

Still they had their orders. He trusted his Commander.

He heard the LRM’s before they hit. Then they smashed into the Firestarter with a deafening noise, the building shook as the missiles came down. The Firestarter was getting hammered before it suddenly moved, doing something Carl hadn’t expected. It pushed forward, and smashed itself into the same building his squad was using for cover.

The collision was horrible, everything shifted and turned, and it was only a while later that he peeked his head out from under the wooden counter he had ducked behind coughing lightly as the dust shifted slowly down.

“Report in!” He called out, and only as he listened to the call outs from around the damaged room did he grimace. Everyone was alive.

But not everyone was unscathed. “SAM! YOU ALIVE?” He found himself yelling his ears still ringing but the girl, despite bleeding simply nodded. Samantha had always been tough, a bit crazy but more than willing to brawl with anyone.

Adjusting his volume he yelled out, “Alright. Let’s get moving people, we need to get them to medical.”

Three kids in his squad were bleeding or wounded. They pulled them out of the room before Carl turned back. He could make out the damn Firestarters leg half resting in the room only feet from where he had been hiding.

He considered it.Thought it over, let the idea flip back and forth in his head. He had bags full of SRMs in that room, and it only took a moment to arm the damn things...

His eyes narrowed. “Fuck em.” He whispered as he grabbed his SRM launcher.

----

I screwed up.I realized shakily watching the little dots representing my people slowly crawl away from the mech that had smashed itself into a building to avoid the LRM volleys. I hadn’t considered it. Of course a mech would rather smash into a nearby building to avoid fire.

I was already leading the Lance to it’s next fire point, trying to brush the tears out of my eyes, I couldn’t let anyone know that I was floundering.

That was when it happened. I couldn’t help but gasp, barely calling a halt to the Lance in time to send them the targeting data.

“Remind me to promote Carl.” I commed back to command as the fourth volley of LRM fire soared across the sky.

Aiming for the Firestart that was completely prone according to my sensors. The crazy bastard of Delta unit had taken out one of the Firestarter's legs.

The LRM fire burst down into the city.

And the signature that represented the firestarter shifted. Showing it was now offline.

“Changing target! Ready and fire!” I ordered out. Another streak of LRMS took to the sky. The Hunchback was in cover, but not totally, at least not anymore from our new position. Sure probably half the LRMs we sent struck the building he was using, but the other half?

The hits sent the weakened lance into a frenzy. I winced when they blasted the buildings around them, and could only hope Delta would be okay. My order to have an escape route, or hideaway ready before ever firing might save them, if they had listened.

But there was nothing I could do for them now but trust.

Trust and send more LRMs.

----

An opposing perspective.

Isabella was pretty much totally done with this stupid mission. Fuck glory. She just wanted the fucking LRMs to stop.

Michelle, who had been one of Isabella’s friends since basic, had gotten hit by the first volley. Isabella had never seen LRMs that accurate before. The fact was, Michelle would be going home as a flag. There wasn’t enough left of the upper half of her Phoenix Hawk to search through.

She had never seen a mech sandpapered down to it’s waist before.

Then the second volley hit.

They were in open desert. Just outside the city limits, there was no other choice. “MOVE! Full forward. Get into cover!” She screamed as she hauled her Awesome into it’s full speed, the battlefist held in front of her cockpit. Hopefully if she was targeted, she would have a few seconds to punch out.

Not that she would survive the barrage of missiles, but it was the small hope sometimes.

The second barrage was just as heavy. But it wasn’t as accurate. They weren’t just traveling in a straight line this time. They were moving at full speed doing everything they could to dodge the missiles.

The damage was still immense. If not as targeted. Each chunk of the barrage hit different mechs, scraping chunks of mech down, and in an unfortunate case, blowing the entire right arm off the Orion that Hammond was piloting. The man had used the arm to cover his cockpit just like she was doing, and it was probably the only thing that saved his life.

With that the mechs slammed into the cover of the town, and the third barrage only did minor damage. The buildings took the missiles, and just like a mech didn’t handle it well. By the fourth barrage, Isabella had been forced to dash to a new building to shelter under. It continued. She would dash to a new building between volleys, her old cover turned into nothing but burning concrete.

Her two Lances were split up. But Isabella had other things to worry about. Like the rain of death.

She breathed a sigh of relief when after eight volleys, the missiles stopped coming.

She swore she would find whoever was responsible for this and kill them.

----

Even at our best hope Beta lance would eventually catch up. We knew this. It was why I prepared the first infantry ambush, and this second one. We led the Lance into a chase, whenever they grew too far out of cover we would turn and burn them until they slowed. Slowly, they caught up to us. Right where I wanted them.

It was inevitable. We turned. The three Centurions waiting and just as the first mech, the Wolverine turned the corner, three Large Lasers arced out at my shout of “Now!”

Only one beam hit, and then only for a second.

The Wolverine was quick, ducking down, and nearly falling backwards to get out of the line of fire before any more damage could be done. This pilot was good.

Better than us.

I kept my eye on the sensors. Watched as they split up. The wolverine was sitting at that corner waiting, the two Hunchbacks both split up, taking pincering paths towards us.

Switching a dial on my radio I gave the order. “NOW!” Causing our lance to charge forward.

The Wolverine realized too late that we were moving. As I charged around the corner going full speed, I released the trigger on my SRMs into the stationary mech, as I ran right past it. I could practically feel the mech's Large laser burn a trail behind me, and some of it definitely snagged the ‘arm’ of my locust. I could only keep moving as a moment later Benny turned the corner. First slamming a clawed hand into the Wolverines arm as he chopped down, saving me from any further laser’s coming my way before blasting away with his torso medium.

I lost sight of the battle a moment later. As I continued my own job. I turned the corner one of the Hunchbacks had run towards, seeing him shooting into the buildings around him with his many medium lasers. The SRM fire from my infantry had apparently pissed him off.

I ran up to him, as I hit the trigger to fire off my second round of SRMs into his right side. The explosions shifted the Hunchback a step and I continued moving. Blurring right down a rather tight alleyway that caused me to grunt as my Locust scraped along the brick buildings, but it took me out of sight of the damn Swayback.

----
An Explosive Perspective.

Vicky was gonna be pissed. Lenden knew. This was her ‘perfect’ battle plan, that he was going to interfere with, but hell. This was their chance. Rough Squad started their trucks, where they had been waiting and moved out.

Right towards the lone Hunchback that had broken off from it’s squad.

Over the radio Lenden said the only thing that any of them wanted to hear. “ROUGH SQUAD, TO GLORY!”

The SRM mounted Technicals charged forward, racing up behind the behemoth, even as it started to turn the first rockets were fired. Inferno rounds after Inferno rounds slammed into the entire street. Some hitting the mech, some not. But that didn’t matter to Rough squad. Enough hit, that the mech had other things to worry about than them for a moment.

That was all the time they needed to release their secret weapon.

Lenden himself was driving it. It had been so crazy he told the rest that he would do it. Him and him alone. His idea, his burden. Once he was sure the truck was aimed right, he stepped on the brick that he had readied and it wedged itself into the gas. He popped the door, and rolled.

He only had seconds.

He didn’t stop rolling before a second Technical skidded to a stop between him and the mech.

The explosion caused everything to go white and dark and loud and quiet all at once.

Their secret weapon, had been one of the water trucks, completely filled with gas and inferno fuel.

----

So an explosion happened, and I still had no idea what caused it.

Fucking Rough Squad. I could track them on the sensor as I realized they had dealt with the second Hunchback. That mech was currently reading offline which I could only guess was due to the explosion.

This Hunchback was still my problem, and I couldn’t give even a moment more to think about the dots vanishing from my sensor.

I was using the sensor system to track which direction the thing was looking before I would race past whatever street he wasn’t looking down and launch more SRMs.

It was moderately effective. He hadn’t hit me, and a little less than a third of my SRMs had hit. The problem was I only had 25 shots, when I shot with both SRM 2’s. And I was starting to run low.

He had no such problems. Worse, if I let up, he would circle back and that would be too dangerous for the rest of my Lance.

The game of cat and mouse was very much in my favor here. Despite everything I could literally SEE what direction the Hunchback was facing at any moment, and he kept losing me in the maze of buildings that I was traveling through like I had been born here.

For a moment I almost wished this had been an AC20 Hunchy. At least then I could shoot for an ammo explosion. This stupid sway back was a complete pain in my ass.

We played this game for a while, my SRM’s stripping armor, and obviously pissing off the pilot. The lasers that came in return, kept increasing. Despite Zaniah’s heat, he was still doing a good job of staying cool.

I slowed as I noticed he was doing something different. He was getting smart, he switched from trying to bait me into a direction, or guessing what direction I was going instead he maneuvered himself down an alley which only had one entrance. I realized that was checkmate for me. I couldn’t do anything else to this Hunchback. So instead I made use of my mobility. I shifted my target, as I slowed outside the alley, I turned around and instead raced back towards the Wolverine.

If he wanted to try and play the mouse. Then I would switch to the cat.

I caught up on the battle thanks to my sensors as I raced through the abandoned streets.

The battle had not gone well in my absence.

One medium vs three mediums should be an easy sweep.

But god were my pilots green.

The wolverine had at one point escaped by activating it’s jump jets, and from there the battle had turned into trying to catch up to the flying Wolverine.

The Centurions were struggling, he was playing with them. Hit and running whenever he was facing more than one mech at a time.

Luckily for them, I was paying attention to them again. “Gauge, No Red 3. Hold and take your next left. Red 2, Red 4 keep pursuing, save your armor as best you can. Red 3, two streets down and then a right. You should get a good shot on him, make it count, you'll know when.”

I toggled to another frequency even as I moved. Seeing there would be a second intercept. Echo unit. You will have an enemy mech intruding on you in about thirty seconds, he is a jumper. Heat him up for me please.”

Omniscience was nice.

I spent ten seconds checking on the other enemy lances. Wincing as while they were beat up, they were still moving forward. My carriers had been forced to retreat from Charlie Lance, having run out of ammo without enough time to safely reload they moved well back from where they had been before. But they weren’t moving anymore, having lost their pursuers.

The enemy were pushing towards the factory. The Scorpions making semi effective bulwark, slowing the mechs down from a full frontal charge. But they were losing. That awesome was slowed, but only just by their efforts.

I was being pulled in too many directions.

“Note to self. Command and control.” I grumble as I shift continuing to run towards the Wolverine.

The trap happened, as he came in to land jumping over a row of buildings to try and get some space from Benny and Hanna, the Inferno SRMs rocketed out of the buildings. That wolverine that had been running hard, firing large and medium lasers, and jump jetting everywhere, suddenly had a heat spike. Just in time for Gauge to turn a corner his laser weapons all in range.

Large, medium and small lasers all slashed out at the overheating Wolverine. And then I turned the corner on his other side. My SRMs lashed out, and for once, I came to a full stop to make sure my missiles would hit. Couldn’t risk any of my kids getting struck by a missed shot.

The Wolverine was struck helpless for a little too long, desperately I could see the mechwarrior trying to raise it’s weapons to fire but the heat had sent the myomer into a horrible state, Gauge finished it off with a second alpha.

I could see his Centurion nearly steaming as it too overheated, but it worked.

The cored mech shutting down, as it burned merrily. I toggled the radio back to the infantry. “Keep an eye on this guy. The pilot is still alive in there.” I called out as I switched back to my lance frequency. “Good shooting Gauge, but no time to stand around, that other Hunchback is still active. Let’s move mechwarriors.” I ordered out, only slowing until Gauges Centurion slowly cooled off and started moving again.

I took a moment to look over my diminished ammo reserves. This was going to be close.

The last Hunchback had decided to try running back to the other lances. He must have realized his allies were down. The first LRM volley from the Centurions, ended up hitting nothing but building as he turned a corner into a small alleyway before they hit. As we chased I noticed the remains of the Alpha lance turn towards us. It seems they had to decided to reinforce the fleeing Hunchback.

But that wasn’t all, and I noticed them too late. Too focused on trying to to reach the fleeing mech the ASF that were closing in, snuck up on us.

The two FWL Eagles boomed overhead, and all four of us gasped as the large lasers burned. Gauge took the heaviest hit, raising his arms to protect himself instinctively, he reduced the damage to his torso, or God forbid his cockpit, but the six large lasers were too much for his Centurion. The right arm burst off the mech in a flurry of heated slag. Losing his main weapons.

His mech stumbled, but we hadn’t gone through so many months of falling over for nothing, he steadied himself even as his gyro whined audibly from the stress of keeping him upright with the new balance.

Hanna popped off a large laser shot to try and push the ASF away but they were gone before she could do more than heat up the air behind them.

Watching the sensors, I noticed the problem. Even the Hunchback had slowed. The ASF were already turning around. Coming in for another strike. “Find cover! Enemy ASF are turning for another run! 5 o’clock!”

I grunted as I ducked into a building to hide from their eyes. This was bad. Even if we fended off the ASF’s all they were doing was pinning us down for the enemy Lance. I was getting close to calling a surrender, to pull my forces completely, when suddenly the ASF’s weren’t a problem anymore.

----
A different perspective.

Elias understood now. The fury that they had unleashed, had caused a full two lances of mechs to run around terrified of the anger they had unleashed.

If he hadn’t let himself get too focused on chasing the mechs around he would have been able to do more before running out of ammo. The carriers only had 8 volleys each if everything fired.

He could have held that lance off all day if he hadn’t ordered everyone to fire everything. It had been such a rush to watch two lances of mechs tremble at his power.

He had learned some very valuable lessons though.

Which is why he hadn’t retreated back to base like he had been ordered. Sure the Artillery unit moved, and quite a ways, because the enemy mechs had charged straight toward them after they realized no more LRM were coming down range. But with the sensors? It was child's play to move away from them. To get into a new position, and start reloading from the rounds brought in on a truck.

And so Elias was ready to remind the enemy they existed. His unit was already locking in on the approaching Alpha lance heading after the Commander when the ASF moved into the area.

Well he couldn’t allow that. It was childsplay to angle the LRM carriers to aim towards where the next ASF attack run would be coming from. “Easy boys. Two on two. Let’s remind these fighter jockeys why they aren’t the kings of the battlefield.” He chuckled, as he felt them come into range.

Fire.

The scream of four LRM carriers was massive. A scream into the sky demanding everyone on the battlefields attention. Every person that heard, or saw the attack stilled to watch. Such a tremendous amount of firepower being brought to bear and this time it was aimed into the sky. For a moment the sky was filled with so much smoke, it was as if a cloud slipped down to touch the earth.

----

An opposing perspective.

Isabella continued moving towards the objective with her remaining lance fighting surprise attacks from tanks and a few infantry surprises. Their mechs were taking some armor damage, but they weren’t kids playing at war. They were doing just fine.

The remains of her second lance were reuniting to keep the enemy Lance of mechs busy while they trashed the place, and then they could get the hell off this planet.

Isabella had been assured before she left that defenses would be minimal. The incompetent Generals that Lyrans were known for should have made this a milk run. Instead the merc company that had supposed to be so green as to still be suckling at their mothers tits was suddenly far more ferocious than expected.

Damn SAFE had dropped the ball on this one. A “cakewalk” they told her. Considering she had lost a full lance of mechs at this point, and she hadn’t heard from some of her pilots at all?

It was starting to go well, laughing as a tank round gouged out some of her armor, as PPC return fire turned the tank into slag. When suddenly that noise struck the city again. She was used to the sound of LRM fire, any mechwarrior was. But hearing so many at once? Not the most common experience. She shifted taking cover before checking to see if the fire was coming for her, she saw it.

Two ASF smacked out of the air, as if someone reached up and just slapped them to the side. She knew the sudden turn was because they had probably tried to turn out from the wall of LRMs heading towards them, but it looked very much like someone had struck them with a fist as both Eagles simply spun into the ground.

“Damnit.”

“Bully, what's the order? We leaving?” Hammond called out over the line. He had been bellyaching ever since his Orion got thrashed earlier.

“Negative Warsaw. We have our contract, and we know those carriers exist now. They only have limited ammo. We just gotta take cover when they shoot. We are switching targets. I want those carriers gone. Everyone on me.”

“Bully, we should withdraw, this is turning into a shitshow.”

“Warsaw. Man up, or punch out.” Isabella going by her callsign Bully stomped into a right turn down a different street. The carriers wouldn’t be expecting them to alter course so near to their target. The factory could wait though. She owed those missile spewing assholes some lightning and fury.

----

“Well if we have support. Alright Red Lance, let’s teach these raiders a lesson.” I toggled to a new frequency. “Artillery unit. We appreciate the backup, are you good for another volley on a new target?”

“More than ready Red 1. Just tell me where to shoot.”

“Well I like that attitude, targets, set, Let’s give them a bloody nose.”

I flipped back. “Alright Red Lance, we are going to push into enemy Alpha Lance. We will have artillery support, so let’s hit them hard. Red 3 stay back, and support with LRMs.”

““Roger that Red 1!”” They all sent back as we started moving, the three Centurions stomping forward down the road, moving to intercept the enemy long range lance. Sure they had some scary stuff, but dropping a couple hundred LRMs on their head should soften them up nicely.

We moved in just as the scream of LRMs overhead caused the lance to shift into trying to find cover.

Hanna wasn’t having any of that. We turned the corner, and as soon as she did her lasers were firing. The Hunchback we had been chasing was completely caught off guard, and her lasers burned right through his hunch, the sudden unbalancing caused the mech to slip sideways falling into the building it had been trying to take cover behind.

Benny was right there as well. He didn’t focus on the Hunchback, no he didn’t even slow down, he charged straight forward all his lasers firing as he burned lines into the Riflemans core, the heavy mech had been desperately trying to get into cover from the LRM fire, and Bennys attacks caused it to turn to face him, the mech deciding to sacrifice some more armor to LRM fire to open up.

Benny was lucky, the AC/5’s hit two separate points and blew armor off his mech, while the large lasers didn’t keep a burn long enough as Benny simply charged through. Shoulder checking the rifleman straight out of the buildings cover it had been using.

And into the rain of LRM that had been focusing on it.

The staccato of missiles landing on the rifleman echoed through the street as it fell. Not rising after the barrage ended.

The trebuchet pair weren’t having any of this.

The 5S unloaded on Bennys back. Two SRM6’s and three medium lasers, more than enough to cause some serious damage as Bennys Centurion’s gyro screamed in pain as his mech toppled forward as if someone kicked it in the back.

Gauges missiles struck then, focusing on the wrong trebuchet for the first volley, as the LRM10 hit the 5N.

Hanna was there, before the 5S could finish off Benny. The girl was utterly silent over coms as she fired every laser she had that faced forward in an alpha into the side of the Trebuchet. She hit something, because in a fury, the entire left side of the mech disappeared in fire, although it was staggering around, still alive.

Then I was there.

SRM/4, my last reload blasting into the 5S’s open right side. Hitting something, as it’s staggering gait as it tried to regain control ended as if it lost muscle control. It flopped to the street with a thunderous bang.

Unfortunately, the fact was, our Mechwarriors were green. It was why we made an amatuer mistake. We took our eyes off a downed, but not out mech.

The Hunchback was clambering to its feet as we focused on the Trebuchet. The 5N’s medium lasers flashing out, scoring across Hanna’s Centurion, dragging her attention to it, distracting her.

The HUnchback rose up, missing it’s right side, and it’s most dangerous weapons, but it wasn’t done. The sucker punch came out of nowhere, to both me and Hanna, although she felt it worse than me. Her Centurion was knocked to the side, staggering her as the battle took a turn for the worst. Realizing I had to move. I rushed in.

The Hunchback turned on me, twisting his arm up to block the expected SRM shots. Instead all he did was slow enough that it guaranteed my hit. I slammed into him at max speed.

Everything went a little topsy turvy there.

----

A different perspective.

Lieutenant Hanna Hayha, Mechwarrior, was not about to let this be how her first battle went.

She staggered shaking her head to regain her focus to pull the Centurion back upright, her left arm already shooting up to shield against the three medium lasers the Trebuchet burned across her. Her right arm, aimed and fired at the hip, the large laser wasn’t on point at first, but it only took a moment to wiggle the arm until it was burning across the trebuchets chest. The heat spike would have had her staggering if she was on her feet.

She had no time to do anything more, the Commander just rammed the Hunchback that just knocked her lights out and it was time to return the favor. The Hunchback was thankfully heavily damaged, and was struggling to move the 20 ton Locust that was laying across it’s chest where it had been knocked on its ass. She stomped. Her Centurion’s 50 tons came crashing down on the Hunchbacks arm, crushing it into scrap, even as another barrage of medium lasers splashed her.

Her left arm, which she had been using to try and block the damage sliced off, as two of the mediums went internal, staggered once again as the weight of her mech shifted, she didn’t fight it this time.

She was used to falling.

She let her Centurion fall into the side of a building, it was just enough to keep her moderately stable. Her large laser rose up, and the Trebuchet noticed it at the same time. He ducked, but Hanna had been ready. Two Months of accuracy training on the stupid little courses Vicky had put together let her lead the shot, Her large laser burned out, and the Trebuchet felt it. She hit something important, as a moment later the Trebuchet, started jettisoning it’s ammo in a hurry, The mech didn't hesitate, as it passed around a corner, leaking LRM’s behind it. As she waited, her breath heavy, and one eye covered in blood, she realized it wasn’t coming back.

----

A different perspective.

Elias was cursing this enemy in the Awesome. It was relentless. They had switched to trying to take out the assault lance once Red Lance had gotten into close quarters with the enemy, but in the time it took it was obvious Charlie Lance was heading for them.

And unfortunately, despite the advantage of knowing where the enemy was, they weren’t getting away.

Too slow.

The Awesome was acting like a battering ram, charging through the buildings between them, especially once the ammo had run dry once again.

Elias had a decision to make.

“Artillery Unit! We are bailing on our machines. Don’t forget to complete final measures. Follow me, we are going to run into the underground here! Once we bail, don’t waste time, work together, no one dies today.”

That was all the time he had his carrier skidded to a stop as his driver hit the brakes, and the other three carriers did the same. They had already ditched the maintenance group of Normans a while back. The Norman truck having no issue outrunning the stampeding assault mech. So when the 12 soldiers piled out of the carriers, after releasing the button on the thermite charge that would turn the Lostech sensors to slag. They all rushed into the building Elias had chosen, the front door kicked open as they charged in, heading towards the large underground floors the building had. Elias waited until the rest passed him. Taking just a moment to look over the four carriers, that were already starting to be turned into slag by angry PPC fire the Awesome venting it’s wrath.

“Sorry Vicky.” He moaned. Unable to do anything else to protect the valuable Lostech. He just hoped what he had done here today would be enough that Vicky wouldn’t kill him for losing something so valuable in their first battle.

He turned and ran downstairs listening to the shrieking of metal.

----

It took a few minutes for Vicky to jerk awake. It was expected, she had just body checked a medium mech after all.

Groaning a bit she reached out and flipped her mic. “I’m alive. Radio check.” She groaned.

“Glad to hear you’re okay Vicky.” The voice was Hanna but I could tell she wasn’t doing great either, “Bennys alive, but pissed. His Centurion is done.”

“I’m alright too.” Gauge offered, “You and Benny had it the worst.”

“Good. Good.” I mutter checking the status board of my mech for a moment. I was sort of done hanging face towards the ground. Thankfully everything turned up if not green, good enough. And I started moving until I was once more rising to my feet.

The Hunchback beneath me was shut down. “What happened to him?” I asked, looking around once I got to my feet.

Gauge quickly responded, “Oh the Hunchback? He shut down once Hanna pointed at his cockpit. We have some infantry on the way to secure him.”

“Alright.” I toggle the status of my mech back to my sensor to see what we were working with. I instantly winced. “We have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Their Charlie Lance just finished mopping up our LRM Carriers. I think they are moving on to the factory. We are about to fail our objective.”

“Fuck.” Hanna offered with a breathy groan. “Alright. Give me a second Commander. I’ll be ready to move.”

“...No. Take your time. We aren’t going to be able to really stop them. We are switching to harassment. Let’s move into LRM range, and remind them we are still here, but otherwise, this fight is over for us.”

“Fuck. Understood Commander.”

We all staggered out of the street once the infantry arrived to secure everything, my Locust was limping, one of my legs wasn’t happy about whatever I had done to it, and my entire right side of my mech was basically a crumple zone at this point, but somehow I was still walking.

Hanna and Gauge both kept up well. Despite the damage each had taken they were still capable of doing something unlike me. I was only good for a command and control. After a few minutes we moved into range. Gauge and Hanna sent a volley into the enemy Awesome. Hopefully it had taken enough damage at this point that the LRMs would do something.

----

An opposing perspective.

Isabell was pretty sure she was developing a bit of a complex with LRMs at this point. She had truly enjoyed smashing the carriers into scrap, these fucking militia assholes were lucky she didn’t have time to chase them down.

They still had a job to do.

Unfortunately, once again her mech was attacked from above. She was so done with this. “Bully, This is Scarecrow, that’s the two Centurions we clashed with before, that's definitely two separate LRM10’s.” Scarecrow radioed in, his trebuchet 5N out of ammo after he ditched it because of an internal breach.

“FUCK this shit! These fucking LRMS! How are they hitting us! You said you scrapped them pretty good, right?”

“Yeah Captain, one had lost it’s gun arm, the other lost it’s off hand. Both were pretty worn down. I’m surprised they didn’t just run at this point. These mercs are ballsy.”

“They aren’t ballsy, they are stupid fuckers, and I’m gonna enjoy teaching them that. Everyone on me.” She growled. Couple of mediums? Injured mediums at that? Fucking easy. And it would be satisfying. Her recovery teams would be on their way. Maybe she could actually end this raid with a full recovery of their downed mechs. That would make this entire clusterfuck worth it.

“Full speed. I don’t want them running!”

----

“Enemy lance is shifting, new coordinates… Wait. Shit, They are charging us. Move move!” I call out over the comms as I see the enemy Awesome starting bursting through buildings heading straight towards us.

We were not ready to get into a fight with an assault mech.

Unfortunately, it was hard to run from a mech and break line of sight, when the mech simply smashed through everything on it’s way directly towards you. We tried a few times to escape around the Awesome, but the buildings closer to the factory were heavily damaged, and there weren’t as many paths we could take.

I realized in horror that it was catching up.

I quickly toggled to a new frequency. “This is Commander Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary Company. Raiding force commander please respond.”

The open frequency was sent out and after only a few moments I got my response. “So you're the little shit that has been dropping LRMs on me all day. This is Captain Isabella Nash of the Scything Hawks.”

“We have done everything we can, I am pulling the Iron Blooded from the AO. You win, Captain.”

It took a few moments for the response to come, and I could see the beeping on my dash as my Lance tried to reach me at the same time, but I ignored them, Mercenaries don’t fight to the death. We had done more than anyone could have expected from us at this point. Fights are rarely to decimation after all.

Quite often raiders could even request a withdrawal from a battlefield. No one wanted to take a fight to the bitter end. It rarely ended in anything more than just a loss for everyone involved.

Which is why when the response came it caught me by surprise.

“No. No, I am not going to let you weasel away. You pissed me off, when I catch you little girl, I’m going to smash your cockpit into scrap. You and every one of your mechs. You’ve been having fun beating on my weaklings, Now it’s time for you to face the veterans.”

The final words of the message were combined with a PPC burning through a building as an Awesome smashed through it, the PPC just barely burning past my Locust.

I felt the heat of the lightning across my face through the cockpit window. I moved. Hanna fired, Lasers lashing out. Gauge added his medium laser as well. Medium lasers and a large laser burning through the air slamming into the Awesome.

And being completely ignored as the chest PPC’s fired. The blue lightning crossed the distance and smashed into Hanna’s Centurion. The blasted slag of superheated metal burst off the chest of her mech and she was slammed backwards into a building.

Gauge was too close to use his LRM’s, his single medium laser was all that flashed out in response. Burning another groove across the Awesomes chest.

Then the arm mounted PPC arced out, and his Centurions leg was blown off in a flash of sparks, the force kicking the remains of his leg back and causing the mech to fall face first into the ground.

It didn’t move after that.

I noticed her arm aiming downward.

“What the fuck!” I screamed as I went into close combat with an assault mech. My Locust slammed into the Awesome. Hoping like the Hunchback I could knock this thing on it’s ass.

Instead the pilot proved that she wasn’t bragging about being a veteran. She seemed to roll with the blow, and a moment later the Awesome’s battle fist arced out, and I felt the right side of my Locust simply give way to the blow. Everything was spinning and I was sure I screamed, as I felt myself crash hard into the ground.

----

An explosive perspective.

Lenden swore that when this was all over, he would cry over his friends. Like Francis, his friend that had driven a truck between him and an explosion that would have burned him alive. Instead the truck had tanked the blow. Francis… He hadn’t survived the shockwave.

But that was for later. They had all swore a vow today. It took a while for the fire to die down enough they could get in. Even with the water trucks they had prepared to try and put out enough of the fire to get access to the cockpit. Lenden limped forward, the burn on his leg was pretty nasty, but now wasn’t the time to wait. The remains of Rough Squad had forced open the cockpit of the Hunchback. The pilot, dead or unconscious, didn't matter to them. The bullet made sure of it regardless.

They had pushed him forward. He would never forget that. They chose him to be the first among them. One of his brothers passed him the shrine. And he fitted the data card into it, the card containing his brain wave data. He clambered into the mech, ripping the old Neurohelmet out of the slot in the mech and plugging in the one they had brought. Their shrine.

The massive ancient neurohelm was exactly what they had needed. Trying to put on someone elses neurohelmet was a dangerous and stupid act, but bringing in a neurohelm that had their own data ready? It was much safer.

They knew the tricks to it. Old mech jockeys and Admechs would talk sometimes. About how to hijack an enemy mech. Those were always the best stories.

Rough squad had sworn an oath they would do so. They wouldn’t wait for the Commander to hand them their future. They would go out and take it with their own two hands. Lenden took out the powerful magnet and ran it over the security line the magnet would interfere with the security system long enough for the mech to active without frying his brain.

He pressed the activation button.

Then he prayed.

----

I knew I hadn’t been out long. I gasped, coughing up blood that had rolled down and coated my face. I reached out, trying to press the mic button to call for a check, but I realized as soon as I moved my right arm was broken. It simply flopped as I reached, sending an arc of pain through me.

“Fuck.” I used my left to shift my Neurohelmet, letting me look out, and see through the shattered canopy. I had gotten lucky, I realized.

But not that lucky.

The Awesome was standing tall. Hanna’s Centurion lay crumpled at its feet. I couldn’t see Gauge, but considering I didn’t see him from my angle, meant he was down too. I watched, unable to do anything else as the Awesome stepped back towards me. My Locust was busted, but a moment later my radio crackled to life.

“Well little bug? You still alive in there? I hope you are, I really want to hear you scream when you die.”

“G-guess you get your wish then.” I coughed out, that wet sound wasn’t good.

“Oh. You're pretty tough. Most of the time when I swat bug mechs that’s it. Dead bug. But you're still alive in there huh. Well I guess this is it little bug.” I watched out the broken screen as the Awesome’s arm mounted PPC rose up. I saw the PPC begin charging. Blue lightning arcing and charging down the barrel of the gun, sure the PPC don’t work well at minimum ranges, but that’s for armor.

They would still incinerate me into atoms.

“Well at least I tried.”

“No one will remember you for trying, Bug.”

“I WILL!” The scream startled both of us from the scene. The Awesome was definitely not ready because a moment later. There was nothing but green light.

I blinked my eyes, shocked at what had happened. The Awesome, the monster of a machine that ripped through my lance like butter. It’s PPC which had been so bright a moment before was darkening, as the power went out.

Eight medium lasers was too much for it.The beams tore into the weakened armor of the Awesome and found something in its core. A moment later even as the Awesome was still raising its arm to redirect the PPC from me towards the enemy showing up, it’s arm went limp.

But the pilot wasn’t a veteran for nothing, before it could crumple down too far, the cockpit blew and the pilot ejected.

And then, for just a bit, everything was silent, before the mech slammed into the ground.

From then on, I was in a daze, or unconscious. The last firm thing I saw was a Hunchback, Still steaming from the heat of overheating to fire an alpha, covered entirely in scorch marks and in some places still on fire, dragging itself down the street, one of its legs disabled.
----

A different perspective.

Benny was exhausted. They all were. His Centurion cold and lifeless under him was horrible enough, but thank god he didn’t have to sit helpless and watch his family die before his eyes.

The Awesome still smoking from it’s cockpit was… Awesome. They had done it, sent off an Assault mech. Burned some arrogant Marik veteran bad.

She sounded like a bitch, and now she lost her mech. Benny really hoped she burned at being dispossessed.

“Did we do it?” Hanna asked weakly over the line. Her Centurion was on it’s back from where Benny had watched the Awesome pound the weakened mech into the concrete.

“Hell yeah we did it, ROUGH SQUAD!” Lenden of all people screamed into the radio causing Benny to helplessly chuckle. Those crazies had actually done it.

Of course Benny knew what his little brothers were up to. He just also knew it was pointless to try and stop them. Sometimes kids needed to be crazy.

Of course it was never that easy.

“Well don’t party too soon.” The voice coming over the radio chilled them all. The rest of the enemy Lance peaked through the building the Awesome had smashed through. But before Benny could even imagine any worse circumstances the voice continued. “This is Lieutenant Hammond, of the Scything Hawks. As the highest commanding officer in the AO. I am requesting a ceasefire. We would appreciate a return of any prisoners, in exchange, we will consider this battle over and retreat.”

No response came, and it was then that Benny realized that Vicky wasn't responding. That fact made only one response an option to him. He had to make sure she survived.

“This is Haumptmann Rommel of the Iron Blooded Orphans. We accept. Men will be returned, but fallen metal is ours as salvage.”

It was quiet for a few moments before a snort echoed over the radio, “Heh. Well as much as I would like to argue with you there kid, frankly, I’m a little afraid about what other tricks you have up your sleeves. Alright. You keep your salvage, but we will continue grabbing anything we have already started on. Whoever claims it first, it’s there's. Fair?”

“Fair.”

Benny reached out, switching the radio immediately to the private channels “Someone get a medical team here immediately, The Commander isn’t responding!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4.1 From the Ashes, Flowers bloom.
3020
Zaniah III
Starboro Hospital

I slowly came awake. The soft beeping of a heart beat monitor, and quiet conversation lulling me from my dreams. The bright lights stung my eyes when I finally managed to get them open.

I wasn’t alone. The room was actually quite full. More than a few of my kids were on beds, in the room, chatting or spending time together.

I survived.

“Fuck.” I croak out.

The noise caused a flurry of activity as everyone jumped forward to check on me. I eventually waved them off, with my left arm, as my right was in a cast that was pretty hefty, “Water.”

After my throat was wetted and I was able to talk. “Where are we?”

“The hospital, Benny brought everyone that was too injured for us to do anything with here.” A girl informed me, she was sitting in the bed next to me, her arm just as broken as mine. Ah, After a second I recognized her. Melissa, one of the drivers for the supply department.

Before I could ask the big question on my mind Benny walked in. He had a bandage around his head but otherwise seemed fine. “Glad to see you awake Commander.”

“Benny… How many did we lose?”

He hesitated. Before sighing. “I should have expected you to ask that first thing. Twelve we lost twelve.”

“So… So many?”

“Half of that is from Rough Squad… They went a little wild.”

“Half! There are only twelve people in Rough Squad! What did those idiots do!?”

“They decided to capture a mech.” Benny offered solemnly.

I went silent at that. How else could I respond? Did those idiots die because I kept the fact that I could create mechs a secret? Was this all my fault? It hit me hard.

“Vicky, it’s not your fault. Rough Squad… They wanted to make their mark. There is nothing you could have done. Not even you.”

“I’m their Commander Benny. It’s my job to keep them alive. I failed.”

“Vicky, we won. We beat a League raid, the factory wasn’t even touched. We didn’t sign up for a safe job. Death… Death happens. Better to die once following what we believe in than to live a long life for nothing.”

“That.. Benny they died! I lead them straight to their deaths! Twelve of my kids!”

He put a hand to my lips before I could keep my rant. Idly he brushed the tears dripping down my eyes, “No. Twelve of your soldiers. Men and women that picked up weapons and chose to fight. Chose to believe following your path is a path worth walking. Danger and all. They aren’t the only ones. We won. That has more of an effect than you think. We had a hiring surge since the battle. There is more than just the one orphanage on Zaniah, the others? We’ve had kids show up hitchhiking traveling from all over. The Zaniah news is going crazy. The Iron Blooded Orphans are being mentioned everywhere. This is the first raid that has been stopped from trashing a factory in almost two decades.”

“Their life isn’t worth that.”

“Vicky… You were always pretty sensitive, but you know… We all think our life is worth that. I would happily sacrifice my life to keep some asshole Leaguer from trashing more factories, from destroying what little we have left… Maybe your view is a little skewed, but saving that factory was huge, important.”

I blinked through the tears raising my eyes from where I had been glaring at my blanket, unable to look him in the eye. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true though. We all have things we are willing to die for. I want to stop the fall of the Inner Sphere. If the SLDF was around I would have joined in a heartbeat. Gauge? Man, he is more obsessed with tech than I am. I think he took the fact the raid was aimed at a factory pretty personally. Hanna? She just wants to kill the sort of people that killed her parents… Rough Squad? They wanted glory. A chance to make their own path in the world. A way to say that they matter. That they exist.”

“They do exist! They! They are my soldiers, my family! They died Benny!”

“Commander, that’s why we follow you. Not because you paid for this, but because as we’ve learned over the months we have been working together, you care about us as people. So don’t… Don’t break down over this. None of them would want you to stop walking this path because of that, because of them.”

“FUUUUCK!” I screamed at him, why couldn’t he just agree, why couldn’t he see what a waste it was!

His arms were warm though.

—-

It took a few hours for me to calm down. During the process Benny talked to me about everything that happened, from Rough Squad’s crazy success in stealing an active Battlemech, to the second in command of the raiders calling it off once their leader in the Awesome fell. By then my bed had been invaded by the kids in the room. Benny took up a chair, but I had Melissa sitting beside me, using her one unbroken hand, to play with my short hair. Others lounged on my bed. Just being around. I was ending up with a ton of little braids, but frankly, I didn’t care. It was nice to have the company.

“So we have been getting calls from the Governess. She seems pretty… Upset. ComStar messaged us and let us know her arbitration has been rescinded, apparently, that recording you took of your conversation with her was all the proof ComStar needed to determine the Governess was up to something. Demi-Precentor Franks has been in touch, he called himself.. So yeah, apparently your arbitration is just waiting on you for determination of what you want to do.”

“I see.” I huffed, yeah I expected in the end ComStar would side with us over this, we fought. Really when it comes down to it, regardless of what the Governess might like to say we had stood and fought. Damn hard for a green barely registered company.

The MRB appreciated that. Plus the recording of her needing to give me the defense frequency before the battle rather tidily proved something fucky had been going on.

“The Governess has requested a meeting with you, I believe her exact words were ‘before the Commander meets with ComStar preferably.’ So what do you think?”

“I think that the Governess wants to sweeten a deal so we don’t utterly torch her to the MRB. No Merc wants to work with someone that purposely tried to screw over a merc company.” I tell them leaning back on the large pillow I was resting on. “Depending on how she does this, I might let it go with a few stipulations.”

“Really? But fuck her!” Melissa said from beside me. “That bitch tried to get us killed, she gave us bad water! And lied to the MRB!”

“Yeah, but what’s more important, a spot of justified revenge, or doing what’s best for all of us?”

“I don’t like it Commander. Bitch should get what’s coming to her.” Melissa huffed.

“Oh she will, exactly where she will like it the least. Her pocketbook.”

“Eh, I’d rather shoot her, but I guess you're the boss.” She offered finally as she finished a braid.

“Alright. Other than the arm I’m basically good to go at this point.”

“And the concussion.” Benny added which I promptly ignored. I had a nasty cut over my right eyebrow now, I was pretty sure it would be a bitching scar, Mechwarriors all had scars, it was just part of the job.

“Good to go! So let’s get that started. Benny, she is paying for all this already right? I don’t have to really escalate things do I?”

“No. The Governess paid for medical injuries in the line of duty according to contract, I don’t think the people of Zaniah would have accepted turning us away anyways. Seriously, we have been in the news every day since the raid.”

“Good. Good. That... That’s a relief.” I exhale letting that tension go. At least my kids were being taken care of. “Let’s get me a shower, and then a change of clothes, and let’s go see the Governess, I’m getting antsy sitting around.”

“Don’t think the doctors will be happy with you running around so fast, Vicky, you should take it easy, the Governess can wait.”

“Well good thing they aren’t my doctors then, C’mon help me up.”

—-

I checked on every injured Iron Blooded before heading out. Thankfully the worst were just broken bones. Poor Carl had a fracture in his leg after taking out the Firestarter. The explosion had been bigger than he expected. But he seemed quite pleased at how it turned out.

Not every infantryman gets to tell the story of how they legged a mech regardless of size.

Showered, and wearing actual clothes again, I sauntered out of the Hospital, the doctors blabbing when to come back to get the cast off and irrelevant details at me, but I was too focused. This was too important.

Officers jacket over my shoulders, necessary now because of the broken arm, I must have made quite the sight because the Iron blooded were grinning and happy when I walked past them out of the hospital.

Benny was my chauffeur today as he pulled up in our customary Norman trucks, he was mother henning pretty bad and I was doing my best to ignore his concern.

During the drive he was the first to break the silence. “There is a problem you need to be aware of, Commander. Lenden… Well, The contract’s salvage clause, it doesn’t exactly give us much wiggle room. Lenden hasn’t turned over the Hunchback he captured. There hasn’t been more than a single request for it, but… He isn’t going to want to hand it over.”

I nodded my head. “I see. That’s fine. He won’t have to. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure that mech stays with us.”

The silence in the car stretched on until we pulled up to the Governess mansion, and it was her mansion, her personal residence, that I had been invited too. It was massively opulent.

More than anything I had seen in either life. The sheer wealth exuded on the building was almost sickening considering I had seen the fringes. The edges of the world where life was long dead.

We were escorted inside by a butler of all things, into a very comfortable sitting room. If I could have, I would have brought a sensor and copied the couch. It was that comfortable.

“I like this couch.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing. I wonder how much it costs?” Benny asked.

“Probably a lot, bet we could afford one.”

“I am afraid that couch would be beyond even you Commander Eisen-Blume, it has been in my collection for some time.” And there she was. Entering the room seemingly without a care in the world, a tea set was carried in by a butler and three cups were set out for us.

“Governess Alessa… Well you are the one that requested this meeting, are we finally having that overdue conversation?”

“I did, and in a way yes. We are. You are… More perceptive than I had given you credit for. My fault I admit. I allowed my greed to overlook how dangerous someone would have to be to put together a company such as yours. Especially at your age.”

“Am I just here for you to compliment me?”

“No. No, not at all.. I am here to offer an apology, and to hopefully settle the matter with the MRB.”

“Makes sense. You basically already got what you wanted in the end. An assault mech. Quite the catch for the son of a Governess.”

She stilled for just a moment before nodding. “Yes. Arthur has already claimed it, although Vincent is quite incensed.”

“Yes I suppose either son would be frustrated if they couldn’t pilot it.” I eyed her as I gently threatened her. If I claimed the Awesome as the cost to balance the books, how would she react, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Perhaps. Although I am sure arrangements could be made for something other than an already claimed and legally salvaged mech.

“Perhaps.” I let the silence spread for a few moments.

“You are a difficult young woman to work with Commander.”

“You think so? I would say you are the difficult one to work with Lady Alessa.”

We eyed each other, her over a tea cup, me simply over my nose. Wasn’t a huge tea fan. So I was gonna pass, but she could think it was a snub all she wanted.

“The MRB has already made their decision. I know Demi-Precentor Franks has been kind enough to alert me that my arbitration request was declined. While yours… Well we both know what sort of position this leaves me in.” She said, sipping her drink.

“And now you want to do anything you can to salvage your reputation… And hopefully keep the MRB from cracking down. After all, right now you are the Governess with the foresight to hire us, but a week from now, you may be the Governess that tried to betray her own mercs before a league raid, one in which the mercs despite being betrayed went out and fought anyway. The fact we are children, and orphans. Well, that’s used against us when trying to get people to treat us with respect, but no one likes the idea of betraying orphans. Do I have that about right?”

She was silent for a long while. “Quite. And perceptive again. Yes Commander, I am here to discuss what it will cost to settle this… Disagreement, no, this betrayal between us… Internally.”

“You are in luck, Governess. I am in the market for a settlement, and if you agree to my terms. I don’t believe this will even mean the end of our working relationship.”

A quiet look passed over the Governess’s face, I had no idea what it meant, but a moment later she sat the teacup back on the coaster.

“Well Commander. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

—-

So I fleeced her. I fleeced her so hard in the end she thanked me for it. The best part? She thought she had tricked me.

God I love out of context problems. She never even knew what it was I was aiming for to begin with. She thought I was a normal mech company. That I cared about getting the best, mechs I could. She couldn’t understand that I couldn’t care less.

In the end, the agreement was simple enough.

Despite our low salvage contract. The Hunchback 4P that had been taken in battle would not be treated as salvage, it would simply default to Iron Blooded ownership. No negotiations regarding it were allowed.

The second was permanent ownership over the military installation dubbed Red Base. It was now a Landhold under my Mercenary Company into perpetuity. A permanent base that belonged to us, right on the border of Lyran and FWL space. Well as long as I remained a Lyran Mercenary, and didn’t ally with an enemy state The LCAF didn’t usually take kindly to that.

Finally our original contract had been thrown into the shredder and a new one was created, following far more generous terms. The pay wasn’t much better than it had been before on the outset, but that was never the reason for us coming here. Instead we got our salvage rights upgraded a hefty amount. If we took down the metal, without any assistance from the Zaniah Planetary Defense group, then it was almost guaranteed to be ours, except for some specific circumstances.

We had also been given access to the LCAF ‘company’ store. The access went through the Planetary Defense group. If we needed to order some equipment, we could place the order and the LCAF would get it to us if possible. Paying in full of course.

Very useful. Especially since that went both ways. I could now sell salvage directly into the network.

And of course all of our munitions would be ‘reimbursed’ from our battle. That was quite a few tons of LRMs she was on the hook for. I was kind enough to accept a cash payment for 90% of the tonnage, since that was a lot of LRMs to just have on hand. Especially for a military force that doesn’t even have any equipment that uses them.

Finally? Well let’s just say that she was paying out a hefty chunk of change to pay for the equipment of my mechs. My Locust was trashed, one of my Centurions had a broken Fusion Engine.

That wasn’t cheap stuff. So she would pay the cost for parts. Which I wouldn’t bother to purchase, and so a good amount of cash was flowing into our coffers.

That really was it.

I hadn’t requested the Awesome. Or fought over the Firestarter remains that we managed to claim. Or any of the other mechs. It had amused me to brush aside every mention of the salvaged mechs once I confirmed Lendens mech was ours, her confusion almost had me breaking out into giggles. Almost.

In the end I got what I wanted, ownership of our home. The right to defend it, and for as long as the contract between us continued, peace.

Peace was more valuable than anything else. And as a wise Ferengi once said. Never pay more for something than it is worth, Third rule of Acquisition. If I had tried to fight for the Awesome, or tried to get more money out of her, or any other mech, it would just increase the price of peace between us, make that peace rocky and dangerous. Instead? She thought I was terrible at negotiating, and she got everything she could ever want. A mech for her son, a working factory, the happiness of her population. And of course a Merc Company based out of her home that lived near her precious factories.

We got our own home. On a planet where the Governess owed my company a huge debt. She can’t move against me now. Her reputation had shot up on the planet. We had done something great, and it was the Governess that brought us in, she was the one that saw something in our company. So her reputation was gold.

Her foresight was being praised all over the news. Although I am sure most of that was state issued, but it was still the sentiment that was spreading. Now that we were heroes, and she was a wonderful leader, she couldn’t touch us. The crash of an uplifted reputation if she did and it got out?

Besides, She had earned enough salvage, and hadn’t had to pay the millions it would cost to fix her factory, or simply out of lost profit. With that one raid turned away. We have probably completely changed the course of her future.

And ours.

—-
A peak behind the curtain.

Baroness Maria Alessa quietly sipped her tea as the girl left. What an utterly mad situation. How could anyone have planned for this? For this child?

“What are your thoughts, Uncle?”

General Faulker was a family friend, an older man that had never gone to war in his life, but thanks to his family's former wealth he had been a “Social General.” For the Commonwealth. Of course his family's finances burned away when her parents were killed by a League raid, he had spent the majority of his fortune on defenses for her planet, his only way to get back at the ones that killed his loved ones. The man acted as if she was his niece, or a daughter to watch over, as he had no children of his own.

His support is all that kept Zaniah safe some years ago. It was why despite his finances in ruin, she made sure he wanted for nothing, and gave him something to keep himself occupied. It was the least she could do for her honorary uncle.

“She… makes me uncomfortable.” He finally offered, as he settled into the couch across from her. He had been watching and listening to the whole conversation with Commander Eisen-Blume. “I’ve known child soldiers before. But never one so young in command. They usually don’t act that knowledgeable. She acts more like she is forty than fourteen.”

“My thoughts as well. It’s… Discomforting under her blue eyes, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes, she looks right through you, like she knows more than you ever could… But enough joking. She did us a favor… Not just with the battle, if we hadn’t been checking every incoming dropship to try and find her supplier we never would have noticed the raid so early.”

“It irritates me that’s true.” She offered, taking another sip of her tea. “We still haven’t found anything about who could be supplying her equipment? Two Centurions don’t appear out of nothing Uncle.”

“No no. Not a thing, we haven’t found any hint of a dropship landing that could have supplied her. Or kept her supplied. Either she has the craziest dropship captain in the world, going through pirate points without our notice, which.. Is possible, my dear. Our eyes in the sky aren’t what they used to be.”

“No but still I refuse to accept that we missed that entirely. She was cut off. The entire company was. Not once did they ask for supplies from us, like their contract said they could. No complaints about the food or water… we got confirmation on that rumor didn’t we?”

“Yes. Somehow water trucks have been leaving the base and selling water to the area. Cheaply I might add. Talked to a few that said money wasn’t even always involved, just trading for food or other supplies.”

She sets her tea cup down before she threw it. “Nothing makes sense.”

“Oh it does if you consider that we were outfoxed. The girl was a step ahead every step of the way. We thought we were strangling her effectiveness, but she bypassed us at every turn without us even thinking to look into it. The fact she doubled her mechs… Old Franks isn’t pleased. Even if she stops the arbitration we both know ComStar won’t forget this. Finding new mercenaries may be more difficult in the future.”

She snorted. “We couldn’t afford them anyways.” She looked out the window into the clear sky. “How is our tank company?”

“Damaged, but recoverable, we only lost two instead of all of them. Thanks to the Commanders warning.”

Alessa clicked her tongue, an old habit she had never quite broke. “I don’t understand her! We were concerned about her being a spy, or a plant, after we found the additional mechs, but that doesn’t fit! She fought too hard against the raid for that. Saved some of our defenses. Nothing that girl does makes sense. It’s like interacting with a damned devil. Whenever I assume she is going to do something, she does the opposite! Whenever I think I know what her story is, I’m wrong!”

“I still can’t believe she asked for so little. She could have demanded the Awesome… You know that.”

“And I would have been forced to give it to her, yes. ComStar would have gladly bent us over... A barrel Uncle. Don’t give me that look.” She huffed a laugh as her Uncle's irritation continued.

“A lady doesn’t speak like that… But yes. We were in trouble there. And… The sword of Damocles has been lifted… For a pittance. No one acts that way my dear, not unless they want something.”

“The question of what that girl wants has been eluding me for over a week, dear uncle. A long sleepless week. We must have a traitor, uncle. It’s the only thing that makes sense. No other way for a dropship to have landed without us knowing about it.”

“Perhaps, but looking for traitors means you inevitably find them. Whether they are there or not.”

“What choice do I have! A child made a complete fool of me! Then had the audacity to save us. To save my world! How else can I react? How am I supposed to act? She should be an enemy, I know how to deal with them, but she carried a dagger at my back, but offered no threats to use it, she basically handed me the blade when she walked out.”

“Hmmm. Difficult, perhaps stop getting caught up in her then. Young Arthur now has his mech, and we can fix something for little Vincent now. Maybe even repair a few others and create a full Lance. With that, your holdings have already improved drastically. The factories weren’t damaged, which is a first in some time. How about instead of plotting for her. Just wait. Wait and watch, and only plan when action needs to be done. For now… Well. I have some old contacts with LIC. I’ve sent them an update on what happened here. The young girl will be watched. If she is a spy, or a plant by the League? They will find out, and make sure she has a swift end.”

She took a deep breath picking up her tea and sipping on the cooling liquid. “Wait and see Uncle? That is your advice far too often.”

“And yet, it always seems to be the intelligent choice.”

She bit back a snort. “Sure it is.”

—-

Of course the Demi-Precentor was quite interested when I called him not long after telling him the arbitration was being canceled. But I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I had made a deal with the Governess that in my eyes had balanced the issue.

He was quite pleased to not have to do anything further.

After stopping by the Hospital once more, to check on everyone, I did have something I needed to see.

Our Mechs of course still belonged to us, even if they were damaged, but walking into the underground mechbay to see the hulks of our former rides? It was sad. Like watching a beached whale. Or an old lion finally running out of steam.

My Locust was nothing by scrap at this point. The massive shattered dent that made up the entire right side of the mech both from my charges, and getting struck by a battlefist showed just how much abuse she had taken.

“She was a good mech.”

Gauge had joined me. Unlike Benny who had been watching over the members of the Iron Blooded Orphans, Gauge had been overseeing their mechanical side. The damages we had taken were quite immense after all.

“It still is! We can fix it up!” Gauge was a bit more hopeful than I.

“No. Move her over into my private bay. I’ll… Create her replacement and let her rest. She did well.”

“It’s a mech Vicky. Stop treating it like a fallen soldier.” Gauge scoffed as he poked my shoulder. “It’ll take a while obviously, but we can fix it. If you want to get something new, keep it anyways, we can use it as one of the benefits for our repair team. When they fix it someone can pilot it. Win win. They get more training and a reward for doing well.”

“My Poor fallen soldier, she was such a good girl Gauge.” I continued to over-react.

His look of disgust tore a laugh from me, probably the first one I have had since I woke up. “I can’t deal with you while you are acting like this.” He huffed as he stomped away.

I smirked before turning back to my mech. I couldn’t help but put my hand on her shattered armor, feeling the texture of the plates so battered as to be useless. “We were a good team. Thank you… But I guess it is time for me to move on.”

Although that would have to come later. Before anything else, I only had my Noteputer Nanoforge left. First I needed to replace my ride, so I could get back to building what we needed. So with that I turned away from my first mech. And headed to my private Mechbay. I would need a new mech, and I reminded myself, I would have to yell at Gauge to remove any of the Lostech from the old Locust. They couldn't use a Nanoforge anyways, so might as well get them to replace it with a medium laser.

It would be good practice.

I waltzed into my private sanctum, With a few button presses I pulled up something I hadn’t done anything with before.

“Centurion NFX, huh? Well, let's see what piloting you is like.”

And in a burst of green light it began.

—-

Lenden was my next stop once I left my Noteputer to build. He was easy enough to find. The entirety of Rough Squad, what was left of them were surrounding the scorched mech that had caused so many problems.

And had saved my life.

“Commander on deck!” The call went out as I approached, from none other than Lenden himself, which was a surprise. Rough Squad, and it’s leader weren’t known for their discipline. I saluted. “At ease, Rough Squad.” I called out as I watched the six boys all standing around a neurohelm.

I had been planning on a memorial of course. I would have to do something for those we lost, but I see now that I was beaten to it.

The old neurohelm I had hated so much, the thing gave me a headache just looking at it, but now? It carried the names of each of the fallen etched into it.

“We added their names after the battle. This thing? It was our hope. A promise showing we could be Mechwarriors too. By our own strength, our own will. They will always be with us.”

I took a shuddering breath.

“I can’t condone what you did. Not now, maybe not ever, even if you did save my life Lenden… No I won’t say anymore. You all did what you thought was right. What you thought you needed to, and who am I to say you were wrong.” Even if I am thinking it.

I put my hand on the neurohelm, thinking of the boys that had sacrificed everything to wear this stupid thing.

“Are you going to be the pilot of our Scorchback?”

Lenden blinked at me for a minute before getting the joke, as he turned to his Hunchback that had been burned so much, none of the original paint remained. Just a black and gray soot that coated every inch of the mech. “Yeah. The boys agreed I would be his pilot. But with him I’ll work hard. Each of us will get a mech… working together… I heard uh… The military jerks, they’ve been poking around, making noise about him. My Scorchback… What-?” he asked, unable to really ask the question. If after everything they had done, would I have to give away the mech they had died for.

“He’s yours. The Governess forfeited any salvage claim to him this morning. Go talk to Gauge, we will need his computer reset and probably stripped out to set him up for you as a permanent pilot. Mechwarrior.” I left him with that, watching the pride bloom in his breast.

“Oh, And Lieutenant. Pick a last name… Also if you ever do something so stupid again, I’ll kill you myself.”

—-

I had figured I would deal with a lot of tense situations after I woke up. People mourning over their friends. Their family. I had fully expected to have to comfort someone crying eventually.

I just… Really?

“C-commander! I’m s-so soo sorry!” Elias was not a small guy. He was probably one of the tallest teens, the boy’s parents were probably from Rasalhague considering he looked like a young viking.

The fact his arms were weakly folded over my shoulders as he bawled into my shoulder in regret really made this scene uncomfortable.

“Elias… It’s fine. I ordered you to scrap them in case they were ever lost.”

“But Com-mander!” He hiccuped, trying to stem his runny nose, “The Lostech, I destroyed it! If, if, I had just used my head. We wouldn’t have lost them! I could have held those mechs off all day if I just used my head!”

“It’s okay Elias. We all made mistakes, but you survived, you got your unit through the battle alive, that’s what’s important. We can replace equipment.”

“No! We, you can’t just replace Lostech Commander! I can’t even imagine how much those scanners were worth! Millions!? Billions? I ruined them! I destroyed them, because I messed up!”

Awkward. This was so awkward. How do I explain this? How do I get him to realize the sensors he broke are worthless to me? That I valued their life an infinite times more? “No. Elias, you listen to me. You are alive. You learned from this battle right, you just said you know you made mistakes, in the future will you make the same mistakes again?”

“No! Never! I’ll stagger fire, aim at different mechs, hold fire when they are in cover so I don’t waste ammo. Have one of the carriers reload while the others keep overwatch, that way I can keep firing and they won’t know when it’s safe to move… I’ll. I’ll!”

“Good. That right there, is worth more than any Lostech Elias. You earned something that we are so desperate for. The entire reason we are on this planet. Experience. You just went from a completely green artillery officer. To something more. Something valuable. The loss of the carriers? A small price to pay for that.”

“Vicky!” Elias bear hugged me as he continued crying. Damnit. Fission mailed I guess. I’ll get them next time.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4.2 From the Ashes, Flowers bloom.
3020
Zaniah III
Red Base

“So we need to discuss our mistakes, where we could have done better, and most importantly, what do we need to make sure next time this happens, we all end up walking away without a scratch while our enemies smolder. Broken arms suck.” And dead kids give nightmares.

Of course Benny spoke up first. “We need some actual infantry traps. We could have led the enemy through the streets that we already prepped to take them out. Mines are the most obvious but remote explosives are good too, it would give our infantry control of what goes off, keep it from becoming indiscriminate.”

“I like it. Let’s put on the list we need a unit for demolitions. I’m sure we can find some madmen in our company. What else?”

“We need better training… I wasn’t able to do much during this fight. Every time I had to do more than just shoot LRM’s at range, I… I failed.” Gauge spoke up next, I couldn’t see them as his hands were under the table, but I knew he was fisting his hands in his clothing. It was a bad habit of his.

“Agreed, but Gauge, you did fine. We are all green pilots going up against an actual military force. The fact we all survived is good. It means we get to walk away with what we learned. Training is already something we are going to work on. I think I have a way to help with that, but the problem is it relies on other people willing to help, so table that one for a bit. What else?” I said, reaching over and patting his shoulder.

“We need a better command structure… Sorry Commander, but there were times we could have used some better synergy.” Hanna offered, “The infantry was running around doing whatever they wanted, or just staying tight in buildings during the fighting. If they had been given directions to move, or keep working with us, we could have probably fought off the enemy with less problems.”

“Yeah, we do need a new Command and control squad. I’m useful enough, but when I’m in the middle of a fight, I was too focused on what’s in front of me. Benny, I put too much on your shoulders when we started. Infantry command, Mechwarrior, and more than a few extra jobs. Who do we have in the infantry you think can take over as infantry command?”

He looked a little abashed for a moment. “You already have the ones I would trust doing other jobs. Elias, is our Artillery head. Markus is in the Defense Unit. Hanna is with us now. Honestly Commander we might not have anyone experienced to take over. We might have to train someone up.”

“Experience. It does always seem to come to that, doesn't it? Well any ideas on how we can figure out who our new infantry leader should be?”

“Wargames?” Gauge surprisingly piped up. All three of us looked at him and he realized he was the center of attention. “Umm. We set up a war game… Make it a copy of the fight we just had. Since we have all the data already. Just have people challenge it, the one who does the best, can take the job?”

“Wargames don't show leadership though Gauge, they just show who can tell people where to go…”

“No. Gauge is right, a wargame is perfect, but we make it real. Benny, we set up an actual infantry war game. Small squads of our infantry vs a mech. We can have them try to take it down, mechs have a virtual damage mode. We can get some of the equipment our infantry will need to take part. See how everyone does, whoever does the best, or leads best we make them the head of our Infantry.”

“I like it.” Hanna offered with a grin. “Let’s do it, it’ll be useful for us too. We can use it to get used to fighting infantry.That is a concern no matter what the mech jockeys on Solaris like to say.”

“Alright. Benny. Sorry but I’m dropping this in your lap. Delegate if you have to, but let’s make it work, if you need something just let me know.”

Weary Benny sighed. “Yes Commander.”

—-

Four days later. Everyone was out of the hospital if not fully recovered. It was time.

None of us wore black. No, instead everyone was wearing our normal uniforms. As we gathered far from base. We stood in the ruined and burnt streets where the battle had taken place. Where Rough Squad had lost their lives, and where the blood of our company was spilled.

We all stood around as the last trucks dropped off the last few soldiers. The entire company was here right now. Not a single person that wore the Eisen-Blume wasn’t filling this street. The numbers were growing. I could barely even start counting just how many there were, I had even been forced to make another fleet of trucks just to transport us all.

Finally when I was satisfied I clambered up onto the hood of a Norman looking over the crowd. Thankfully I had been prepared, and a megaphone was handed up to me by Benny who was at my side.

“Those of you, who were here from the beginning know that the first time we had a moment like this, I made you a promise. An oath, as your Commander to every one of you. Today I fulfill that promise. To those who have joined us since, watch, and know that I will never break my promise to you. Only when this ceremony is conducted for me, will my oath end. Iron Blooded Orphans! Today we plant the blooms that grow from the land where our Iron blood was spilled!”

I turned, nodding to Benny who opened up one of the many, many boxes I had made this morning. It had taken me a while to get them to look right, but I was pleased enough with them now.

The four foot long piece of metal, had a spider lily shaped out of the top of it. It was metal of course. This was not something that was meant to disappear. I hoped that despite the weather on Zaniah, the metal flowers will last.

That’s why I had made them out of Battlemech armor.

Slowly I moved forward stepping down from the truck taking the first metal flower. Literally an Eisen-Blume. And pushed it deep through a crack in the old broken concrete, deep into the earth. When I rose, I fumbled with the megaphone thanks to my broken arm, before raising my voice.

“We plant these, not for the dead. But to remind us, that here, our family’s blood was spilled. There is one flower for each of you. Plant one. Push your loss into the earth, and let everyone for a million years who walks here know that this is where we fought! This is where our blood was spilled!”

I dropped the megaphone then. I couldn’t wipe my eyes with my stupid cast. I stood there, before my flower, as did every member of my company. Orphans, all but one, as Alfred was among us. Planted a metal flower. When we left that street it was covered in hundreds of them. A spot of bright red, in forgotten ruins.

—-

The next day, I had finally put together a meeting with Colonel Enders of the 10th Sky Rangers. Funnily enough, I hadn’t even had to reach out to him to set this up. Colonel Enders had contacted us to set up a meeting.

I guess proving that my orphans knew how to scrap with the League has given us a bit more respect. Which was good. I had wanted to meet with the 10th anyways. They had something I needed.

Pulling up to the large military base that the 10th was based out of it reminded me just how little we had been offered. It was huge, well kept, and bristling with weapons. The concrete walls were thick, and mounted with enough weapons that it would make a very tough nut to crack open.

The fact that the 10th were a full regiment, even if at the moment they were recovering? They were big boys. That they were placed here on Zaniah was more LCAF’s doing than anything the Governess had set up. This was a border world after all. It was important to keep it safe and strong, and yet it was quiet enough that they could recover. At least that was my understanding.

Walking through an actual military installation with history, and discipline made me a little self conscious at just how different my little band was in comparison.

I was led into an office, the desk had a neat stack of folders settled upon it, and there sat Colonel Herb Enders, the current CO of the 10th Skye Rangers.

“Commander Eisen-Blume, welcome, please take a seat, can I get you anything to drink?” He stood, his tanned skin and perfectly cut uniform was a good look for him, I took the hand he offered as I nodded.

“Some water, would be fine Colonel.”

“Yes the heat has been rather horrid today.” He offered passing over a bottle of cold water out of a small fridge as we took our seats. “I would like to apologize before anything else Commander. We had our orders from the Governess office. Despite the fact they aren’t directly in charge of our contract it is customary for companies in my position to heed the words of the planet's representative, as long as it doesn’t go against the contract. She was quite firm that she wanted us to not have any communication with your company.”

I nodded along as he spoke. “I didn’t know if that was the case, but I’m not surprised to hear about it. Governess Alessa, wanted to give us a rough time.”

He grimaced lightly there. “Yes… I didn’t agree, and I would like you to know that I did speak with the MRB about the order when they contacted us regarding your arbitration. Dreadful conduct.”

“Thank you. Although if it helps, we have settled our debts with the Governess at this point.”

“Good! Good. I never like having to protect a planet when politics are hampering our every move.”

“Speaking of, may I ask… I assume it’s politics, but why don’t the 10th fight back against the raids? You don’t strike me as the sort of CO to let these raids go by.”

This time he did more than grimace, he took a harsh sip of his tea that he poured for himself. “Politics is right. The defense of Hartzborg was deemed the highest priority on the planet. We were given strict orders, to never even allow the chance that damage could come to it. During a raid we are required to lock down the Starport, don’t ask me the reasoning, I just follow my orders. Even if they do make us all feel rather useless.”

“I see. I won’t ask any more about it then. Orders are orders. May I ask instead, what prompted you to reach out?”

“Ah, well the order from the Governess was rescinded, and I felt I owed you a face to face meeting, you did try and reach out to us for so long. I viewed it as only fair.” He leans back in his chair. “Your defense, well you earned more than a little bit of my time with that.”

“Well in that case, I had been hoping to speak about some joint training. Although that will have to wait. The damage sustained has put us out of the fight for a while.”

“Yes I heard about your mechs, even saw some of the battleROM from your Hauptmanns Centurion. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a Locust attempt to tackle an Awesome before.” He quietly took a sip of his tea, but I could still see the slight smile beneath his mustache.

I felt a flush go up my cheeks, “It was a spur of the moment thing.”

“It was brave. Take no offense at my joke Commander. I was damn impressed when I saw it. I couldn’t name many Mechwarriors that would have done the same in your position, even less who are leaders.”

“I’ll take the compliment, Colonel. I would do it again, if those few seconds bought the lives of my Lance then they were worth it.”

“Exactly.” He tipped his tea cup at me, “So Commander, I have no issue with some joint training time in the future, I have heard you are joining us on a more permanent basis?”

“Yes the Governess was… kind enough to confirm our landhold on Red Base.”

“Not a bad setup for the first year of your Company, Commander. I’ve seen mercs that have been around for decades that haven’t earned their own home.”

I nodded, thanking him once again for his compliment. “Speaking back to training though Colonel, I was interested in asking if you have access to any Military MechSims, I need something to keep the training of my Mechwarriors up while our metal is repaired.”

“Hmm. I do. The base we occupy does have some sim trainers, but unfortunately, they are old models. They don’t travel well, and the few active ones left are rather busy. My own men need to keep in shape as well.” He said apologetically.

I nodded. It was a simple fact in the sphere, the older something is usually the better it is. If it wasn’t simply broken.

“I don’t suppose… You said active… Are any of them nonfunctional?” The idea was there.

“Hmm. Yes, this base was an old training facility, there are eight of them in total, or were, now only… four I believe? Are still working, the other four are either offline, or disassembled for spare parts.”

“I happen to have a pretty good AsTech. A friend of mine was interested in joining ComStar before I set this up, he can fix just about anything in my experience. What would it cost to get one of those nonfunctional sims?”

He huffed a quiet laugh into his tea. “I’ve heard such claims before, but if you think you can do better. I have no issues. They are just collecting dust currently. I’ll have some of my men pack it up and ship it to your Red Base, it’s the least I could do after failing to assist you before.”

“Well Colonel, in that case, I accept your apology in full, and thank you.”

—-

So we now had twenty four Mech Sims set up in a previously unused hangar. The scans from the broken one, had shown the issue to mostly be a single damaged electronic part that had given out, a mix between a hard drive, and a memory stick.

So that was thankfully fixed once it was copied. The new training room, I sold to my kids as a ‘secret gift’ and told that just like the underground, to keep their mouth shut about it.

Of course I couldn’t exactly hide something like this. Even with 24 of them, they were now 24/7 occupied. These weren’t the toy sims that kids could play with at every mall in the sphere. No, these were military trainers. You need to use an actual Neurohelm to move, and there was a setup period so each person had to have the brainwave scan installed in the sims.

Then they had a massive database of mechs and customizations. They even had a lot of mechs that were more modern, obviously the database was kept up to date by the 10th. Then each sim pod was connected together, all 24 could be in a fight simultaneously. The pods shifted and moved. They blasted you with hot air which could get the insides sweltering. The damn things were Star League era tech.

Each of them were brand new. Every issue that the sims might have earned over centuries of constant use? Gone. As if I had plucked them straight from the final years of the StarLeague. Now they were mine.

But as I said, I couldn’t hide them. So I wasn’t truly shocked when I was stopped by Sergeant Kurtz just a day or so after opening the new training room.

“Commander? Mind if I have a minute?”

“Sergeant, of course I’m on my way to my office, join me.” I walked along with the older man, and it was pretty obvious I was about to have an uncomfortable conversation. He was wringing his hands, and looked a little constipated. He was obviously not looking forward to this conversation.

Now neither was I.

We settled into my little office as he took the chair opposite me, the same chair he had sat in a month ago when we discussed whether he wanted to stay or not.

“Commander. I’ve been at this for a long time. I’m not exactly a young man anymore. I know what a base, even a merc base is like, the issues that come up. The amount of work it takes to expand… I’ve noticed things. Things like we never had ammunition delivered. Yet, we burned through more ammunition in a week than most regiments spend in monthly training. Things like to appear despite never being delivered. I checked. Our perimeter is fairly secure at this point. Yet things just appear without any coming or going.” He trailed off there for a while simply staring at me, as if wanting to ask a question but not sure how.

Finally I broke the silence. “Sergeant. You can understand that all companies have secrets. Things we don’t share with just anyone.”

“Yes I know, and I won’t push Commander, that’s not what I mean. I just want you to know that I have noticed things, and if I have noticed, others might have as well.”

I nodded, what else could I do? “I would appreciate, if anything you see, or think you see, you keep to yourself Sergeant. The last thing I want is rumors to get out that could cause trouble for my kids.”

He snorts a little at that. “My mouth is shut Commander. You don’t get very far in life, especially military life, if you go around blabbing secrets.” He hesitates there. “But you can trust me kid. You brats have grown on me. If I blabbed about the weirdness, most won’t listen, but the ones who do? It would just mean kids I've trained will die.”

I nod slowly. Pondering what I could do about this, what I should do? It came to me slowly. A realization. That nothing improves, unless we improve it. I don’t like the great houses. Each of them has lost sight of what makes humanity great. It’s not our capacity for war, or even our ingenuity, it’s our ability to work together. To build, and help even the weakest of us.

And they have lost what it takes to do that. The single most important aspect of a social relationship.

So I made a decision, would I come to regret it? Perhaps, but I couldn’t go wrong by following a simple motto.

Do the opposite of whatever the great houses would do.

So I nodded, stood up and decided to show trust in humanity. Trust which is so absent in the Inner Sphere. I pulled out my Noteputer. “This is where everything started. It belonged to my mother and I found it-”

—-

A Different Perspective.

Gertrude Bruden, although everyone just called her Gerty, had not known what to expect when she had decided to risk it. Leaving the orphanage and traveling across the entire length of Starboro to try and see if she could join them.

The Iron Blooded Orphans.

It had been a rumor at first. The Merc company that was taking over some of the defense of the city. Then the rumors grew. That they were all children. That their Commander was a tiny blonde girl barely 10 and yet she had a smile that would freeze the hearts of grown men. That they were all killers, and murders, and thieves.

Finally the truth came out. That they won.

The rumors both died and ballooned after that. Any negative thoughts towards them were gone. The Iron Blooded were heroes. Zaniah needed heroes.

But the news had shown it all. Some of the battle footage during the raid, and it had been amazing. The League had run. For the first time, in as long as Gerty had been alive. The League raids had been pushed back before they could do any damage. The same raids that had killed her parents just a few years ago.

So she decided to risk it. To head to their base. To join them. She hitchhiked across the city, sitting in the back of old trucks, or in one case holding onto the back of a construction truck as it ambled along, when she started noticing she wasn’t alone.

The closer she got, the more kids started appearing. Others soon joined her on the journey. Orphans one and all. Then there were no more trucks to hitchhike with and instead down a long dusty road the group of orphans started walking.

The heat was just starting to get to them when they heard the truck approaching. Down the road a truck was trundling up, it slowed as the group all walked over to the side of the road to let it pass, but the vehicle slowed coming to a stop beside the group.

The head that popped out was an older boy and he gave everyone a gentle smile. “Let me guess, coming to see if you can join the Iron Blooded?”

Berty spoke up first. “Yes! We want to be mechwarriors too. We want to fight!” The general mutterings of agreement behind her filled her with excitement. They were all doing this!

The boy just nodded looking a little sad as he looked over the group. “Well. You are certainly brave enough. C’mon, let’s get you all something to drink, and I’ll give you a ride back to base.” He offered stepping out, and the handsome boy smiled at all of them. As he walked to the back of his truck and pulled out a hose, Gerty realized the truck had a full water tank on it’s back, and freshwater started flowing.

They all gathered around to drink their fill, “So I’m Freddy, what are all of your names?”

“I’m Gerty, Gerty Bruden.” “Hanz Franz! Nice to meet you!” “Vitali.”

And more and more names flew out until he laughingly told us he wouldn’t remember all of them. “Well come on then, go ahead and hop on. And whoever looks sick come join me in the cab, I’ll turn around and drive you to the base. Save you the walk.”

Freddy drove them down the long road until the base slowly came into view. The long concrete wall that surrounded the base had a red stripe along the top, she felt her heart speed up. This was it!

The truck pulled to a stop at a checkpoint and from the large building next to the entrance, a few kids came out. All were carrying weapons, and looked around smartly, despite breaking into a conversation, “Back early Freddy, found some strays I see!”

“It seems that way! Mind taking them in from here?”

“Sure sure, you go do your job I’ll do mine. Alright newbies! Come over here, and let’s get you all in some cool air, and go over everything. We will be contacting the orphanage you were at just to prove you are an orphan, if you aren’t an orphan, that’s okay as long as you are over 18. If you aren’t 18 yet, sorry but we can’t have you join just yet!”

The words flowed over all of them, as they were led inside the guard house, it actually had stairs leading down right behind the desk and window the guards had been watching from, downstairs it was nice and cool, and they even had a little water fountain to drink from which many took advantage of.

Gerty just felt more and more impressed. They really were all just kids! She kept expecting to see an adult come down and start putting down orders, but it never happened. The guard assigned to go over her induction brought her to a quiet room off the hall. “Here come on and sit down, I’m Markus, I’ll be going over setting you up, if you have any questions feel free to ask, we have a few weird traditions so if something confuses you just ask.”

“O-Oh that’s great. I’m, You will take me I mean? It wasn’t just a rumor, that you accept everyone?”

“Hah! That’s a common first question, yeah if you are an orphan, and you want to work, we welcome you. The Iron Blooded Company accepts everyone.”

“I thought it was the Iron Blooded Orphans?”

“A nickname! Don’t worry, Commander calls us that sometimes too that’s where it comes from.”

Gerty felt her nervousness fall from her shoulders the more questions she got answered, the more everything was working. This might actually work! She might be more than just some girl stuck in an orphanage. After Markus confirmed she actually was an orphan, they finished a few pieces of paperwork, and she was led back outside.

When she saw the base itself she was actually pretty confused. A large hangar, and buildings that looked like they were falling over.

“Yeah everyone thinks that when they first see Red Base. C’mon. The real thing is surprising.” He led her inside the large hangar, and for a moment she was disappointed at not seeing any mechs. But then?

Then Markus led her down a large ramp, big enough for two Battlemechs to walk side by side, and then she hit the real Hangar. The massive amount of activity almost drowned her as she tried to keep up with it all. Kids.. Teenagers like her were everywhere. Jogging around in groups chanting cadence, some were driving trucks in and out, others were carrying parts to and fro. It was an utter hive of activity.

And the mechs! She stared in awe as a Centurion was being worked on, sparks flew from where a teenager was doing something to the armor on the shoulder. Fixing it?

Markus raised his voice to be heard over the din. “C’mon this way!” Leading her through a door the noise cut out drastically, and she couldn’t even get the question out before he patted her shoulder. “This is the real Red Base. Everything upstairs? Just smoke and mirrors. It’s a tradition to bring the noobies down the mech way first, so it hits you all at once. C’mon, I’ll show you your new room, and you can change into the trainee uniform, then we can grab you some chow before we go over your training schedule. Oh and we need to get your Dogtags! That’s important, don't let me forget.”

“Y-yeah! Sure!”

Gerty didn’t think she had ever been more excited in her life. For once. Something good had happened. The first good thing since her parents died.

—-

It took nearly a week it felt like before things regained an equilibrium. Issues stopped cropping up every minute. Our second round of bootcamp was filled with new members. Those that do exceptionally well were rewarded with time on the Sims, with the idea that the best on the Sims might get a chance to be Mechwarriors in the future.

Competition for Sim time was understandably fierce. But that was good. It meant the kids were training seriously, constantly trying to get that sweet sweet experience. And as we had learned, Experience, while not everything, does tend to trump most things.

But now I have some free time. And it was time to go check out my new ride. It had been completed a while back. I had used her to create both the new Sim pods, as well as all the Eisen-Blume during the memorial.

But that was the extent of my time in her. Mostly, as trying to pilot a mech with a broken arm was a difficult experience to begin with, I was incredibly glad I wasn’t going outside. The dunes would have been incredibly dangerous if I had to pilot with a cast, imagine slipping and being unable to regain the balance on the mech because my arm wasn’t able to move? Still, the new Centurion NFX was a huge departure from my Locust. Mainly because this thing didn’t have a Small Nanoforge installed.

No, the large laser was the replaced weapon this time, because the Centurion NFX? It didn’t have a Small Nanoforge. It had a Medium Nanoforge. What was the difference between the two? No idea. What the hell a Large Nanoforge needed to be mounted on? No idea. I was actually wondering if there even was a Large Nanoforge for mechs. Thinking instead if it was naval equipment.

Regardless, I had sacrificed the main weapon of a Centurion for the Nanoforge, but considering the huge upgrade from a man-portable Nanoforge, to a small? I was betting the medium was a beast of a constructor.

And I needed to expand the base. A lot. During initial construction I had created enough rooms for every one of us to have a room, and some spares. We were already doubling up on rooms at the moment, and expanding every day.

That was not acceptable to me.

Thankfully I was a genius. Eh I was alright. And I had known I would need to expand later. So any time I finished another room construction? I made at least one fake blast door that just wouldn’t open, no matter what the kids did to try and pry them open. Until I needed to expand again. Then I would go down, late at night, actually make the blast door functional, and then expand outwards.

Then at some point in the morning, when the kids were playing the ‘try to open this Blastdoor’ game. It would work.

So we kept growing.

Well thanks to the increase in population, I had to be sneaky at night. Create a second larger barracks hallway. This hallway I treated less like officer quarters like the previous one, and instead had each room slightly larger, but with bunk beds, and a larger bathroom. Once I had all the dimensions right, and how it was supposed to look. Well, Green fog ballooned out of the right arm of my Centurion, and I willed matter into reality.

At least that is what it felt like. The construction speed was massively improved. More than a factor of ten from what I could tell. I laughed as the world around me seemed to simply shift and change in a cloud of green light. This was fun.

When it was completed, the newly expanded barracks would easily house the massive influx in population we were receiving. I spent a while in the mech after, just getting used to how it moved, and how different it felt to be so much taller.

The legs were the hardest part to get used to though. They bent the wrong way. Deciding that getting used to a new mech was important I went ahead and added a row of Mechsims into my personal Mechbay. That way I wouldn’t have to fight the kids to actually get in some sim time.

Can’t have the kids who have never actually piloted a real mech beat me after all.

That would be embarrassing as the Commander.

—-

Now that peace was restored, and I had less things on my mind to worry about, like being stabbed in the back by the person hiring me. I had a big issue ahead of me. Money. While the contract from the Governess was paying out a certain amount of C-bills per month, it wasn’t an amazing offering. Despite the big cash injection from after the battle, in the end I needed way more cash if I was going to step things up.

So I put together a box full of Centurion parts, pieces we pulled from the damaged Centurion that we were already replacing with brand new Nanoforged pieces, and went off base to find a merchant interested in picking them up to sell elsewhere.

The problem came when trying to find a merchant willing to put down a few million C-bills for spare parts.

They existed! I was sure of it. But not on Zaniah. At least none that I could find. I didn’t exactly want to sell this stuff through anywhere ComStar could find out about it. If I really wanted to sell something immediately, I knew I had access to the LCAF supply lines, I could put whatever I wanted up for sale on that, and it would get bought up by someone that needed it.

But that meant telling ComStar because the phone company knows all.

The longer I could keep ComStar in the dark about what I was doing, the less questions they would have about me. So I was trying to make this sale myself, and unfortunately going nowhere.

Which is why I, a fourteen year old, was standing at the entrance of a bar that is right outside the spaceport. The exact sort of place you go to find a dropship captain.

God I never felt more like Luke Skywalker in my life.

Of course life was never as good as the movies. This was just a bar. It smelled, drunk men and women were all over the place, and there was a visible look of surprise when I walked in. My broken arm probably didn’t do much for my appearance, but I was a badass Mercenary Commander, got the scars to prove it, so they will just have to live with it. I walked up to the bar, because what else does someone do when looking for something in a bar?

The bartender took one look at me, and actually dipped his head surprising me. “Commander, how can I help you?”

I smiled my reputation on Zaniah was exploding. My MRB picture had been on the evening news for days after the raid. “Looking for a ship interested in buying salvage, hard to sell mech parts on planet.”

“Huh. Not many come here looking to buy mech parts, but if you are looking for merchants, try that one.” He pointed out a group in a corner, laughing and drinking some beers together as they partied.

“Lovely, thank you.” I stepped off the bar stool and headed over. But not before dropping a few C-bills on the counter.

I was noticed pretty quickly by the group, and I could see the look of confusion pass over faces as each person noticed me. “Evening. I’m looking to sell some Mech salvage, I heard someone here is a merchant?”

“Well lass, I’m certainly a purveyor of goods, but I don’t usually pick up mech parts on this route. Nor do I usually buy from random children in a bar!” The man was red faced, and red bearded and he laughed thunderously at his own joke. I gave him a minute to finish his amusement

“Well I have 40 tons worth of premium Centurion salvage, the mech not the aero fighter. And it’s well packaged, and would keep well on a trip to Solaris.”

“Just came from there lass, like I said, not usually in business for mech parts on this route. How’s a wee one like you end up with mech salvage eh?”

Oh Curiosity. You are the best of allures. I took a seat, as I settled in I introduced myself. “Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume, of the Iron Blooded Mercenary company. We just sent off a League raid.”

“Oh Hell. I did hear that the Mercs were kids, I just didn’t expect the kids to be so young!” He burst into laughter, “Captain Frerick McCarthy, of my one true love, my dear Mule Senta Freia. Well I can’t say I’m super interested in mech parts, but let’s talk about cost yeah?”

“Sure.” I smiled a gentle grin. This merchant was going to walk out of here a good few million poorer. But that’s business for you.

—-

Making a deal with Captain McCarthy took a long time. Mostly because he was drunk to start, and getting drunker through the night, but he held out, haggling on the deal before we finally agreed. I made some hefty cash, and transported the massive metal box full of parts to his ship the next day, checked and verified before pay would complete.

The C-Bills were exactly what I needed. Now that I had more liquid funds, It was time to plan and prepare.

I continued to build up both the defenses, and the size of our underground complex, over the next few months, while I started preparing for some of the trips I would need to get everything sorted out. Finding a unit that could handle the first leg of the problem wasn’t that difficult, training them so they could hopefully complete it without being seen, or dying was far more.

Delta Unit, Now formally named Delta Ops, thanks to Carl's willingness to poke an active Firestarter mech as an infantryman was the one I selected. They were loyal, and more than that… well, Crazy. I needed crazy.

Teaching a group of kids covert ops skills wasn’t exactly an easy job, made harder because I have no idea how to really teach the skills either.

I didn’t have those skills. Hell no one did. It wasn’t commonly spread around, much less to a group of orphans. Even Sergeant Kurtz looked at me like he thought I was crazy when I told my command staff I was training them in covert operations.

So instead I decided the best way to do it is live training. I gave Carl a sensor pack, sent him out into the desert in different clothes that were nothing like our normal uniform, and told them to infiltrate Red Base.

Of course everyone was alerted that if they saw anyone from Delta Ops to sound an alarm those that did? Earned some extra sim time. The first few times were disasters for Delta Ops. But every time Carl would meet up with me after failing and we would go over what caused the failure, and if there was something that could have saved him? Something that would have helped him get farther? I would get it. Buying, and selling, even picking up a few more stealthy weapons on the company store to make sure they had equipment they needed.

So I would produce equipment, and off Delta Ops would go trying again. As I said months passed before one night as I was sitting in my office, my door opened, and in walked Carl, wearing his infiltration gear with his gun out.

“Bang, Your dead Commander.”

All I could do was smile.

—-

A different perspective.

Vitali was used to things not going his way. Too difficult to live with, had been the words his once adopted parents had used when returning him back to the orphanage. He knew he was difficult. He couldn’t help it. He was always angry, lashing out, half the time he didn’t even know why he did it.

It was why he decided to leave the orphanage, to join the Mercs. They could at least let him get a shot at some Leaguers. Of course, he hadn’t expected how… Easy it all was. He got not quite a private, but a very comfortable room. His own clothes, that were fit just to him, boots, gear, weapons.

He really liked the weapons.

Although he was still himself, even in a new place.

His bloody fist was proof of that.

“Private! I want an explanation.” Hauptmann Benjamin ‘Benny’ Rommel was a tough son of a bitch. Vitali had gotten into a fight with him on his first few days, and got the shit kicked out of him because of it.

Benny was good. Skilled enough to send Vitali on his ass when he caused some trouble. But this time he wasn’t fighting Benny. No this was worse.

“Fucker! Benny! This asshole hit me!”

“I can see that Private! Quiet up. It’s my time to figure this out now.” He ordered and even Vitali could respect the quiet that spread when he ordered. The old timers respected Benny a lot.

Hell, Vitali did too. He was a Mechwarrior after all.

“Alright Vitali, walk with me.” He ordered and Vitali after only a moment, to defeat his instinct to disobey, started following. “You don’t get along with many of the others do you?”

“They’re annoying. They all want to play around. I want to kill Leaguers.” Vitali ended up admitting honestly.

“Yeah I figured that was it. You aren’t alone in that you know? Although it’s a small number, we all have seen some shit, some of us lost family to the League, some of us are here for revenge.”

“Yeah So?” Vitali challenged. “Bet the rest didn’t just bloody another kid, so what? Going to kick me out?”

Benny slowed, turning just a bit and giving Vitali a smile of all things. “Hell no. We aren’t here for kiddy school. We are here to fight a damned war. That hate? We are gonna use it. Use you until you're actually doing something useful instead of just causing trouble.”

Vitali didn’t have a response for that, which Benny seemed to know because a moment later he was knocking on a door, something Vitali had never seen the older boy do before walking into a room. He turned, “You coming?”

Vitali scoffed but walked in.

That was how Vitali met Rough Squad. That was how after getting into a fight with Lenden Motherfucking Scorch, he was invited to Rough Squad. So his life, when he gave it, would mean something.

Vitali found his home.

—-

“I’ve brought all of you here today to discuss the single most important job we may ever do.” I told the gathered crowd.

Benny, Gauge, Hanna and Carl were sitting to my right. Alfred, Lenden, Elias, and Markus on my left. The complete command staff of the company, as it stood. I had been slowly researching this in secret for months, coming up with plan after plan.

Now it was time to bring it to light. To see if anyone saw something I didn’t. “I brought you all into this, because I need manpower and perspective.” I pushed a button and the holo table. A piece of equipment I had spent an inordinate amount of time and C-bills acquiring. This one was brand new, and the display had none of the glitching, or fuzziness of the model I had originally bought. In fact this may be the holotable in the best shape in the entire Inner Sphere. I guess I was just ‘lucky’ that the one I picked up wasn’t as broken as I had been told.

I waited for a moment for everyone to take in the planet spinning. It wasn’t an up to date map, in fact it was probably not even wholly accurate, but it was a good enough representation.

“This is the Planet Helm.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5.1 In Battletech, first you take Helm.
3021
Zaniah III
Red Base

Telling my command staff went about as well as I expected.

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

“WE NEED TO GET THERE NOW!”

“WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN RESTORE THE STAR LEAGUE!”

You know, they were excited and stuff. I spent a few minutes sipping at my water as they all screamed at each other, emotions were high. It wasn’t everyday someone told you where the holy grail is located after all.

And the Helm Cache? It really is the holy grail. I gave it a few minutes before I pounded on the table “Enough! Sit down! Everyone!” And the room went silent, although I could see Gauge squirming in his seat. Benny had the look in his eyes that meant he was plotting. Carl looked like someone had kicked him in the nuts. And Alfred? Good old Sergeant Kurtz, looked like he just had someone hand him his first born. He had been thousand yard staring since I revealed what was inside the Helm Castle Brian.

“I know this is shocking. How do you think I feel? I’ve been sitting on this for months now. Waiting until we actually had enough of a base to move on it.”

Sergeant Kurtz spoke up then. “We should tell someone. LIC, or just take it to Tharkad! They could set up a raid, guarantee it gets brought back!”

“Guarantee someone finds out about it.” I let that response hang over the table for a moment. “I would gladly turn this over to the LIC Sergeant, if I thought for a second I could speak to someone absolutely loyal, and who could move without alerting the other great houses. But I can’t. The last thing I want is for anyone outside these walls to find out what we are aiming for, because instead of being completely beneath notice, it will turn into the spark for the fourth Succession war.”

I watched as Alfred listened to me speak, I could tell the man wanted to argue, wanted to poke a hole in what I said, but couldn’t find it. “Commander… I.”

“I get it Sergeant. Believe me, one of the reasons the Iron Blooded exist is for this mission. To bring back that technology to the Inner Sphere. That’s one of the reasons why I started this.” I took a deep breath and exhaled. “So that’s what I know of Helm. I don’t know what’s inside exactly, but I can guess. But the most important thing is I know how to find it, and I know the key to opening the Castle Brian without it blowing up on us.”

I didn’t know exactly what the Memory Chip looked like, other than it had the FWL eagle on it. But that was a problem for later.

“So the first plan is to send the Delta Ops to Stewart. They are there under the cover of merchants, to buy equipment, but their real goal is to infiltrate the Stewart family holdings, and find the Memory Chip that carries the data we need to open the castle.” I said calmly, everyone listening.

“R-right, easy, just sneak into a regional capital of our enemy, and steal an object that is treated as the symbol of the landhold of an entire planet. That sounds easy.” Carl repeated back looking a little peaked. “Just can’t mess up, or we lose access to the greatest Lostech cache of all time. Sure easy.”

“Carl. You’ve got the skill for this and you will have the equipment, you don’t even need to sneak in if that doesn’t work, get someone hired at the place, or bribe someone to get you in. You will have unlimited funds or as best as we can do, to get this job done.” I assure him. He was the most important part of this after all.

“What if we need something and we can’t buy it, not like people will sell spy stuff to a group of obviously Lyran kids.”

“I’ll be going with, so that won’t be a problem.”

This of course caused a surge in noise as it was shot down from many voices. I raised my hands calming everyone before I continued. “Yes. I’ll be going, for two reasons. One, it will take too long to get the key and then come back. Second, it might be suspicious why we keep going back and forth from the area. One trip. First to Stewart then Helm, then back here. Saves time, and if I am with them, it saves us the problem of wondering if Delta Ops has everything they need.”

Benny was the first to speak up. “I don’t like it Commander, we need you here. What are we going to do if we run into trouble?”

“We do what all companies do, we handle it. I’ll leave you plenty of cash, and we still have the water sales going just fine. Anything we need we can order, and Benny you will be here and in charge watching over everything, until I am back.”

“Commander! You-”

“Benny. I’m not always going to be on the same planet as everyone else. We are growing fast. We might need to expand soon just to handle the numbers. This will be good for us, it will let you practice how to handle things on your own a bit more. Without me holding everyone's hand.”

“Dammit Commander. Fine. We’ll follow your lead again but I disagree with this plan, it’s gonna be dangerous and we need you.”

“Benny, everything is dangerous. Besides, I have complete faith in you. I know you can take care of everyone while I’m gone. If any issues crop up, you can handle it, and if not you, everyone else here will pitch in.” I look around the room, towards all of our pseudo command staff. There wasn’t a lot of experience in this room, but there was a sense of belonging. Everyone had a place here. “And Benny. Congratulations Sub-Commander Rommel.”

He blinked for a moment before sighing. “Thanks for the promotion I guess.” He grumbled at me, but I could see he was happy to be given such a status.

“I want to go too.” Gauge interrupted, and I took a moment to look him over. I could practically see the energy rolling over his shoulders. “No. I know that look you are going to try and argue, but I’m going. The Repair Unit can do without me, just like what you just said it will be good to let them figure things out on their own without me looking over their shoulders. But I’m going. No way are you going to a SLDF Castle Brian and leaving me behind.”

“Alright.” I didn’t really care either way. “Gauge can come, but I really do need to insist the rest of you stay, hold down the fort, and make it seem like everything is normal. Seriously, if even a hint of this gets out before we claim Helm… We might lose it.”

The dead serious nods I received across the room earned a smile as I nodded. “I trust you. All of you, some of us have only known each other for a short time, but we can’t fight and die together one minute and then hold ourselves separate another. We work together, we help each other, and hopefully if God is willing, we will make a mark on the Inner sphere. Let’s make it a good one.”

—-

A different perspective

Gauge was pacing. He should be packing but he was too anxious. What else could he do? His best friend, his sister, had just revealed a bombshell of cataclysmic proportions. She had it. The hope of the future. She had it in her hands. Or she would. And soon so would he.

How could he calm down? He was anxious and he felt sick and excited all at the same time. He would get to be there. To help bring back the knowledge of StarLeague to the Inner Sphere. Him. Gauge, the orphan who wasn’t even good enough to join ComStar.

No, he reminded himself that wasn’t true. Adept Michaelson had explained why he wouldn’t. Couldn’t adopt him. Even though Gauge knew that the Adept liked him, even enjoyed teaching him.

But not enough to adopt him. Those old fears still came into play. Although as had become habit he pushed it away. He didn’t need to be adopted anymore. None of them did. They weren’t orphans waiting around for their birthday anymore. They were orphans heading out into the stars to claim their own destiny, Vicky’s destiny.

He exhaled, trying to relax. Vicky had said that each of them should follow her on this path, a path of more than just decline. Gauge had never really believed her. Horrible to admit, even to himself. Even with her gift, he had expected her to fail. To maybe put more mechs and equipment into the world but fail to really make a difference. Because just having mechs didn't change people.

Knowledge did.

That is what Adept Michaelson had said, and Gauge believed him. It was knowledge that would bring peace again, not more mechs, not might. So Gauge swore. He would make this happen. He would be there, a voice advocating the spread of knowledge to help everyone. Vicky may not always appreciate his words. Or his opinion but he would do his best to help. To be the light that Jerome Blake had wanted to be.

So Gauge Blake. Took a deep breath, and settled his stuttering heart. He finished packing, finished getting ready for the biggest adventure of his life.

—-

Preparations took up a lot of time over the next few days. I used one night to create a secret vault that Benny could access that had a ton of things the base went through. Mostly ammo and equipment, but also enough food in case of emergency, we would be fine even if we were besieged for years.

Just to be sure of safety, I even created a second water purifier inside, just in case someone sabotages our normal one. That’s how worried I actually was about leaving Red Base on it’s own. Not that I was going to tell anyone. Let them think me confident and in control even if I was freaking out and doubling then tripling up on our necessary equipment in case something goes wrong. You know, like a reasonable person.

Also attached to the vault was a hangar with a few lances of replacement Centurions. Just in case we were attacked and stuff started to go wrong. Because I was a worrier.

Thankfully I was busy enough while preparing, I didn’t have a lot of down time to worry. Just setting up a travel plan took a long time. Commissioning a dropship to take us to Stewart wasn’t incredibly difficult, despite the war going on. The borders weren’t locked down, after all. Lyrans commonly traded with the FWL even during the wars.

With that settled I had a few days before the dropship left Zaniah, and I was busy getting my Delta Ops ready for a task that should have been given to someone trained for years and years. Their equipment of course wouldn’t be coming with them, everything would ‘appear’ when we landed. But we did have a few different bags packed with things to keep us occupied for the trip. It was a long trip, three jumps from Zaniah to Stewart.

While it wasn’t too bad for Inner Sphere travel, it was still the longest trip I have ever taken, much less the fact we were leaving the Commonwealth. The Free Worlds League was a whole different beast.

As the days passed I found a few moments of quiet, and I used them to just watch as Benny took command. He was doing fine, although I could tell he was nervous, but he knew how important this was. The entire Command staff, such as they were, had been tense since the reveal. Especially since most of them wouldn’t be coming with, and would just have to stay at home and keep training while history was made without them.

As the morning of the last day on Zaniah came about, I double checked everything trying to busy myself. Orders were passed out. The Governess office had been alerted that my second in command would be their point of contact for a few months.

And then I threw my duffel bag full of clothes and entertainment into the back of a Norman, along with Gauge and Delta Ops, and we drove out to the star port. The dropship that was taking us was a merchant, a big old beast, that was making the rounds into the FWL, Stewart, was an easy pass for the ship to make, and I paid them well enough for it.

So off we went after locking the Norman down in the Dropship's hold.

“So Vicky, I see you still don’t handle dropship thrust very well.” Gauge teased as I flipped him off, my face buried in a vomit bag. This isn’t how flight is supposed to happen! Where is the grace? The beauty? This felt like the dropship was attacking the planet for daring to try to restrain it!

—-

A different perspective

Benny did his best to breathe. He could do this. “Yes Hanna, what’s wrong?”

“Lucas and Alex got into a fight. And they broke Simons game.”

“Okay. Punish the fighters. Give them to Freddy for scut work in the mess, give Simons a replacement from storage.”

“Will do… You gonna be okay, Sub-Commander?”

“Oh sure Hanna I just have a military installation and three hundred plus soldiers under my command, and I’ve never done anything like this before.”

“Sure you have, you led us all in school.”

“No, that's small team leadership. I don’t… Hanna I only have the training of a rookie corporal, If that. I’m not even cut out for sergeant! Vicky… damn that girl she put the entire company on my shoulders! I don’t have her gifts for this sort of thing!”

“You mean her completely irrational confidence, and almost deranged ability to just go do something?”

“Yes.”

“Well hate to break it to you Benny but you are not Vicky, you are much more sane. We need that too. Let Vicky be Vicky, let her be the crazy one that goes off hunting the secret to Lostech. You are our Sub-Commander, so your job is to handle what is.”

“Yeah that’s the problem still Hanna, I don’t have the experience. The training. Hell I don’t.. I don’t know if I have the skill for this.”

“Pff no one else does either Benny. You are the best choice out of bad choices. So get better. Go talk to Sergeant Kurtz. And we have contact with the 10th now right? Go bug them. The worst they can do is say no.”

“Hanna you don’t just reach out to an allied command and ask for tips! That’s Crazy!”

“Well there you go, it sounds like something Vicky would do, completely without shame by the way I can imagine it with her annoying voice right now.” Hanna makes her voice annoyingly high pitched which had Benny smiling despite himself “Hello Colonel? It’s Vicky. How do you order more potatoes? Oh you just call your quartermaster? What if your quartermaster doesn’t know how to order potatoes?”

“That sounds nothing like her!” Benny couldn’t say without breaking into giggles Hanna smiling at her success.

“It sounds just like her, you know it. Benny you’re great, but Vicky has it right sometimes too. Learn from that, we are the Iron Blooded Orphans, we are completely shameless as taught by our first Commanding officer.”

“Hear hear… Alright let me put in a call then. Get out. I won’t be able to keep a straight face if you are making stupid faces at me.”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Yes you would, out!”

“Yes Sub-Commander!”

—--

39 days to reach the jump point. Then four days waiting for a jump ship. Then two jumps, each one taking almost a week to recharge, then we undock and wait for another three days for another jump ship heading to Stewart, then almost seven days to land on Stewart.

It was a boring, boring amount of time. Gauge and I spent a majority of it exercising to keep in shape. Mostly because I kept forcing him into PT, but it did help keep us busy. Most of Delta Ops treated this as a fun experience, the kids were always playing around on the drop ship, enjoying this trip a lot more than they had on the cramped Leopard.

But Carl was tense, and the rest of the Delta Ops were starting to notice it. They had been told only the basics of what was going on, and even at their best they couldn’t help but be curious what brought them so far from home, what it was they were doing here.

The final touchdown on Stewart was a relief, mostly to my stomach, although I was still shaky when I finally disembarked.

Stewart was a really populated planet compared to Zaniah. Gauge was driving and we had to go slow as we pulled the Norman off the starport into the wild streets of Stewart. The roads were full. Plenty of people wandering around living their lives.

“Hotel should be over there.” I point out, as I guide Gauge through the streets. The Dropship captain had been kind enough to offer a few words on a safe hotel for foreigners to rest at. Not all of them were safe for a Lyran after all.

There were always crazies happy to harm a Lyran citizen just because we were at war. Pulling into the not run down, but not fancy hotel was a relief. We all grabbed our bags out of the truck as we walked in. Getting a room was no problem, we had money after all. Although I could tell the hotel staff pegged us as Lyrans right away.

Hard to disguise the accent.

As I placed my bag down, and pulled out the Noteputer and Sensor pack. I was interrupted by Gauge and Carl as they approached, before they could get more than a few words out, I quickly shushed them. “Not yet!” I waited for a moment to make sure both boys were quiet, and checked the sensors to see if I could find any hidden bugs.

Thankfully the room was clean. It wasn’t like we had a bunch of Intelligence agencies watching me… Yet. So I still wanted to be careful. “Be careful where you talk, make sure to ‘check’ before you do. Carl, rest up, and do some looking around today. I’ll start putting out some whispers, that I’m here looking to buy equipment, maybe even a mech, Gauge you’re with me, but hopefully we can find the Memory Chip soon.”

“Delta Ops. Since we have some time, come sit down… It’s time you learned what we are doing here.”

While I went over the fact we were looking to steal a memory chip, but not yet why, I really hoped the damn thing was actually here. Finding it… That was the hard part. Like a needle in a haystack.

—-

Four days of searching, and I think I finally found what I was looking for. Thank God for my sensor, this would have been impossible without it.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. I think. Only way to know for sure is to get it. Carl?”

“Yeah Delta is ready, that place looks quiet enough, we should be able to sneak in, I’m worried about traps, or scanners though…”

“That's why next we are going to write up an infiltrate report before we even get close to going.” I tell them, pulling out the sensor as I start narrowing the focus. Thankfully even miles away the sensor could still narrow down to notice electronic devices.

The Memory chip, Or what I thought was the memory chip was located in a building near the New Edinburgh Palace. Thankfully it wasn’t inside the palace, as the security there was pretty tight from what I could see on the sensor. But either way it was there. And we would have to find a way to nab it.

“Operation Jingling Key begins now.”

“We aren’t calling it that Vicky.”

“Commander gets to name the operations Gauge! Also, go look around, I want to know what that building is for, and how open it is. I can already tell the security isn’t the highest, but I am still seeing a lot of electronic surveillance. So we need to know what the building is being used for first.”

“Why me?”

“Because Carl, and Delta Ops need to start studying the security on the building to make it in. You don’t have anything to do, Mr. I want to come with.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll grab some dinner on my way back too, I guess.”

As Gauge headed out of the hotel room, Carl and I got to work. We were using a piece of paper and literally working our way through the building step by step trying to bypass the security, working to figure out where everything was, and what could be ignored, and what needed to be avoided at all costs.

Oddly a certain song kept popping into my head that I kept humming.

Eventually we brought Delta Ops into the discussion. The sensor was explained, and I went ahead and broke down some basics of what my noteputer could do, explaining this was the secret to how our Company had even started, and that unless they want every great house, or pirate, or anyone in the Sphere coming after us, to never speak a word of this to anyone.

Honestly, my secret was starting to spread. I was getting a little nervous about it, wondering who would eventually leak it. I only hoped I was ready when it happened.

Yet, back to the task at hand, with so many eyes on the screen, we were hammering out everything we needed to work a path through the little traps and turns through the building.

We only stopped when Gauge returned carrying a few bags of takeout. We all started eating as he explained what he saw.

“Some sort of administration building for sure. No guards on the outside I could see, but it had plenty of cameras, which I’m sure you noticed.”

“Yeah a ton of cameras and sensors in the building. Getting to the room is… Difficult. We keep getting stuck in this hallway.” I brought the sensor up so Gauge could see. The only entrance to the room was through a hallway that had no blindspots to the cameras.”

“Yeah we are trying to find other ways in, we checked the air vents. Unfortunately this isn’t Immortal Warrior so they are too small.” Carl offered.

“I’ve been going over the guard patrol route, but they have been hanging out in the guard room.” Samantha, one of the other members of Delta Ops pipes up as she tears into her dinner. The scar running across her cheek is still quite visible on her flesh despite the months of time from when she was wounded by the Firestarter. “There are usually two on duty at any one time, but they never leave the guard room. So we only need to worry about the electronics.”

“Okay maybe we can steal a guard uniform? Let’s track them, if we follow them home, steal their uniform, and sneak in pretending to be them?” Carter offered as well, The boy despite only being 15, looked older, and was useful for looking like an adult.

“Not a terrible idea, but I doubt those sensors will care if you are wearing a guard uniform.” Carl rebutted. “Maybe bribe the guards? We do have cash for that sort of thing.”

“Bribes are dangerous because we have no way of knowing how loyal someone is. Let’s use that as a last resort.” I said.

“You guys are idiots.” Gauge spoke up from where he was sitting, as he reached over to the sensor and shifted the screen, until he focused it on the camera and sensors that went through the hallway.

All of them were powered by a single wire cluster as it threaded through the building. The sensor could easily track the wires, both where they came from, and went. “Look right there, just outside the view of the cameras and sensor, you can see all the wires come together. You can cut through the wall right there, and sever power to every sensor in the hallway.”

“Yeah but that would set off an alarm wouldn’t it?”

Gauge's eye rolls were starting to annoy me. Someone was getting hit in the face with a pillow tonight just as he is about to fall asleep.

“Of course it will, but now you have more options.”

“He is right. We have been focusing on the defenses as they are trying to walk past them without causing any disturbance, but we aren’t LIC, we can’t just ghost everything, but I bet we can take out a few things, enough to get us through.” Carl offered a grin on his face.

“Cool your reactor SRM boy, we are trying to do this without letting anyone know we are doing it. I don’t want all of us shot by the guards, or alert the entire FWL that something is up.” I poke him in the shoulder to remind him of who is boss.

“Ruining the fun as always Commander. Okay well. If you don’t want anyone to know it was us…” Carl started before I cut him off.

“No false flag attacks!”

“Okay, well you are not giving us many options here Commander.” Samantha snarked.

“I know. This… This isn’t something we are ready for, but it needs to happen anyways. Let’s keep an eye on the guard patrols overnight, maybe they all go home or something?”

“Unlikely, that is definitely a third shift that came in about twenty minutes ago, so they are gonna be in for the rest of the night.” Samantha added.

“Okay so… Hacking?” Carl asked, turning to Gauge, “Well tech guy, can you hack into their system to turn off the alerts?”

“What is this Immortal Warrior? I’m an engineer! I don’t know anything about hacking!”

“Alright, alright, calm down, it’s an honest question, but we already covered this isn’t a holovid. Let’s set down our objectives. We need to enter that room and steal the Memory Chip. We need to do it, without letting anyone know we did it. We don’t want anyone to die. So, options?”

“Start a fire, get in when everyone is trying to put it out?” Carl offered with a smirk.

“GOOD options?” I ask, already imagining the horrors of that plan.

“Stop thinking about the hallway entirely. It’s pointless. Go around.” Richard Stone, offered. Richard had been one of the Zaniah orphans, and so proudly used his last name unlike most of the orphans, from Solaris, who had all been told to pick one, but few had so far.

I was working on it.

“We can’t, the air vents are too small, and it’s the only entrance.” Carl offered out, but Richard just shook his head.

“Stop thinking laterally. There are six ways to get to that room. One on each side, and… Up and down.”

I blinked that stupid SONG! “Mission Impossible this sonnovabitch!”

I was horribly disappointed that no one else got the reference.

—-

Unfortunately. The next day I was required to pretend I wasn’t here to steal from the state. Instead I was heading out in the Norman with Gauge to talk to people about buying shit. Of course I was only planning on buying one small thing, an item we would need for our heist, that I actually didn’t have stored already. The stops at mech shops were just to throw off the scent of why I traveled here, if anyone started asking. Plus I had some C-bills on hand, and while it was enough to purchase a battlemech, I didn’t have the time or space to take a mech with me.

Traveling through the merchant sector of Stewart was… Odd. For one, it was a FWL planet, not Lyran, so the immense amount of business you would find on Lyran worlds wasn’t here. Everything was more regulated, more controlled.

We stopped at a few shops. Browsing their goods, I picked up the one item I needed at an infantry supply shop. The old Leaguer hosting the shop glared at me the entire time we were inside once he heard my accent. Thankfully, I didn’t need to buy anything I couldn’t walk out with, but honestly, nothing here interested me. Helm would have better stuff than anything I could purchase on this sort of open market.

I was really looking forward to seeing what infantry gear the SLDF used. I wasted a day going to a few different markets. Gauge accompanied me making it look like I was some bored nobleman's daughter.

Hopefully if anyone ever thought to wonder what I was doing on Stewart this is all they would find.

Of course wandering around an unfamiliar city sometimes causes random encounters to spawn. We were walking back to the truck after visiting a gun shop when Gauge nudged me, pointing.

Of course when I looked I recognized it just fine. An orphanage often has a certain look to it. The crowd of kids that were lazing around was a good indicator. I stalled staring at the crowd. “Vicky?” Gauge was staring as well, but I decided to check it out. I turned.

The kids hanging around noticed me right away as I walked up to the gate that blocked off the orphanage. It was open but I didn’t enter, stopping just outside, “Hey. This an orphanage?”

The few kids crowding the entrance stilled as I spoke and one, spit to the side before talking. “Yeah, this is an orphanage for League kids, if you don’t have parents go somewhere else, Lyran.”

I snorted, despite myself. Getting threatened by a kid smaller than I am was funny. “I am an orphan, but I don’t need an orphanage. I’m Vicky.”

“Like I care what your-”

“Calvin. That’s Darius. Mara, is over there.” The second boy offered although he wasn’t looking too friendly either. “Something we can help you with Vicky the Orphan Lyran?”

“No. No, I’m just curious I guess. This is Gauge, we both left a Lyran orphanage, and we’re mercs now. Just kinda curious what a League orphanage is like.”

“No way you're a merc short stuff.” Darius laughed, before I snorted.

“I’m taller than you boy, aren’t boys supposed to be taller than girls? And yeah. We are.”

“No way!” Mara the girl called out as she hovered over. “Who are you with?”

I hesitated for a moment, but it wasn’t like I was trying to hide who I was here even on Stewart. “I’m with the Iron Blooded Orphans, based out of Zaniah III right now.”

All three looked confused at that. “Never heard of them.” Scoffed Darius as I shrugged.

“Not surprised, we are pretty new. So how about I’ll tell you some stories, and you tell me some in return, like a proper Lyran business deal?”

I fleeced them of course. I did warn them it was going to be a Lyran business deal.

Gauge and I left an hour or so later, having learned how similar and different the League orphanages were. I was satisfied with what I had learned and how it was a strange stop. Even if someone wondered what I was up to on Stewart, they would be left very confused at this point.

But… I couldn’t help but feel for them. They were like me, like my family. No real difference between us but where we were born. It spawned the start of an idea in me. That I started chewing throughout the trip back to the hotel.

We reached the hotel and Gauge and I rested for a bit so we were ready. Late that night we moved out.

It was time.

—-

A different perspective.

Carl kept his breath steady as his team readied themselves. They were sitting in the back of the Norman as it pulled into an alley. He grabbed his duffel bag full of equipment Vicky had handed to each of them as they jumped out.

“Remember, in and out. You have guns, but only use them if you have to. Be sneaky!” Vicky called out quietly as she handed over the sensor. She had been navigating through the city getting them as close as possible without getting them on cameras. Or at least as few as possible.

“Relax Vicky. This is my op now. Delta! Let’s move!” He called out as he started walking through the alleys, the sensor fully active showing him all the people around them, and he used it to avoid all of them.

Despite himself his heart was pounding. He could tell everyone was getting tense, but there were no magical words to calm them here. They all knew what was at stake. They traveled as silently as they could until they reached the wall surrounding the administration office. He looked to this right and just over in the distance was the palace itself. He shivered. If they did have to shoot, he doubted they would get away.

So they just had to do this without ever alerting the two guards. He found the right spot and signaled. His squad forming up and a ladder was placed against the wall, pulled out and unfolded from Richard’s duffel bag, Samantha pulled out a blanket that Vicky had assured them would protect them from the razor wire along the top of the stone barrier, and since she was up first, she climbed over and hopped to the ground. The rest of the squad went over until it was just Carl, he went last, grabbing the ladder when he was at the top, and pulling it over.

Once he climbed down, they all regrouped. Breathing heavy and awkward as he pointed they all moved.

The windows were all protected by silent alarms, but the thing about having a Lostech sensor system as powerful as this one, meant they could check them all before ever starting. Second floor… That one. He confirmed, had a bad wire, probably water damage, but the alarm on that window wouldn’t go off.

They hoped.

The ladder was placed, once more Carl checked the sensor, making sure none of the cameras could see them here, and up they went. Richard first, as he pulled out a tool Vicky had created, he was able to jimmy open the window, in a few moments as silent as they possibly could.

Then the squad slipped in one after another.

They were in an office, but it was long empty now. Carl pointed at the door and everyone lined up as he once more checked the sensor. The guards were still in the guard room. They were the only other people in the building. With a nod, he slipped open the door. There was a camera in the hall, but it was a slow rotating type. They all knew what came next.

As soon as Carl swiped a hand, Samantha moved, crossing the hall to the next door slipping inside. Her door shut just as the camera panned back over. They continued this until each of them had slipped across into the new room.

The new room was in the center of the building. A sort of bullpen that had desks and workers flowing through it constantly during the day, but now it was quiet. Carl guided the path through the room, staying out of the few cameras that could see into the room by slipping under them, or around.

The path they had worked out before coming was working so far. Intelligence really did make things easier.

He stopped the group at the other end of the room, they paused as he fiddled around for a moment, reminding himself of the camera positions on their next step. Before he looked up at the faces surrounding him. He nodded as he motioned to follow. They slipped out and he snuck forward his squad following in his footsteps as he took a zig zag pattern across the hall, dodging the sensor systems that were between them and the stairs before slipping into the stairwell. He held the door open until everyone was in before closing it.

Now was a tricky part. There were sensors in the stairwell, so Carl led them up. Each step very exact. Making sure he never stepped on an alarm. Everyone behind him following him exactly, step by step. As they traveled ever upward. Finally they made it to the fourth floor.

Once again he slipped out first zig zagging across the hall to stay out of the cameras and sensors. His Sensor giving him perfect knowledge of where to go. He thanked Vicky for giving him this, the backpack was heavy, but he never would have made it through without it. They slipped into a room that was directly above the room they needed to access.

The office they entered was definitely a higher ups office. He found the perfect spot, and his squad helped him shift a heavy cabinet off to the side, before Samantha popped up with her Vibroblade. The blade was something Vicky had purchased that morning, the blade was charged and ready.

The hefty dagger was switched on and started shaking near silently, although all of them felt it’s movement as Samantha slowly dug the blade into the carpet and wood. It was mostly silent, although it still sounded faintly like a buzzsaw as it cut through the wood and interior. It took nearly twenty minutes for Samantha to finish cutting through, mostly, because they were doing their best not to let any chunks of wood fall to the ground.

Once it was done, a rope was tossed down and Carl slipped through the new hole in the floor into the room they had needed to access. While the rest of Delta Ops remained above.

The room was a little dusty from sawdust, and Carl made sure to wipe down the cabinets below the hole they had made to make it less obvious what had happened, hopefully by the time anyone noticed the hole they would already be back on Zaniah.

The room looked like a treasure room, of sorts. Glass cabinets carrying old history was left here, but things that couldn’t just be left open to the public, at least that is what Carl assumed.

Pulling out the sensor he traveled through the rows of shelves, but Vicky had been firm. Ignore everything else, get the Memory chip, get out. They weren’t LIC. Any information or treasure they might manage to grab was peanuts compared to the real objective.

So he did, Carl followed the sensor until he came up to the glass cabinet that possibly stored the objective. And realized he had forgotten something, as he tried to open it and got nowhere. It was locked. Annoyed, he stalked back to the hole, “Sam, give me that knife.” He whispered up to the hole. The first words anyone had spoken since entering the building.

Once he had it, he went back, using the sensor to find out exactly where the lock mechanism was and he slipped the blade into the gap, cutting through the metal with a shriek that caused him to tense as he hadn’t realized how loud it could be. He grabbed his sensor, and after a minute where the guards didn’t move, he breathed a sigh of relief. He popped the case open, and checked the objects inside, situated on little stands, or for what looked like some sort of crystal planet on a small pillow, but none of that mattered to Carl.

The Memory Chip was resting in a little holder, face out to show the Free World League eagle on its face, although it was faded with age.

This had to be it.

He grabbed the clunky thing, slipping it into his bag. He closed the case and hurried back. While he was down, the rest of the squad was packing up the removed floor pieces. Not leaving any of it around, so when he climbed back up, they shifted the heavy cabinet back over the hole. Mostly covering their construction.

The cut wood and carpet was passed into their duffel bags, and they all followed his lead as they started retracing their steps.

Ten minutes later, after checking the sensor to be sure. Vicky had hammered that into his head over and over to never make a move without doing so, they each climbed back over the razor wire, spending a minute pulling the blanket free, and packing everything away.

They slipped back into the back of the Norman truck, Vicky grabbing the sensor from him as they drove off.

Carl's heart was pounding, his head was fuzzy, his hands were shaking.

He had never felt more alive. Slowly as his adrenaline wore off, he wondered if he could have snuck into the palace itself.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5.2 In Battletech, first you take Helm.
3021
Stewart System
New Endinburgh

—-

Once we were back at the hotel, I did two things, I checked the memory chip, and it sure looked like what I had been looking for. The thing was heavy duty, with a faded Marik eagle on it, and it just had to be it.

I really hoped.

Which is why the first thing I did was scan it. And see what my sensor could notice. The scan showed up in my blueprint log as “Helm Memory Chip, Key.” Which had me squealing in happiness as I fell back onto the hotel bed. Chest heaving.

We had done it. We had actually done it. Somehow.

“Well?” Gauge prompted, the whole of Delta Ops were staring at me as well, their faces looking confused, while Carl, and Gauge the only ones that knew what was on this chip were looking at me, begging me to tell them they had succeeded.

“This is what we were looking for. Delta Ops. Damn good job.” I assured them as I got up and patted backs congratulated them and gave hugs. Gauge and I ended up spending the next hour being inundated with how cool the whole thing was, as each of them told the story from their view. Which we all oohed and awed at the right times.

They were obviously quite excited. It took hours before I pushed them all to bed. I didn’t sleep much that night, myself too excited to rest. Helm! I had the key in my hands!

The next day I headed out to charter another dropship. The meeting with the new captain was boring, money got me the dropship chartered for a few days out, nothing happened on those few days. Just a tenseness in the group as we all waited to see if we had done something to get caught. Slowly the days passed, we packed our kits and headed out towards the Leopard dropship I had chartered this time.

We left the planet, with a sense of relief from all of us. Except for me. I was too busy puking.

—-

A different perspective.

Gertrude was in hell. She huffed as she ran down the long hallways. The other kids in her bootcamp jogging along with her. This had been all they had done for weeks. Run and train. She groaned when they finally slowed. Sergeant Kurtz, slowing his jog that they had to match as he nodded. “Good. Damn good. Break for now. Go get watered up, we will continue after.”

The hallway groaned but jumped to do as ordered. The incentives to keep working were real here at Red Base. Doing well meant you got Sim time. Sim time meant that the next time a mech was brought in, you might get to pilot it. Everyone was fully engaged, especially since they weren’t frugal with anything you needed.

Want to train your marksmanship? Turn left around that corner, hit the armory, request some ammo and some range time. Done and done.

Want to learn to drive? Norman trucks were everywhere, and an older orphan would always take the time to let you learn. The more orphans that knew how to drive the better.

Want to eat? Food was plenty, and so was water. The food wasn’t always good… Some of the chefs they had working to cook were better than others, but filling food was filling food, and you could eat until you were stuffed.

So why was she in hell?

Because she was struggling with fitness. She had never been athletic before, and now where it was important? It was limiting her. So she ran. And ran and ran. And hadn’t had the chance in the sims yet. They were too limited to give time to the kids that weren’t ready. Or at least that is what Sergeant Kurtz said, and to be fair.

There was a 24/7 reservation on the things. So he wasn’t kidding.

“It’s weird right?” Chris asked as he settled in beside her drinking his water as well.

“Everything here is weird Chris.”

“No I mean. We only just got here before the Commander left, but.. It’s been weird since she disappeared right? Everyone is acting tense. The ones that were here before us I mean. It’s like…”

“Now that she is gone they aren’t sure if everything will work out.”

“Yeah exactly! Sub-Commander Rommel has been running around like crazy. But everyone is still pretty tense.”

“It’s fine. We don’t need to worry about that sort of stuff, we just need to worry about earning some Sim time,” Gerty quickly told him as she noticed Sergeant Kurtz coming back from his own water break.

“Yeah, but-”

“Alright! Water break is over!” He called out interrupting Chris and his nonsense before he could get started. Gerty didn’t care about that. She just wanted more than what she had started with, and she had already far surpassed that point.

“Alright kids. You get a special reward today. Your entire class is finally far enough along in boot that we can move onto something special. All of you, follow me.” He ordered as he jogged off, and the kids followed this time without any groans. The offer of a reward had them all hooked. Gerty included.

Finally they came to a place none of them had been before. “Alright kids, no one touches anything I don’t say. You are getting special permission to enter this hangar this once. Don’t enter it again without permission. It will be locked, anyone trying well… Punishment detail will not be pleasant.”

He opens the door and everyone gasps.

The mech standing tall was another Centurion! “Alright enough stop gawking, we aren't touching the Commander's new ride, instead. This should be your focus today,” And Sergeant Kurtz pointed them towards a row of Mech Sims.

Gerty audibly gasped along with half the kid as they realized they were getting time on the sims!

“Today we are going to get your brainwave records ready, so in the future you can use the sims when you actually earn the time. This is not a game today so each of you, grab a sim and get ready.”

Gerty hurried to grab one of the sims, climbing into the large machine with a happy gleam as she settled into the large chair, quickly strapping herself in as she looked over the controls. “Alright!” Sergeant Kurtz yelled loud to be heard through the sims. “Each of you put on the neurohelm, DON’T touch anything else. I am going to set it for a brainwave scan. Just sit tight should only take a minute or so. Don’t touch anything or you might fry your brain!”

Gerty was practically bouncing in excitement as each of the kids' brain waves were scanned into the system, finally when they were all done, a chip popped out of the system. Once more Sergeant Kurtz voice echoed through the pods hull.

“Okay now that the scans are complete, you should see the pod popped out a small memory chip! That is your brainwave scan, keep it close, if you lose it, no Sim time! You will enter that chip every time you enter a Sim pod, you will not forget your Data chip IN the Sim pod. That chip is your life, you lose it, you lose training access until we think you have sufficiently learned your lesson! You all might have noticed that your dog tags have a slot in them. Guess what fits perfectly inside? Put your chip in your dog tags when you are not in the Sim pods, and you will always have them on hand!”

“Now that the work is done, as a reward all of you are getting two hours of training time starting…. Now. Start your sims, and load up a Stinger. Let’s give you all some stick time!”

As the sim began and Gerty got to feel what it was like to really pilot a mech, not like the games in every mall but from a real military level sim pod? Gerty was wrong, This wasn’t hell. It was Heaven.

—-

Landing on Helm had me practically buzzing in excitement, when I was throwing up. Although only Gauge and Carl shared this feeling with me the rest of the Delta Ops were wondering what we were doing now.

I hadn’t revealed it to them yet, and I wasn’t planning on it, not because I didn't trust them, but just because there hadn’t been a good chance on Stewart, and I wasn’t about to risk it on the dropship.

Plus I kinda wanted it to be a surprise. Like ‘Surprise, you are now the most successful Lostech Hunters in the history of the Inner Sphere!’ that sort of feeling.

My own anxiety was hiking up insanely high. What if ComStar found out, What if the Memory Chip didn’t work. What if it all exploded! Gauge was picking up on it. “Calm down, your jittery. It looks weird.”

“I know! I know I’m just.. Freaking out a bit. I’ll be fine once we get moving.”

Helm was not a comfortable planet I realized as the dropship door opened. About as close to an opposite as you could get from Zaniah, and just as uncomfortable. The moment the door opened all of the heat of the dropship disappeared. Snow, ice, and a sub zero temperature were quite a shock.

Gauge drove our Norman off the ship, through the amost empty streets towards a hotel in Helmsdown, the current capital of the planet and where we were. The far sparser population compared to Stewart was an odd transition. It was much more a rural feel, than Stewarts metropolis.

A constant stream of light snow fluttered down on the empty streets. The buildings looked weird, and I only found out later that most of them have radiation cladding on them to protect them in case any radiation gets kicked up in a storm and hits the city.

Yet the drive was quiet, the Hotel was comfortable enough and after a quick check to verify a lack of bugs we settled Delta Ops in for the night. Gauge and I had other plans. I was going to make sure my preparations were ready. After a few minutes of passing out cold weather gear Gauge and I headed back out. The Norman was thankfully pretty warm in the cab, and Gauge while not the greatest driver on snow got used to it pretty quickly.

As we drove I realized that this was going to be a bit of a pain in the ass. We were in for a cold night. I needed a metal extractor after all.

We drove out into the wastes in silence, the sensor guiding us along the snow and empty roads once we left the city.

Gauge eventually broke the silence, “What are we going to do once we get in? We can’t transport much.”

“We aren’t transporting anything physically. I’m going to build a mech and begin scanning and deconstructing everything. I don’t want there to be any chance it could fall into League hands.”

“All of it? That… Okay I can accept doing that since you can just build it all later, but Vicky, that’s gonna take some time isn’t it? Do we want to stay here so long?”

“I don’t. But needs must Gauge. Benny can handle any trouble the Company runs into. He is probably better at it than I am. But this is too important to leave behind.”

“Okay. But then what? You’ll be able to make… So much more now. What will you do?”

I hesitated, mostly because despite all the time I had to think about options, or what to do next. I just didn’t know. “I don’t know. I have a few ideas, but nothing solid… It’s a tough decision to make. How far do I go, how much do I show?”

“We could go to ComStar. You said this place has a memory core they could use it. Spread the knowledge!”

I still wasn’t sure how to break it to him, the truth about ComStar. So I lied. “When I start passing out the Memory Core, or if I do pass it out, I’ll pass one to ComStar. I promise.”

Gauge nodded at that slowly looking unsatisfied. “So… you aren’t going to hand over the Memory Core?”

“I don’t know. Part of it for sure. The tech inside is too useful to just ignore, it could really bring back a lot to the Inner Sphere, but it could also be used to restart the wars. I’ve been hemming and hawing about what to do with it since I decided to go for it.”

“We should use it. Give it out to ComStar, and maybe other companies, we can bring back hope to the Inner Sphere.” He argued as ardently as always.

“I know. But even something that we want to bring hope, can end up bringing despair. It’s… Hard. To make the choice to realize that your decision will affect so much. I could doom the entire Inner Sphere if I handle this wrong.”

Gauge was silent for a while as we drove, but he once more broke the silence. “We trust you, you know that right? The Iron Blooded? Not everyone did at first, but you've proven yourself. We trust you. You should stop hesitating. If there is one thing the old man taught me it’s that mistakes happen, when repairing a mech a lot of stuff is still just guesswork. We don’t always have a true replacement part for something, so sometimes you have to just put together what you can and hope it works.”

“Just do your best, and hope it’s enough huh?” I ask amused. Gauge nodded in the dark of the cab and I rested back. “Well. I suppose that’s always a course I can take… Gauge. I want to do something big. Bigger than just bringing back technology… Others could have found this Memory Core. Others could have spread it around, trying to help the Inner Sphere. I don’t want that to be the extent of what I do… I think. I know what I’m going to do. I don’t know if it’s the best option, or even the smart option. But I think it’s the right option… Someone once told me, that if you can’t do something smart, do something stupid. At least then you're doing.”

“Err. Vicky, I don’t know if that’s really a good life lesson.”

“No, It sounds wise, so it must be right.” I jested back, earning a rolled pair of eyes.

“Whatever you say Vicky.”

—-

An overnight stay in the middle of the Helm wastes wasn’t the most fun we ever had. But the metal extractor was done. We split up then. I stayed back creating a second Norman just to ensure we would have enough space and warmth for everyone. Gauge drove back into the city the next morning, picking up Delta Ops and meeting me outside the city, where we split up the teams.

Then I started planning. First off, I had the maps from the Memory Chip, but Helmsdown was more than 100 miles from the Helm Cache, or at least it wasn’t showing up on my sensor, so we were going on a trip without knowing the exact end spot. But we just needed to get close enough.

So once we were loaded up we drove north out of Helmsdown. Disappearing into the snow.

The drive was quiet enough, old roads worked just fine, and my sensor kept us out of any radiation that still lingered from the Kuritan bombardment. Damn snakes.

We switched out drivers multiple times just to keep us going, I wanted to be in the Castle Brian before night fell.

Finally six hours into our drive, my sensor started to show red in the far north. It took me a moment to notice it as I was spending most of my time, guiding us away from radiation, or simply to the best paths north, roads were becoming worse and worse as we traveled.

“Damn.” I ended up uttering aloud in shock as the red soon started blocking off the entire section of the sensors map. There were so many mechs, and weapons in one area that nothing could be seen except a red glow unless I zoomed in incredibly close.

Gauge, who wasn’t driving at the time, looked over my shoulder to see what I had found.

“Blessed Blake!” He uttered his throat closing in a gargle shout which alerted the rest of the team. I was still in shock. The numbers my scanner was showing were an entire factor more than what I was expecting.

“I-I guess when people talk about the StarLeague and their production they weren’t kidding.” I muttered, as the kids gathered around me to look at the sensor.

The blaze of red light caused all of them to grow silent. As we continued to trundle along.

“W-what is that.” Samantha asked, looking on in shock as the Sensors screen grew more and more red.

“Is that what we are here for!?” Richard suddenly shouted as I had zoomed in enough the sensor was actually legible.

“Yes. That is what we are here for. What we risked our lives on Stewart to get. It’s a Lostech Cache. No, it would be more accurate to call it THE Lostech cache.”

I let that quiet announcement echo through the cab of the truck for a moment before I couldn’t help but add. “Congratulations, every single one of us will now be in the history books even if we do nothing else for the rest of our lives.”
“Fuck me.” Richard whispered aloud.

—-

Driving up the pass towards the entrance to the Helm cache, everyone in the trucks were very quiet, and very serious. Delta Ops especially after I had explained what it was that we were heading towards. This had gone from an exciting special ops mission, to a realization that they were in the middle of history. Doing something important.

I wasn’t sure what I had been expecting as we drove around the final bend and watched as the empty riverbed seemed to end at the bottom of a massive cliff. But it really did look like someone had dropped a mountain on a river.

“There.” I pointed out to the small pyramid shaped structure that rested in a small field, just off from where the river once flowed. Carl, now driving, pulled up, and I hopped out. Jogging through the snow towards the building.

Inside it was quiet, dead. The structure hadn’t had a living soul inside it probably for three centuries. But I knew it still worked. I pulled out the Memory Chip. It felt heavy in my hands as I searched around for the slot, before finding it.

“Here goes nothing.”

I pressed the chip in, and nothing happened. Just a quiet moment of utter stillness. The others started to grow concerned, something was wrong? But I simply walked outside, and stared at the massive rockface.

Sand was the first sign something was going on. A small smattering of sand and rocks started falling down the side of the cliff.

Then birds took to the air. As if something startled them all over the top of the mountain.

Then the rockface, a solid cliff. Simply opened. As if split in half by a God. Damn the StarLeague were so extra.

“O-oh.” Samantha uttered as she watched the entrance slowly separate. Opening an entire mountain at our whim. I started walking. Long before it’s fully opened. Slipping past the behemoth gates as I entered into a futuristic entry way. It was mech sized obviously, but as I walked I didn’t feel small.

No, I had honestly never felt taller.

I walked past the wall that held the ‘Star League Field Library Facility, Helm, DE890-2699’ Printed out on it’s side and stepped into a world of the future. Gauge and the squad followed me in awe at where they were standing at what they were seeing.

Once I had room inside I stepped away from them and pressed a few buttons on my noteputer. Queuing up a Centurion NFX. I had a lot of work to do.

While that was starting I followed the group further into the Castle. I found them in the next room. A massive warehouse full of silent sentinels. Gauge, Carl, Samantha, Richard, and Carter were silently staring. In awe at what they were seeing. Rare mechs, lost mechs, a few that I could tell just by looking at them, were Royals. Some obviously had Ferro Fibrous armor, while others had weapons I could only recognize by guessing.

“Pretty sure that’s a Gauss Rifle.” I mention pointing to the Atlas near the front.

“Oh Blessed Blake. It is. That’s a Gauss Rifle! Vicky!” Gauges voice cracked as he nearly screamed at what he was seeing.

“Alright everyone, look around. See what you can find. Don’t touch any electronics, but see if you can’t find something interesting. Leave the mechs alone for now too. Search the side rooms and such. Don’t worry about hoarding things. We will all be walking out of here with some goodies. Delta Ops! Go explore, that's an order!”

There wasn’t a cheer at my pronouncement. Instead it was a mad dash as my squad disappeared into the castle.

Of course once they were all gone, I turned around. There was only one thing I was really here for. I just had to make sure I knew exactly where it was, and warn everyone away, even Gauge. I really didn’t want to deal with an exploding CastleBrian if someone pushed the wrong button.

—-

“So Commander… Can I get one?” Carl asked as we were settling around in Helms cafeteria, each of us having picked a different Star league ration to taste test.

I snorted it was obvious what he was asking for. What every kid in the Inner Sphere asked for. “Eventually yes.” I offered, which made him frown. “So I already explained to all of you about my production capability.” I offered, and they each nodded. Telling them where their gear came from on Stewart was a necessity but these were meant to be the black ops of the Iron Blooded. If I couldn’t trust them now, I might as well just hand over the knowledge to the LIC now.

“So the plan is we scan everything. I’ll pass you all a sensor as well, so you can start scanning all of the infantry equipment, and some of the smaller tanks and things. While I go and get scans of all the mechs and tanks, and AFS and ALL the other great stuff in here. Then, well…” I sighed here, this was going to be a harsh conversation.

“Then we set this place to explode a few weeks after we leave.”

“WHAT!?” Gauge screamed, splattering me with whatever noodle ration he was eating as he glared at me. “We can’t destroy it!” His refusal was so strong, but none of the others seemed to disagree. Carl was actually looking at me like I was a monster just for saying it.

“We have to. For the same reason we can’t let anyone know about what we found here. Helm is located in the League, even if we took everything of value out of here, it’s still a Castle Brian right on the edge of the border. Helm would become an impenetrable barrier to any wars in the future, a perfect place to send raids back across the border. So when we take everything of value… The rest of it goes up so that no one can use it against us.”

“B-But but no! You can’t Vicky, this is a piece of our history, a sign of what we could be! Destroying it is… Evil!”

“Gauge. I know.” I sit up and settle next to him, pulling him into a hug. “It’s not gonna be gone, not really. Once we take everything out, we can make everything again. But better. It won’t just be a storage yard, It’ll be a factory. Every mech, every piece of equipment, every scrap of knowledge on the computers. We will spread it across the Inner Sphere. But we can’t leave this here. In hands that will just abuse it.”

He was gnawing at his lower lip as his hands worried together but finally he sighed deep and heavy as his head hung. “I know. I know! I just… I don’t like it. I know you're right, but I hate the idea of seeing this… It’s amazing. I’ve never set foot in something more awe inspiring Vicky. It just seems wrong to destroy it.”

“Yeah.”

“Well… Why don’t we just recreate it then?” Richard asked, as he chewed on some strange amalgamation of food, “You can create scans of things and then make them using your Lostech right? So just.. Copy it, we can re-make it on Zaniah, that way it’ll be us with the Castle, and the League trying and failing to bust the door down.”

Gauges head perked up at that, “Can we?”

I hesitated but in the end shrugged. “I wasn’t going to re-create the Castle Brian entirely… But yeah that was partly the plan. There are a ton of really crazy defenses here, and the walls are made in a way they are even better than grade 10 ferrocrete. So I was gonna scan all of it.”

The light in Gauge's eyes was firm. “We should. We can recreate it on Zaniah, and just… Pretend it was always there right? That would be super useful. That way.. That way we don’t lose anything.”

It wasn’t like I had a reason to say no. “It can’t be the exact same. For one, we don’t own enough land to hide a Castle Brian in, and for two we don’t own a massive cliff. Zaniah is way flatter.”

“But You’ll do it right? Someday someone is going to attack Red Base wouldn’t it be better to make sure we are safe?”

“Okay! Okay. It’s not like you need to convince me Gauge, I mean that is sort of the reason our underground bunkers happened in the first place. I’ll figure something out.”

“Good!” He pointed his fork at me. “I’ll hold you to it.” before he dug back in.

How the hell was I supposed to hide constructing a copy of Helms Castle Brian on Zaniah. Damn these kids! They expect too much!

Although… Castles are a warriors romance…

—-

When my Centurion was completed we had already gone through plenty of store rooms exploring the base.

That doesn’t mean we touched even close to all the goodies hidden within. With production on hand. I created enough sensors for everyone to wander around and scan anything interesting, as well as a noteputer attachment that showed what had already been scanned. Just so we didn't waste time.

“Vicky. Look!” Gauge called me over while I was taking a break from exploring, another SLDF MRE halfway into my mouth.

It still shocked me, they were still really good!

“What’s up?” I asked as I was suddenly pulled along, Gauge uncaring about the food in my hands.

“I found a secret room! You need to check this out! It’s amazing!” He tugged me along until we came across a completely blank wall.

But one thing about having a sensor system, is that you can easily tell when something isn’t what it seems. Pulling out my Noteputer as Gauge urged me on I took a look and dropped my food, when my scan narrowed in.

It wasn’t just a secret room, that was pretty cool to begin with. I did make a mental note to copy that system, because this thing was seriously well hidden.

No, it was what I was catching on the sensor behind that had me quickly pulling out the Nanoforge. There was no way I would be able to open this thing the normal way. The lock used some sort of really advanced access key which wasn’t something I had.

But you know. The wall was still just grade 10 ferrocrete. Sure that was seriously tough shit.

But I had a nanoforge.

The door was opened, once I had made sure there was no sensors or anything that would set off an alarm. The last thing I wanted was for the self destruct to go off.

Then I was in, Gauge following behind as we took in the sight. An intact suit of armor.

“I never actually thought I would find a suit of NightHawk armor here.” I couldn’t help but blurt out.

“Is that what it’s called?” Gauge asked and I sputtered for a half a second remembering that these things weren’t just secret, but purposefully kept so. At gunpoint.

“Uhhh yeah. I heard about them once.”

“Another crazy thing your mom knew about?”

“Uh Yeah,” I lied badly. “They were… Well they are stealth armor.”

“Jeez. The StarLeague really had some crazy stuff.”

“Let’s get it copied!”

“Yep!”

—-

“Vicky what is this?” Gauge asked a few hours later while we were all enjoying a meal together. I was using the time to go over any interesting finds we had all seen. Although, I probably should have waited for him to finish eating before I passed over the special noteputer I had created just for him.

“It’s a Noteputer that has some of the scientific texts I pulled off the Memory Core. I noticed there was a lot of correspondence course kinds of stuff, probably to teach SLDF soldiers while they were stuck way out here. But the classes teach crazy advanced stuff. I figured you would like it.” I offered giving him a little gift. Gauge was the sort of kid that liked school.

The weirdo.

Gauge went quiet for a while as I continued to stuff my face, everyone was sort of waiting for him to say something, we had all been doing it going around and gushing about the cool stuff we had found. But Gauge…

He didn’t say a word. As things started to get a little awkward. I noticed his shoulders were shaking.

Oh.

Fuck.

“So, umm Carl what did you find?” I asked, trying to redirect attention, but that didn’t quite pan out. As Gauge had a loud sob a moment later as we all turned to him, tears streaming down his cheeks. Unable to keep his face hidden behind the Noteputer.

“Hey it’s okay Gauge.” I tried to comfort him but it was rather pointless. It took a long while for him to calm down, and he simply shook his head refusing to explain what it was that set him off.

From then on though Gauge didn’t help with the scanning, he was too focused on his gift, reading through it, trying to learn every course that was on the Memory Core.

—-

The days turned to weeks. With everyone's help we started collecting a scan of everything. Delta Ops were fascinated with the mechs, and the view of me disintegrating them down to copy them still seemed to hurt them somewhere in their Inner Sphere souls because every time I destroyed a mech to copy it they would stop and watch, a look of horror on their faces.

Still we found a ton of stuff inside. I was more than happy to find a few working AFS. Which I made sure to grab, because that was one of our weaknesses.

Well. Not after this, when I start sending out Royal birds, everyone else was gonna learn to fear my kids.

Speaking of Royals, I was absolutely delighted to find a Royal Black Knight. The BL-6B-KNT was absolutely one of my favorite mechs, and I already planned on getting an ‘upgrade’ to one once I could explain it. If I didn’t get something bigger. But it was a difficult choice.

Not that it was the only mech I drooled over. Marauders, King Crabs, tons of Atlas variants. That was only in the first ‘hangar’ full of silent mechs. There were more, and more. If felt like every time we scanned one hangar down, another one was discovered. Hell in one of the hangars I found a Nightstar.

I had stared at it for probably ten minutes just trying to wrap my head around the fact it was even here, how the hell it got here I have no idea. It was damaged so the best I could assume was that someone had to swap out their damaged mech for a new one, and left the Nightstar behind.

I scanned the shit out of that one. Those mechs hadn’t even been seen since the Amaris Civil War! Or at least if they were seen, they were so rare as to be almost unheard of.

Helm didn’t just carry more mechs than most people in the Inner Sphere had ever seen, it carried the best of the best ones. This was a SLDF depot after all, a place to store military equipment for later, when action might erupt in the area, you don’t have to worry about supplies when you have a supply cache ready and waiting.

Slowly, we started working through everything. One mech, one piece of infantry equipment, one piece of Lostech and one artillery piece at a time.

Of course some things took more of my attention than others.

“Is that… Is that an HPG?” Gauge asked, his voice wavering as I was checking down a list I had found of everything stored in Helm.

“Yeah it seems so, here we go. Mobile HPG. Block C subsection Red. Yeah, it’s an HPG alright.”

“Blessed Blake! This.. Vicky, It’s an HPG! Look at it! We have an HPG!”

“We are gonna have a lot more than one, once I copy it.”

“W-what. No no It’s an HPG Vicky! We can’t destroy this one! We need to scan it, so it doesn’t get damaged, we-”

“Gauge we don’t have time to hand scan this thing. It will take forever.” I point out even a mobile HPG was fucking huge. “We have already been stuck here longer than I like. It’s just an HPG. There is nothing inherently more valuable about an HPG over any other device.”

“It feels like there is.” He moved closer and pressed a hand against it, and I swear he was having a religious epiphany. I kept quiet for a while letting him have his moment. But it went on and on, and I realized the only way to get on with it, is if I shocked him with something greater.

“So I figure at some point we can just make a factory for them. Just start producing them by the thousand. See what happens.”

His squawk at my little joke had him finally coming to himself. “W-we could do that!?”

“Sure. I mean eventually we get to the point where we are strong enough to do whatever we want.”

“Yeah… That sounds good.”

I left him to stare into the mysteries of the HPG for a while, but I did eventually copy it down. We don’t have time to scan it the slow way.

There were other interesting things as well. Some made me smile, some made me laugh. Some made me cackle as I considered the implications.

Some like the massive stockpile of nukes in the depths of the mountain, had me quietly scan them all down and make sure none of my kids ever found out. If no one else knew I had nukes, no one would freak out.

One made me want to pet it, The Royal Locust I found hidden away in a corner made me coo. The LCT-1Vb had every upgrade you can give to a mech, Fero, Endosteel, Double Heatsinks, XL engine. Although I doubted I would ever make one.

I love the little guys, but they were a bit squishy as I had learned. But so cute!

So we ran down the list. Using the Noteputer database, and the sensor we slowly recorded one of everything in the base.

Unfortunately, there was so much crap it took over a month.

—-

A different perspective.

Malcolm Shulk had lived on Zaniah his whole life. He grew up here, got married here, and got old here. Nothing in his sixty years of life had really taught him that Zaniah would change. And then out of nowhere it started to.

First the orphan mercs came. Weird kids. They would come selling water during a drought and asked for little more than some food, or other sundries. Malcolms shop had been open for nearly forty years, so he had seen all sorts of things, but never this. It started with the water. But it was growing. Having access to so much water meant he could help his community, but it was straining his supplies. He ended up having to hire another local to run a truck to restock more often. That was just the start.

More jobs started growing. Water meant life, and the people weren’t used to that. When his AC started going out they had offered him a new one for some supplies. More and more often, if something broke. They were there, offering their help.

It was wonderful the first time he had seen the old bus drive down the street. The buses had all been broken for decades, but the orphans had heard about them, and somehow got a new engine in the old wrecks. Now they were moving, people along with them, jobs were growing.

Then it changed even more.

Months ago, not long after the big battle, kids had started traveling through. Over and over again they would hitchhike, or sneak their way onto trucks, all traveling towards the old base out in the desert. The base that had been deserted since long before even Malcolms grandfather had lived on Zaniah.

But something was weird about the whole situation. Malcolm probably had a better idea than anyone how many kids there were on the base, since he was constantly supplying them. So he knew that little base out in the desert wasn’t big enough for all the kids that he was feeding, or all the kids that were streaming in. But Malcolm? Malcolm never said a word about it.

Because they were good kids.

He made sure to help the ones that wandered in. Usually calling up the young boy Freidrich letting them know more kids were looking for the base. A truck would usually come by not long after and pick them up.

Malcolm didn’t mind this. He was a firm believer in his community, even as the years had started to grow lean, and the city's edge nearest the desert was abandoned, even as more and more families were ripped apart in the raids.

Too many families worked in the factories, only to have them destroyed in the raids. But not this time.

So when strangers started appearing, Malcolm took notice. He knew everyone in his community after all, he was the one that made sure everyone had food, had water. Men obviously not from around here, wandering around to buy a few snack foods, while asking some pointed questions all earned the same response from old Malcolm.

“Hmm? The kids? Good customers. Good for the community. Something you need there, stranger?”

And they left not long after. Malcolm had warned the kids a few times, but he had simply earned a few mischievous grins in return. Well then it wasn’t Malcolms problem, although he kept an eye out regardless. It was the duty of the old timers to watch over the children after all, especially when so many of the kids had been failed so badly.

But it wasn’t just old Malcolm. No, the community was rallying around the Iron Blooded Orphans. He got a smile on his face when old Patrice passed out cookies to the kids that picked up their orders in town.

Or Vince, who used to work in the factories, talking to the kids about repairing vehicles. The kids came into town all the time, and not a single one of the old timers turned them away.

Although Malcolm noted. Other than that offworld Sergeant that was overprotective of the kids, or Sasha the old orphanage caretaker, not a single adult was ever invited onto the base.

Malcolm didn’t mind. He had heard enough from the chatter of the kids as they gathered supplies to put an idea of what was going on in his mind, but not a single word would ever slip past the old man's lips.

After all, For the first time in his life Zaniah was changing.

For the better.

—-

A different perspective

Erica. Just Erica, because she hadn't earned her last name yet. Sure Commander always said they should choose one, but everyone knew the truth, you pick your last name once you DO something.

And she was so close.

She had been working on the Commander's Locust for months. No Erica reminded herself, as she ran check after check.

It was her Locust now.

She shivered as the Fusion engine started. Actually clicked on and turned over, and power flooded the baby she had been fixing for so long. Others had helped of course, but Erica had been the only one that knew enough to get the fusion engine fixed. So as she continued working on the mech over the months it had been a faint acknowledgment at first that grew as she continued to work, solving problems the rest couldn’t. In the end, it had been agreed, if the Locust started, if she alone out of the Repair Unit got it running. It would be hers.

So she spent the time, put in the effort. A chance that she had taken with her owns. Obsessed they called her and she had been.

Even when she wasn’t working on the Locust, she had been in the Sim pods. Thankfully, repair work was eventually decided by Sub-Commander Benny to earn Sim time. So she had the time to practice for it. Practicing using a Locust in the Sims had only burned the desire into her all the more. This was going to be her path. To earn the rights to be more than just an orphan.

She realized it was time. She flipped a switch as she adjusted the NeuroHelm. “C-” She realized her voice squeaked and she cleared it a moment later. “Hangar Control, this is… Locust. Requesting a clear p-path for testing.”

She couldn’t help but stutter. She didn’t get a response at first before slowly someone spoke up. “This is Control, Locust. I am activating mech clearance mode. Please wait a few minutes.”

The lights changed in the hangar flashing orange to alert everyone to move to the pedestrian sections as her gantry lifted up.

This was it. She breathed out, breath unsteady as she forced herself forward. The Locust moved, jerkily at first but it took a step. Her next step almost caused her to topple, but she remembered the leg was still damaged just in time. The second leg came jittering forward into another step. Then another. And another. Until she was climbing up the ramp and out into the blazing sun.

She stood outside for a long time just in awe of her new perspective. She had never thought. Never hoped that she would become a mechwarrior.

“Alright good work Erica, let’s bring it in.” Bennys voice disturbed her from her contemplation as she jerked a hand to hit the transmit button “Y-Yes Sub-Commander!” She stuttered and turned around to end her momentous moment.

But the best thing about moments like this, is she would have one again next time she sat in this seat. And every time from then on.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6.1 Rise Ye Children of the Lost World.
3021
Zaniah III
Red Base

A different perspective.
Benjamin Rommel
Zaniah III
Outskirts

“It’s not really a surprise you understand.” Colonel Enders offered kindly as his men wiped up the last of the resistance. It wasn’t. This wasn’t the first time the Colonel had been kind enough to wargame with the Iron Blooded Orphans. It had actually started cautiously, the first time had been just a few weeks after Vicky had left. But now every weekend the Rangers and Orphans gather together, out in the desert to hold some competitions.

The Orphans had lost each time.

In the end, even as their mechs slowly started to make a comeback, the Orphans never earned a grand win.

“I know. But we are learning.”

“Oh yes, drastic improvement. Your Hunchback Pilot is getting dangerous.”

“Lenden has only had his mech for a few months, but he is dedicated. Whenever he isn’t working his Rough Squad, he is in the Sims, or taking his mech out to train.”

“Good work ethic matters a lot in my experience. A good teacher tends to make up the rest.” Once more Colonel Enders brought up the Iron Blooded Orphans' biggest issue.

“I know. Finding a Mech Warrior that can teach us, sounds easier than it is. We don’t have a free mech so dispossessed warriors aren’t interested. We aren’t really famous anywhere other than Zaniah, so we don’t have a reputation to go off. And even with our MRB Rating increased thanks to our battle we are still listed as too green for most to be willing to bother.”

“Sounds difficult.”

“Oh that’s not even all of it. The few that get through all of those issues? I tell them about Zaniah, and they hang up. No one wants to come here.”

Colonel Enders chuckled lightly, as he leaned back lightly in his chair The two of them were sitting in a command truck the 10th had brought with them to keep an eye on the fight. Benny thought it was nice but he secretly preferred the Sensor system Vicky had given him.

“You may have to up the incentives. If you increase the pay heavily, or maybe offer them a non-combat contract you will catch some interest.”

“I’ve done something like that… The offers I received weren’t comforting.” Thinking of the very obvious scum and pirates that had been willing to ‘accept’ his offer. Well Benny refused to even consider them.

He would never put his family at risk like that.

“Well keep trying. You have made vast improvements, but there is a lot more for you to learn.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Benny sighed as he watched the last squad get hit by the target guns of the enemy, signaling they were ‘dead’ “Well it was a good try.”

“It was. You took out more of my men than I expected… Your infantry are still a little too daring around mechs though. You really should get them out of the habit of believing they can take a mech on foot.”

“It’s hard. Unfortunately, with Rough Squads action during the raid, they inspired everyone. I’ll keep working on it.”

“Well Sub-Commander Rommel, until next week?”

“Until next week Colonel.”

Gathering everyone together back into the trucks or armored vehicles they brought out for these little wargames Benny was relieved that no one seemed disheartened after their continued loss. As he climbed into the cab of one of the Normans plenty of hoots and hollers surrounded him, teasing towards those who did badly, or who lost explosively. It was all in good fun.

“Well Benny, we heard back from the planetary defense office, they decided that our scouting is already plenty good enough, we don’t have any required patrols like they were hinting at. I guess they finally got the word from the Governess to leave us alone.” Hanna, who had swiftly become his second in Command now that Vicky and Gauge were playing Lostech Hunters, told him as they pulled out along the old worn roads.

“Good. Patrols wouldn’t have been anything but a waste of time. You did send out the locations of the scrap we found back to them right?”

“Of course… Are you sure we should tell them about it? I mean you said there were old mechs in some of that junk, shouldn’t we take it for ourselves?”

“I asked Vicky, the same thing before she left, apparently there isn’t enough of the wrecks to be worth trying to get them running again, but if we send it up to the Governess, maybe they appreciate the heads up, and maybe just maybe, they can spend a lot of time getting the wrecks fixed up so that we will have more backup on the next raid.”

“I guess… We still have a lot of repairs we are working on anyways. How is your Centurion doing?”

Benny sighed, “It’s got everything we need, but replacing the broken Fusion Engine is… taking some time. If Gauge was here, we might already have it up and running, but without him, the repair unit is having to figure things out a bit at a time.”

“We should hire an actual Mech Tech.”

“I don’t know. If we do that… Well, a lot of our secrets are given out to someone just here for a job. Our Centurions are too new on the insides to be anything but factory bought.”

“I guess Benny. Anyway, did you hear about what Trouble Squad got into yesterday?”

“Hear about it? I had to clean up their mess. Seriously, who gave those kids permission to paint the interior of the base? I know I didn’t!”

“I think it was more of a case of them hoping their initiative would get them rewarded.” Hanna offered with a laugh as she drove.

“Yeah well I could do with a little less of Trouble Squads ‘initiative’ honestly.”

“For every time they screw up, they do something good as well, you know it’s good for morale.”

“Good for morale maybe, terrible for my sleep.”

“You're just mad still about the karaoke competition. What was it, ninth place?”

“The judges were bribed!”

Hanna’s laugh made his own break out. Things had been… Going well. He had some issues pop up, but Vicky had been right, he could handle this. Even if everyone including him would breathe a sigh of relief when she finally got back.

The crackle of the radio cut in before they could say anything more.

“Benny! You need to get back to base! Commander and the Delta Ops just rolled up!”

Benny blinked for a second before gasping. “I’m on my way!”

Hanna didn’t need any prompting, she hit the gas.

—-

I am so tired. The trip back from Helm had been long, doubly so thanks to Zaniah’s jump point being so far out. We hadn’t sent any alerts, or heads up to let the Company know. I was more interested in stealth than anything else, so we did our best to head home without letting anyone know we were here.

But seriously, I was really starting to hate dropship travel. It kept making me sick!

Of course now that we were on base it was spreading quickly, but I was so done with today. I still felt queasy from the dropship landing, so I headed straight for my room, to fall into my bed. I groaned a little, the dropship had been going at a bit more than 1G to get to Zaniah a little faster. I was tired and sore.

This sucked.

I don’t know how long I managed to rest in my bed before my peace and quiet was interrupted. “Vicky!” Benny called out as he entered my room, which I simply groaned back at him, as I turned my face out of my pillow enough to see him approach

“Goway.” I grunt, wanting to turn over but Benny gently pulled me into a sitting position.

“Never.” He informed me cheerily before lifting me bodily out of my bed despite my protests and hauled me out of the room.

“Put me down Benny! I’m tired!”

“Nope. We need a report, even if I have to kidnap you.”

“Traitor! This is illegal!”

“I don’t remember seeing any such law on the books Commander.”

“I’ll write a new one! Traitor! Oh hey Hanna. How are you?” I ask as I am pulled into the room to see the rest of the Command Staff sitting around a table, Gauge and Carl included, both of whom still looked a little shell shocked from our find.

“Commander! You can’t just come back and keep us in the dark! Gauge and Carl refuse to tell us what happened!” Hanna hissed, poking me once Benny plopped me into a chair beside her.

“You are all traitors, and my wrath will be terrible, but since I’m not allowed to take a nap after my long, arduous trip into the wilds of the Free World League. Fine.” I pulled my noteputer out of my pocket. I hadn’t bothered to put it away when I got back. The thing could withstand being hit by a bomb though. Me sleeping with it in my pocket wouldn’t even bend it’s case.

“Here.” I pushed it into the middle of the desk watching as everyone looked around before leaning in.

“What is it?” Sergeant Kurtz asked as he looked over the list that was displayed on my Noteputer.

“The full list of everything we got from the Star League Castle Brian, Field Library Helm.”

Silence swept the room. Jittery hands reached out to the noteputer as they started scrolling. ID and ID of mechs, page after page of infantry equipment, things that the Inner Sphere didn’t even have anymore, or even knew had existed were slowly scrolled through.

“W-what do we do with all this?” Hanna finally broke the silence, or voice so soft to be almost unhearable.

“That stuff? Not much yet. The real prize is this.” I swept a few peoples hands away and scrolled all the way to the bottom

[Helm Memory Core.]

“That is the single most valuable item on the list if you can believe it. With it, we have the science available to restart… Everything.”

“My God.” Alfred Kurtz looked like he was going to have an aneurysm “Is this real? Can it be real?”

I bit my tongue, I was about to say something as a joke, but frankly, this was a serious moment for the older man. “Sergeant, I would not lie about something like this.” I gave him a soft smile and the man looked like he was gonna start crying.

Benny was chalk white as well, a hand over his mouth as the momentousness of what he just saw hit him.

The rest? Well everyone was shocked, or surprised. Although Gauge looked smug. He had been studying from the Memory core since we first discovered Helm after all. That was a long couple months.

“So, I was planning on taking a nap so I was more put together for this, but since this meeting is happening.” I grumble to the group as I rub my eyes lightly fighting back a yawn. I was still a little queasy but this was important enough I put that all to the side.

“Sorry Commander.” Benny whispered, although his face was still ashen as the realization of what we had found continued to make its way through his head.

I waved him off “We need to decide what we are going to do with this. I have some ideas, but I am also open to suggestions. This is big. Bigger than anything any of us have ever done. Or maybe will ever do again. So we need to take care with how this goes. But a warning first, for everyone. This doesn’t leave this room. If anyone finds out about this before we figure out what to do, before we spread this knowledge to the Inner Sphere, you can guarantee they will attack us to try and claim the knowledge for themselves. So please. Say nothing.”

“Y-yes. Of course Commander. I won’t. I wouldn’t… This is too important. Commander just for finding this… Let’s do this right, we may only have one chance otherwise this explodes in our faces.” Alfred offered the man rubbing his face for a moment as if waking from a dream.

“Okay. So Commander, what’s your plan?” Hanna asked, prompting me to continue.

“Good question. I’ve… been fighting with myself on what to do with it for a long time. It’s not an easy decision to make you know. Deciding the course of the entire Inner Sphere.”

That alone made everyone realize that indeed we were in a meeting doing just that.

“I think… Trust. I’m not going to let the fear of what happened in the past stop us from making a difference. I’m going to send a complete copy of the Memory Core to the Archon, and ones only carrying medical or terraforming information to the rest of the Inner Sphere eventually.”

“Wait, we can’t give that to the Snakes! Or the League! They will use it against us!” Benny denied instantly, even as some of the others around the table nodded.

“If it’s medical tech they probably can’t use it to harm us Benny, but…” Hanna slowed. “I don’t like it either Commander. We shouldn’t be helping them! They’re snakes, they will stab us in the back as soon as they can!”

There were nods around the room. Some of us in this room had lost parents to League raids, or even Draconis aggression. But I couldn’t let that stop us from doing what was right. That was the greatest problem of the InnerSphere, everyone wanted to win, they all ended up losing. Now how to convince a group of kids not to torch the Inner Sphere?

“On Stewart, Gauge and I ran across something pretty interesting.” I said slowly at first as I figured out how this should be said. “We were out shopping when we walked past an orphanage.”

I let that echo around the room for a minute. “I stopped and talked to them, you know. As soon as they heard my accent, they viewed me as an enemy, but we still talked. I gave them a few stories of what it was like being in a merc company. And they told me what it was like to be an orphan in the Free World League. You know what I learned?”

I stood up, just to give myself some room to pace. This had been rolling in my mind ever since that moment. “I learned that we aren’t any different. Not really. Us orphans, doesn’t matter where we are from, we all have the same wants and needs. If I was born in the League and I offered this same option to them they would say the same thing. Don’t give it to the Lyrans. They are the enemy. Don’t give it to the Capellans, they are the enemy.”

I stop. Looking around the room meeting the eyes of my friends, my allies. “I’m kinda sick of making enemies. I think it’s time we instead started making some friends. More than that though. I think it’s time that the Inner Sphere remembers what it means to be human. That sometimes we war with each other but sometimes? Sometimes we unite when it’s important enough we put aside all the old wounds.”

“What does that mean Vicky? What are you thinking?” Gauge asked quietly, everyone was quiet, as my voice had been rising as I spoke, as I grew more heated at how annoyed I felt at the stupidity of the Inner Sphere.

“I think that the Inner Sphere doesn’t need a StarLeague or some asshole ruling from Terra. What it needs… What the Inner Sphere really needs is a force made up of people from every corner of the Inner Sphere and beyond. People that said enough is enough. I think… I think I want to make a new SLDF.”

My words stirred plenty of reactions from across the table, but I was fully in a rant now. Not willing to stop.

“But this time, not controlled by assholes who want power, but instead an SLDF that is a sword pointed at the throats of anyone looking to send us back to the stone age. The Inner Sphere Defense Force… That’s what I am thinking. I think we get the Archon, and Prince Davion on board with the idea, the cost of giving them the Memory Core, and then… Then we grow. We keep growing. Taking in anyone that wants to be more than stuck in a rut…. No matter where they are from.”

I was pacing as the idea rolled off my tongue. “We can recruit orphans from every corner of the sphere, kids that were directly harmed by the constant wars. And instead of teaching them that the League are the enemies, or the Combine. We make them into a shield for all the people. We can take them in, supply them, train them, and send them out to put an end to the petty wars. We spread knowledge and civilization wherever we go, we can drop copies of the Memory Core on every planet we visit. That way no one can ever wipe out our knowledge again. There will always be another Memory Core ready to restart civilization… And we guard against anyone that tries to stomp it out! We can end the Succession wars, just with our decisions here. We can look into the face of the five great houses and say… No more.”

“Holy fuck Vicky… You're insane.” Hanna muttered out in shock. “You actually want to do that, to just… go to the great houses and say no more? Succession war over? You think that’ll work?”

“Not the endorsement I was looking for there Hanna.” I grumble, but she shakes her head before anyone else could interrupt.

“I’m not… No you don’t get it Vicky. I don’t mean I’m against it. Just… Fuck. Who the hell thinks, ‘let’s just change the Inner Sphere’? No one. It’s insane. You have to be insane to look at how the world really is and just… Just say it can be better. I don’t think anyone thinks they can do that anymore… It just doesn't work that way.”

“Totally batshit.” Carl agreed, looking at me like he had never seen me before.

I started pouting as Alfred Kurtz interrupted. “You are probably the most insane person I have ever met. And I once knew a General that wanted to fight a MechLance with infantry and bayonets.”

“Wow. Okay gang up on Vicky day huh?” I muttered darkly, before Benny rose up catching everyone's eyes.

“You are insane. But maybe we need that sort of crazy. We need someone insane enough to say no more… I’m with you. Let’s do it. Win or lose, we can all be written down in the history books as the absolute crazies that decide they were going to change the Inner Sphere. For the better.”

It was quiet in the room for a bit. As the idea percolated around.

“Well if Benny is in, I guess I’m with you, I can’t let your craziness rub off on him too much.” Hanna added.

“I like Crazy. Besides, I haven’t gotten my stealth suit yet, Commander.” Carl said with a grin.

“You still owe me a Castle Brian. So you can’t get rid of me.” Gauge offered with a casual smile. He probably more than any of the others was with me.

I turned to Alfred Kurtz who just looked around unable to comprehend what was happening, or being said. “I’m just a soldier… I don’t usually get involved in this sort of… Craziness. And it is crazy. I don’t think you kids realize just what it is you are saying you are wanting to do… But Commander, I’m a Lyran soldier, I fought and bled for my Archon. If you are willing to help the Commonwealth, I’m with you.”

I smiled at him, “Thank you Sergeant. I'm Lyran too. I don’t have any plans on doing anything that would damage the Commonwealth. If there is peace, we are the best traders. I could see us coming out on top regardless.”

“So… How do we start? You got a little off topic there Commander.” Hanna prodded.

“Right. Right. Actual steps. First step. We keep training. We will need military might to do anything. So before any other steps, before we reveal the Memory Core or start spreading it around. We build up first. Because once we move on the Memory Core, things will pick up fast.”

“Vicky! You can’t just… Not hand the Memory Core out! At least give it to ComStar!” Gauge urged but I shook my head.

“ComStar is still a multinational organization Gauge. It only takes one traitor inside to find out and spread the knowledge to get us all in trouble. So we go slow, but just for a year or two. We build up, train up.”

“I don’t... Vicky, if we give it to ComStar some of the Great houses find out, but ComStar can start spreading it, getting everything ready!”

“Or someone could steal it from them before they get a chance, and then maybe the Coordinator ends up with a copy before anyone else, before anyone can build up enough to stop him.” I shook my head. “It’s too big. Too important. Has to be us. Someone else might get it wrong.”

The quiet of the room stood out to me for a moment. Damn I was tired. “Gauge? You with me?”

Conflicted. I could understand why. He respected what ComStar purported to be. What they said they were.

“You need to be better Vicky. Better than everyone else. Better than ComStar. If you want to be the one that fixes the Inner Sphere… You have to be more.”

Sure just drop the future of trillions of people on my shoulders. “Gauge.” Our eyes met and I nodded. “Even if it kills me. I’ve already started down this path. To utopia or bust.”

He snorted a little at my joke which meant I won. That was how the game was played. “How long before you start passing the Memory Core around. Really?”

“A year? Maybe two. Definitely before 3025. We need time to ensure that we can defend the cores we put down, and I want to give it to the Archon first. So the Commonwealth has an advantage. But every planet. No matter who they are with.”

He nodded. “I’ll have a lot of studying to do then.”

“Good. Teach everyone as much as you can. It will help us out. Until then. I will be upgrading our holdings so that in case of emergency well… Let’s just say I copied all the defenses from the Castle Brian on Helm. Anyone that tries to poke us in the future is going to be in for a surprise.”

“Wait…Commander, are you saying you are going to build a Castle Brian… Here?!” Sergeant Kurtz asked, his mustache twitching in shock as I nodded. The quiet of Gauge and I’s conversation ending as everyone started talking.

“That’s right. Under our feet, our underground will connect right to it. I’ll start working on it soon, shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to finish up considering my build speed. While I’m doing that. We need to increase our training speed. How have our kids been doing in the Sims Benny?”

“Good. Really good, we have actually been having wargames with the 10th almost every weekend too. They have been a huge help. Colonel Enders had some of his veterans walk us through a bunch of different skills that anyone in the LCAF would know.”

“Good! I’ll work on getting us some actual training mechs for outside of the sims too. They didn’t exactly keep Chameleons in stock at Helm. But I can work around that the Lyran way, with Money.”

“Right. Damn Vicky. It’s good to have you back. You and your craziness.” Benny added as the room slipped into more casual conversations, sharing the stories of the adventures we had while apart.

—-

The next few days were… Tense. To say the least. The regular troops weren’t of course, I received a lot of happy welcome backs from my kids. But the Command Staff? They were freaking out, and I was trying to keep them calm. I rested for the first few days. Truthfully I was exhausted from the trip. So I slowly caught up on what I had missed. Learned about Bennys work on getting training from the 10th.

Although he hadn’t exactly been the most cordial to the Governess. I could understand why, but I needed her to at least be neutral about us. So that was on my list of things I would need to deal with.

But my first concern was setting up defenses. Taking the Centurion I had built before I left, I created a single new mech. One that I was planning on using as my new secret constructor bot for a good long while into the future.

Mostly because the Spector, the SPR-4F specifically mounted an ECM, Chameleon Light Polarization shield, and a Null Signature System. Which meant that the damn thing could turn invisible, was impossible to catch on radar, and gave off no heat signatures or anything a ‘modern’ battlemech would be able to catch. It was also nearly as fast as my Locust.

Then I upgraded it to a Spector-NFX. Replacing it’s Large Laser with the Medium Nanoforge. The Double heat sinks that kept it sinfully cool in the Zaniah heat were just the cherry on top.

A few nights after I arrived I took off into the desert in it, planning on building up more Metal Extractors. Because for what was going to come? I would need all the production I could get. The Spector was a whole new beast compared to any of the mechs I had piloted before. For one it had jump jets. Which I had no experience with, so I didn’t touch them. For another it ran an XL engine, so it was nearly as fast as my Locust while being a lot bigger.

I raced deep into the desert. Using the sensor to search out locations to put metal extractors. Soon enough. Over the next few weeks. More and more popped up into the desert. Coated in rock to appear just like the terrain around them.

—-

I still had other issues I had to concern myself with, Which is why I was currently sitting once more across from Governess Alessa, although this time I was cordial enough to sip the tea. Despite my hidden grimace at the taste.

“I am pleased you accepted my request for lunch Commander Eisen-Blume. Your Sub-Commander, Rommel, refused my requests while you were gone.”

“Sub-Commander Rommel isn’t much for politics Lady Alessa. Believe me it was best for everyone that he refused your requests. I apologize if he came off as rude at any point. I would prefer my company, and your government to keep a more cordial relationship.”

“Yes of course. I think nothing of it then. Was your trip successful? You were off planet for some time.”

“No. Unfortunately it wasn’t. I was attempting to pick up some more mechs and a few other things for my company, but unfortunately, the League was less than hospitable.”

“Hmm. To slip into Marik space instead of purchasing here in the Commonwealth, it’s an interesting choice.”
“Well buying new supplies wasn’t my only purpose, but it was only chasing rumors, Lady Alessa. Unfortunately nothing came of it.”

“A shame then I’m sure. Do you expect to go chase after rumors again, or will you be staying to defend your landhold now?”

I ignored the potential pointed comment. “No more rumor chasing for a while at least. Unless I hear about a dropship for sale somewhere, I’ll be staying on planet for the foreseeable future.”

“Hmm. Good. I can’t help you with that problem, but you could always reach out to the good General, he may know where one can purchase a used dropship.”

“Oh. That would be helpful. Thank you. I’ll have to do that.”

“Yes, but I am reaching out for another reason. Thankfully, my son's mechs are repaired. They need training of course. While Arthur has received training at Sanglamore, he unfortunately became dispossessed during his tenure in the armed forces. Vincent recieved a fine education but without a personal mech of his own, his own skills are lacking.”

“I don’t see how that involves me, Lady Alessa. You already know my company's biggest weakness is our own lack of experience and training.”

“Yes. But Vincent is going to be receiving a remedial education of sorts from Arthur. While doing so, having a Lance to practice with and against, will assist him greatly as you can’t truly be a Mechwarrior on your own.”

“Ah… I think I see.” It was… an interesting offer. I couldn’t deny that. But the real question was could I trust it?

“I can see your hesitation, I do understand it Commander, but I am going to insist. My son's future is paramount to me. After Arthur lost our family ShadowHawk, both of my sons only completed rear line duties. While Arthur did serve, his career was nothing impressive especially after becoming dispossessed, he will be the future governor of Zaniah, and with his record as it is, he will run into difficulties with my people. He needs to prove he has the martial aptitude to protect them.” She sipped her tea.

“You want him to be connected to our reputation. We already fended off the raid, and if the people hear that he is training us, it makes him seem more skilled. More capable.”

“Perceptive as always. Yes. Preferably during the next raid both of my sons will take part and once more send away any League aggression, it would go far in shoring up their shortcomings in the eyes of my people.”

I slowly nodded. That made plenty of sense. Which is why on the inside I didn’t trust it. But I also couldn’t just refuse out of hand.

It would help to have an actual mechwarrior who went through real training, especially at a school like Sanglamore, which is basically the number two mechwarrior academy in the Commonwealth. To have that person willing to offer us some training? “Alright. We will assist in your son's training, and in payment receive the same training from your eldest. If you want them to assist during a raid I of course wouldn’t refuse, but I will retain operational Command of my people. I do hope you understand that.”

“Of course. You are the Mercenary Commander after all.”

With that our lunch turned to more calm topics. I learned more about the nobility of Zaniah than I ever had any interest in, and in exchange, I offered a few anecdotes of what it was like commanding a mercenary company.

Never once did either of us relax. Always were we watching the other for the knife.

—-

With the less pleasant tasks of work and meeting important people done with, I could focus more on the base, and my kids.

“So you fixed her huh?”

“Y-yes Commander! It took a lot of work, but I managed to figure out what was wrong with the Fusion engine connectors and I got it to start up. Since I was the one who did it they… Everyone said it was mine?” Erica said, her questioning tone made me laugh.

“She is yours. Mechwarrior.” I told her, and like always seeing that bloom of pride in their chest made me happy.

I was going to give them all that damn look if it was the last thing I did. “T-thank you Commander! I won’t let you down, I’ll prove I’m worthy to pilot your Locust!”

“Well before you do any of that. What’s your name Mechwarrior?” I ask, just as I had all of the kids.

Her smile in return was blinding. “I’m going to be Erica Tesla! From this day until my last!”

I blinked a little. Hadn’t I heard something like that before? Then I remembered. Benny had said something similar… Were the kids starting a tradition? I ignored that, remembering vaguely what I had responded to then. “A name with a lot of history. Are you able to bear it?”

“I am!”

“Then Lieutenant Tesla. That’s not your name until you die. It’s yours until history forgets you!” I tell her poking her in the chest lightly.

I watched out of the corner of my eye, plenty of kids were watching in, all of them looking proud, like they were taking part in something. Erica looked like her birthday and Christmas had come at the same time.

“Thank you Commander.”

“Good. How is your training coming then?”

“T-training?”

I blinked at her question. “You're a mechwarrior. How much stick time have you gotten?”

“O-oh. Lot’s of Sim time!”

“Good. You will need more, so I’m giving you access to the Warrior pods. Just make sure you are ready for combat when it comes. We will need our scout after all.”

“C-Combat… wait.” She looked at me in horror as she realized what becoming a Mechwarrior actually meant. “B-but I don’t know how to fight!”

I put a hand on my shoulder giving her a gentle smile.

“Better figure it out.”

From the look of horror on her face I don’t think that answer helped.

—-

There was one more thing that I felt like it was finally time to get taken care of. I had finished enough of the Castle Brian that I felt secure enough to do this. Deep underground, in a room well inside the interior of the Castle, hidden behind the same secure door that I had found the Nighthawks in.

Was a massive private room. It did have a mech entrance as well simply for expedience. But that too was a security door. If someone didn’t know it was there. They wouldn’t be finding it.

Inside my Spector inside my secret room, I finally selected an option on my Noteputer I had purposefully ignored until now. And in a burst of green light a Factory. The first I had created slowly formed. This one was thankfully small.

After all, I was setting it up to produce SLDF Cooling suits. Of course I could have gone crazy and done double heatsinks, or Gauss Rifles, or any of the other amazing Lostech I now had.

But this was something that every mech warrior needed one of, was small, easy to transport and was incredibly expensive in price. No one else had access to them after all. So I built a factory and in it’s completion I watched as it activated for the first time. A metal shipping crate of Cooling suits. Each one perfectly formed slid off the factory's nanoforge in just a few seconds. The shipped container carrying something like twenty thousand of the suits folded and pressed.

Yeah that was fucking cool. I went on to construct a few other factories just to have them ready in case of emergency but they all stayed quiet. It wasn’t time yet for the full production of a Commander to hit the Inner Sphere.

But soon.

—--

A different Perspective
Baron Vincent Alessa,
Zaniah III
Outskirts

Vincent was getting tired of dealing with these children. “Just do as I say! If you follow my orders we can win!” He screamed into the radio as his Rifleman shifted, large lasers ready.

He would beat his older brother this time, and then he wouldn’t have to deal with these orphans ever again.

Then he turned a corner. The blue of PPC fire splashed across his vision.

*Mech Disabled*

“FUCK!” He screamed, the VR mode he was in, meant his mech turned off although kept upright to keep from any injury from happening.

“Sorry old timer. Looks like you lost again.” The voice buzzed into his line as a Centurion came out from behind him. The large laser shot out was simulated, but it still burned across Arthurs Awesome according to the computer, weakening the armor enough that the second and then Third Centurion coming up behind him pierced through, the computer identified the Awesome’s torso giving way from the damage, disabling two of his weapons.

“Alright I surrender. Another good fight!” Arthur commed to the group, before switching to a private channel, “Vincent, you charge in too fast, make sure you check your corners, if only one of my PPC hit instead of all three, you could have finished me off.”

“Fuck off! You aimed right for me. Shoot at one of the fucking brats once in a while!”

“I didn’t gun for you Vince, you keep charging in. Watch what they do next time. They aren’t veterans, but they have more battles under their belt than you do.”

“They are children! They never had a day of real training in their mechs in their lives. They should hand them over to real soldiers!”

“Don’t think they care about your opinion little brother. And keep that to yourself, Mother is doing her best to keep the peace. ComStar wasn’t happy.”

“Fuck ComStar too! They can focus on the HPG’s like they are meant to and stay out of our affairs!”

He hissed as his mech unlocked giving him full control again as the VR system reset.

“I should be in the Awesome, not you.” He hissed only after making sure his radio was not set to transmit. His elder brother was a fool. Completely incapable. He lost the family battlemech, nearly destroying any hope of Vincent earning the respect he deserved.

“Baron, we are resetting, let’s go.” That voice echoed over his coms and he scowled. Benjamin Rommel was on Vincent's last nerve. At least it was just him, and not their beloved ‘commander’ The girl was even younger. Barely a teenager, and she was incredibly bossy. If he had to hear her ‘advice’ one more time he was going to turn off VR mode and show her his Large laser.

“Don’t order me around Red 2. And Pick a damn callsign, you make me sound like a fool when I call out to you!”

“Red 2 IS my callsign. Over.”

“Brats!” He hissed, before taking a deep breath. He was in control now. Not his brother, not his mother, Him!

“Okay new pathway, Red 2 do as I say this time! I won’t have you mess up my plan again. Red 3 Same goes for you! I don’t care if Arthur tries his stupid ‘passive’ sensor mode again. We aren’t letting him sneak up on us this time!” He grumbled as they took their spots before the VR system confirmed that Arthur was ready.

Vincent would let Arthur ‘teach’ him for now, until it was obvious to anyone who the better mechwarrior is, then. Then he would claim the Awesome for himself, and the title of Governor. Arthur was too weak to be the Governor of Zaniah. Not with how he failed to ever fight back against the raids before now.

Of course neither had Vincent, but that's besides the point.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6.2 Rise Ye Children of the Lost World.
3021
Zaniah III
Red Base.

—-

Time passes pretty quickly when you are busy.

“Okay people. It’s been a while. I figured we should have a full meeting to go over everything that has been happening and if there are any issues we can work on.” I offer my gathered Command Staff, it had been three months since I returned to Zaniah, and so much had changed.

“Guard, and Repair Unit, aren’t happy about the work they have been doing setting up the new turrets. I understand you want to limit the amount of people working on them at first so they have a solid understanding for installing them, but why not just put them in yourself. You could do it nearly instantly?” Benny asked to get the meeting started, the fact he had a stack of papers in front of him that I recognized as our ‘complaint’ forms told me about how frustrated he was.

“Because in the future if we are out on campaign, and I’m not around, I still want our bases to be defended. I want them to learn how to get them up and running without me, so I can send a few turrets in pieces along with any dropships we send out.”

Benny nodded along slowly. “Alright, makes sense Commander, but Morale is still low.”

“Let’s give them a party or something when they are done. Once the base units get the know-how, we will have everyone help out on the next ones.”

“Speaking of, what about the dropship issue? Any bites?” Hanna asked.

“No. I spoke with General Faulkner, but nothing in a price range we can actually afford yet. I’ve increased our amount of salvage going out, to try and increase our capital, but it’s slow going since I don’t want to send out so much that someone notices.”

“We do need a dropship at some point, Commander. Especially since you want to train our own crew for them. That’s… Gonna take some time.” Sergeant Kurtz offered, although he was now Lieutenant Kurtz. Alfred had proven himself, over the last year, and when his contract ran out, And he decided to stick around anyways? Well. He proved he was as Iron Blooded as the rest.

“I know. I have some ideas, but unfortunately, it is slow going. I’ll double my focus on it.”

“Well we have made some huge improvements, Commander. The AC/2 Turrets you insisted on, should remove any real threat from ASF’s. Especially with the Sensor system and Flak ammo. Are you sure we don’t want heftier turrets as well to supplement them?”

“I know AC/2’s aren’t the scariest weapon out there Benny, but with our advantages it gives us the most protection. We can start shootin at enemies way outside any sort of return fire range, plus there is the Home Guard. Giving them time to get to their Carriers is a secondary benefit.”

A few months back the Defense Unit had chosen their new name. Of course now I had Home Guard, and Guard Unit. So those two had better figure out who gets what name cause it was confusing sometimes.

“Plus quad AC/2 is still pretty scary when they start hitting before the enemy can even get in range. I would prefer any enemy that attacks our base never gets close enough to do any damage.” I added.

“Understood Commander.”

“The second, and third Mech Sim lines are all working fine.” Gauge spoke up then. “It’s just enough to get everyone training time now I think, we probably won’t need a forth… But it’s causing some questions to pop up. They may be kids but they aren’t stupid. We all know that this many high quality, brand new sims is way outside the norm. I’ve been getting some pointed questions recently.”

“Tell anyone who asks, that any secrets they believe they figured out, or may have picked up about our company should be locked away in their brain and never spoken of. We have a lot of secrets that could cause a lot of trouble for the company. Remind them of what happens whenever a merc company finds something special. They inevitably get raided to hell and back because everyone wants a piece. That goes for all of you, let’s do a reminder to anyone asking, about secrecy and how quickly a company can be ripped apart by loose lips.”

“Will do Vicky.”

“Carl, how goes the training? I haven’t heard anything from Delta Ops in a while.”

“We are doing well, Commander the NightHawk aren’t an easy thing to get used to. We have all been going over the manuals we found, but even so it’s a lot of training to get used to specific movements. We haven’t had any serious injuries thankfully, but we have had some sprains and bruises. We are taking it slow. Making sure we know what we are doing with them… Don’t worry though. Delta Ops will be ready for any new missions you need us to do.”

“How is our AFS training with the 10th going?” I asked, and Benny pipped in.

“Slow. We only had a few interested, and the 10th basically told us that any AFS training takes years. Flying is dangerous after all.”

“How slow? Have they gotten any stick time or anything?”

“From what Gabe told me, they mainly have them going up in civilian aircraft, giving him some experience flying. None of us have any AFS sims after all. So we are stuck with actual experience for them.”

“Well better than nothing. Considering what I gave the 10th in exchange for that, it better be useful. Any other news?”

“Well, Commander… We do have more and more potential Mechwarriors, and still only a few mechs. Do we want to expand?” Hanna asked, and the entire room seemed to lean in as they too were curious.

I hesitated. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because the answer I was going to offer was going to cause some issues.

“I do have an idea for what to do, but you aren’t going to like it.” I offered and there was a bit of tensing around the table. “Up until now, everyone's mechs were considered their own and no one else's… That may have to change until we get further set up.”

“Wait, you want to let someone else pilot my Mech!?” Hanna called out outraged, but Benny put a hand on her shoulder. Calming her for a moment.

“Well You’re right, my initial reaction is the same as Hanna’s, but we aren’t like house militaries, or nobles. The mechs are tools for our company, and yes they are ours, Vicky, told us that when this first started, but I think we should hear her out.” Benny offered as he calmed the room.

“Thanks Benny we aren’t going to be keeping the mechs we started with forever. Eventually the plan is for our experienced warriors to get better rides. Royal rides.”

That caused a stir in the room even, Hanna settled down quickly at that potential future.

“Think of the mechs you have used so far as training mechs. We will still use them in combat if we have to, but we also have the ability to get much more powerful mechs for all of us. We should distance ourselves from seeing the mechs we had so far as our babies, and think of them more as stepping stones.”

“I… I still don’t like it. But I can… I can see where you are coming from. Lenden won’t go for it though.” Hanna added.

“I know. I have no intention of even asking Lenden, Although maybe he will do something similar with Rough Squad just to give them the experience. But Lenden’s mech… Well we all know his connection to it, so I won’t be touching that.”

“Okay, so we open our mechs as training mechs… Oh. Shit. That’s gonna be so much more work Vicky!” Gauge whined as he realized that as the head of the Repair Unit he was gonna be in charge of fixing all the damage the new mechwarriors caused.

“Yes, and it’ll be great practice for the Repair Unit to have constant damage coming in.” I offered to Gauge as his face fell. “Now, how has everyone’s new equipment been working, any issues with the SLDF NeuroHelm? The Cooling suits?”

Of course even the basic equipment that the SLDF used was far superior to the drek we had before. I had passed out advanced SLDF Neurohelms to each of the mechwarriors not long after getting back with firm orders to not ever let anyone else use your helm. Yet while I had used my own as well when I was out at night working on improving the base, I still wanted to know if there were any issues.

“No problems Commander. The Neurohelm is insanely sensitive, I’ve had my mech switch radio connections without actually touching the buttons before. It’s excellent. The Cooling suits… Well.” Benny muttered looking down. Like Hanna, and even myself, we had taken to wearing the things around the base. Mostly because they were sinfully comfortable, and kept cool even when not attached to a mech, meaning they were like walking around with an air conditioner attached to you.

“Yeah I like mine too. No problems with the fit or anything? Don’t forget to let me know if they start getting too small.”

“We won’t Commander. Although I could use a few extras… Just cause I don’t want to wear the same one everyday?” Hanna asked, and I smiled, my own closet now had a few suits, one for every day of the week.

“Done. Remind me after and we will get that done. Any issues with the new infantry gear. Lieutenant Kurtz?”

“Nein. The SLDF equipment is superior to what we had in a major way. Even the basic parts have better fits. Although we aren’t using the rifle for obvious reasons.” The SLDF Mauser 960 was a great rifle, as long as you considered a 10 kilo rifle to be ‘acceptable’ most people didn’t. The fact our current rifle the TK Assault, which was a standard Lyran design only weighed five and a half kilos should tell you plenty about how crazy that Mauser was. “There is one thing I wanted to bring up with that though Commander… The Cooling suits.”

I blinked as he brought the topic back to them. “What about them?”

“We should issue them as standard to all of our troops. Not just our mechwarriors.”

“That’s… A good idea.” Benny offered as the room went quiet thinking it over. “One of the biggest medical issues we still have is heat stroke. If we pass them out? Well, even not connected to a mech, they are still better than normal clothes, and we could connect them to power outlets to turn on the coolant system before we head outside. Probably give our people a good bit more time outdoors before the heat hits them.

I considered it. This would be a big step. Coolant suits were Lostech after all. Even just seeing one would be a considerable shock to any outsiders. I knew Lieutenant Kurtz knew that. But if he was suggesting it anyways then he must have his reasons.

Plus… Before this point, our ‘uniform’ if you could call it that, was just the original BDU I had purchased, it was an old Lyran design, and frankly was ugly, heavy, and terrible for the weather here on planet.

And I had just collected the greatest collection of StarLeague fabric, and designs in the Inner Sphere. “You are both right.” I stop the discussion with that. As my mind raced. “I’ve been preoccupied with everything else, but it’s time we start firming up our culture. I want everyone that sees an Iron Blooded Orphan whether they are aMechwarrior, or brand new in boot camp to know who we are.”

There were a few nods around the room, although Hanna looked quite enthused at the idea.

“Okay. I’ll work on it tonight, I want to set up a uniform for us, a real solid uniform. I’ll set up a stockroom with enough for us in every size we need. I’ll include the cooling suit as a base. It’s too useful not to. The fact it can become airtight as well with a SLDF helmet is something I can’t deny has a serious value. Lieutenant, I'll trust you to handle handing them out, and ensuring discretion about the Lostech components of everyone's new uniform?”

“You can count on me Commander! I won’t let this cause any trouble.”

“Benny, I’ll need your advice on rank markings, and setup, and Yes Hanna I could use your help with the designs, you are probably better with clothing than I am.”

“Good we can finally get everyone out of those ugly BDUs!”

I nodded, “Anything else anyone needs to bring up?” The silence confirmed there was not. To be fair most things were taken care of instantly, if an issue popped up, I would usually get a radio message a few moments later.

“Okay last thing then. Our Training with the young barons… Thoughts?”

The looks of irritation that spread across the groups told me what their thoughts were there.

Hanna as usual charged in first. “If I could punch that little shit Vincent in his face, and get away with it I would.”

“Hear hear.” Gauge muttered quietly.

“Arthur is obviously more focused on his brother's development, but we have learned a lot. Just some of the basics in Lance formations and combat doctrine has helped us all. I still want to punch Vincent though.” Benny added with a joke.

“I think we all do Benny, but let’s keep our goal in mind. The more we learn, the better we become, and the more we can teach our next group of Mechwarriors. Even if it makes us want to punch Vincent in the face.” I watched the group all nod along at that before turning to someone who had been very quiet.

“Any updates from the Artillery Unit? How are you liking your new toys?”

“We are in full training mode Commander. We won’t let you down again. Next time someone tries to raid Zaniah, they are going to have a big surprise on their way!” Elias stated firmly, the Artillery Unit was growing consistently. Elias was a firm believer in recruiting everyone he could get his hands on to join his unit. He probably grew the most outside of the future Mechwarriors group.

That and I had made sure he got the best toys. Between him and the Home Guard, they had received so far the most amount of equipment. Of course I had created a functional Mobile Long Tom out in the desert far from any spotters that could see it, giving the crew a place to train which they did religiously. Of course that wasn’t all I had created for them. Though the mobile Long Tom was perfect for them to train on. RedBase, which was growing into a Castle Brian below the surface, had found itself with a little more than just that.

“Good. How is our surface construction going?”

“Oh I can answer this one Commander. Lieutenant Kurtz said. “The surface buildings are torn down, getting a mech to do so made it easy enough. We have finished clearing up the remains as you know and are currently waiting for the delivery of the prefab units you ordered, other than that. I spoke with an architect here on Zaniah, and we got a deal from him to design the base layout. I think it will work very well.”

“Glad to hear it. Anything else we need to cover?”

““No Commander!””

“Alright dismissed!”

—-

“How about this?”

“What? Commander that is way too much. Light Light! You need to wear it in an overheating Battlemech!” Hanna argued pointing to the image. Which I rolled my eyes at her response.

“Fool! This isn’t your Great house, ‘I forget more about science than I remember Uniform!’ This is the best bits of all the best StarLeague equipment with an actual functional armor protection for Mechwarriors, because I still have bruises from the last battle! Padding, armor, a suit that can seal up air tight. The Best NeuroHelm, or normal Helmet, for our infantry that the SLDF had. All equipped into a uniform that doesn’t look like someone without functioning eyes put together. Did you see what the League raiders were wearing? I think their uniforms did more damage than their weapons.”

“Haha Vicky. Now shut up. Cooling Suit or not, this is a lot, and I still say no cape.”

“GASP How can you say that about my shoulder cape! It’s incredibly magnificent!”

“Fuck, Did you just say GASP at me? Also only if you live on Canopus.”

“Bitch! I’ll show you Canopus!” I screamed as I jumped on her to try and pin her down.

Of course Hanna outmassed and out strengthed me, so a few minutes later we were back in our seats after I had offered a ceasefire.

“Fine no cape. But I insist on the Battleskirt. It’s what pulls the uniform together.”

“Oh I wasn't going to argue there. It looks great.” Hanna agrees before she slows into a frown. “It’s gonna be pretty noticeable Vicky. People don’t wear stuff like this.”

“People don’t. We do. It’s a statement Hanna. As long as they don’t realize they are cooling suits until later, they will think we are just being weird. But then, some time years from now when they see our uniforms, they won’t think oh that’s weird. They will either think ‘oh god oh god it’s them.’ Or they will say ‘Thank god it’s them.’ we need to make our mark on the world.”

“And a uniform is what you think will matter?”

“It will be when our base uniform is more advanced than the most advanced uniforms of the Great houses.”

“Okay you got me there.”

“Glad you see it my way, now help me with this bit. This damn thing isn’t laying the armor over the cooling suit right.”

“Yeah yeah, there, is your problem-”

—--

Although recruitment slowed to a trickle as the months passed, our actual training teams exploded. With the Centurions and Locust fully repaired and switched into the training Lances when we weren’t training with Barons Alessa, they were used in training for all the future mechwarriors in the company. Giving all of them actual stick time.

This did eventually lead to a problem all military groups had when all they did was train.

“So we are seeing a pretty hefty plateau for improvement Commander. Frankly... Blue and Green training Lance are as good as we can get them considering they have had a more systemic training, and of course the tips and tricks we learned from Arthur, and the 10th. But we don’t have the experience to teach them any further.”

“I know what you're saying Benny, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“We are a Mercenary Company Vicky. We can’t just, not fight.” He argued, and damn him for having a point.

“You’re saying you want to take another job off Zaniah, one that would split our forces when we still only have one Lance of official mechs.”

“Sure, but we can bring the Artillery Unit with us… and we always have the Home Guard here. You know this is a good idea. We need the experience. Only way to get it… Is to go get it.”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “I know you're right, but my heart doesn’t want to accept it.”

“I know. You have a kind soul Vicky, but in this case, you aren’t doing us any favors trying to protect us from everything. We can’t protect our own people if we don’t know how to fight.”

“Okay. Benny, Just… Okay. Once we figure out what we are doing, I’ll go check in with the Governess to let her know we are probably going to be doing a new contract. She isn’t going to be happy that our forces are leaving.”

“We aren’t locked into the same contract anymore Vicky, you know as well as I do, the Governess doesn’t dictate where we go.”

“Alright. I’ll go talk to ComStar then. I am sure we can find an MRB contract to dip our toes in the water.”

“No way. I am definitely coming with you. Last time you got us stuck with the Governess, this time I get to look over the Contract first.” He teased, but he meant it all the same.

“The Zaniah contract was an emergency! It all worked out in the end!”

“Sure Commander. Whatever you say.”

—-

“So many of these contracts are garbage!” Benny groaned as we were sitting in my office, we had gathered a stack of potential contracts from the MRB and were going through them.

“Seriously, look at this one. They want an entire mech company, to guard their corporate headquarters. Pay is garbage salvage is 100% they offer no ammunition expenditure. So basically they just want to try and show off a bunch of mechs but not pay the mercs.”

“Yeah, anyone who takes the contract deserves that trouble. Although I bet anyone who does won’t accept the contractors lack of payment for long. I wonder if we will see a new contract later ‘Hunt for Mercs who killed our former boss and destroyed our corporate HQ. Pay low. Salvage 100%.’” Benny joked.

“Pfff. That would be funny.” I chuckle as we continue searching.

“Oh how about this one Commander? Shiloh. They want a lance and a company of infantry to garrison the capital, keep some civilians from rioting.”

“Garrison contract? No way. Plus think about it Benny, We would be defending against a bunch of civilians, what does that mean if something goes wrong, and we are stuck trying to defend ourselves?”

“Warcrimes?”

“Warcrimes. I don’t want to deal with riot suppression, that gets bloody, especially with a bunch of people dealing with their home.”

We continued our search. “Oh, how about this one Benny, Phecda is close just one jump away. Apparently someone is really mad at one of the corporations based there. Wants a company of mechs to go bust up their workers. Pay is good, low salvage, which isn’t terrible since a bunch of factory workers aren’t going to have battlemechs… Oh. No wait, the corporation makes water refineries… Isn’t Phecda dealing with that big water refinery project that keeps getting smashed by the League?”

“Last I heard, yeah, there was a raid on it like a year ago right? Oh look. Anonymous contractor. Yeah that smells like a League raid playing pretend there.”

“Definitely a Leaguer… Toss it. They are trying to make water refineries. Considering we just spent the last year on Zaniah. That is a little annoying.”

“Yeah definitely!”

“Too bad. Phecda… Well I have a few reasons to head there.”

“Oh. Second Phecda contract.”

“Wait seriously!? Gimme Benny Gimme!” I snatch it out of his hand and read it over. “Ah it’s the other side of the coin.”

“It looks good though, check out the issuer. The LCAF! Oh and it has some requirements, Arctic gear will receive preference. Do we have Arctic gear?”

“Yeah There was some in Helm… Damnit Phecda… Now that I got that name in my head it’s so hard to just say no. I’m too greedy, Benny.”

“What? What’s so important about Phecda?”

“Let’s just say I know of a potential Lostech cache there too.”

“What? Even after Helm? Is there even anything there of value that you don’t already have? I’ve seen that list of equipment on your Noteputer.”

“A Colossus Dropship crashed landed there. But it may be intact enough to ‘copy’ that good enough for you?”

“Are you serious!? A Colossus… No no don’t get distracted, Forget that for a second. Vicky… How many other caches do you know about? We need to talk about all the stuff your mother knew about and didn’t go after because even one of these is enough to do… Anything.”

“She didn’t have any backup, and then she died. That’s why I need you Benny. Can’t go grab all the shiny treasures without enough metal backing me up.”

He snorted at my line. “Yeah well. We all owe you Commander, you aren’t getting rid of us. So contract?”

“Let’s say yes for now, but I want to keep looking… While I want that dropship it may be too much too soon. There is no easy way to get that thing moving without causing a huge uproar.”

“Understood Commander.” He saluted which I lazily returned as he turned back into the pile of contracts. It was so weird that it was all printed out. ComStar was so 80’s sometimes. Not that I could ever tell that joke to anyone.

“Oh three Contracts here that might work. A defense, and two raids.” I pointed out.

“Let’s see Algorab? That’s pretty close too isn’t it, I don’t think I know anything about the planet though.”

“Yeah it’s just Anti-Spinward of Zaniah. It’s an anti raid action… Looks like a League raid based on LIC intel? Nice. But, I don’t know.. We might not even make it in time. Look, they are saying the next two months.” I offered with a sigh, realizing we couldn’t take this one.

“Oh. Yeah that’s basically all travel time for us, we won’t be much help if we show up a week too late.” Benny matched my sigh. It kinda irritated us both that we couldn’t get there to help. “What about the other two? Oh both of these are on Vinde-Vindemitry ugh Vin-dem-i-atrix. That name is so annoying!” Benny scowled as he had to sound the name out to get it right.

“Pff go take some more of Gauges classes! Hmm That one. No absolutely not, I refuse to take a contract that targets a Civillian Library. We already have enough issues with loss of knowledge.”

“Yeah… It doesn’t sound right either honestly. Oh this one is against Pirates! Apparently they tried to raid… the planet.”

“Vindemiatrix.”

“Yeah that. But got left behind for some reason.”

“Something to ask the Contractor I suppose. Pirates… Hmm that could be a tough one. We would have to check before we fire any artillery, I would hate to hit captives.” But pirates usually had mechs in poor condition, we might be able to get more salvage than normal out of it.

“Ooh. Yeah that could be an issue, well taking them out would feel good, it might also be a little rough for us if they are taking captives.” Benny offered. “I don’t know if everyone is ready to see something like that.. You know?”

“Yeah. I would… Well I wouldn’t let our infantry move on something like that for sure. The other hand? Salvage isn’t bad, we might be able to claim a mech or two.” I comment. “That could really help.”

“I wouldn’t mind killing some pirates Commander, and I know the rest of us wouldn’t either.”

“Put it on the maybe list, I haven’t decided yet, but it’s a contender.

I went through a few more tossing more than a few into the trash, before coming up on one that I didn’t even mean to read, but a few words caught my eye and when I was done I was tugging on Benny to get his attention.

“Benny! The Animals Benny! We need to save them!”

“What, Vicky, get off, what has got you so worked up?” He snatched the contract from my hands reading through it, the offer to go hunt endangered animal poachers on New Kyoto, the planet was well known for its massive reserves meant to protect species. “Well. I mean it sounds nice but there isn’t exactly going to be a lot of mech combat is there? Maybe a light mech at most? Poachers aren’t going to wander around in a heavy mech or something.”

“But Benny! Look! All the cute animals need our help. We can’t just let them get killed!”

He sighed, rolling his eyes, taking the piece of paper and to my hopeful eyes placing it on the maybe pile. “There, can we move on now?”

“Yes!”

“Okay Let’s finish up this pile. It’s getting late.” Benny ordered plopping the rest of the contracts down, we both dug in, more than a few ending up in the rapidly filling trash can.

“Heh, Look Vicky, your specialty, Lostech hunting.”

“Wait what? Really? Ugh. My head is so full of Phecda already, okay let me see. Hmm. Oh. Pfft. Did you do this on purpose!” I yelled at Benny seeing his smile and I rolled my eyes at him. “Jerk.”

“Well I couldn’t resist. So is that a no?”

“Definitely no. For one, we already have the Von Luckner design from the one on Helm. For two, I don’t really like dead worlds Benny. They creep me out.”

“What really? You afraid of ghosts or something Vicky?”

“No. Afraid of what caused that planets population to die out and get the planet pulled from the maps. They don’t always write down the reasons, but sometimes… Sometimes it’s because they want to protect anyone from going there.”

“Creepy. Yeah that one goes in the no pile then.” He offered, quickly pushing it into the trash.

“Shiloh again here.” I mention pushing the contract over.

Benny reads through it for a while “Hmm. Doesn’t seem so bad. There will definitely be a fight if we do this one... Probably I mean escorting some people around a hostile planet is bound to attract some attention, but I don’t get why they want to send civilians over. And apparently all they want to do is some studies on the amount of money they can make from the planet's resources? I mean Shiloh is still a League planet. Guaranteed if we stick around too long we will get more than just the local militia to contend with.”

“Put it on the maybe pile. It sounds like someone is expecting a cakewalk, and I don’t trust people that think their enemy doesn’t get a choice.”

“Yeah that’s true Commander. Shiloh has those crystals though right? The really expensive ones?”

“Yeah Shukam if I remember right, they are worth a ton, I wonder if I could produce them.”

“Probably your lostech is crazy like that, but you wouldn’t be able to make too many of them right? Someone would notice crystals flooding the market that are only supposed to have a source on one planet.”

“It would have been cool though.”

“Definitely cool.”

The next contract had me groaning into my palms as I resisted the allure.

“What?”

“Must resist helping cute endangered animals!”

“Wha- Another one? How many poachers does this planet have!”

“Not poachers this time. Apparently there is an invasive species killing everything.”

“Oh.. I mean. We could do a pretty good job with that but again, not a combat mission Vicky.”

“I know. I know. But the poor babies.”

“Moving on Commander.”

The next few minutes passed in silence before I snorted while reading a contract. “Really? Who would be stupid enough to try this again!”

“What?” I threw the contract at him and let him read for a few moments before his face broke into a look of horror. “Didn’t the League try this already?”

“Yeah just a few years ago, and they paid for it. No one just steals or attacks Cranston Snords museum. Apparently he is a bit finicky about it. If you do he follows you back to your home and robs everything back while crushing your mech force. Or at least that is what happened last time.” I joked the Contract to raid Snords museum was obviously issued by someone high up in house Marik, maybe even the Captain General himself.

“Probably. Toss it?”

“Hell no, Burn that thing I don’t want anyone thinking we even considered it! It’s a fucking museum! We don’t attack museums! What the hell is wrong with these assholes! They are lucky they didn’t list the exact contractor, I’m tempted to find them and introduce them to my Mech sized boot.”

“Hell yeah.”

“Last few.”

“Finally. Okay we got… Trash. Trash… What? Is that even a thin-Oh. Canpopus. Of course, trashing that one. Oh here.”

“Hmm? What did you find Vicky?”

“Ever heard of the “Brotherhood of Cincinnatus?” I asked, the name meant nothing to me.

“Never. What’s it say?”

“They are looking for someone to add more tonnage for a raid looks like.”

“Oh. That could work pretty well Vicky. We could get some experience working with an allied command.”

“Yeah but we would also have to work with an allied command structure. What if something screws up and they decide the mercs are less important than their units?”

“I think that’s something we will always worry about Vicky.”

“No. Benny put it on the no pile. I don’t know who these guys are, and I don’t like the idea of not being in command. We had some other great offers after all.”

“Alright, that’s it then.” He says as he tosses the last of the Contracts into the trash. “We got these ones on the maybe pile. So Commander?”

“Nope. We are going to throw a meeting together, let everyone decide this time.”

“Huh well if you want Vicky. C’mon it’s way past chow time.”

“Yeah sounds good, I bet we can find something interesting in the cafeteria.”

“Oh yeah, Himmel isn’t on chef duty tonight.” Benny mentioned as he stood up stretching out.

“Oh thank God. Let’s go!”

—-

“So, here are the contracts we are considering, each of them brings something to the table, some more than others, some more risk than others. Browse through them, I want everyone to read each one, get an idea of what each offers and asks.” I tell the room, the full Command staff gathered once more as we looked over the pile of papers Benny and I had passed out.

I gave the group a few minutes to parse through the contracts offered. Hanna was the first to speak up. “Okay Vicky, which one do you think is the best? I know you, you wouldn’t offer a list like this without having your own opinion.”

“Nope! I do have a few preferences, but this isn’t just about me. I want an outside perspective. So you tell me your thoughts, without me influencing you.”

“Ugh, whatever. I like the Pirate assault. It’ll be a while before we can get there, so the pirates will definitely have done repairs, but beating up pirates is always a good thing. We should do that one. It’s a fast job. We can basically be in and out, especially since they can’t hide from us.”

“Hmm. I agree with Hanna. Pirates deserve to be taken out, plus we will have surprise on our side with that. They won’t know where we are, but we will know where they are. Sounds like an easy mission.” Gauge offered.

“While I do agree the pirate mission sounds good. It’s not a mission that has any real importance behind it. The Pirates are trapped, they aren’t going anywhere for now, but this.. This is big. The Phecda contract gives us another connection to the LCAF, and while it is another garrison mission, well, we are good at that. There will definitely be a fight, the League have been attacking constantly to try and stop them from putting up that refinery factory.” Lieutenant Kurtz offered nodding firmly. “It’s the most important job here.”

“Not the Pirate raid?” I ask noting that both missions were similar in some ways.

“No. Vindemiatrix already has a solid militia. They can hold off the pirates if not take them out, but Phecda has been an ongoing problem.”

“That’s exactly why Phecda can wait!” Elias argued. “We should do the Pirate job. It’s the most time sensitive. And if we show up we guarantee we can stomp them flat. This time. They won’t get a chance to even fire their weapons. Let the Artillery Unit come along Commander. We will knock their base into kindling.”

“Whoa. Easy! We don’t know how many hostages they might have or civilians forced to work for them at gun point. We can’t just flatten the entire place.”

“Bu-Yeah… Yeah I know. Sorry.” Elias offered looking quite conflicted.

“Don’t worry Elias, we know what you meant. We trust you.”

“Thanks Commander. I won’t let you down again.”

“You never did.”

“Alright my turn then.” Benny continued. “Considering everything, we should take the pirate job. It’s a fast job. Guarantees us combat, we know basically what the enemy has, and their advantage of being in a military base doesn't matter so much for us. They can’t sneak out, and we can take out any static defenses without too much of an issue.”

“Oh phooey! Where is your sense of duty Benny!” Hanna jostled him slightly. “What if we don’t want a safe job!”

“No job is ever safe. Don’t forget that.” I interrupt their joking. “If those pirates are veterans, it doesn’t matter our advantages, they have their own.”

Flushing a little, Hanna nodded. She constantly spoke about the Wolverine during the raid, the one that took on our group three on one, and just wouldn’t be put down. Hanna had taken it personally, training harder than anyone else. It helped that she had the least amount of actual duties, but her cooling suit and new Neurohelm had been stress tested the most out of our group.

“There is another option.” Gauge offered slowly. “We could do multiple missions. Splitting up our forces.”

“No.”

“Not a chance!” Benny and I both spoke at once and I waved him forward letting him speak. “We don’t have the experience to even hope for that, or the numbers. Maybe if we had two complete Lances, but we don’t not yet. After this job, if we can claim some of the pirate mechs, we might be able to afford something like that, but even then I would feel more comfortable taking two lances, rather than splitting them.”

“Benny has it right. Gauge. We have some advantages, advantages that no one knows about or expects, but just because it’s an advantage doesn't mean we win. We need to get even more advantages to make a real difference. Teamwork. Experience. Training. Equipment. Support. These are advantages that others already cultivate. We are behind the game, so we need to play catch up.”

“Understood Commander.” Gauge offered a little petulant, but I nodded and moved on. I would chat with him later. “Okay so the current Red lance will go, but I won’t take part in the battle, I’ll be going purely as the command element. Benny I want you with us this time, you need the experience as well.”

“Are you sure Commander?”

“I am. We aren’t going with everyone. Gauge. You’ve been really involved in your classes. Do you want to stay or go?”

“Oh… I want to stay. I’m still digging into the Memory Core. There is so much to learn!”

“Okay you are in charge while we are gone, so don’t get lost completely in your head.”

“I won’t Vicky!”

“With that, we will take a mix of Red and Green Lance as our force this time. Benny will lead, Hanna, and Lenden will support, and Erica will be your scout. I want her to get practice using the sensor system.”

“Sounds good to me Commander. We won’t have any issues this time.”

“Oh I know. That’s why we are bringing along the Artillery Unit, and Delta Ops.”

“Oh, You want Delta to come too?” Carl asked, perking up into a smile.

“Yes. We may be able to always know where they are, but stealth may be important for this. If they have any captives… Delta will be needed to make sure that when we move, they don’t get killed.”

“Can do Commander! Leave it to Delta Ops. Don’t be surprised about the fires though!”

“NO WAR CRIMES CARL!”

—-

That afternoon I walked into the Starboro HPG terminal to send a message to Governor Maruska, the issuer of the Vindemiatrix contract. It wasn’t difficult, confirming contract offers were pretty standard ComStar MRB business. I did have some slight changes to the contract, which wasn’t abnormal.

Honestly I just asked for complete medcare in case of any injuries on the job. Had to make sure my kids would be alright if they got hurt. With that I moved on to the next difficult part of the job.

My meeting request with Governess Alessa was accepted, and I found myself in the same waiting room that I had met with her last time.

She entered a half hour later, as confident as any noblewoman can be. “You requested a meeting, Commander Eisen-Blume?”

“I did Lady Alessa. The Iron Blooded have taken a short contract off world. I wanted to inform you that our mech Lance will be unavailable for a few months while that contract is active.”

I could see the disquiet on her face at that answer. “I thought you said that you would be staying on Zaniah for some time last we spoke Commander.”

“That was the plan, but our training is going well, and I need to get my people more experience. I have too many green troops, and not enough battles to blood them with. You don’t have to be too concerned Lady Alessa, I am not taking my entire force. You will still have our assistance if another raid comes through. I am not leaving my kids here without a few big surprises for anyone seeking trouble.”

“But not your mechs.”

“But not all my mechs, my mechwarriors need experience. So we go to get some. And hopefully come back with some more mechs. But I am only taking a Lance, the rest will stay to defend the planet.”

“I see. I can’t say it isn’t disappointing, But you will do as you like. How long do you expect your Lance to be gone?”

“Well travel time notwithstanding, the mission itself should be rather quick, unless something goes wrong. I expect the fight itself should only take a week or so. Shouldn’t be long before we are back.”

“That is reassuring, as much as I have confidence in my sons talents, I will be more comfortable to know there is another Lance of mechs supporting them.”

“Well you will still have our scouts, and other support while we are gone if something does come up.”

“Hmm. I suppose I should simply be grateful for that. I will hold your men to that. Well Commander Eisen-Blume. I wish you luck then.”

“Governess Alessa. As always a pleasure.” I offer back, although I said it neutrally I really did mean it sarcastically. The woman was a pain in my ass.

I left in a hurry after that. We had a lot of preparation to complete before we got our confirmation on travel plans back from the Contractor. While I was out, I stopped over at the Planetary Guard office to put in one more request. A little bit of a surprise, and something I probably should have done months ago, but things had gotten away with me. At least we should hear something back maybe by the time I get back from this job.

Hopefully.

—-

That night. As everyone else slept I entered into my secret room. Thanks to a little combination between the sensors and a factory it was pretty easy to make equipment fitted specifically for every person. Before I left every single one of my kids found a present outside their room in a box with their name on it. It was the first step to a huge change to the Inner Sphere. Although that as always takes time.

—--

A different perspective
Frank Tillian
Zaniah III
Old apartment buildings, Condemned.

Frank groaned as he shut the door behind him. The wooden door, which wasn’t actually wood since there was almost no trees on this planet, creaked and groaned as it settled.

“You get the food?”

“Of course. The old man was glaring at me the whole time, but he did sell me the food. Unlike Toni.”

“It’s not my fault! I was chatting with one of the kids, not my fault I gave them some candy so they would talk.. The old man thought I was a molester!”

“And that is why Toni isn’t allowed near the damn shop anymore, and I have to do every food run, so fuck you Toni.”

“Yeah yeah whatever Frank. So that’s the food, everyone gather up let’s see what we learned.” Toni called them all together as they sat around the damaged old furniture, there was five of them in total working together in a cell trying to gather information on these Iron Blooded Orphans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going well.

“We can’t blend in with the locals. They all know each other on sight, and they have become protective of the kids.” Toni started. “The kids' base is also surprisingly secure. I tried sneaking in through the desert. They picked me up in one of those trucks, gave me water and told me the desert was dangerous. Fucking brats.”

“Better than them shooting you. Any idea how they knew you were coming?”

“None I checked for trip lines and things, and none of my scanners read any sort of laser detection. They just… Drove up to me in the middle of the desert and told me to go away.”

“They’re guards are good. Tried coming up to the wall to sneak over? Guards were waiting on the other side. One of the brats tased me.”

“You are lucky they didn’t shoot you Pete.”

“Yeah, I didn't feel lucky. Those tasers they had were nasty.”

“Yeah? That’s cause you guys are idiots, I got one of them talking, and they eventually cracked.” Frank informed the group shoveling a helping of noodles into his mouth.

“Yeah? What did they say?”

“They said our attempts to break into the base were funny, and they were under orders to treat us with kid gloves. Apparently they know we are LIC and don’t want to cause any trouble.” Frank admitted continuing to eat as all the agents, spys one and all, skilled and trained realized they were being toyed with by a bunch of orphan teenagers.

“What the fuck is wrong with this planet?”

“It must be something in the air. I never dealt with a stupider situation in my life until I came here.”

“Frank you are just fuckig with us right? No way one of the orphans said that.”

“She did. It gets worse too.”

“Fuck me. What? Did she say your real name or something?”

“No thank God. No, she said that every time one of their guards catches us before we can sneak in, or one of the kids lays us false information. They get a reward back at base.”

“God damnit. I could be on Solaris right now.”

“Yeah but no we had to get pulled into this shit show because the kids embarrassed the local Governess.”

“Not surprised. Considering they have been leading us around the damn nose.”

“I’m taking tomorrow off. Gonna go find a bar in the city.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Are you coming, Frank?”

“Might as well. We aren’t gathering anything here.”

“Command’s not gonna be happy.”

“Eh fuck em. Tell them the kids have too much security, if they want any info on the inside send a fucking Lohengrin orphan.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 7.1 It’s a Horror movie trope, not to see the monster until the end.
3021
Vindemiatrix
Treshira Starport

The landing in Treshira was rough. Mostly because the Leopard hired to carry us wasn’t doing very well. Carl gently unwound my locked up fingers from his arm as the Leopard finally slowed to a stop on the runway.

“Well we made it.”

“BARELY.” I hissed as I rose on shaky legs. Never again. Getting a Dropship just became Priority number one. Pirates? Piss on them, they can wait, Dropship. That’s important.

“Calm down Vicky. It’s okay. We landed just fine.” Carl offered, sounding only half apologetic. The rest was amusement.

“BARELY!”

“Oh, is the Commander still out of it? That’s fine, I’ll start getting everyone ready for the unload, Carl you keep an eye on her?” Benny asked as he walked past the two of us as he sauntered out into the Leopards hangar to ready the army of uniform clad orphans out of the ship.

Yeah our uniforms were done. It had taken me a lot longer than I expected to modify everything. First we had to take the base pieces and physically modify them, then copy that, then modify it again, and again, and again.

But after at least forty iterations, everything fit comfortably, and more importantly offered benefits no one would be aware of right away.

The fact I made them look similar to what I remembered from the Battletech PC Games outfits was a complete coincidence, and not at all a declaration that I was so done looking like a reject from the space 80’s.

Now I looked like space warrior modern edition.

And so did all my kids.

Of course I kept our concrete styled white, and red color scheme. It was a theme at this point. So as I walked out of the Leopard, my kids running around wearing their full armor, as I had ordered whenever we were on campaign, I had recovered enough that I sauntered over to the group that had stepped out of some fancy hover cars and were waiting for us. I could tell the look of surprise wash over their face as I waltzed up in a very expensive, and well armored uniform.

“Commander Eisen-Blume. I was told my contact would be a ‘Virgil Carolus?’” I offered and I could see the man that reminded me a lot of Arthur step forward.

“Commander a pleasure to meet you, I am Virgil, Governor Maruska’s aide, and since he couldn’t find time to make his all the way to Treshira I will be acting as your contractor for the duration of this mission.”

“Good. My men will be unloaded soon, and we can start our preparations.”

“Ah. That’s rather quick Commander, are you sure you don’t wish to gather more intelligence. The Pirates have been stable. They don’t seem to have any interest in leaving the base.”

“A guide to the general area, and anything you might think is important is all we will need Mr. Carolus. The Iron Blooded Orphans are ready. We just need some time to stretch our legs, and we will be good to go.”

“Ah. Very good then Commander this is…”

“Colonel Mark Maruska Planetary Defense force.” A second man stepped forward and hesitated for a moment. He looked like he was trying to decide if this was a trick or not, but eventually it looks like his manners won out. I could smell alcohol on his breath despite the fact he was in uniform. He offered his hand which I shook firmly, being careful not to squeeze too hard. The gloves on my uniform were armored after all.

“A pleasure to meet you. Anything you can tell me about these pirates that might be important during my assault would be appreciated.”

The strange look on his face seemed to finally take over, and it was obvious he couldn’t hold it in, “I can’t, this has got to be a joke. Where is your actual Commander kid, I can’t deal with a little girl playing dress up right now.” The Colonel questioned laughing the whole while. I could instantly tell this was going to be an annoying meeting.

“The Iron Blooded Orphans, combat uniform does it’s job. Keeps our insides on the inside.”

“Pfft, your fucking with me.” He turned towards Mr. Carolus. “Virgil, what is this? Father really paid money for a bunch of kids. Look!” He pointed to the crew unloading our gear. “I don’t think a single of them is old enough to be out of school, much less take out the rest of the Red Vultures!”

“Colonel. We hired these Mercenaries through the MRB, they are certified. I apologize, Commander. You must-”

I waved him off. “Apologize after we clean up your pirates, or don’t it doesn’t matter to me, or my men. I just need to know what I need to watch out for, Number of mechs, any hostages, defenses?” I asked, although honestly?

I didn’t need to know any of that.

“We don’t know for sure how many mechs they still have active, but I have all the data right here.” He offers handing me a packet of paper as the Colonel continues to scoff at the thought of us fighting.

Whatever. Not my problem.

“Good. I would like to move out tomorrow then if you can base us somewhere for the night. I don’t want any travel lag to interfere.”

“Of course, we already prepared for that Commander, we opened one of our bases to you for your stay.” Mr. Carolus offered as he pointed out on the front of the packet. The first page was a map showing us the path to a military base.

“Perfect. I’ll get my men settled for the night, go over the plan, and move in the morning.”

“Now I know you’re joking. This kid is going to rush in and get killed, probably give those pirates more mechs to play with, Virgil! I’m calling my father about this nonsense, ComStar have obviously lost their minds!”

The Young colonel, and he was young, I wouldn’t put him past early thirties. Stomped off, back towards the most expensive car in the convoy.

“I-”

I waved him off again. “Apologize later. Work now.”

“Agreed. Here is the route to tak-”

—-

“So what do they know?” I ask the group. My combat group were standing around a table that had the papers splayed across them.

“They know the pirates had a Lance of Battlemechs. A Shadow Hawk, SHD-2K. A Vulcan, VL-5T. A Panther PNT-9R. And a Firestarter, FS9-H. What they don’t know is the current status of most of those. They know at least the Panther is still active. Apparently they get random PPC fire every once in a while.” Benny offers pointing to a paper.

“But that’s not all they have.” Lenden offers pushing another paper closer. “Apparently, when they took the base they claimed the unknown number of vehicles that were stored there.”

“Somehow the Planetary defense doesn’t know how many tanks they took?” I ask.

“Nope. The base was used as a training base. A lot of the vehicles there were wrecks. They don’t know how many of them are usable.”

“Do the pirates even have enough people to drive the tanks and the mechs?” Hanna asked, noticing the issue.

“Apparently, the Dropship that was disabled, it was taking off at the time. So the damage wasn’t catastrophic when it crashed. The survivors gathered together and drove off in land vehicles they had with them, or stole.”

“So these pirates have been fucking around for over two months now and the government doesn’t have any idea how much force they can actually bring to bear?” Lenden asked, sounding thoroughly amused.

“Commander, I thought Benny was supposed to keep you from picking out any more potato level jobs?”

“Fuck you Lenden. The job is solid, the intel is just spotty, and that isn’t a problem anyways.” I reminded him with a jab with my elbow. His armor stopped it from doing more than jostling the older boy.

“Yeah and the planetary guard think we are in pre-school, refuse to talk to us, and their Colonel laughs every time he sees one of us, or gets mad. You now, like a normal Vicky mission.” Lenden points out.

“Yeah this is definitely a Vicky Mission.” Hanna adds, her smirk stretching her lips.

“Vicky mission.” Benny offers patting Lendens shoulder like he was consoling him.

“So it’s treason then.” I hissed, dammit I didn’t have a lightsaber.

Note to self, Lightsabers.

“Now that, ‘let’s fuck around with our Commanding officer is OVER.’”

“Well I still-”

“Carl, I swear to god. I will make you regret ever being born. So help me.”

Instead of saying anything the boy wisely raised his hands in surrender.

“Okay so back to work. We generally know where they are. We confirmed at least that they don’t have any hostages, well that we know of. The training base was alerted and they pulled everyone out before the pirates claimed it.”

“Yeah nice of them to not even try to use the defenses or at least sabotage them.” Lenden added snidely, the boy was already growing bored as he formed one of the papers into a paper airplane.

“It’s fine, they only have a few turrets, mostly for anti-air. The base is in the middle of a deep forest. So we have lots of cover.”

“So do they.”

“Yeah but Lenden, Cover works both ways. And we have better eyes than they do.”

He nodded at that. “That’s true, what about our Carriers? Up in the mountains in a forest isn’t going to let them do much.”

“Hey! The Artillery Unit can handle any terrain!” Elias spoke up, affronted.

“We are going to go slow and steady, they can’t ambush us, and they can’t use traps against us. So we surprise them. They will think they have every advantage. We will whittle those advantages down.” I offer my smile turning sharp.

“First. Once we get up there, we find a location.” I motion towards the map we had been given of the area. “We build some defenses for the Carriers.”

“Oh You mean capital B build huh? Sure that’s safe?”

“It will be, I’ll check to make sure we don’t have any spies, but the plan is to get them to leave the base, the base is only a minor objective, but I bet we can get a bonus if we return the base still intact.”

“Wait, you want to fight them in the forest?”

“No Lenden. I want to kill them in the forest. A fight means they stand a chance.”

It took a moment for that to pass through his head, before his grin turned sinister “Oh Commander. I sometimes forget how much of a troublemaker you were before all this. I’m in.”

That night I took off in the Locust. For once thankful that we weren’t fully professional, as the Locust never did get the Nanoforge refitted to a Medium laser. And in a bright green flash far from civilization. A Metal Extractor came into being.
—-

We moved out the next morning. Our little convoy of four mechs, two carriers, and two trucks, one for me and the Delta Ops, and another with some of the loaders from the Artillery Unit.

I wasn’t taking part in this fight from the cockpit. Shocking, I know.

But Erica needed some experience in a fight and she had earned my Locust. I wouldn’t take it from her. She was still terrified of combat, so she would have to get over that soon if she wanted to be a Mechwarrior.

As we rumbled along I kept my eyes on my Sensor, although instead of calling out anything interesting, I was constantly radioing in to Erica to ask for updates.

She was a scout after all, even if she didn’t have to actually leave the group to do the scouting, she would need to be in the habit of transmitting information.

“A-ah, I see the base on the sensors now. It looks like we had some i-intel issues. There are six mechs on base.”

“Fuck. Alright Green 3. Give me a sitrep.” Benny ordered out, taking over as planned.

“O-oh, Umm confirmation on the four reported mechs, although it looks like the Vulcan is damaged… The two new mechs are a Javelin, JVN-10N, and a Locust, LVT-1V.”

“Hmm Where did the extra mechs come from?” Benny wondered aloud.

“Raiding during the last few months maybe?” Lenden offered with an audible shrug his armor shifting coming over the comms. “Who cares? They need to be taken out, so we take them out, more salvage for us.”

“Lenden, no Rough Squad antics this time.” I ordered out.

“Aww C’mon Commander! You are taking away all the fun.”

“We aren’t here for fun, we are here to prove we know what we are doing and for the reputation involved.”

“Roger that Commander. Lenden, you’ll have plenty of fun, but let’s focus up. Green 3, vehicles?”

“Oh yes! Vedette Medium tanks are active. I see four of them looking functional, but it looks like they are trying to repair two more.” Erica replied, her voice calmer now.

“Okay, good job Green 3.” Benny offered, “Alright listen up. Once we set up our FOB our goal is to complete this mission without a scratch on our armor. That means we work together, keep focused, and don’t let up! First targets are going to be the light mechs, we want to remove any ability to escape. Remember our job isn’t to retake the base, that’s just a bonus, our job is to remove the pirates completely.”

““Yes! Green 1!””

I smiled. Benny was in his element. We traveled up the mountain passes, and it wasn’t long before we came up to our first issue.

“Commander, there is a man up ahead in what looks like some sort of hut. He does have a radio on him, I think he is a scout for the pirates.”

“Good catch Green 3, I agree. Well Delta Ops. This time you're up.”

—-

A different perspective.
Anthoni Elric.
Treshira mountains.

Toni, was getting truly sick of being the ‘spotter’ while the rest of the gang were back at base, sleeping comfy in the military barracks, he was out here in a roughly put together hut they had made, watching the damn road. Sure they were up in the mountains, but this planet with it’s fucked up sun was still hotter than he really wanted to deal with.

“Bet they’re all eating the good food, probably all cooked and hot, instead of this.” he grunted, shoveling another spoonful of lukewarm mash into his face. The food that his gang had left him with was stuff that could be stored without a fridge. Not exactly what you want to eat for weeks on end though.

Weeks had gone by since he had even seen a single military scout. At first they had sent them up all the time, trying to figure out what the gang was up to.

Toni had spotted every one of them. The road was the only way up this side of the mountain, unless you had jump jets on a mech, but those things were loud. So he wasn’t worried besides, his little hut was well hidden, nearly invisible from the road, and even harder to spot from any other direction. He spotted the fools that drove up in jeeps, and informed Martin. Martin loved shooting light vehicles with his PPC.

Toni was so sure of his safety, so sure that no one could get past him. He never heard the birdsong die down, as he chewed on his meal. Never heard the knife slip out from a sheath.

He certainly never heard anything ever again.

—-

A different perspective
Carl
Delta Ops
Treshira Mountains

“Commander. Enemy down, we have the radio, and are heading to the road for pickup.” Carl said before turning to his squad. He was surprisingly okay with what just happened. He always expected his first kill to be more of an explosion of regret, or conscience. Instead his hands felt steady and he was feeling good.

Ready to continue with their mission.

“You okay Carl?” Samantha asked aloud, forgoing the radio for the moment.

“I’m okay Sam, not about to let killing a pirate mess with my calm. We got work to do.”

She nodded once firmly, and the squad filed out of the small hut, leaving the corpse where it lay. It wasn’t their concern. They had a job to do, and the entire Delta Ops would be damned before they messed this up.

The Delta Ops had a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Despite helping with Helm, despite doing something so amazing, few of the other Iron Blooded knew about it. To most of the Company, they were just the weird Delta guys.

Carl wanted to make a statement, so as much as Green Lances newbies wanted to show off, Delta Ops wanted it even more.

The power on their NightHawks still near fully charged the small group left, rushing through the forest, using their jump jets from time to time to move over obstacles, until they were overlooking the road. The mechs already started to tromp past them as they waited, Lenden giving wave as he stormed past.

Once the mechs were clear, the Norman truck they were using as a command vehicle, and a storage for the NightHawks slowed to a stop below them.

They jumped from the cliff, months of training let them activate their jump jets, slowing them to a more comfortable landing beside the truck, as they all clambered into the back of the truck.

“Good job out there!” Vicky yelled out from the back window of the truck, Carl handed the radio to her getting a thumbs up before settling in, turning his NightHawk to low power mode until they would be needed again.

—-

With the spotter dead, and their radio in our hands we now had a path straight to the base. Other than the land mines that they had placed further up the road, but landmines are only a threat if you don’t know they are there.

They didn’t have any other spotters. Pirates' discipline wasn’t their best trait after all. Not that it would have mattered if they did.

“Okay Green 3, did you find a good place for our FOB?”

“I did Commander! Sending coordinates now!”

I looked over the space Erica picked out. It was just a bit north of the base, and was actually at a higher elevation, giving a good overlook of the base. If we positioned ourselves correctly, we could probably attack without them being able to see us. “Good spot. Let’s move out!”

Eventually we had to move off road which did present some issues we hadn’t considered. “Okay smash that tree out of the way, try to keep it quiet!” I called out to Benny who was using a small laser and his gripping arm to cut a tree out of the way of our Carriers.

It worked, and after a few minutes of stomping on the fires we cleared the path and the Carriers made another few meters before we found another stoppage.

“Okay! That’s enough Green 3. I’m swapping with you for a bit.” I growl. I was not happy sitting around while daylight was burning.

When Erica swapped seats with me I could tell she was unhappy, but I clapped her armored shoulder as we passed. “Just until we get to the FOB. The Battle, and the Mech is still yours.” Once I was in the Locust. The bright light of the Nanoforge quickly cleared our path, best thing? It was quiet, and I could construct a dirt road without much issue. We started making incredible time while driving literally through the middle of a forest.

The location of our FOB was reached within just an hour at that rate, and after first clearing the area, I started building. First strong walls, made up of the same material as a Castle Brian. In other words nothing the pirates had would do much against these without a real concerted effort.

Then I built up a few Turrets at each of the four corners. These were actually AC/20 Turrets. Anything looking to attack our little fort would swiftly wish it wasn’t surrounded by trees, because to get close enough to attack would mean you are close enough for the turrets to return fire.

Housing came next, A secondary building in the middle, for us to use to bunker down in case we are attacked.

Then I just made a junction for our Carriers, and enough LRM ammo to refuel a few hundred times if necessary. I did have to slow what I created, in order to let the metal extractor catch up on the metal production, but as night fell we were done.

After switching out of the Locust, giving it back to Erica. I settled into the small Command office I had created. A powerful radio system would keep us in contact even if the pirates had some more powerful ECM, or jamming equipment. And since it was SLDF equipment, it should be impossible for some Pirates to listen in.

“Alright. Operation Midnight visitors is a go!”

“Commander. Please pick a better operation name, or let Benny choose.” Lenden complained.

“Commander prerogative to pick the operation names! Now move your ass Green 4!”

“Yeah yeah. Fuckin ey Benny how do we put up with this shit.”

“You are still broadcasting to me as well, Lenden!” I snark at him which causes his broadcast to suddenly end.

Moron.

From there. Benny took Command. “This is Green 1. Green 3, provide coordinates for bombardment to our Lance. Command will determine Carrier group targets. Let’s move Mechwarriors.”

But none of us expected the radio to crackle to life and for me to listen in on an interesting response. “Hold on a moment Benny. They might just make this even easier for us.”

—-

A different perspective
Damien Cross
Treshira Mountain Military Base.

Darrien Cross wasn’t used to dealing with this level of trouble. He had been a pirate for years, had been on more than a few raids, but he had never had a drop ship drop out from under him, or at least never had one dropped out, while the pirates were leaving the planet.

He had known just as they did, they weren’t going to turn around to pick him up. The Red Vultures had a code. There was no way they would turn around to try and save his scrawny ass, not even for his mechs. The Dropship crash had been an accident. One of the damn engines gave out mid thrust.

A complete one in a million.

Of course no one knew that at the time. All the other pirates saw was their dropship suddenly fall out of the air. Of course they didn’t turn around. No way would they risk their metal.

But Darrien had sprung into action. Readying those that survived, arming them all and making a breakout into the forest. They had been chased but mechs were far superior to vehicles in the forests. Especially Pots in his Firestarter. A few forest fires, a few hijackings to get more vehicles, eventually sneaking onto a military training base and taking over.

It had been going better than he expected. They had managed to take on enough metal that no one on the Planetary Guard was willing to make a move. Not with the mountains and forests between them. Sure they would have been in trouble from AFS bombing runs, but that was what the AA turrets on the base were for.

So he settled in, planned. Killed a few of his men that came up with stupid ideas like trying to blend into the population, or escape.

He couldn’t have any of them wander off while he still needed them. Plus he was the boss, and so he was already trying to get them all off planet. There were plenty of dropships willing to make a nice stack of C-bills for just picking up a group and taking them somewhere.

No one had bit yet. The Planetary Governor was doing a good job of keeping the sky above the base clear.

Still they had time. They had pushed back the first push of tanks and air support that tried to push them out. The AA turrets and mechs took out that attack. Since then, small scouting attacks have come through, but nothing they weren’t ready for. Scouts on each of the roads on the way up, and a watchful eye for any tricks kept their base secure.

That and the mines on the roads.

The passing months had given him enough time to get some of the vehicles running, he had even managed to put the two light mechs back together. They had been stolen during the raids, but too damaged to do more than haul away. Not that they would help much, but gifting the mechs to some of his dispossessed warriors had kept morale up. No Mechwarrior wanted to lose their ride once they got one. So they stayed instead of trying to run into the forest to escape.

It had been working well. Food wasn’t too hard to come by. There was a sort of deer that tasted pretty good, in the forest. Apparently it was endangered? Not his concern. The rest of the supplies? Well they were starting to run low, but not to the point where they needed to think about raiding.

“Yo Darrien. Toni ain't responding to his radio.” Mal called out as Darrien was doing his rounds, if he didn’t he would find his crew slacking around, only when he was around cracking the whip did shit get done.

“What? Fucker, Mal It’s Captain! You shit. And give me that fucking radio,” he snatched it from Mals hand and flipped the button. “Toni, you fat fuck this is Darrien, if you don’t respond to me in ten seconds, I’m sending a fucking kill squad out to remove your bottomless hole!”

Not a sound came through. “Toni?” he repeated but nothing but static.

Darrien had known the man for years now, there was a reason he had put him on scout duty, he was good at it, and although sometimes he wouldn’t respond to the radio right away, the man was also a coward. Threaten him, and getting to that radio would be his first and only job.

But nothing came through.

“I don’t like this.” He muttered to himself. “Mal, go wake everyone up, tell them to get mounted up. Something fucky is going on.”

“C’mon Darr-Captain, it’s just Toni fallin asleep or some shit, everyone is partying right now, if I go tell them to mount up I’ll be dealing with whining all week.”

“If you don't do as I say, you won’t be having any problems next week.”

“Alright alright! I’m on it Captain.” Mal huffed as he wandered off.

Darrien was getting that feeling down his spine when shit was about to hit the fan. So instead of wandering around he made his way over to his ShadowHawk. The startup was fast enough, the damn thing just needed a few kicks to get all the displays to turn on.

It was all quiet according to his sensors. Nothing on thermal or vibration. “Am I just overreacting?”

His heart was starting to slow down, as the sense of fear disappeared. He waited for the rest of his Lance to mount up.

“Fuck Darrien, I was just about to get some, you pulled me away cause Toni fell asleep jackin off again?”

“Like fuck you were Pots, I wouldn’t touch your shit even if your Firestarter was on the table.” Milly in her Vulcan hissed out over comms.

“Hah! Like hell I’d ever wager my girl. She’s got me through all sorts of scrapes.”

“Enough! Toni isn’t responding still. So that means something happened to him, chance it’s nothing, but chance is it’s a Planetary Guard column moving up to fuck us in the ass. So we are moving out, going to go check the road, and check on the fucker to see if we need to kill him for fucking around. Let’s move.”

His order was listened to if not without plenty of grumbling as the four mechs of his Lance moved out, The secondary Lance, moved with them. They were supposed to screen the advance, but the light mech pilots often stuck too close to do that. Unfortunately they had only been mechwarriors for a short time, and they often came too close. Feeling safer in a group.

“Mitchell, get the tanks prepped too. I don’t want any surprises while we are gone.” He radioed out, that tingling down his back was still just as strong.

“Yeah yeah ‘captain’ Let me handle the ground pounders. You lead your mechs around.” The tank commander responded as Darrien grit his teeth. If these men would just follow his orders he could have already left this miserable backwater. But no, every order had to be cajoled, or bribed. It was miserable. He didn’t know how Red had done it.

The Lance headed out of the base, into the forest, stepping carefully in their lackluster formation.

The forest was quiet, and there wasn’t even a moon to guide them, as they traveled. First Darrien wanted eyes on the road, he wasn’t about to let this whole night be ruined just because Toni fell asleep or fell off a cliff or something.

The glow of his faulty nightvision lit up the forest in a green haze. Thermal barely worked on his mech, never had really, but it had only gotten worse over the years. So he was stuck with this vision if he wanted to see anything at night. The small lights on the front of his mech barely illuminated anything, and one of them was still broken. Even replacing the light didn’t fix that problem so it was some internal wiring not connected.

As they traveled in the dark something kept tingling up his spine. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure it out. Like an itch under his skin.

Fortunately, it wasn’t him that finally figured it out.

Pots in his Firestarter noticed it first. He heard a soft *Thunk* echo through his mech and slowed for a moment “Hey, guys I think there is something on my mech?” He called out swiveling lightly to try and see, but his Firestarters Night vision and thermal were the worst out of the whole group. Being a Firestarter it had to deal with some sudden changes.

“Probably a tree branch Pots, keep your focus.”

“No guys really that sounded metallic on my hull! It sounded weird!”

“Pots! Chill your shit get back in formation! We need to keep moving, I don’t want to be out here all night!” Darrien roared back. “I don’t see shit on your mech, That goes for the rest of you too. Keep your bellyaching to yourself, now move!”

The nervous energy from Pots was spreading though. Everyone was looking around constantly like something was in the darkness with them.

They traveled for quite a while in the dark, their radios quiet. The forest tripping them up, and keeping them moving slow. They didn’t dare take the roads, not after they had mined them so thoroughly.

They finally made it to Toni’s hut and it was a bit of an argument but Darrien was firm. “Fucking asshole, I gave you an order since Toni isn’t responding yet, Get your ass down there and see if he is inside!” Darrien yelled at Scott, the red haired man was usually rather difficult to work with, but he was also the most expendable, not like his Locust was going to do much in a scrap.

Watching the red headed man pop the hatch on his mech and slowly crawl down the ladder thankfully he didn’t fall in the dark. He hit the dirt and pulled his pistol before sneaking into the hut.

A moment later. The hut went up in a fireball. And Darrien knew that bad feeling he had wasn’t about to go away. “Every back to base! We need to make ready to be attacked!” The Lance started moving in a hurry through the dark forest. Leaving the Locust to stand watch over the flames disappearing behind them as they hurried.

Running through a dark forest, with the fear that the attack was finally coming that the fucking Planetary Guard were finally hitting them? Darrien wasn’t at his best, but what was worse? Nothing should have slipped this far through. They had traps, spotters, sensors, hell the military base had a surface to air radar!

This attack should not be possible without something letting the Red Vultures it was on. The fact they had already lost a mech pilot to a fucking trap? That was when Darrien knew something really fucky was going on. “Hey, is anyone seeing anything? Martin, you have the best sensor system, catching anything? I got a bad feeling.”

“Nothing that I can see, boss. It’s all quiet out there.”

“Fuck that, something is definitely up, everyone check in!” Darrien demanded something was twigging at the back of his head when he turned around for a moment to see, something had been off.

“H-hey… Where is Brent?” Pots called out as he was spinning around. Darrien felt ice down his back turning around to check on his crew when he noticed the missing mech. The Javelin wasn’t with the Lance.

“W-when did that happen? Who saw him last! Speak up now!” Darrien demanded.

“He was behind me when we started running! I was sure he was gonna follow!” Milly responded from her Vulcan. The entire forest seemed oddly quiet as each of the mechs around them started spinning in place trying to find whatever it was in the forest that was hunting them.

“Alright don’t lose your shit, stick close, I want everyone on my six, and whoever is in the back gets checked on every minute. This isn’t some horror Holovid bullshit. Clear comms, and keep your head on a swivel let’s get back to base.” Darrien took command, it was all he really could do.

Their pace through the forest was much slower this time, all of them knew something was in the forest with them, but they couldn’t tell what. Their jittery nerves eventually came to a head when Milly lost it and started shooting her flamethrower and mediums into the dark, screaming that something had been on her mech.

The freakout only made discipline worse. Pots suddenly rushed ahead, his Firestarter disappearing into the forest.

“DAMNIT POTS GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!” Darrien screamed into the radio as he kept his weapons angled out in the dark ready to defend if any attack came.

None did. Except a few moments later an explosion echoed out from ahead of them, and the entire Lance moved as one for probably the first time. They rushed to catch up to Pots. “Pots! Pots respond damnit was that you! Are you under attack!? POOOOOOTS!”

They learned soon enough he had. They came across the smoke from his Firestarter laying face down in the dark. Smoke drifted out from his busted cockpit.

“What the fuck. Something head shot him!?”

“Can it! We are dealing with something out here, together this time! If you rush off on your own you are dead!” The Lance of mechs stormed through the forest, it was no longer quiet, as they smashed trees to make their way.

He hadn’t heard any fire. Just one explosion. What the hell could have blown up Pots cockpit without any noise? The unease was only building, when as they stomped through the woods Darrien noticed it first.

Smoke burning into the sky, creating a slight heat haze on the dark sky on his thermals.

“Fuck, the base!” He growled as he kicked up the speed daring for a moment to activate his jets just to get high enough to maybe see what was going on. The fact he could see smoke pluming up from the base only made his fear increase. “Base is full of smoke, we are under attack for sure. We are going to go reinforce, don’t fall behind. Don’t leave anyone behind!” He knew the information wouldn’t do much for Lance's confidence. Three mechs down already.

What a clusterfuck.

He rushed. Which he realized was a mistake right when his LRM alarm went off.

Darrien had enough time to look up, seeing the hundreds of flares of missiles coming down on his position. He dove to the side, hoping the tree cover was enough to save his life as they crashed down on his Lance.

The trees splintering and cracking was just barely audible over the explosions of the missiles as if the forest around them was coming alive in response to the attack. Fires started everywhere, and Darrien realized in horror that even as one barrage of Missiles ended, he could already see the faint fires of more plumes shooting into the sky.

“R-run to the base! Everyone!”

He pushed his ShadowHawk forward trying to escape the fire before it became too much, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Martin take to the air on jump jets, trying to escape the fire.

Two burning blue lights lit up the forest shooting from the same angle as the base. The large lasers burned chunks of Martin's armor down, Something went internal on his mech and his leg went flying in another direction. His mech tipped sideways.

Darrien watched as the Panther fell sideways into the forest below.

Darrien didn’t have time to worry about that, because he just realized that the enemy was between him and the base.

“Fuck! Why hasn’t the base alerted us to an attack!” He screamed into his radio, but what was even more terrifying is that he hadn’t heard his Lance since the missile assault. He hunkered down for a moment switching radio frequencies on the knob trying to reach anyone but only a faint hiss reached his ears.

They were jamming him too?

“Who are these fuckers?” He couldn’t help but ask aloud. The planets militia didn’t have this sort of equipment! They would have known! The fucks would have used it during the initial raid! This couldn’t be LOKI right? He hadn’t done enough to piss off the Lyrans that bad surely!

No one was answering his comms, and now he was trapped with an unknown number of enemies in the forest. What fucking hell had caused this! How had they slipped past him completely!? They hadn’t noticed any spotters, or spys, there would have been something! Even a radio transmission would have been at least picked up alerting them, but nothing!

Nothing until Toni missed his clock in.

It ran through his head then. The last time Toni had contacted them was that morning, to let them know he hadn’t seen anything.

“They had hours to slip past us.” He dreaded that realization, but it was too late now. He decided that the base was done. So was his Lance, they would mill about and be an appetizing target for a while. He was getting the hell out of here. He turned off every scanner he had, going passive, hopefully it would keep him hidden long enough to get away.

Behind him as he ran he heard the sounds of combat continue, until it went silent not long after. He rushed away, using his jump jets sparingly to hop down the mountain. He of course had set up a small getaway during the months of idleness. Heading out on ‘scouting’ missions to stretch his legs he really had been transporting enough supplies to last him a while to hide out in the mountains.

As a Pirate Darrien knew that sometimes especially when things got bad, you had to plan to just disappear for a time. He ran for a good hour or two staying very low to stay out of any chance to be noticed, thankfully he was mostly going down hill. Then in a valley that had an ancient mountain run off stream, there was a truly ancient old cabin along a river a good few miles from the base. He had scoped it out, and had taken it over months ago.

When he arrived, the first thing he did was slip his ShadowHawk into the rapids. The freezing cold mountain water which was the coldest thing around would keep any overhead thermal from reading it after just a few minutes, he settled in, letting the water flow over his mech partially submerging his cockpit. His hatch ending up just under a small fall in the rapids, putting it above the water, but still hidden from view from any angle. He quickly grabbed anything he needed, opening the hatch for as short a time as possible to keep as much water out as he could before closing and sealing it.

He started a fire in the old cabin's fireplace to warm up. Switching into some more normal clothes and even planning on hiding his looks. Give it a year or two, and a new man would wander out of the mountains, a bald man, instead of his full head of hair, with a full beard instead of his clean shaven face. He would get a ride out of here, find some way to transport the ShadowHawk, maybe a flatbed or something, and he would be safe from whatever the fuck was happening on this planet.

Darrien Cross was done with whatever had happened back there. He was completely ready to start a new life, as a new man. Idly he started considering what his new name should be. “Terry maybe? I always liked Terry.”

“Good name.” The voice spoke from behind his ear.

The knife cut off his shocked response.

As he gurgled out from the knife sticking through the back of his neck he could just see the shape of the form that had killed him. The final thoughts of the man Darrien Cross was full of horror at the sight, he had never seen anything like it. And even in his last moments, until the monster spoke, he never heard him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7.2 It’s a Horror movie trope, not to see the monster until the end.
3021
Vindemiatrix
Treshira Military Base

As the sun was still rising over the horizon my company was still partying after their victory.

“D-did you hear him scream, ‘POOOOOOOTS!’ I was dying! I was literally hanging onto the back of the Vulcan, trying not to get squashed after it’s freakout. But I swear it was harder to keep from laughing than it was to hold on.”

“Yeah sorry about that Sam, the stupid det charge shifted in my grip and banged on the mech, that pilot was so jumpy she flipped out! I had to jump onto a tree and stay still in order to not get caught. I’m really lucky it shot in the wrong directions!

“Oh it’s fine! Totally fine, worth it for hearing that scream ‘POOOOOTS’”! She burst into giggles again, nearly crying in hysterical laughter.

They all had stories like that from tonight.

“So there I was, on the shoulder of a damn Firestarter. Seriously the mechs moved so slow through the forest it was childsplay to get ahead of them and just jump on them, anyway so there I am, kneeling on the shoulder of a moving Battlemech, trying not to fall, or get knocked off, and I pull out the det charge. Now there is a putty you are supposed to use on the magnet, and I swore I had put some on the damn thing, but when I attach it? CLUNK. I thought for sure I had just screwed it all up that I was gonna die, but their glorious leader! This part is my favorite, the Firestarter starts freaking out about something on his mech, and their glorious leader just tells him to stop fucking around!”

“No, my favorite bit is Lendens charge!” Erica offered with a laugh.

The burst of laughter from the entire group at their friends' expense echoed through the room Lenden who had long gotten sick of hearing about his ‘exploits’ had enough and chucked the remains of his meal at the girl, coating her in crumbs from the crumbly bread. “Eww Lenden, that is gonna get in my armor!”

“Don’t care. It’s not funny.” He hissed but was ignored as she continued anyways.

“So the enemy Vulcan is all alone, in a scary forest that is now on fire, and let me tell you, I am so glad we got away from the fire because that was nasty. So the Vulcan is all alone, screaming her head off on the radio, just absolutely horror movie scream, blasting fire at anything she can see. Lasers going off, her mech is probably this close to overheating.” Erica continues the story despite Lendens assault.

“Then Benny goes over Comms. ‘Lenden, take out the Vulcan as soon as the next barrage of LRMs come down.’ So Lenden goes in, Benny on his six, me right behind them. Bursts out of the burning forest right in front of the Vulcan, that just got a full hit of LRMs but she is still up and if you thought she was screaming before!”

“That’s not all, what did she end up screaming at him? It was Japanese right?”

“Something about White Devil?” Samantha offered. “I don’t know exactly, I only know enough to fleece the snakes on Solaris.”

“White Devil? What does that mean?”

“No idea, anyways, so she just absolutely loses it screaming about the white devil and full on Alpha’s at Lenden.”

“Erica, don’t you dare.”

“So Lenden SCREAMS like a girl! Completely high pitched, I think he hit higher than she did, and releases a full alpha back in return!”

“No! He didn’t!” Carl gasped in delight, he had been chasing after the fucking ShadowHawk at this point, only barely able to keep up thanks to his Jump jets, and the ShadowHawks slow pace.

“HE DID! In the middle of a forest fire, with a Flamer burning his chest. He let’s it rip. And get this, this is the best part.”

“ERICA!” Lenden yelled as he tried to jump the table only to find himself pinned between Carl, and Richard, both of whom were grinning as they held him back effortlessly, the NightHawk armor giving them more than enough strength to hold him back.

“So he ALPHA’S and MISSES EVERY SHOT. Then his mech immediately shuts down because he is WAAAY over heated. The Vulcan! Oh god this is the funniest part. She overheats too!”

“What?! No way that happened.”

“It did actually.” Benny offered from where he was relaxing back his feet up. “Never seen two mechs overheat at each other before. They nearly crashed into each others cockpit. That was how close the two were. Erica took out the Vulcan with her SRM’s while it was overheated and once it was disabled we dragged the Vulcan out of the fire while Lenden kept trying to cool down.”

“Dammit! Don’t tell them it happened like that. It was a fierce battle in a forest fire! It’s an awesome story, don't tell it like we both just screamed at each other and overheated!”

“But that’s what happened!” Carl chuckled.

“The pilot not punching out is the weirdest part.”

“Oh yeah it took like an hour to force her out of the cockpit. Since we couldn’t use the Nighthawks.”

“Wait, why not?”

“Well it seemed kind of wrong to just kill her when she was freaking out so bad, if she saw the Nighthawks we would have to.”

While Lenden tackled Carl ineffectually, the two wrestling each other despite Lenden not making any headway against Carl's NightHawk strength, the stories continued.

“Ugh, at least you idiots didn’t have to deal with the Javelin.” Hanna groaned on the couch. “That fucker ran so far. I thought he was going to get out of the Commander's Sensor range!”

“Yeah what happened with that? He was following along once we left the hut, but then he suddenly stopped and as soon as his lance was out of sight he started running the other direction.”

“No idea, I didn’t exactly ask when I caught up with him, but probably the same reason the ShadowHawk took off. They realized they were had and wanted to run.”

“A bunch of cowards is what they are!” Hanna hissed. “If the two mechs had stayed and fought, they still would have lost, but at least they would have died with some honor in their blood!”

“Not everyone has Iron Blood, you know Hanna.” I offered as I finally spoke up. “Alright everyone it’s late, or early depending on how you view it, and while you all can stay up and screw around all you like I have to wake up in a few hours and deal with politics, and argue over our salvage. Delta! Make sure your hawks are put away before any curious government officials show up! The rest of you, enjoy your night err-morning!”

“Night Commander!”

“Night Vicky, sleep well!”

I walked out of the commissary groaning as my back ached, I had been forced to grab the Locust and deconstruct our FOB once we had secured everything. I didn’t want even a chance of a flyby coming over to see it. Still it had taken a while, and now I was exhausted, and yet still had to be ready for the politics to begin soon.

I headed to the Norman truck we had been using. I had no interest in using the damn barracks here, they were full of Pirate stink. I created a sleeping bag in the bed of the truck using my Noteputer. Slowly pulled off my armor and pump section of my Cooling suit, once I was comfortable I lay down, between the suit, and the warm planet, it wasn’t too bad. I settled in for a nap for a few hours.

—-

“Vicky wake up! Mr. Carolus is about thirty minutes out, apparently they want to come inspect the base to make sure everything is as it should be.” Benny told me, fighting back a yawn as he shook me lightly.

“Yeah yeah I’m up.” I grumble wiping the sleep from my eyes. Yesterday had been a long long day. The prep, the battle, the cleanup. We hadn’t even bothered moving the enemy mechs. The ShadowHawk was still in a river apparently, and the Javelin was a smoking wreck a few mountains away, we were gonna leave that to the Planetary Guard.

I stretched out slowly, staggering to my feet after sticking my boots on my feet. First thing first I headed inside, to use the facilities, before coming back out feeling a little more refreshed so I could put my armor back on.

Looking the part once more I passed many of my crew slumbering around the yard, some had stolen the other Normans truck bed to crash in, some had simply found a comfortable enough spot in the cafeteria, none had chosen to use the pirates former barracks.

I could already see the dust trail climbing up the mountain as I turned to Benny. “You get any sleep?”

“No. I tried for a nap, but I was too wired up. I’ll sleep after.”

“This might take a while.”

“Then I’ll be tired for a while.”

That was that. Benny was being all protective. Probably imagining how these guys were going to try and screw us over.

The convoy of military vehicles rolled in, a tank in the lead, although that rolled off to the side to let the rest come in once it seemed to notice there were no threats left. The fourth or fifth vehicle depending on how you count it was the same fancy hover car that I was sure belonged to the Colonel that thought we were a joke.

Fun.

The vehicles stopped, and it wasn’t just officials that stepped out, one of the trucks disgorged a horde of soldiers that started immediately going through the base. I ignored them. My only focus was on the two important people.

“Mr. Carolus, Colonel Maruska.”

“Commander! When my aide woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me the mission was complete I was shocked! I had to have them verify your message a few times before I was sure it wasn’t some mistake!”

“It was just a lance of Pirates Mr Carolus, it was nothing truly concerning.” I digress before the Colonel pushed the aide to the side.

“I don’t believe it. I don’t see their mechs, or any wrecks around here, hell your mechs look untouched, well where are the pirate mechs, let me guess they disappeared somehow escaping into the mountains?” He hissed and I blinked completely nonplussed.

“How dare you!” Benny reacted before I could break the tension. My SubCommander pushed past me, glaring into the face of the older man. “We fought for you and your planet, killed and defeated a Pirate band that has been causing you problems for months and the first word out of your mouth is to dismiss our honor!”

Before the Colonel could continue we all were interrupted, a van pulled through the military cordon, a large ‘VDX III’ on the side. As it stopped, out stepped what was a very recognizable sight. A reporter, followed by a cameraman immediately rushed over.

“Cynthia Cinus, of VDX III news! Can I get a statement about the defeat the of the Red Vultures?” She demanded shoving a microphone into the Colonel's face seeking answers.

Fuck reporters.

“How did you get here?” He demanded instead ignoring her question. “This is a military matter. Shut that camera off, or I will have you arrested!” But before any of the troops could move in the reporter responded calmly as if this was all expected.

“We were called here by Governor Maruska’s office. He wanted an immediate news report about the defeat of the Red Vulture Pirates.” She replied simply, offering the Colonel a gentle smile. “Shall we start again? Your father’s orders were quite firm.”

The Colonel took a moment to take a deep breath before the tension in his shoulders disappeared. “Of course Miss, Cinus? Go ahead, let's start again.”

“Perfect!” She turned to the Camera, “This is Cynthia Cinus, on site of the Treshira Military Mountainous Training Academy that has recently been the base for the infamous Red Vulture pirates! The Vultures after their Dropship malfunction fled into the mountains and claimed this base with gunfire, now thanks to the forethought and action of Governor Maruska who hired a Mercenary Company to clear the base we are safely standing in what was just yesterday a pirate base! Behind me is Colonel Maruska, the son of our beloved Governor and also the contact for the mercenaries! Colonel, what are your thoughts now that the Pirates have been defeated?”

I could see the Colonel swallow back his first response. “I am very pleased that the Pirate threat is dealt with, although we are still securing the location to ensure that none of the pirates managed to escape, or left any traps, so we are acting as carefully as we can. Now that they have been defeated, there is no point in allowing anyone else to come to harm just because we rushed.”

“A wise choice Colonel! Some say relying on Mercenary forces rather than our own guard to defeat the pirates shows weakness, but in just one day of landing the pirates are already defeated, what are your thoughts on our Mercenary saviors?”

Oh that was a rough question for the hostile Colonel.

“I am pleased at my fathers foresight in picking a Mercenary Company capable of handling the pirates, while we have not completely confirmed the pirates destruction we are standing in the base they once held against us, and they are nowhere in sight, once our men have finished confirming their destruction we will of course be ready to celebrate the end of this disgusting attack!”

Huh, he wasn’t a bad public speaker. He didn’t sound nearly as whiny as he usually did.

“Fantastic! You heard it here first folks! A celebration for finally making our planet safe again! And speaking of, Are you a member of our heroic mercenaries?” She asked turning to me, and I could see the Colonel move to interrupt, but I beat him to it.

“Victoria Eisen-Blume, Commander and founder of the Iron Blooded Orphans. We are pleased to have been able to protect our fellow Lyran Citizens from the Red Vultures.” I chirp out offering a warm smile, putting every ounce of ‘just because I’m a little kid, doesn’t make me not competent’ into my voice.

“Oh! Aren’t you just the most fascinating! Commander you say? How did you become the Commander of a Mercenary Group at such a young age?”

“We started off with some luck, my mother was a Lostech hunter in her spare time, when she wasn’t a Solaris Jock. She never had a big find, but she had collected enough bits and bobs she never did anything with. She sent me the information on where her stash was located when I turned fourteen. I sold most of it off, bought my first Battlemech, and my family at the orphanage all joined my Company. We started with just two mechs as we left Solaris, we now have a full Lance, and then some, not counting our other units, Infantry, motorized, armored, artillery, the only thing we don’t have on the field is air support, but we have a few units being trained as we speak with the 10th Skye Rangers. So we will be a complete Combined Arms Company soon enough.”

“Amazing! To have done so much as an orphan! And you brought other orphans into your Company! How many men are under your command?”

“I believe the last numbers were around three-fifty, or so. We had a large increase in recruitment when we fended off a League raid on Zaniah III, where we have a landhold. The orphans of the planet came because they wanted to fight for their world too. We didn’t turn any of them away.”

“So many! How impressive! Did you take part in the battle last night?”

“Not as such, we took this mission to gain some experience, not just for our main lance of mechwarriors, but for a secondary lance as well. Erica Tesla piloted the Locust that was my original mech during this battle. I stayed back letting my people complete this mission without me looking over their shoulder.”

“Is your Company expanding so fast that you need a second Lance of Mechs?”

“Well, considering we have a good salvage contract for this mission, we will likely walk away with at least one or two new mechs. So making sure we have the mechwarriors to pilot them was a priority.”

“How amazing! You heard it here first! The Iron Blooded Orphans our own smashers of Pirates are made up of orphans out of Solaris 7!”

“I think that is enough of that Miss Cinus, please step back to your vehicle until we have finished clearing this site, the… Commander and I have business to discuss.” The Colonel offered with a stiff smile, as the reporter took the hint and returned to her van.

“Oh? You don’t want to praise your fathers foresight in hiring us more?” I tease which earned me a swift glare.

“Don’t girl. Don’t. Don’t think I can’t have that broadcast altered at any time to tell the story about how a group of children made allies with the pirates and let them escape. I still don’t see any of the pirate mechs, and none of my men have reported them, so you better have an explanation!”

I turned to Mr. Carolus who looked worried at the change in the Colonels' tact. “Is this how you treat all of your mercenaries you hire? Insult them constantly, after they completed the job, are you hoping for some sort of outburst so you can get out of payment? I assure you that won’t be happening.”

“No no! That is not it at all!” Mr. Carolus looked quite stressed at this point. “Please Commander peace, we greatly appreciate you helping our people-”

“Shut up Virgil! No one wants to hear your bleating. Girl, I will not ask again where are the mechs?! If you think we are goin-”

“Benny?” I ask, interrupting this idiot's rant as I held a hand out, Benny pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of his armor and handed it over. I glanced over it for a moment before walking past the Colonel who had once more tried to invade my personal space to hand it to Mr. Carolus.

“Oh. Umm Commander, what is this exactly?”

“It is the current coordinates of every pirate mech. Most of them are just a little west of here in the forest, although the fire made securing them difficult. One is a bit farther away, the Javelin tried to run mid battle we had to hunt him down. The last a ShadowHawk is currently hidden in a river. The Pirate leader attempted to bail mid combat as well, but we tracked him down to a hut about twenty miles from here.”

“Why wouldn’t you secure the mechs yourself! Is this some trick!?” The Colonel once more tried to interrupt but I was done playing whatever game he was aiming for.

“Mr. Carolus. I am going to take my men and return to the base you supplied us as we recover from the battle, it would be in your best interest not to bring the Colonel to any further meetings, at this point, I will not be doing business as long as he is around.”

“Ah Commander, please don’t take it so personally, the Colonel just has a strong personality that’s all!” The aide attempted to brush this under the rug, but I was quite done being insulted.

“I’ll give you a few days to recover the mechs before we meet to discuss salvage. And Mr. Carolus. If the Colonel is present, I will be contacting an MRB representative to act in my place.”

“You bitch! Don’t talk as if you have any-”

For once the aide was smart. Mr. Carolus moved before the Colonel could do more than approach and grabbed his arm. “Understood Commander. We will talk in just a few more days!”

“Benny, go gather everyone up. I know some of them just went to sleep, but I don’t want to be here. Let’s get everyone back to a more secure location.” I whisper as I pull him close.

“Understood Commander.”

—-

“It’s weird.”

“It’s cool! Check it out Commander, your interview is getting crazy popular!”

Watching my face, my body, move on future television was so weird. More than a few news reporters and daytime TV analysts had spoken over what they had seen from me. Quite a few had questions about my ‘rather interesting armored uniform!’ during the talks.

I felt a little proud that my very not 80’s style was getting some interest. Although not all of it was positive. At least it was eye-catching.

“No, it’s weird. People all over the planet are watching me right now.”

“Yeah it’s great!” Erica was sitting beside me at the base's recreation room. We were both bored as we were stuck waiting for a response from the Governor's office, so I had found myself wandering around meeting with my people. Erica had been watching the news of all things.

About them.

“So these kids are out fighting the good Lyran fight, against the enemies of the Commonwealth! I support this! But they are still children, the fact they were the ones who fought these pirates and not older soldiers of the Commonwealth is a grievous sin!” One of the hosts argued, the man looked like an ex-soldier, with his scarred face, but he spoke with a gentle rhythm.

“I don’t condone children fighting any more than you do Mark, but you say that as if we should just bar them from any contract, what then? Let’s just refuse to give the orphans contracts and cut them off entirely, because we are afraid they might be hurt! That will kill them as surely as any enemy of the Commonwealth!” The second host offered, she was an older woman, her hair just starting to go gray, but she had a strong poise, and a powerful voice.

“No! Don’t put words in my mouth! I am not saying refuse them jobs, I am saying it is disappointing that our brave soldiers are having to be supported by children! These kids should be safe in a good home, with parents to take care of them, and a school to learn how to be soldiers when they are older!”

“On that Mark we agree, but it’s already happened, the Iron Blooded Orphans are already out there. The question I have is, what are we the Commonwealth citizens, patriots even, going to do about that?” She asked.

“Support them!” The third report added in, “As the elders of the Commonwealth it is our duty to guide children to the future, no matter what profession they choose. There is no reason we can’t support them in their path, and perhaps prevent a tragedy.”

“A tragedy is exactly why these children should not be doing this work! Children do not belong on the battlefield!”

On that, all of the hosts seemed to agree. Although none could seem to decide on what to do with us.

“Do you think they will try to stop us Commander? Take our mechs, or equipment?” Erica asked after a while.

“Doubtful. There are plenty of laws protecting our right to our own belongings. At worst they can try, which they won’t succeed regardless of what they do, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

It was a quiet minute as Erica seemed to be gathering her strength to say something. “They never cared before you know?”

“Yeah. We didn’t matter before, but we do now. Erica, as long as I am alive, I promise you and every other orphan will matter. I will make the world… Well I guess all the worlds acknowledge our existence.”

Erica had always been a little mousy, she had been shy in the orphanage, and had been shy on base, although productive. I don’t think I had ever seen her look fierce.

I did then.

“Next time we fight Commander, I’ll be ready. I learned a lot from last night's battle. I won’t hesitate so much, or make as many mistakes. Next time! Next time I’ll be better!”

“I know.” I couldn’t help but feel so proud of the girl's fierceness. She had grown so much already from the girl who had freaked out when she learned what it meant to be a Mechwarrior to now. A girl more than ready to jump onto a battlefield again.

“Vicky! We got a messenger from that Carolus guy. They want to meet with you.” Benny called out while jogging into the room.

“Oh. Good, did they say when and where?”

“Yeah, Now. They have a VTOL waiting outside to take you to Brattleson’s Depot. Apparently that’s the Planetary Capital? I think the Governor wants to talk this time… Vicky? This smells like a trap.”

“Nah, probably not, but it does seem off. Benny, make sure everyone is suited up, lock down the base, and make sure at least two mechs are hot and ready at all times until I call you or get back.”

“That I can do Commander. Good luck.”

“I don’t need luck Benny. I have a mercenary company.”

—-

Flying directly into the capital was an interesting experience. At least this Karnov VTOL didn’t make me want to die. The flight was actually quite pleasant, even having an on board stewardess to supply me with food and drink.

Apparently this was the Governor's personal transport.

It was pretty nice.

We landed not at an airport but literally at the planetary governor's palace. As I was led out I felt this could only be getting more serious.

I was guided through the large entryway but stopped before being able to enter any further. An obvious bodyguard held up a hand. “Any weapons need to be left here.”

I did have to stop and think about it for a moment, but I nodded, slipping my laser pistol off my hip, and the VibroBlade out of my sheath on my thigh, dropping them on the counter specified before they ran a scanner over my body.

It didn’t beep and a moment later I was being led further inside. I was led into a room that looked like it was made for important meetings. A large wooden table with four men sitting at one end, and a single chair at the other for me.

I smirked, oh this was going to be interesting. Fearlessly I strode in, armor not making a single noise as I sauntered up to the chair to claim it.

The Governor of Vindemiatrix was an older man, and he was sitting across from me at the head of the table. Beside him was his son the Colonel. Interesting. On the other side was a man wearing a Lyran army uniform, from his markings I believed he was probably a general of some sort, either an actual one, or just a social general.

Standing behind the Governor was Mr. Carolus. Hands full of papers and seemingly ready to move in.

It was quiet for a moment. The old man was watching me with strong brown eyes. Realizing he was either making a power play on me, or simply letting me speak first I went ahead and took it.

“Before we begin. Shall I contact ComStar and the MRB now, or do you wish to attempt to persuade me not to first, before I do it anyways?”

My my. That was quite a reaction. The governor’s neutral face grew quite annoyed, and I could see a flush run up the Colonels neck. Double interesting.

“Neither option will be required… I was informed about your request regarding Mark not being involved in any negotiation going forward. That will be honored. He is only here for one important task. Mark!” The old man's voice was gravel. Whiskey over rocks.

It was a pleasant voice. The harsh tone at the end was less so. I would not wish to be this man's underling and hear that tone, that is for sure.

“Commander Eisen-Blume.” The Colonel stood gathering my attention. “On behalf of the Barony of Maruska, I wish to offer my personal apologies for my actions to you and your company over the last week. I will offer no excuse other than I was having personal issues that had no connection to you, or yours. You did my planet, my family, and my people a service.”

I blinked. Very interesting. This is not how I thought this meeting would go. Reasonable nobles? Strange. Then again I realized. It was kind of hard to be aggressive against a group of mercenaries that were capable of doing a job that your entire military couldn’t.

I wonder if they even had any mechs left active after the raid. From my understanding the Original Red Vultures had dropped on the planet in multiple dropships. Letting loose a massive pirate raid.

In the end they had taken or damaged a majority of the planet's defenses and if not for the dropship failure in the end would have left with all of it.

Instead the pirates had lost a good chunk of their loot when the dropship failed.

So this planet's defenses may be particularly vulnerable until the LCAF sends reinforcements.

“I make it a policy, Colonel, to never pay more for something than needed. Peace can be an expensive purchase when ego, or revenge get involved. I accept your apology.”

The man bowed, “We are going to respect your wishes. Good day Commander.” He offered as he stood from the seat and walked out of the room.

“Interesting.” I couldn’t help myself.

“Oh?” The old man rumbled and I smiled at his voice despite myself.

“I do believe that is the first time I ever had nobility bow their head to me.”

“It will likely not be the last.” He offers “Shall we get to business then Commander Eisen-Blume?”

“That is what I am here for Governor Maruska.”

Mr. Carolus moved forward then. “Eh hmm. The Salvage for this contract is as follows. 1. Shadowhawk… Pristine condition. 1. Vulcan, Damaged condition. 1. Firestarter, Cockpit damage… 1. Javelin, Heavily damaged condition. 1. Panther, heavily damaged condition. 1 Locust… Pristine Condition.” Mr. Carolus took a moment to clear his throat again after reading off the list, his stutters over the pristine condition had me smiling, I didn’t even bother trying to hide it.

It was not very often that ‘salvage’ was perfectly working and undamaged mechs. Even if they are hardly as pristine as I might normally think, pirates aren’t known for their maintenance work after all.

“Per the Contract the Vedette tanks that were operated by the Pirates are not treated as salvage as they were commandeered vehicles from our planetary Militia.”

“Yes, I remember.”

He seemed quite relieved when I agreed and moved on. “Per the Contract, Salvage clause, 60% shares of all captured hardware are to be offered to the Iron Blooded Company upon completion of this contract with the Iron Blooded Company receiving first pick…” Mr. Carolus trailed off for a moment before the Governor spoke.

“We wish to discuss a mitigation of the salvage if possible.”

I leaned back. That was quite audacious. But not unexpected. I doubt they thought I would capture so many of the mechs in working condition.

“You are asking for a lot.”

“We are aware.” The old man's rumbling voice let out a weary sigh. “You did Excellent work. For us to act this way? It is an embarrassment I hope I will not live long enough to repeat.”

“That’s.. Candid of you.”

He nodded slowly, and as he did I noticed that despite his eyes being quite striking, his body wasn’t as strong as it appeared at first glance, his hands shook as he reached out to grab a glass of water on the table. Although the shaking dimmed. His hands never quite stood still. “We would like to claim the mechs. In total.” He finally offered.

“If you hadn’t just admitted to being embarrassed I would think you shameless. I will need more of an explanation than that before I even consider it. Especially what I would receive in exchange.”

“You are aware that the reason the pirates were stuck on my world is because of a dropship failure. While many of the Pirates managed to rally together and break out and take over the military base. Many of them were trapped inside the damaged dropship.” He took a sip of water as a slight break. “We have had them in our custody for months now. Pirates are not known for their eternal loyalty, especially when they have no hope of rescue, or escape.”

I nodded. I think I understood where he was going with this. “You know where the pirates are based out of.”

“I do. The Red Vultures have been preying on my people for over a decade. But now, we know where to strike back. And they have never been weaker. I would like you to consider taking a second contract while we put a hold on payment for the first. A contract to assist my military in an anti-pirate action.”

“You are asking me to not be paid for this mission, only to take another more dangerous mission.”

“I know. I did claim embarrassment in having to do so. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say desperation. I am old, young lady. In another few years I will be unable to lead, it will be up to my son to take over and protect my people. My son, that will take over a planet that has little defenses left. Even when the LCAF sends reinforcements, it may be too late then. When the Pirates eventually realize we have captured some of their people? They may already be planning on moving, once they do? We will be back to the same situation, a pirate raid every year or two. Claiming more of my people. Putting my family in danger.”

I sighed. There was really only one option I could take here. Asking to not pay me, and then send me against even more pirates? What kind of moron? What kind of insane fool would accept that?

“You are in luck Governor, sob stories happen to be a weakness of mine. And killing pirates a strength. Let’s talk about a new contract, and the assurances I will require.”

Me I guess.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8.1 Yo Ho Yo Ho A pirate's life.
3021
Gniezno System
Jump Point

The shudder back into realspace sent a shiver down my spine. That had been unpleasant, fighting off the taste of purple on my tongue. I continued my preparations. This was a rush job. It really was. I knew that, and I realized it might be stupid to jump into this, but sometimes a job fell into your lap that was too good to be true.

Like a pirate base on a previously assumed deserted world. A pirate base that had its own dropships. And maybe a jumpship as well somewhere. That would be trickier to get though, if it was even possible. But if we could capture everything here on the planet, well I would have all the excuses I would ever need as to why I suddenly had equipment.

So I had accepted the deal, readied my Lance of mechs and other units, and started prepping. Before we left Vindemiatrix I had filled a few trucks with equipment that I felt we might need. Most of it was just an excuse to be able to create anything I needed during this fight.

And it was likely going to be a nasty one.

“Commander Eisen-Blume. We have confirmation of heat signatures on Gniezno II that’s our pirates.” Captain Michaels of the Faint Gray, the Union Dropship we were taking to this abandoned world let me know. Unlike myself, he seemed completely unbothered by the recent jump.

Not really a surprise. “Good. I wasn’t that worried the intel was wrong, but it’s always good for confirmation. How long until we land?”

“Should take around ten days to reach the planet.” The captain replied.

“Okay. Any enemy contacts in system, they do apparently have a Jumpship.”

“None so far, but we won’t know if they even noticed our appearance for another few days.”

“Thank you Captain.” I turned from the bridge where I had been invited to stay in during the jump before heading down the curving halls of the Union.

“Commander?” Benny asked, sticking his head out of the room we had been using as I passed by.

“Confirmation that something is here, no jumpship so far. Let everyone recover, unlikely we will run into any trouble out here… And if we did we would be relying on the ASF and defenses of the union anyways, not like we can mobilize in space.”

“Understood. I’ll go make sure everyone is okay after the jump, you okay?”

“Just an odd taste in my mouth this time, I’ll be fine… Until we hit atmo. Then I’ll be puking my guts.” I grumbled as I passed him by, ignoring his teasing smirk as I continued down into the Union.

I paused at the infirmary. “He gonna live?”

The medic in charge of our health during this operation turned away from where he was checking some charts. “Oh the Colonel will be right as rain in a few days. He was unconscious for the jump to limit any trouble.”

“Good to hear. When he wakes up, tell him we have confirmation on activity on the planet.”

“Will do Commander.”

I continued my rounds down into the belly, our mech bay was active as usual. Lenden and Erica were both a bit tense with the battle ahead, although unless you knew him you couldn’t tell with Lendens actions.

“Alright keep it up, let’s do this!” He growled, knife in hand as he stared into the eyes of a older man, the grunt facing across from him also had a knife in hand. Both started slowly stabbing the knife into the table between their fingers. Playing an age old game of chicken. The crowd around them shouting encouragement.

“If you cut your fingers off you won’t be able to pilot.” I interrupted before the speed could really pick up causing an abrupt stop as the boy leapt to his feet, while the man simply stopped stabbing.

“Commander!” Lenden saluted something he had gotten into the habit of doing before his posture loosened. “So are they here, Vicky?”

“That’s Commander to an idiot who is trying to injure himself days before an important op.” I say as I reach over and grab the knife from his palm examining the damage from being stabbed into a metal table over and over again. Not much, since it was a copy of a SLDF Vibroblade, thankfully he hadn’t turned it on while playing his game. “I don’t remember issuing these as a toy.” I tell him and receiving a scowl in return.

“C’mon Vicky, no need to act like that I was just hanging out. It’s good practice!”

“Good at teaching you how to lose a finger, sure.” I poke him in the chest. “You need to be fighting fit in a few days, our operation relies on my Mechwarriors being ready. Why even take the risk when it gains you nothing, and can only cost all of us if you fail?”

He winced at that, I could tell if nothing else, pointing out that he had a responsibility to not injure himself had struck home. Through gritted teeth I finally got a response, “Sorry Commander. Won’t happen again.” I nod, handing the blade back, but we both stilled when the older grunt was snickering.

“You finding something funny?” Lenden asked, and I could tell I was about to break up a fight.

“Nah kid nothing, nothing at all.” He offered although the smile on his face meant he was lying through his teeth.

“Good then private in that case, get out of my mechbay.” I ordered, trying to head off the problem.

“Yeah sure ‘Commander’ let’s go boys, ain’t nothing interesting here.” The older man huffed as he stood and his little coterie sauntered out.

“Vicky, I. Sorry.” He muttered softly.

I just shook my head and nudged his shoulder “I need you in one piece. Can’t kill pirates without my heavy hitter.”

“Roger that Commander. I won’t let you down again.”

“I keep getting told that, but I haven’t been let down in the first place. C’mon we got confirmation that something is on this rock, and since it’s supposed to be a dead world it looks like we are on time.”

“Good! I need to prove to Hanna I’m just as good as her at killing pirates!”

“Well, if anything about this mission is right, you will get your chance. They are going to have the numbers advantage for sure.”

“Hah. We will win. We barely even got touched last time!”

“You did, and that was against an enemy that didn’t even know we were there until they were already beaten. These pirates have home field advantage this time. So let’s take this fight as seriously as it deserves. Life and death.”

“Tch, Fine, whatever you say Commander.”

I moved on, leaving Lenden to do as he liked as long as he wasn’t about to lose a finger to find Hanna. She was as always in the exercise room onboard.

The girl was completely unwilling to allow herself to not be perfect. Hanna was obsessed with making herself a mechwarrior whose name wasn’t just known but was feared.

I joined her for a time, running along the treadmill beside her until she hit the stop. “Any news Commander?” She asked as she wiped sweat from her forehead, even as she kept moving heading to the next piece of equipment on her mental list.

“Yeah, we have confirmation of heat signatures on the planet. So we have activity. Looks like they probably haven’t left yet.”

“That’s good. And bad… Are you sure we're ready for this Vicky?”

“Honestly? No. But we have good advantages. I know we will win in the end. We just have to do our best not to get injured doing it.”

“Ah that’s right, Vicky Combat doctrine order number 1. Don’t die.” Hanna jested as she started pulling up a weight.

“That’s right. Every battle we walk away from is a battle we have learned something from. We get better after. We just need to survive long enough that we get so good no one wants to mess with us.”

Hanna laughed, slowing her curls. “I don’t think that’s how that works Vicky, but hell, you're the Commander.”

“That’s right! I am, so the order is to stay alive. It’s just gonna be tougher this time. It’s not like we can surrender against pirates.”

“No. That won’t happen. I won’t let it.” Hanna grunted as she continued her exercises.

“I won’t let it happen either.” I told her. As I turn out of the workout room. With that most of my preparations are done. We just have to wait to get closer.

—-

“What’s going on?” I demanded as I entered the meeting room. I had been downstairs helping my people get their equipment in order for a potentially hot drop, as we were only house away from hitting atmo.

“Enemy ASF were launched, looks like they noticed us entering the system.” Colonel Maruska offered as he was staring into nothing waiting for answers, his brush with TDS still leaving him pale. Obviously the two of us weren’t allowed on the bridge while this was going on. The Captain needed his focus and didn’t want a couple of idiots getting involved.

“I see.” I felt a shiver of terror up my spine as I settled in beside him settling in to wait. While we had ASF and they were the best pilots Vindemiatrix had, that didn’t mean we were safe.

If our dropship was taken out, it wasn’t like we would survive. That would be it. Game over.

Thankfully about ten minutes before we would hit the atmosphere, a message rang out over the intercom. “Enemy ASF are knocked out, Retrieval of our ASF is under way. Landing procedure is beginning.”

“Well I guess that’s that then.” I mutter exhaling in relief. I watched the Colonel do something similar, the strong white grip he had on a coffee cup relaxing showing he was just as relieved as I was.

“Are you men prepared?” He finally asked me as we started feeling the turbulence of the planet's atmosphere.

“If they aren’t we are able to run to our deaths. So I suppose they are.” I told him which didn’t earn me anything but a slight deepening of the scowl on his forehead. Just because we were working together for this mission didn’t mean we liked each other.

He was still pretty butthurt that his dad had made him apologize.

The rumbling of the dropship hitting the planet already started the loops in my stomach.

An hour later I was in the driver seat of a Norman. I had basically filled the back of the truck with the Radio system I had made, giving us a pretty powerful jamming tool, and hopefully strong enough security the pirates wouldn’t be able to listen in. I passed by Carl as he took the second truck, Delta Ops already had their orders, as they drove off.

The planet was weird. It had once been a living world. With farms and cities.

Then it died. Apparently from what records the Governor had managed to pull, it had been a plague.

Thankfully it hadn’t been a human plague. Something had killed every plant on the entire world. Dead trees still covered the planet. They were gray husks that still stood, everything was gray. Thankfully there was nothing wrong with the air, or anything although there had been considerations about how long that would last. Without anything to refresh the air it would eventually turn toxic. But for now, it was still safe enough.

Not that I didn’t have everyone wearing their full sealed armor and Coolsuits anyways. I wasn’t taking any chances.

When it was my turn I pulled off the ramp, the Vedette tanks we had brought with us, having gotten off first in order to start securing the Union. Everyone was terrified of a sudden attack.

Lucky for them that wasn’t looking likely. I checked the sensor again and noticed the pirates were gathering but not to attack, they were in their little city. We had time. I pulled up the radio as I drove out to meet our Lance. “Alright Green Lance, we are on scout duty. Let’s go see what we can find.”

“Commander Eisen-Blume. I still feel having everyone stay at the base camp until we determine enemy movement to be the correct choice here.” Colonel Maruska interrupted, and not for the first time.

Seriously for a Colonel the guy was kinda terrified of being attacked.

“Negative Colonel, we have our own way of doing things. Don’t worry, we are going to make sure anyone who tries an attack on us doesn’t get anywhere with it. Commander Eisen-blume out.” I ended the communication firmly.

Seriously, the guy was terrified of these pirates.

Didn’t he know? Terrifying enemies was my job.

My Lance and I started heading into the dead forest. We had landed well within a hundred miles of the pirate ‘city’ so I had a solid image of their numbers and positions. As well as their traps.

The old city was still there, and they had taken it over. Using the Starport to house their dropships and unload loot. None of us knew who these pirates were selling their gear too, but it didn’t matter really. Whatever they had stolen that was still here, was about to be taken back.

The starport they were using had been moderately fortified, but it was obvious the pirates had planned on eventually being attacked. Most of the roads leading to the starport were blocked by falling buildings, or mines.

A few turrets were even set up around the port to give some extra punch.

But if you can see exactly where every mine is, they weren’t a threat.

Our dropship had landed about twenty miles from the western side of the city limits. This path would unfortunately be one of the tougher angles. It looks like the same thing that brought us to use this location as a landing had been noticed by the pirates as well.

Luckily the northern section of the city had less active defenses than the others.

It just had more mine fields.

I smirked watching the dust cloud that was the Delta Ops drive north. Their Norman didn’t just have the NightHawk suits resting in the back, it also had enough explosives to give these pirates a bloody nose. While they were doing that. Green Lance was meant to keep their attention. While the Colonels Guard Lance protected the dropship, and moved with us when we needed more punch.

I had fought for command of the tactics of the raid, it had been one of the sticking points I had been firm on. Governor Maruska could either leave me in command, or he could find another group of mercs.

Here we were.

“Sending first checkpoint to Green 3, Green 3, I want those spotting systems knocked out.”

“Understood Command. Green Lance, is on it!” Erica chirped out as she started guiding the Lance towards a group of infantry hiding in a building acting as spotters, I assumed. Considering they had radio equipment and were hidden in one of the few multi-story buildings in the area.

While my mechs ran off to start plucking eyes, I continued forward, driving basically into the city and finding a place to settle in.

I didn’t want the Colonel to know what was really going on, so as far as he was aware I was out scouting and jamming enemy communications. Sure I could have switched out and took over the Locust for a while but… There wasn’t a metal node in the area. Zero, Zilch, Nada. I was stuck with just what I brought with me, or whatever I could extract, so for now, I figured it was better to let Erica get some more experience. It was why I had brought her with after all. Over the next few hours I watched my kids work.

Green lance using large lasers to remove the scouts from existence without them being able to even realize they were in danger was step one for them.

Delta Ops, slowly working their way through the northern section of the city, dodging automated defenses, and mines, all the while getting closer and closer to their objective.

The Union defenses were getting better too. We had brought along some barriers in storage that they were putting up in case we were attacked. If they got those secured they might set up some turrets and the like.

About eight hours after we landed the Pirates finally did something.

“Green Lance, I am seeing enemy activity. Rendezvous at waypoint.” I called out as I ordered them back from their assault on any enemy daring to scout out the area.

“Roger that Command, Green Lance returning!” Benny responded back and I saw his Lance turn and start coming back, although they did come in at an angle to attack another group of pirate scouts.

“Guard Command this is Command come in.”

“Guard Command here, what is it?”

“Pirates are moving, we got two lances of fast movers coming to take a look. I’m gonna need my artillery unit for a bit.”

“... Fine. I’ll send them out. Should Alpha Lance join you?”

“Negative, in case any of them slip past us, I want to keep your mechs at the dropship.”

“Understood then Command, Guard Command out.”

What a prickly guy.

I watched as the two lances of mixed lights started moving west. The fact they were pirates was evident. The slower lights were getting left behind slightly, as their formation of two lances broke up.

“Command this is Artillery unit, in position.”

“Good to have you, Green Lance will set up here.” I pinged a new waypoint for their system. “Once they are in position I want them to bring the lights into firing range. We are looking for absolute battle value here, I want to remove from combat as many of these mechs as we can. Understood?”

“Yes Command! I know exactly what to do.” Elias offered and I could hear the fierce grin he must be having as the connection ended.

—-

A different perspective
Lenden ‘Motherfucking’ Scorch
Gniezno city ruins

Lenden was ready for this. His body was practically bouncing in his seat. Finally! Finally a chance to prove that he deserved to be here. That he was meant to pilot this mech.

And it was against pirates. Oh this was perfect for Lenden. He hated them, his parents had died in a pirate raid after all, this was just icing on the cake.

After a moment a voice came over the radio, the crackling that was on the line whenever Vicky was jamming, hardly dimming Bennys voice. “Alright, Green Lance, are in position. Remember we are hitting them aiming for maximum removal, we want to reduce the pirates combat effectiveness. But don’t take risks. If any of us take too much damage it’s a failure.”

“We’ll be fine Benny, these Pirates are gonna be in for a real shock.”

“Let’s take this seriously Lenden. This isn’t the time for fuckups.”

“Yeah yeah. I know. I’m focused!” Lenden agreed, although despite that he could still tell Benny was annoyed with him. Why? He agreed with him! Fucker, Lenden didn’t get why Benny was always on his ass. Well. At least he knew Benny was also willing to back him up.

Even if he was still a motherfucker.

“I’ve been waiting weeks for this.” Hanna hissed into her mic, and despite her not saying something, Benny didn’t say anything to ‘her’ why was it always him that made everyone try to convince him to be serious. He was serious!

“They are here.” Erica’s voice echoed out and all words stopped as we watched the road they were coming down.

The first mech to meet up with them was a Commando. It was also the first to get a surprise double Large laser shot to it’s face. It had turned a corner and Hanna and Benny had been ready. As agreed they took the first shot. Bastards.

The Commando didn’t appreciate the shots, and it took the hit hard, the SRM launcher on it’s arm split nearly in half as it raised the arm to try and protect itself. It was pure luck it didn’t explode and the Commando quickly spun back around behind cover.

I waited. Whatever happened I would be there, although really only Erica would know in advance.

“Jumpers are coming up on our right, two Javelins. The rest are preparing a push.”

“Alright, Lenden, go show those jumpers what they are dealing with, Erica, keep us up to date. Artillery Unit, once they push, blunt them.” Benny ordered out and that was all they had time for. The Javelins jumped on to the buildings on our right, just as the mechs started pushing.

Hanna and Benny let loose, firing a barrage of weapons. Large and Medium lasers slashing out along with the plumes of their LRMs firing.

I turned up, nearly bending over in order to get the shot I needed. While the Javelins fired their SRMs, I fired back.

Their SRMs smashed into me, but it wasn’t enough to stop the scorch. The green light ripping into one of the Javelins, and it went down, enough of the lasers had hit something that it crumpled onto the roof.

Which is about when the rain fell.

The light mechs push faltered immediately as incredibly accurate LRM fire came down, LRM after LRM shattering into the mechs causing many to stumble backwards to try and find cover. There wasn’t any. We had picked this road, because the buildings around it were pretty solid, no alleyways or overhangs to hide under. Hanna and Benny acted like a bulwark, as the lights faltered and started moving backwards but they had already pushed too hard. Even Erica’s dinky SRMs were fired into the fray although I could see if any of them did any damage.

Sure the light mechs retaliated, but it was carving lines into our armor even as we took limbs. I turned to the second Javelin, even as my cockpit dumped heat onto me. My armor kept me just on the side of sweating but not too bad, even as I lined up the shot.

That was enough for the Javelin. It ditched back over the side of the building it had come from, realizing it was in trouble. I cursed realizing I didn’t have a shot.

“Fucker!” I roared as I turned and instead aimed into the fleeing light mechs.

Green light flew, and scorched into the back of a few of them as they tried to run.

Between everything only four managed to get away. None of them untouched.

We quickly took care of the remaining pirates, going around and making sure their cockpits were clear.

No mercy was given.

—-

An hour later we were loading up the damaged light mechs onto cargo trucks and hauling them back to the union.

The Colonel joined the group in his Shadow Hawk, and despite himself I could tell he was impressed. Not that he would ever say it. As I was standing by sitting on the hood of my Norman watching the rapid pace of the men grabbing the light mechs off the street he had walked up to me, but hadn’t said anything yet.

“This was their mistake, but we let too many of them escape, they will be more ready next time. They will probably send their heavier tonnage.”

“I know. We will be ready when that happens… I’m impressed. Commander. Your men took on double their size, if not weight, and came out with barely a scratch. You did the same on Vindemiatrix, that’s not something just anyone can pull off.”

I turned to look at the older man, who looked like he was fighting with himself. But eventually he took a deep breath and exhaled.

“I apologized before, but you probably think it was fake. It wasn’t. During the Vultures raid I lost my fiance. She was in my Lance, we had been together for a long time… I was tricked. They completely ran circles around my lance, by the time I realized… The Firestarter overheated me, with my mech locked up. They took out the rest of the Lance… I ended up having to eject as they were aiming for my cockpit. I watched them take out the rest of the Lance.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don't be. You killed some of the monsters that killed them. Now you killed some more. Thank you.” He sighed once again then straightened, and the man that had looked so defeated a moment before was gone. Hidden away. “They might run. Now that they know we can fight. They might think this planet isn’t worth it and get in their dropships. We won’t be able to stop them with just our two ASF.”

“Oh, yeah I already considered that. Don’t worry. They aren’t going anywhere.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Kinda hard to lift off when one of the hangar bays on your dropship won’t close because a bomb went off.”

He blinked looking at me in confusion, not quite putting two and two together. “The bombs should go off in… About ten minutes.”

“Bombs. How did you plant bombs on their dropships? That doesn’t make-”

“Colonel.” He stopped talking as I interrupted. “Don’t ask questions we don’t want to answer. Just know that it’s taken care of. Now we start harassing the pirates. Right now they don’t know what we are doing because we plucked their eyes. So we move. We attack from an angle they won’t ever expect.”

He was silent for a time. “How can you be sure that you didn’t miss a scout, or a sensor?”

“We didn’t.” Was all I offered to him. Instead returning my focus back on the inside of my Norman, and the radio system inside. I hadn’t quite managed to figure out how to listen in on the pirates radio… Yet.

—-

A different perspective
Gauge Blake
Zaniah III
RedBase

“Say that again?”

“There are four huge containers being delivered. The trucks are already being moved through security. Thought you should know?

“Huh. Alright fine. I’ll go take a look Mary. Thanks.”

“Sure thing!”

Gauge stood up stretching out. Being in charge of the entirety of RedBase was not fun. Especially since he was trying to dedicate all his time to setting up classes and school for the advanced knowledge from the Core.

Already the Repair unit was advancing their knowledge. Sure, Experience might mean a Mechtech on Solaris would easily show them a thing or two, but the days of them not even knowing where to start were disappearing. Especially with all the mech repair classes.

Gauge had happily sat through those himself.

Still as he stepped out of his office and into the busy hallways of the base he couldn’t help but smile. Everything was so busy, and everyone was learning! He truly felt like he was making a difference. Even if he really wanted to grab the Memory Core and hand it to everyone who he could just to spread it without limit.

But even he hated the idea of it falling into the hands of the Kuritans.

He pulled his hood over his head as he stepped out into the Zaniah heat. It didn’t help much, but it kept him from burning up whenever he forgot to put on the sun screen.

Outside a truck was already waiting for him. Marcus waved him over as he slid in. “Marcus, what are you doing here?”

“Oh nothing. I was just around, you are going to check the deliveries right?”

“Yessss. What do you know and why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?”

“Nonsense! I am always here to protect my family! The containers are legit, and safe. Vicky warned me about them before she left.”

“Oh Great. Now I really feel bad. If this is another Vicky plan…”

“Yeah it’s great!” The other boy offered with a grin as they drove down the smooth path, towards a delivery drop off point. When they first got here, the road would have been dirt and dust, now it was well maintained Ferrocrete. The four large trucks carrying four large containers were obvious enough to Gauge's eye.

“What’s in them?”

“What? And ruin the surprise?”

“I am the Commanding Officer. I could order you to tell.” Gauge grumbled, but that just earned a laugh.

“Yeah you could, but you are too serious to abuse your authority like that. HomeGuard have already checked the containers. It’s safe.”

“Great.” Gauge stepped out watching as the four trucks were already unloading the containers in the marked location. It didn't take more than a few minutes for the Trucks to have dropped off the large metal containers before they rumbled back out of the base.

“Well you gonna open them?” Marcus teased as Gauge sighed, moving up he pulled the latch. The crowd of kids around him was making his bad feeling grow stronger.

“What sort of bullshit did you drop in my lap Vicky?” He wondered as he turned on a light and what was in the container was visible enough.

“Oh you bitch.”

“OH MY GOD! NEW MECHS!”

“OH I WANT TO PILOT IT!”

“NO ME ME! I’VE GOT BETTER SCORES THAN YOU!”

“Marcus. I am going to get you for this.”

“Nah. You are going to get Vicky for this.”

“That too.”

Each container carried a slightly beat up, but still serviceable STG-3G A Stinger. It was a perfect light mech for jump jet training. Although a Chameleon would of course be better. Gauge could understand Vicky's thoughts on it. A Chameleon if you could get one were almost five million C-bills if not a lot more due to their scarcity. These Stingers? 1.6 mil and probably cheaper because of their rough condition.

So Vicky had bought four training mechs for the price of one. Smart.

If not for the fact she hadn’t told him, so now the entire base would know about the four new mechs.

“Why am I in charge!? I just want to study!” He cried out as all of the supposed soldiers around him kept tugging on his arms to get his attention.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8.2 Yo Ho Yo Ho A pirate's life.
3022
A different perspective
Red McHannon The Red Vulture
Gniezno City Pirate Enclave

Red had been a pirate all his life. His mother had been a pirate, his father a pirate. His grandfather had been a pirate. It ran in his blood.

Like any pirate that had done it long enough and wasn’t living in Tortuga, there was an understanding. Sometimes you were in the good times. Sometimes in the bad times.

The fact he was running around in a Battlemaster now instead of his old Shadow Hawk? Well. These weren’t entirely the good times. He had a few setbacks. Minor things, losing more than he was gaining despite winning every raid. Then this recent Vindemiatrix raid was the tipping point, while he won he took a lot of damage. And then a chunk of the raided goods were lost.

An idiot had his dropship shot out from under him, losing a third or more of all the loot, mechs, equipment that was going to be used to repair the salvaged mechs. He had lost a good chunk of their supplies, and now? They were being attacked by mercs.

“Fucking idiot. I hope that moron Darrien got tortured before they hung him.” He grumbled out to Analise.

“Too late now to care one way or another. You know what this means. Once they find our home it’s only a matter of time before someone comes. We ain't big enough to send off a real fight.” She tells him as she slugs back her drink. “They got our scent, they aint ever gonna stop hunting us here.”

“I know! I know, woman. I was hoping those idiots had all died before they could blab. But I started making preparations anyway, didn't I? Ain’t I a fucking pirate king? Ready for when shit goes bad?” He was always prepared. Plus even if he had to ditch this group, as long as he walked away with enough equipment, he could always reach out to his old supplier. He had done good work for over a decade. They would probably outfit him again.

“You did Red, you did.” She agrees and like always with that woman Red can never tell if she was agreeing or fucking with him. Didn’t matter. He was in charge. And well… she was his girl. If she wanted to fuck with him, he would allow it. As long as she didn’t do it in front of the men. Couldn’t afford that.

“Alright. Let’s set the fucking bombs, and get out of here. Hope they enjoy sucking fumes. Hehahahahaha!”

“It will still be a bit before everything is on board the dropships Red. We might want to keep the bombs under wraps for now, until we are ready to take off anyways. Don’t want any of the men to get ideas.”

“Yeah you may be right there my girl. Alright, well let’s go bust some balls. I want our shit packed to go before these asswipe mercs get it into their head to go on the attack.”

“Unlikely. Romero only saw four mechs, and what he thought were probably LRM carriers. If they have more mechs, they can only bring so many. That is a Union they came in on after all.”

“Yeah yeah. I know they have limited carry! But Mercs are crazy. Never doubt they will do something stupid.”

“Yes Red. I’ll keep that in mind.” Again he wasn’t sure if she was actually agreeing or not.

“Doesn’t matter, we can hold them off easy enough. We got enou-”

The explosions rattled the windows from his bedroom, and he was on his feet before he realized what had happened. He rushed out the door Analise was on his six, the woman keeping up with him like always, he made it to the window that looked in on the starport and saw fire dead bodies…

“Tell me that didn’t just fuckin happen.”

“Sorry Red. Looks like they got us. They hit our dropships somehow. Those hangar bays… That’s a week's work. For each ship.”

“Can we rush it?”

“If we did, we wouldn’t be able to use the hangar at all. Anything inside would be scrap by the time we left atmosphere.”

“Fuck That’s two hangars down… They would riot if we tried to leave that many mechs behind.”
“Red?”

“Ain’t no way an enemy got in.” The woman blinked for a moment before her eyes narrowed, for once agreeing with him. “Keep an eye out, I want to know who the traitor is. Gonna need to take them out before we lift off regardless now. Someone from Loki or some such working against us means nowhere is safe as long as they are alive.”

“A witch hunt after this, might cause some issues Red.”

“Yeah Morale’s gonna take a dive, unless we set it up another way. Get everyone ready, we can’t wait anymore, we prep an attack. If we wipe out the mercs, then we have all the time we need to finish fixing our ships. And kill the traitor.”

“You want to attack the mercs? Is that wise? Losses would be… High.”

“I’m sure. Maybe our enemies will kill our traitor, solve the problem for us. Regardless, keep an eye out. You got good eyes for this sort of thing.”

“You got it Red. I’ll go prep everyone.”

“Yeah go do that. I’ve got some fires to put out.” Red cursed whoever had done this had really fucked him raw.

—-

We had been preparing a position to start causing some trouble for the pirates when before we were ready, they moved out on their own. I wasn’t even the one who noticed it first. “Commander! Enemy movement. Looks like they are sending trouble towards the dropship.”

“Good catch!” I radioed out as I switched my view to the starport. Mechs were readying and moving out. And this time it wasn’t all lights.

Although they were there too.

“Alright. I am gonna rush this. Erica, get ready to swap with me.” I called out from the cockpit of the Locust. I had been spending the last hour or so preparing a nice little killing field for the enemy

I did my best to continue finishing my current project even as I started sending out more radio messages. “Green Lance, poke them.”

“Roger that Commander!”

“Artillery Unit, get ready, I want them to think you aren’t here until they move too close to escape.”

“Understood!”

“Command to Guard Command, come in.”

“I am here Command.”

“Colonel, we have enemy movement. It appears they didn’t much care for our dropship surprise. Get your mech Lance moving. Sending you waypoints. I want to draw them in to Green Lance and have Alpha Lance come in behind them.”

“That we can do Commander. We will begin moving.”

“Good hunting.”

As the line went dead, I finished the last of the trap. “Alright Erica, move your ass. I want to be out of the way before this kicks off.”

“Understood Commander!”

We switched as fast as we could, I nearly slid down the rope ladder to get to the ground as I rushed to my Norman. Jumping in I turned the truck around and headed out of the way. No way was I sticking around without a few tons of Battlemech armor between me and them.

“Erica. You got the trigger?”

“Yes Commander!”

“Good save it for the right time.”

“I will Commander! I promise.”

—-

A different perspective
Jason Daniels
Gniezno city ruins

Jason stomped behind the array of mechs he was following. His Rifleman was the heaviest mech here. The only heavy sent out to take care of this. But then again. A lance of lights, a lance of mediums, and a heavy for support usually ‘solved’ most problems. At least in his experience.

But Jason wasn't in charge despite having the heaviest mech which was odd for pirates. No he let the others take that job. He just wanted to survive another battle.

He hadn’t wanted this life. But sometimes bad decisions followed by more bad decisions lead to you being labeled a pirate and forced out of polite civilized society, but Jason didn’t plan to spend his life like this, he was saving up his ‘pay’ from the raids, a few more, and he would be able to get out of this life, start a farm somewhere on a periphery planet. Old Vanessa his Rifleman would suit that sort of life. Just living and when some asshole pirate comes by, He’ll take his Rifleman and clear em out.

At least that is what he told himself.

Yet here he was. Following a group of men that only sometimes didn’t scare the piss out of him. But he also knew what would happen if he was captured.

Very rarely was there a punishment other than a short death awaiting them. So he moved with his group, his intentions clear.

They of course weren't expecting to be hit from the side. The LRMs dropped out of nowhere, and Dans Comando smashed to the ground. He didn’t get back up.

“Fuck! Check for spotters! Follow me!” Kurin called out the Japanese man ordered over the line as he turned his Cicada towards where the LRMs were coming down. His Lance followed, and where the mediums went, so did the lights. Jason followed from behind, slowly lagging behind the fight.

It started in front of him, through scattered callouts over comms the lances had run into a Lance of mostly mediuns holding a street. Their LRMs were accurate though. Damage was accumulating up before the battle had even started.

“We are pushing through. Mediums, catch their attention so we can get them!” Kurin called out, a common tactic, grab the enemies attention with the big mechs, while the lights pushed past, surrounded. It had worked perfectly well on the last planet they had been on. What was it? Vindi-whatever.

It didn’t matter. Everything was going well, a moment after the call it would start happening. Jason could picture it in his head, it’s why a moment later that one thing happened he wasn’t expecting. An explosion.

A big one.

“Hey what happened! Report!” He called out even as he kept old Vanessa moving at full speed, hoping that something bad hadn’t just happened.

When he turned the corner he couldn’t believe it at first. The street was trashed covered in dust, and smoke, fires breaking out everywhere, but worse were the mechs. Smashed and scattered. And the four enemy mechs that all turned and focused on his mech.

“Fuck.” He managed to say before the alert on his dash started up.

‘Warning Missile Incoming’ was lit up red and blinking.

“Fuck.”

—-

“Well what have we learned?” I asked as I finished tying the bandage around Erica’s shoulder.

“Don’t get shot in a Locust? Ow!”
“Not really what I was going for, but yeah, I learned that lesson too. Don’t worry you’ll be fine, and get a nice bitching scar out of it when you are all healed up.”

“I don’t feel fine.” She whined. The Locust had taken a nasty barrage of fire during the enemy's attack. It’s right side had a few shots go internal, and some shrapnel had kicked up.

The armor she was wearing had likely saved her life. “C’mon let’s get you to a real medic on the dropship, they can take care of the rest.”

“W-what, but Command-OW!” She whined when I tightened the bandage for a moment.

“You are in no condition to fight Mechwarrior. You did your job. I do believe you took about ten times your weight in metal with that scheme? Good job.”

“W-what It wasn’t me! I just suggested it! You were the one that could do it!” She whined but I smiled down at her proudly.

“Yeah but I hadn’t thought of setting up explosives under the road like that, none of the enemy mech's sensors could read it but sending a signal through was easy. Just a little antenna through the ferrocrete? Brilliant. Congratulations Lieutenant. I do believe that deserves a commendation!” That slipped out of my mouth and it took me a moment to realize what I had just said. “Fuck that means I have to come up with medals and awards now huh?”

Erica broke into a stifled giggle that ended when she clutched her shoulder “Don’t make me laugh Vicky, it hurts.”

“Yeah yeah c’mon let’s get you out of here. The Alpha guys should be here soon, when they do, I’ll have them drive you to the Dropship. I’ll take the Locust for now. Don’t worry I won’t let her take any more damage. She’s your ride now, not mine.”

“C-Commander!”

I chuckled at her protest but I had other things on my mind now. Because our allies just arrived. Watching them take stock of the devastation around us was quite the treat. The mechs slowed to a stop and it was only a minute later that trucks and infantry showed up. The looks of awe at the amount of mechs laying around the room filled me with a certain pleasure.

We would be getting a reputation on Vindemiatrix at this rate.

Although unfortunately we hadn’t done this unscathed. Besides the Locust, Bennys Centurion was beat to hell. It had been a large focus of the enemy mechs. Lenden lost an arm, but his Scorch was still fighting fit, just.. A little light on armor.

Hanna had taken some nasty hits, but her training had shown results. Other than losing her shield arm, her mech was still ready to go. Light damage otherwise.

And before the bombs went off, her mech had probably done the most damage too. She was getting nasty with that large laser. Her accuracy was scary.

“Commander.”

“Colonel.” I called out to the man, after he dismounted his Shadow Hawk.

“Why would you do this? No better yet, how did you even do this?” He broke out immediately. The man was wearing his mech clothes, so little but a pair of shorts and a pistol but nonetheless I kept my face serious.

Even if it was funny.

“Bombs.”

“Bombs… The pirates walked into an area that you had bombs?” He asked exasperated.

“Well obviously.”

“Commander. Please don’t play games with me, this is ridiculous! How did you place enough bombs to do this without them noticing! And in only… what twenty minutes?”

“Colonel Maruska.” I stated firmly breaking him from his demanding ramble. “I have my ways. The same way I was able to damage the enemy dropships. Drop it. Be thankful that we are on your side.”

He visibly bit his tongue to keep from asking questions. “Fine. Keep your secrets. Good job Commander. You defeated the pirates, and turned all of the salvage, that we need into scraps! I’ll have my retrieval team get on this.” He was mad, and I could kind of understand why.

I looked over the devastation. The remains of the enemy mechs, and they were remains. Those caught in the explosions had been wrecked as if hit by artillery. Because that was about how much boom I had created. Some of the light mechs weren’t even salvage at this point, you might as well just call them scrap. But what did I care? We defeated a vastly overtonned enemy, more mechs, more tonnage, and we did it with minimal damage, although I was still mad about Erica’s injury.

Because the mechs weren’t my objective. I turned slightly to look down the street towards the Starport. I had another object in mind.

“Alright. We are going to head back to the dropship to re-arm. We are low on everything, and my Pilot needs medical.” I point out Erica who was already being fussed over.

“Absolutely. Let us take care of this. I doubt the pirates have much left to fight back with.” He offered, still sounding exasperated but at least happy that the enemy weren’t much of a threat anymore.

“A Battlemaster, and a Thunderbolt.” I tell him idly, the last two mechs definitely had me concerned.

“W-what?” Before I could respond my shoulder was grabbed. “Did you say a Battlemaster?”

“Yeah, I got confirmation from my scouts. Their last mechs are a Battlemaster and a Thunderbolt.”

“That’s my Battlemaster.”

I blinked at that before wincing internally. This just got complicated didn’t it?

“You know… When your father asked for a clause that said your personal mech wouldn’t be counted as salvage if we recovered it, I really should have asked what it was first huh?”

He snorted letting me go although I could see his hand still shaking. “Yeah. Well I want it back. So…”

“Focus on the here and now Colonel. Get this metal secured, get it back to the ship, they aren’t going anywhere. We’ll get them. Green Lance just needs to re-arm, and we are good to go.”

“Not this time. I’ll be leading with Alpha this time, your Green Lance has done enough.”

“Don’t be stupid. My mechs will support yours then. We are low on armor anyways. But don’t think we aren’t coming. These are pirates. You never know what kind of nasty tricks they are gonna use.”

He burst into laughter so loud it shocked me and I looked at him like he was crazy. He took a moment to look around the devastation around them. “Yeah Commander, I'm not that worried about nasty tricks right now. I have a master of them on my side.”

I actually flushed a little at that. That was a surprisingly nice compliment from the prickly Colonel.

—-

We went back to base, Erica went straight to the medical bay, while I walked around in the Locust. It was too damaged to do much at this point, I was going to have to be very careful about my right side…

“No charging the Battlemaster.” I whispered to myself as everyone was re-armed. The LRM carriers and the Artillery group were still out with the Alpha Lance, they were covering the recovery of the downed mechs.

All the while I kept an eye on the sensor watching the enemies two remaining mechs. Wondering what they were going to try. Both were a serious threat. Even with us out numbering and out toning them.

Then they did something I didn’t expect.

They started preparing to lift off.

“Fuck. Command to Alpha Lance come in!”

“Alpha here.”

“Enemy are making a break for it, looks like the damage to the hangar wasn’t enough to completely stop a liftoff.”

“Fuck! I’m on my way.”

“No Colonel! They still have enough defenses that you won’t make it in time. Send your ASF. We can remind them they aren’t getting away with a fly over.”

“Fine..” The line went dead after a moment as he reached out to his command channels to ready the ASF.

“Command to Delta, come in Delta.”

“I’m here Commander.”

“You seeing this?”

“Sure am Commander. But it’s crazier than you think. The whole place is going crazy. I think they are killing each other right now, instead of worrying about you.”

“What? They are attacking each other?” I mean, I know they are pirates, but surely being attacked and having an obvious threat is something they put more concern into.

“Oh yeah, gunfire and everything. The whole place is going up.” Carl sighed over the line. “Want us to set off the bombs Commander?”

“No not yet… Wait until we move to engage. That will be the best time to do it, maximum shock.”

“That I can do Commander!”

“What the hell is going on over there?”

—-

A different perspective
Red McHannon The Red Vulture
Gniezno Pirate City

Red was getting really tired of this. “TRAITORS ALL OF YOU!” He screamed as he blasted another one of the damned traitors in the head. He had been attacked! Him! Some of his men actually thought they could kill him and take over. Now of all times? No this was the act of a traitor. He just needed to know who it was. Who was plotting against him? Setting him up like this?

“Analise! Is the dropship ready for liftoff?”

“Yes Red! The captain emptied the damaged hangar, they managed to weld the door mostly shut, it will hold breaking orbit. Or at least that’s what he said.” She offered standing tall beside the group of kneeling men he had captured trying to betray him. Him! He had given them everything! Just because times were going bad, doesn’t mean you stab your king in the back!

“Good. Stuff these assholes in that hangar. I don’t want to waste any more ammo on them.” Their terrified bleating was something that easily washed over him. Wouldn’t be the last time he heard people begging him for Mercy after all.

“Understood Red. I’ll tell the-” They both heard it.

ASF engines roaring overhead. They both ducked down, hoping that any bombs that might be dropped would be survived. But nothing happened, and Red realized something worse.

“They are circling. They know we are trying to take off.” He felt his stomach drop. If the dropship's fusion drive was going before the ASF even lifted off, they would get away without a problem. But if those birds were in the air? “They trapped us.”

“It seems so Red.”

“How… how did they know? I only told…” He looked to his girl who met his eyes without concern. “I want off this rock too. Makes no sense for me to do it. Doesn’t make sense for the captain either. He will lose his dropship if we get taken out.”

“Right… You're right. Just the paranoia.” He muttered although he couldn’t help but keep an eye on her out of the corner of his eye. Paranoia wasn’t always right, but it was always better to trust your instincts.

“What do we do Red, we can’t take off with those birds in the air… And we lost our Rifleman.”

“I know! Fuck. They just had to get wiped! I wish I knew what happened, those fucks. They didn’t even tell us what these fucking mercs were up to. I feel like we have been fighting blind the whole damn battle!”

“We have. They killed all of our scouts… Again something pointing to a traitor. But even I don’t know where all the scouts were stationed.”

“No one does! I fucking don’t even know!” He stops not because of a thought, but because of the gun pressed against the back of his head. He opens his mouth to talk to argue, but the bullet silences that entirely.

—-
The Killers Perspective.
Analise?
Gniezno city ruins

“What a waste.” She sighs, two years of work gone. All because this idiot got his base found out, and managed to get outwitted by a merc company. Well at least there is one benefit to the entire situation she considers. “At least I got to be the one to kill him.”

Two years of dealing with this scum. Two years of trying to aim him at an enemy of the Commonwealth. And finally when he started considering it?

Mercs. It’s always mercs. Analise thought as she turned and headed to the communication room. A few rounds through the scum causing trouble and she was free to make a call without interruption. The pirates were too busy fighting or trying to get on the Dropship. Without realizing that dropship wasn’t going anywhere now.

Flipping through a few switches she sat down. “This is an emergency request looking for the Commanding officer of the mercenary forces. Please come in.”

It was silent for a while as she waited. She knew they had received her message.

“This is Commander Eisen-Blume. I have command here. Who are you?”

The voice surprised Analise, it sounded young. Very young. But it looks like Analise was in luck. She spoke with a Lyran twang. Solaris accent? Something close to it. Interesting. “Apologies Commander, I can’t say we have ever been acquainted, May I ask for confirmation on who’s contract you are currently working under?”

The voice was silent for a time. “I am currently under contract with the Governor of Vindemiatrix. It’s an interesting question. What’s your angle here?”

How cute. “I am simply confirming your allegiance before I say anything further. Commander I am requesting assistance, a face to face meeting. We have a lot to discuss.”

“I don’t usually make time for pirates. My go to is a bullet. I am going to need an explanation here.”

“There are more interests present than you understand, but nothing I will say over an unsecured radio. A meeting face to face. If it helps your movement. There are only two mechs still active. My Thunderbolt which I will be heading for soon, and a Battlemaster whose pilot just had an unfortunate accident.”

It took a while for the response to come but when it did Analise smiled internally. “If you step out with your Thunderbolt and shut down, we will have our face to face.”

“Excellent.”

—-

The operation to clear out the starport went very fast after that. The enemy didn't have any mechs left. We moved in, stomping what resistance there was, flat, not that there was much. Once we had the port secured the Dropships surrendered ‘thanking’ us for saving them and their crew from the vile pirates. And of course in exchange for not nuking their own ships they would be treated as pirate captives instead of pirates themselves.

But we all knew what was truly going on. The crew of the dropships would be carried back to a Lyran planet and released, but none of them expected to be treated super well. At least they would survive.

What was more interesting was the Thunderbolt waiting outside the port, right where they said they would be. Shutdown, and as my Lance came up hatch opening. Out stepped a woman, early twenties, wearing the most risque outfit I had ever seen.

And that came with Mechwarriors wearing almost nothing when in the cockpit. I slipped out of my own cockpit, still wearing my armor in case of any tricks, as I walked out to figure out what the hell was going on.

Colonel Maruska joined me, his Shadow Hawk still his main ride for now, despite us retrieving his Battlemaster. Apparently they had already changed the security system, so it would have to be fixed before he could pilot it again.

As I approached the woman, she was paying ample attention to the Colonel for a moment, seeming pleased before turning her attention to me. I could see her interest in my armor, as her eyes roved over it, but I was used to that. And it was expected.

“Commander Eisen-Blume, and unless my guess is wrong, Colonel, Maruska, of the Vindemiatrix guard.” She offered, her voice almost unconsciously sultry.

I could see his fist clench as he was forced to speak to a pirate, one that had raided his home, causing such stress, but he bore with it staying firm.

I interrupted before anything else could be said. “You requested a meeting. As I said I don’t usually meet with pirates, make it quick.”

“I’m not a pirate, I’m a member of LIC, Lohengrin division.” She states plainly with a gentle smile waiting, as I took this in.

The Colonel didn’t hold back unlike me, he denied it instantly. “Bullshit! I recognize that Thunderbolt, you think I wouldn’t recognize it? You were one of the raiders that attacked my world!”

“Yes I was. An unfortunate requirement for my job of infiltrating the Red Vultures.” She offered before turning to me. “I don’t have any credentials to prove my status of course, but if you take me back to civilized space, a stop at an HPG terminal will provide proof of what I say.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Lohengrin works to protect Lyran citizens from terrorists, the Red Vultures don’t really fit.”

“That is because you aren’t aware that the Vultures had backers. I never got confirmation on who unfortunately. Although the fact I was in the midst of convincing Red to switch from raids on Lyran worlds to League worlds? Probably Fedsuns, or Capellans. Not that it really changes anything here and now.”

“Fuck!” Colonel Maruska cursed his fist clenched and although he moved he didn't swing his fist at her, as much as everyone could tell he wanted to. “You attacked a Lyran world to figure out who was backing pirates! You killed your own people for what?” He demanded and I was tempted to step in. The Colonel was pissed.

“Because this isn’t the first group of pirates funded like this, and until we can find out who is backing them it won’t be the last.” She looked a little remorseful, but it was distant. Like someone bumping into a situation that doesn’t concern them. “I had a job to do for the Commonwealth Colonel.”

He took a deep breath and hissed through his teeth. “Commander. You.. You take care of this, I am not going to be any help here.” He growled and walked back to his mech, I watched him for a while, as he climbed up the ladder and then turned and stomped off in his mech.

“Commander Eisen-Blume, will you transport me to a Commonwealth world?”

“Well I can’t say I like this entire situation Miss Analise, but I will. You won’t be getting back in that Thunderbolt until we have it all verified though.”

“An understandable precaution, thank you.” She offered with a gentle smile. This woman gave me chills. Something was just off about her.

“I do have a question for you though.” I ask, suddenly remembering something important.

“Yes Commander Eisen-Blume?”

“Where the hell is the Jumpship the Pirates had.”

“Oh well that’s easy. I can tell you exactly where it is.” She offers, and I feel like she just handed me a treasure map.

Because she sorta did.

“Though Commander Eisen-Blume, I have a question for you as well.”

“What?”

“How exactly did you infiltrate the starport and plant explosives on the dropships? I set up many of the defenses against just that act myself. I convinced Red it was just a traitor in our midst, that planted those bombs, but I know that isn’t accurate.”

I blinked. Was that frustration in her voice? How fun. She had been so monotone the whole time, like she was discussing the weather instead of trying to convince a group of mercs not to kill her. Instead of answering I hit my radio. Keep my eyes locked on her own, “Delta Ops, we aren’t killing her today, she is coming with us, so go ahead and pack up, go hunt down any stragglers trying to run off.”

“Understood Commander! Delta Ops out.”

“Nothing specific.” I told her which answered everything and nothing.

The look of irritation on her face was worth it.

—-

After supervising the transfer of the Thunderbolt back to our dropship, and the prisoner put into a guarded room. I had only good news coming out of the Starport. Apparently, the last of the pirates had been put down. I was quite pleased to know that things were looking good. We had finished our objective. And once more my people had made it out mostly unharmed.

Erica was being treated and the doctors had laughed at my concerned call over the radio. Telling me to stop freaking out over a ‘scrape’ as they put it.

Delta Ops spent the next couple hours hunting down the remaining pirates that were hiding out, while the rest of us started taking everything we needed. Sure we could leave the stragglers be. Without a dropship, and without a food supply. They aren’t going anywhere.

But well… Neither Carl nor I were willing to let it go that way. The few times I spoke with Delta ops while they were running around, it seemed they were turning it into a game, of who could catch more pirates before they were done.

I took Benny on foot to go claim the most important loot of course. Not that I told him that.

He just thought we were missing out.

“C’mon Vicky, what are we doing out here, I wanted to loot the hangars, now I’m missing out on Pirate loot!”

“Swag. If it’s loot from a pirate it’s called swag.” I inform him as I turn another corner in the dilapidated building I had led Benny out to.

Looking nonplussed I kept walking even as I could feel the rolling eyes.

Teenagers.

“Swag then. You are sorta ruining a moment for me Vicky.”

“No I’m not. I’m just not letting you waste time.” I informed him, putting a certain twang in my voice so I sounded like some snooty noble.

“What? It’s not wasting time when it’s looting Vicky.” He tells me and although I wasn’t looking at him, I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

Teenagers.

“No but wasting time gathering garbage that the crappy pirates collected is. Don’t you want the ‘real’ stuff?” I flashed him a grin when I came to the door I had been heading towards. The door was locked, and trapped. But well.

I had a sensor.

So I went through the wall. I whipped out my Vibroblade, and started slicing through whatever the interior wall was made out of. Benny looked at me in utter confusion as if I was some sort of madwoman.

Which was fair.

When I finished cutting I kicked in the wall, feeling like a badass and revealing the room inside.

And the mountains of money and swag stacked in the room. “Even Pirates collect money, but it’s a little difficult to keep it all electronic, you know? You never know if your account will disappear if you piss someone off enough, so some Pirates store money the old fashioned way. Welcome to Red McHannons secret money stash. Hidden in an old apartment in the city.”

“Vicky. I take back everything I ever said, you are my favorite.” He whispers to me in awe as he walks past, grabbing a literal golden crown and looking it over.

“Of course! Wait. When did you say I wasn’t your favorite! Benny! Benny! Answer me! When did you say I’m not your favorite!?”

—-

Within a day of taking out the pirates, our Union lifted off without a majority of the men. It and it’s ASF wings were going to claim the Jump Ship that was currently idling in an asteroid field that Analise the LIC agent was kind enough to inform us about. While that was happening we were doing as much repairs on the Dropships as we could to get them mobile.

“Well Captain, how does it look?” I asked, striding onto the bridge of the Pirates Union. The dropship had seen better days, and the faded scrubbed off or defaced images of a Lyran fist told the tale of where it had come from.

The Captain, a younger man who used to be just a Lieutenant aboard the Union we flew in on. Was doing well despite his lack of experience in command. The amount of trustworthy crew was growing sparse with three dropships to man. He looked up from a monitor of some sort. “Commander. We are making good headway, your people do good work. I still don’t know how you found another Hangar bay motor on this dustball.”

“Pure luck, it was in the storage of spare parts, that’s all.” I informed him with a smile knowing that wasn’t exactly the truth. “How long before we can lift off ourselves? I don’t exactly want to miss the date for our Jumpship leaving.”

“We should be able to make it without issue Commander. Thanks to your find, the Unions’ Hangar should be good to go, we are just removing the last of the spot welds now. The Mule will take longer, but that’s because we have to finish welding the hangar shut. I don't like it’s chances of leaving orbit with those welds. Likely the entire hatch would have reopened mid orbit… On a mule well.”

“Aren’t Mules the dropships that tear themselves apart if the hangars aren’t closed when they launch?”

“Just so.” The young man replied with a shrug.

I shivered “I don’t like pirates but still. Hell of a way to go.”

“Agreed Commander, agreed.” He offers with a smile. Before turning back to bark some orders at the bridge crew. Apparently the pirate crew hadn’t been taking great care of the dropship, although thankfully it wasn’t dangerous to fly, it was just not nearly where it should be for a dropship in use.

Well it didn’t matter to me. I stared out of the windscreen watching everyone running around both dropships to get everything running and ready. So much work was ahead of me. So much left to do. But this was a big first step. My people had learned a lot and with the contract completion? Well my Company was going to be rolling in cash for a while.

I smiled, everything was going well!

Chapter Text

Chapter 9.1 Politics and Paperwork
3021
Vindemiatrix System
Brattleson’s Depot

I felt horrible. The pirate's dropship that I had taken back was not as stable as the well maintained one that had taken us out. The damn thing was hell on my stomach. I paid for my arrogance!

“C’mon Commander, no time for this. You have a meeting with the Governor, remember?” Benny prodded as I groaned as a sack of terrible discomfort.

“I hate you all!”

“Yeah yeah I know, c’mon you’ll feel better once you are off the dropship.”

Unfortunately Benny was right. He dragged me off the ship, and once my feet were on stable non shaky ground I was already starting to feel more normal. The Governor this time wasn’t waiting for us at his mansion, no the man had actually gone out to greet his son.

The fact his son was returning at all must have been a relief but when the Colonel stepped out of the dropship not in the Shadow Hawk he had left in, but his own Battlemaster? Once more returned to him. I could tell the old man was feeling something.

The Colonel clambered down the ladder from the Battlemaster and stood before his father, tall and proud. The old man pulled him into a hug, and despite the flush of red going up his neck I could see the Colonel returning the hug. Their whispered conversation stayed between the two of them as I stayed away, mostly because I was still regaining my color.

“Ah and there she is. Commander Eisen-Blume.” The old man called out, despite his obvious frailty, he seemed more energetic than before.

I guess getting your family Battlemech back will do that. “Governor. I hope you are pleased with the Iron Blooded Orphans' work?” I couldn’t help but ask as I approached. The old man offers a deep rumble of a laugh before nodding.

“Yes Commander, you are worth every Kroner. Or will be rather once I actually pay you.” He said turning entirely from his son to step towards me. “You have done my planet a service no amount of Kroner can ever repay.” His heavy words echoed around and everyone took notice of his words.

“I was simply doing my duty. Pirates are the enemy of all civilization.” I offered, not sure what else to say. The whole situation was awkward. But it seemed to be enough because he patted my shoulder and headed back to his car.

“Well then let’s get somewhere more comfortable for our discussion, I am sure it will be an interesting one.” He chuckled as he led me into his very fancy hover car.

It had cooling seats! I wanted one.

—-

I appreciated the food. The wining and dining the Governor was doing for me. I liked the praise him and his men were giving me. Hell I liked the medal he had told me I would receive in an official meeting the next day. The Star of Vindemiatrix was a hell of a medal apparently. The highest award the Governor offered outside of LCAF military medals.

But I was starting to get annoyed at his dawdling. As Virgil Carolus, the Governors aide, once more went over our contracts reimbursement for ammunition. “Due to excessive although effective use of LRMs during the engagement we will accept the repayment request 95% of cost of all LRMs will be return-”

“Enough about the ammo. Or the hazard pay, or all the other little bits and pieces. You have been avoiding the meat of this deal all day. And Governor I’m fifteen. I don’t really care for the purposeful avoidance of the issue at hand.”

The room went silent. The large meeting room with a massive wooden table is where I was sitting around with The Governor, the Colonel, the aide, then around the table stood, nobles, and generals, and all sorts of important people that lived here on Vindemiatrix. All of them of course aiming for a piece of the pie.

But I wanted my piece first.

The room was silent. No one, not even the Colonel willing to intrude on this argument. “Very well.” The rumbling bass of the Governor speaks, the first time in quite a while, and I note his voice is not just deep, it’s tired.

We had been at this all day after all.

“Virgil. Skip to the important part.”

“Y-yes, Governor Maruska. The Invader Jumpship Clementine. The Union Dropship… undesignated. And the Mule Dropship Undesignated. Have all been accepted as salvage under the Contract the Governor made with Commander Eisen-Blume.” Virgil admitted, and the gasps around the room were thunderous.

It wasn’t just odd to hear that, but almost unheard of, but it had been part of our deal. I would move out with my current forces, join his assault of the pirate base attacking his world. But in exchange. Anything taken from the pirates could end up on the salvage table. No exceptions like in a normal contract.

It was a definite contract of desperation. And I knew exactly why the gasps of denial were so loud. A jumpship. A single jumpship could do wonders for a planet's economy, and Virgil just admitted that if I pushed for it, I could potentially take it right out from under them. If it had been any other situation the demand would have been refused immediately.

But this had been the old man's one chance to have it all. Take out the pirates. Get his family Battlemech back, earn enough wealth from the pirates' haven to revitalize his economy for decades to come.

And I had given it to him at a steal.

But now I wanted what was mine.

The Governor raised his hand and the table went silent. “As per our contract the Iron Blooded Orphans earned their pay. All of it. No matter what circumstances we end up with. I won’t hear any denials on this. Commander Eisen-Blume. Per our agreement, you have first choice of any one piece of salvage. Regardless of what it is.”

I swear one of the nobles made a sound like he was going to have a heart attack when that was admitted to the table. It had been one of my demands when making this deal. There were always minutiae or exceptions for normal clauses in salvage. ‘Company earns percentage salvage shares but can’t spend them on X’ sort of stuff. It was normal. Common. I had demanded an exception to that because of the danger. And it had been dangerous even if we had done exceptionally well.

It only took one mistake to end in death.

“I am sure most of you believe you already know my choice. It should be obvious plainly to even a fool. But I am also not fool enough to take it outright. I am a mercenary. I will always need jumpships. But not always use them. So how about a more equitable arrangement? If I don’t choose the Jumpship today, instead I want an offer of premium status. If I ever need a jumpship for an emergency mission, or need to go somewhere in a hurry this Invader will assist me. If you can agree to that concession, which I will of course pay the crew for every use of. I will remove the Jumpship from the salvage offer.”

My offer rattled around the room for a minute. The noble who looked like he was dying before regained his color and turned to the Governor. Because really there were only two voices that mattered in this room. His and mine.

“I believe a contract will need to be written up to suit both our interests, but I see no reason why we would not support our friends the Iron Blooded Orphans in any endeavors they might have in the future.”

I smiled like a shark. “Then my first pick is of course the Union dropship.” My statement still sent the room in a tizzy, there had been more than a few nobles in this room planning on the new dropships and jumpships to restart trade here on Vindemiatrix, but frankly? Not my problem.

No, I was going to have a dropship. And a good one too. The Mule was something I would let them keep. Those things were dangerous to be in during any sort of combat. So I happily traded any claim on it for more shares of everything else. Of course the Union was exactly what I really needed.

Well it would be once I brought in all the ‘spare parts’ it would need to fix it.

Considering the Jumpship, and Dropship were all I really cared about, I accepted without complaint the mechs and other salvage that was partitioned to me. Most of it was junk from when we blew up the street, mechs in ten pieces don’t usually do well. But it was fine. I was already planning on scanning it all down and just creating some new mechs.

The next few hours were mostly determining the Jumpship contract. Which was very nice. In the end, I became a co-owner of the jumpship. Which hadn’t been what I expected, but it seems to be the first thought they all had at my offer. Which was fine. The Clementine was a fine ship. Or it would be eventually. Unfortunately it was a lot harder to get scans of the damn thing, so for now I was relying on just giving them money to ensure everything was fixed up.

Although I didn’t tell them, if it ever got really bad I would just go out and copy the thing whole. But that was years in the future, If ever.

It wasn’t like I was going to be able to hide a brand new Jumpship. That was one secret that once it got out, there was no putting back.

—-

The rest of the meeting went well, and it was only as it was ending and I was leaving the Governors manor that I ran into someone else I had been wondering about.

“I suppose since you aren’t in handcuffs and are walking around freely someone proved your credentials?”

“Correct Commander Eisen-Blume.” Analise told me. The woman was wearing more normal clothes now, a pretty standard Lyran LCAF uniform, although pointedly without any rank, or other markings. “Once we got in contact with LIC, they assured the governor's office that I was on assignment. Of course I now have a new one.”

“Well good luck with that. I guess.” I mutter before heading off. She still creeped me out a bit. Unfortunately it was only a few moments later that I realized she was following me. I slowed, a creeping feeling up my back, “I’m not going to like the answer when I ask you why you are following me, am I?”

Despite her blank look I could tell she was amused. “Not at all Commander Eisen-Blume. Not at all.”

“Alright. Why are you following me, Analise?” I said after a few moments realizing she was waiting for me to play along.

“Why because I have orders to be your new Liason with LIC command of course! Someone was very impressed with your work and figured that you should have a more direct line Commander Eisen-Blume.”

“I am fairly sure everything you just said was a lie.” I tell her, turning around and looking the woman in the eye. “I think if that was true they would have offered me a fairly normal liaison not a member of Lohengrin.”

“I think the Governess of Zaniah III’s comments on you are quite accurate Commander Eisen-Blume, you are very perceptive!” She offers with a fake looking smile. Which only made me shudder in my armor.

“I don’t suppose I can refuse can I?”

“It would look rather suspicious, besides. Didn’t you yourself say you accept any orphan that wishes to join? I’m an orphan Commander Eisen-Blume.”

I blinked at that. Hell that’s right. I remember that vaguely some of the LIC agents were orphans trained to be incredibly patriotic. Damn that’s fucked up. I stepped closer and did what just came naturally to me. Despite the woman being a little taller than me, it wasn’t too much of a height difference, my armored boots helped as well, so when I leaned up and patted her on the head it wasn’t too difficult. “True. Welcome to the Iron Blooded Orphans, we will have to get you some armor… You’ll be an odd fit, but whatever.” I tell her, before walking away. “Well don’t fall behind, we have work to do!”

“W-what… Yes Commander Eisen-Blume.”

—-

Well alongside our surprise recruit, that wasn’t the only ones who wished to join. Part of the agreement with the Governor was that the Iron Blooded Orphans could go around to the orphanages and recruit.

Yeah, he had looked a little uncomfortable about it, but I did explain this wasn’t some weird meat grinder thing. I simply have the resources to provide food, housing, and training for a lot more people on Zaniah, and if he wanted to lighten the resource drain on his planet, I would take all of them.

I ended up with a lot of new recruits.

“How many joined?!”

“About four hundred.” Benny offered, handing me the clipboard containing the list. “I know the population here is a little higher than Zaniah, but this is still a lot of people.”

“Yeah it is! That’s twice as many joined us on Zaniah, and we cleared out most of the orphanages there! Where did they all come from!?” I was utterly shocked at the numbers, but really as I looked into it, I discovered the simple truth.

There were fewer orphans on Zaniah, because more of them died. Raids after all didn’t just affect adults. Kids got caught in the crossfire. Plus we were on the news everywhere here on Vindemiatrix.

“Okay so that’s too many to take with us on the Union. We are going to need to charter a civilian transport ship for that many.” I offered, already pulling up the listings for civilian dropships. We just need to find a personnel transport. That would handle that many kids without too much issue.

“Yeah, but there is another problem Commander, that is more than double our current population. Do we have the resources and manpower to handle that sort of increase?”

“We probably don’t but to be honest we need to do this anyway. We will need to get used to getting surges in population. We aren’t always going to be just a small merc band after all.” I offered mentioning my future plans even as Benny waffled.

“Alright. I guess we should probably send a message to Zaniah then, let them know about the incoming. So they can prepare.”

“Good idea Benny, while you're there, go ahead and try to reach out to these ship captains. I doubt most will be too pleased about transporting so many children, so you might have to offer a bonus for doing the job.”

“Can do.. Vicky. About the LIC agent. Analise. What do we do?” Bennys hesitation was obvious, Analise wasn’t what I would call a trustworthy member of the IBO. And once she made it to Zaniah it would be pretty obvious that something is up.

“Nothing. Yeah she is a spy, obviously, but she is an orphan just like us, even if she is older. She wants to join? We bring her in. Is she spying on us? Definitely, but that’s just how it’s going to go. We can spend all our lives trying to hide from every prying eye, or just do our best to keep improving ourselves. I would rather keep recruiting anyone who wants to join, than worry about the couple spies that will inevitably get in.”

“Vicky… Don’t you think that’s a little short sighted? We need to be careful about traitors, what if they set off a bomb, or reveal all of our secrets!”

“I know it’s naive Benny. I know! But we can’t change the world by falling into the same mistakes that everyone else has already made. We need to look at the world how we want it to be. So yeah. It’s a risk. And if it fails, it will be my fault. I take that responsibility. But if our trust is paid back in turn, even just once? I think that’s worth it.”

Benny grimaced and then dropped his head into his hands and moaned loudly for a few moments before righting himself. “Understood Commander. Just, don’t expect me not to keep an eye on her.”

“Do as you like, as long as you are making her feel like she is one of us.”

“That, Ugh I’ll try Commander.”

—-

Two months. Our Union, and I did love saying that. Left Vindemiatrix before we did. It’s crew were men and women hired on the planet, from the starports, and the captain was the same former Lieutenant that had flown her here, he worked for me now. The crew weren’t permanent and knew that, but I was paying them very well for now to crew the ship and when they landed on Zaniah to start training some of my kids as dropship personnel.

It was the safest way. I wasn’t about to put a couple kids who have barely even been on a dropship in command. That is how explosions happen.

Everyone else basically went with me on the Stardust. A horribly cliche name for a travel liner. We had basically commissioned the whole ship for this run, and I was paying out the nose to make sure it happened. While we were on board, on a long and boring trip my orphans trained the new kids. Basically a mini bootcamp, as we started putting everyone through their paces and explained the ins and outs of what it meant to be Iron Blooded Orphans.

It was a long arduous trip, and I never want to be stuck on a ship full of teenagers again.

Unfortunately I’m a moron and that is basically half my current profession.

Also I did my best to keep an eye on Analise. The woman… still creeped me out, even if I did feel bad for her. ‘Taken in’ by the LIC as a young orphan and basically taught nothing else but how great the Commonwealth was.

Yeah it explained the weirdness. The two month long flight was long and boring, and it gave me plenty of time to have conversations with her. Even if I did have to force myself to do it. Regardless of her true intentions she agreed to be an Iron Blooded, so she was one of us, at least until she did betray us.

I wasn’t holding my breath, but I wasn’t going to limit every choice in the world for fear of being betrayed. So we talked. Not that she actually ever said much. It was always redirected questions and side answers. But that’s fine.

As we finally hit the atmosphere of Zaniah I couldn’t help but feel glad it was almost over, even as my stomach rebelled.

—-

“Vicky. Welcome home.” Gauge told me as he pulled me into a hug which I returned even as the hundreds of new orphans looked around their future home for the first time.

Unlike when the IBO had originally gotten eyes on the base, it looked like an actual military base now. Gleaming white concrete walls surrounded the interior, turrets lining the walls giving it a strong feeling of safety.

The roads weren’t dirt anymore. They must have hired a ferrocrete layer while I was gone, which was fine. It was always nice to put some money into the local economy. So now strong roads crossed the base. The prefab buildings I had purchased so long ago were here now. Each of them would need some ‘upgrades’ but that was for later. For now they were all cooled, and usable as offices, or extra barracks, or just hang out rooms for different units.

Whatever we needed.

Thankfully Gauge had gotten my HPG message, and I could see the trucks and construction men working outside the walls on the north side.

Creating our Dropship pad.

I would go over it myself after to make sure it was good to go, and then we would set up additional walls and defenses. It was the first ‘extension’ we had put on our base on the surface. A good sign.

“Glad to be home. We brought new kids.”

“I see that… Maybe too many this time? Where are we going to put them all?” Gauge whispered as he looked over the horde that was being met by already trained members of IBO. The armor that they all wore grew stares and envy, as did their easy confidence, and shiny equipment.

The new kids would get all of it, but only after they integrated.

“It’s fine. We are going to need to get used to integrating large groups. This won’t be the last time we hit a planet and recruit a batch of orphans.”

“That’s… Fair. Oh Benny, Hanna, Welcome back! Benny, you have so much work on your desk!”

“Hey Gauge tha- What do you mean I have work on my desk! You were supposed to take care of it!”

“Oh I did my best but some things I didn’t know. So it’s all yours. Welcome home!” Gauge offered patting Bennys shoulder and getting a slug back in return, although with their armor Gauge only laughed instead of wheezed in pain. By the Narrowing eyes, I figured Gauge would be under a nasty prank for a few days until Benny forgave him.

“Oh Yeah Gauge, how's the repair of the mechs going? I know our new dropship got here first.” I reminded him, knowing the reaction I would get.

The squawk of horror he gave when I said that was worth it. “What did you idiots do to the mechs! Hanna! Don’t think I’m not talking to you too! Your damage wasn’t as bad but really you lost the arm again! And Benny! What, did you decide to use your mech as target practice!? You are supposed to DODGE! And don’t get me started on all the scrap you brought back!”

I smiled as Benny and Hanna enjoyed showering Gauge with all of the stories of how their mechs were damaged, enjoying the irritation the boy showed.

“And don’t think I am done with you Vicky! Next time you order a ‘surprise’ like that, warn me first! They delivered the crates here and we opened them up without knowing what was inside. Do you have any idea what I have been dealing with for the last two months? Thousands of requests to be the new mechs pilots. Thousands!”

“Well did you tell them it wasn’t going to work like that, the four Stingers are training mechs.”

“Of course I did!” He hissed.

All I did was smirk in return and by his narrowed eyes I got the feeling I would be suffering some pranks in the future as well.

All was good.

—--

I was busy through the next few days. Unlike last time I didn’t have the luxury of resting for a while. As soon as we landed I was back in charge. Balancing four hundred new men. Two more barracks ‘appeared’ downstairs. And frankly I knew it was suspicious which is why I reminded as many of the old guard as possible to just pretend it was always there.

Enough of them got the message that I didn’t hear any comments from the new kids.

No idea how much Analise figured out of course.

But with the quarter's situation completed, I was able to move on to other issues. We needed a second and probably a third cafeteria, and more cooks. We couldn’t cook enough food for seven hundred people like we had before.

So it was time to expand in another way.

“Lieutenant Kurtz. It’s time to expand our staff. We need more cooks. More workers. Laundry probably needs an upgrade as well.” I told the older man as I walked into his office the next day.

“Commander… We can do that. It won’t be hard to hire some part time, or even full time cooks… Are you sure that’s a good idea? We have… well you know.”

“It’s fine. We already have a LIC agent among our most recent recruits.”

“What!? Who? Why?!”

I snort as I settle into the chair. “Not by choice, Analise, and she was ordered to keep an eye on us, so if she is going to spy on us regardless, might as well recruit her and put her to work as well.”

“Is that… wise?”

“You mean, am I being a stupid kid? Probably. But I am hoping that being open enough to just recruit her despite knowing what she is, will help keep anyone in the LIC from growing concerned about what my intentions are.”

“I don’t know if that will really work out how you think it will Commander.”

“I am aware it’s naive, Alfred. But I refuse to play the secrecy game for the rest of my life. Why do you think I told you the truth about everything?” I asked him after a time, he paused before closing the packet of papers he had been working on before.

“I haven’t been sure. Not even now. If you were anyone else in the Inner Sphere, I would probably have taken a bullet, and that would be the end of it. I had noticed things you were obviously hiding.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “That is exactly why I decided to tell you. Lay everything on the table. We, I mean humans, didn’t used to be like this. I mean, sure, as a whole we always have had problems, but there were times in the past we were better. I want to return to those times. I want to remind humanity we don’t have to live like we have been. That war is not our natural state.”

“I, I don’t know. Commander I don’t think I understand, but if there is one thing I have learned after working with you for so long, it’s that you do things differently than anyone else. Maybe we need that.” The older man looked a little embarrassed as I gave him a full smile.

“I trust you Alfred. You may not be an orphan, but you are an Iron Blooded, and in the end me trusting you, hiring you at all, was a net positive for everyone. I want to keep doing that. I would rather trust people, and watch things improve, then suspect every person I meet, and never get anywhere.”

“Understood Commander. How... How should I interact with her? Will we be running her through our boot camp?”

“Of course! How else is she supposed to make connections? Treat her like any other. If she wants to spy on us, by joining, then she does all the same work the rest do.”

“Hah, when she is done, she is probably going to be cursing your name Commander.”

“Bah, if she is a spook, she must have gone through a bootcamp before. Let her sweat for a bit. It’s a good way to get her used to Zaniah anyways.”

—-

While settling the new recruits was a major workload over the coming weeks, I made sure to focus on probably the most important job.

“Eighty of you volunteered for a very important job. You will be joining the crew of the Union Dropship Isaribi. You will train every day continuously under the crew we have hired. There is no task on board that ship that you won’t know back and forward. I need you all to be capable, on your own, of handling a ship during the routine or the emergency, because eventually we will get more dropships. And when we do, you will be the core of the crew, the captains and leaders to ensure our people get to where they need to be safely.”

I had gathered all eighty of the potential crew at the Starport where the newly christened Isaribi was landed. Captain Dallas. Was standing beside me as he looked over his trainee crewmembers. I could tell he was hesitant about this idea. They were all young, nothing but kids in his eyes. Without any of the schooling that he expected they would need. It didn’t help that he was young too.

I told him plainly he would do this. Training his replacements of sorts was a requirement of his job. Eventually he agreed.

But not without a lot of persuasion and a hefty raise. Damn Lyrans.

So as I watched the Captain took control of the crowd. All eighty of the kids were divided up, 2 to 1 for a member of the ship's crew to learn from.

Over the next few weeks the Isaribi would be going up every day before coming back in. Over and over. It was going to cost a small fortune in fuel, and the captain had been worried about repairs. But I had waved him off.

Gauge had already gone through the ship with his repair group ‘searching’ for damaged parts or traps the pirates might have left. Of course there were issues, and Sensors were applied to all of them, not all the ship was scanned, but enough was that we had discovered a few systems that had required immediate repairs. And I had already ‘found’ the spare parts. Most of the repairs were completed at this point, meaning that the Union was already in better shape than most Dropships of this age.

Pleased with the meeting I left the kids to get settled into the dropship. As I was heading back to the base a few AFS flew overhead in formation and I smiled knowing that at least a few of them were my kids.

Things were looking up. Training was still our main focus, but when money flowed, and resources weren’t a problem, you could teach someone a lot in a pretty short amount of time. I pulled up to the security checkpoint and was waved through a moment later. Every checkpoint had a scanner set up, so it’s not like anyone coming through wasn’t already checked for weapons or bombs long before getting close. I drove down the road, slowing a few times to allow the groups of new recruits wearing their cooling suits run around the base. Our training group had increased massively, as many of the original Iron Blooded had been tasked to help out running the bootcamp.

I pulled in and parked my truck. Leaving the key in the ignition, if someone needed a truck they would just walk up and take it. There were plenty of them now. We had a huge fleet of trucks, after all. As I hopped out, one of the kids walked out “Afternoon Commander!” He called as he started refueling the truck. The fuel cache I had created before I had even left for Helm had only needed a top up when I came back from the Vindemiatrix job. It carried a startlingly large amount of fuel, and I had buried it underground to ensure it wouldn’t be a target during an attack.

I had also created a ‘fake’ surface fuel storage that was actually filled with water.

You know in case anyone was stupid enough to try and blow it up, it would make it harder to light anything on fire instead.

I headed inside. The original Hangar was still our main building, but our prefab buildings now connected to it, creating a large compound on each side of the hangar. The biggest benefit for them was just to have more places to cool off after being outside. I passed a few of the rooms being used, mostly by older Iron Blooded as a place to get some privacy as they did their work. Most of them, being taken over as offices. The logistics department was always getting bigger.

Despite being able to create anything we needed it was still important to know when we needed something after all.

I got plenty of greetings as I walked past, everyone was wearing our new uniform, the armor. I hadn’t quite made it mandatory to wear the armor over the cooling suit, but with the new recruits and the culture growing it had slowly become a sign of ‘graduating’ basic training. Basically if you wore the armor, you were more than just a recruit, you were an Iron Blooded Officially.

I groaned as I remembered I would have to remind Benny about the medals thing. I still owed Erica a medal for doing so well on Gniezno.

I walked through the buildings into one of the many staircases that now led down. Instead of being forced to use the hangar I had made more entrances. The stair cases were quite wide enough for five to move up and down at the same time, as I stepped down a few passed me, some of them recruits wearing just their cool suits. “Commander!”

While it wasn’t an official requirement, Benny always liked his military cosplay and had taken to teaching a standard Lyran salute to the recruits. Of course the older kids had picked up on it, and started doing it too.

Mostly just to annoy me. Since it felt wrong not to salute them back I ended up having to do it rather constantly. My hand raised up to my forehead in return as I sent them off.

As I walked downstairs we got to the important stuff. I walked past the school rooms. Gauge had taken little time in claiming a few rooms and turning them into a school. Every Iron Blooded was not so much required, but ‘suggested’ to sit in on them whenever possible. The fact the classes were covering topics that were literally in some cases unknown to the Inner Sphere outside made me laugh.

Alfred was usually sitting in on them when he wasn’t busy. The man was fascinated with the science we had lost.

Of course just down the hall were the games rooms. I couldn’t let a bunch of kids do nothing but train after all. Holo, and TriVid Projectors, that were top of the line had constant viewings of Immortal warrior and other vids. Solaris matches were still very popular. Freddy made sure that he always picked up the most recent matches whenever a HPG message was delivered with them.

I walked past Sasha in the medical bay. The girl was, whenever not helping someone injured, learning in Gauges classes. Her focus, unlike Gauge, was medical science. Although we had hired a group of doctors at exorbitant rates to cover our medical needs. A lot of their job was teaching.

I was still curious if Sasha learned more from the Classes, or the doctors.

I was actually really thankful a lot of the Helm Core was filled with old SLDF ‘classes’ on subjects, for soldiers away from a school, sort of like correspondence courses. Of course I also knew it was getting closer to the time for me to act on that.

Passing through the cafeteria I grabbed a snack that was always freely available. Freddy had outdone himself. When word had gotten around that with the new recruits it was stressing our cooks. Which was more of a routine job than anything permanent even now. He had seen an opportunity.

It was very Lyran. Instead of hiring permanent staff and having them on base, instead we had hired a bunch of people off base to cook food. Basically many of the people in the nearby town that were out of work, would be supplied food. They would cook it, and it would be collected at a central location and then brought back into RedBase.

Normally this would never work. A chance for someone to poison my kids was an instant no, but the sensors once more solved a convoluted problem. When they were brought in, the food was checked. And that was that.

Snacking as I walked I passed the Rough Squads chosen room. The door was as usual open, and I slowed as I passed. I could instantly tell Lenden and the squad were plotting. Lenden noticed me at the door and smiled while I gestured ‘I have my eyes on you.’ while he gave me a shrug and innocent smile.

I wasn’t convinced at all. Satisfied he got the point I continued on. Heading to my objective.

The training room was a massive hall filled with Sim pods. Each of them were currently full, and I walked up to the command center Hanna had taken to running these. She would create the objectives for each Lance, sometimes making them work in large companies, sometimes alone, she would pit groups against each other, with objectives and everything else.

She got a real kick out of it.

“How’s everyone doing?”

“Good. Better now. We learned a lot from our last jobs. Erica has been teaching the scouts how to think in a different way since we have the sensors. Benny has been guiding everyone on morale. I focus mostly on accuracy and making it so we are actually effective…”

“And Lenden is Lenden.”

“Right. Rough squad? Well. I don’t really want to fight them in an actual battle. They are going to be a menace.”

“Yeah but they are our Menace. How is the integration going for combined arms? I know the Stingers I picked up have basically never stopped running.”

“Well we run them through maintenance of course. Repair group is starting to riot half the time when we bring in damaged ones, but yeah. We can thank the Governess for that. Gauge traded her for a few of the Scorpions while we were gone, in exchange for something or another, but it allows us to train combined arm groups. Although first they have to prove they have what it takes on the sims before we put them in the Stinger.”

“Good. So we have Scorpions now? I didn’t know that. Jeez, Gauge needs to actually finish his reports. Who took over the tanks?”

“Well you know not everyone can be a Mechwarrior…”
“Yeah. So it’s that group?”

“Yep. They were feeling useless. Sure they help out around base doing other things, but not all of them want to be non-combat. So we got them some tanks.”

“I’ll have to get some bigger vehicles than a couple Scorpions for them then. Scorpions are good for militia, or for training, but I would never let any of us drive one into battle.”

“Sounds good Vicky. I’m sure the Tankers will be happy.”

“Tankers?”

“Gauge isn’t good at naming things. Almost as bad as you.”

“Hey!”

“Just being honest with you Commander.” Hanna offered snickering at my huff.

“Whatever. Fine. Anything else interesting happened while we were gone that Gauge forgot to mention?”

“No idea. I’ve been busy with this.”

“Yeah fair enough.” I sighed patting her on the shoulder as I walked out of the Sim room. Seems I had other things to check on.

“Commander! Radio for you!” Elias called out as he jogged to catch up to me. “It’s Arthur.”

“Weird. What does he want?” I muttered, taking the radio from his hand and pushing down the receiver. “This is Commander Eisen-Blume.”

“Vicky, I am glad to hear from you, I find myself with some time tonight. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me?”

“Huh? Oh sure, we can do with a bit of night Training. I’ll get everyone prepped. Glad to hear from you too Arthur. I’ll see you then. Commander Eisen-Blume out.” I toss the radio back to Elias who is looking at me weirdly. “Can you let everyone know we are having some night training?” I told him. And he nods slowly as I walk off.

I still don't know why he started laughing so hard.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9.2 Politics and Paperwork
3021
A different perspective
Analise?
RedBase

This was definitely the strangest mission she had ever been on. Things just didn’t add up. It was like trying to complete a math equation but every time you get a non-answer like potato.

Analise was growing rather frustrated with the experience. It had been almost a month since she had arrived on Zaniah, and while she had seen no sign of League contacts, or Drac, or Capellan. That didn’t mean something strange wasn’t going on. No, in fact it only made this entire situation more suspicious.

There was so much for her to report on that it ended with the spy not sure where to start! The underground base which no one knew about. Equipment that she shouldn’t have. The Sim pod room had caused her to gape in shock. The kids asking if she was alright was quite embarrassing.

It only seemed to get worse. Everywhere she turned was something peculiar. Rooms full of equipment. She had seen the armory when being issued a rifle for training. It was full. Wall to wall with guns and weapons.

She couldn’t believe they had so much equipment. She had taken to writing her reports whenever possible even if she had been stuck on base during her ‘boot camp’ days. She was glad it was over. And she swore she would make the Commander pay for putting her through that. She hadn’t run so much in years. She was a Mechwarrior! Not infantry!

Still she had made some contacts. Both with the new recruits like she was, who had taken a liking to her, and the older Iron Blooded that would very often grab a few orphans out of training and put them through some new task to learn. It was how she had met her favorite contact.

“So Commander Eisen-Blume, just walked into the Orphanage one day and had a mech?” Analise asked, keeping the story of the IBO origins going.

“Yep! It was crazy! Vicky had always been a little weird but it was normal weird, not like that. So anyway we all wanted a ride in the Locust, but she said no. Which you know, fair. But we didn’t give up, and then a few days later Benny is like “Who wants a job?” And well Benny is our brother you know? So we jumped on it, and then we were given equipment and weapons and told to guard Vicky's Mechbay, which was super fun at first! The pay was good too, but then well. We kept getting attacked.”

“Oh? Attacks? I hadn’t heard about this.”

“Oh yeah the Locust originally belonged to some asshole, and he wanted it back or something? Well he was firebombing our trucks, he even shot an inferno missile into our mechbay!”

“How horrible.”

“Yeah exactly so Vicky stood up, after chasing the guys down, and made this awesome speech about becoming a family and joining her and stuff. Super awesome speech so we all signed up, the old guy hasn’t bothered us since.”

“I see. I wasn’t aware there was so much history of the company on Solaris.” None at all really although considering the company was made and fled Solaris in the same week that made sense. Explained the lack of knowledge.

“Oh yeah but that’s really it then we had the super long trip to Zaniah.” The girl that Analise was pumping for information was a bit of a blabber mouth she had learned after meeting her, but she also gave away plenty of information to the spy. Enough to make it easier to fulfill her objectives.

LIC wanted to be sure the IBO weren’t backed by a foreign power planning a surprise strike. It wasn’t likely, but orphans aren’t as protected as normal kids. Analise knew that very well. So it was always possible their leaders had been influenced by a foreigner in order to cause trouble.

But there were no signs of that. There were signs of something though. Analise knew she would figure it out. “Sorry Stephanie, I have to go. Talk to you soon!” She said and the younger girl waved her goodbye. Stephane was just one of the contacts Analise had targeted for easy information.

Some people love to gossip after all.

She stood stretching a bit. Analise had recently ‘graduated’ from basic training among the IBO and had then received her armor. It had taken some getting used to. Although even Analise admitted that armor was comfortable, the SLDF cooling suit made the armor almost an afterthought. Yet Analise never forgot what it was, and to her shock every one of the kids was wearing. She was probably wearing something worth an entire mech to the right buyer.

And they all had one. Every recruit once they were run through the basics were given a cooling suit as a uniform.

It had almost caused Analise to immediately leave to file a report. But she had held that urge in. If they were this free with cooling suits… What other Lostech had they found? Analise needed to know. So she stayed. The kids had been wary at first, until they learned she was an orphan as well although she was now old enough that wasn’t relevant anymore, it was enough for them to accept her whole heartedly.

It was why she had learned so much about this strange group of orphans.

“Oh Analise. Good. Come with me.” Alfred Kurtz, a former LCAF Sergeant now a lieutenant in the IBO waved her over. He had been in charge of the basic training, and despite his obvious watching eyes, he had never treated her any differently from the other kids.

“Yes Lieutenant Kurtz?”

“You haven’t gone to the classrooms at all. Gauge sent me to remind you that he still wants to test you on where you are at in case you need any required courses.”

“I graduated from schooling years ago, Lieutenant.”

“Tell that to Gauge. He is currently in classroom one. Off you go Private.”

Irritated, she wanted to argue but despite being orphans, there was a military culture on the base. It was considered unthinkable to just argue with a superior officer, especially since many of the kids knew that following along is how you get a mech.

It was the oddest mix of military discipline, and a sort of casual environment Analise had ever seen. She had written an entire report on it as well.

Saluting the older man she turned and stalked off. Irritating, this was her first free day since she joined, she had been planning on leaving base and heading to the HPG to send her initial results, she was sure that her commanding officer would be fascinated with the strange proliferation of lostech on display if nothing else. Instead she turned back down, heading towards the learning section of the base.

She entered the classroom that was currently running some sort of education course over the HoloVid. The room wasn’t packed, but there were plenty of members of what she recognized as the Repair Unit watching avidly, and taking notes. Gauge waved her over. “Come sit over here, we are going to give you our placement test.” He tells her, nearly pushing her into a second room connected to the main classroom.

Once inside the sound from the holovid cut off but not the video. The large window on the side of the room let her see out. Irritated, she started writing out the answers to the test. Some she was surprised to find were quite advanced. In fact some of the questions were well above anything she had studied in her own classes.

The surprise distracted her enough that she found herself instead of focusing on the test watching the Holovid out the window. The video was some sort of learning video. It was weird though. It seemed old. The production value was both old, and advanced. As she watched, she watched some people in zero gravity pouring out some sort of foam.

Which hardened into shape. As the video continued her eyes widened as she realized what it was she was seeing. She stood opening the door quietly to listen in.

Listening as a scientist long dead went over the process and creation of Endo-Steel.

She had completely forgotten that she still needed to complete the test.

—-

I was resting in my office going over some of the training reports from the newbies when my door was pushed open.

Analise, looking less put together than I had ever seen her before, was standing there, looking at me like I was some wild animal ready to attack her. “Commander Eisen-Blume. I need you to know that I finished a report and it’s currently held by another agent to be sent out on the next HPG pulse if I don’t tell them to hold it. So you need to be very clear with me. Who are you?”

That was an odd question. “Victoria Eisen-Blume. Solaris Orphan, Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans.” If she wants a stupid question I guess I’ll give her a stupid answer.

Her face for probably the first time since I knew her showed a lot of real emotion, this wasn’t Analise the spy, this was a woman who was feeling actual human emotion. Even if it was anger at me, it made her way less creepy. “Don’t fuck around with me. I walked into a classroom today, and there was a lesson on Gravitic engineering. One of the products of which is Endo-Steel. I watched. A how to course on how to create Endo-Steel… No one has that knowledge… Except you.”

“Well and I suppose you now.” I answered as I pushed my stack of papers to the side. Finally a good excuse for Benny. ‘Sorry I couldn’t read through your boring reports because I had a spy losing her shit in my office. Sorry not sorry!’

“That! This isn’t a joke!”

“No, I suppose from your perspective this is the most serious moment of your life.” I sigh leaning back. Dammit Gauge. I gave you one job… Well no I gave you lots of jobs. Okay nevermind. “Sit down Private Analise.”

“I am not a Private. I am Hauptmann Eris Stingler, and as a member of Lohengrin, with the authority of the Archon of the Commonwealth. I am demanding answers.”

“I answered the only question you actually asked me so far, Eris Stingler of Lohengrin.”

She twitched, irritation covering every inch of her “Fine since you want to be obtuse. Who are you to have that knowledge? No one knows how to make Endo-Steel.”

“Well besides ComStar. But I found it. How else?”

“ComStar? What does- No Stop evading. You found the knowledge of how to make Endo-Steel and haven’t turned it over to the Archon?!”

“Oh Eris, I found the knowledge on how to make everything, and haven’t yet turned it over to the Archon, because I have no way of getting it to her without everyone in the Inner Sphere finding out.”

She blinked at me, processing what I had just said. Her eyes suddenly alight. “I heard a rumor that your mother was a Lostech hunter. She, or you did it. You found a Memory Core.”

“My Mother discovered the location, I went out and retrieved it. You might have heard about my journey into FWL territory? Well I was traveling to a hidden Castle Brian on the world of Helm. The man in charge of Helm, Major Edwin Keeler, late of the SLDF realized the truth. With the SLDF gone, the Succession wars were going to destroy us. He thought that we would bomb ourselves into the stone age. Like we almost did. So he gathered everything he could, every learning course, every science book. Everything. He stored it in the Castle Brian, along with probably a brigade of metal.”

The woman looked at me, but I wasn’t sure if she was seeing me. Her eyes were glazed over. Shocked at what I had just revealed. “You have a SLDF Memory core.”

“I do.”

She shakily took the seat across from my desk. Feeling particularly kind I pulled a bottle of water out from my mini fridge and passed it over. I mean it’s not like I could offer her a shot of whiskey or something.

I was underage!

“You need to hand it over. I will take it in an-”

“No.”

She blinked and in that moment I could see the weapon that the girl had been trained to be behind her eyes.

“Not because I’m not planning on handing it over to the Archon I already explained that, but because I will only hand it directly into the Archons hands. Anyone else. Anyone. Could let it leak. The moment it leaks a countdown starts. You know that. LIC might be one of the best Intelligence branches but can you trust every member? Every noble in charge? How many of them would make a copy and sell it off to another power?”

“Many of them.” She said weakly. If it had been anything else she would have argued. She was a patriot after all, every member of Lohengrin was, but this was too important. Even patriots recognized the rot in their own members. That was the biggest part of their job after all.

“So the plan was to continue building up forces until I got a dropship… Then… Well I have a plan to earn a face to face meeting. But I have been putting it off.”

“No more. If you won’t hand it over to me to hand over. You will hand it over to the Archon now. No more delays… if you try I will be forced to kill you.”

I groaned. This was why dealing with spies was such a pain in the ass! “Yeah yeah. Get over yourself. That’s the plan. Fine. I guess it’s time to begin operation… Sorry you became a Ghost.”

“What?”

“Geeze everyone's a critic!”

—-

“I don’t understand.” Eris muttered as we drove out into the desert. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to this.

“I know you don’t but you will, especially since you haven’t let me out of your sight all day.”

“You carry the most important piece of technology in the Inner Sphere. I don’t know if I can trust you, so I will make sure you have no chance to run.”

“If I wanted to run Eris, I would just have you killed and then no one would even know. I don’t really care about whatever message you gave to your other ‘agent’ by the time it was sent to anyone, I would be long gone.”

The silence that spread from between us lasted a little too long and I sighed. “But I have no intention of doing that, so relax. I'm Lyran, I don’t like the League, I don’t like Liao’s. And I absolutely hate the Combine.”

“That still would leave the Federated Suns.” She mentions calmly. All I could do was snort at that. “You mean the Fedsuns that are currently making a peace deal with the Commonwealth? The ones that will likely receive their own copy of the Memory Core not long after I hand it over?”

“Yes.”

“See? Sounds stupid. Relax, we are here.” I say and on the horizon as we climbed a dune in the truck, we could see it. St. Marinus House. “I am not looking forward to this.” I groaned as I pulled up to the Sanctuary.

“... This is the St. Marinus house… You are here to speak to Morgan Kell.” Eris spoke slowly, putting it all together.

“Right in one, now I just need to convince a sanctuary I need to speak to one of the people they are protecting, and do it all hopefully without stressing out a bunch of mechwarriors that fled the war. C’mon.” I tell her, pulling up to the front entrance, I step out, grabbing the large package I had brought with me out of the back seat and huffed as I pulled it into my arms. Moving towards the large wooden doors that were already opening.

“Guess it’s time to change the universe.”

My statement earned me an odd look from Eris and I sighed, seriously this is what is wrong with spys. No sense of drama!

The doors of the sanctuary opened. And out walked an older man, graying hair and more interestingly, gray eyes. Wearing a well worn habit. “Good evening. I am Brother Giles, I am afraid we do not accept visitors here. Unless one wishes to join us.” The old man offered as he looked over both Eris and I. The fact we were wearing armor probably hinted that we weren’t exactly here to join.

“Apologies for bothering you Brother. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume, Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans, this is Eris Stingler, of Lohengrin.” I added knowing that the name of a division of LIC would give me more respect than my company name. “I know I am asking for much, but I am afraid I must have a meeting with Morgan Kell. It is… A very serious matter.”

I could see the older man's eyebrows crinkle as I mentioned the LIC division. “I see. We no longer take part in matters of the Inner Sphere. I am afraid that Morgan Kell is not seeing visitors.”

“I know. I would have come here, especially here, if this wasn’t so serious. I’m not. I’m not asking him to leave, or take part, I need to speak with Mr. Kell regarding who he knows, more than anything he has done. I don’t have any interest in him as a Mechwarrior… if that helps?”

“I am afraid it is the duty of St. Marinus house to shield any who seek it from the outside world. I apologize we can’t, and won’t help you.”

Fuck. This old man was such a pain in the ass.

“I understand that. Again this is more important. It’s very likely the most important thing I have ever done. Please. I need to speak to Morgan Kell. Five minutes. If he refuses to speak to me any further after that I will never return.”

Brother Giles, which wasn’t even his real name. Shook his head. “I am sorry. The purpose of this house is important. The men and women that come here, do so to be protected. I will not besmirch that for anyone. No matter how important they believe their need.”

“Oh you think so?” I grumble pulling off the bag I was carrying. “Give this to Morgan Kell then. I will wait out here for an hour. I bet you he will see me once he realizes what it is.” I offer stomping forward to push the heavy bag carrying a copy of the Memory Core into the brothers arms. There was also a noteputer inside for easy searching of the database. Despite his attempts to refuse I pushed it into his arms.

“Please. Just give it to him, and if he checks it, he will understand. I won’t say anything further if in an hour he doesn’t come to see me.”

I don’t know if it was what I said, or the look of horror on Eris’s face at me relinquishing the Memory core to this no name man. After all, how could she know this was actually Hermann Steiner? A good man who removed himself from succession so Katrina could become Archon.

It seems something I had said caused at least a tiny inkling of interest as finally he relented. “I will do this much. Ask nothing more, and leave if he does not wish to speak to you.”

“Agreed. On my honor.” I reply and wait for the older man to grab the bag and head inside.

“That was foolish! You can’t simply hand over the Memory Core to anyone!” Eris hissed at me and I didn’t say anything at first. “You have no idea what that man could do with a Memory Core, what if he takes it and runs? Wh-”

“That man is Hermann Steiner.”

Jaw hanging open for a moment Eris’s face goes flat as she processes what I had just said. “I see.”

“Yeah that’s my second option if Morgan doesn’t agree to help. One of them will. I am sure of it.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then I leave and do something stupid.” I grin. “If you can’t do the smart thing, do something stupid instead.”

“I don’t believe that is.. Where are you going?”

I walked back to the truck. “I’m gonna sit inside the truck. It’s hot out here, even with the armor. Come on. You can yell at me some more inside.”

“I am not yelling.” She argues as she follows after me.

She totally was.

—-

I was just getting ready to leave, an hour-ish later when the doors of the Sanctuary finally re-opened. This time Brother Giles came out in a hurry, rushing towards my truck. I stepped out and the older man stopped suddenly, his breath coming out in sharp gasps, and his Steiner Gray eyes wide and in shock.

“I’m glad, I was afraid I was going to hand it over and you and Mr. Kell were going to just ignore it.”

“That… That is a Star League Memory Core.”

“It is. Now, can I speak to Morgan Kell now? As you can probably tell, I have something important I need from him. Or from you.”

His eyes closed for a moment and when they reopened, I knew I wasn’t dealing with Brother Giles sending off annoying pests that dare come and disturb the men and women that came here for peace.

No, I was dealing with Hermann Steiner who in another time could have been Archon.

“Yes. Commander Eisen-Blume, please be welcome at the St. Marinus house. We have many questions.”

“Excellent. I have some answers.” I offer cheekily, as Eris shifted herself beside me, the realization for her she was dealing with a Steiner meant she was acting extra respectful, and I am sure it was the only reason she didn’t nag me to be more respectful.

Nodding his head the older man turned and I followed him into a place that few ever got the chance to visit. The long halls were quiet, although I did pass a few men and women as we walked the halls. We got plenty of strange looks, and some looks of horror as well.

I guess for a bunch of people who left the war when it became too much, seeing a young girl in armor… Well I could understand it. Although I wasn’t about to let that stop me.

We came into a small room with a well worn but comfortable looking table. And sitting there, looking just as awed as Brother Giles had, was Morgan Motherfucking Kell.

I was pretty sure that was his full name.

This guy was ‘the’ badass. The man that died of old age. One of the very few that ever got that ending. And he had done it while fighting the whole time.

“Morgan Kell.” I said into the room, catching his attention and pulling his eyes away from the screen of the Noteputer I had left with the Memory Core. “I am Victoria Eisen-Blume. Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans. How do you like my Memory Core?”

The man blinked. Having just barely torn his eyes away from the screen to watch me as I gave my introduction. As if realizing he had been so distracted he hadn’t noticed me enter his hand ran up and stroked through his beard, which even now was tinged with gray.

“I think… That you found something rather special Commander.” He offered slowly, as if he considered every word and only bit them out when he was satisfied.

“Thank you. It was a pretty risky job, I’ll happily tell you about it if you like, but before that. Business.” I took a seat across from him and I noticed his eyes rove over my armor curiously. “I want to put that into the hands of Katrina Steiner, no one else. Because anyone else will mess it up.”

He considers this and nods slowly. “I see. That’s why you came here.”

“Indeed! I am an unknown, going to Tharkad? Even if I wanted to hand that over, it would get out. Too many men and women protecting the Archon, they would never let me get that in her hands before someone finds out what it is. But…”

“But I could do that.” He nods. His eyes closed as he exhaled heavily. “I don’t know if I am ready to leave. But needs must.”

“Not exactly.” I interrupt. Stopping that line of thought entirely. His arched eyebrow made me smile, Morgan Kell was not a man used to being argued with I guess. “You could walk right up to the Archon and hand that to her, but there is another way that I could do that. A letter, or a message. If I head to Tharkad with a message from Morgan Kell, the Archon would definitely see it. If that message happened to inform the Archon that she needs to have a private meeting with the messenger?”

He tilted his head thinking it over, quietly stroking his beard as he seemed to run the scene through his head before shaking his head. “No. I came here because I felt… Well, it doesn’t matter. You did well on the recent raid.”

“Oh. You heard about that?”

“We still get the news. Some choose not to watch it, but it is difficult for us to completely cut ourselves from the rest of the Inner Sphere. You and your orphan company. You fought well.”

I blushed! What else could I do! This guy was a legend! “We tried.”

He broods on that for a while. “Yes. What does that make me? That I stopped. My childhood dream.” He glances at the Memory Core. “It was a dream of mine to find this exact thing. A Memory Core that can bring back the lost knowledge. I stopped trying, and in my stead a child completed it.”

“I’m fifteen. Hardly a child. At least call me a teenager.” I grumble, which had the older man give me a chastising look for a moment before nodding.

“It seems I left for too long… I will go back to Tharkad. Let’s get this into Katrina’s hands. I refuse to not be part of this.” He stood grabbing the Memory Core before I waved him off.

“Leave that one. I was intending on leaving it here. I figure if everyone here wants to avoid the rest of the Inner Sphere, they might appreciate all the learning courses on the core.”

Brother Giles hesitated as did Morgan Kell. “We can’t leave this here Commander. We have a duty to return the core to the Archon.” Giles eventually offered although I could tell he was hesitating as well.

I just snorted “That’s a copy of a copy. It only has learning courses. Don’t worry we will be delivering the complete version to the Archon. So it’s okay to leave this one.”

Both men stilled. “The complete Core?” Morgan finally asked and I nodded. Waving my hand to and fro.

“Yeah this one has all the SLDF training courses, they were classes for the soldiers while they were away. So it has a lot, but Helm, Oh Helm is where I got the Memory Core. It had a secret Castle Brian hidden up in the mountains. Anyways. Helm wasn’t just a weapons depot for the entire sector, it was also a Library. Edwin Keeler a Major in the SLDF, well he saw what was coming with the succession wars. So he put everything he could find and put it into the Memory Core. Civilian, Military, Secret tech if he had it. He put everything into it. I wouldn’t bring the full Core anywhere that I don’t have full security for after all.”

The looks of shock on the two men's faces had me smirking, as they realized what they had seen over the last hour? It hadn’t even been everything. Brother Giles swayed for a moment and it was only Eris’s quick reaction to him that caused her to rush forward to catch the former Steiner, as it looked like his world was crashing around him.

Morgan Kell? Well his look of shock slowly shifted until he was looking me over with an odd look. I just smiled in return “I have a union that I ordered to get ready for a trip to Tharkad, if you don’t mind riding with a bunch of Orphans.”

“That will be fine Commander. Just let me get my ride.”

That was how I drove back to RedBase, Eris beside me looking startled, and a red and black colored Archer walking behind us.

The base was a stir by the time we came within sight. A new mech always grabbed attention, and I am sure our Guard unit had noticed the Archer we were leading.

Pulling past the very attentive checkpoint guards I pulled the Norman towards the Isaribi that was currently resting on our Dropship pad. I hadn’t intended on bringing Morgan Kell back with me, but it wasn’t too difficult to radio ahead and make sure one of the mech Gantries were open and ready for him.

Watching him pull his mech into the open gantry actually sent a bit of a thrill up my spine. He moved so gracefully in a mech it reminded me that as much as my kids were improving, the real elite of elites were on another level.

“Go on Eris, get packed up. I know you are going to want to come with. Oh and I don’t know what you put into that message with the other agent. But that is still a problem.” I tell the girl as I stepped out of the truck watching the spy keep her eyes locked on me for a while before nodding.

“Understood Commander Eisen-Blume.” She was back to being rather monotone, but that was fine. That was just how she was. Nodding, I turned back to Morgan Kell as I watched him slip out of his Archer, already I could see Benny rushing up to me, to find out what was going on.

“Is-Is that Morgan Kell!?” Benny asked before I could even call out a greeting as he hit me like a missile, stumbling a little I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah Mr. Kell accepted our offer to transport him back to Tharkad. It’s time we have that meeting with the Archon… Things started happening that removed the option of sitting and waiting any longer.”

That pulled Benny from his hero worship as he looked at me questioningly.

“Our spy, Analise, her name is Eris Stingler, make sure you update her records. She found out that we had the knowledge on how to make Endo-Steel… Blame Gauge. She freaked out. Forced me to act. So now we are moving. No more sitting and waiting.” I looked ahead. This single act was going to impact so much, I honestly wasn’t sure how the Archon would react to this. I only knew her from third hand. Hell I had never even read a book she was in!

I guess it was time to see. I crossed my fingers, hoping that she truly was looking for peace. Because I was about to put the most powerful weapon in the Inner Sphere into her hands. Knowledge.

“Benny. Break out the Red Lance's new mechs. Try to keep them hidden for now, but if something happens while I am gone. Then it’s past time we stopped jobbing. I’m gonna go load up my new ride. Not about to show up to meet the Archon in a Locust.” I joke and Benny looked like I had just given him his birthday Christmas, and his first born at the same time.

“You are my favorite.” He whispered to me as he hugged me tightly and I laughed.

“Of course I am! I’m everyone's favorite!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10 We do not Kneel.
3022
Tharkad System
On Board Isaribi Union Class Dropship

Morgan Kell is a very difficult man to get along with. Sure. Maybe his temper was a little frayed from being outside of the sanctuary, and sure maybe he was getting frustrated with all the orphans who kept asking him questions… Despite me telling them to leave him alone.

But still there was no reason to be so gruff.

“Colonel Kell, we have confirmation from Tharkad dispatch. They are having us land at the Triad. So apparently the Archon wants to see you.”

“Fine. Get out.” He ordered. I had been a little forceful in getting him to actually answer his door. He had taken to simply ignoring any knocks at his door for a bit more than a month now. But I still wanted him to be ready. Plus I had questions, so I ignored his grump. Pushing my way in.

“Anything I should know about landing there? Protocol or something?”

“It’s usually rude to show up to meet the Archon in body armor.” He gruffly says as he continues to tinker with whatever he was messing with on his desk. He had hid away in here for a while. Trying to escape. And probably struggling to deal with the weird mental issue Phantom Mech brought on.

“It’s our uniform, and a rule that we wear them at all times off base. Besides, I don’t have any fancy clothes. I’m a Commander, not a Social General.” I grumble back.

“Katrina won’t care. Stop worrying about it.” He ordered then hitting the heart of the matter.

“Don’t act so nonchalant, not all of us grew up hanging out with the future Archon of the Commonwealth, it’s not like I have a lot of experience with nobility. I’ve only dealt with Barons before.”

“I’m a Duke.”

“No one cares old man. Stop Bragging.” I snark back at him. Seriously, if he wasn’t being gruff he was being super arrogant. So I kept poking holes in his pride every chance I got. Was it rude? Yes. Was it entertaining? Oh yes.

The glare I received in turn told me I had worn out my welcome.

“Last question before you shoo me off. I brought more than just the Memory Core, I have some other gifts and such, since I didn’t turn in any of the Lostech I found at Helm until now, should I just hold it, or what?”

“Just hold it. Katrina will tell you how to handle the Lostech reveal, leave it in her hands, it’s a little above your head.”

“Nothing is above my head Colonel. I’m going to alter the entire Inner Sphere permanently in a few hours.” I reminded him testily, before nodding as I headed out of his quarters. I should probably spend a little time on my hair… I thought as my gloved hands ran through the strands.

I didn’t want to show up with bedhead.

—--

The Isaribi finally landing had me sigh in relief. Despite the repairs we had done on her, there were still a few systems that were on the older side. Unfortunately the fact I could just print any replacement parts we needed was something I had to keep from the Captain.

“Feeling alright there Commander Eisen-Blume?” Eris questioned as I threw my barf bag in a trash can.

“Peachy. Let’s go head out into this fresh hellhole.” I grumbled as the doors opened and instantly ice slammed into my face.

Welcome to Tharkad. The land of ice and snow. I grumble pulling my jacket closer. Hanna and I had created a cold weather outfit to throw on top of our armor. The heavy coat looked like something a russian officer would have worn, but between it and my new cunning looking hat, I was gonna be warm enough to survive.

I stepped out into the snow already starting to pile up despite the heat of our dropships engines having just melted everything around.

I took a deep breath as Morgan Kell walked past me, seemingly he knew where to go. This wasn’t just some strange spaceport or something. This was literally the fucking Triad.

I was standing on a dropship pad connected to the most politically powerful building in the commonwealth. I followed along, Eris following behind me, as Morgan made his way to an entrance that was being held open. The guards on each side saluted the man but despite keeping their faces straight as I passed I could tell the looks towards me were of confusion.

By the time we made it inside, I was huffing, not just my armor, and now heavier jacket, I was also carrying the Memory Core on my back. Morgan had offered to carry it, but I threatened him off. No one was going to pass this to the Archon but me.

It had to be me for any of my future plans to work. This, turning over the memory core had to come from me.

We were stopped and checked over, again and again on the path through. We were stopped at a clothing stop, where my jacket and hat was handed off now that we were deeper inside the building. Although the looks Eris and I received for our armor were telling. She and I were always double and then triple checked by men wielding scanners while Morgan was only given a cursory look over.

Being the Archons best friend had it’s perks I guess.

When they found nothing we were waved through over and over. Until finally we were led into a very large, very expensive looking room. The gold filigree over everything and the floor tiles shaped into the Steiner fist made out of what looked like sapphires only touched on a few of the notable expenses in the room.

And there. Sitting on a comfortable looking couch worth more than a battlemech, was a woman I could recognize on sight.

Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth Katrina Steiner.

I could feel Eris’s tension ratchet up, although I couldn’t see her, I could practically hear her spine creaking from how straight she was standing.

“Kat.” Morgan greeted as he stepped into the room. His approach was stalled as Katrina Steiner stood nearly stalked over. Pulling him into a hug. Eris and I stayed quiet, me out of respect, her because she was probably freaking out as we waited for the quiet greetings to be over. I could see not quite tears, but a bit of wetness in Katrina’s eyes, and Morgan the grump looked softer as he spoke to his friend.

But then steel gray eyes met mine. “What brings you home Morgan? I hadn’t heard any news that would have brought you out of your isolation.”

“That would be because of me.” I speak plainly, letting my voice echo in the large room, and I knew I had probably committed a faux pas but I hardly cared.

It’s not like when this was all over anyone would care.

I step a few feet forward so I wouldn’t have to yell across the room. “Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume of the Iron Blooded Orphans Mercenary Company, based out of Zaniah III.” I informed her, although I bet she already knew. We were transporting Morgan Kell after all.

She looked me over for a few moments. Idly noticing that despite his usual attitude, Morgan was actually not interrupting himself. He gave a small gesture with his hand as he moved away, taking a seat. That probably told Katrina that something weird was going on than anything else.

“I suppose it must be important then. Morgan isn’t one to waste my time Commander Eisen-Blume.” Her voice was firm, and challenging. But I had expected it.

“You could say that Archon.” I pulled off the bag I had been carrying the Memory Core in. The obvious piece of equipment on my back caught her focus when I pulled the bag open and with a grunt I placed the Memory Core on the table she had been sitting in front of before. Then without a word I pulled a Noteputer out of the bag and plugged it in. Standing I faced her blank face and without another word I offered it to her.

I said nothing else.

There were some things in life that didn’t need words, and as she glanced at Morgan who nodded to her, she took the Noteputer and started looking.

It took a few minutes, but I could tell the instant it happened. The exact moment when Katrina Steiner realized what it was she was looking at. She stiffened. Her blank face and arrogant look vanished.

Shock. Plain and utter shock at what she was reading. I didn’t interrupt, and neither did Morgan. Eris wouldn’t have dared the girl was still standing ramrod straight and looking very uncomfortable. Staring at her liege as if she was a wild animal. All three of us simply waited there. Morgan watched Katrina with a look that told me he understood exactly what she was feeling.

I simply waited. This moment was probably the single most important moment of the century. Nothing else was going to alter the fate of the Inner Sphere more. So I waited calm and collected as Katrina Steiner buried her nose in the lost knowledge of the StarLeague.

It was more than ten minutes before she finally had to put the noteputer down. It wasn’t because she was tired, or she had seen enough.

It was because her eyes were watery. The screen had grown impossible to read.

Morgan moved first, offering her a handkerchief of all things. I had never felt more like I was in a period drama in my life as she accepted and wiped her eyes. Blinking a few times and taking a deep breath before the mask returned, and those eyes were turned on me.

“Where did you find this?”

“Helm. The planet Helm. You might have heard the story. As the first Succession war began the Coordinator at the time.. Minoru? I can never remember his name. Went to Helm to claim the weapons depot there. Which makes sense. It was the largest weapons depot the Star League ever created.” I end with that for a moment letting her realize the fullness of that idea.

“He didn’t find it, threw a temper tantrum and nuked the planet. With that everyone thought it was gone. Taken away on the exodus.”

“It wasn’t.” She added, accepting her role in my story with quiet magnomity. Obviously she knew what I was doing, but well it was still fun. Storytelling was more fun with a reactive audience.

“Indeed. SLDF Major Edward Keeler… Is a man that deserves to be remembered by the Inner Sphere. I intend on making sure of it in fact. He was in charge of the depot, and he saw the wars that were coming on the horizon. Had the foresight to realize how bad it was going to be.” I took a deep breath to steady myself. Once it had been just a story, but Major Keeler had possibly saved his entire universe by doing so.

“He took the entire depot and hid it. There was a civilian infrastructure project up in the mountains. Some crazy StarLeague idea of taking one of Helms Seas to make more farmland, or something. I don’t know the original purpose. But since he couldn’t move the equipment off world without any dropships, he moved it into a CastleBrian hidden in the mountains. The entire Depot was hidden away in a place no one could find and Major Keeler put together that Memory Core. A Library. Everything he could get his hands on. Everything a civilization would need to restore what had once been lost.”

Her hands were shaking lightly as she once more picked up the noteputer, gripping it firmly. “I see.” It was all she said for a few minutes slowly her hands regained their control and I was treated to staring down the Archon of the Commonwealth pulling her best out. “I never expected to find this. When I was a child I searched through many old sites for Lostech. Trying to find something that would help the Commonwealth. I never dreamed of finding… This.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Morgan Grumbled, “I was having a normal day before that thing was placed in front of my face, while I was told it was a message for me.” He shook his head “Never knew what I was getting into when I started reading.”

Both of them nodded to each other then, an understanding passing through the two adults.

Katrina turned her eyes fully to me, her back straight and manners impeccable. “You did the Commonwealth a service that I may never be able to repay. Commander Eisen-Blume. I don’t even know where to start.”

“As much as it pains my Lyran soul, Archon… You don’t owe me anything for the Memory Core. It’s already been bought and paid for.” I utter and even Morgan Kell looks at me in confusion.

Ha! He thought I was doing this for the same reasons any old idiot would have. But it was me all along!

“And what payment is that?” Katrina asked calmly although I could read she was confused as well.

“The only thing someone that isn’t a noble or a member of a great house ever wants Archon. Peace. You made the attempt to end the wars. For that, and I want to be clear. Only because of that. I’m turning that Memory Core over to you. If you never made the peace offer, I wouldn’t be here. I would be continuing my work of taking care of my kids. Leaving the great houses to their fates.”

That bit of cutting dialogue was probably not the wisest but it needed to be said. I don’t think Archons interacted with enough normal people. Maybe they needed to be reminded that humanity wasn’t their toys sometimes.

“Quite a statement Commander. But I must thank you regardless. Please sit.” She was running her hands over the noteputer, still working through her shock. “We should discuss what reward you will receive regardless. It’s rare enough I get to reward someone that truly deserves it.” She offered. I hesitated, she wasn’t listening to me. How annoying. I did take the seat, but I had a feeling this was going to get awkward.

Katrina continued to hold the Noteputer in her hands as she looked me over. “At the least Commander I will name you a Duchess, and grant you a world to hold in trust. As well as funds, and people to help you. I will ensure you and your family want for nothing. Not after this.”

A pleasant offer. And if asked of me when I first woke up here, I would have accepted. But, Katrina… She wasn’t listening. This is the problem with people in power. They don’t really understand the word no. Sometimes you have to say it multiple times. Sometimes in different ways. And sometimes? Sometimes you just have to be direct.

“No.”

Yeah, see that look on her face? That shocked, ‘what the hell did I just hear’ look? That means she wasn’t told no enough.

“Commander?”

“I won’t, can’t accept any titles. No. Thank you but no.”

Even Morgan was looking like he had no idea what the hell was going on. He interrupted Katrina before she could contextualize what I had just said. “Why would you refuse? It would give you everything you need to take care of your people. Or retire if you choose. Do you realize what you are saying, girl? The future you are throwing away?”

“I understand perfectly. The answer is no. I will not become a Duchess, a Viscount, a Baroness, or even a Knight. Archon. I am not here to swear my service to you. Although I am a Lyran, and I put my faith in your Commonwealth. That’s not why I gave the Memory Core to you. I am here to put the Memory Core into the hands of the only leader in the Inner Sphere that sought peace.”

“They why refuse?” A simple question but one that is filled with complications.

“I can’t do what needs to be done to fix the Inner Sphere, if every member of the Combine thinks I am their enemy. Or the League. Or the Capellans. I have to be neutral. So I am not their enemy off hand.”

My words confused the adults. To them it was just part of the world. You were a Lyran? You did what you could for the Commonwealth, why would you worry about what the Combine think?

“Yet you brought me this. If you are worried about what the great houses think, Giving this to me, puts you against them.” She sounded gentle, explaining like she was trying to guide a child to the correct answer.

Too bad. I wasn’t willing to be guided.

“Because they don’t want peace. They only want to win, and they will do anything to get it. You alone put out a call for peace, you are the one I am putting my faith in.”

My words had her blinking for a moment surprised. “When I sent out the message for peace I never expected even a single positive response you know?” She offered her hands silently exploring the noteputer she had yet to put down. “If I had known I would find some acceptance, and that this would drop into my lap because of it? I would have sent out my call years before.”

“Well I’m only sixteen Archon, so too many years ago it wouldn’t have worked.” I offered a joke breaking some of the tension in the room.

“Tell me Commander. My offer. It would assist you greatly. Wealth, power, access to a great many connections. I don’t think neutrality will work how you expect. You are a mercenary, this would help you greatly.”

“The Iron Blooded Orphans… It’s not exactly a mercenary company in truth.” I offer slowly.

That caused both of the adults to blink. “What do you mean?”

“I mean. The goal with my kids isn’t to create a mercenary company, I mean we are right now, but that’s more like a facade. Something that I can say that tells people what we can do. But it’s not what we are. My aim is to create something different. Archon the reason I said I won’t take a title from you, or anyone... It’s because I won’t serve any Great house. I’m only going to serve the Inner Sphere, not the people that rule it. Those same people that over the last three hundred years lost everything that humanity had achieved because five families wanted it all for themselves. Your family is just as at fault for the destruction heaped upon humanity as house Kurita.”

Like a bomb had gone off, it was utter silence. Katrina had no emotion on her face but Morgan was looking at me like I was some weird alien.

“I don’t think anyone has ever said something quite so inflammatory to me before.” Katrina finally offered out, “No one has ever offered me the knowledge of the StarLeague before either. So this is turning into an interesting morning for me.” She stated softly.

“I’m sorry, I’m not a noble. I don’t know how to say something incredibly rude while sounding pleasant about it. I only know how to speak plainly. Archon. I respect you. As long as you aim for peace. I will help you. In more ways than you probably expect, but I also have to look towards the future.” I licked my lips. Dammit Vicky. Stop saying rude things to the fucking Archon. Feudal lords don’t usually take this sort of thing well…

But dammit I had to continue. “I want people to look at what I do in the next few decades as something to emulate. Something to aspire to. I want to create something that is a force for good in the Inner Sphere.” I knew this was going to start getting complicated now. I wasn’t just a nice mercenary girl, that gave a big prize to the Archon.

I was starting to become a potential threat. I could see it vaguely in her eyes, although not her face, she was too controlled for that.

“A force for good? You don’t believe House Steiner, and the Commonwealth is such a force already?” she asked, probing.

“No. Frankly Archon I don’t. Alessandro. Claudius. House Steiner has its own dark history, same as any. Your family is a political organization. One whose entire goal is to stand atop the Inner Sphere. No matter what they must sacrifice or do to reach it.”

We were staring at each other now. Steiner gray eyes burning into my blue ones. “You are right, Commander. You aren’t very good at saying something rude while sounding pleasant. It’s almost refreshing from my usual conversations.” She offered, but while her voice sounded kind her eyes were sharp.

“In a hundred years. What will the Inner Sphere remember about you Archon?” I asked. Changing the subject suddenly. Morgan and Katrina both seem interested in my question.

“I would hope that I am remembered as a peacemaker. As a leader that strengthened my home. That took care of my people.”

“I believe you will. Because that is your goal. I have a goal too. In a hundred years I want people to remember that I wasn’t willing to be bought. That I was offered the greatest treasures of the Inner Sphere by all the great houses to become their spear, and I said no. That I am a person that did what needed to be done.”

The quiet echoed around the room before Katrina spoke. “Interesting. Commander Eisen-Blume, what would you say exactly is it that needs to be done? Something the Inner Spheres leaders already can not do?”

“I’m just an orphan. I know you are aware of that, but do you understand it? Do you know what it means when I say I have no biological family? But that my family is larger than anyone could imagine? Every orphan in the Commonwealth is my Brother or Sister. Every orphan across the Inner Sphere is my cousin. I don’t need a title, or a planet Archon because that is my legacy. I don’t need children to carry on my name. I have a trillion family members across the universe. All of them are why I need to be more. More than just another noble.”

“That’s quite a family. I wonder why you think you couldn’t do more for them as a planetary Duchess? Would not having an entire world’s wealth at your back not do more for them?” Katrina asked, poking holes in my argument. Well trying to. It’s hard to make any argument about wealth when I have the Nanoforge.

“Possibly, but only for my Commonwealth brothers and sisters. My Cousins? They would see me as just another foreign noble. Another enemy because I won’t have the freedom to choose. If I bend my knee to you Archon. I will forever be your subject in the eyes of the Inner Sphere. Everyone outside the Commonwealth will only ever speak to me with that in mind. I have to be a neutral force because that’s the only way I can reach across the entire Inner Sphere. How I can create the one thing that is needed to help everyone.”

She was staring down at me imperiously. A soft almost glare in her eyes, but her voice was still soft when she started speaking. I guess the fact I was still a teenager was coming in handy. “Tell me, what is it you believe is needed to help everyone? If not funds and wealth to actually be able to offer them assistance?” Katrina poked into my idea trying to stop it, to point out a flaw, but she didn’t have a complete picture.

“Trust. Archon.” I admitted without hesitation. “They need someone that they can trust. Someone that will put the needs of the people before their own concerns. Call me naive. Call me a fool, I fully expect to be called quite a bit of both. Hell, call me insane. But nothing will get better without someone doing something outrageous.” I could feel my fists clench, explaining this was important. I had to try and get it right. I took a deep breath, before continuing.

“So I am going to be the one that the people of the Inner Sphere can trust. I won’t ever claim a planet. I will never own land, other than small bases. I will never govern a planet, or a sector, or the Inner Sphere. The only title I will go by is Commander. That way wherever I am in the Inner Sphere people will always be able to trust that I am there to help, that I don’t have some ulterior motives.”

Morgan snorted “Fool. That’s impossible. You won’t be able to do anything without reinforcements, without supplies, money. A title, and a planet help. I never could have kept the Kell Hounds going without the funds from being a duke. You won’t even have that no matter how lucky you are even with the Helm cache, even if you snuck some mechs off the world It will run out, things will get damaged, you won’t be able to sustain yourself for long.” The older man looked at me, like… well like I was a child making a foolish mistake.

“Morgan. Commander Eisen-Blumes dreams are sweet. If I had a hundred of you Commander perhaps I would never need to worry about pirates again. But your dreams are going to be dangerous to you. Morgan is right. If you go down that path, you will find difficulties. People will abuse your trust, they will seek to destroy you simply to claim what you have. You will be everyone's enemy. Without allies you will forever be on your own when something goes wrong.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. If she knew about my Nanoforge she would have found that funny too. “I accept.” I tell her simply after chuckling. “If making an enemy of everyone is the price I pay for trying to do something about the state of the Inner Sphere? Then Archon I accept.” I tell her, grinning sharply. Oh yes. If the Inner Sphere wanted to go to war with me? Let them. They would learn. They would all learn.

For a moment I thought Katrina Steiner the Archon and a strong mechwarrior herself, shivered, but that was impossible. My smiles were cute and fuzzy. It’s not like I was named Tanya!

“You are an idiot.” Morgan offered but he didn’t seem angry or upset more disheartened. “Katrina, this is the exact sort of thing I wanted to get away from. Kids with no sense in their heads trying to get themselves killed.” He sighed, sounding tired.

“I envy that you could, some days.” She offered in reply before she seemed to remember she had the Memory Core in her hand. “Commander… You confuse me. I can’t say I have ever met someone who turned down becoming a duchess before, but I certainly can’t take offense over it. You gave me a gift that regardless of what you say I will never manage to repay.” She sighed clutching the Noteputer before setting it down on the table. “I applaud your desire to improve the Inner Sphere. Just know that if nothing else. That offer will not end regardless how long you refuse.”

“Thank you Archon, but I am afraid I will never be able to accept. It would go against everything I believe in.”

“I can’t say I agree, but I can respect that your action comes from your heart. Tell me Commander if you don’t wish to be a Duchess, and you want to help the Inner Sphere, how do you plan on going about it? Morgan is right, if you head off as you are now, you will be run down by the other great houses.”

“Oh? That’s simple.” I tell her with a shrug. “I am going to create something new based on something old. The Inner Sphere Defense Force. ISDF. That’s what the IBO really is. It will be something similar to the old SLDF. But we won’t have any political backing whatsoever. Our only goal will be spreading knowledge, protection and hope to those in need, defending the Inner Sphere from within and out.”

“Simple?” The sarcastic comment broke the silence as I nodded to Morgan.

“Yep. I’ll recruit orphans from every corner of the Inner Sphere. Train them, equip them, teach them. We will be trained to spread assistance, we won’t be conquerors. The goal is to put a copy of that Memory Core on every planet in the Inner Sphere. In a central location that is open to the public. Teachings left over from the Star League used to spread a light back across the Inner Sphere, my ISDF will be armed in case we are attacked, but the goal is to move without conflict. My kids are already learning from the core. Science, medicine, engineering. Everything that is needed to help restore a world.” I felt so excited as the idea in my head that had been slowly forming was expressed to one of the five leaders of the Inner Sphere.

“That sounds like ComStar.” Morgan offered suddenly. “Why not go to them. They would help you with your task.”

“ComStar can’t be trusted.” I offer simply. No point in elaborating on that one, although the confused looks I was receiving again I realized I would have to. “I don’t have any proof I can offer you, but ComStar are not what they portray themselves as. They aren’t as neutral as they want everyone to believe they are. A warning Archon. Think of them as the sixth great house. If you do you won’t be far off the mark from their actual intentions.”

“What?” Morgan asked with a blink. “That makes no sense. ComStar isn't a great house. They run the HPG’s that’s it.”

“Commander. What makes you think that ComStar isn’t trustworthy?” Katrina dug straight to the heart of the matter.

“I can’t give you any examples. Or proof. It’s a warning nothing more.”

Well that earned me some very powerful looks from the archon of the Inner Sphere, “I will take your words under advisement.” She says eventually, a nice political answer. “You wish to put a Memory Core on every planet. That… isn’t exactly possible. I can’t have this spread to the other great houses.”

“No. That’s not what I mean. For now it’s yours, other than my own Copy at Redbase, that is the only other copy in the Inner Sphere. I will give you time, Archon. Learn, grow, restore that which was destroyed over the last three hundred years, but we both know, the moment you begin, the timer has already started. When that knowledge gets out? When you lose control of it? That is when I’ll move. You have time. As long as you can keep it secure. I will hold off.”

Plus putting it on her shoulders for how long it would be before I mass release the information made it less of a point of stress for me.

The woman was looking at me with a fierce look in her eyes. I wondered idly, if I was about to receive a bullet to the back of my head. “And what if you are the one who loses the security of your Memory Core? This Memory Core is… Incredibly important. If even half of what I already saw gets in the hands of the Coordinator?”

“Why would anyone suspect I still have a copy? If you really want to shake off any interest. Have a copy made that I can take back that only has lower educational courses. I do plan on continuing the education of my kids. They are orphans, the more of them I can get through college classes the better.”

She continued to stare down at me. Probably going through plans to ensure the Memory Core doesn’t get taken by an enemy. Eventually her eyes softened. “Very well. I will allow you to keep a copy. But I will need to ensure your security is high enough to secure it.”

“Agreed. Our security is pretty good. But upgrades are always helpful.”

She nodded “In regards to your… Plan. It is another sweet dream. I am not against the idea. But that is a dangerous path for the Commonwealth. I will ask that before you begin. You inform me. So I am both prepared, and able to… Offer suggestions.”

“Absolutely. I figure I won’t even start considering it until 3030, maybe even 3035. My kids still need time to grow strong enough to defend it.”

“That won’t be that easy Commander. Once you put yourself out into the Inner Sphere, you can proclaim you are as neutral as you like. Not everyone will care.” Morgan offered and it was obvious Katrina nodding in agreement thought the same.

I sighed, blowing out air through my lips. “I know. But I can’t… Archon, when… When’s the last time you went out among the people? Not as Archon Katrina Steiner, but a normal person? Seen the world… The Inner Sphere through their eyes?”

“Unfortunately. I don’t know I ever have. At least not the way you are speaking.”

“Right. You see… You see everything through the eyes of the Archon, or a scion of House Steiner. I see everything through the eyes of an orphan. Big things. Steiner, Kurita, Marik. They are so far from my world. They are barely important. The people…”

How do I explain this? How can I explain this to someone like Katrina Steiner? She is wholly divorced from a normal person's outlook. She worries about the entire Commonwealth.

“My concern is the people. The ones that I pass on the street, that struggle because their parents died in a pirate raid. The ones whose parents died fighting another successor state. One whose parents died from cancer. The one… Whose mother said it would just be one more Solaris match. Just one more.”

I locked the Archons eyes down with my own. “That is the person I worry for. That I want to protect. Not because I think I have any duty towards them. Or a responsibility. No Noblesse oblige. Just… Because I am them.”

Katrina Steiner nodded. “I don’t know if your plan will work, Commander. I think it’s going to be dangerous, and you might throw your entire life away on this.”

“Millions of people throw their lives away every day. At least if I put mine on the line, I want it to mean something.”

“Ugh, alright. I think I’m done with this. I can’t handle any more insanity today.” Morgan grumbled, rising up and grabbing something to drink out of a tray that was set on the table that I had ignored until now.

Katrina chuckled as she nodded. “Very well, since the good Duke is tired out, let’s continue this another time, I still have… To speak with many people regarding your gift.” The Memory Core was once more on her mind as she stood. Instantly a maid and butler came in to assist. “Please Commander, enjoy your stay in the Triad for now, I am sure we will talk again soon, but perhaps a little time to think will do the best for all of us.” She offered a butler leading me and Eris away as Morgan and Katrina obviously needed to talk.

I didn’t mind. I had done what I needed to. I had started the promise. Put the idea into the head of the Archon. She hadn’t denied me, although she might be thinking it. That meant when I started the plans for the ISDF it would be too late for her to go back on it.

Eris moved away from me as I walked down the hall following the maid. I don't know why, I was just smiling.

—-

Being toured around the Triad was an interesting experience. For one. Nobles were everywhere. We passed through quite a bit of long hallways where men and women wearing uniforms, or fashionable couture were idling around talking and chatting.

Eris had abandoned me early into the tour, so it was just me and my armor. No one stopped me. The maid guiding me around was obviously conducting a tour, but I got plenty of interesting looks. Not all of them friendly.

I definitely didn’t fit the normal mold for people in the Triad. “I would have expected the triad to be more empty, like some giant palace with three million rooms and only like two ever in use.”

The maid who hadn’t given me a name, even after I offered my own, tittered fakely “The Triad is not just the Steiner palace, it is also used as the basis of our Government. There is a flood of nobility, and Councilors who guide the future of the Commonwealth every day.”

“Still seems weird to me I guess. Sorta changes how I look at it.”

She doesn’t say anything to that. As we walk around I get to see some pretty unique sights. The Throne room. Although the Griffins weren’t there. I guess they only entered when the Archon was actually inside? Kind of a shame.

Still eventually I called an end to it. There was only so much I could take being stared at. I was taken to a massive bedroom. That was as comfortable as anyplace I had ever been. Unfortunately It was a little too big. A little too luxurious. It honestly just made me uncomfortable.

The baths were great though. I did enjoy those. Gonna have to take a scan or something. RedBase needs hotsprings… No wait. It’s too hot. Shit. I grumble as I soak. Next time we set up a landhold it would have to be on a cooler world. Massive tubs were awesome.

Finally done I settled into the bed. There was plenty left of the day, but I had been traveling on a ship for the last few months. I was tired. I fell asleep slowly. My armor piled onto a chair I moved close to the bed, so I could suit up in the morning.

That morning I was woken up far too early, from a voice that was far too eager. “Good morning Commander Eisen-Blume! The Archon has requested you to join her for breakfast!” The chipper voice had me blink as I startled awake reaching for a gun that was still on my dropship. Grumbling, I glared blearily, the girl shaped blob that I could see wandering around my room was glared at for a few moments before I rose rubbing my crusty eyes as I stretched.

A gasp startled me from my motion and I blinked at the blonde girl that was staring at me in shock. Until I realized she wasn’t looking at me, but my Cooling suit.

Which of course I had worn to bed, that thing was sinfully comfy and the actual cooling device could easily be removed so it acted as a sort of body stocking. You know. If your body stocking had a price tag in the millions.

“Is that…” The girl definitely had a bit too much forwardness as her hands were already trailing up my arm, feeling the cooling suit. “It is! I’ve seen one before, this is a cooling suit!” she chirped looking over and noticing the pile of armor on the chair beside the bed as well “Oh yeah you were wearing armor… Is this! You made an armor set that fits over a cooling suit? That’s amazing!” She gasped. The girl was way too excitable. She buzzed around my room like a hummingbird despite the fact it was too damn early for this.

“Don’t touch that.” I grumble. “The armor isn’t a toy.”

“Oh it's fine I’m not gonna mess with it, but how did you-”

“Good Morning Commander, I am here to wake you up for breakfast with the-” The maid that entered my room startled as she took in that fact that I wasn’t alone and the wide eyed look she gave the blonde girl standing in front of me clued even my sleep deprived mind of who I was looking at.

“I guess that makes you Melissa Steiner then?” I grumble. Earning an apologetic smile from the blonde.

“That would be me.” She offered, standing up straight and giving me an imperious nod which I wanted to roll my eyes at. What a little braggart. Her interest returning to my armor, left me with only one recourse. As she reached for the plates to look them over.

Before anyone else could respond I snatched a pillow and chucked it.

The “Oof!” Melissa released as the eleven year old was flattened by the projectile and had me smiling even if the maid was now aiming a gun at me. I acknowledge it out of the corner of my eye with a shrug.

“I told her to stop playing with my armor. Only Iron Blooded Orphans get a set. It’s become part of our culture.” I offered to the blonde that was looking up at me in shock, before a fierce grin split her face. The pillow came sailing back and I snagged it out of the air. Before immediately chucking it back, I grabbed a second pillow and sent that one as well. The maid eventually lowered her gun.

But neither of us noticed. Too busy proclaiming dominion for the Commonwealth and for the Iron Blooded Orphans respectively.

—--

“You are late.” Katrina Steiner offered to the blonde walking beside me as we entered the breakfast room. Which was absolutely massive. Even if the table was more normal length. The room it was in was nearly large enough for a mech yet somehow it wasn’t echoey despite it’s cavernous size.

After our little fight Melissa had hung around as I finished getting ready, even watching in interest as I put my armor back on. Although the maid with a gun had forced herself on me trying to help. I still felt attacked! Once I was dressed Melissa led me to the breakfast room. We chatted as we walked her telling me a few interesting things, while begging stories about the IBO and our exploits.

Honestly it wasn’t any different to dealing with any of the younger orphans back in the orphanage, although rarely were any of them as smart. Melissa Steiner was a very smart girl. She picked up on things I said near instantly. It was honestly a little intimidating, since she was sort of stealing my schtick.

I was supposed to be the oddly intelligent young blonde girl!

“Sorry Momma. I wanted to help Vicky get up and we got distracted!” She offered, Katrina was looking over the fact that Melissa’s long hair was a mess as was my shorter hair. Both of us looked like we just went through a wind tunnel.

“Sorry Archon. There was a battle for supremacy in my room, you will be happy to note that the Commonwealth had a strong showing, and eventually a truce was declared.” I offer knowing the look of betrayal on Melissa’s face would last with me for a good while.

“Oh? A battle took place without the Archons consent? Do I have to quash a rebellion?” Katrina offered aloud and I could see the love between mother and daughter as Melissa did her best to shush her mother to keep her from embarrassing her. Children were always embarrassed by their parents though.

Eventually I was directed to a seat, Morgan Kell was there as well, the older man already tucking into a large breakfast as was the Archon. A maid soon took my request and I had my own food.

“So Vicky, why didn’t you mention you are wearing an SLDF Cooling suit under your armor?” Melissa eventually broke the silence as she chirped out her question with an annoying smirk.

“Usually because secrets are meant to stay that way. I revoke any offer I may have made to join the Iron Blooded Orphans. They have to know how to keep a secret to join.” I inform her promptly, making her snort.

“As if I would join your company. I’ll just make my own. Or maybe I’ll join the Kell Hounds.” She said teasing.

“Like Hell.”

“Not a chance.” Both adults responded instantly and I was chuckling along with Melissa at their reaction.

But Morgan spoke up next. “What’s this about an SLDF Cooling suit?” He asked me looking honestly confused.

Rolling my eyes I gave Morgan Kell a truly disappointed look. “You were on a dropship with us for almost two months and not once did you notice that under our armor we are all wearing lostech? No wonder you never found a big Lostech cache. You don’t have any instincts for it. Melissa noticed it within seconds of meeting me.” I tell him earning a bright smile from the blonde.

“All of you?” Katrina asked digging into the heart of the matter obviously ignoring the humor of the situation. That’s the Archon for you. Sometimes she can’t play along with a good joke.

“Yeah. You brought up an issue yesterday Archon, about how I was going to fund the ISDF. Well. I currently have twenty thousand SLDF Cooling suits in perfect condition sitting in storage of the Isaribi. How interested are you?” I offer with my truly best Lyran ‘I am going to fleece you for so much goddamn Kroner’ smile.

It took a moment as Katrina’s gray eyes locked on me, searching before nodding. “Very.”

“Well it’s a good thing I offer discounts for friends, otherwise you may not be able to afford my price.” I tell her smiling and she snorts at my joke, which considering I just got the Archon to snort means I definitely win.

Her eyes looked around the room we were in. The room was for breakfast, and a more private nook at that, but there was enough gold and gems involved. I bet you could buy a jumpship if you stripped it down.

“Indeed.” She finally offered. Well she definitely got me there.

We discussed the deal over breakfast, and by the time I was done, I was sure I had in fact been the one fleeced. ‘Most Lyran, Lyran indeed.’ But I still had a very nice trump card I hadn’t revealed yet, only when the deal was complete did I bring it up.

“So should I put you down for the second batch of suits as well, or should I start selling those on the more open market?” I asked, smiling innocently, as Katrina Steiner who was about to take a sip of her morning tea stilled. Looking at me over the rim before putting the cup down.

“Second batch?” she finally asked, she obviously knew I was waiting for the question.

“Why, Yes Archon. The factory for creating the cooling suits I found on Helm was transferred to Zaniah of course, we have it up and running, how else could I afford to outfit every member of my company with a cooling suit? They are surprisingly cheap to produce, at least with the SLDF factory that we have.” I waited a few moments for the Archons blood pressure to lower. Taking in the looks of amusement from Melissa, and exasperation from Morgan out of the corner of my eye.

“I believe Commander Eisen-Blume that perhaps we should have a discussion about what it is other than the Memory core that you recovered from Helm?”

“Oh, not that much else of interest… Some mechs and things… The NightHawk suits were fun. I never really expected to find working Power armor… Much less one designed for stealth and infiltration. I find the ECM functionality to be very effective for sneaking around. The StarLeague had some neat toys.” I offer before pushing a bit of toast into my mouth letting that idea settle into their minds.

“Commander…” Katrina Steiner, Archon of the Commonwealth was looking less than amused, although Melissa was looking at me like I was the bravest person she had ever met. I doubt many people took an opportunity to tease the Archon of the Commonwealth.

“Sorry Archon, I couldn’t help it. The NightHawks have been tested out by one of my units, Delta Ops have found their job far easier now that they have armor, jump jets and ECM equipment for infantry.”

“How many suits do you have?”

“An interesting question. There was enough stored at Helm that I could outfit most of an infantry Company. How many do you want?”

“All of them.” She stated firmly.

“Well other than the ones currently in use, I see no issue with that Archon.” Sure maybe telling her, no you can’t have the ones I’m using might get me in trouble, but I was betting that I had a bit of capital with the Archon at this point.

She nodded slowly. “You certainly have a spot of luck with Lostech hunting Commander.”

“Oh it was my mother really. I’m just following in her footsteps. She was the hunter. I’m just the girl with the manpower to finally hit the caches.”

“I see.” Katrina Steiner offered an indecipherable look.

“Do you know of any other Lostech caches!?” Melissa chirped up beside me and I nodded, suddenly catching the interest of the adults around the table.

“Sure I know a bunch. On Epsilon Eridani there is a Colossus up in the.. Something mountains? Sounds Irish but I can’t remember? It’s an old SLDF base. Karbala should have some more NightHawks somewhere as well. There is a CastleBrian on Clinton somewhere. Kwangi? Kwanjong? What was the name of that planet again?” I asked aloud, losing my track.

“Kwangjong-ni?” Melissa interrupted seemingly the only other person in the room that had a voice.

“That’s it! Thanks, There are a few mech factories set up under the water somewhere. It's an old RWR base from my understanding they hid it under the ocean which is why no one found it yet. There is the Argo Dropship somewhere in the Periphery near the Aurigan reach, it’s in a system called Alloway but all I know is it’s not on most maps, and it’s full of pirates, but the Argo had some crazy dropship collar improvements, so it was pretty special… Well there is one more but I have plans for that one, Sorry Melissa.”

The stony silence of the room was a balm to my soul. I could barely hide my grin as I stuffed a bit more food into my mouth watching the Archon of the Commonwealth Katrina ‘I’m a Badass’ Steiner look gobsmacked was totally worth it. Morgan Kell was just as shocked at the reveal of most of my Lostech knowledge. I mean. I know about New Dallas, but well… If I reveal that one, ComStar gets involved. Better to go a bit slower.

“Vicky! That’s amazing. Are you going to go to most of the places to get more Lostech?” Melissa asked and I shrugged.

“Not really necessary, Helm had the Core and a lot of equipment, most of the rest are useful, but a bit more than my Company needs-.”

“Victoria.” My mouth clicked shut at my full name being uttered.

Oh that was a weird feeling.

No one called me my full first name after all. “Thank you for the information. I appreciate you being so free with your mothers knowledge.” Katrina spoke softly, giving me a gentle look as her gray eyes locked with mine as she seemed to shoot compassion at me.

“U-hh. No problem?” I stuttered out, my face growing a bit red. Listen! I wasn’t used to my first name, and it was weird! And she definitely noticed! Oh no!

“Melissa, once you finish why don’t you show Victoria the practice range. I am sure she will enjoy getting a chance to put her name down on the scoreboard at the Triad.” Katrina seemed to hint, and Melissa seemed bored but nodded despite the fact I was pretty sure Katrina just wanted the kids out of the room.

“It’s pretty famous, a lot of Mechwarriors fight for a chance to get their name on the score for the course, did you bring your mech Vicky?”

“Oh, Yeah I brought a Nightstar, since my Locust got claimed back home.”

“...Nightstar?” Morgan asked, sounding a little strangled as I blinked before rolling my eyes.

“We were on the same dropship for almost two months, did you really not bother to look around? Yeah I brought one of the Nightstars from the Helm cache with, I figured it would be an acceptable upgrade from my Locust. I mean I could have went with the Royal Atlas but my Sub-Commander has a thing with punching. So I gave it to him.”

Katrina sighed, literally dropping her head into her hands for a moment rubbing at her forehead. “Victoria, do you have any other surprises for me today?”

I shivered. First name! First name! It was like a red alert going up my spine. “Uhhh. Maybe? I mean. Nothing I can… Well I mean… We did get a lot of brand new SLDF Advanced Neurohelms… So I have those we can sell some of as well… And there is the Mobile HPG?”

“Melissa. Go take Victoria out. I believe I will need some time.” Katrina Steiner eventually offered quietly, looking like she was about to start day drinking.

Melissa tugged me along, her eyes looking at me like I was some kind of demi-god.

—-

“Is it okay if I come?” Melissa said following me into the Isaribi both of us hurrying into the dropship to escape the cold. Sure her ‘guards’ were keeping a very close eye on us, but I wasn't intending on doing anything to her anyways. I blew some snowflakes off my face as I shrugged.

“Well the jumpseat in the Nightstar should be more than big enough. But we will have to get you a cooling suit. I don’t know how much the Nightstar heats up yet.”

“Yes please!” Melissa chirped and I shrugged, passing through a few rooms until we got to a store room. I found a suit small enough for Melissa and I called out to the Repair Unit that had come with to keep the Nightstar and Isaribi fixed up to ready the Nightstar. We mounted up, Melissa finding the Jumpseat perfectly large enough for her to use as I started up the fusion engine.

The Nightstar-9j was an absolute beast of a mech at 95 tons. Plus it’s only ‘standard’ weapon was a single small laser, every other weapon it was equipped with was Lostech.

As I stomped out into the cold of Tharkad, I followed the instructions over the radio to reach the Tharkad mech course. Apparently it was a training ground for the 1st Royal Guards to keep themselves sharp while on duty.

But it was also a bit of a famous stop for Mechwarriors who get the honor to run through it, apparently the history of who ran the course has been saved since before the fall of StarLeague. So it goes back a long way.

It wasn’t like I was unique for having a go, but I was probably one of the few that wasn’t some sort of nobility. Of course I didn’t expect to do amazingly well. But I did expect to show an acceptable run. After all, I did have some advantages that most mechwarriors didn’t have. Lostech, and a SLDF Neurohelm. I felt my grin tug my lips as the green light of the course lit up, and I stepped forward.

Unfortunately I was in VR mode so I wasn’t going to be able to actually fire my Dual Gauss rifles, but the course was capable of emulating them still.

“Kick their butt!” Melissa shouted behind me as a VR mech turned a corner ahead of me. The triple shot of ERPPC and Dual Gauss smashed into the VR warhammer. The ERPPC was a second slower than the gauss on purpose, as I nudged the Nightstar into a sort of stutter step letting the ERPPC try and land just as close to the emulated shattered armor the Gauss had caused.

It was a trick I had picked up from Hanna in the sims. And it worked. The ERPPC smashed into the weakened armor and a Warhammer went from raising it’s weapons to crumpling into oblivion as the system read it as dead.

“Whoa!” Melissa cried out as I continued on. I took hits. I wasn’t Kerensky, after all. But my Nightstars damage was simply too much for most enemies I came across. If I got the first shot off that was usually it for anything daring to stand before me. Only when the system sent multiple mechs at once did the damage start building up. I ‘lost’ my right arm to a lucky AC/20 shot from a Victor, before smashing it with a retaliatory Gauss round.

The heat was so level neither of us needed the cooling suit, but it was fun anyways. By the end. The last mech was smashed apart with the medium pulse lasers which were very cool in the VR system before I stepped over the mission finish line.

*CLEAR*

Despite keeping cool I was sweating a bit. I wiped my forehead as Melissa cheerered “That was cool! Your mech is pretty awesome Vicky.”

“Thanks. Well it’s just the equipment. I’m still pretty green as a pilot. I need a lot more experience.”

“I don’t know about that. I’ve seen a lot of really good pilots practice here, you were definitely pretty good.”

“Thanks Melissa, but again I think it’s just the Nightstar being a lostech machine. Speaking of. Want a go of it?”

“W-what? I can't, it's your mech!”

“Pfft. We don’t have that policy in the Iron Blooded. Well you want to take it out for a spin? Shouldn't be hard. I bet you have a brain scan somewhere.”

The blonde girl was blinking at me eyes wide before she slowly nodded. “Sure.”

—-

So Melissa Steiner was actually a little famous for not being a huge mechwarrior. In the future she even went on to become an infantry commander.

That doesn’t mean she didn’t have the best training in the commonwealth for being a mechwarrior.

“So she destroyed my time. I mean completely. Took less damage too.” I grouse at Morgan who was snorting at me. Melissa sitting beside me looked supercharged as we went over our day's adventure.

“You did fine though Vicky! You were more accurate than I was, but slower, that’s all. If the hall had a longer range. I think you would have beaten me still.” She mentioned, although the arrogant smile on the eleven year olds face had me snorting.

“Well a Nightstar isn’t the mech for you. We need to get you an Atlas or something. Considering you tried to punch that Griffin.”

She flushed a little. “It worked!”

“Yeah but only because it was a VR mech, that would have wrecked your Gauss Rifle. Those things are fragile.”

“You both did well. Katrina was watching the second run quite avidly, Melissa.” Morgan offered to the girl and her gray eyes widened before a pleased look ran across her face.

“Thank You Uncle Morgan.”

“Thanks.” I added in as well.

“Ah, perfect.” Katrina Steiners voice picked up as she entered the room. She took a moment to look over the Cooling Suit Melissa was still wearing with a quirked eyebrow, Melissa’s neurohelm settled on the table in front of her also getting a moment's attention, before she turned to me. “We do need to finish our conversation Victoria.” I shivered again what was with this woman using my full name!

“O-of course Archon, we do have a lot to discuss.”

“Melissa… You can come too if you like.” Katrina offered before marching off the two of us following her like lost ducklings.

The room we stopped at could only be Katrina Steiners personal office. An older woman was already inside and although she carried some of the Steiner looks she didn’t quite have Katrina’s beauty.

That was my nicest way of saying she was pretty ugly. Her cheek bones were too strong and the rest of her face made her look like an angry pug.

Or it could just be the general angry look on her face.

“Nondi. Glad you could make it, Nondi, this is Victoria Eisen-Blume. A commander of a mercenary force the Iron Blooded Orphans. Victoria brought us… A priceless gift.”

Nondi nodded slowly taking that in. “I suppose that was her on the course with the Nightstar? You need more practice.” She offered not entirely unkindly, but definitely a little brusque.

“I’m aware. That was only the second time I’ve been in the cockpit of the Nightstar, and the first one was just boarding it onto the dropship.” I offered with a shrug. That earned a nod at least. No idea whether it was a good one or not.

“Auntie Nondie! Did you see my run too?”

“I did Melissa. Your accuracy needs work.”

“I just don’t really like piloting.” Melissa offers with a shrug. Which was a bit weird. She seemed to have a blast in the Nightstar. Wonder what was up with that.

“Excellent, please come sit Victoria, I want to discuss what we are going to do moving forward.”

“Ah. Just Commander, or Vicky if you must, Archon.” I made the attempt.

“Victoria is a fine name. Come sit.” And she shot it down.

“Okay.”

Feeling incredibly awkward I sat across from the Archon of the Commonwealth as she pulled out a stack of papers. “I have considered what you told me very carefully. I still think having you as a duchess protecting one of my worlds would be the best option, but since you continue to refuse, I decided this was the only path available to me.”

She pushed one of the stack of papers on her desk towards me, and since she wasn’t adding anything more I looked them over.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what any of this means.” I tell her waving the paper in the air. “I don’t speak whatever… language this is in Archon.” I offer. The papers were in English, sure. But none of the words make sense.

Legalese was its own language after all.

“If you wish to act as the Commander of any force in the Inner Sphere, you may wish to learn Victoria.”

I shuddered before nodding slowly, a slight smirk crossed the Archon's face before she nodded. “On the paperwork is my own name confirming the landhold for the Iron Blooded Orphans on Zaniah III. You did me a service and I won’t have a misunderstanding damage our relationship. The land you currently reside on is yours with my word attached.”

“Oh. Thank you Archon, that is incredibly kind of you. It’s reassuring that our home won’t be taken from us… About that I probably should mention…”

Katrina blinked and I got the feeling that if it was any other woman she might have let out a frustrated sound. “You should mention what. Victoria?”

Oh that sounded even worse like that! Wait, was she trying to Mom me!? Shaking that thought I continued, “RedBase was built on top of a Star League Castle Brian… I’ve been excavating it with my kids and getting it started back up.”

“What?” Nondi called out sputtering. “You can’t be serious!”

“Really!?” Melissa chirped out looking on in delight as what I just said seemed to cause her mother physical pain.

“Of course I am, why would I lie? There wasn’t anything down there, it was stripped bare, and not in great condition. It's how we’ve managed so well, we found a secret entrance and basically moved in.”

“Victoria… When I asked earlier if you had any more surprises. I had hoped you had given me the last one.” Katrina finally said in a detached tone.

“Not… Not even close?” I finally admitted which seemed to finally break her, as the Archon of the Commonwealth, one of the five most powerful people in all of the universe started laughing uproariously. Just full belly laugh levels of amusement. Nondi seemed shocked and horrified, while Melissa who had been watching this all play out with a grin as if she was the cat that caught the canary had a smile stretching across her face only slightly hidden by her hand trying to hide it.

“Victoria. I can't, I can't deal with you! I simply don’t know how to react when every five minutes you drop such revelations on me.”

“Sister…” Nondi seemed quite affronted by Katrina’s action but the woman waved her sister away.

“No Nondi, you haven’t heard half of it, I’m honestly not even surprised anymore. Please Victoria. Is there anything else I need to know?”

My lips pressed together tight I couldn’t help but shrug. “I think that’s about it… for now?” Oh man I was bad at lying. Shit I forgot. Who thought it was a good idea to put me in the same room as the fucking Archon?

Oh right past-Vicky. Dumb bitch.

“I’ll simply take your word for it Victoria.”

The laughter of the Archon seemed to still be echoing around the room as everyone was amped up, irritated like Nondi, or nearly giggling, like Melissa. Katrina seemed to have enough. “I also offer you a pass on paying your tithe for the lostech finds. The Memory Core is… More valuable than any hardware, and you brought it to me.”

“Thank you Archon. That’s very generous.”

She nodded, before a smile twitched across her lips. “Oh and Victoria? For all that you have done, please, call me Aunt Katrina.”

Oh fuck. I think… Was she was trying to Mom me! Red alert red alert! What the fuck do I do now?!

—--

A different perspective
Melissa Steiner
The Triad

Watching the very odd girl rush out of the room as if she was being chased, Melissa shook her head. She was practically running from her mother! Sure she had seen others do so before but never when mother was being nice!

The conversation after Vicky dropped another bombshell on her mother hadn’t lasted long. She could see the way her mother was trying to hide the developing headache, and aunt Nondi obviously wanted to yell.

Still Melissa spoke up before her aunt could manage it,

“So should I worry about getting an older sister?” Melissa asked teasingly towards her mother who was clutching her head now that there wasn’t a guest to entertain.

“Don’t joke Melissa.” Her mother moaned.

“Oh I’m not. Considering how much you wanted to test Vicky today I’m surprised you aren’t considering it closer. She did pass all of the tests you gave her.” Melissa teased her aunt looking in confusion before starting to understand.

“You’ve been testing the girl all day. That’s why you allowed her around Melissa. You’ve never allowed someone so dangerous around her before.”

“Yes Nondi, I decided to see what sort of person Victoria Eisen-Blume would be. And honestly I wish I hadn’t. That girl gives me the worst headaches.” Katrina nearly whined before shaking herself and coming back together.

“We didn’t get a chance to talk about your experience Melissa. Tell me everything.”

“Yes Mother. Well she isn’t much of a morning person, but she didn’t react oddly when I woke her up. Once she realized what was going on she relaxed and accepted it. She wasn’t rude to me when she thought I was a maid, nor was she rude to anyone I saw.”

“Well she isn’t a member of the nobility, so that isn’t much of a shock.” Aunt Nondi offered.

“Well she wasn’t raised as a noble either.” Melissa offered with a smile catching her aunt’s attention.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. She was uncomfortable with the idea of a maid, and refused any help getting dressed. It was funny to see Marie mess with her by helping anyway. She is surprisingly prudish.”

“Not something you should even know about daughter of mine.” Katrina pointed out, earning her an innocent shrug.

“Okay, what about the pillow fight? Marie informed me she almost shot our guest.”

“I was seeing how she would react to someone annoying her. Especially once she knew who I was. I kept messing with her armor after she told me not to. She threw a pillow at me after the second time. No hesitation.”

“Really?” Her mother asked honestly, seeming amused by the fact.

“Not at all, even when Marie pulled her gun Vicky ignored it and threw a second pillow when I threw one back. Then we got into it. I never got to have a pillow fight with someone before. Misha told me about her having them sometimes with her siblings, but she never dared.”

“Is that a positive or a negative?” Nondi asked, poking her sister that had been lost in thought.

“Frankly it’s so odd, I’m not sure… Much like many other things Victoria does.”

“Yeah she is weird. But nice. She never treated me as someone important, just another kid. She even let me drive her Nightstar even if I didn’t really want to.”

“Yes I saw, you did well.”

“It was mostly the mech. It was definitely the… Most impressive mech I’ve ever been inside.” Melissa admitted causing her mother to snort in annoyance. She had provided her daughter with access to some of the best mechs in the Inner Sphere, but not much could compare to a Lostech boat like a Nightstar.

“One thing was interesting. The Nightstar was brand new.”

“That’s not interesting. It was in a cache for almost three hundred years.” Nondi offered with a shrug but Melissa smirked, she knew something they didn’t!

“Nope! Not what I meant, that mech had never been used before.” Melissa tells her aunt, with a cheeky grin. “I don’t think that Nightstar ever saw the war. It was factory fresh. No signs of repairs, no old stains, everything was brand new. It even smelled like a new mech.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep! No doubt. That mech other than when she put it on the dropship? Doubt anyone has ever been inside it before.”

“While interesting, I don’t think that really changes anything does it? So she found a fresh off the factory floor Nightstar.” Aunt Nondie chimed in and my mother shrugged.

“By itself it’s meaningless but it’s another interesting fact that Victoria has given us.”

Melissa couldn’t help but break into giggles suddenly and her mother glared. “Oh Mother every time! Every time you used her full name it was like someone stuck a snowball down her back!” Melissa had found it hilarious the surprisingly deep mercenary Commander despite being a child was unflappable by things that would have caused many a noble to blubber about forgiveness. But use her full name?

Her Mother had a smirk on her face as she waited for Melissa’s amusement to fade. “Yes I did notice.”

“Oh I know you did! You started using it even when she asked you to stop! I thought she was going to cry when you brushed over her request!”

“Hmph! She deserves it, do you have any idea how many headaches I had to deal with once she started dropping lostech, after lostech in my lap?” Katrina asked, rubbing her tired eyes.

“I still have the entirety of the LIC working overtime to make sure not a word of this leaks out… Although we will have to release some things. The triad testing ground scores are kept public knowledge after all.”

“Yes, the Nightstar will get some interest. Especially with her score.” Melissa said, suddenly serious. “Her time wasn’t great. But her accuracy score? She hit multiple, triple core shots mother.”

“Yes I noticed.” Katrina was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know if it’s the mech, the Neurohelm, or skill, but it was definitely concerning.”

“A mix of all three I suspect.” Nondi offered. “The mech is brand new, but it wasn’t made to our standards. It was made to the SLDF standards, and the best of the best at that. Nightstars were given to the commanders. I expect it’s standard components being brand new as Melissa pointed out combined with the synergy of an SLDF neurohelm leads to a dangerous combination.”

“I can confirm that the neurohelm helped. I’ve never used one so simply before. It was perfect. Every thought, every action, the mech just moved without any lag, or hesitation. I actually had fun for once.” Melissa said a little embarrassed. She didn’t really like mechs. Yet her eyes kept glancing towards the Neurohelm that was still resting on the table.. Sure riding around in something fast could be fun, but it was just so boring most of the time. It always felt like moving through molasses when she was in control. But not this time. Even in an assault mech it… Danced.

Her mother perked up at Melissa’s words. “Really?”

Blushing a little Melissa shrugged. “It just felt better. Usually it’s not fun. I'm always struggling but the Nightstar moved like it should.” Her mothers eyes widened. As if something clicked in her head.

“Nondi. Go grab one of the techs, and get that helm connected to my warhammer. I want to test something. Melissa, let's see if it feels better in other mechs too.”

“Okay?”

As her aunt left the room Melissa’s mother guided her towards the mech bays, only when they were settling into the royal blue Warhammer that her mother often piloted did her mother speak up again.

“What do you think of Victoria? Really.” Her mother asked and Melissa blinked, that was a weird question for her mother to ask, the woman actually looked a little embarrassed.

“I think she’s weird. I don’t mean bad, but she acts differently to anyone else. Like… Like she sees the world differently. Not better, just different. She never treated me as anything but a kid. I mean I’ve been around people who sucked up to me before, she never did that. Even the Nightstar, when she let me pilot… She wasn’t doing it to curry favor, it was just instinct. An older sister offering a ride to her sibling. That’s what it felt like. Plus, I can’t help but be in awe at what she has done. Just the… Well she brought us…” Melissa whispered the last part. Already warned to keep the Memory Core secret.

“Yes. I think the same.” Her mother admitted sighing softly. “I’ve told you about my adventures as a teenager. Exploring old bases, and things. I always dreamed of finding something half as important. Sure I found a few interesting bits, but nothing…”

“You like her.” Melissa teases after a moment catching her mother off guard. “You know I was only half joking when I asked you if you were planning on getting me a big sister. But now I wonder if I should have been more serious?”

“No, I only have the one daughter.” Her mother scoffs, poking Melissa causing her to twitch from the tickling fingers, but something…

“But you don’t have to only have one.”

Well that silenced her mother and Melissa was actually a little shocked to realize as her aunt ran up, a tech behind her carrying his tools. Her mother hadn’t denied that.

“Mother?”

“No. Melissa I have no intention of adopting Victoria… I just feel. She is a Lyran, a Lyran orphan. She is taking on the weight of the world on her shoulders. I feel like I failed as the Archon. Children are supposed to let the adults lead. Not… Set out to find all the lost secrets of the StarLeague. Or single handedly try to restore knowledge to the Inner Sphere.”

Melissa understood what her mother was saying but at the same time. “I’m going to be taking on the weight of the world too.” She pointed out a tensing of her mothers jawline showed that Melissa might be touching a sensitive spot.

“We haven’t… Decided that yet.”

“It’s what needs to happen. I think I understand Vicky better now that you pointed that out. Sometimes you adults get yourself so twisted up in what you think can happen. You forget that we can make anything happen.” Melissa nodded her head. Vicky might be a little crazy, but she had it right. Sometimes you just had to push forward, for what you wanted.

Melissa smiled. She knew what she wanted, and if Vicky was brave enough to seize her future, so would Melissa.

—-

About a week after we had landed. I couldn’t help but feel the experience at the Triad had been… Interesting. Seeing how the noblest of nobles live, but I wanted to get moving again. Sure Melissa was fun to hang out with and I definitely got the feeling she didn’t have a lot of friends around her age. I did get to meet Misha Auburn, who was Melissa’s best friend.

Nice girl. Very bookish.

And The Triad was a very pleasant place to spend some time.

But it was getting time to go. The whole week, I had meetings with the Archon, which I realized was probably a little strange. Not that I really knew, but the woman was taking time to see me.

I don’t know what the Archon-err ‘Aunt Katrina’ was thinking but she was definitely grilling me on future plans, Lostech information, military tactics, education, and even at one point I had an interesting discussion with her about her own lostech hunting.

When she told me the story of landing on an irradiated planet I reminded her firmly that cancer was a serious thing, and she should make sure her doctors are checking her for it every quarter year or more, because that was serious.

She did blow me off a little but I had reminded her that better cancer treatments might be in the Memory Core. Which had grabbed her attention, her own husband had died from cancer as well. And so would she.

On the day I decided to leave, well that got us talking about proliferation.

“So you want to hand the Memory Core to every planet in the Inner Sphere? That will make any planet you do so a target. At least until you get one on every planet. That’s a long arduous task.”

“I know. That’s why I’m not just creating an engineering corps. The ISDF will not just spread knowledge. But we will stand as guardians against anyone attempting to steal, or damage it.”

“You say that as if you have an army on hand. You aren’t that big of a company Victoria.”

“There is no end to orphans Arch-Aunt Katrina.” I told her. “My plan is to start massively increasing my recruitment. Thanks to your request for more Cooling Suits, and SLDF NeuroHelms, I will have more than enough income to continue building forces. That is if my next stop doesn’t pan out.”

She started glaring at me before I finished. “Victoria. Do you have another Lostech Cache that you are planning on reaching?”

Feeling a cold sweat down my back I nodded slowly. “Yes?”

She let out an utterly aggrieved breath. “Does this cache happen to be one you already informed me about?”

“No. It’s the one I told you I was going for myself. Remember?”

She blinked before huffing. “I do now. Yes. You did say that. What exactly are you searching for that you feel you don’t already have?”

“Dropships. Well a dropship. A Colossus.”

“I believe you already told me about the colossus on Epsilon Eridani.”

“Another one… Sorry Ar-Aunt Katrina. I need this one for my company. It will let us move a disproportionate amount of metal in the future.”

She shook her head, waved it off. “Very well. I will require our men to look over a colossus if you find one. We have so few left, that a working one may answer some questions about getting the ships we do still have running.”

“Oh. That I am more than happy to help with.”

“You are planning on leaving.” She suddenly changed the subject. Causing me to jerk a bit. I had been hoping she wouldn’t find out about my plans just yet. I wanted to get out of here before Archon Privilege kicked in and I ended up working some random job or something.

“Yes Ar-Aunt Katrina.” For some reason she always smirked when I called her that! What was her plan? Was this some sort of trap? My paranoia around Katrina Steiner was a little too strong I felt, but how else could I feel? I couldn’t tell what she was planning!

“I am sorry you are leaving so soon, but I do understand you want to get back to your people. I will expect you to report in, as a non-aligned foreign company in my territory. I expect a message, let’s say at least once a month? Melissa will be sad if you don’t reach out at least that much.”

“Uhhh. Yes?”

“Good, you are learning.”

Scary!

“Since you are leaving, I want to send a Liaison with you. Someone that can get you in contact with LCAF and the LIC in case of any issues.”

“Oh. Well I already have Eris. So I don’t think I need another agent?”

“Eris? You mean agent Stingler. I wasn’t aware you were planning on taking her with you. You do realize she is one of my Lohengrin agents. She did betray you in a way forcing you to come here.” Katrina offered. Telling me that Eris had already been debriefed.

“I was already planning on giving you the Memory Core, all she did is make it more of an immediate problem I had to solve. Besides Why wouldn’t I take her with me? She is an Iron Blooded Orphan. She is wearing our armor. I mean… I didn’t realize she was quitting.” I honestly hadn’t considered that Eris wouldn’t be coming back. Sure I hadn’t seen her in a few days, but I just assumed she would be coming with.

“Never mind then. I don’t believe she is quitting. If you have no issues. I will assign her to be your permanent liaison with LIC.”

“Good. That means I won’t have to worry about her off on her own. Kids are kinda crazy, you know?”

“...Yes.”

—-

A different perspective
Katrina Steiner
The Triad

Watching the fusion plume of Victoria’s dropship disappear into the Tharkad sky Katrina finally felt as if perhaps some normalcy will return to her home.

“I’m surprised you let her leave. What are you really going to do?” Morgan asked as he rested on a couch. They were having a meal together, just the two of them. Although it wasn’t the first time they had made time now that Morgan was back, it was the first time after all of the Commander's bombshells.

Who would have thought a Memory Core would only be the start of all the shocks her heart would have to bear?

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You let that girl run off with enough Lostech that she could easily cause you a lot of trouble. You didn’t demand your tithe of the lostech found. You didn’t even give her any orders. Or try to force her into the nobility. That’s not like you.”

“Perhaps I am simply growing soft in my old age? Besides, The Memory Core by itself is enough to cover any tithe I could demand.”

“You aren’t old, and you will never be soft. And she made the first mistake in business she told you the Core was already paid for. You could have demanded more. It was your right.”

Katrina nodded slowly. “Perhaps I could see that no matter what wonders that girl has found so far, she doesn’t have the experience to keep it running forever. Eventually she will be put in a situation she can’t handle. She cares for her men, once she is on the back foot… Well ‘Aunt Katrina’ was always nice to her. She will come to me when everything goes wrong.”

“Ah, letting the girl stick her hand in a flame to learn what being burned is like. Two problems Kat. One, when she crashes and burns I expect it to be an inferno.”

“Yes. That is a possibility.”

“Okay and two, what if she succeeds?”

Katrina turned a bit shocked. “You can’t honestly think that? The girl is too young. Too naive.”

He shrugged, taking a sip of tea. “She reminds me of you. When we ran off into the periphery. She may be young… But she already decided what she was going to do. She turned you down quick didn’t she? Didn’t even consider your offer.”

“I don’t think any of my forefathers ever had someone turn down a title of Duchess before.”

“No I wouldn’t expect they have. She seemed to get a laugh out of your expression.”

“Don’t remind me. She shocked me… If she does succeed. Which I don’t believe she will, because her idea is ludicrous. She wants to create a neutral army in the middle of the Inner Sphere. Spread knowledge freely. Some may accept the chance, but others… The Combine alone will welcome her in, only to stab her in the back.”

“That is true. But she isn’t stupid. Naive yes, but I wouldn’t say stupid… She may succeed. She has the hardware.”

“She has some hardware, but even so she doesn’t have the men. I spoke with Agent Stingler. The kids she recruited are training hard and have a lot of equipment, but that isn’t always enough.”

“You are avoiding the question. What happens if she succeeds?”

Katrina sighed, retaking her seat. “Then she will remember that the Commonwealth supported her. That Melissa is her friend, and that ‘Aunt Katrina’ was willing to give her a lot of latitude that others would not have.”

“Ah. I see win or lose, the Archon wins?”

“That’s how all the best deals work, Morgan. If she fails I will scoop up the remains and get a new loyal, and oddly thinking Duchess for a world. If she succeeds, if somehow her crazy dream gets anywhere, even if only to the smallest extent. The Commonwealth supported her, didn’t it?”

“Besides. Melissa likes her. It’s always good to have another mercenary company with an attachment to Melissa. Just in case.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 11.1 Phantom of the SLDF
3022
Phecda
In Orbit.

“No, I don't care what your commanding officer says. We are landing!” I growled into the radio. Phecda. Fucking Phecda. I forgot!

It was an easy thing to forget. I mean the chance to copy a Colossus and ‘pretend’ it was in perfect condition was too much for me. But Phecda has a certain fact that I forgot.

52 days from jump point to planet.

If that long ass trip wasn’t bad enough. Phecda was no longer a normal planet, due to the lack of supplies and other issues, it’s population was almost gone, only it’s use as a military position kept it relevant. It also meant to land, I was going up the chain of people who are supposed to deny any landing due to the constant threat of League raids.

But I did not travel 52 days out of my way to turn around.

“Yes I will hold!” I roared into the receiver.

“Commander, perhaps a moment to relax?”

“I am two minutes away from calling the Archon. I can do that now. I have the power.” I hissed into the bridge. My kids were smiling at my threat, but the Captain and the non Orphan crew looked rather pale at the very idea.

They knew it wasn’t an idle threat. I did just spend more than a week hanging out on the Triad. A few had even seen the Archon see me off before we lifted off.

She didn’t hug me! She didn’t! Anyone who says otherwise is a filthy traitor breaking a vow of silence!

Of course my kids knew I was just blowing off steam and not threatening people with the Archons attention.

A crackle came over the radio. “This is Hauptmann General Paul Aleman. Of the 5th Donegal Guards. We are not accepting civilian landings at this time.”

“Good thing I’m not a civilian then Hauptmann General. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume, Iron Blooded Orphans Mercenary Company. I am landing for a job. It doesn’t have anything to do with your factory. But I am going to need to land.”

There was a moment of silence before I got a response. “Please understand Commander. We are securing this site because we believe another League raid is incoming. We can’t risk having an unknown dropship land.”

“For- Hauptmann General, I am going to land. That is what is going to happen. If you need to ensure I don’t have a League raid hidden in my holds please. Tell me to land somewhere you have fully secured. I'll allow an inspection. I only have a Demi-Lance of mechs on board, my own and another. That’s it. We are both on the same side. If a raid happens while I am down there, you can be assured my guns will be aimed at the same enemy. But I didn’t come all this way to be turned away.”

“Commander, I am securing a factory site that has been raided seven times in the last two years. You are not landing on my-” The call cut off.

“What happened?” I demanded to our radio operator who blinked at me owlishly. “I don’t know Commander. Call ended. Let me try to get them back.” He muttered, pushing a few buttons.

But not only did the call not go through there wasn’t even a connection being established.

“Commander. I’ve seen this before.” The radio operator who wasn’t one of my kids, although there was Sandy sitting beside him learning. “This is ECM interference. I’ve just tried cycling through every connection point on the surface, nothing is responding because it’s being blocked.

“So we just walked into the middle of a raid.”

“... Possibly.”

“Captain. I heard the Hauptmann General request assistance before the call was cut, didn’t you? Better get us down there. I’ll be readying my mech for battle.”

“Understood Commander. Battle Stations! We are beginning re-entry!”

—-

I hate re-entry. By the time the Dropship landed in probably the roughest landing I have ever experienced from a drop I was quite ready to just surrender and call this whole battle off.

But I couldn’t. Giving up just wasn’t in my makeup.

My radio crackled. “Commander, you should let me come with!” Eris demanded from inside her Thunderbolt, but I nixed that.

“No, I want you to stay around the dropship just in case.”

“Commander! Going out by yourself is suicide! Let me at least watch your back.”

“Lieutenant. Have some faith in your Commander. You never got a chance to really see what I can do, have you?”

“I’ve seen the recordings of you on Tharkad Commander, you are better than I expected, but you aren’t an elite.”

“Ah see, there is where you are wrong. You are comparing me on a VR run to an actual battle. Relax. If you feel you need to, follow me out, but stay around the Dropship. I need to get some practice in with my new ride.”

“Dammit. Understood!” The radio ending with a crackle as close to slamming a receiver we could do. But I shrugged. Eris didn’t know about the sensor yet, she didn’t have one in her Thunderbolt, so she couldn’t come, she would just get in the way of my plan.

The opening of the Hangar door caused a massive blast of snow and wind to rush in, immediately my cockpit frosted over, and it was only through my sensors that I managed to see anything. Not that it mattered. I had already finished plugging in my good sensor in the cockpit so when I stomped out of the dropship. Into the frozen tundra. I was already tracking my first target.

Two thunderous shots disappeared into the snow. The two circular paths blown through the snow were the only sign of the shot to a normal eye.

The Spider mech that had been scouting went down, its reactor disengaging.

“Captain. If you feel the dropship is in danger you are to get out of here, and enter orbit until I give you word. Understood?” I radioed back to the ship as I stomped into the snow, although I slipped slightly on the snow before taking a few more steps slowly getting a feel for the difference in terrain.

“Understand Commander. God Speed.”

“I don’t need speed, Captain.”

I flipped a switch, and the mech went into passive sensor mode. Everything but my special sensor turned off. It would make me very difficult to spot, especially in this weather. While I could see them just fine. I took a moment to look over the battle. It was definitely a raid. And I could see that unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the battle to be able to protect the factory.

But I could do something else.

With an especially feral grin I turned a bit more to the right. Straight towards the Union that was definitely a FWL dropship. Stomping through the ice and snow I stalked my prey.

As I moved. I kept my eye on the battle itself. Despite being outnumbered the defenders were doing their best but they were too cut off. Many of the defenses were split up to protect the factory. I had to move quickly. Which wasn’t something that a 95 ton assault mech was great at. But finally I reached my target. At the max distance of my weapons, well outside any danger of return fire I opened up. First with my ERPPC to zero in my shots. And then adding my two Gauss into the rotation.

Not long after my first round I started noticing radio transmissions being sent out by the Union. But my Sensor told me all the story I needed. They were trying to buy time. Their engines were heating up as they were planning on trying to get away.

I continued firing until finally my weapons fire hit something serious. The entire Union shut down. And only when I was sure of my target being inactive did I turn, heading towards the battle that was disrupted now that the raiders were getting messages of their dropship being under fire.

I stalked through the blizzard, where everyone else was fighting blind I was omniscient. And the enemy paid for that. Once I was in range. The enemy were already in danger despite the complete lack of sight, as the snow blurred everything into fuzzy white.

Another ERPPC shot rang out and a moment later two hypersonic slugs. The Snow melted as the ERPPC burned a hole through the flurry. The Wolverine that had been duking it out with a Lyran Zeus and winning, after the Zeus had face tanked an entire Lances fire, never even saw the shots that smashed into its side. The sudden explosion ended it’s fight as it’s SRM ammo went up with the shot.

From there the Zeus, searching for the ally that helped it, was ignored. I moved to the next target. Still stomping forward. I only stopped in a stutter step. The same one Hanna had taught me to align my weapons before firing another triple shot.

The Marauder which was probably the command mech of the raiders was luckier. It was a 3M so it had some hefty armor. But it wasn’t enough. Instead the Marauder found it’s left side ripped apart in a salvo that sent the pilot who had been focused on one of the defenders' Hunchback smashing into the snow. The Slugs had knocked the mech entirely onto its side.

It was scrambling back to its feet a moment later, even as the Hunchback was trying to capitalize on the sudden distraction. Unfortunately the Hunchback was in more dire straits than he had realized, or the Marauder pilot was simply that much better, because despite having lost half it’s mech managed to scramble upwards and unleash a large laser and AC/5 shot that went internal and the Hunchback curled over itself as it’s fusion engine shut down.

My second burst of ERPPC lightning only just missed as the Marauder shifted, one of the Gauss rounds still hit, ripping a tunnel through the remaining right arm. I could tell the Large laser was down by the way the Marauder suddenly began retreating desperately trying to find cover.

Unfortunately for him the tundra we were in was mostly flat. I shot again, this time missing entirely, as the Marauder was doing everything he could to juke my fire, but seeing where it came from as the ERPPC burned a hole through the snow, he fired back. His AC/5 shots landed nowhere close but that was fine. I ignored him for a moment. Angling my nose past him.

The Griffin that was currently shooting PPC fire into the factory suddenly got a shock as a Gauss round shattered across it’s PPC the pilot not expecting his PPC to simply disappear as he was shooting it nearly fell over but instantly burned his Jump jets to reposition hoping to escape.

I aimed for where he was landing and fired my ERPPC. The Griffin took the shot straight on as it landed and I didn’t bother to focus on him anymore. Instead I continued stomping forward. Sure, staying at a distance would be the best way to handle this. Slowly picking off the enemy at range. But there was more at stake here than that.

It was a full company that dropped on this factory, and two other lances were still actively firing on the buildings, when they weren’t fighting off the reinforced lance of the defenders.

They needed a distraction. So I took the risk. I continued stomping forward in passive mode. Until I was nearly on top of the Marauder, Switching out of passives just as I came into visual range I got to see the mech do a little jump as it realized what had just come out of the snow. My ERPPC and dual Medium Pulse lasers shattered whatever remained of it’s armor. The mech fell to the ground Fusion engine powering down.

The Marauder was a good mech, but the Nightstar was literally it’s big brother. I could see in real time as the enemy Lances noticed my existence. The battlelines shifted, in favor of the defenders, but I was facing an entire Lance of angry League raiders.

Feeling cheeky I decided I might as well put on a show. I flipped my radio on. Broadcasting loudly into the snow. “I am the Phantom of the StarLeague. Come.” Then a triple shot through the snow smashed into a second Griffin that was in the lead for charging toward me. The shot thundered, tearing armor, smashing components. In the end, The Griffin, a mech that had only taken light damage before, simply fell to the snow. I had cored it.

My Gauss continued to bark as the enemy charged. The Lance unfortunately dodged my next few shots. They must have realized by now that while they couldn’t see me, I could see them. So they were dodging, hard. I didn’t have enough practice hitting actively dodging mechs. But that was fine. I was distracting an entire Lance of mechs from their objective. I could already see the defenders falling onto the last Lance and starting to clean up.

They may have been a little angry.

But I soon had to ignore them, focusing fully on my battle.

Four mechs remaining. The first Griffin that only had an LRM left. A Vulcan. A phoenix Hawk, and a Centurion. Although this was the base Centurion-A model that had an autocannon. Which I learned when an AC/10 round shattered against my mechs shoulder.

I wiggled the limb realizing it hadn’t gone internal, and returned fire. This time, I didn’t miss but I wasn’t quite as on point. The Three shots hit three different spots, although that didn’t mean he didn’t feel it. I didn’t take the time to focus on him though.

They had gotten into visual range. The Phoenix hawks Large laser flashed out, in return I sent an ERPPC blast against him which he dodged, meaning his laser only barely burned against my armor before the mech was dodging away.

But I switched targets. Just before the Vulcan got into visual range. I moved towards him. Firing round after round into the snow.

I grunted as the Griffin was now able to lock me. LRMs exploding against my armor. I ignored it. Focusing on one target at a time.

The poor pilot didn’t even have time to realize that I had turned my focus towards him before the Gauss rounds hit, shattering chunks of his armor and instantly putting his mech into the danger zone. The fact I kept charging even as he faltered meant that by the time he saw me, I was already nearly on top of him.

Now I can’t normally catch a Vulcan, but twin Medium Pulse Lasers were more than capable of cutting his leg off at the knee as I continued to charge in. Falling into the snow, I didn’t hesitate, and I got to hear The Pilot literally screaming on the radio as I let my Nightstar stomp onto his other leg. Lowering one arm until my Gauss was pointing down.

The Incredibly loud thunder of a Gauss rifle at point blank range caused the snow around us to ripple outward. The Vulcan was done. I turned to the Phoenix Hawk who had been going off on my Nightstar while I was distracted. He was trying to keep out of range of my Medium Pulse lasers, but that simply made it easy for my nose to catch up with him. The ERPPC flash burned just skimming past him but one of the Gauss rounds punched in sending the bouncing Phoenix Hawk into the snow.

I grunted another LRM 10 shattering armor, Then another, and then Mediums and an AC/5. Apparently the Centurion was still willing to brawl.

My armor was nearly stripped at some points. Those LRMs had been chewing through me and I had a few points that were basically already internal just waiting for a hit.

I double Gaussed the Centurion. Both slugs on point. I don’t know what I hit, but the way the Centurion fell to pieces he wasn’t worth any more attention. I switched my focus on the biggest threat, the Phoenix Hawk.

It became a game of cat and mouse. I could keep the Phoenix Hawk in my sights even when he tried to disappear into the snow. But the mech was fast, and he was good. He kept his visual on me, waiting to see where I was aiming. He was dodging every shot. Even if it meant his own Large laser only did minimal damage.

That didn’t matter because I was being worn down. LRM 10 rounds constantly falling on me. Although I was winning this battle of attrition. The Phoenix Hawk was starting to heat up after all. But I managed to trick him. Waiting for him to be in the right spot I turned my focus from him to just to the side, firing into the snow.

The Griffin pilot thought he was safe.

The shattering of armor in the distance told another story. The Phoenix Hawk realized he was alone. Standing across from an angry assault mech.

Unfortunately. There was no escaping this. I had already taken out the dropship. These raiders knew that. Was it a mistake? Maybe. But these guys were attacking an unacceptable target.

They needed to learn that had repercussions.

The silence between the two of us staring at each other definitely benefited the Hawk more than me. He was cooling down even as our stare off continued but this had turned into a moment between two warriors. Then in a flurry that cut us both off from sight of each other we both moved.

Medium Pulse lasers flashed out, burning through where he had been, the Large laser shooting down from above gave me a sightline. My ERPPC returned fire even as he juked turning off his Jump jets for a moment to drop.

The two Gauss rounds spinning into the snow as he landed, bending forward and actually using a second burst of jets to dodge. Then it was on. A flurry of dodging and juking, Any time he got arrogant enough to fire at me, I returned it. Meaning he spent a lot more time dodging my shots than firing back.

The one time his laser did finally go internal on my right torso, a few tons of Gauss ammo melted down, leaving me without my big guns.

A few minutes of this passed. Yeah that is how skilled this pilot was at dodging. Growing frustrated. I did the only thing I could think of. I switched back to passives, and stepped backwards. Watching in amusement as the Phoenix Hawk slowed as he lost sight of me.

The pilot was skilled, it was why he realized he was in serious shit when the assault mech he was tangling with basically disappeared in front of him.

He kept moving. Trying to get sight back on me, but unfortunately for him since he was now moving towards me. Well.

I was moving towards him too.

He only had half a second to realize that I was there when I burst out of the snow. I didn’t bother firing. Didn’t need to. His Phoenix Hawks jets fired but it was too late. I was too close.

I used my secret special move. I body checked him, but this time I wasn’t in my Locust. I was in 95 tons of angry.

The echoing *Thunk* of a Phoenix Hawk splattering across the side of my mech was very satisfying. Unfortunately this pilot was a badass. Despite the body check knocking him flat he actually started to get back up. Either I hadn’t hit him hard enough or this guy laughed in the face of concussions.

His Phoenix Hawk rose up and actually punched my Nightstar rocking my cockpit to the side, but thanks to my armor and my hefty mech that’s all it did. I turned, staring into his cockpit. I could just make out the pilot inside through the armored glass.

The glass which polarized as I fired my ERPPC. The pilot probably hadn’t quite put two and two together. That my remaining weapon wasn’t a normal PPC. I didn’t have a minimum range on mine. The mech's shoulder was burned straight through with blue fire, the entire arm giving way and sending the Phoenix Hawk back into the snow. This time, the pilot took the better part of valor and shut down. Signaling his surrender.

I flipped back to active sensors appearing on radar just as the defenders reached the battlefield.

“All clear. No active enemy presence remaining.”

I inform the group over the comms.

—-

An hour later I was enjoying a warm cup of coffee in the base's mess hall after the 5th had secured the raiders metal. I had been allowed to march my mech onto the small base the 5th were using and power down. I think they just wanted to be able to keep an eye on an assault mech that had just torn through two lances of mechs.

But that was fine. This planet was fucking cold.

Finally after a rather overlong wait a man entered the mess wearing what was obviously just got out of a mech, but it’s cold as shit outside attire.

“Commander Eisen-Blume?”

“I am.”

“Hauptmann General Aleman. I don’t know whether I should thank you, or yell at you. You took out the enemy's dropship. We were already doing a good job seeing them off when that happened. You realize you turned a minor skirmish into a knock on drag out fight?”

“I normally have no issues respecting etiquette, but attacking a factory producing water refineries is a bit beyond the pale.”

“That is for me to decide. Not you.” He grumbles as he takes a seat across from me. One of the mess hall cooks brought him a cup of warm coffee as well that he started sipping on. “We lost more metal than I am comfortable with. Even with Salvage, it will be a while before we can get spare parts out here. You may have stopped this raid, but what about the next one?”

“Are you sure there will be a next one? The League just lost a company of mechs, and a Union. Are you sure they will likely send over even more metal now?”

“Either way I have to assume the worst. You did me no favors today Commander.”

I considered that before smiling. “Maybe not today, General, but tomorrow?”

He looked confused at my statement but I just finished my coffee. “I still have a job to do here on Phecda.”

“Well I can’t hold you. I Contacted the LCAF command, they were very direct, you are free to move as you like. Never heard a general sound so urgent about this sort of thing before.” He said obviously digging.

“I can’t tell you much General, but I did just come directly from the Triad on Tharkad. We all have jobs to do.”

He was silent for a while. “Indeed we do.”

I rose. Grabbing my hat and coat. “I’m sure we will talk again soon.”

I walked out into the blizzard. Despite the weather, my ride had an audience. Every tech and mechwarrior on the base was standing out in the snow looking over my Lostech ride. The fact it was scarred and damaged did nothing to lower it’s intimidation. No, my Nightstar standing tall reminded me of an image of an old Lion I had once seen. He was bloody and wounded, but undeniably the victor of whatever battle he had just faced.
That was what my Nightstar looked like.

I climbed back into the cockpit and turned it towards where my dropship was still landed. My baby would need a checkup before I completed my job here.

—-

A different perspective
Gauge Blake
Red Base

Gauge was having a fairly normal day. His head buried in past knowledge of the ancient world. Or at least that is how he liked to think of it. Relearning things no one knew anymore. It was glorious.

Unfortunately Vicky had left him in charge one too many times. If Benny was busy Gauge was left handling things. “Gauge! Trouble squad is at it again. Apparently they decided to bake a cake or something. The kitchen down on Sub-Green is trashed.”

“Ugh. Just… Make them clean it all up, if they don’t revoke all Sim privileges.”

“You got it.”

Gauge was just getting back into his current interest, an explanation of PPC functions and how the ERPPC works. It was quite fascinating when his radio went off this time. With a groan he put down his printed book and grabbed the radio.

“Gauge here. What is it?”

“Hey Gauge, you got a visitor here. Looks like a couple of ComStar guys? Says he wants to see you.”

“ComStar? What does ComStar want with me?” Gauge asked, actually surprised.

“No idea, you want to come up here and ask?”

“Yeah, tell them I’m on my way.”

Confused, but a little excited, Gauge raced through the halls. He stopped just before leaving as he plugged in his cooling suit for a moment, giving the coolant pump power to start moving the cooling fluid. It caused his temperature to drop swiftly, almost shivering at how cool the suit could get before he unplugged and headed outside. Although the pump was no longer shifting, the liquid inside was still ice cold giving him plenty of protection against the Zaniah heat.

He grabbed a truck to drive out to the checkpoint. A little surprised that as he came out he noticed someone he actually knew.

“Adept Michaelson!” Gauge found himself calling out as he rushed over, the older man offering him a wide smile as he took in the changes Gauge had gone through, the fact his armor still had a ComStar style hood was one of the unique changes he had done to his standard armor.

“Gauge my boy. You are looking well!”

“You as well Sir! What? What are you doing here! It’s a long trip from Solaris!”

“Why, it wasn’t so bad. I had an opportunity to be transferred to Zaniah and I just had to take it! I knew you were still here, and I couldn’t help but be worried! But it looks like my concern was for nothing. You look healthy.”

“I am! We are, I mean. Everyone is doing well. Vicky has… Led us very well.” There was an odd expression crossing the man's face for a moment at that before his normal smile returned.

“I am glad to hear that. You had me worried when you decided to run off and become a Mercenary. I always thought it was a shame. You were meant for ComStar.” He shook his head a few beads of sweat falling reminding Gauge of where they were. “Oh Sir. Let’s head inside, it’s cooler there. The heat on Zaniah is… A bit different from Solaris.”

“Hah! That you have right my boy. Please I would love to get out of this heat, and you can tell me everything that you have been up to!”

“Sure.” Gauge waved him inside the checkpoint, leading the two of them into the underground through the checkpoint. The rooms that were normally used for bringing in new kids or for the Guard Unit to cool off were instead where Gauge led Adept Michaelson.

“Impressive! I checked the records of this base back when you first left, there was no record of any underground.” He offered softly.

“It wasn’t something most people knew about. We found it after we took over the base, we spent a lot of time remodeling everything for our use.” Gauge offered, using what Vicky had said to explain the underground if it ever got out.

“Come now my boy. I heard an interesting rumor, and… It is the duty of ComStar to try and protect such things. Is it true? You found a Castle Brian beneath this base?”

Gauge stills shocked that he had been asked about that of all things. He knew Vicky was planning on telling the Archon, but that wasn’t something that would pass around that quickly would it?

“Where… Where did you hear that?”

Adept Michaelson waves his hand “Rumors and hearsay. ComStar hears many things, many secrets are shared with us, you understand.”

But Gauge didn’t understand. But he knew how to find out. “It was empty.” He finally admitted watching out of the corner of his eye as the Adept had a strange look go over his face. “Vicky found it. She had rumors that something might be here, but it still took us a while, but it was completely empty stripped bare.”

“Oh I see. A shame. I have to admit, I was hoping to hear something more interesting than that. Although… Your friend Vicky. She did bring quite a bit of Lostech to the Archon from what I heard. She didn’t find it here?”

Gauge hesitated. “Vicky and I went Lostech hunting a while back. We found some stuff.”

“Really! My Boy! You must tell me everything! I had no idea you went on such an adventure.”

“I’m not supposed to say much, but I can tell you a bit.” Gauge offered as he fell into telling the man a story about the Helm Cache.

—--

A few hours later after I had pulled my Nightstar into the gantry on the dropship to get looked over by my techs. They didn't have time to do a full repair at the moment, not even close. But they were checking to make sure it would be fine in the weather for another run outside.

I still had a job to do.

“Are you sure about this Commander? It’s not exactly pleasant out there. And your mech isn’t in top condition anymore.” The 1st officer Natalie was one of my kids. She was learning directly from the Captain in order to eventually take over some day, but she was also a worrier. Which was a good attitude to have for a drop captain.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to go out to look around. I should be in contact the whole time, but it might be a day or so depending on how long it takes me to find everything.”

“I still think you should take it easy! Maybe we could request some vehicles from the 5th, have some people accompany y-”

“Natalie. Leave the Commander alone.” Amarie, my chief tech on the Isaribi, told her nominal superior as she shrugged at me, “Sorry Vicky. Natalie never stops. The Nightstar is as fixed up as we can do. At least we covered the holes into the internals, but it’s still stripped bare, and out of ammo.”

“That’s fine. There shouldn’t be any more fights, just some issues with the weather.”

“Yeah well. It won’t take any more damage than it already did from the weather. Just watch the right shoulder. If you don’t mess it up anymore before I can go in and fix it, it will be an easier job.”

“Understood Chief.”

“Ugh! Fine! But if anything happens you better call! And stay in contact! I expect hourly reports, Commander!” Natalie huffed as she turned on her heel and stalked off.

“I thought I was the one in Command.” I whispered into Amarie’s ear the giggles I got in return caused me to join in, and we both got glared at by the girl once she heard us.

“Don’t worry Natalie, I’ll be very careful, and I will stay in touch.

—-

I am really glad that my Nightstar had a heater. When it got really cold I could also just fire my ERPPC and lasers a few times to warm it up. The temperature on Phecda was a little too low for my liking.

But the first stop had been finding a metal node. I had to pop the hatch and crawl down my mech while trying not to fall and break my neck in the arctic winds. Start up the note puter. Crawl back into my mech to stay alive. And wait for the Metal Extractor to complete.

Once that was done I retrieved my noteputer and headed towards my real objective.

You would think lostech hunting would be hard or something. But as I stepped over the iced over Colossus which had been laughably easy to find with my sensor I was smiling at how easy it was. Once more I jumped out of my Nightstar and began forming a Centurion NFX. It was a common enough mech design no one would think twice about me finding one.

I unfortunately was rather stuck here too. I wasn’t about to walk off anywhere without my noteputer. Even if I could always use my sensors to find it.

Still I was stuck in a Nightstar cockpit for another long wait. Chewing on SLDF style rations I had set up before. And mostly just wrapping up in a blanket and watching some holovids. It was a boring bit of time.

Finally it was done. I powered down the Nightstar and switched over to the Centurion. The mech warmed up quickly enough and I soon found myself digging into the ice until I reached the Colossus buried within.

The Colossus that was utterly filled with mechs.

“Well time to get to work.” The green of my nanoforge burst into life again causing huge chunks of the Colossus to slowly disappear and slowly my Noteputer put together a blueprint.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11.x
The Opposite Perspective.

“FUCK! Someone just took out our fucking Dropship!” Captain Reynolds voice crackled over the comms. And She knew. Instantly that shit had just gotten real.

No defenders would take out the dropship once it was landed unless they were confident in their ability to finish off the raiders. Otherwise everyone died.

“Alright everyone. We are altering course, Bravo Lance on me. I don’t want any fuckups!” She wondered if that last bit had been towards her? She didn’t care. She was better than any of the other pilots. They all knew it. Even in her Phoenix Hawk. Every time she had dueled Reynolds in his Marauder she had won.

If only she wasn’t a pariah.

The first sign something was definitely wrong when Reynolds voice reached out to Issiah. His Spider had been sent out to scout the enemy dropship landing.

Nothing came through.

That had been it for Reynolds. He was in full damage control. Everyone needed to keep their focus because enemies were coming.

The instant loss of Max’s Wolverine had the entire Company freaking out. Something was out there. The whispers over the private comm lines would be going crazy she knew. They excluded her, but she had been in enough fights to know that while the main line was kept for orders. Private ones would be full of chatter and freaking out.

She kept her focus. Even as Reynolds called in a massive strike on his Marauder. His attempt to retreat leading to a downed Hunchback and him dodging as ‘something’ fired from out in the blizzard.

“I have no idea what is out there. Something is hitting me hard. Watch out for PPC fire.”

She clicked her comms once to offer her acceptance as she raced through the snow. More fell. Gonzales Gryphon was struck when the idiot was focusing on the factory.

But it was Reynolds breathless “Oh Fuck.” That stuck with her. And a moment later she watched his mech fall out of connection.

Then. Then!

More than anything, what happened next stuck with her. Froze her heart.

“I am the Phantom of the StarLeague. Come.”

A familiar voice echoed out over her comm. But no one was laughing at the frankly cheesy line. Because an enemy that just took out a Lance of mechs doesn’t need to brag.

Their kill count already did that.

Her Phoenixhawk burned, as she dodged actively trying to avoid whatever it was that being shot at through her in the snow. Her computer was at least now able to read something. A big heat source.

An Assault mech.

She cursed herself, wishing she had her old baby. She shook that away an old wound now. She had to focus. The battle continued and more fell. She finally reached it. Her large laser hot and ready to make a shot when the snow cleared, just enough to give her sight.

She nearly stuttered to a stop, even as her Large laser fired mostly on reflex. Only her long years in a cockpit kept her moving aborting any attempt to aim her laser, which is the only reason she survived that fucking monsters PPC strike. Although that wasn’t what shocked her. Gauss rifles. That fucking thing had Gauss rifles! She recognized them, even vaguely recognized the mech. Which her computer helpfully supplied after it whined for a good ten seconds.

NSR-9J ‘Nightstar’ 95 Tons.

Jesus fuckin’ Christ.

She breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed to focus on the others first. As she continued to try and do something to this thing, but even her large laser only seemed to scratch it. Like she was fighting a titanic beast whose hide was stronger than her blade.

She almost wanted to cry as she watched Vince get fucking destroyed in a move that she prayed she never had to experience. The shockwave alone probably knocked him unconscious if not burst his head like a grape outright.

Then this fucking beast turned to her.

She dodged, trying to keep out of range of a full alpha strike. She could handle the Gauss, and the PPC, but Medium lasers would tear her Hawk up.

Just like she they had the Vulcan.

She jumped bouncing out of range of the mediums as the beast turned to her, but it was too late she had been too distracted watching the Vulcan be torn apart. She dodged the ray of lightning. The PPC nearly heating up her cockpit as it passed just so by her, but suddenly something struck her and she was tumbling.

A few moments later she gasped, her breath coming back to her. Her hands were shaking. Was that a Gauss? Was that what it was like to be hit by a Gauss rifle!? She felt out her controls her cockpit was buried in the snow, probably the only reason she was still alive. Her mech moved. The round had struck her side torso and she prayed for a moment that her machine gun ammo hadn’t gone up.

But now wasn’t the time for that. If she wanted to survive she needed to get up!

She heaved herself up her Phoenixhawk rising from the snow and ready to fight once more!

The battle was damn near over she noticed. She fired once before the Francis in his Centurion seemed to come apart at the waist. Two Gauss slugs nearly ripping the mech in half.

She shivered. That was her fate if she got hit again.

She breathed out. And let herself feel her mech. Every move, Every jump and dodge and dip moves she had done a thousand times. This pilot was good. But not that good. She kept herself just out of range of the Medium lasers. Her large searing a few scars into the armor but nothing she allowed herself to take a risk for.

It took a moment when the Beast suddenly shifted and she realized what was about to happen. “ISAAC MO-” It was too late. She saw his Griffin fall into the snow.

She was alone.

God.

Her mech was burning up but as the Beast shifted back… Something connected them. An acceptance. She breathed, feeling her mech cool. She could do this. A David versus Goliath battle. She could do this.

A flurry of snow cut it from her sight, and she jumped, just in time to avoid the medium lasers cutting through the snow into steam.

She aimed down, she knew the Beast hadn’t moved. It was slow. Her Large laser arced out burning into armor the first time she had gotten a long strike on this thing nearly the entire battle. Instantly she cut her jets, letting her drop in direction, barely dodging the PPC that pierced through where she had been.

This pilot was good. She was better.

The battle continued. Dodge dodge small shot to score some armor damage. Dodge dodge!

It continued for a few minutes. Her Phoenixhawk once more nearly melting with how it was getting. But she had to keep pushing. If she stopped. If she tried to break away she would die.

She nearly roared when her Large pierced into something, and those Gauss rifles went silent right after. The beast was injured! If it could bleed she could kill it! She roared in her heart.

Then. As if it had realized her thoughts?

It shifted back a step. The snow brushed along it’s hide cooling the score lines across it.

And the Beast disappeared.

Impossible. She gaped. One second it had been there. Her mech had kept it in sights but then… As if…

It was a stray thought one that hit her only as she took a bouncing run forward. Almost as if disbelieving the mech could simply vanish from where it had been.

She wasn’t fighting a Beast.

Her Jump jets roared trying to escape trying anything as the Monster came out of the snow directly infront of her. As if appearing from nothing.

It was a Phantom. It had even told her!

She wasn’t sure what happened in the next few moments. Her mech tumbling backwards faster than it had been going forward rocked her. Only a few moments later she managed to blink her eyes clear and look up. It was there.

She had to know. Dizzily she fought herself up and took a swing.

Her fist connected, breaking a few shards of armor off as it moved back slightly.

Was it real? Was it a Phantom? She honestly didn’t know. So confused. So shocked she didn’t even try to dodge the PPC firing.

The PPC that blew her mechs arm off leaving her in the snow again. For the final time. Staring up she was sure what was coming next. A PPC shot to the cockpit.

It was what she would do.

It was what she HAD done.

But it never came. No Sergeant Isabella Nash, Once Captain of her own raiders waited in the snow head full of fog. And a feeling in her breast that what she had just fought, wasn’t even real. A Phantom come to punish her once more.

She knew when she eventually ended up back in the League there was only one thing she would tell her superiors.

The Phantom of the SLDF was here.

Beware.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11.2 Phantom of the SLDF
3022
Phecda
Phecda Outpost

A week later I was relaxing in my new base. Of course I couldn’t just ‘find’ a pristine Colossus in the middle of the tundra with no explanation. So I made one.

The Star League Outpost Phecda 845682-2070. Was my newest trick on the Inner Sphere. Inside was a pristine Colossus and an army of Battlemechs most of them frozen or damaged as the outpost had been damaged at some point leaving one of the walls open and allowing the ice and cold in. Of course the Colossus was on the other side of the outpost and fine, but the Battlemechs suffered some cold.

Not that anyone would mind Battlemechs in nearly perfect condition just roughed up a little in the ice.

It was a good enough explanation that I was satisfied. I watched as my dropship came down. The Isaribi’s fusion plume was bright from where I was, as it came down outside the base. Only my Nightstar giving the dropship coordinates on where to land. I was staying in here where it was warm though. Slowly some of my techs and even some of the other crew came down to look at what I had found.

The Captain himself eventually running into the outpost only to stare in awe at the pristine Colossus that was now resting in a Dropship bay. Only some time to remove the snow from the surface to allow the bay doors to open and it would be fully ready to fly.

“Commander…”

“Well Captain. I am going to need some help making sure my kids can fly this beast back to Zaniah. You ever studied a Colossus dropships controls before?”

“Never… But I can figure it out.”

“Captain, that is exactly what I wanted to hear.”

This wasn’t a short time task. It took us almost a week to burn away the ice that was covering the dropship bay and get everything ready.

I had purposefully made it deep enough in the ice and rock that it wouldn’t be strange that no one had ever found it before. But in doing so of course I had to report to the 5th.

When Hauptmann General Aleman stepped into the entrance corridor of the Outpost he really did act as if he was walking into history.

Not long after that, when he saw the Battalion of mechs that my kids were recovering, he looked disheartened. “All of these mechs. Under my feet this whole time.”

I stood beside him, watching my kids, mostly just trying to get on their feet and into a mech bay. I hadn’t exactly been gentle when I removed the Colossus around them after all. “You know Hauptmann General, I did say I might not be doing you a favor that day.”

He blinked looking at me in shock. “You can’t be serious.”

“I have a lot of mechs but not nearly enough time or people to work on them right now. Transporting them is going to be annoying. I wouldn’t mind leaving a few of them here, for your mechtechs to get running… In exchange for some salvage from the battle. Maybe a one to one trade? One of my mechs for the broken ones?”

“What? Why would you offer that? These are working mechs. Some of them look like Lostech versions!”

“Because you have been here trying to get that factory up and running without enough help for long enough. How would you feel if the next time the League come here, if they ever do again, they don’t face a Lance of work horse mechs. But a Company of Lostech machines?”

“You care about this factory that much? I don’t believe it. Is this some trick, Or a game? Commander I don’t feel much in the mood to be toyed with.” The man spoke, sounding frustrated and confused. Well I could work on that.

I rolled my eyes. “Check them over yourself, they are perfectly fine other than the obvious. One of them for each salvaged mech you took. Take it or leave it.”

“Considering I owe you some of those mechs anyways. I just.”

“I intruded on your battle after being warned away, I might have downed those raiders but it’s your salvage.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll have my men look over some of the mechs… Thank you.”

“I told you I would do you a favor. Now let’s talk about this base once I’m gone, because I don’t have the time or interest in defending it.”

“In that case Commander I would be more than happy to take over that duty.”

“I’m glad you are catching on!”

—-

I decided to hitch a ride on the Colossus on the way back. For two reasons. One every component was brand new so I knew it wouldn’t have any issues on the flight.

Second? There was so much more space! The massive ship was utterly unlike the rather cramped union. I didn’t feel like I was in a submarine any more. The Nightstar locked into the gantry, the Centurion also there, just so it wasn’t left behind. That might be hard to explain. And then all the mechs other than those traded away. The salvaged mechs were placed into the massive amount of storage space the dropship had. And after everything was ready?

Two plumes burst on Phecda’s surface. One for my Isaribi. The other? For the massive Pure white Colossus.

I decided to call it WhiteBase.

—-

“What is that?” I asked, I had decided to walk around my new ship exploring the nooks and crannies. So one of the places I had ended up at was the mech hangar. My Nightstar was being repaired as best as the techs on hand could do, which wasn’t much, but again. Experience.

But it was what was painted on the side of my mech's nose that caught my eyes.

Phantom.

“Oh you named it during the battle remember?” Amarie told me as she joined me on the gantry. “You were like ‘I am the Phantom of the Star League!’ It was awesome.”

“What! You heard that!?” I asked, flushing red. Dammit! I hadn’t intended on letting anyone I actually knew hear me be all geeky!

“Oh yeah you were broadcasting loud and clear everyone heard it. But damn was it awesome. We were following the battle from the bridge of the Isaribi and I think some of the older guys had tears in their eyes. Something special about the Nightstar you know? It’s like it really is the ghost of the SLDF coming to fight again. Especially when you started wrecking that Lance.”

“Ugh. Hardly. I was just trying to shit talk. I guess I’ll make sure my mic is off next time.”

“No way Commander! It was so inspiring! The old guys might have been weird but we were all cheering for you! How did it feel? You were amazing!”

“Ah well… I guess I discovered I really am a Lyran. I don’t think I’ll ever be happy piloting a light mech again. Speed is good but… An assault mech is something else.”

“Pfft! That’s just like you Commander!”

“How is it like me!?”

Amarie just waved her hands before pointing at the name on the side of the mech. “Can we keep it?”

“Fine. I guess It would be wrong to tell you to clean it up.”

“We would just repaint it whenever you stopped looking anyways.”

“Also that. Alright alright. I’m leaving then so I don’t have to look at it.”

“Aww. Do you not like it? I painted it myself.”

I sighed. “It’s an awesome paint job. Good job.”

“Yes Commander!”

—-

91 days. That is how long it took just for dropship travel between Phecda to Zaniah. It actually took longer because we wasted a long time trying to get a jumpship for both dropships.

But then we were burning into the Zaniah atmosphere and I took a long exhale. Finally home. No more Archons. No more ice. The last two planets I had been on had too much ice. It was actually nice to get back on Zaniah where we never had to worry about snow.

WhiteBase landed on one of the Dropship pads I had put into Redbase all that time ago. It was a good thing I had ordered the largest sizes too, because Whitebase still almost didn’t fit on the pad. The Captain did an excellent job of landing the colossus on the platform made for it, and I could already see the horde of kids coming out of the base to see the new massive ship we had just landed.

I had of course already messaged Benny and the command staff what we were bringing in, but it was still a shock to see in person.

Once everything was cooled down the massive hangar bays of Whitebase opened letting me see the crowd that was gathering around. I laughed as soon as I appeared. The kids were waving and cheering my return. More than a few rushed up to meet me in fierce hugs. “I missed you all too!” I yelled out.

We didn’t settle down. Instead that night we had a party. Everything else could wait. Food and drinks. No alcohol. Because I had put my foot down about having alcohol on a military base, although I noticed that Lenden and Rough squad had their own punch bowls that they were keeping the youngsters away from.

I decided to punish them later. If I remembered.

—-

It was a fact of Battletech that travel was never a quick prospect. When you pulled all the time I had been away for this one mission, I was gone for two hundred and fifty two days. More than half a year.

So I was not surprised to see massive changes around the base. Benny of course had access to the funds in general, and with the Archons kind infusion of cold hard C-bills and Kroner Benny had more than enough cash to get whatever he felt like he needed.

It also helped that I had left him with an army of equipment in the Castle beneath our feet.

He had taken what we learned on our jobs, and had stuffed all the best of the best kids into equipment of some sort. We were long past Battalion size now. I had told him before leaving that once we had spoken with the Archon he should feel free not to hide our Royal machines. Or the amount we had.

Which is why as I looked out the window of our new Command tower that had been installed in my absence, watching Lance after Lance of mechs and tanks travel around the base All of them busy.

“Repair Unit is probably the worst off to be honest.” Benny mentioned as we rested up against the center Holovid table while looking out the windows. “They are the only group we can’t up jump. While we did get a lot of new recruits, it’s not the same as putting a fresh mechwarrior into a mech. There is only so much someone without experience can do on a mech.”

“Yeah. That’s why I pushed Gauges schooling courses so hard. It makes it easier to train our people.”

“You did that because you didn’t want him angry with you.” Benny teases, pushing me lightly before nodding. “Not that it’s not helpful, but we expanded too much too fast. We have growing pains handling repairs.”

“Maybe. Also I know you had, or have a plan Benny what are you thinking?”

“I know you didn’t want to, but we should hire some actual Mech techs and admechs. We have the start of a reputation, and having so much high end gear, we won’t struggle to get interested techs, everyone wants to work with Lostech after all.”

“Brings in a lot of trouble. Some will be spies.”

“We already got spies Commander.”

“Oh? Is LIC still bothering us?”

“Yes and no. We think some of them are still sniffing around, but we started tracking a few newer guys as well.”

“Well talk to Eris about the LIC guys, and if we have eyes on any others, tell her about them. I’m sure she can have some fun with it.”

“Right. Eris… I don’t know about this Commander. Analise. Or Eris. We knew from the start she was a spy but…”

“Benny, she is one of us now. I haven’t told her about everything, and I might not ever be able to. But she is still an Iron Blooded.”

He hesitated, I knew Benny wanted to argue. So I waved him on letting him say it. “How can someone we can’t trust be an Iron Blooded?”

“Because we live in the real world. Trust is something given, not earned. If we wait for everyone in the world to earn our trust before giving it, then we will never get to trust anyone.”

“Isn’t that the opposite of what everyone says?”

“Yes, it's a shame they are all wrong.”

He snorted. “Crazy.”

“Maybe. But really. We have to live in the world we are in. Will we be betrayed? Yes. Yes we will inevitably be. There are people out there that will do anything to another human being for money. But our job, no matter how ugly is to be better. Someday Benny I will get someone killed because I trusted the wrong person.”

“Commander?” Benny looked at me startled and I nodded.

I shrugged “It’s going to happen Benny. But here is the thing. I would rather trust one hundred people and be betrayed. Then only trust ten, with a better assurance that I won’t be.”

“You said it before Commander. It’s all about Trust right?”

“That’s right! Everyone forgot about trusting each other! So we will teach them. We will do amazing things and they will see us doing it. They will first trust us, and then by learning from us, learn to trust each other again.”

“Big hopes Commander. I don’t know if it will happen like that.”

“It might not. I might never see it in my lifetime. But I would rather try than simply accept that it won’t happen.”

“Ugh, too much philosophy for me,” Gauge interrupted, walking up to the two of us, pushing me off the Holo table with a squawk. “C’mon enough of this, we need to go over all the new stuff you brought in. I can’t believe you went to another cache of equipment without me!”

“It was a spur of the moment thing! Since Aunt Kat-The Archon…” Oh no.

“What?”

“What did you just say!?” Both boys suddenly attacked me, pinning me against the Holovid table as they interrogated me.

“Nothing! I didn’t say anything! I won’t tell ever! And none of the crew will either! I swore them to secrecy!”

Benny was having none of this. Grabbing his radio as he continued to hold my shoulder with the other. “Amarie. This is Benny come in.”

“Yo Sub-Commander. What’s up?”

“Vicky said somethin interesting. What is this about the Archon being ‘Aunt Katrina?’”

“OH! Shit yeah I forgot to tell everyone! She-”

“NO!” I screamed out struggling. “Traitors! I am surrounded by traitors! My trust is broken!”

Completely ignoring my cries Amarie continued “Yeah when we left the Triad the Archon herself. I swear this is true. Pulled Vicky in for a hug. Called her ‘Victoria’ and told her to stay in touch. Vicky called her Aunt Katrina, and the Archon didn’t say anything.”

“Oh my god.” Gauge muttered. “My bet was wrong. I didn’t say anything about being related to the Archon!”

“Fuck me either. I was sure she-”

“What bet?” I growled, and both boys stilled as my eyes narrowed. Suddenly their hands gripping me were locks for them rather than me. “Did I just hear my cute subordinates making bets about my parentage?”

“No! Not at all!”

“It was Hanna she started the betting pool!” Gauge cracked without regret as he took off running.

Giving me all the leverage I needed to grab my Sub-Commander before he could escape.

—-

A week after settling in I was observing a lance on lance challenge. The kids were all in Centurions which had turned into our standard training mech, although I did have a lance of Stingers to give all of the kids a mech with jump jets to get used to using them.

Even I had taken one out going through the Jump jet course I had set up. They were incredibly fun, especially on a light mech. Although having discovered my love affair with the biggest of the big stompys I really wanted a Marauder II. Which was like the Biggest brother between the three? I chuckled as I considered the Marauder family and it’s weird history.

I of course didn’t think about the inbred cousins the Clan versions.

“Commander! Red alert. The Governess is here. She looks maaaad.”

I snorted. I had a feeling I would be seeing Governess Alessa sometime soon. “Alright send her through the checkpoint. I know what she wants to see.”

I walked down to the entrance of the main admin building. The Hangar entrance was rarely used if you were on foot. The long fancy car that Governess pulled up in was actually more packed than I expected. Not only the Governess, but Arthur, and Vincent, along with General Faulkner who was the one that held his hand out for the Governess to finally slide out. And yep. She was mad.

“Good afternoon Lady Alessa, what can I do for you today?”

“You can explain why I received a message from the Archon, that not only was ‘Redbase’ now under your command under the Archons command, but also the Castle Brian underneath was under your guardianship… I would very much like to know!” Her voice was barely restrained. I could tell she was trying to keep calm, but apparently this was a little too much for her.

“I suppose that is fair. Please come inside.” I waved them to follow as I entered the admin building heading to the large Elevator I had built up. The five of us slipped in as I hit a button, waited for it to verify that it was someone with permission to go to that floor before the Elevator swiftly descended, barely a sound or a vibration as it moved.

My Guests noticed it immediately. Arthur held his brother back as the younger baron moved to say something.

When the door opened. Well… I had purposefully made this entrance into quite a view.

And a killing field. But that was a different issue.

The elevator opened up to a catwalk that showed the massive mech sized entranceway. Our mechs were actually currently moving through and I let the group see how they were coming down from a mech sized Ramp that circled around form the upstairs hangar down to this room giving mechs access to the Castle Brian

Because we had turned it into our fortress. Five months of me being gone after setting this thing up, and it was now roaring with activity. The repair bays above were rarely used, It was cooler down here and the equipment regardless of how innocuous was better. I had copied all the SLDF tool kits as well after all.

“Welcome to the Castle Brian Red Base.”

I didn’t get a response at first. The boys were too shocked. The General looked very impressed.

The Governess looked like she was going to commit murder. “This was down here? All this time?”

“Not all of it. The base itself yes, But it was stripped bare. Almost all of the equipment was brought in from another find. And there weren’t any mechs down here of course.”

“Of course. Otherwise you would have had to report them to me! To your rightful Governor!” She hissed, turning on me and I shrugged.

“I understand why you would think that. That I would betray the trust you so ‘kindly’ offered me.” I stepped well into her personal space now. Thanks to two years of growth, and a full set of my armor I definitely outweighed her, and I was taller even without my boots.

“But do not ever implicate my honor again. There were no mechs down here. Every mech that you see were bought and paid for, or brought over from another Castle Brian. You do remember my visit to League space do you not?”

It clicks in her head then and clenches her fist. “Chasing rumors?”

“Yes. That part was the truth. I was chasing rumors. I just happened to find what I was looking for. I did lie to you about that.”

She exhaled as she backed up resting against the guard rail. “I see. Congratulations are in order then I suppose.”

“What!? We can’t just stop there. This girl lied to us! Kept a CastleBrian from us! Who knows what was down here!” Vincent exclaimed, breaking from his older brother's grip. Stomping up to me. But I never got a chance to say anything, because General Faulkner bodied the younger man. Grabbing him by the back of his fancy vest and yanking him back from me.

The thing is General Faulkner obviously wasn’t a soldier. But he was a big guy. And Vincent was sorta scrawny.

The younger son let out a squawk as he was yanked back and up into the General's reddened face. “Young Vincent. Your manners have left you. Another word out of your mouth while your Mother the Governess is speaking and I will find time to re-teach you your manners.”

Vincent looked rather furious, his face reddening to match the Generals. But when he turned to his mother looking angry, her own furious look seemed to cow him for a moment, and it appeared he wasn’t stupid.

He nodded and didn’t say another word.

“Apologies Commander.” The words sounding defeated came from the Governess.

“Think nothing of it. Our relationship has had plenty of ups and downs… I can understand the frustration.”

Her lips pursed she simply nodded rather than trusting her voice.

“How about we continue the tour, I am sure all of you have wanted to see the inside of a Castle Brian at least once in your life?” And that was how I showed the leaders of Zaniah around Redbase. Although Vincent was sullen, even he could not deny the interest in our mech bay, or the rows of Mech sims.

Arthur for some reason was sticking close to me, peppering me with questions, and talking about how interesting it all was.
Weird.

Arthur also caught on to the fact kids were wandering around in just their Cooling suits.

The rule for wearing armor wherever you go was strictly when off base after all.

“That’s an SLDF cooling suit…” He uttered in shock as one of the trainees walked past.

“It is. We all have them. Why do you think we wear armor in the cockpit? The cooling suit means the armor doesn’t heat up. Giving us more protection in and out, while also hiding the fact we are wearing them at all.”

Although the Governess seemed aware that they were rare her own curiosity was purely as a civilian. She wasn’t a Mechwarrior after all. “Is it rare to put armor on them?”

“Mother! SLDF Cooling suits are reserved for the best of the best. I don’t think even the 1st Royal all wear one!” Arthur looked at his mother in shock. I almost snickered, despite being in his twenties it was like a teenager sounding aggrieved that his parent didn’t understand his awesome anime reference.

“They do actually. I sold about twenty thousand of them to the Archon while at the Triad.” I offered interrupting.

That stuttered the older boy to a stop, his jaw hanging open. “Twenty thousand!?”

“Yep. That was what we had left after we issued them all to all my people… Do you want one Arthur? You did help us out with training after all.”

‘I… I would love to have the honor.” He managed to say with only a slight squeak to his voice and I couldn’t help but laugh as I nodded turning the tour towards the equipment room.

“It’s a good thing we have the only working factory for them then? As an apology for all the trouble, why don’t we supply a Suit and an Advanced NeuroHelm to you and Vincent?”

Both boys' eyes widened as I revealed that, even the Governess was speechless at hearing about a factory. Even if she didn’t seem to get the full effect that would mean.

The General on the other hand? He understood completely, he smoothly cut in. “The young Barons would be honored to receive such equipment Commander. I am curious about this factory as well. I hadn't been informed of anything of the sort.”

“The Archon is aware of it. I’m afraid I will have to stay silent on anything more about it, even it’s location. Considering the second batch of equipment is already being prepared to be sent to the Archon, you understand that any leaking of the information would cause trouble.”

“I understand perfectly. Is it alright to offer the boys the equipment in that case? If it is bound for the Archon?”

“Not a concern. The production of the suits is surprisingly easy. We have plenty stored as well. All of my kids have one after all. It helps in the Zaniah heat. Not just in a mech cockpit.”

“Wait… You said all the brat-kids.” Vincent corrected himself, probably realizing he was on thin ice. “Wearing armor has an SLDF cooling suit? I’ve seen your infantry wearing that armor…”

“Yep. It’s good for infantry too. The cooling function is exceptional, especially in the heat here. Plus it has a full seal function with a helmet. Hopefully if we ever have to endure a biological attack it will help.”

“That’s… A waste. Those are meant for Mechwarriors.” He spoke sullenly, although he kept his voice mostly level. It was obvious he was angry but trying to hide it.

“I disagree. They are very functional, and Vincent. My people don’t each have one suit.” I ended just as I opened the door to one of our storage rooms. This one specifically for the undersuits.

It was full.

Thousands and thousands of Cooling suits. Lined the room on racks. “Most of my people have multiple in case one needs to be cleaned. They do tend to get sweaty on Zaniah. Go ahead, help yourself find one in your size.” I waved the boys in.

Vincent’s look of shock was satisfying, but Arthur was capturing everyone's attention as he rushed in like a kid in a candy store and started trying to find a suit in his size.

Eventually both barons received a SLDF Neurohelm and a Cooling suit, and then I kicked the group out. Even the Governess had to leave my base when I said. It was mine now Aunt Katr- The Archon said so!

—-

Things came into a comfortable balance over the next month. Training was still the name of the game. And all of my kids got goodies in return for doing well. The amount of little naming ceremonies I went through shot through the roof as I passed out more and more ‘official’ mechs. The ones that weren’t training mechs and were theirs to own.

We went from a reinforced Lance. To a Company. To a mech Battalion. Within just that month. It wasn’t just because the kids were doing well. It was because I wanted them to familiarize themselves with their permanent ride. As I learned, driving a Locust did not give me the experience to drive a Centurion. Or a Nightstar.

Of course doing so made more work for me.

“Okay so we have the overarching Command as the ISDF. Then first Company the Iron Blooded Orphans.” I moved my finger along the board. It was a setup showing the entirety of our “Wait, Company… Battalion? Hell, I suppose we can’t call it a Mercenary company anymore.”

“We should go with Battalion for now. With both dropships we could count as a reinforced Battalion, but most of the time we will just be using Whitebase now.”

“Okay so the Iron Blooded Orphans First Battalion.” I ran down the line I needed to memorize all of this. “First Battalion. First Company. Would be the 11th. First Battalion Second Company, wouldbe the 12th. Right?”

“Yes Commander. We are following SLDF conventions after all.”

“Okay so 1st Company, or the 11th is made up of 111th, 112th, and 113th Lances.”

“No one is going to call your lances that in a few months Commander. I’m afraid now that you started formalizing things, nicknames are bound to happen.” Benny poked fun but I ignored him. That was just how things were.

“2nd Company, the 12th, Made up of 121st, 122nd, and 123rd. You are in command of the 121st. And Lenden will lead the 122nd. Erica will take over the 123rd.”

“Thanks, just what I always wanted to deal with Lenden for the rest of his life.”

“Isn’t it the rest of your life?”

“I know what I said.”

“Dark but I’ll allow it. Okay and then the 3rd Company, will be the 13th. With the 131st, 132nd, and 133rd Lances. Hanna will be the Command from the 131st. And we are still deciding the rest of the leaders.”

“Sounds right. You realize the 122nd will be Rough Lance within like a minute of Lenden finding out right?”

“That’s inevitable.

Okay so the Org Chart.

ISDF 1st Battalion. Iron Blooded Orphans

1st Company 11th
111th Vicky
112th
113th

2nd Company 12th
121st Benny
122nd Lenden
123rd Erica

3rd Company 13th
131st Hanna
132nd
133rd

Special detachments

101st Home Guard
102nd Artillery Unit
103rd ASF Unit
104th Panzer Battalion
105th Motorized Battalion.

Of course Delta Ops wasn’t on the org chart. They were a special, special detachment.

The special detachments were still in progress. Sure the 102nd I would be happy to take with me into combat, but the 103rd?

“Hanna is still arguing about being put in charge by the way.” Benny told me. Which I couldn’t help but groan at.

“Still!? It’s been a week!”

“She wants to do her own thing. She was arguing for a Headhunting Lance.”

“Too bad. She is the next best leader we have. I know she wants to lone wolf every battle, but that is exactly why I want her in charge, she can’t run off on her own if she is responsible for everyone.”

“Like you did?”

“I was testing a stealth attack! It worked!”

“You nearly wrecked your Lostech machine.”

“And that doesn’t matter, plus I learned a lot from that fight. Stealth was incredibly effective.”

“Sure it is. Surprise is great, but you should have taken Eris with you. She told me that you went out without her.”

“I couldn’t exactly move in passive mode if she was with me! I had to go by myself.”

“And she couldn’t have come running when you went loud?”

“Okay okay it happened, I know I know I won’t do it again… But I had to know.”

“Had to know what?”

“If I could really be a Mechwarrior. Every fight we have been in… I was only a bystander. I wanted to challenge myself. To actually see if I could do it.”

“Commander. Your sim scores should tell you that you have what it takes. You aren’t that far behind Hanna.”

“Only in Accuracy.”

“Yeah because accuracy isn’t one of the most important things.”

“Moving on! Get Hanna on board for me? I know she can do this, and I think it’s important to keep her from running off and biting off more than she can chew.”

“I will convince her, she is mostly just complaining about it now.”

“Good. Good. How is our selection process?”

Benny snorts, as he shakes his head. “Oh it’s going alright. You and Hanna have a lot on your plate figuring out who is going to be in your Lances.”

“Part of the job I guess.”

“Yeah well the wargames are going well. You will be pleased to note that only five injuries have been reported so far.”

“Oh god. Please don’t tell me someone broke an arm or something.”

“Only one broken bone so far. Catelyn decided she could definitely jump the old ravine. Her Centurion face planted.”

“Fuck me.”

“Hah! That’s the same thing she said!”

“Anyway this will work for now… You know we will have to restructure everything once we get bigger. I can’t have you all leading a Company, when we move up to a Regimental command. You will have to take over a Battalion.”

“Commander. That’s for a few years in the future at best. We need time. But yeah… I know Vicky. We will be ready when we get that big.”

“I think so. I believe Benny. I know we are going to shake the Inner Sphere.”

—-

“Eris… Why do we have a company of men storming my Colossus?”

The woman was already standing out on the dropship pad as the men in LCAF uniforms seemed to swarm the ship. I had been called out in a hurry once an alert had sounded, apparently Eris had allowed men on the base, and it had caused a bit of a fluff.

“Did you forget Commander? You gave the Archon permission to inspect a Colossus if you found one. The LCAF don’t have any functioning, so to see one in working condition could tell us quite a bit.”

“Tell them quite a bit you mean. ISDF Lieutenant Eris.”

“Of course Commander Eisen-Blume.” She replies, neither of us really believe it.

“And no, I remember that. I was talking more about why they are on my Colossus, on my base. Without me okaying it.” I was pretty firm when I gave the older woman a glare. She bowed her head seemingly realizing the error.

“Sorry Commander. I didn’t think it would be an issue. When the inspectors arrived I was already on my way to meet them so I directed them through security. I did let the Homeguard complete their inspections… What little that it was. You realize The Archon has sent security agents as well, to increase security around your base. They are quite… Unimpressed.”

“Yeah? Tell them to try breaking in then.”

“They already have tried. And failed.”

“Then there isn’t a problem. Next time this happens Eris. You run it by Command first. You are only a lieutenant. Remember?”

“Yes Commander.”

“Good. Benny will have some work for you then. I think he wants someone else to run around with the recruits for a few days. Should give you time to think about this.”

The woman actually looked rather unhappy, as she nodded, with pursed lips. “Understood.”

“Good. Now I need to keep these guys from putting their dirty hands on the insides of my ship. Hey! Get your hands out of that!” I screamed as I rushed over.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12.1 The Immortal Warrior: And the Phantoms of the SLDF
3023
Zaniah III
RedBase

I walked into the Command room a little late. Unfortunately dealing with ComStar was always a, on their terms, sort of issue.

But everyone was already waiting, I had gone to the HPG and received a rather interesting message after all.

“So I got confirmation. We have a very lucrative, non-combat, money only contract offered directly to us. The only requirement is we bring the Colossus, and my Nightstar. I spoke with the contractor and after a little explanation, any further obviously royal, or lost SLDF gear we can bring will also increase our pay.”

I was smirking so hard. When I had first heard about this from the Demi-Precentor. I had thought it had to be a joke.

But it was so much better than that.

“What the hell kind of Vicky Contract is that?” Hanna grumbled disbelievingly. “That sounds like they are trying to set us up and steal our gear. What is going through your empty head!”

“I kinda agree with Hanna Commander, this sounds like a trap!” Benny was nearly on his feet at how freaked out he was over it.

The rest of the Command staff was likewise confused at my news and doubly so by the smirk I wasn’t bothering to hide. I will get them for always saying my contracts were Vicky contracts!

“Vicky. Stop teasing us. What are you hiding?” Gauge muttered, throwing a piece of paper at my head that I didn’t bother to do anything but smirk through as it bounced off.
“Well I suppose since no one is interested in this contract I will just inform Mr. Mike Haufenpfah that we won’t be able to assist him with this mission. How disap-”

“eeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

All of us flinched away from Hanna as she squeed. She realized what she had just done and slammed a hand over her mouth, her normally pale looks growing bright red as she realized the sound she had just made.

Ah so at least one of the kids had figured it out. I didn’t say anything, just let everyone stare for a few moments before sighing. “Let me go contact him about our refusal….”

“DON’T YOU DARE!” Hanna screamed as she leapt out of her seat and grabbed me. “Don’t you toy with me Vicky. This had better not be a joke!”

“No joke. The offer is 100% real, I spoke with him myself just a bit ago to confirm.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god! My HAIR! My Armor! I need to polish my armor! VICKY STOP LAUGHING!”

I very much did NOT stop laughing. My sister was having a truly special freak out.

Of course none of the others figured it out yet. Idiots.

Benny was looking so utterly lost, but at least he seems to know something was going on here. “Okay you have had your fun Vicky. What exactly is the joke that I am missing here?”

“Oh it’s just that Mike Haufenpfah is a name you are very aware of already Benny! The fact you don’t know it? For shame!”

“I don't know it either…” Alfred muttered to Carl and both of them shrugged.

“You do actually. We all do. Mr. Haufenpfah is a writer and director of a very special Holovid show, and he apparently has been trying to get access to a Colossus and some SLDF equipment so he could do a very special episode.”

“A Holo show director? That’s our next contract? C’mon Vicky.” Benny groaned. Putting his head in his hands. I sighed.

“Ye of little faith. I suppose if no one is interested I will tell Mr. Haufenpfah that the Immortal Warrior will just never get to face the ghosts of the SLDF…”

Utter silence.

Ah yes you could hear my smug over the shock. I stood tall and proud hands on my hips as my Command group all processed that tidbit.

“Oh my god. Mike Haufenpfah, he’s the director of Immortal Warrior!” Gauge uttered to the room finally breaking the shell shock.

“Wait, does that mean we get to meet the Immortal Warrior!?” Carl begged.

“If we take this contract our equipment will be used in one of the next seasons episodes. Apparently the director was already interested when he heard about the Nighstar, but the Colossus forced his hand. Apparently he wants to film the Immortal Warrior going through a battle on a Colossus but well there wasn’t any others left to do the filming.”

“Yes! Say yes!” Hanna’s contribution was obvious.

“Okay okay. I apologize oh wise and glorious Commander. We are unworthy of your leadership, please allow us to take this contract.” Benny pleaded fake worshipping me.

“Since you grovel so well I will accept! Get packed up! Tomorrow we are setting off for Skye to help film an episode of Immortal Warrior!”

“YEAH!”

—--

Now of course we couldn’t take everyone, and I was already fielding pouts and pleas to go with so they could meet THE Immortal Warrior.

Of course I had to tell a lot of them no. It made me both the most popular and least popular person on base simultaneously. But eventually we figured it out. Pulling out our best gear I gathered our Battalion of mech warriors that had been chosen.

Unfortunately, because it was a TV show, I wasn’t taking any of the special detachments, or the ‘special’ special Detachment in Delta Ops. Carl was of course pouting, and the only reason I wasn’t pranked horrible throughout the night is that I promised to get him and Delta an autograph.

But for the rest? I was basically taking our Mechwarriors barring Gauge who had been heavily tempted but was more interested in continuing his school. Plus Gauge had been satisfied with an offer of an autograph as well.

Leaving Gauge in charge again at least settled my fears. Although I wasn’t worried about an attack. With both 101st Home Guard and 102nd Artillery? Well any one stupid enough to come within even a few miles of my kids were going to be introduced to enough artillery to kick the fight out of anyone.

Plus it wasn’t like I wasn’t leaving enough mechs behind. If someone thought that me leaving with my ‘royal’ equipment meant what was left behind would be undefended, well…

They would learn.

So I gathered up the 11th, 12th, and 13th Companies. While I did feel bad about taking my best of the best. I figured this would be a good milk run to get everyone used to doing a full sortie.

Before we took off I did fill one of our holds with a good amount of SLDF infantry equipment as well. Knowing the Immortal Warrior he would steal some SLDF weapon, and fire it full auto without reloading as he mowed down a battalion of soldiers before causing an explosion to blow up the dropship…

“Remind me to lay down the law about explosions on the dropship.” I told Benny as he was standing beside me as we watched the rest of the Battalion slowly march into the hangar.

“What? Is this another weird Vickyism?”

“What? When did I become an -Ism!?”

“Forever. But I’ll remind you I guess. You usually don’t talk about explosions without it being serious.”

“I mean when we let the Immortal Warrior film on the dropship! You know how that show is with explosions!”

“Ah yeah that makes more sense.” He nodded ignoring my pout as he didn’t apologize for calling me an ism.

“We doing the right thing on this?” I finally ask breaking him out of his musing.

“A little late for second thoughts, isn’t it?”

“I know but… I made big promises to all of us, and the Archon, and now… Now we are going off to play movie star instead of trying to… Well everything?”

“We aren’t gods Vicky. You aren’t perfect. You told me yourself to go slow right? Well then go slow. This is an easy job, makes us some money, and you already ignored my protest about showing off all of our equipment.”

“It doesn’t matter if they see our Royal gear. What are they going to do? Die attacking us?” I snark.

“See! I do think it’s a good idea. Look how happy everyone is. I mean next year some of us might even be in an Immortal Warrior episode! They might mention the IBO!”

“It would be cool right?”

“Totally cool. And sometimes that’s enough. You don’t need to go fight pirates every job. It’s okay to have some fun too.” He shrugged, and I am reminded that Benny is very much the entire company's older brother.

“You’ve gotten really mature. What happened to gun head Benny who only wanted to talk about military efficiency?”

“He had to deal with military efficiency.” He joked, nudging me. “We all have to grow up sometime. I’m almost twenty now. I’m an adult.”

“Yeah.” I mutter. My own Birthday hadn’t been that long ago. The flight to Phecda had gone over the new year. So my Birthday being in late December meant it already happened. I was Seventeen now.

“It will be okay. This is just another training exercise, or a morale building one. And if even that isn’t enough for your worries. It will be great for our reputation!”

“Yeah! This is a great plan! I made it!”

“Well let’s not go that far.”

“Nope you said it! Too late no take backs!”

“I didn’t say it though?”

—-

Traveling on Whitebase was very different from the Isaribi. For one there was so much more space. For two, there was so much more stuff! When I was dragged out of my cabin on the first night, and set between a horde of my kids in the rec room, the Holovid turned on to the first of the Immortal Warrior movies I couldn’t help but laugh.

Over the next month we watched and re-watched the movies and TV show enough times that I was starting to get sick of it. But it kept everyone entertained and lowered any chance of trouble. So I let it go.

Then we jumped, and it was only four days until we landed on Skye.

We weren’t landing at the starport. No, we were here for the dropship to be used in a film! We were directed to land on a pad sitting smack dab within Dongeal Broadcasting Companies Skye Headquarters.

The fact that the dropship pad was actually pretty heavily used made it all the more interesting. When we landed, we already had the eyes of everyone in the area. The Colossus, especially a brand new one like WhiteBase, was an utterly unique existence in the Inner Sphere. And as it settled onto the pad even from the bridge I could see the many people pointing and looking, from ground crew to other dropship crew and captains.

I smiled.

Yep we were here to make an impression.

“Suit up!”

—-

Because this was a Lyran world the first mech off the ship was Benny. It had to be Benny, no other mech in my forces would create quite the same awe. As when an Atlas II Specifically the AS7-D-H2 walked off the Colossus. It might be the closest to the SLDF landing on a planet, in a few hundred years, because that was probably the last time something like this had happened. The Atlas made way for Hanna to follow.

Her own Nightstar walked out of the hangar, and I could hear the gasps. The Atlas got attention, but not everyone was immediately able to notice the Gauss rifle on it. So it got looks as all Lyrans would do when seeing an Atlas but not quite the same attention.

But the Nightstar? The gasps were audible to me. As I followed Hanna in MY NightStar. Phantom still painted on it’s nose, although it wasn’t actually the same mech I had taken out on Phecda. It had been pretty banged up and I wanted to make an impression so that mech had been disintegrated down and remade.

As I walked out. There was a shock. Seeing two Nightstars? This had just become something more. Something… Impossible.

Then Erica stepped out. I had given her a reward for her good job being the eyes of the Lance on Vindemiatrix and Gniezno. She didn’t need speed to be our scout after all. The Omniscient eye in the sky deserved the metal to keep her safe.

Now she had it. The King Crab stomped out of the Colossus, and took up a position behind my Nightstar.

And suddenly the Atlas took up my right side, and the second Nightstar my left. And everyone was wondering what the fuck was going on. It wasn’t like most of the people at this mini star port in the middle of a movie studio would know why an entire Lostech Lance just walked off the damn Lostech dropship.

Once in our little formation. I went ahead and powered down, and popped the cockpit. Coming down the ladder in a few moments. The rest of the lance followed, meeting up behind me as we waited for the car that had been holding back to finally come close.

Mr. Haufenpfah stepped out of the limo-like ground car, and I could tell he certainly didn’t have eyes for my group. No his eyes were locked onto the four Lostech Assault mechs that were standing guard over us. They gleamed, armor perfectly clean, and all in the IBO color scheme. The sign of the Eisen-Blume on shoulders splashing red across the gray and white.

I watched the rather unkempt man, who was wearing a Hawaiian shirt of all things. As he took slow steps forward just taking in the sight of the titans hovering over us.

“Mr. Haufenpfah. It’s good to meet you. I do hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long?” I added a bit of cheek into my voice and the man finally tore his eyes away from the mechs.

“Please call me Mike, and oh yes. My entire life I think. I never… I never expected to see something like this in my lifetime. My god it’s like the Star League never fell.” He uttered in shock and I winced a little at that. Yeah that was a comparison I should probably get used to.

“As you can see Mike, we have plenty of SLDF equipment as promised. Four Assault mechs, four Heavies, and four Mediums. I do hope that is enough variety for everything you need. We are all excited to help out with your production.”

I couldn’t help but try to stifle a smirk when my reveal that I hadn’t even brought out everything so far caused the man to go catatonic his eyes wide and round. The sunglasses he had been wearing were slowly tugged down, as he rubbed his eyes for a moment, seeming to finally come back to himself.

“Y-yes. Yes Commander Isen-Blume.”

“Eisen-Blume. It’s no matter.” I waved off his sudden apology. “The Iron Blooded Orphans are more than happy to assist you Mike. Just make sure the pay comes through, and that we all get a chance for autographs. A lot of my men are fans… I had to live through multiple Immortal Warrior Marathons on the way here. So I will have a riot on my hands without the autographs.”

“Yes of course. Commander Eisen-Blume. I I guarantee Ricardo will be more than willing! I assure you of that! I will have merchandise brought as well. Anything as a thank you for taking your time to help!”
“That’s very kind Mike. Now where should we start unloading? I am sure you have a tight schedule for shooting.”

“Carmen! Get over here and get the unloading started! No interruption! Tell everything else they can wait!” He yelled to the woman in a nice business suit beside him, his aide I assume who quickly pulled out a large phone and started making calls.

—-

Now that we had shown off a bit we were definitely being treated like royalty. The Holovid, Or TriVid I suppose, studio was pulling out all the stops to cater to my people. The fact I had a CEO type talking to me, hinted at that.

“So we do have another production on another lot, a history of the StarLeague, having some real SLDF equipment would go a long way to blowing up the production.” The older man slyly offered by I shook my head.

“Let’s see how this goes before we go anywhere with talking about another. Although I wouldn’t count on it, we have our own work ahead of us.”

“Of course, of course, Mercenaries are always busy, but keep in mind the condition of your equipment is what makes it special. Once it has seen battle…”

“It won’t be as special. I understand. The answer is still the same.”

While I was talking to this man, our mechs were being worked over. The mechs were all taken into a mech studio to have pictures and recordings taken. The fact they had so many to choose from was actually causing the whole process to take longer as apparently the script was being expanded.

Mike had just assumed one or two SLDF mechs, the Nightstar of course, despite me telling him we had more.

So now he was ripping his script apart with the full support of the studio expanding a single episode story he had never got a chance to shoot into a multi part mega story.

Apparently it was about the return of the SLDF. They come back and help the Immortal Warrior against the obviously Combine enemies while telling him it wasn’t yet time for their permanent return, but that they were always watching, ready to return when the Inner Sphere needed them.

The episode was going to end with a firm handshake from the SLDF Colonel and the Immortal Warrior.

I had to excuse myself and go to the bathroom in order to try to hide my laughter. Considering what I know the whole thing took on a very surreal feeling.

But it was only a few days of work on the script before they were satisfied enough to really get moving. Watching the filming of a swiftly ballooning show was rather interesting. What had once been a rather modest if not lightly funded episode was ballooning into almost a movie production. Apparently the Donegal Broadcasting Company knew their audience, and seeing real Lostech in motion would draw a lot of attention.

Of course with all of these changes happening I never expected to be more than an outsider to this whole show. But I ended up more involved because of a single fact.

I fucking laughed.

“Commander! Glad you could join us! I figured you would want to meet the men and women that will be piloting your lovely mechs during the production. I know you were very concerned about that, but I assure you all of the pilots are actors with us here, and we do take extreme measures to ensure that no mech can be stolen.” Mike offered as he led me into a room.

I stopped cold though when I looked at the men in costume that I was confronted with. This was the space 80’s. Sci-fi movies in the eighties were either really good.

Or horrible bad.

I immediately burst into laughter. I couldn’t help it! How would you react to walking into a room with a bunch of rather pasty actors all wearing sci-fi barbarian outfits? They had V necklines! Their spandex with faux fur glittered! I was laughing so hard that I literally had to rest against the wall as my giggles completely destroyed any ability to apologize to the affronted looks the men were giving me.

“C-commander? Are you alright?” Mike finally asked although I could tell his grimace was barely being hidden as he realized I had just insulted his crew.
“I’m-Snrkkk sorry!” I managed to stifle enough to choke out. I knew my face was probably bright red at this point from how heavy my laughter was. I managed to raise myself up but another look at the men, had me bent over in stitches.

Finally after a few minutes of my hideous non-stop laughter. A few of the crew that had obviously been looking forward to meeting me stormed off.

Actors and their ego you know?

“I’m sorry Mike.” I managed breathlessly “I’ve just never seen worst costumes in my life.” I managed to gasp out after I was led to one of the seats and given something to drink.

“Really? They are pretty standard looking to me…”

“They look horrible! They are so bad it’s hilarious! How is that supposed to represent the SLDF?”

“Ah well… I figured their culture would change after so many years alone. Off alone with only their strength to survive they became more feral, but still honorable warriors. The furs a rite of passage. I imagine they have to head out into the wilds and slay a beast to prove themselves.”

That wasn’t far off… But it’s not like I could tell him that. “First off, you went in the completely wrong direction.” I couldn’t help but say.

“What? How?” He actually sounded a little hurt which was fair. I was being massively bitchy since I just laughed at his actors and costumes.

“Why would the SLDF regress like we did? They didn’t suffer the succession wars. So they wouldn’t become barbarians… Like we did. Even when they left they took a ton of scientists and knowledge with them. They should be MORE advanced than they were two hundred years ago, not less.”

“What! we aren’t barbarians!”

“We kind of are. Think about it. We lost so much we aren’t even at the same point we were before! They will be though. When they interact with us? That’s the mentality. They are looking at us like we are barbarians.” His slightly offended look actually turned a little considering.

“People won’t like that. Being treated like the Inner Sphere is lesser. It will offend a lot of people.”

“When has offending people been more important than telling a story? You told me this episode was something you have been wanting to do for years right?”

“Yeah ever since I was a kid, when I first came up with Immortal Warrior. I always dreamed he would meet the SLDF… You’re right. Victoria I-”

“Please!... Call me Vicky. It’s uh.. A thing.” I beg forcing down a shiver.

“Vicky. Thank you, I think you are right. We will have to completely change the script… again. The higher ups won’t like that. The Costume department is going to kill me. We are going to have to completely start from scratch.”

I considered it. I mean. My mechs were already being used. So why not a bit more? “I might have another option for you.” I say, idly waving a hand over my armor. The armor that had a completely different aesthetic to anything else in the Inner Sphere.

It took him a moment for his confusion clouding his eyes to vanish and a surge of understanding replaced it. “Oh Vicky. You are truly saving me on this aren’t you? Do you have any more armor?”

“Mike. I never leave home without enough replacements for my kids. They are a little rough with their things you know. I can outfit your actors.”

“Excellent. Hmm. That does have one more issue… But considering your offer I bet you will be more than interested in helping solve that one too.”

Confused, I shrugged my shoulders. “What are you thinking?”

“Well we will need a lot of extras for some of the interior shots. How interested do you think your men will be in being in an Immortal Warrior episode?”

I laughed. “I think they would mutiny if I didn’t allow this!”

“Excellent.”

That was how it all started. I really should have known better.

—-

“EEEEEEEEEEEeeeee.”

“So yeah all of us can be extras in the scenes since they are going to be using our uniform for the SLDF members in the episode.”

“Whoa. Commander, how did you convince them to use our armor? I thought they had their own costume department?”

I grimaced. “They do, and they should all be fired. There were sparkles.”

Benny because he was used to this eras stupid stupid dress code looked like he didn’t get the problem, but Hanna at least had some taste. “Eww. The SLDF Would never wear sparkles! They are soldiers! Not not-!” She couldn’t even find the right word and I nodded.

“I agree… I ended up laughing at them so much I sorta pissed off the actors, but I did manage to talk to Mike and he agreed he is taking a more serious tone for the SLDF.”

“Cool! Wait… That means.. I’m going.. I’m going to be in a scene with Ricardo Hunt… Oh my god. My hair! My my makeup! I need to redo my makeup! Vicky! I need new makeup, I just brought my normal stuff, but this is going to be on Trivid!”

“Hanna breath. Breath. They have a makeup department. They will make sure you go out looking amazing. All of us will, I expect we won’t get any lines or anything, so just relax. These are professionals… Even if they can’t design a costume to save their lives.”

“I don’t see what the problem was… But our armor is definitely cooler!” Benny hurried up and corrected himself when Hanna and I both glared at him. “Go round everyone up, Sub-Commander let them know what’s going on.” I pointed at the door and Benny wisely retreated as I continued to calm Hanna.

—-

Of course getting my band of soldiers into the role of actors wasn’t the easiest. Production started a few days later. Mike, bags under his eyes but full of energy as the third version of the script was completed.

This time. Instead of strange barbarians that appeared out of nowhere. They became juggernauts. Soldiers without peer. My kids did well in those scenes. Benny got an actual line to call out as he led a team in an ‘assault’ against the combine. Even if it was just “For the Star League!”

Hanna earned herself a bit of a wingwoman. One of the big actresses Valerie Valour had taken her under her wing, and ensured that when Valerie was looking pretty and flirty Hanna got to be there too.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her, she was probably chosen to make Valerie look better. Hanna was a bit too sharp. Her eyes always looked like she was going to kill someone on film.

It actually worked pretty well. When Mike showed me a pre edit of the shot.

And that was how the next few weeks passed. Normally it would only take a week or so for a full episode, but considering what they had access to, this Episode swiftly ballooned, into a two parter. And then To my shock.

It became a mid-season movie.

Mike was quite proud of it. “Well what do you expect Vicky my girl!? This is showbiz! A chance to show off Lostech, a solid script, everyone is behind this 100%! I’ve had almost no executive oversight. This only happens when the stars finally align!”

“Well it still surprises me. You would think that they wouldn’t let this production balloon out so much. But I guess in the end it’s just a chance for more money.”

“Oh It’s more than that! Do you have any idea how many contracts they are going to get after this? The Donegal Broadcasting Company have real Lostech mechs! Every business in Lyran space is going to want those commercial spots. They are likely to make ten times the cost of this just in the first airing.”

“R-really? That much?”

“Oh sure. Like I said. This is the sort of production that only happens once in a career.”

“Well I’m glad we can help.”

“Hah! You are doing more than that… Speaking of helping. We do need someone for a scene. And I think someone younger is better. We need someone to hold the Standard of the SLDF during the scene where the Immortal Warrior says his goodbyes with the Colonel. I offered it to a few of your men but well…”

I sighed. I could see where this was going. “They told you to give it to me.”

“They all told me to give it to you.”

I had purposefully stayed out of the shooting. There weren't enough roles for all of the kids that came with, so I had stayed out giving as many of them a chance to be on set as possible.

“They all said that it could only be you.”

“Stupid brats.” I grumble. I didn’t even really want to be on TV! Or Holovid. Whatever. “I’ll do it. If I can’t get any of them to do it.”

“Great. We will get you in for makeup tomorrow. We will be shooting the scene at evening. We plan on using the setting suns sunbeams to highlight the stage. It should look fantastic!”

“Sure Mike. You’re the director.”

—-

So that was why I was somehow on the set of a movie. I had been makeuped. And my hair was styled. Which felt weird. My armor Eisen-Blume was covered up with an SLDF star. Which was probably the strangest part. But all I had to do was hold the long pole that had a flowing SLDF banner attached to the top, and look serious.

Which thankfully wasn’t hard. The entire scene took about an hour. And I was quite glad when a cut was called. The scene wasn’t over, but it was time for a short break. I walked over to my Nightstar settled on it’s foot as I held the banner in my lap, the blue flag with the white Cameron star stitched onto it.

It was funny. This flag was probably brand new. It had been such a long time since this flag was flown anywhere. I idly played with the stitching as I considered what it meant. That the Clans were out there. That someday, in thirty years or less I would be facing the children of the once bearers of this flag.

Honestly the SLDF, Kerensky, the exodus… The Clans. I couldn’t help but just feel sad about the whole thing. I couldn’t understand the Clans. Their way of thinking their culture, it wasn’t alien. I could understand that. But it was so… Vile.

It almost made me want to cry. The hopes of thousands. Millions, probably billions of people all rested on the specter of the returning SLDF. But when they come? They would not be the protectors so many dreamed of. I let it all out. That feeling of regret. If the clans couldn’t be the hope of the Inner Sphere, that was fine.

Because that was my job now.

I looked up, realizing it had been a while since the break had finished as I rose up to my feet. I steeled myself. Firming every once of strength I had.

Let’s finish this movie for my kids. It may be one of the last really pleasant things they get. Especially since there was no hiding the Lostech now. But I stepped back onto the set back straight.

Just another hour. And this will be over!

Chapter Text

Chapter 12.2 The Immortal Warrior: And the Phantoms of the SLDF
3023
Skye
Donegal Broadcasting Corporation Skye Studio

—-

Four days later. Still mid production I was watching as Benny made a fool of himself on the set trying to get an action scene right, his eyes kept catching the camera and ruining it.

It was hilarious. But I couldn’t laugh. He was already upset from the last time a few days ago when he tripped.

That was when I noticed the very expensive hover car pull onto the lot. Something that shouldn’t really be allowed what with us being mid scene. And Mike seemed just as annoyed as the noise from the hovercar ruined the shot that Benny had actually managed to keep his eyes on target.

That was when a man in a suit stepped out and from the way even Mike changed from his irritated look to an obviously faked welcoming look as he stepped away from his camera.

“Duke Lestrade.” He offered when he got close enough and bowed.

Ah it was this asshole. Great.

“Mr. Haufenpfah, I apologize for the interruptions.” He offered slowly, and it was obvious he really wasn’t sorry. His eyes hadn’t left the Nightstar that was hanging over the set since he stepped out of the car.

“No apology necessary, It is an honor for the Duke of Summer to come to our set. Beautiful isn’t it?”

“Yes, a weapon suitable for the best of the SLDF.” The Duke muttered, turning away from Mike. His full focus settled on me.

Someone was well informed.

“Victoria Eisen-Blume.”

I frowned a little. How rude. “Aldo Lestrade.” If he wanted to do the no titles thing, I could do that.

That made him frown but he seemed to take the mild rebuke in my tone after a moment responded. “Commander. I have heard many interesting things about you.”

“That’s a surprise. I don’t think I have done enough for that.”

“Oh? Lostech caches don’t grow on trees. Nor does young orphan girls that no one has ever heard of often have meetings with the Archon. Meetings that take multiple days are even stranger.”

“It was a week. The Archon was kind enough to host me for a short time while we spoke of business. I think the only reason I was invited to stay so long was Melissa taking a liking to me.”

He chuckles although it wasn’t a sound of amusement. The Dukes lips perpetually pursed gave him a very unhappy mein. “You say that as if you have no idea how big a deal it is that Katrina Steiner let an unknown around her daughter. The girl that is the heir to the Commonwealth, and has her legendarily overprotective mother ensuring no one that hasn’t been fully vetted get so close.”

I shrugged. “I am afraid there is nothing special. I was traveling with Morgan Kell. So that is why the Archon was willing to see me. Melissa and I simply got along.”

“Or perhaps you aren’t so unfamiliar to the Archon at all?”

I blinked. What?

“What?”

He stared at me for a time before seeming to remember we aren’t alone. “Nothing then. Show me around your set? I am very interested in seeing SLDF equipment on Skye.” He orders to Mike which the man was quick to jump on, leading the Duke around the set, Ricardo Hunt the Immortal Warrior himself shaking the Duke's disinterested hand, as he was shown our equipment.

I was very glad I didn’t have to deny the Duke, since he never actually asked to get into any of the mechs. As if I would let this guy anywhere near my equipment if I had a choice. This is the asshole that was trying to start a civil war in the Commonwealth.

He wanted to split off the entire region of Skye and become its leader. As if he wouldn’t immediately be eaten by the Combine, Confederacy, or League.

He is a grade A moron. And the sort of guy you can’t trust not to stab you in the back… Like he had done to his father to get this position.

That was Duke Aldo Lestrade, and I really didn’t like how he was looking at my mechs.

Thankfully. It seems his behavior from before had already been all he wanted to say to me. He spent the next twenty minutes getting pictures taken of him on the set, with our mechs in the background.

I had no doubt that images would be in the papers soon, all hinting at how it was all thanks to our duke that actual Lostech was on Skye. But whatever, he could do whatever he wanted as long as he kept his grubby hands off my stuff.

Him especially I would never give anything.

The production continued not long after as the Duke drove off. Although it took a while to get everything back to where it was. The Duke had definitely troubled the production a bit.

—--

A different perspective
Gauge Blake
Zaniah III
HPG Terminal

Gauge hadn’t been surprised at the message. Adept Michaelson had gone out of his way to tell him that now that he was working on Zaniah he would invite Gauge back over for lessons like he had once done.

Gauge had accepted. Of course he would. He always wanted to learn more. Yet there was something different about it. Gauge was led into one of the private offices in the HPG and there sat Adept Michaelson.

“Gauge My boy! Please come in. Come in!” Adept Michaelson waved him into a new office. It was smaller than the one he had on Solaris Gauge noticed.

“Adept Michaelson, It’s good to see you, how are you adjusting to Zaniah?”

The older man laughs a little hollowly. “I’ll admit the heat is rougher than I expected. Thankfully I spend most of my time inside.”

“Yeah the heat was rough for us at first too.”

“Yes I heard that it isn’t so much anymore… Cooling suits under your armor?”

Gauge laughed a little, “You heard about that? Vicky wanted us to keep it quiet, but yeah we found a lot of cooling suits, and Vicky figured the best way to use them was to make sure everyone had one. It keeps us from overheating when we are outside.”

“Hah! Lostech Cooling suits to keep cool while out and about. How luxurious.” Michaelson offered with an unreadable expression over his face. “Gauge. I asked you to come because I have heard some concerning reports. I was hoping you would answer a few questions about your lostech discoveries. ComStar is as always very interested in such finds.”

“Oh. Sure Adept Michaelson, what is it you need to know? We talked about it a lot last time.”

“Last time I was only asking as a friend, this time it’s a bit more professional. The Cache you spoke of on Helm is destroyed.”

Gauge grimaced. “Yes.”

“You and your friend ended up destroying a priceless heirloom of our past due to your carelessness. I admit this is partially my fault. I taught you quite a bit about the needs of being a member of ComStar years ago, but I never truly finished teaching you things you needed to know then. So much has been lost because I thought I had more time.”

“What? What do I need to know?”

“So many things my boy. I’m going to set up a schedule for you, if you like, where you can come in and take some classes, things that only a member of ComStar usually learns. But I always knew you would end up serving Blakes will. I just assumed you would at least visit Terra before starting.”

“Oh, Thank you. I am always eager to learn new things.” Gauge offered with a smile, even if on the inside he was wondering what Adept Michaelson really meant.

“I know you are my boy. I know.”

—--

So the movie finally wrapped up shooting. It took way longer than expected, mostly because this was only supposed to be an episode for a TV show, and instead ended up like a made for TV movie mashed with a full blockbuster movie based on a TV show.

It didn’t entirely fit, but that was the feeling I got with how much money and time was being thrown into this production.

When it was all said and done. It was surprisingly quiet, as we finally had everything turned back over to us. My mechs were all loaded up into the Colossus, and one final night we had an after party with the cast and crew. Considering we basically were both at this point it was a nice sendoff.

And then on a sunny Skye morning I was blasting off into space.

“Sad to see it go Commander?” Benny asked and I shook my head.

“The only thing you are going to see go is my lunch if you try to get me to talk!” I moaned at him as we flew off.

We were going to head home. So that we could make sure there weren’t any disasters waiting for us before we went out again. It was time for us to finally start implementing Operation ISDF IS HERE!

I named it myself. And no matter how much Benny tried to scribble out the title on the operation document didn’t matter. I could always just create a new one from my Noteputer! I win!

Of course. If I realized what was going on at the time I would have turned the dropship right around and strangled Mike Haufenpfah.

—--

A different perspective
At another time. In a not so distant future.
Mike Haufenpfah
Skye

“And here he is! The man of the hour! Director Haufenpfah!”

“Please Debbie, just call me Mike. I am aware of how difficult my last name can be.”

“Hah! And funny too. Mike, your sensational Immortal Warrior series and movies have been a phenomenon in the Inner Sphere. Every planet watches your show!”

“I doubt it’s every one.” He offers humbly, but the glittered and glammed hostess was having none of it.

“Nonsense! There isn’t a man or woman in the Inner Sphere that doesn’t know the name Immortal Warrior!” Behind her a Holovid activated showed a few scenes of the Immortal Warrior TV show. Mostly explosions as the show was well known for but also gun fights and mech battles.

“That used to be one of my favorite episodes there.” Mike offered seeing the Immortal Warrior standing atop a mech as it raced into battle.

“But it’s not anymore?” Debbie immediately digged and the audience had some gasps audible even on the stage..

“No, not anymore. Now that I finally managed to produce… Well the entire reason I am here now”

“Yes! The Immortal Warrior: And the Phantoms of the SLDF! The mid season movie has been sending audiences wild! Mike, I heard that this movie was originally just a single episode?”

“Oh it was worse than that Debbie, I’ve… Well the Phantoms of the SLDF. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do on the Immortal Warrior. Ever since I was a boy!”

“Oh you did say in an interview a few years ago, the Immortal Warrior was originally your childhood stories?”

“Oh yes. I used to tell them to my siblings, I have plenty of them believe me. That was where it all began but… The Phantoms of the SLDF. It was something I always wanted to show. I finally talked the executives into the episode. But if I can be honest with you Debbie, It was just going to be another episode in the season. I didn’t have the funding to really make it spark and then….”

“And then! The Iron Blooded Company?” She couldn’t help but finish his sentence and he found all of his energy leaving him, completely calm.

“And then the Iron Blooded Orphans.” He shook his head even today months after they had fallen into his life he couldn’t believe his luck. “It was pure serendipity.” He uttered that sense of peace washing over him. It had been something he never could have hoped for. “At first it was just rumors. And then fact, and then? Well. I barely believed it. I got confirmation that a colossus was spotted traveling the Inner Sphere.”

“Yes. I remember there was even a segment on the news about it. A Colossus seen and active in Lyran space. But I don’t remember hearing anything about who was in possession of it.”

“Ah well… I know a few people in certain businesses. Fans and things. When I sent the message out asking if anyone knew anything about the owner I got a hit. And then… I sent them a request. Here is a secret that no one would know. When I first sent them the request… I didn’t have the pay to pay them!”

“No!”
“Oh yes. It was a one in a million shot. If I could get their attention I could bring it to the execs, and get the funding. Funnily enough that is exactly what happened. I sent the request through ComStar. And a few days later, I got a message from Commander Eisen-Blume. She actually told me she had more than just a Colossus on hand. You must understand. I had expected another normal episode but just inside a Colossus. Something a little new, a fresh set.”

“She surprised you?”

“Oh yes. I knew she had a Nightstar, and that was already going to be front and center believe me, but everything else? It was supposed to be normal mechs in a normal ish episode. It’s not like we haven’t done special episodes before.”

“Ah the infamous Draconis Temple Episode?”

“Just so! But this… I had talked to the execs about it and got a substantial funding improvement. I’ll admit now most of that funding was because they wanted to be the first to have a Colossus on the TriVid screen in what two hundred and fifty years?”

“I can imagine that would be quite the feather in their cap.”

“It was. And it worked. But Commander Eisen-Blume? What can I say but she never does things calmly.”

“I have heard rumors about her, and of course there is… That.”

“Yes I knew you would bring that up, but let me go through his first. It helps explain it.”

“Of course Mike. Don’t let me interrupt a master storyteller at work.”

“Hardly. I am but a humble wordsmith. So the Colossus. WhiteBase they call it, lands on the lot. The Commander had warned me she had more SLDF hardware she would bring along. Nothing. And I tell you this again Debbie, and to all those listening. Nothing prepares you for seeing almost four hundred tons of Lostech stepping off a Lostech dropship.”

The studio was quiet as Mike relieved the moment he stroked his missing beard for a moment before shaking the image out of his head.

“It was like taking a step into the past. I never… I never felt any connection to the Star League until then.”

The hostess couldn’t help but audibly gasp. “Really?”

“Oh it was… Magical. No, that doesn’t do it any credit at all. Trust me on this Debbie. We do have videos of the first drop. It will be released on the special edition directors cut. Yet in that moment… We truly were standing before the SLDF. Everyone felt it. The energy. The Excitement.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense Mike. You are filling out a powerful image for us here.”

“Of course. I won’t go over my first meeting with the Commander. It wouldn’t do the girl justice. But the images of those titans? The Titular Phantoms of the SLDF? That earned me quite a bit of leeway. The episode became a two parter, and then a three!”

“What? But It’s a movie now.”

“Yes! That’s the most amazing part. The execs wanted more. More screen time with the Lostech mechs. And the Commander was completely unbothered by the idea she accepted without issue. But it was… Well. The reason it’s a movie? Entirely her doing I hate to admit.”

“Really? What did she do?”

“Well it was during one of our first dress checks. The SLDF soldiers wearing their outfits… But well. They were terrible! Not bad, don't get me wrong they were perfectly good outfits for an episode of Immortal Warrior, but the Commander took one look at them. And well after getting a good laugh, told me in no uncertain terms. That it was not acceptable for the SLDF.”

“Really!?”

“Oh the Commander despite her age never had any issue with saying what was on her mind. She was then kind enough to remind me that they had a rather odd looking outfit already available if I wanted to use them.”

“Oh yes. The ‘armor’ of the Iron Blooded Company.”

“Well they call themselves the Iron Blooded Orphans, and I believe they are bigger than a Company now. But yes. She offered to allow our actors to wear her uniform, and I couldn’t help but think it would add something to the production. I was right.”

“Yes. The unique armored forms of the SLDF Phantoms were… Magnificent alien almost!”

“Yes. That’s a good way of looking at it. The armor is alien. But it was there. And we used it. The execs after I spoke to them about further changes… Well they told me they wanted more. A movie instead of a three parter. I was already ripping my entire script to pieces to make up the new look of the SLDF so I threw it in the bin, and started over again.”

“That’s quite a few re-writes in a short time.”

“Oh it was. Honestly if it was any other movie I would have refused, you can’t just rewrite a movie in a few weeks and then film it. It takes time… But not this one.”

“I had heard rumors filming went very quickly.”

“Incredibly so. You have to understand we had everything on hand ready to go. Thanks to the Commander we had all the mechs we needed and more. We had the people everyone wanted to get in on the story once they saw those mechs.”

“I had heard you were forced to turn down some actors?”

“I did! We had a few famous actors, I won’t name names of course. That demanded to be in the film, but we had to refuse. The time crunch was on… Honestly I’m glad we refused.”

“Because of the thing.” Debbie asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows and Mike laughed thunderously.

“Yes! Because of the thing. But it’s not time for that just yet, but I’m getting there.”

“Good! Because I am excited to ask so many questions about it. I think over 90% of all the questions we received to ask you all had to do with that.”

“That… Well I should say it surprised me. But it doesn’t. That.. Anyway so we got the greenlight to go for a movie. Production ballooned, but it was an energy, a fire inside us all. We were rushing, every scene was filmed nearly without issue, other than a few here and there.” He took a deep breath as he suddenly fell back into his chair. “I have never been on a set that was like it. This movie was… special. Not just because of the Lostech, but it was more than that.”

“Everyone knows that. Not after that ending.”

“The ending.” He nodded. He knew he would have to explain this eventually. He just wasn’t sure how. “It… You have to understand. That scene. That was an accident.”

“An accident?”

“It was never in any script. It wasn’t planned. That entire scene from start to finish, was unedited. No, it was more. It was candid.”

“What? No. I refuse to believe that.”

He chuckled. “You're not the first to tell me that, but it’s true. I wasn’t even the one to film it!”

“Okay roll back your camera there for a second director. Are you telling me that scene was what? Just…”

“It was exactly what it looks like, and that is what makes it special.” He smiled. “It was on the day we shot the finale. The Phantoms of the SLDF shaking hands with the Immortal Warrior before they would walk away into the sunset. We were taking a break on the set. That… I bet you are wondering who she was?”

“Of course! It’s the question on everyone's mind! She wasn’t even in the credits!”

“Oh she was. Just not as an actress. That Debbie, was the very woman herself. Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. The one who made the entire film possible.”

The hostess blinked. “That girl was the Commander?” She gasped looking to the audience. “I do believe we are the first to hear that fact isn’t that right?” She called out and her audience went wild you could hear the whispers and shouts for a moment before they finally quieted at her raised hand. “That was Victoria?”

“Hah! Don’t call her that, she gets the oddest look on her face. Yes, that was Vicky… She had purposefully refused any role in the film. There were only so many roles and she wanted her soldiers to get their slot. They are on the younger side, and everyone was very excited.”

“So why was she there?”

“Well when the job of the role came out? Every one of her people refused to do the role. They all said the same thing. ‘That was Vickys job.’ Every one of them.”

“That’s quite the loyalty!”

“Oh they are that. But it was more than that. I just didn’t get it at first. She… She did fine on the scene herself. You will notice her fierce little glare when she stomps the SLDF Standard into the ground.”

“I did indeed. After the ending I had to scroll back and see if I could find her.”

“And she was there. It happened right after that scene. We stopped for a break… She… I don’t know why she kept the standard. Or what she was doing or thinking. She went and sat on her Nightstar-”

“Oh! So the Nightstar she was sitting on, it was her own mech?”

“Yes. The Phantom… We decided to keep the nose painting. That wasn’t something we did for the movie. That is what the Nightstar was called. The name was painted long before it ever landed on Skye.”

“Oh! Interesting behind the scenes tidbit there! Do you know why it’s call that?”

“Only vaguely. The Iron Blooded would only smile as if it was a great joke. The only thing they would say was something about The Phantom of the SLDF.”

“Is that where the name came from?”

“It is actually. The original title was just “The Immortal Warrior and the SLDF.” I know it wasn’t anything special but.”

“Many of the episodes follow that naming scheme.”

“Exactly.”

“So she was sitting there?”

“Oh yes… I can’t… You have to understand the entire ten minutes she was there. We didn’t edit a second of it, it was exactly as you see. She was sitting there. And she just… It was like she felt such a connection to the standard that none of the rest of us could feel.”

“Yes! That look of sorrow on her face? It still gives me chills…” The hostess gave a exaggerated shiver for a moment

“It did to us as well. Franklin, one of the Junior cameramen, was testing out his camera when he noticed. He… Well I am thankful he was wise enough to record it. We didn’t notice at first. You know? Many of us were just walking around, but it was… like a feeling, an energy drawing you in. Then the sun set. We had picked that location for the sunbeams. It was even used in the scene we had just shot, but I never expected to see them land on her.”

“Tell me Mike. You know the Commander better than the rest, what was going through her head then? When she went from utter sorrow to…”

“To the fierceness of the greatest warrior?”

“A good way to put it.”

“I honestly can’t tell you Debbie. All I know was that at that moment. If she had ordered me into battle? I would have grabbed any weapon on hand and followed.”

“Hah! You say that jokingly, but there has been a huge uproar about your ending credits. ‘The girl and the standard’ became probably the most fascinating scene of your entire movie. And it was just what you had your end credits overlaid over.”

“Yes… I did say there was something almost magic about the entire production. The Commander. Vicky was a big part of that. I know, I will never have a film experience that matches it.”

The host and director were quiet for a moment, the strength of the words spoken had even silenced the normally talkative woman, before after a few moments she regained her focus. “Well folks. I think that’s time for a commercial break. Join us after as we ask even more questions about the newest movie to hit the Inner Sphere. The Immortal Warrior: And the Phantoms of the SLDF!

Chapter Text

Chapter 13.1 A moment's rest
2023
Zaniah III
RedBase

Finally we were home. Our ‘short’ mission to Skye took far longer than I expected but it was over now. My kids were happily passing out Immortal Warrior swag and I was finally home.

Which is of course when I was yanked aside by a friend with no time to talk.

“Vicky! No time to relax now!” Gauge offered as he jogged up and grabbed me by the arm, turning me away from my room and bed, towards the offices.

“Gauge. I just got back. Unless it’s an emergency-”

“It is!”

Fuck. “Alright I’m coming I’m coming stop tugging.” Gauge led me out of the base, towards one of the security checkpoints. While I was gone, the checkpoints had ballooned a bit, looking almost like mini administration offices, themselves, and I figured out what was going on as I was walked over.

They were full of people.

“Gauge?”

“Do you have any idea what you did!?” He tells me, stopping and grabbing me by my shoulders. Then shaking me frantically caused me to helplessly laugh, which only made his shaking all the worse.

“No-not r-reaally!” I offered through the motions before he stopped.

“We have had so many recruits come by! Not even orphans but actual military groups!”

“What? Why?”

“Don’t be obtuse! You know why! You dropped the fact we have Lostech out into the world. There are tons of merc groups, big and small that want a bite. A lot of the big ones want to trade, the small ones want to join up!”

“Really! That’s great!”

“What? How is it great! I have had to deal with these as-” He breaks into mumbles as he realizes how close he was to the buildings. “For months! You have any idea how nosy and bossy they are?”

“Not really, but I am guessing I am going to spend the next few days finding out?”

“Days? Hah. Oh Vicky. Vicky Vicky Vicky… Weeks. Minimum. Have fun.” He growled, pushing me into a building. I turned noticing I was being stared at by quite possibly a hundred or more full grown adults, most of them wearing some sort of uniform.

They were split up into groups, But I could tell a lot of them had been here for a while by the way they were relaxing, feet up on tables, or resting back smoking and drinking.

“Well. This is awkward. I’m Commander Eisen-Blume. I run the Iron Blooded Orphans. I am told a lot of you want to join up, or trade hardware. I might be up to either of those, but I’m not holding meetings in a bar. Even though there shouldn’t be a bar on my base because I have impressionable teenagers under my command…” I trail off glaring a few of the pilots mech or otherwise that were smoking, or had a bottle of booze in their hands.

A few moments later most, but not all put their smokes out, and drinks away and I nodded. I pointed to Gauge who had eventually followed me in. The ass. “Gauge. Do we have a list of everyone?”

“Who do you think you are talking to? Of course we do… Homeguard wouldn’t let them on base even out here, if we didn’t.”

“Good. Go ahead and start scheduling meetings then. Might as well get started.”

“Yes Vicky!”

—-

The meetings were interesting. A few were fun, talking to other mercs was always an experience.

“So you were fighting how many? Damn, that’s a hell of a battle. I’m still sorry. I can’t really make that trade.. But I might have some spares to get your mechs running again. Yeah I picked up a lot of repair parts.”

Some were bad.

“No, I will not trade my Nightstar! I don’t care how much better a pilot you are than me! Fuck off!”

And then some? Some were undeniably interesting.

“Well I can admit this is sort of a surprise.” I tell the woman sitting in front of me. She was dressed in an old uniform that wasn’t looking it’s best but what was more weird?

She wasn’t a Lyran.

“I figured you would be a little weirded out by it.” She shrugged. “Can’t do anything about that but roll the dice.”

“Yeah I guess that’s true. Why us? There are other merc groups out there. Heck, there are groups bigger than we are that would probably scoop you up.”

“You would think so, but you’d be wrong ASF pilots are hard to get jobs for. You think everyone would want some, but that’s just it, a company only has room for a couple. Once you get too many, you have to either leave’em behind, or drop a mech.”

“Companies don’t drop mechs for ASF.” I offer back and she nods.

“Got it in one Commander. So here is my thinking. New merc groups usually are rabid for ASF, but just a couple. Then they laugh us out of the room. But you got a weird situation. And I got a crew of pilots, some without planes. It seems to be a good deal.”

“Plenty of things seem, without being true. We aren’t FedSuns.”

“Bah. I’m a merc. Been that way all my life. I’ve fought plenty of Feddies. Just never for serious stuff, or on the Snakes side.” She shrugged. And damn if I wasn’t impressed with how casual she was. Fucking fighter pilots were cool. Dangit!

“Benny?” I turned to the boy. He had been pulled into these meetings pretty quickly. It was useful to have his perspective.

My Sub-commander shrugged. “It’s an interesting deal. Nothing we can’t afford.” he offered, and I could see the woman's eyes sparkle at that. The fact we had money must be a big reason for her to join us.

“How about a training period? Frankly. Captain, we haven't prepared for taking on already established commands yet. We have been training completely in house.”

“I get that Commander. Alright, we will accept a transition period, a chance to see if this will work for us. You are the Commander, we will follow your lead, but I will still be the lead up in the sky. No offense Commander, but grounders don’t tend to have the right mentality when it comes to the sky.”

“We’ll see. I have no problem testing it out. We will give you a chance Captain O’Connor.”

“Lovely. Then O’Connor’s Corsairs won’t disappoint.”

—-

“So hands up for betting she is a MIIO member?” I asked, and got a few hands raised among my staff.

Smart kids.

“Commander Eisen-Blume… I don’t agree with this. If you suspect them of being members of MIIO and spying on you, let us take care of them. Delta Ops have been learning plenty from the Lohengrin playbook.” Eris offered, Carl beside her looking just as fierce as he nodded too.

“No.”

“But Commander! Enemy intelligence officers shouldn’t be invited to join us! That’s the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do!” Carl offered.

“You have spent too much time learning from Eris.” I poke at the two of them. Eris had basically taken over the ‘intelligence’ services of my company, subverting Delta Ops with precious, precious secret training.

“What’s that supposed to mean!” She sounded actually offended, which was good. She was finally starting to show real emotions more often.

“We aren’t LIC. Nor are we serving the Archon, even if we have an alliance of sorts. We have no issues with the Federated Suns, or anyone else. Not directly. Our job is to bring peace, we can’t do that by making war with everyone. At least not easily.”

Carl pouting a little, shrugged. “So what? We bring them in, show them everything?”

“Heavens no. We bring them in, show them the obvious stuff. Gauge’s classes have already been… Altered. To make sure that outsiders can’t just walk in and realize what’s going on.”

“I offer no apology.” Eris huffed at me, and I waved her off.

“I wasn't asking for one. But the Castle Brian is already an open secret. So let them in, give them space. Treat them like friends, but not brothers.”

“It will be nice to have actual ASF pilots.” Benny offered and I nodded.

“And of course we will use them. Get Gabe up in the air under their command. Get his Lance all the experience they need under guise of working together. That way even if they do end up betraying us, or leaving…”

“In the end we still benefit.” Eris offered.

“Exactly. They want to spy on us? Good. Let them, we will force them to benefit us in return. Besides, we do need more ASF pilots. I don’t feel safe flying around in a colossus without an escort. Sure it’s got enough punch to turn away just about anyone, but it’s still as vulnerable as any other dropship.”

“I will still keep a close eye on them Commander.” Eris offered and Carl was nodding along. I just rolled my eyes.

“The spy wants to spy on people. I’m shocked.” I teased which earned me a glare from them both as I laughed. “Do as you like.”

—-

A few days later we were integrating Captain O’connor into the base. Her ASF a Corsair V20 followed by another three of the same planes landed on our runway and then I got to see our massive Castle Brian level freight elevator take them down into the base.

I had made it myself.

The four planes would be stored inside here, and during their maintenance, the crew that ‘O’Connors Corsairs’ already had to keep their planes up and running would be helping to teach some of the Repair unit.

“They are pretty birds.” I mention as the captain saunters out of her plane with a pilots swagger.

“Well they may be a little rough when compared to your gear straight out of a SLDF cache, but they fly just fine. Kill Snakes good too.”

“I’m sure they do. My pilots are excited to have you on base. While the 10th have been happy to start their flight training the 10th can only give so much stick time. I expect my pilots will be running your people ragged up in the air soon.”

“Is that some joke about our age? We aren’t even in our thirties, you know?” The fact the older woman actually sounded a little offended meant I couldn’t just let that go.

“Really? All you old people look the same after a certain point. Thirty, sixty? What’s the difference right?” I tease earning a truly offended look for a moment before the woman seemed to remember I was her superior officer, or at least would be.

“Right.”

“Forgive me. We are all family here, poking fun is just part of it. But I do mean it. My kids are going to want to spend all day and night in the sky. I hope you are ready.”

“I think we’ll manage. I mean, for new pilots most birds aren’t going to be comfortable for long term flying, they will tire out and need rest before too long.”

“Maybe.” I shrug. “Gabe! Where’s our birds?” I call out seeing the head of my ASF unit admiring the new pilots.

“Commander! Just through the door. We don’t store them on the lift!” He calls out over the noise as the blast door behind him finally opens. Revealing the truly massive ASF hangar. Currently it only had eight planes. Even with the four new Corsairs it wasn’t even touching a quarter of the ASF bays currently laying empty.

So I had gone a little crazy when designing. I mean I was just preparing for the future.

“Oh you do have birds for your group already? I hadn’t heard that.” The Captain asked arching a bit to look through the blast doors.

“We don’t really take them out. None of them have the training yet t-”

“Oh my God.” Captain O’Connor flipped off her sunglasses as the door rose and suddenly was running.

“To trust them in the sky.” I finished off talking to a dust cloud. It hadn’t been long after the captain started running that her other four pilots did the same.

I mean. I get it.

It wasn’t every day you see eight perfect condition Royal Stuka’s. If they were good enough for the Duchess of Somerset.

The captain had her hands stroke up the nose of one of them as I finally caught up. Her eyes lit up in awe at what she was seeing.

I sometimes took for granted the whole Lostech thing. And then in moments like this it hits me again. That my sense of normal is vastly different from the normal population.

From the amused look of the Repair unit that maintained these birds. I think it was rubbing off on my kids too.

“So this is what my kids will be flying once you get them some experience.”

“They are beautiful.”

“That they are.”

“Do a good job. And perhaps you will be flying one too.” I tell her and I nearly laugh at the audible snap her neck made as she turned to me.
She looks me in the eyes as if seeing if i was joking, or being dishonest. “Understood Commander.”

—-

“AH-AHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The laughter coming out over my radio had me glancing at Therese. The girl that had taken over the Tankers. The fact her ears were stained bright red even as she tried to pretend that everything was fine was hysterical, but I just kept my quirked eyebrow on her until she broke.

“Th-they are a little rambunctious.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“They mean well. And they train hard Commander. None of my boys will ever let you down.”

“Your boys?” I asked, watching her ears grown even brighter red.

“You call everyone your kids.”

Ah, now my ears are a little red. “You all aren’t supposed to know that.” I mutter and she scoffs.

“They are my boys in the same way. The ones who can’t be mechwarriors. I take them in, build them back up.” She hesitates. “They will fight. When the time comes they will fight harder than anyone. We all have a bone to pick.”

“Well they will certainly have the equipment for it.” I offer watching the Royal Alacorn. The mainstay tank of my tank forces. Blaze through one of the tank courses. It’s triple Gauss firing as quickly as they were reloaded. Of course I grimaced every time it hit a hill and simply smashed through whatever was in it’s way. At 95 tons. It was the equivalent to my Nightstar. Although I would still be wary of this tank. Triple Gauss is not a joke.

“They are rambunctious. But they train hard. Their accuracy is good.”

“That tank is worth about 16 and a half million C-bills.” I tell her blandly just as they smash through a small building hazard instead of going around it like they were supposed to.

I suppose being reminded of it’s cost Therese looked a little horrified. But I couldn’t.

I started laughing, deep and heavy watching her look of horror shift to confusion. “They are doing well. Don’t worry about the cost. I would rather they smash the fuck out of their tanks as long as they survive. You’ve done a good job, Hauptmann. Keeping them training and actually improving instead of just circling and wasting time is the biggest part of the job. They have all shown a huge improvement.”

“Thank you Commander!” She spoke, sighing in relief after and I was smiling as another mini shed got smashed to pieces.

During the entire conversation the roaring laughter hadn’t stopped coming over the radio. At least it should freak out our enemies.

—--

And so time passed.

I didn’t end up trading much actual Lostech in the end. I did trade a working Gauss rifle to a merc company that wanted to once more roll out Royal Highlander that they had in storage. Apparently with a Gauss it was back to being usable.

Although I didn’t know how long that would last.

The Company had agreed to trade along with a hefty cash sum for something I had always wanted.

“It’s a K2.”

“Isn’t it great?”

“Vicky, It’s a Catapult. Of course it’s great but why did you trade for one?”

“Cause it’s cute?”

Gauge sighed, putting his head in his hands “You traded a piece of Lostech for a Catapult.”

“Sure. I didn’t have the K2 Design! Gotta Catch them all!”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, right. Yeah sorry. I just I like the K2. It’s a PPC brawler that hops around! It’s like a rabbit! Oh! I should paint it like Sailor Moon! I can have an Usagi Mech!”

“What the hell is… Never mind. You aren’t piloting that mech.”

“What!? Why not!”

“Vicky, you have a Nightstar. You can’t just pilot the Catapult as well. I’ll go ahead and find someone to pilot it.”

“G-gauge! You can’t just give away my new mech!”

“Can and will, and done. It will be a good complement for our training squad I think, gives them a heavier mech with jets to try out.”

“I feel so betrayed.”

“You need to get over it. Do you have any idea how many kids I have had bother me about earning a mech? You left me in charge, well congratulations. I actually created a process.”

“Wait, you did? I didn't know that!”

“Of course I did. You weren’t doing it, and Benny just goes by his gut too much, so I created an actual written path to earning equipment. It’s not like we have to pretend we don’t have enough mechs anymore. You brought so much from Phecda, and you didn’t bother to hide that one.”

“Hey! They were in trouble! I just traded them some of the mechs I already had copies of for their damaged stuff.”

“And you were right to do so… I heard they finally finished that Water Refinery factory. Apparently, between your work and the 5th Donegal now having a Lostech lance. They gave the next attempt by the league quite the bloody nose.”

“All I did was trade them some mechs I didn’t want… And a few turrets.”

“Yeah well. Phecda is actually producing again. But regardless we have a ton of Mechwarriors and no excuse not to give them a mech, so here are the new requirements.”

I took a moment to look through the sheaf of papers Gauge handed me even if all I wanted to do was throw the papers in his face, call him a nerd and go play in my Catapult.

Sometimes being the responsible one was hard.

“Why didn’t you tell me you set this up?”

“You were busy dealing with our guests. I’m telling you now.”

“Gauge it’s been like a week.”

“Maybe I forgot. I am a busy man!”

“Studying is not an excuse. Didn’t you give Benny a full report of everything that happened while we were gone?”

“I did, yes.”

“Did you tell him about this?”

“No, I just told you I forgot.”

“Gauge… I think I need to get you a secretary… Or just not put you in charge again.”

“Good! I’m not a leader!”

I rolled my eyes at him as I continued to read through his packet. It was basically a ‘How to become a Mechwarrior in the IBO how to.’ Guide.

“We can’t use this Gauge. Look at this “Has to have a passing A grade in Gauges ‘How to repair mechs’ class. Gauge, I took that class and I got a C.”

“C minus. There is a reason I refuse to allow you anywhere near the internals of your own mech.”

“Rude! But not everyone is gonna be a mechtech, that’s what your class was for.”

“Fine.. We can make some adjustments. But I still think a Mechwarrior should be able to help repair their own mech!”

“Actually I agree with you. We let our process for choosing new mechwarriors go for too long. We are too big to leave it how we used to.” I tell him nodding as I wave the packet in his face. “But these requirements aren’t going to work. Go to Benny right now, and show him what you came up with. You both need to balance these requirements, and maybe Benny will have some changes too.”

“Fine. Understood Vicky… You still can’t pilot the Catapult. Go train in your Nightstar if you are feeling the need.” He tells me without looking as he walked off, somehow knowing I was already taking a few steps towards my cute Catapult.

“Ugh. Fine!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 13.2 A moment's rest
3023
Zaniah III
Governors Manor

Walking into the office of the Governess once again as always left me uncomfortable. Every conversation with this woman was like a knife fight.

Only we both tended to walk away.

“Commander Eisen-Blume. I didn’t expect a meeting with you today.”

“Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise to me too, but times change, and an opportunity fell into my hands.”
“Oh? Which opportunity is this? The Lostech Dropship, or the Lostech cache that had the Archons attention, or perhaps you found another Castle Brian on my planet? Of course you would have already taken it over as you tend to.”

That bit of biting commentary was… fair. From her perspective. I had pretty royally shafted her. “I was talking more about the Water Refineries that I have. I would like to set them up as public works. Something to help rejuvenate the places that have had trouble collecting clean water.”

She stilled. “That is an interesting offer, Commander. But I do question what exactly you gain from this.”

I scoffed. “Nothing. It in fact costs me quite a bit. But It is one of the founding tenets of my Company. We aren’t here just to fight. We want to fix things.” I could see the look of disbelief on her face, that she was trying and failing to hide so realizing where that put me I sighed. “If you can’t trust altruism, I would like to set them up close to the orphanages. To makes sure they always have fresh water.”

“That is still altruism.” She pointed out before nodding. “I can’t exactly refuse though can I Commander? You seem intent. Even if I refuse, how long would it be before they were set up regardless?”

“Probably a week longer than if you helped me.” I admit frankly which earns me a nod.

“I will agree. I will even help you find buildings to use, and my engineers to ensure everything is working properly. But in exchange. I want it to be a government project. If you truly do this out of altruism, you won’t mind staying out of the limelight.”

“That’s fine.” I waved my hand. “At least for the purifiers. I was planning on a second project as well.”

I could see her clenching her teeth for a moment. “What else could you do? If I wasn’t secure in my own position Commander. I would be worrying about why you seem to have eyes on it.”

“Position? Governess never. For one it would mean I am completely locked into one position, can’t do that. Have too much to do. Secondly, I don’t deal well with diplomacy. I am a bit too direct.”

“That at least is the first thing you have said I believe completely. Tell me about this second project.”

“I want to set up a Library.”

“A Library?”

“Yep. Preferably right next to the orphanages, so it’s open for them.”

“A library… Fine. Do as you like, I have no idea what goes through that mind of yours. I will assist, but since you seem to be doing so well, you will purchase, or rent the land. I hope you have no issues with that?”

“None at all. In fact it makes it easier.”

The governess watched me with her hawkish eyes for a few moments before exhaling. “My son speaks highly of you, and your men. Despite everything he assures me your intentions are as they seem. It is something I am not used to dealing with. I do admit I hate the idea of having a group as powerful as you, on my world. Especially one I have no control over.

“I just want to help. Make the Inner Sphere a better place. I’m not your enemy Lady Alessa.”

She snorts, a loud and disparaging noise. “We shall have to see won’t we? As always Commander, your conversations continue to give me a headache. Get out. One of my aids will reach out to you regarding the purifiers and what locations you can build your library.”

“Thank you.”

—-

With that awkward conversation started. Things got started fast. The Government desperately wanted the water purifiers. The fact I had so many was questioned but I simply smiled.

The engineering work began quickly. Replacing the old broken and battle damaged purifiers with my new ones. Sure the ones I brought weren’t meant for hundreds of thousands of people, but when you put multiple of them together… It balances out.

Within just a few months, places that hadn’t had clean water on tap for years suddenly did. It was a massive undertaking by the Government of Zaniah, and considering how many times I got strongly worded messages from the Governess. She wanted me to know it.

But it was something I had put off for too long. More importantly? It gave some of my kids that were more interested in building or improving things a place to belong. The IBO Engineering group. Gauge for once not at all interested in being a part of it.

“I’m a mechanical Engineer! Not an Architect! Find someone else!”

So that was how I had a group dedicated to building things. Which is why I threw them at the idea of the library and told them to make it work.

Of course I also had their blueprints run by an architect. I’m hopeful, not stupid.

Which is why I was now standing outside an old building that the land for was purchased by the IBO. I had decided to make a day of it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Benny, you ask me that too much.” I point out as we watch the mechs stomp down the road.

“That’s not a denial.”

“It’s a great idea. It gives our kids some fun, and speeds up the process.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of mechs being used like this.”

“It does happen sometimes, although usually mechwarriors refuse to be seen doing construction.” Hanna mentioned from beside us. The three of us were set up beside a truck watching as the kids slowly started the process.

My kids were destroying a building today.

I had made it a contest, four winners who did the best on the scores for the last month of Sim time, would get the chance to head out in real mechs and smash a building. That was happening now. I settled in smiling as the whoops and hollars coming over the radio as the kids got to reach into the building and pull it apart. Like they were destroying a lego tower.

“What’s wrong Benny, angry you aren’t the one doing it?”

“Please, if I was here in my Atlas, that building would already be flat.”

“So would half the street.” Hanna whispered over Bennys head to me, earning a shove from the boy.

“There will always be more. This is a test for the future after all.”

“I still don’t know if this is a good idea.”

“Not talking about the construction, or destruction this time, are you?” I asked, noticing Benny was speaking quietly, to make sure his voice wouldn’t travel.

“Building a library? Vicky. This is overt. It’s gonna bring attention.”

“Yeah. But this is the plan Benny. Right here. Right now. This is what we are going to be doing on every Planet in the Inner Sphere. And beyond.”

“Are we ready? You told us about how many people will try to stop us. It’s dangerous.”

I nodded there. “Everything is dangerous Benny. But if we wait until there is no danger before acting, nothing will ever get done. This is dangerous but necessary. Besides, no one knows what the Library will really be for. We should have some time.”

“I hope so.” Benny finally offers. “But I’ll follow your lead Vicky.”

“Ugh don’t say it like that. It makes me feel even more nervous.”

“Yeah Benny. Don’t say it like that, you will give Vicky a bigger head than she already has.” Hanna poked him.

“Hey!”

“Yeah that’s true. Sorry Vicky. I know I shouldn’t expect you to actually think things through before acting. I won’t make that mistake again.” Benny offered solemnly as he lowered his head.

“Okay Rude. I’m out of here, since you jerks are acting like that!” I huff but throw Hanna a wink over Bennys chuckling head as I walk off.

There is a reason Hanna and Benny spent so much time together after all.

Walking off I headed towards Erica. Who had taken the job of being in control of the work.

“No Elric, I don’t care how cool it would be. Leave that wall alone, we need it to hold until we are done with the rest.” Erica spoke into the radio only rolling her eyes as we both heard whining on the other end.

“Giving you trouble?”

“Only somewhat. Elric really wants to just smash the building down.”

“Eh, He is part of Rough Squad.”

“That’s half the problem.” Erica jokes before pulling the radio back up. “Slow down everyone. I know you want to let loose, but we need to make it easy to put everything into the trucks. Slow and steady. The Commander is watching.”

“What am I watching?” I ask just loud enough to be heard on the radio, and I could hear a lot of muffled affirmatives coming from Ericas headset. I give the girl a wink, and she returns it with a thumbs up as her job seemingly becomes a lot easier.

That is where I stayed, watching our mechs smash an old abandoned building into piles, and then help carry the remains into the large dump trucks that came to clear it off. It honestly went incredibly fast. The mechs easily able to smash the building down, and carry the remains out.

It was a fun day, and we had a crowd. We were just down the street from one of the orphanages after all.

The little kids that were too young to join us were having a massively good time. It did help that I made sure to bring drinks and snacks for them, and tents. This was still Zaniah after all. The heat was brutal.

Luckily Gauge had figured out a good way to keep our Cooling suits running when out and about. It was basically a battery that we charged off a fusion generator at base. Of course the thing was about four hundred pounds. And was mounted in our Normans. But it made it easy to walk up and plug in our suit to get the cooling liquid moving.

So we had a pleasant field day of destruction, before the Engineering Corps rushed in to start building. I had already ‘purchased’ all the materials they would need. Some of it I actually had bought with money. It was always a good idea to support your local economy after all. So even as the sun fell the building was already starting to go up.

The crowds disappeared once the mechs went away. Which was normal for the Inner Sphere. And I went to work. In a location that had already been prepared, once I was alone, I used my noteputer to dig down. A stairwell went down a few floors, the whole thing made using strong materials, this was the only ‘secure’ section of the library. Building a secret room was pretty fun. I was starting to get the Star League's fascination with them.

So a secure Server room was setup below the library. The place where the neutered copy of the Memory Core would be secured. Gauge had already put together a ‘School Core’ That didn’t have any of the advanced stuff, but did have enough information stored on it, to be far above anything a school on Zaniah would have.

Basically we were creating a center of learning, and just pretending it was a Library.

The computers upstairs would connect to the Core and be able to pull data. And there would be a lot of computers.

It still took almost another month for the building to be done. And we did hire some local contractors to work with the Engineering corps on some of it. None of the kids knew how to install carpet or hundreds of other little things. Like I said, this was a learning experience.

—-

“I am pleased to have worked with Commander Eisen-Blume and the Iron Blooded to open this library! The Iron Blooded Public Library is a center of learning and knowledge for our sometimes most vulnerable people!”

I had planned on cutting the red ribbon myself. I had a speech and everything. But then the Governess had showed up and taken the golden scissors from me without a word. Her speech was okay I guess. It wasn’t as good as mine.

But at least she hadn’t tried to change the name of the Library. I would have stabbed her with those scissors if she had tried. No, the Governess was smart. By showing up here like this, she was basically telling people she was partly responsible for the Library.

She certainly knew her profession, I would give her that. The grand opening of the library was a moment I wasn’t about to let her ruin even if I didn’t get to give my speech.

“Congratulations Commander.” She offered as she walked up to me, handing over the oversized scissors.

“Thank you Lady Alessa. It’s an important day. This is a big step for what we want to do in the future.”

“The future. You do tend to look towards the future, but you never did share your full plans with me Commander.”

“Nor will I Lady Alessa. Nor will I.”

She huffs a quiet laugh before walking off, into the Library. Apparently she wasn’t done ‘showing off’ for the cameras.

The news crew were looking around talking about this as something the Lady Alessa had pushed for.

I didn’t care. Let her steal some of the glory. None of that really mattered to me.

“Vicky.” Gauge nudged my shoulder with his own pulling me away from watching the crowd. “I’m proud of you Vicky. This is big. A Library, and with what is available inside. It’s amazing.”

“Well I’m glad you think so, since the plan is to put one of these on every planet in the Inner Sphere we are going to make sure we really work all the bugs out.” I smile evilly as I pat him on the shoulder. “As the Head Librarian. Of course, that will be your job. I hope you are ready.”

“Wait, what? Vicky! I’m not a librarian! You can’t just put this on my shoulders. I already have so much to do! Vicky! Stop walking away! I’m yelling at you!”

It was good to be the boss.

—-

A different perspective
Vincent Alessa
Zaniah III

Vincent was getting annoyed with being told that lesser noble supported him, were ready to fight with him, but when he demanded action they would balk.

So much for being on his side instead of his brother.

“Truly young lord. I am your man, not your brothers, but what you ask…”

“What I ask, is not just within your power, Lord Siyenna. It is your job. You are the man in charge of our tank legions. I want assurances, you and your men will follow me when the time comes.”

“You know if you become the Governor I will be behind you my lord, but asking me to ready men to fight? This I cannot do without alerting your mother.”

“You let me worry about her. You need to have your men loyal to me. If the-”

“My Lord. You ask for too much from me. At the very least you ask for it too soon. Putting in place men loyal to you and you alone? That will take years. Decades. That’s if I can even find enough men. You and your brother are both well liked.”

“You mean my Brother is well liked, and I am just known enough.” Vincent grumbled slamming a hand on the chairs arm he was sitting in. “Dammit. My Brother holds all the cards! You think he will appreciate your skimming off the top when he finds out Lord Siyenna!?”

Vincent had first learned of Lord Siyenna, a minor Lord on Zaniah when he discovered that some of the funds for the tank legions had been disappearing. He had looked into it, and since he was the son of the Governor had discovered Lord Siyenna quickly enough.

And then started blackmailing the man. Having the Lord in charge of maintaining the readiness of the Planetary Defense vehicles had been a godsend.

But the man was both too incompetent to be caught, and too much of a coward.

“You know I do not, but I also know the punishment for my own crimes, is far below the punishment for treason my Lord.” The older man sighed, stroking his head.

“You would accept the loss of your titles?”

“I would accept being alive after. I said I would support you my Lord, but you ask for things that don’t exist. You want the military on your side? Go and talk to the men, become known to them. That is how you can get them to follow you over your brother.”

“I don’t have time for that! Do you think I could do such a thing without Arthur finding out? My Brother is a coward, but not a fool. He doesn’t have the spine to fight. Too quick to surrender. I just need to force him into that position and I will become the new Governor, not him!”
“You don’t have the army.”

No. No he didn’t. It would take too long to get the Planetary guard on his side, and since Arthur was still the heir he would swoop in long before Vincent got anywhere with the men. It always happened that way. The friends Vincent would make, soon become Arthurs once the older boy met them.

Arthur had a way with people. He could talk to them, and get them on his side, while Vincent often had to use other means.

“Enough. You have your orders. Even if it takes decades.”

“Understood my Lord.”

Swiftly leaving the Lords little hovel Vincents mind was racing so many plans, if only his brother would die in battle… But Vincent sighed. That would never happen.

Arthur was a coward.

He didn’t say that in jest, or because he was angry with his brother. It was simply the truth. Arthur would surrender long before any battle was over.

It was how he had lost their family Shadow Hawk.

Vincent had been so deep in thought he noticed suddenly his driver was going in the wrong direction. “This isn’t the way to the manor!”

“Apologies my Lord. You remember your mothers orders. You are to appear at the opening of the new Library along with the Governess and Lord Arthur.”

Vincent did recall his mothers orders and sighed leaning back into his leather seat. “Fine.”

The drive over was slow, crowds were gathering to see the new Library. Vincent didn’t get it. Zaniah had plenty of Libraries! What was so special about the brats one?

He stepped out into a safe area, mother was always good about making sure her vehicle had a clear path in and out.

She wasn’t a fighter, had never even been in a battlemech, but she knew how to keep herself alive. Unfortunately, the fact she was so good at it, is partially why Arthur was such a coward. He was always too quick to give up, to run.

Looking out of the little path that was cleared for their vehicles Vincent grimaced at the crowd. Not just orphans and young ones at that, but there were plenty of civilians crowding the area. Mother was right, showing up here, and waving the flag would be important.

He pasted a small smile on his face as he headed through the secure points his mother had obviously set up, stepping up onto the Library's front steps, where Mother was currently speaking with the Brat Commander.

As usual he did get a bit of enjoyment in seeing his mother, usually so powerful and in control look quite annoyed with whatever they were talking about.

Mothers complaints about the brat were practically a daily highlight, but Vincent scoffed. Mother didn’t like her because she wasn’t under her control. Vincent thought it was hilarious that the brat was doing so much for their world, while tweaking his mothers nose at every opportunity.

Watching his mother nearly stomp into the library in a huff he snorted. The brat wasn’t even that annoying, nothing like that bastard in the Swayback. He was a little shit, and Vincent quite enjoyed ‘accidently’ putting some friendly fire into his back during some of their training matches.

He always flipped out. Which let Vincent focus on Arthur as his brother tried to calm the situation. Not that it mattered. His Rifleman was strong, but it wasn’t an Awesome.

Grimacing at that thought Vincent turned, making sure to wave at the crowd that was gathered so they could see he too was walking into the library.

Once inside his smile dropped. He didn’t care what the brats got up to. He had interacted with them and their Brat Commander enough he knew they had no real ambition. At least not on Zaniah. So Arthur schmoozed. The idiot even trying to marry the Brat Commander.

Like Vincent said. Idiot. It was obvious the Brat was so focused on her future she hadn’t even noticed his brother's attempts, Arthurs attempts to woo her had failed so completely that the brat hadn’t even noticed.

Really asking her if she wanted extra training?

Of course she fobbed more of her brats on him. The look on his face though had been utterly priceless.

Plus it made Mother furious. When Arthur had revealed his plan, Mother had absolutely flipped her lid. Although in the end she couldn’t deny Arthurs plan.

She of course was struggling to accept that the girl she was practically in a diplomatic war with would be her daughter in law.

Neither of those morons realized that was never going to happen. Really Vincent was surrounded by idiots.

“Oh it’s the young Baron.” Vincent turned, taking in the older girl who was wearing the brats armor. This one he actually recognized.

“The medic.”

“I am indeed. How's the wrist?” She asked looking him over, obviously checking the injury he had received the week before.

“Fine. My doctors looked it over, said your work was acceptable. It’s already healed.”

She nodded at that “Good to hear it. Wouldn’t want you tough mechwarriors to end up unable to pilot.”

“A sprained wrist wouldn’t get to that point. Aren’t you the bra-Orphans doctor? Shouldn’t you know that?” Vincent already didn’t want to continue this conversation. Just because she was a little older than most of the brats didn’t make her not one of them.

“Not one for jokes are you? Well there goes my attempt to be nice for the day, go ahead and enjoy the Library, I’m sure something will interest you.”

He watched her go for a moment, that was definitely a new experience. The brats did have one thing going for them, they all seemed to copy their Commanders disinterest in sucking up to him or his family.

“Wait!” He called out walking after her. “I apologize. I was being rude. You did good work. Thank you.”

She stopped as he talked, looking him over. “You know you aren’t as bad as they say you are. C’mon. This is the boring part of the library, let me show you the interesting stuff.” She mentions waving him to follow. And despite himself Vincent found his steps chasing after her.

“Wait. what do they say about me!?”

—-

Days turn to weeks, and weeks to month. I was relaxing, happy that everything was going well when Eris walked into my office.

How did I immediately know this was going to ruin my day?

“Commander Eisen-Blume.”

“Eris. How can I help you?”

“You can explain why I am getting messages… Directly from the Archon of the Commonwealth asking why you haven’t been messaging her. That is how you can help me.” The woman was trying to keep her cool, but despite her usual chill, I could tell this was stressing her out.

“Ah yeah… I did forget The Archon wanted me to keep in touch.”

“Commander Eisen-Blume! The Archon requested you to stay in contact with her! You can’t just-”

“I can actually.” I point out standing to poke a finger into Eris’s armor clad chest. “I find making this joke a little tedious, but she is not my Mother.”

The glare Eris gave me made me sigh. “Alright. Alright. I’m going right now to the HPG terminal to send a message to the Archon.” I tell her my hands raised in surrender at her glare. As I walked out only noticing because of the echoing footsteps that I was being followed. “Is there a reason you are following me?”

“Indeed.”

“You were ordered to make sure I sent a message to the Archon weren’t you?”

“That is a correct summation of my orders.”

“I could consider it treason to swear yourself to the Iron Blooded, only to follow the orders of the Archon.”

“Funny Commander Eisen-Blume. To the HPG station.”

“So it’s treason then!” I hiss as I let her prod me along.

Driving out of the base with an intelligence agent watching your every move isn’t the most comfortable, so I did my best to make it easier on myself. Mostly by talking.

“How are you fitting in? I know Delta Ops has taken a liking to you.”

“No they don’t trust me, but they enjoy learning what I can teach. They are… Secretive. Refuse to show me everything. They have something. A trick I’m not aware of.”

“Ah well. Kids will be kids I suppose.”

“Is that supposed to be re-assuring Commander?” she asks deadpan as always.

“I suppose it is, Eris. No matter what, you chose to join us. You just haven’t had a chance to fight alongside us yet, but once you do, well you will understand. Us orphans stick together, no matter where we came from.”

“I don’t believe that Commander. I believe your naivety will certainly be a source of betrayal in the future.”

“Is that coming from the woman that knows she has to juggle working under two different groups?” I asked, watching her jolt just the tiniest amount before settling in.

“I did not mean me. I am of course on your side.”

“Lies!” I tease, smiling. “But that’s just it. You seem to think I am a fool for not thinking that some day you may betray me, but Eris. On the day that it eventually comes, and I am sure it will at some point. I like Katrina, but I’m not her servant. If I have to fight her to do the right thing I will. But on that day? I think you will have a far harder time stabbing me in the back than you think you will. I think on that day years from now?” I turn to her, letting her fully see how serious I am.

“I think you won’t be able to pull the trigger.” I smile warmly as I turn back to the road. Letting the silence fill the cab for a while.

“Foolish, you mixed your metaphors, am I stabbing you or shooting you?” Oh I could hear the snark in her tone!

“Hah! You showed emotions that means I win right?” I tell her winking happily at her annoyed look.

“Just drive.”

So I did. Convincing traumatized indoctrinated orphan women takes time after all. Time? That I had plenty of.

As I drove into the HPG terminal the heated stares of Eris following me, I decided since Katrina was going to be annoying so was I.

Settling in for a very expensive HPG message, because even with Katrinas ‘code’ to allow me to send her messages, I couldn’t just send a written message or something to the Archon. I settled in as the video player started.

And of course as a teenager still. At least for a few more years I decided to be a pain in the ass.

“Aunt Katrina! I hope you and Mel are doing well! I am doing great. Let me tell you all about the Library I just set up!”

I couldn’t help the smile on my face. Go ahead ComStar deal with the fact I just called the Archon ‘Aunt’ let’s see how much confusion that is going to spread!

—--

A different perspective
Precentor Zaniah Elard Snint

“Yes, I have had someone look into this ‘Public Library’ they are opening. Nothing too unusual. They are offering some lower education courses.” Elard offered. He was resting back staring into the Holovid showing a hood similar to his own.

“I am not concerned with education courses. I worry that the child will release data that will restart the succession wars. There is data that ComStar guards! Data that the Great Houses must not retrieve. For the safety of the Inner Sphere.”

“I had one of my own men check on it. Each course is standard education… although I have confirmed it did come from the Star League. Some of the courses held some minor data that was lost.”

“I was afraid of that. At least that answers one of my questions. I now know who it was that slipped through my fingers.”

“Is it so serious? The data here is… Useful to the Great houses, but nothing that will alter the political landscape.”

“You believe this is all that was found? The Archon has begun moving resources, in ways that hint at only one thing. Factories are restarting.”

Elard inhaled deeply. Although he wasn’t anymore he had once been an agent of ROM. He understood the details of Operation Holy Shroud like so few even at his rank did.

“You are sure?”

“We are. Already the signs are there if you know where to look. Katrina… She is no fool. The chances of us crushing this knowledge have already passed. Your ‘Commander’ somehow slipped under all of our noses.”

“I see. What should be done? Shall we remove her?”

“The Commander? Why bother? She may have some copy of the data. But the Library she opened is nothing we need to worry over. It is the Archon that now has our full attention.” The man sighed, rubbing his chin for a moment. “This is an unprecedented disaster.”

“What will the Primus do? Do you know?”

“The Primus is in hourly meetings, last I heard. But the First Circuit is in an uproar. This is… unprecedented times old friend.”

“That it is.”

“Keep watch Elard. I don’t like that this girl was able to cause this disaster. She was there. In the Helm Facility. Who knows what else she found? Even we don’t have a complete inventory.”

“We do have something new. She sent a message today. To the Archon.”

“Truly?”

“For the most part it was… Ramble. I am sure it is a code of somesort, but every adept I have given the task to translate it comes back with nothing. But the message started with a greeting. Here.”

“Aunt Katrina! I hope you and Mel are doing well! I am doi-”

“Aunt Katrina?”

“My thoughts exactly my friend. I am not aware of any Steiner children not accounted for.”

“There are none. I made sure of it… None fit the right age… Lisa Steiner is ten years too old…”

“Shall I collect a blood sample? Shouldn’t be too difficult to attain.”

“No. Let’s not do anything to reveal ourselves here. She may very well be a trap. But keep an eye on her actions. File a report on anything you find.”

“I will. That is the least I can do to help you protect Blakes will.” Elard sighed again. This meeting with his old friend had been going on long into the night.

“I see. I am keeping you late.”

“Nothing unusual my old friend, do you remember our late nights on Terra?”

“As I recall half of them were your fault, the other half was Jennifer Wellington.”

“Hah! That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Jenny always loved her ships.”

“Still does. Not that we speak. I don’t think her job lets any outside contact.”

“No, probably not. Alright. Elard, it was good talking to you, even under the circumstances.”

“You as well Emilio. May Blakes light guide you.”

*Transmission End*

Chapter Text

Chapter 14.1 When a silent plea for help… Is answered.
3025
Free World League Space
Amity
A different perspective

Fourteen year old Valerie Itens was scared.

The raid on her home had been devastating so far. The pirates had slipped in with some merchant dropships. They had attacked before anyone knew what was going on.

“It’s okay baby. The Guard will send them off soon.” Her mother whispered. As she held Valerie tighter.

It had been over two weeks now. The guard hadn’t come. Valerie didn’t think they were coming. Sure there had been a battle not long after the pirates landed, but the tanks and placed defenses of the Planetary Guard hadn’t lasted long. At least Valerie was pretty sure the pirates looting the Imstar factory meant the guard had already lost.

She just hoped her dad was okay. He worked in the factory, on the line creating Cheetah ASF. Valerie had always planned to pilot one of the ASF her dad worked on.

Now she wasn’t sure that was going to happen. The Pirates had shot or captured anyone they had found. Luckily Amity’s weather had saved Valerie and her Mother. A blizzard had rolled in, and while the residents knew what to do, it caused a lot of problems among the Pirates.

At least Valerie was pretty sure that was the case. She had taken her old binoculars upstairs sometimes, and watched from the same window she had used to watch for her dad coming home from the Factory.

Now she watched the pirates. The Pirate mechs standing still and silent were bad enough.

But the ones that were moving were worse. Often she would see green trails of light as the pirates opened fire on buildings.

They didn’t seem to care if there was anyone inside.

But now the blizzard was ending. Not that it changed the weather much, but she already heard Robb from a few houses down get pulled out of his house.

He had fought.

They had shot.

Now Robb's body was still out in the snow. Valerie expected they were next. She had urged her mother to gather some supplies so they could move out of the house, but her mother refused. They knew their home, knew where they could hide. The panic room her father had installed was well hidden. And since they had left their front door open and made it look like someone had taken their belongings and ran, hopefully the pirates wouldn’t look too hard.

Valerie clutched her fathers rifle tighter. The panic room was small, large enough for the two women, but still Valerie was scared.

She wasn’t as sure as her mother. Pirates were probably pretty good at finding hiding people she assumed.

Valerie was pretty sure she was going to be found. So she was preparing herself. She would fight. Maybe she would kill enough of them so she could escape. Or maybe they would just shoot her.

Having heard what happens to girls taken by pirates, Valerie was pretty sure she would keep fighting until they did.

The pirates were coming. She heard it. The rumble of tank treads outside their home. The armored carriers the pirates used to move around. The reason that Valerie wasn’t outside with her rifle shooting them as they tried to invade her home.

Heavy armor, and a machine gun made that pointless. She had seen others try. Their homes were turned into tinder after the pirates were done. They weren’t kind to any of the locals that had resisted.

Their front door being kicked away. Despite already being wide open. The stomping of steps on snow. Her mother clutched her tighter, as their small panic room suddenly didn’t seem secure enough.

Valerie aimed her rifle right at the door.

If they found her. She would unload. She had a few more mags of ammo. She would keep firing until they were dead.

Or she was.

Grimacing as her mothers grip almost hurt it was so tight. But neither of them said anything. Not a sound escaped them as the sound of their home being searched reached their ears. The sound of mirrors breaking, of ripping cloth.

Of memories and history and her entire childhood being torn apart.

She felt tears in her eyes form as she realized they were in her room smashing her models. She could hear them. The models of the Cheetah, and all the other ASF she had built with her father. She had hated it at first, but it made her father happy to have something to do with her.

She hadn’t seen him in two weeks. The idea of them being destroyed was horrible. Sickening.

But she kept quiet, even as her eyes glazed with tears.

Valerie would bawl and scream later. Right now. She had to stay focused. The sound continued for a long time. More boots stomped in and out, and she knew they were raiding her home. Stealing food and valuables. Luckily mother had already taken the truly expensive stuff and hidden it inside the panic room.

The time kept ticking away and Valerie realized in horror. They may not be leaving.

Their house was a great spot to look over the entire area after all. It made sense. To use it instead. Her mother hadn’t noticed Valerie realized. Glancing up, her mothers eyes tear streaked were closed as her head was bent in prayer.

Valerie had never been a follower as her mother was. But she made a promise to God. If they made it out of here alive, she would definitely go to church more.

At least once or twice a month.

The voices were getting loud now. The pirates settled in. she could hear them if she listened closely, despite being muffled through the walls. There was horrible laughing, and noises.

Valerie kept her breathing even as she realized. She would have to make a choice soon. The panic room hadn’t been big enough for a toilet, or designed for prolonged use.

No one expected the pirates if they showed up to stay for so long.

Just as Valerie was starting to really worry about what would happen, something changed. The voices of the pirates were the first clue.

They went from boisterous and loud to shocked and angry.

That was when she heard it. The distant noise of a dropship.

She felt hope. The Guard! The guards were actually here! She heard the pirates run out, leaving. Apparently whoever was in charge of these pirates wasn’t planning on standing in an unarmored building during a mech battle.

She heard them pack up whatever it was they brought with them and rush outside, only long after the house had gone quiet did she make a move to rise up, fighting off her mothers grasping arms as she rose up on numb legs.

She popped the hidden door open, gun leading the way as she checked the house. Sighing in relief when she realizes it was empty. She rushed to the bathroom satisfying a need before moving to her room. It was trashed, everything in the room was destroyed and her window she had spent so much time looking out into the city was broken open, they had apparently tried to set up a machine gun nest there.

She grabbed her binoculars. Looking out into the slow falling snow towards the plume of fire that represented a Dropship coming down. For a moment Valerie stared confused.

“What is that?”

“What? Valerie! Get down from there, the pirates might see you!” Her mother hissed from behind her. The older woman trying to keep her voice down as she shakily caught up to her daughter trying to pull her away from the open freezing window before looking out and stilling as well.

“That’s not the Guard. I don’t know what that is.” Her mother whispered softly, sounding quite distraught as she had the same thought Valerie did. If that wasn’t the guard… Was it more pirates? A raid?

Exhausted Valerie fell onto her bed, ignoring the broken models and debris. “How could this get any worse?”

Her mother settled onto her bed beside her, a warm arm over her shoulder. “We have to keep hope. Even at the worst, if we keep our hope, and keep moving. Do you think your grandfather would have survived the wars if he had just given up when the going got rough?”

“No.” Valerie spoke. It was an old refrain of her family. Valeries grandfather despite being shot down in an ASF on a foreign hostile world, had survived. Blending in, made enough money to get a ticket back home long after the war. Valeries Grandmother pregnant with her father at the time along with him.

Of course, it lost some of the telling when her mother was barely holding herself together from breaking into tears again too.

But she was right. Valerie Itens couldn’t give up. If this was a raid coming in, then they would just have to survive this one too.

“C’mon mom. We need to move. The Pirates are readying for battle, see.” She says pointing towards the pirate mechs that were coming online and readying themselves. “We are too close to a Mech battle, we need to move.”

This time the fact they had to leave their home seemed to find some acceptance. Her mother nodded rising up. “Go.. Go grab everything from the Panic room. I.. I will write your father a letter. In case he comes here and we are gone.”

Valerie almost said it… The gunshots they had heard from the factory on the first night… But she didn’t. Her Mom was already barely holding on. Valerie had to be strong, and so she had to let her mom have her moment.

She rushed grabbing the few valuables from the room, and their bag of food. Her mother was already putting on her outerwear. The warm weather gear was honestly a bit much in Valerie's opinion. It was summer right now. It wasn’t that cold out! The blizzard was even over!

But she accepted the mothering putting on her outer gear, and boots as the two women dashed out the back door, into the snow. They moved slowly, despite Valerie's fear of being too close to a battle. There were still pirates around. She had seen a group of them settling into a building. SRM packs armed and ready for the battle.

She and her mother had moved around them. Sneaking through the town. Valerie's experience running around with the other kids let her navigate through the area stealthily. She made good progress. The two women traveled more than three blocks down the road from their home, before Valerie had to stop. Ahead of them the buildings were leveled and a mech stood in the way.

“We can’t go that way Val.” Her mother whispered into her ear and she nodded turning around, and it was pure luck she noticed the pirates sauntering out of the home across the way from them before he noticed her.

She grabbed her mother pulling her down out of sight behind a stone wall, realizing after just a moment that they couldn’t stay where they were. The realization of where they were filled Valerie and she moved, pulling her mother along to the back of the home they were hiding by.

“Valerie! Where are you going, the mech is that way!” her mother whispered as Valerie tugged her along.

“I know a place we can hide!” She whispered back. This was Mike's home. She recognized it of course, she always had a crush on him. Especially since he was really good with his hands. He had built a fort in his backyard. They had all spent many a day here playing Leaguer and Capellans.

The fort looked as if it had seen better days. She almost stilled but didn’t have the time. They were too open so she pushed on. Even as she felt horror at the holes through the fort. The pirates had obviously shot up the fort Mike had built.

She really hoped it was just from boredom and not because Mike had decided to fight back from here.

“Mom. Here! Get in.” She hissed. Noticing behind her the pirates were moving around. And it was only luck that they hadn’t been seen so far. Rushing in Valerie sighed when she didn’t see any corpses inside.

She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t scream if Mikes body had been in here.

And unfortunately it only got worse. They hadn’t managed to get away far enough before the pirates readied for the battle. They were surrounded, Mikes home was right on the edge of the defensive line.

“Dammit.” She hissed under her breath and the situation truly was grim, because her mother hadn’t even told her to watch her language, simply hugging her tighter.

That was where Valerie was when she heard it. A sound she had grown up listening to.

Her father always said she had the ear, able to hear when there was a problem with an ASF engine. Her father was famous for it. It was what he did at the factory. Making sure the engines of the Cheetah were in good condition, and broken, or dysfunctional ones were pulled from the lineup. Something that had become a more serious issue over the years as the factories automated tech started failing.

So she knew instantly that the ASF in the sky weren’t maintained well. One she recognized the silhouette of as it flew over was an Eagle. The other? It looked… She tried to remember her models. She had a kit from every fighter in the Inner Sphere after all.

The second… Was harder. It looked like a lighter fighter, but as it banked, it clicked. “A Slayer.” She affirmed listening as it’s engines whined. Those were two nasty ASF. They had been vicious when the pirates landed. The heavy weather of Amity meant not a lot of ASF were used here. Too dangerous.

Which is why when lightning suddenly filled the sky, she found herself gasping as Not just a Lance. But an entire Squadron of ASF dominated the sky. Their engines! She was in awe. Those engines were singing. Perfection. She had only heard a few engines sound perfect before. Once her father had been so proud at tuning an engine he had let her come hear it.

These? They were all in tune. A perfect symphony of sound as the Squadron of ASF blazed through the light snow. The two Pirate ASF didn’t stand a chance.

Valerie could hear their engines whine. Pitching up to their maximum to try and dodge the sudden appearance, but it was too late.

Lightning after Lightning arched across the sky, thunder following in its wake.

The Slayer didn’t even get a chance to fire back. It was struck with so much fire it burst into pieces raining down on the city.

The Eagle tried to run. But no matter how far it seemed to run, it couldn’t get far enough away. Lightning chased after the fleeing ASF. And Valerie heard the moment it’s engine died not long after she lost sight of it in the clouds.

Then they came roaring down. Stuka, they were a squadron of Stuka! She watched in awe as they flew overhead for just a single moment, not even attacking the ground forces, before they roared back up into the clouds.

Valerie wasn’t sure why until she realized she could still hear them up there.

The Pirates weren’t escaping. She thought smiling. Their dropships wouldn’t be able to tangle with that much air power!

For a moment she forgot that these new people were probably raiders too. She just basked in the sight of flaming ASF pirates that deserved what happened to them.

Then she heard it. Everyone heard it. The city heard it.

“What is that?” She asked shocked as a shockwave rocked over the buildings. Followed by a crash that was almost horrendously loud.

“I don’t know…” Her mother whispered back Valerie realized she had spoken aloud not meaning too.

She had seen plenty of mechs, plenty of ASF. She had even been close enough to hear the battle last time Amity had been raided.

She had never heard that noise. Like Thunder and power mixed into one. She heard it again. And it shook her. The Pirates heard it too. And she could see through the gun holes of the fort they weren’t liking the noise.

The mech that was close by. Which Valerie was pretty sure was a Centurion. At least she thought it was, she liked ASF more than mechs. Shifted as if it noticed something raising an arm, it’s autocannon barked out. Shooting at something she couldn’t see.

The noise. She found herself screaming covering her ears as the Centurion started exploding. She was only a few houses away from it, and she could see as something struck the mech. The snow! She gasped, seeing a trail through the air where the snow had simply been pushed away as if something incredibly fast had gone through. The Centurion was damaged a huge chunk of it’s armor gone from it’s right arm, she could literally see the internals of the mech as it tried to push another round through to the Autocannon but couldn’t.

But it wasn’t out. It staggered back to it’s feet, green laser arcing out into the snow, melting snow in a horizontal cut as if trying to damage whatever it was that harmed it. But it stilled a moment later and I could see why.

Through the snow, and fog. A face emerged. A face with a red hot line burned across it. I felt my breath catch. That… That was impossible. Because what stepped out of the fog was an Atlas. An Atlas that belonged to the SLDF!

“Mom! Mom! It’s the SLDF! They’ve come to save us!” She found her eyes burning as the Atlas stepped out her deepest hopes. And seemingly into the Centurion pilot's deepest fears.

“Val. The SLDF is gone. What are you talking about?” Her mother asked, holding her tight as Val felt her eyes watered and a smile brighter than any she had unveiled since the pirate raid spread across her lips.

She shook her head. Braided hair flapping “No! It is them! Remember Immortal Warrior: And the Phantoms of the SLDF! That’s the same Atlas! The color scheme is the same and! Looks it’s gun. That’s a Gauss rifle! That sound! It’s a Gauss rifle firing!”

“Honey… They aren’t the SLDF. They are just some Lyran Mercenary company… They are probably here to raid us just like the pirates.”

But Valerie wouldn’t hear it. That couldn’t be! She had seen them. The SLDF mechs! It had caused an utter uproar at school. For weeks it was all anyone could talk about. It wasn’t the Lostech mechs, although some of mechwarrior wannabes had been focused on them. No, it was more than that.

The idea of the SLDF coming back? It had become the dream. Every kid wanted to join them to fight under the SLDF banner, to end the succession wars. To be something greater.

The Great Houses may call themselves the successor states, but to the kids born in the Inner Sphere they weren’t Star League.

There was only ever one Star League.

Of course Valerie was old enough to know that it was gone. That dream of a golden age. She was old enough to see. The death, the rust on everything. The fact they were struggling just to keep what they had.

It was why the SLDF was such an amazing dream. If they came back! If they just came back, they could bring back the Star League! Stop the decline.

And in a personal case. Stop the pirates attacking her home.

Valerie watched. The Atlas closed in on the Centurion, a wave of metal and force that nothing the Centurion had could slow. The faint *click* of the Autocannon failing to load was still a constant noise as the Centurion couldn’t get it’s jammed weapon to fire.

The Atlas caught up. And Valerie whooped as it ripped the Centurions autocannon arm from it’s body twisting it around and smashing it directly into the same shoulder it had just torn it off from. With a squeal of parting metal it’s own arm ripped a hole into it’s core and the Centurion was flung away from the Atlas.

Then the Atlas inexorably continued it’s advance. Tanks and defended points smashed aside, or smashed through. Until it was gone. Stomping out of her vision if not her hearing.

And the smoke and fire of it’s passage filled her ears.

“We-We should move.” Her mother finally said, long long after the Atlas had faded from hearing. But Valerie wasn’t about to accept that.

“We should wait! The SLDF is here! Once they finish off the pirates everything will be fine!”

“Valerie! The SLDF is gone! That- We aren’t discussing this. We need to move. Now before whoever is in charge decides that raiding us is the next step of their plan. Come on.” Valerie was pulling along after her mother scooped up the gun and she pushed the bags of supplies into her arms.

Then they were back out into the night. Both of them raced along the yard, over old fences. Trying to avoid the sounds of battle that were all around them. Valerie wanted to argue more, but it was fine. Once the battle was over the SLDF would definitely be the good guys!

They ran for a few minutes. Climbing through back yards and avoiding the streets when suddenly a monstrous noise filled the air. Gasping both women turned. Looking towards the factory where one of the dropships was taking into the air. Valerie was shocked, and then horrified as she realized she could see the fires blasting up around the dropship. The factory was not made for dropship exhaust.

Her dad!

She almost started screaming when a second noise echoed over her head. She watched two streaks of smoke and light raced over her, and slammed into the dropship.

The explosions were massive, horrible plumes of fire and metal burst from the dropship, almost enough force to cause the dropship to roll over as it settled back down, it’s engines sputtering and dying out, crashing back into the ground.

Everything was silent for a while, just the noise of fire burning out of the holes in the dropship And then the fighting resumed.

“Oh my Lord.” Her mother whispered watching the plume of smoke and fire coming out of the dropship. Whatever it was that had struck the dropship was horrendously powerful.

“Mom?”

“W-we should keep moving. Come on baby.” She urged, tearing her eyes from the sight dominating the skyline. Tugging Valerie along continuing away from the source of the fighting.

But not away from danger. They barely had a moment to backpedal when they came up to the end of the houses and found the road. But it wasn’t empty. A tank was parked. It’s gun aimed down the street towards them.

Valerie's mother grabbed her and bodily pushed up against the last house hiding in the shadows for a moment praying they hadn’t been noticed.

A moment later the tanks gun fired, and it shook everything around them Valeries hands instantly pushing against her ears to try and stifle the noise.

Whatever the tank had fired at responded back. The boom was odd. Just like the Atlas as Valerie took a second to peek back around the house she noticed that the tank was gone. Three massive rents having torn through it, as if some massive claws had reached down and clawed through.

The Pirates were dead.

The monster in question rumbled as it came down the street and Valerie gasped as the massive tank rumbled down the street, it’s three guns aimed down the street, but nothing moved to stall it’s advance as it drove past. Valerie was smiling though. That was the SLDF Colors!

These Pirates were fucked!

“We-we should move.” Her mother whispered the woman was shaking in terror, Valerie nodded. Rising up and re-gathering their dropped stuff, before heading on. They crossed the road heading farther and farther from the factory. Away from where the sounds of fighting continued on.

For the next few hours until long after the bangs and booms ended Valerie and her mom continued moving. Eventually they found others, who were fleeing. Slowly they gathered together. Some through the night grew brave and searched out of the community building they had eventually taken refuge in. Only returning far later with blankets and food.

Apparently the SLDF was passing out anything that was needed.

“It’s a trap. It has to be.” Her Mom argued, leading to many nodding heads. Lyrans don’t just give away goods on a raid. They were just as bad as the pirates. Although at least by the sounds of it they weren’t taking slaves.

Hopefully.

Valerie didn’t believe it. She wasn’t alone. A few had looked very pleased with the goods brought in, and already sent out a few more to request more food.

She wasn’t allowed to go, no matter how much she begged. Instead she had at least found some people she knew. Mitchell was usually a jerk. He had plans on being a mechwarrior when he grew up. It made him arrogant, walking around with a swagger.

Even if the idiot had no better chance of being a mechwarrior than anyone else. But now? Now he was one of the few people Valerie knew.

“It’s the SLDF.” She told him, having to explain what she had seen, he hadn’t seen the battle. No he had instead dealt with pirates themselves.

“They are here to help then, right? They won’t just…” He went quiet. Whatever he had seen during the raid had changed the boy. But Valerie understood. She felt different now too.

“I know they are. They fought the pirates… They are definitely the good guys.”

He nodded slowly. “That would be nice… If you're right.”

She scowled. “I am! They were the same people from Immortal Warrior! I know it’s a movie, but that doesn’t matter! They are the SLDF!” Her raised voice was getting her a few pointed looks but she didn’t care. No one seemed to get it!

Mitchell stared at her for a while before nodding. “I hope they are. I don’t think… I don’t think we can handle any more fighting.”

That cooled off Valerie as she nodded slowly. Settling in to wait. The adults were gathering together now. Readying themselves in case something bad happened.

A rumble from outside was what caught their attention first. The adults going to the large windows to stare out into the street whatever they found brought more attention as more people armed themselves with old rifles.

Valerie moved to look, before the adults pushed her away she saw an APC turning around, pointing its rear towards the building. And a mech. Large and daunting standing over it. She couldn’t get a good sight on what mech it was before the man pushed her away but she was calm.

That was the SLDF colors.

The adults were starting to freak out when a voice came, echoing into the building obviously being broadcast.

“This is Commander Eisen-Blume of the Iron Blooded Orphans! We know you are inside and need food, and supplies. We brought enough for all of you.”

The call was met with silence. The obvious Lyran accent had more than a few scowls spreading across face but Valerie wasn’t about to let that stop her. She rushed forward. Dodging a few grasping hands as she pushed the door open. And stepped out. A few calls for her to come back were ignored as she stepped out of the large doors towards the APC and mech.

And wow. That was a big mech. She recognized it, her smile stretching. The word “Phantom” Stretched across it’s nose were visible as she walked forward. That was a Nightstar. The same one from the Immortal Warrior!

The back of the APC was already open, and a couple of armored people were standing awkwardly there as if they were waiting to unpack the many boxes Valerie could see inside.

She didn’t hesitate. She jogged forward crunching through the snow before she came up to the two. “Are you the SLDF?”

The silence stretched for a moment before a chuckle broke it. One of the figures, a girl now that Valerie could hear her voice broke into giggles. “Vi-vicky is going to love this!”

The other figure sighed, shoulder slumping, before he reached up and pulled off his helmet.

He was young. Older than Valerie sure, but he was obviously still a teenager. “We aren’t the SLDF. We are the ISDF. Inner Sphere Defense Force. Iron Blooded First Battalion.” Gave Valerie a smile and she flushed a little. Maybe a different boy would be filling her dreams instead of Mike from now on?

“Nice to meet you?”

He smiled “I’m George, that’s Milly. Hungry? Cold? We have plenty of gear and food.” He offered pointing to the boxes in the truck.

Valerie nodded “Yeah a lot of people are hungry. Some of them have been here for over a week hiding from the pirates.”

A flash of anger in his eyes, but it was Milly that spoke next. “Well that’s fine we got plenty for everyone, and don’t worry about the pirates anymore.” The girl hadn’t taken off her helmet like George, but she still sounded young, but at this moment Valerie felt a chill. “They won’t bother anyone ever again. We made sure of that.”

Well then.

That was how a few of the other adults finally following Valerie out found her, taking a box of food from the two armored kids. She hurried back towards them opening the box so they could see the stacks of MRE’s inside as she brought the box inside.

It wasn’t long after that the tensions broke. Food, and lots of it, clothing, even a few electric heaters were brought in to warm up the building. Although while Valerie was passing around food the speed that all rumors travel caught up with her.

The Pirates had already completely surrendered, and were all either dead, or locked up. At least according to the rumor. Valerie was smiling though. They were the good guys. Maybe not the SLDF, but hey ISDF sounded pretty good to her ears!

“I told you they were good guys.” She tells Mitchell which earned her a quirked eyebrow as he bit into his MRE.

“You said they were the SLDF, but they said they weren’t.”

“They said they were the ISDF! That’s close!”

His soft chuckles were a little raw. But at least he was smiling so Valerie let it go.

Time flowed. People got clothes, and food. The atmosphere of horror slowly vanished especially since the ISDF weren’t doing anything bad. They slept on uncomfortable cots, but in the morning, as the fighting was over, a lot of people started heading out. Wanting to see what was left of their life.

“You sure Mom?”

“Yes Val. We need to go home… Erin will worry if we aren’t home, even with a letter.”

“Right. Dad will worry.” Valerie shrugged back into her coat. “C’mon let’s go. Sooner we get home, sooner we see Dad.” She grabbed the rifle, threw on one of the bags they had brought and smiled at her Mom trying to lift her spirits.

The weak smile she got in return was enough.

They headed out. As they walked home, Valerie kept her eyes out but couldn’t see any of the ISDF. She had so many questions! She couldn’t believe that they weren’t around. She hadn’t heard any Dropship drives. So they should still be here.

“Valerie, don’t get distracted.” Her mother reminded, tugging her along gently as she hurried to keep up. The walk was quiet, but everywhere they went, two things stood out. The destruction. Buildings Valerie remembered walking past her entire life were gone, smashing, or burnt husks.

The other was the people. Some were crying outside their homes. Some sitting on burnt steps looking tired. Others were happy to come home, finding family. Some rose up. Passing out food, helping neighbors.

Some raged at their loss.

Valerie hoped she wouldn’t be one of them. They finally returned to their home. Only to find it destroyed. A massive hole through the center of it. A mech must have crashed through it at one point. Valerie was numb to it. Losing her home was bad. But there was only one thing that would truly crush her. Without much thought she pushed into the rubble startling her mother as Valerie decided to see what she could find.

Eventually her mother joined her, pulling old timber and debris around to find old pieces of their lives.

“Rachel?”

Valerie spun, as did her mother. That voice, rough and tired, and in pain, but undoubtedly her father. “Daddy!”
“Erin!” Both Valerie and her mother rushed him. Despite his wincing steps he took both of their tackling hugs without complaint. His sobs matched their own as they realized that they were all together once again.

Valerie didn’t know how long the three of them were like that. Simply basking in the fact they were all alive. That no one had died!

“How Erin? We heard… We heard the gunshots from the factory.”

Her father Valerie noticed looked haunted as he shook his head wrapping an arm tight around her shoulders for a moment as if drawing strength.

“They were only killing some of us. A way to make sure the rest did what we were told. They found out I knew enough to be useful, so they kept me alive… They would just kill others whenever I didn’t do what they wanted.”

“Erin…”

“No. I’m alive my dear. I’m alive. And so are you. God bless these Lyrans. They saved us.”

Hearing that Valerie couldn’t hold back. “They are the ISDF! They are here to help! Like the SLDF used to!”

Her father looked at her a little lost like what she was saying wasn’t quite making its way through his head for a while but he slowly nodded “Whatever their reasons. I am happy they came. They showed up at just the right time. The pirates were getting ready to leave… They weren’t planning on leaving anyone behind.” He mutters softly, Valeries mother gasping at the realization that her husband had almost been taken away as a slave.

His tired nod turned into a wince which finally had her mother seem to notice. “How bad?”

“Not too bad. Cracked ribs. I’ll be alright…”

They both looked grim. Things were about to be really hard for a while.

“Hello! You folks need anything?” The voice called out wouldn’t have caused such a strong reaction if it wasn’t done with a Lyran accent. Valerie's mother jumped fumbling with nothing as she realized she didn’t have her rifle.

Valerie acted more like her father as she looked over the armored figure pulling up on the side of a truck. “Guten Morgen! Do you need food or blankets? We also have maps to shelters in the area if you have no place to stay!” The boy offered from the back of the truck was already holding out a bag that was bulging with its contents.

“N-No, We don’t need anything!” Valeries Mother of course tried to refuse but luckily her father was being more reasonable.

“We do have need, if you are offering. We lost our home. Some food would be welcome. As well as the map to the shelters. We will need them before tonight.”

“Excellent! Here you are!” The boy was actually quite kind Valerie thought, He didn’t throw the bag and hurry off, he jumped down offering her father a bag, although noticing his wince he stopped from finally handing it over. “If you are hurt, we have medics, and some doctors we brought along.”

“Just a busted rib. I’ll be alright.”

The boy didn’t look convinced. “How about I give you all a ride then? If you are hurt, walking around can’t be comfortable.”

“We accept!” Valerie cut in before either of her parents could refuse like she could see them about to.

The boy was quick. “Excellent! Come on and get comfortable. Sasha will be happy to look over your ribs as well!” He offered holding open the door showing the driver was just as armored as they were and was a young girl, probably not much older than Valerie.

“I… Thank you.” Her father finally added and while her mother didn’t look pleased, it seemed Valerie got her wish.

Hopping into the truck, she spent the drive close to her father, but asking questions constantly to, “Elric, Nice to meet you.” Who was kind enough to answer anything she wanted to know.

“Are you the ISDF?”

“Yeah the Commander calls us the ISDF, but we usually just use Iron Blooded Orphans. So it’s a bit of both.”

“How do you join?”

“Oh? Well usually you have to be an orphan, but we do recruit non orphans too. If you are under age you need parent permission though. I know the Commander will want that.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea honey.”

Both of her parents burned that idea, but Valerie wasn’t willing to let it go yet. She wanted to join the ISDF and save people too!

They didn’t end up driving to one of the shelters like the old community center, instead they were driven towards a set of buildings that had been overtaken and used by the ISDF as their base. Their dropship, which now that she was close enough to see, still eluded her what it was hung over their heads.

And kids in armor were everywhere! Walking around, working, some were leading others that were obviously natives around. Everything seemed plentiful. Food and clothing were offered freely.

Valerie was right. They were good people.

Her father was seen to by a medic, probably the oldest ISDF person she had seen. But she wore the armor, even if it had red crosses showing she was a medic, she was still wearing the same gear. They even had doctors, although they weren’t wearing armor.

“You won’t feel any pain for a few days, and this will help speed up the healing, but you need to be careful with it. The cracked rib is still fragile.” She ordered out in a firm voice. After using a few strange devices Valerie hadn’t seen before to take an instant x-ray of her fathers chest.

“Thank you that feels… Much better.”

“It should. Rest. In a few days you will be back to 100%.” She told them before shooing them out.

That night they slept in the ISDF compound. In a room just for them, in warm beds and warmer blankets, with an electric heater to keep the room toasty.

“See Mom?”

“...Yeah Valerie. I see.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 14.2 When a silent plea for help… Is answered.
3025
Free World League Space
Amity

“Commander!”

“I know I hear it.” I call out as I head out of the Command center. We had been here on Amity for almost a week now. And while we had sent plenty of messages back and forth with the planetary governor, or “First Minister of Amity Raymon Richards.” This was the first time we were actually getting a meeting with anyone high up.

As far as the Amity government had been concerned. The IBO were a raiding force, and they weren’t risking themselves. So it had taken almost a week of back and forth over the radio for this to happen.

Colonel Cyrus, he hadn’t bothered giving a first name, would be coming over to begin negotiations. His Vtol could be heard over the city as I stepped out of the command center. It flew overhead once, probably getting some aerial photos of our site before it turned and settled into a landing pad we had set up.

I was there, as were a few of my ‘guards’ that now followed me around all the time. It had been something Benny ordered, and despite my protests they ignored any time I told them I was fine.

Apparently the ISDF was ‘too important’ to let their Commander walk around by herself now.

I thought it was just a little too much, but that was how these things went.

The man that stepped out of the Vtol was older. Salt and pepper beard reminded me of Morgan Kell, but his scowl was nothing like the man. Morgan usually looked as if he was thinking about deep thoughts.

This man looked like he was thinking about murdering everyone he was seeing.

Which he might be.

I waited while the Vtol powered down, turning the small landing pad back to a normal volume before I stepped out. The Colonel ignored his aides, as he strode out on long legs.

“Colonel Cyrus. Welcome to Ruhr.”

“Commander Eisen-Blume. I don’t need to be welcomed to my own city.” He spoke clearly and slowly, his voice harsh but not erratic. This was a man who thought about every word, and said it, even if they would bring offense.

I was fine with that.

“But you did need help removing the pirates.”

“I don’t consider that task completed.” He stated gruffly.

“Then we should get right on to our discussion to lay your mind at ease about our intentions. We have a room prepared inside.”

He was silent for a moment before he nodded. Regardless of his desires, he was here to negotiate with us.

I turned letting him follow me and my two guards back into our command center. A room was prepared. We even had tea.

Disgusting.

I drank the foul leaf juice with only a faint hint of disgust once I had settled in, watching the other half of the room settle themselves in.

The Colonel had brought two aids, two military guards, and a man in a business suit that stood slightly separate.

I couldn’t quite peg him but I guessed either lawyer, or spook.

“So we don’t waste any time, how about I say something clearly. The ISDF, Iron Blooded Orphans, 1st Battalion came to Amity after hearing about the pirate raid. We came with the intention of stopping them from causing any more devastation as pirate hunting is one of our sworn duties, regardless of where the pirates are.” I took a sip of foul brown muk before continuing.

“We are not here to commit any other military action, and will leave at the first request by the Governors office-”

“Then leave.” He interrupted me instantly, but before I could even nod and agree another voice piped up.

“We will need to discuss salvage terms first.” The ‘Lawyer’ spoke up interrupting the meeting.

“Pierson. You-”

“Colonel. You are here to ensure that the… ISDF are not here at the forefront of a LCAF raid. I don’t believe that is likely anymore. Do you?”

The Colonel was silent for a time before he exhaled once firmly, seemingly calming himself. “Go ahead Mr. Pierson.”

“Thank you Colonel. Commander. The First Minister thanks you for your protection of his citizens, but when the pirates landed, they captured not only Planetary defense equipment, but equipment from the Imstar Aerospace factory.”

“Yes. They actually had a couple of Cheetahs we confirmed were taken from the factory that we shot down.”

“Correct. As an invading force, and a pirate one at that, the equipment is requested to be returned to us. We will of course offer a cash payment in exchange.”

I took the paper the Lawyer pulled out from his briefcase and looked over the list. The Prices as I expected, were pretty paltry. As I read, each piece requested to be returned was given such a low bounty I realized this wasn’t an honest attempt.

It was meant to be thrown back in their face. Either to continue negotiations to a still low price. Or because they wanted to use the nuclear option… Probably not literally but you never know. “This is an interesting offer.”

The silence after that was interesting. I watched all the men. Different emotions on each face, although all of them tried to hide it. Mr. Pierson spoke up before the silence grew too long.

“It is our initial offer. You are here illegally after all. We consider it acceptable in exchange for not prosecuting your raid.”

“I didn’t know it was considered a raid to attack pirates.”

“It is when Lyran Mercenaries are dropping onto League worlds.” The Colonel growled.

I thought it over. The best way to get my way. Without ruffling feathers… Without also sounding too weird. A fact I had learned over the last year. Sometimes when you offered a deal that was too good, it would be thrown back in your face just to spite you.

Seriously people could be so stupid.

“I have an interest that if you are willing to fulfill, I will accept most of these prices.”

“This isn’t a negotiation. If you refuse we will consider you an enemy of the state. We will hunt you down.”

“You will send good men to die.” I state plainly supremely confident. If it ever came to the point a real army was threatening my kids? All the stops would be pulled out.

I would let them taste the sun.

“Perhaps Colonel. We should hear the Commanders ‘interest’ before making any further ultimatums?” Mr. Pierson asked quietly, breaking some of the tension.

“That is simple enough. The ISDF has been created to complete three tasks. The protection of the people of the Inner Sphere. The proliferation of knowledge. And to try and establish a final peaceful solution to the Succession Wars.”

The scoff I received at that was fair. It wasn’t the first time I had told someone that, and been laughed at, scoffed at, taunted, insulted, or in an interesting situation had someone throw their food in my face.

“In this case it is the second task we are here for now that the first is complete. I would like to set up a Library here. In Ruhr. Just like the Libraries I have built on other worlds.”

“Lyran worlds.”

“Yes Colonel, I am Lyran. It is where I grew up, and where I have recruited from. But it won’t be where I spend all my life. Let me build my library. We will leave right after, and in exchange, I will provisionally accept this offer. With some minor changes.”

My request honestly seemed to confuse the entire room, other than my guards of course. But to these leaguers? I might as well be speaking Elvish.

“You want to build a library… Why?” The Colonel asked, sounding out the words as he couldn’t believe he was saying them.

“I’ve already told you, but if you want the honest truth? I fucking hate that the Inner Sphere forgot so much. The knowledge we once had was capable of great things. Terrible, but great. I want to bring that back. The only way to do that is to spread knowledge to every corner. If everyone has enough to get started hopefully we can bring back what our ancestors had.”

“So you wish to build libraries? In the League? We will not become Lyran-” Mr. Pierson funnily seemed to find the idea annoying. But it was the Colonel that waved a hand and shut the man up.

“I don’t give a shit if you want to build a coffee house. This is Amity, not the Commonwealth.”

“I understand that. But that’s the deal. You want me to accept your cheap offer? I want a library on Amity, and since you are wondering what I get out of it? The Iron Blooded Libraries have been centers for recruitment in Lyran space. I hope they will be here in the League as well.”

“Recruitment? You think we will allow you to recruit our people?” The Colonel responded he wasn’t angry sounding, more… Curious and disbelieving.

“I would like to be allowed to recruit orphans in the League, yes.”

“You don't think we will give you access to children.” The Colonel spits.

“Why not? Look around you. Every person you see wearing our armor is an orphan. Every one of them is given a full education. Using the same materials I want to place into the library. Every one of them is fed, clothed, and offered a steady paycheck for their work. All of them have a chance to learn to become a Mechwarrior. To fight to protect their people.”

“Your people.”

“No. Our people. I am here aren’t I? None of my kids are anything but Lyran, but we are here. Not to raid your planet, or take something from you. But to kill the pirates who did that. Yes we will protect our landhold if a League raid comes. But we aren’t raiders. I am not your enemy.”

I said the final bit as earnestly as I could. Trying to dig through the miles of hatred, and distrust was becoming a full time job. It wasn’t easy even on Lyran worlds. But on League ones?

The Lawyer was looking at me like he was trying to dissect every word I said, trying to find the weakpoints in an argument, or figure out my true intentions. The Colonel?

He was actually looking at me. Eye to eye. Sizing me up.

“Tell me about this Library.”

“Colonel!”

“Mr. Pierson. You are here to set up a salvage deal. Not anything else. You will restrain yourself.”

The Lawyer nodded slowly, settling back down into his chair. Although he continued to glare petulantly.

“Colonel. If you would like I will happily hand over a copy of the Library to you. Our goal is mass proliferation after all. We are trying to put a copy of this library on every world in the Inner Sphere.”

“Grand dream.”

“A grand plan.” I offer back with a smile. “A dream is something you hope to achieve, but has impossible odds. A plan just takes time.”

He snorts. “Let’s go over the changes you request on the salvage terms. While you and Mr. Pierson do that. I will have my men go over this ‘library’ of yours. If we find nothing concerning… I will put forth a request to the First Minister.”

“A fair compromise. Mr. Pierson the issue is with the pay for-”

—-

“Commander Eisen-Blume.”

“Eris. You have concerns.”

“I do. There is a good chance, they are allowing your construction of the library to hold you here until reinforcements arrive. They will try and claim your equipment.”

“Possibly. I did consider that.”

“Then why are we still here? You are putting your people at risk to the League.”

I was sitting on top of the ‘command center’ we had set up. Across the street a building was being remodeled by my kids into a Library.

Once the library was gone through there had been a high interest in their copy. When I allowed them to keep the copy they were inspecting… Well. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking. The educational courses covered just about everything from just starting out to an early college level. Maths and science, and everything in between.

I did have permission from Katrina from this. The message she had sent in response to my request had mostly been her frowning at me, before she called me Victoria and allowed my plan to continue.

I hadn’t actually intended on moving this early. I expected a few years of Lyran expansion letting our work speak for itself before making a slow move into the League. Unfortunately Pirates were a bit of a sore point for me. I was just glad we were heading towards Solaris. When we got the news White Base turned around and burned hard back to a jumpship.

We had made it here too late, but in some ways just in time. The people here would recover. And their defenses would firm back up with all the mech salvage I had allowed the leaguers to purchase back from me for a pittance.

“I will be putting our people at risk forever. Until we finally gain peace. We can’t do what needs to be done if we cower in fear.”

“I think fear has its place.”

I nod at that. “It does Eris. How has Delta’s mission gone?”

She went quiet for a moment “What Mission would that be Commander Eisen-Blume?”

“The one where you sent them to infiltrate the First Ministers communications network so you can tell me if they get any alert about incoming dropships.”

She was still beside me. Ah it was so funny how she would lock down when her little schemes got found out. “Carl told you.”

“Nope.” I turn to her smiling. “You did, just now. I haven’t seen Delta for a few days. I figured they were off doing something. And you are a bit proactive about things. As soon as you mentioned you were worried about an attack. I had my suspicions.”

She twitched and I could see her exhale slowly and steadily out of her nose as she regained herself. “You are too perceptive.”

“I forgive you for giving MY unit orders.” I tell her with a smirk filled with a tiny bit of malice. “But in the future go through the correct chain of command.”

I watched her back go rigid. “Understood Commander!” She actually offered me a salute and I couldn’t help but tease her, poking her in the forehead, “That’s the first time you didn’t add my name in.” I tease before nodding. “Go on then, keep an ear out. Just because I am willing to accept the risk doesn’t mean I want to lose anyone if trouble does happen.”

“Y-yes Commander Eisen-Blume.”

It was nice that she wasn’t taller than me anymore! I finally looked like I actually deserved the authority I had!

Chuckling, I decide to walk away from watching the building construction. We had done this so often now that I didn’t even need to give orders. Libraries were starting to become old hat. Maybe I should make a new division? ISDF Librarians?

They could use a tagline like “We have the Royal equipment. Pay your late fees!” No wait, that was too close to ComStars line.

I walked down into the light snow that never seemed to end on this planet. Watching the people walking around this way and that. More and more residents are using our compound now. Even if construction and repair was happening over the city. Plenty of people still needed a place to stay.

And we were happy to help. Sure some didn’t like us. But we only had to throw out one or two for causing trouble. A few members of Guard unit were with us acting as an eye in the sky.

I smiled as I grabbed a meal from one of the cooks as I walked around. I was always hungry now. Mostly thanks to Benny. That asshole thought it was funny to make the Commander run laps with all the new recruits as a way of removing any excuse they would have to run them. Apparently he got sick of arguing with new kids about it, and just made it my problem.

At least I was fit. Between the armor and the laps I was not just growing up, but stronger. Muscles were nice. And it made a lot of the annoying parts easier. I didn’t get winded when I had to run around anymore!

Finishing my quick meal I moved into the library building being put up. “How goes it?”

“Commander! Not long now. We got most of the wiring for the computer systems set up!”

“Good! Do me a favor and double time it! We got some scaredy cats.”

“Will do! You heard the Commander! Let’s move it!”

I smiled as I watched them double up on settling wiring down. Shouldn’t be more than another day or two and we would be able to leave.

“Commander.” Benny called out from beside me. The boy now twenty was still taller than me. Jerk. How dare he keep growing!

“Benny. What’s up? You got that worried face on.”

“I just had an interesting conversation with a father.”

“Benny! I am shocked! Who is the lucky girl?”

The look he gave me had me guffaw as he continued. “Don’t. Anyway, Apparently a non orphan wants to join.”

“Okay what’s the problem?”

“She is fourteen. And both of her parents are not okay with it.”

“Okay? So they say no and she can’t join. Why is this a problem?”

“They didn’t so much say no. As they have a lot of ‘concerns’ I am officially handing this entire mess off to you Commander.”

“What! You can’t delegate to me! I am the delegator!”

“Sorry Commander, this is over my head! So it’s your problem. They are in room 159 in the rescue barracks. So have fun.”

“Wait! Benny don’t run away! Hey! That’s an order!”

He didn’t stop.

“Traitors! Traitors everywhere!” I yell back before sighing. Okay fine. I can handle this. I just have to be responsible and have a conversation with the parents of a girl wanting to join…

I am so doomed.

I head over to the barracks. The amount of leaguers around the barracks increased heavily, Making me feel alone… Well not including my two guards.

I got plenty of stares as I headed inside, not all of them hostile. So I considered that a win. The door for room 159 was already open, and inside was a man resting in a chair watching a Holovid. The way he was eased up he was obviously wounded.

I tapped on the door. “Good morning. I hope I’m not intruding?”

The man startled slightly at my voice. A common occurrence. My Accent did tend to bring plenty of attention. “Ah. Can I help you?”

“Excuse me. I am Commander Eisen-Blume. I’m in charge of the ISDF. I heard there was an issue, and I wanted to see what I could do to help. Is it your daughter that is wanting to join?”

His eyes flashed, and despite obviously being hurt, he sat up, his full focus on me. “Erin. I’m a factory worker here… You saved my life, and my family's life. My Daughter… She’s young. Heard you are recruiting and went to sign up.”

“I’m guessing she didn’t ask permission first?” I ask with a smirk. Kids.

“She didn’t.”

“Mind if I come in?” I ask the conversation was a little awkward with me standing at the doorway.

“It’s your building.”

“No. I am just supplying it, it still belongs to the Ruhr government, as far as I know.” I offer with a shrug.

He shrugged back. “Sure. Come on in.”

I move, my Guards taking up posting, at the door. Poor kids. But they both seemed more than happy to be my shadows. I would have to make sure they had a break after this. I’ll go put my feet up in the Dropship letting them do whatever they like.

“I’ll admit we don’t usually get non-orphans wanting to join. But we don’t refuse them either. Although anyone underage, does have to have parent, or guardian permission. We aren’t kidnappers.”

His face hardens a bit but he nods slowly. “I can’t say I like the idea of a mercenary company, that recruits young orphans either.”

“That I understand. If it helps. I started the company when I was fourteen. I was the youngest member. As of now, only sixteen and up are allowed in any position that could see combat.”

“It doesn’t.”

“No, I expect a parent wouldn’t feel any more comfortable with that… The Iron blooded… They are my kids. Every one of them. We are a family, and I mean that truthfully. They are my family. My brothers and sisters, and eventually. When those from the other parts of the Inner Sphere join, my cousins.”

It was quiet for a while as he processed what I had said, “I don’t like the idea of my daughter becoming a mercenary… My father was one. I know what that life brings.”

“It’s dangerous. Hard. Sometimes horrifying.” I acknowledge, which earns me a grudging nod. “But it’s also full of adventure. It lets you grow and learn skills. It lets you choose how you want to live. I live how I want. By my own ‘sword’ arm. I choose the path I follow. Your daughter would get the same choice.”

“I’ve talked to some of your people. They aren’t all fighters.”

“No, of course not. We have to be more than just a fighting force. We have architects to build our libraries. Nurses and doctors. Although the Doctors are all in training still. Teachers, mechtechs, logistics officers to make sure everyone is fed and clothed. We are over a thousand people. Anything that many people need we have a position for it.”

He sighs. Tired, and I can hear a bit of pain as his exhale hurts something. “Our house is gone. The factory will take… A while to be repaired. Which means I don’t have my job, or a way to provide for her.” He looked pretty stricken. Which was a shame.

I guess it’s time to be the big damn hero again.

“Tell me Erin. Have you ever thought about becoming a Librarian?”

The man pondered that for a moment. “I haven’t.”

“Well maybe you should. I happen to have an opening for a librarian for the Iron Blooded Public Library. The pay is solid. And it would have benefits. You see, I like to get monthly updates from the Librarians. Of course adding an extra message to someone on the charge wouldn’t be a concern…”

“What sort of pay?”

“Well originally it was Kroner, but that’s for the Lyran half, I suppose it will have to be in C-bills. I hope that’s alright? And-”

“Daddy! We are back and we- Oh my God.” The girl that walked into the room stalled a bag of groceries in her arms. My two guards were slightly out of sight, so she got a full view of me sitting across from her father.

“Good Mor-”

“IT’S THE STANDARD GIRL!” Was screamed into my face by an eager young girl. I barely opened my mouth, not sure what I was feeling. Did I just get called Basic? Then I was nearly tackled. “I love Immortal Warrior and the Phantom of the SLDF! But you aren’t the SLDF, you're the ISDF! I think that’s amazing! You-”

“Valerie!” A woman's voice interrupted thankfully and the girls mouth shut with a click as her mother walked in. “I apologize, my daughter seems to have forgotten all of her manners.”

“No it’s… Fine. I’ve had a few people realize that I was in that movie. I need to send another angry HPG message to Mike.” I offer joking, but it didn’t seem to land well. My guards though? The guards that are supposed to protect me, and make me feel safe?

Laughing quietly.

I’m going to make them run so many laps for this.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15 Prologue: A look around the Sphere.
3025

Part 1. House Steiner.
Katrina Steiner
Tharkad
The Triad.

“How is the other project going Nondi?”

“The double heatsink factory is producing. The foreman tells us that within a few years he will be producing enough to satisfy any requirements the LCAF have.” Nondi looked quite pleased at that. As of now, the fact they were producing them again was a state secret. There wasn’t just one factory either. Multiple factories all over the Commonwealth were adjusting to make the change. This was just the first to be ready.

“No problems?”

“None. The data on their production, as well as the course on repair on the Memory core solved all of the problems that came up.”

“It still strikes me at times.”

“I as well. I was speaking to Lisa the other day and I had to stop myself from admitting we know how to fashion endo-steel again. She was taking a course on it in college. A history course.”

“Hopefully within a few years we can reveal the full extent of the memory core. It would be nice to see our colleges full of young students learning something real.”

“That it would… Speaking of learning. The Libraries. Are you sure you don’t want to do anything?”

“Victoria has kept to her end of the agreement. Everything in the libraries is already known knowledge, or just on the edge of it. Nothing that will drastically shift academia, without some time for the knowledge to be processed. So far the knowledge hasn’t caused any disruptions.”

“The girl is trouble. She told you to your face she will release the full Memory core.”

“She also told me, she wouldn’t until we lost control of it anyways.”

“You are too soft on her sister. I don’t like it.”

Katrina couldn’t help but nod. “I probably am. Consider it the payment for the Memory core for single handedly altering the Commonwealth forever.”

“I still don’t like it Sister. She refused to take a title. A Duchess? No one does that.”

“Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume does.”

“That’s what makes it a problem! I refuse to accept that girl doesn’t have some backer guiding her along. She has to! She could be a plant.”

“From whom? And why? Nondi. The thought she was some Combine plant has already been thrown out. She gave us the Memory Core.”

“I know.” Nondi sighed, Katrina felt for her Sister. Nondi had always been Katrina’s right hand. And it was her job to be even more suspicious than Katrina herself is.

“She asked for nothing Nondi. Nothing. I may not understand it. But I can’t help but feel something when a girl barely older than Melissa walks into my office and tells me she is going to change the Inner Shere…”

“She has changed the Inner Sphere.”

“I know. But I wonder, does she? Does she realize the changes that have already started? In a few years the Commonwealth will supply more equipment to our forces in a month, than we could have in a year.”

“I doubt it. We are keeping that secret.”

“For now. For now. But enough about Victoria, I can already feel the headache coming on. Tell me your thoughts on the Alliance Games. I know you watched the vids.”

“We were defeated badly. Embarrassed. Only some of our men tried to adapt the FedSuns tactics.”

“Enough of them?”

“Maybe.” Nondi shrugged. “They are going through a few practice battles with just Lyran officers to see.”

“I hope it spreads. We need to do better. Be better.”

“We will. Besides, The news coming back from Epsilon Eridani was good. They found it after all.”

Katrina felt that headache coming on once again. How a girl could know so many secret places in the Inner Sphere, still caused Katrina nightmares. “It was confirmed?”

“As far as the last message through courier stated. An SLDF depot was found in the ‘Shamus’ mountains. She was right about the Irish name even.”

A groan erupted out of Katrina’s throat. “How will we ever pay this girl back for this?”

“Pray she never comes to collect?”

“I do. Every day.”

—--

Melissa Steiner
Tharkad
Nagelring

Melissa wasn’t sure how she got to this point. She hadn’t ever considered becoming a Mechwarrior. But it was starting to grow on her, plus she was actually having fun. It did help that she was running around in a Lostech Atlas. A gift on her birthday from Vicky.

Melissa wasn’t sure what Vicky had been thinking. She is a Steiner. She could have any mech she wanted. But Vicky had sent her one anyway. Without a word to why, other than a note left in the Cockpit.

Happy Birthday.

If you are going to run around in a mech, it should be something with battlefists so you don’t ruin a Gauss rifle. Had this as an extra.

Vicky

The Atlas II still had a Gauss rifle, just like Vickys Nightstar, and Melissa had spent plenty of hours practicing aiming with it. Which was already a bit shocking.

She had never expected to enjoy the experience. Her Atlas was still slow, but it wasn’t sluggish like mechs were before she got her new neurohelm.

It moved at her whim. Shifting on its feet without any hesitation whenever she needed. Melissa was starting to become a fair mechwarrior. The few times Uncle Morgan had offered her some lessons he had said she was skilled for her age.

That was why she was here now. The Nagelring. She was taking classes, and working to earn her rank when she got old enough. Originally she had intended on going through the infantry track, but then… Everything changed with Vicky.

“Princess! Wake up. It’s your move.” The Drill sergeant stirred her on and she stepped out into field. She was here for a lesson today. Apparently. There was a new push towards training everyone to get used to Lostech.

Both double heatsinks, and longer more powerful weapons needed special training to be prepared for. So Melissa, as the only student that had a Lostech ride, was often chosen to help out.

It was nice. It meant she got extra stick time compared to everyone else.

“This is Princess. Moving to engage.” She spoke over the radio, although even the drill sergeant was grimacing. She was smiling again. That poor kid in the Hunchback was about to be taught a lesson about getting too close to an Atlas.

—-

Part 2. House Davion
Hanse Davion
New Avalon

“Hanse. Please stop fiddling with that.”

“Sorry Dear.” Hanse Davion teased his friend although he did take his hands away from the Memory Core.

The look Ardan gave to his prince made even the Prince offer a silent apology. “I’m still surprised Katrina handed that over.”

“We do have an alliance. It included research.”

“We both know that handing over a Memory Core with that much data on it, is a completely different beast from handing over what the NAIS comes up with.”

Hanse was quiet for a moment, his fingers back to fiddling with the Memory Core. “I know. Katrina truly is a unique woman.”

“Unhappy with Melissa?”

“She is young. But not what I mean, and you know it.”

Ardan nodded. “The departments that were read in on the Memory Core have been showing massive improvements. It’s almost a shame though. We spent how many years trying to get Freezers to work?”

“More than I care to admit. It’s the Pounds we spent that I am more unhappy about. At least we won’t have to worry about it in the future.”

“No. I suppose not.” Ardan admitted both of them had spent months working on the upgrade plan to start up old factories and get production running again. All while trying to keep it hidden from the rest of the Inner Sphere. Funnily enough, having LIC on their side did make the job easier.

“All at the hands of one no name orphan.” Hanse muttered his mind roiling. To think, the entire future of the Federated Suns would be thanks to a single girl.

“Ah yes. Victoria Eisen-Blume. Commander of the ISDF.”

Hanse snorts despite himself. ISDF? That was a name for a merc company that had plenty of connotations and it was asking to run into all sorts of problems. “I’m almost glad she is Katrina’s problem. How did she describe her? ‘A girl that offers insults in one hand, and treasure in the other?’ something like that.”

“She sounds like a delight. Perhaps we should invite her here.”

“Don’t tempt me! Who knows maybe she will drop a few lostech caches in my lap too instead of giving them all to Katrina.”

“Didn’t Katrina tell us that the girl said the Steiner family was just as responsible for the state of the Inner Sphere as house Kurita? Could your ego handle her?”

“Hah! For a batch of Lostech battlemechs and a Memory Core? I would let her say whatever she wants, and make it her house words.”

“Ah yes. House Eisen-Blume. ‘We will insult you as much as we please.’ A firm name.”

Hanse laughed. “Yes exactly… Tell me how is the plan going for the wedding gift?”

“As always Hanse. Slowly. Secretly. And steadily.”

“Good! Come I feel like taking a walk around the NAIS. I hear there will be a viewing of “Gauss Rifles and you.” In the secret department. Apparently the SLDF had a sense of humor. I hear the man repairing the weapon gets horribly maimed constantly, as a warning to the watchers.”

“Sounds Entertaining.”

—-

Part 3 House Marik.
Janos Marik

“This is it?”

“Yes Captain-General. It is a direct copy, sent by courier. The first Minister of Amity was quite swift in bringing a copy to us.”

“And it has nothing strange? No tricks?”

“None that we have found. Although the classes are SLDF. They start from absolute beginnings to around highschool courses… some of them did contain knowledge we didn’t know.”

“Truly? Why? What would the Lyrans gain by giving this to us?”

“I can’t be sure Captain-General. Although it was a Lyran Mercenary company, rather than anyone attached to the LCAF directly.”

“Nonsense. The girl. The Commander, what was her name?”

“Victoria Eisen-Blume.”

“That’s the one. She is a Steiner Bastard. I was given a copy of a message the girl sent to Katrina. She called the woman ‘Aunt Katrina.’ So she is not some unattached girl. She is obviously a Steiner plant. Someone they can use without their name attached.”

“Then that makes her actions make even less sense on Amity. She not only defeated the pirates, but she protected the factory they had been ransacking. I got eye witness confirmation. They didn’t take a single thing from the factory. Even returning some of the equipment stolen by the Pirates previously.”

“For a Library. Yes I remember the meeting too.” Janos shook his head. It was a trap. Had to be. It was the only thing that makes sense. “They were going to use them to recruit, right?”

“Yes. The report is here. Apparently the ISDF recruits orphans, and others through the libraries.”

“Something long term then? What could they possibly be planning for with a bunch of orphans? If they want spies there are easier ways.”

“That is something we have SAFE working on. Their report isn’t complete yet, but they are exploring the library on Amity as we speak.”

“Good. I want an explanation for what the Lyrans are thinking. Katrina obviously has some scheme in mind.”

“Yes Captain-General. One last note… What should we do about their request?”

“Request? Ah. The ‘ISDF’ wants to build more libraries.”

“Yes.”

“Let them. If they want to spend the money to build, let them, but I want each library checked.”

“I will add that into the orders!”

—-

Part 4 House Liao
Romano Liao
Sian

“It is our belief Grand Chancellor that the Steiners have recovered at least some knowledge. Too many connections exist to be anything other than reactivation of factories.”

Father pondered these words. As always his wisdom was greater than these fools could imagine.

“If they have gained this knowledge, why has it not been retrieved? I notice all of your reports carry no true facts.”

“Forgive us Chancellor. This information only recently came to light. We have already begun efforts to uncover both where the Commonwealth attained this information, and to attain it for the benefit of the Confederation.”

“Don’t bother.” Romano offered almost before thinking. But at her fathers quirked eyebrow she continued on. “I am already aware of where the knowledge came from. It all makes sense now.” She nods to herself. She should have realized!

“Daughter?”

“Forgive me Father, but this fills in the steps to a puzzle I had been contemplating. The knowledge could only have come from one source. The SLDF.” She nods at that. That should be enough for Father to understand. Although a moment later she realized the fool despite being a member of the Maskirovka had no clue.

“I am afraid this one does not share your wisdom, Duchess.”

“Of course not! If you did this would already be solved!” She hissed at him before straightening, her Fathers eyes on her. “The SLDF brought the knowledge and gave it to the Lyrans, for what reason I do not know. But that is where the knowledge stems from.” She informs the fool, turning to her Father to see if she had gotten it right.

His face as blank as always gave nothing away.

“Forgive me Duchess. I still do not understand. The SLDF has been gone since the exodus.”

“You are not aware? Why am I the one telling you this? The SLDF has returned. They call themselves the ISDF now, a transparent attempt to hide their origins. They appeared in Lyran space, with lostech long lost. They are the source of the Steiners' new boon.”

“Hmm. Tell me what do we know about these ISDF?” Father asked, and Romano kept herself quiet, wanting to see what these agents would know.

“Ah. Forgive me Chancellor. I am unaware of… the SLDF Returned. I will have a report brought up for you immediately.”

“Hmph. Daughter?”

“Of course father. The ISDF first appeared in 3020. They called themselves the Iron Blooded Orphans. As they recruited only orphans at the time. They were inconsequential. But they swiftly showed their true power. Once they had recruited enough men. They suddenly re-appeared with equipment thought lost. They pilot a Colossus dropship, and their leader. Who many believe may be a final daughter of house Cameron, pilots a Nightstar. The Phantom of the SLDF.”

“Oh? Why have I not heard of this?”

“Chancellor! The Duchess in her wisdom has reminded this one about who she speaks! They are a Mercenary company out of Lyran space. We did not realize they were the SLDF returned! Truly the Duchess Liao’s vision is greater than ours!”

“Of course it is! Father. You have seen her face. We watched the Immortal Warrior and the Phantom of the SLDF together did we not?”

Her Father stirred. “That is where you know this from Daughter? Was this not a Movie?”

“Of course Father! They tried to hide themselves by appearing in a Movie. But they bluffed their real hand! It is obvious!” Romano looked quite proud, as her father slowly nodded, his hands stroking down his chin thoughtfully, his eyes stuck on Romano as he appraised her. She was sure father was contemplating her brilliance!

“Look into this. I wish to know what this ISDF heralds, and find if they are the ones responsible for the return of knowledge.”

“Your will be done Chancellor.”

Romano nodded. Of course Father would understand! Everyone else was too blinded to realize that the ISDF were the SLDF returned! They were growing quickly, and soon they would align with house Liao! The true Heirs to the StarLeague! Romano could imagine it walking into Terra as the First Lord! She smiled. Wondering what the SLDF were doing now? She considered sending another letter. They hadn’t replied to the others, but surely they would this time? She was just asking them to come to Sian and swear their loyalty to her Father, the true First Lord.

Someone was probably stealing her mail again. Perhaps she would have to find out who and kill them! Then the Commander, Heir of the SLDF and the Last Daughter of House Cameron could swear themselves to House Liao. Completing the destiny House Liao had set itself upon!

—-

Part 5. House Kurita
Takashi Kurita
Luthien

The Coordinator was not pleased. “Explain again. How the Lyrans have managed to restart factories on multiple worlds. Without any hint of it happening, until they are already producing?”

“Forgive me Coordinator. We had rumors, but nothing that we believed to be factual until recently. These pictures were taken by an agent. Showing production of Double Heat Sinks. It is the first confirmed sighting.”

Takashi sighed. This was a colossal blunder. A mistake that very well may shift the balance of power. Especially with the alliance between Lyran and Fedsuns.

Even with the Concord. He had no faith in the Capellans, or League. Once more the dragon would be forced to bare its claws. “A disappointment.”

The ISF agent, was new. Not one that often reported to him. He now knew why. A failure would have to be punished, and truly this was a grave failure. “We do believe we know where the knowledge to restart the factories came from Coordinator.” the man offered falling into a full Dogeza before Takashi.

“Explain.”

“We traced the supply once we realized what was happening, Coordinator. The timing matches up. There was Lostech find by a Mercenary Company. They call themselves the ISDF. They appeared on Tharkad only months before the supplies began moving. They carried Lostech equipment, including a Nightstar. Soon after they appeared with a Colossus. We believe they are the finders of this knowledge.”

“Hmm.” Takashi let that information flow through. Meditating silently. What was the path? “Do you have any proof of this?”

“We have only the timeline matching perfectly Coordinator.”

“Then it appears we must gather more information… Find out from these ISDF. In any method needed.”

“Understood!”

“Do not fail me again.”

—--

Part 6. ComStar
Julian Tiepolo
Terra

“You have spread the knowledge to the other houses?”

“We have. All have been given the data they need to discover the factories on their own.”

Julian sighed, rubbing his old eyes. “We failed.”

“Only in part Primus. Operation Holy Shroud was-”

“A failure. We allowed this to slip through our fingers. Now the Steiner and Davions are restarting production on equipment they should not have. The Fourth Succession war will be brutal, and may very well be the last.”

“Surely not! Our order stands as strong as ever.”

“Tojo. Rom failed in their mission to keep the great houses weak. They will undoubtedly make steps to ensure that their loss of knowledge never happens again. We have two of the great houses merging together in the next few years. And despite my efforts the Concord of Kapteyn is as useless as the paper it is written on. We will have to act more overtly than I like in the next few years to retain any semblance of balance.”

“I don’t believe that is the case, Primus. There is always another option.”

“Oh? Do you have an idea Tojo?”

“Of course Primus, that is my job. We failed to keep the knowledge out of the hands of the great houses, but we can always rebalance the board. If the Davions, and Steiners believe the technology will give them the overwhelming advantage, we simply balance the board once more.”

“You believe we should give the others houses the same? I hate it. But Holy Shroud is a failure. You may be right. Rebalancing may be our only hope.”

“Thank you Primus. I have a few ideas that may work. Although I believe you will agree, it would be best if we can simply ensure the other great houses a copy of what Steiner found. It would certainly make things simpler.”

“That may not be possible. Their security has been solid. Even with our best efforts we only managed to get confirmation on their production into the hands of ISF by burning an agent.”

“I see.” Julian sighed. This was a disaster. To have so much fail directly under his watch? He wondered how long it would be before the first circuit called for his resignation? It was unlikely, but always possible.

“Primus?”

“Go… Go formulate a collection of technology that we can balance the board with. We will have to run it through the first circuit but I would like to have something to offer them.” He looked out into the city, the city he had sworn would never be touched by the ‘successor houses’ He could only hope he would find the path forward for Blakes will.

“Go Tojo I have much to think about.”

“Yes Primus.”

—-

Part 7. Alessa Barony.
Arthur Alessa
Zaniah III

Arthur tossed the stack of flowers into the trash. Another attempt, another complete stonewall. “Courting a non-noblewoman shouldn’t be this hard.” He grumbled. He used to have his pick of women. All of them wanted to be the next Lady Alessa. All of them wanted his power, his future.

Victoria Eisen-Blume didn’t even rebuff him, no it was worse.

The girl still didn’t realize he was trying to court her.

“You know maybe if you actually told her bluntly you are interested she would finally get the picture?”

“Vincent. Shut up.” He grumbled. He had tried that. Not that he was going to admit that to his brother. He hadn’t even managed to get through the whole conversation before she had somehow talked him into another damnable training session.

The look he had received over her head from the other boy, Benny, had infuriated Arthur. That bastard was fully aware of his intentions, and doing his best to never reveal it to the girl.

“Come on brother, shall we go try to solve the mysteries of the Commander at the bottom of a glass again?”

“Vincent. Shut up.” His younger brother was being particularly obnoxious today. No getting drunk would make him feel better in the short term, but would just be a waste. He wouldn’t be able to enjoy it with this bitter taste in his mouth.

“Oh my perfect older brother ignored by a teenager! The shame!”

“How is Sasha doing?” Arthur questioned aloud, and his brother so loud and brash is suddenly very quiet.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Funny you said, what and not who.” Arthur could see Vincents ears go red, an old tell with his brother.

“Arthur shut up.”

“Oh? Now you want peace and quiet? When I turn it around to your Orphan girl, suddenly you don’t want to talk about it?” Arthur teased.

Vincent sighed. “How did you find out?”

“Oh it was simple enough. I do end up in training sessions with the Orphans at least once a week, do you think they wouldn’t share the stories of my little brother making a fool of himself?”

“Fuck off. I’m not making a fool of myself.”

“No. You are just doing your best to court an uninterested orphan… We truly are brothers.” Arthur offered as an apology.

Vincent snorted, nodding along. “What is it with us? Our luck can’t be this bad.”

“Oh I don’t know, I think our luck in life is quite good. It’s only in girls that it seems to fail us.”

“I heard that one. I do need a drink.”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but I find the idea more appealing now than it was before. Shall we?”

“Sure. Just don’t try to set me up with anyone again. You already screwed it up.”

“Nonsense! I am an impeccable wingman!”

Vincent reached over and slugged his brother in the shoulder. “That’s for letting your head get so big. C’mon I need a drink.”

Laughing Arthur followed along. That night the two brothers would drown their sorrows.

—-

Part 8. Iron Blooded Orphans.
Sandra Nelson
Isaribi En-route to Lyons

“Sandy! How much longer?”

“...”

“SIGH Captain Nelson. How much longer?”

“Another few days Lieutenant.” Captain Sandra Nelson offered with a grin. Kim was a friend, and it was a daily interaction between the two of them fighting over whether they would use their first names or ranks.

There was very little else to do on the weeks-long jumps between worlds.

“Ugh. I sometimes want to kick Vicky in the shins for convincing us that the Library engineers force was the place for me. ‘Go to foreign worlds. Travel the Inner Sphere. See amazing sights.’ She never bothered to mention, being stuck in a dropship for weeks at a time, and only staying on worlds for like a month while working before jumping to the next.”

“I don’t know why you always complain. The pay is great. The benefits, better.”

“Yes I am sure the Captain has plenty of benefits us lowly workers don’t get.” Kim grumbled nudging her friend as the two of them settled on the bridge. They were on their way to Lyons, a planet on the border of the Combine, and Commonwealth. It was actually the furthest the Library Engineers had gone. The furthest from home any of them had been.

“Could be worse. We could be stuck on Redbase. It’s summer right now.”

“Ugh. Even with the armor I don’t want to deal with a Zaniah Summer again. So I guess you got me there. That’s a benefit I can get behind. Until we land on a volcanic world or something.”

“I’ll tell the Commander we refuse any volcano worlds.”

“Thank you. Captain. You truly are the best of us.”

“It’s what I am-” The alert sounded and Captain Nelson felt her stomach clench. She was still a rookie captain. She had been trained enough to be on her own, but she was green. Still learning. In charge only because the Commander believed she had enough learning that she now needed experience.

She wasn’t sure she was ready for a battle.

“Captain! We have three spheroid dropships on an intercept course! They are releasing ASF forces!” Her communications officer called out, after she hit the alert.

“How many ASF?”

“I am reading at least six lances Captain!”

Twelve fighters? That didn’t make sense, unless they were planning on targeting a dropship from the get go. “Intercept time?”

“Less than an hour.”

“Open a call to the Planetary Guard! We need to alert them we are under attack.”

“Working on it now Captain!”

She stalled then. A realization. She had just left the jump point. If they were already on her ass? They were at least a few days away from rescue. Worse? They only had two ASF fighters. That wasn’t enough to take out twelve no matter what they did.

“Sandra?”

She jerked. Realizing she had been circling. She took a deep breath and let it out. Adjusting her hat. She grabbed a radio accessing the PA system.

“This is your Captain speaking. We are under attack. The enemy forces outnumber us, and likely there will be no rescue in time. As of this moment I am activating Ragnarok Protocol. I repeat. Ragnarok Protocol is in effect. We will give them nothing.”

“And take everything.” The words were repeated back to her from every person on the ship. Some whispered in fear. Some roared in courage.

“I am afraid we are in for a rough few months or longer. But we are Iron Blooded. She will come, and these pirates will regret their actions today. So this is an order to all members. Survive. Believe in rescue. She will come.” The last words were spoken in a whisper.

God Sandra hoped she would come.

In the deep dark of space, an hour later a few lights of battle could be seen.

Then, as if returning to its natural state.

Nothing.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15.1 All’s Fair
3025
Zaniah
RedBase

It was a warm afternoon like many days were on Zaniah. I was looking over my new batch of recruits. A good many of them were even from Amity. I could just make out Valerie running along. Our first League kid. I was proud. Our numbers now exceeded any amount I could have dreamed. Over the last two years of building up, we had only gone out to battle a few times. Most of it was spent spreading across Lyran space. The Isaribi had been relegated completely to library building.

It was a good feeling. Libraries spread across world after world. Each of them spreading knowledge. Letting people get an education that had been thought lost.

But this was the Inner Sphere. And nothing peaceful ever lasted.

“Vicky!”

“Benny?” His voice was angry. Not just annoyed, not frustrated. This was anger. Hatred.

“We got an HPG message. From Lyons.”

It took me a second to remember the planet on the edge of Lyran and Combine space was where the Isaribi was.

“What happened?”

“The Isaribi was captured. Come on, the message… There was an attachment. It will tell you the rest.” Benny was seething. I on the other hand just felt my stomach drop out from under me.

I started running. The command center in the middle of our Castle Brian was abuzz. And I could see more than a few nearly tear filled faces looking to me for answers.

“Play it.” I demanded, taking control. I kept my back straight. As the message began playing. A video message at that.

The man Sitting seiza in front of the camera was very very Kuritan. Although he had non japanese features, he wore a kimono and there was a Katana on the floor beside his hip.

“Good evening Commander Eisen-Blume. This one has the Honor of being Governor Kagemuchi Ito of Ko. Your people have been captured. Your Dropship and all its inhabitants are currently my guests.”

My teeth clenched. Everyone knew that being a guest of a Kuritan, was just another way of saying tortured every day. Or worse.

“I have heard you feel close to all those under your command. So this one is afraid a deal must be offered. Their lives, for your Colossus Dropship. The Coordinator wishes to own this vessel, along with the Lostech Battlemechs. Come to Ko with your holds full, and you will be allowed to leave with your people. I await your response.”

“Do we have any confirmation that this is real?” I demanded and Benny was at my elbow nodding. “The 12th Star Guards were on Lyons. They sent a message about the raid. The Isaribi was the target.”

“I see.”

“Commander?”

The paused image of the man that currently had my kids was burned into my mind. I didn’t want this. The fact of the matter is I wanted to avoid fighting the houses anymore than I already had. I needed a neutral reputation to be able to spread across the states.

But I also had a responsibility to my kids. One that I would happily throw away anything else for.

“Fine.” I stepped over to the base wide PA system. Flipping a button. Which sent out an alert to the entire Castle Brian including the surface area. The PA system releasing a few notes, alerting everyone to an emergency message.

“Attention. This is Commander Eisen-Blume. We have just been informed, our Library engineering detachment on the Isaribi have been taken in a Combine Raid above Lyons. The Governor of Ko has accepted responsibility for this. Our people are currently imprisoned in the Combine.”

I took a deep breath. Fuck me. I wanted to avoid this. I wanted to not end up pulling a fucking Wolfs Dragoons.

“They demand our equipment. If this was all I would gladly turn it over. But I do not believe in Combine Honor. I don’t believe when I hand over what they want that our people will be returned. As such there is only one choice. I will head to Ko. I will fight. I will recover our people, or die trying.”

I turned, looking around the command station. Benny nodded. As the older brother to everyone. He couldn’t allow this anymore than I could.

“This mission… Will be volunteer only. We will begin gathering everyone soon. If you have anyone you know on the Isaribi. We will rescue them. No matter what. Every one of them. This, for the first time, is a point we will all remember. We will not be fighting pirates, or a raid. This is not an act that has no other meaning. Iron Blooded. This is an act of War. Prepare yourselves. For when we march to war. The Sphere will tremble. Eisen-Blume out.”

“You do know everyone is going to want to go.”

“I know. Damn me. But I know.” I shook it off. “Benny. We aren’t going with just the WhiteBase. I’m breaking out the Emergency equipment. Find the best mechwarriors and put them in mechs… I need to make some HPG calls.”

“Understood Commander!” Benny was all teeth. It wasn’t a grin. We were all too angry for that. But it was a promise.

The ISDF. The Iron Blooded Orphans go to war.

—-

I didn’t sleep that night, Or the next.

That first day I sent out multiple HPG messages. Some requested additional assistance. Mostly to ASF forces. O’Connors Corsairs had decided to come to Ko with us. At first they had been hesitant, but then they saw what was really going on, and their desire to kick some snakes in the nuts overruled any hesitancy.

The fact I promised all of them, every single pilot they had a Royal ASF ride, had something to do with it too.

But we did get a few interested responses back. It would be nice to have some extra experienced pilots. We would pick them up along the way. The Clementine the Invader Jumpship was being contracted to pick us up for the whole way.

I had an express package to be delivered by ComStar as well. I paid the ‘super express tier’ payment. That basically means it gets transported with all due haste.

The box was sent straight to Ko. A message for Governor Kagemuchi.

It would only arrive maybe a week or so before we did since we were still preparing, but that was fine.

Finally I had to send a message to the Archon. It was handed off to Marcus, who would be staying behind, even if for the first time since we had our underground meeting about what the Homeguard entailed, he actually felt the regret of joining. Just like all the kids. And I do mean all of them.

He wanted to fight.

But he agreed to stay. To protect our home when it would be the emptiest it ever has been.

The message to the Archon would be sent only as we were getting very close to dropping on Ko. I didn’t want ComStar nonsense to give any advantage to the Combine. As I said. The Iron Blooded were now at war. That meant we had to act as if all of our enemies were enemies.

—-
{Recording Begins}

“Aunt Katrina. Sorry. The ISDF is going to the planet Ko. They kidnapped some of my kids… I’m not asking for any assistance. We should be okay with what I have, but I will owe you an apology. See I lied to you. I know you are probably frowning right now, but I did have a few more Lostech caches that I could open up. And well… You will probably hear the rumors start soon, but I wanted to tell you myself. And… When this is all over. I will of course be happy to hand over some equipment. I have been a bit greedy about it.”

The girl took a deep breath and then exhaled, as if gathering strength.

“The ISDF is not a Battalion strength Company. That only accounts for one Colossus.”

“We have three.”

“Aunt Katrina. As of this moment. The ISDF RCT is going to war with the Combine. Sorry if this messes up any plans.”

{Recording Ends}

—-

I couldn’t leave it as just a message on the radio. So two days before we were planning on leaving. I had a full company meeting. One of the big interior bays was opened up, and more of my people gathered together than ever before. This bay was meant to hold a dropship.

It just barely was big enough for all of the people. It was a startling thought. This may be the last time I am ever able to hold a meeting with 100% turnout. After this, the ISDF may be too big for it.

I strode through the crowd, as one of them. They easily made way for me, but quite a few asked questions, which if I could I would answer back. Even more reached out for some interaction. A pat on the shoulder. A fist touch. Some of the kids needed the assurance.

Because everyone was definitely upset. I was here to try and help that. To give them focus.

By the time I strode up onto the foot of my Nightstar which was acting as my stage the kids had quieted down. A few had noticed the oddities I had left in the hall. But none had messed with them yet.

“Iron Blooded Orphans!” I called out. My voice increased with the speakers installed in the hall. I spoke loudly even so. “That is what I called us so many years ago. Some of you were even there.” I joke looking over the crowds. “But it doesn’t mean we are some great warriors. We aren’t destined to defeat the villains. That’s for heroes. We aren’t the heroes.”

“Heroes Die!”

I let that echo around the room for a while. “Warriors become heroes because they take risks. We will never be that. We don’t take risks. We are soldiers. We don’t fight like warriors. We fight whenever the enemy has a disadvantage, and we have an advantage. We don’t sacrifice our lives to take out just one more enemy mech. We retreat, regroup. Fight again the next day. We are the slow inexorable army that crushes those that we fight.”

It was quiet for a while. My kids not all happy with what I was saying, but most were getting it. “Our goal is to save our brothers and sisters. To do that we will take risks. That is War, but we will do our best to come home again. If we die out there on some forsaken world. Our family will mourn us. Our friends will miss us. Their lives will grow darker without our light. So today. We will set upon our souls a reminder.”

Beside the Nightstar and in a few spots in the hangar barrels had been placed. Yes. I was being theatrical. But dammit these were my kids. If a little theater would remind them to keep themselves alive while fighting the God Damned Combine. I would pick a fucking totem animal and start screaming nonsense words at them. Maybe Kaplah? Eh it was better than Batchall.

Inside the barrel was a dark red liquid. It was actually… Well I had Gauge make the original bit.

But it was basically future space paint. Also magic. I was pretty sure it was magic.

I dipped my hands into the paint, every eye in the hall on me as I streaked the red paint on my face. From the side of my nose, under my eye and down my cheek. A streak of what looked like blood. Then I did the other side.

“A reminder. A Physical reminder of what will happen to those around you if you die. We will all shed tears of blood for your loss. All of you. Join in. When the Iron Blooded Orphans go to war. We should all do this. A reminder that our loss, Our life means something to each other.”

It was a solemn moment as many of the kids did so. Joining me in my symbol. Benny was the first to alter the path. He swiped it up and over his nose. Hanna joined in his symbol. Soon others were picking their own way of doing it. Some chose streaks down their cheeks. Some across. One had three across his cheeks. And my instinct to call them a weeb was there, But I contained it. That anime didn’t exist I think, plus I had no room to talk. My Battle Angel Alita face paint was plainly visible.

It of course did start getting a little rowdy. “Hey! Don’t mess around, don’t get any in your eyes! I don’t care if he messed up your symbol. We have a cleaner you can use to start over!”

But in the end. Every one of my soldiers had a red streak on their face. Already it was drying and the effect came in. The light hitting the blood red markings would make the color shift from red. To the color of Iron.

“We still have work to do. Dismissed!”

—-

“Commander. I heard a rumor…”

“It’s true.” I say plainly. I didn’t have time for this. So I was making it plain. I was standing out on the tarmac to where Whitebase was being loaded up. Both Lady Alessa, and her sons were standing beside me. The three had come probably wondering what was going on. The almost frantic energy of my kids had been noticed by the people of Zaniah.

“You are going to war? With the Combine?”

“Governess. We are going to war with everyone if I have to, until my kids are home safe. I am a little busy. Can I help you with something?” I prompt aggressively. My hands were a little full with this.

The Governess blinked, and she looked almost a little startled at how I was acting. It could be the red face paint, but I suppose this is the first time she had ever seen me truly angry before.

It was a first for many of my kids too.

“We would like to assist in any way we can.” She finally admitted as I turned away from another status report that had just been handed to me, looking it over I nodded. And sent the runner away. We were going to need more AC/20 ammo.

“Governess. Unless you have another dropship, you will only get in our way.”

“We do have a leopard. If an additional Lance of mechs could be of assistance?” She offered, and I was actually forced to turn and look at her.

“You aren’t usually this supportive, what are you plotting? I frankly don’t have time at the moment to figure it out.”

She looked a little affronted for a moment before nodding. “You will need additional forces if you are planning on taking on the Combine. We have an extra dropship and mechwarriors… Of course if we are going to assist you surely a few improvements to our Battlemech forces wouldn’t be out of hand?”

Ah there was the self-serving Governess I knew.

“I don’t have time to prep a jumpship. You get your people in a dropship and on their way to Ko, and I will give you a Lance of Lostech machines. If you fight, you can keep them and any salvage you take on the planet. We aren’t going there for salvage.”

Vincent. Actually gasped, at my offer but it was Arthur that had the first word. “We accept Commander. I will join you myself.”

“No.” The Governess cut in instantly. “Arthur. I can’t have both of you go. You are my heirs. Vincent will go. I already know I couldn’t talk him out of it. Arthur you will stay here and keep the planet's defense.”

“Great. Figure it out. I have other things to deal with. If you’ll excuse me?” I demand, basically glaring at them to leave as I turn back to the preparations. This was going to be messy. We didn't have the experience to handle this without some sort of fuckup. I was just trying to find it before it exploded in our face.

—-

“Can we do it?”

Captain Andre Gilbert was the Lieutenant that I had hired on to be a semi-permanent captain for the Isaribi. Eventually he had taken over Whitebase because we needed someone with experience to cover a Colossus.

“It’s going to be tight Commander. Without… Captain Nelson. We are going to struggle to crew three dropships… Much less three Colossus.” The man still seemed to be having trouble wrapping his head around the fact there were two more Colossus in Redbase.

I hadn’t bothered to answer any questions about where they came from, or how they had gotten to Redbase without anyone knowing.

That was going to be a fun ‘secret’ to lead people around with.

“Can it be done relatively safely?”

“No. Not with your current crew, they aren’t experienced enough. Dropping in a warzone is not the same as landing on a normal approach.”

“What do we need?”

“At least a few experienced officers.”

“Get them. Either here on Zaniah, or recruit them and let us pick them up on the way. Captain as far as I am concerned money is no object. Get the three dropships ready.”

“Commander. I wasn’t exactly a high ranked officer before. Anyone we recruit…”

“I don’t care, Captain. You have the most experience in the entire Inner Sphere at the head of a Colossus. You are in charge. Can you handle this?”

The younger man hesitated before his face firmed he adjusted his hat. The same hat that I had picked out for my Iron Blooded Naval officers. He didn't wear the armor, but he did deserve the hat.

“Commander, I will take care of it. We will have a crew ready for the Ko landing.”

I nod. Everything was coming together.

—-

It took a week for everything to be readied. That included me creating an absurd amount of equipment we would be taking with.

And on a bright Summer day on Zaniah. On the 13th of September. The people of Zaniah were treated to sight that hadn’t been possible in over Two-Hundred and Fifty years.

Redbase heaved as two massive openings in the desert appeared, and slowly two Colossus rose ro join the third on the surface on massive freight elevators. Once the elevators were locked in. The three Colossus, all painted like concrete, erupted as three fusion drives ignited. Three Colossus dropships roared into the sky over Zaniah.

The rumors of what happened had spread quickly across the desert planet, and as one the people, Lyran, or Spies from around the Sphere, knew that something big had just happened.

But all I could think was the time it would take.

Four jumps.

—-

Fifty days later. A package arrived on Ko. This package had a very strange destination. But ComStar had been paid exceptionally well to ensure it ended up in the right hands. So in a bit of an odd situation. A ComStar Acolyte walked into the Governor's palace on Ko. A box the color of concrete held before him. A large red flower sigil stamped on the top.

It took the acolyte some time before he was allowed to see the Governor. Security check after security check, not on him of course, but the box. To ensure no bomb or poison, or viral agent was detected. Finally he was allowed through stepping into an ostentatious throne room. This governor Yamada knew, would probably not last long.

Already stirring among the people about their hatred of this man. ComStar had picked up plenty of worried messages going out about the unrest of the planet. Of course the Governor blamed it on Lyran agitators. And not on his own failures.

“When I heard a package was arriving carried by a ComStar Adept I was quite surprised! Come, show me what is so important, someone would pay so much to your company to have it hand delivered.”

“I am simply an Acolyte Governor Kagemuchi, But this is the package.” Yamada placed the package on the table before the Governor, watching as the man smirked slightly. The large red symbol of the ISDF, or the Iron Blooded Orphans, or just the Iron Blooded displayed on the front.

“Ah. I was wondering when they would get back to me. Why they sent this through a package instead of an HPG message I will never know. Lyrans.”

Yamada had looked into what exactly the package meant, and had discovered the situation going on with the Mercenary company with delusions of grandeur and the Governor. He couldn’t help but wonder if the Governor was ready for an angry mercenary company coming for blood. The Governor opened the box. The package revealed an odd thing.

It was a flower. Sort of. Blood red. Quite literally as it had been scanned and revealed to literally be coated in dried blood. An iron flower coated in blood. What was more interesting is that this Commander was a woman of few words. No letter, no note. Just a flower in a box.

Yamada wasn’t a military man, but even he could see the connotations. With his duty done he bowed lightly and turned, leaving the governor to stare at the package in solitude.

—-

Finally, In a burst of oddness leaving me feeling for a second like I could hear the taste of my lunch we burst into Ko space. It had been a hurried, almost frantic trip. The Clementine had agreed to this mission but it had cost me. Recruiting competent officers to man my dropships? That had cost me.

Everything was costing me something. I only hoped this wouldn’t end up costing me my dream.

“We are clear. Whitebase, Pegasus, and TrojanHorse are all confirmed green. Commander?” The Captain asked.

“Initiate the action.” I confirm, feeling the drive systems engage after we disengaged from the Clementine. We were far outside any lagless transmission range yet. It would be a few days before that. Seven more days.

“No enemy orbital defenses. Same as the official reports. But that may not last Commander. Good chance they will try to contest our re-entry.”

“I know Captain. That’s what the ASF forces are for. Plus our own weapons.”

Captain Gilbert nodded in agreement with that. “Our weapons are good, but if they throw enough at us…”

“We will make it through. I have full confidence in the crew's skills, and our defenses. Captain.” I offered a farewell as I headed through the dropship. There was a sense of anxiety on the ship. Not one for fear of what comes next. My kids were confident. No, the worry was for our captured crew.

I walked past the room Rough Squad currently had commandeered. They eventually had decided to become a raiding force.

I had told Lenden he was being an idiot, that there was no need for that. But it had been an idea he liked. So now Rough Squad… Which was a bit bigger than a squad at this point, but the name stuck, had been training for infiltration and mech theft.

Since there were only so many mechs we could take with us. Their idea had been to steal mechs from the enemy once they had landed. In a way massively increasing our offensive force on a campaign.

Absolutely stupid. They were going to get themselves all killed. Which is why I had first refused. Until a year later, I realized they were still going to fucking do it.

Lenden had eventually ‘stolen’ a bunch of Nighthawks a year or so back. They had just so ‘happened’ to appear in a storage room that the idiots used as a hangout room. I had of course ‘wrote off’ the missing Nighthawks.

After some tutelage from Delta, Rough Squad had learned how to use them. At least now they had a chance. Eventually Rough Squad had become almost a subset of Delta. I had dropped the whole problem on Carl's lap.

He hadn’t looked nearly irritated enough though. Fucker.

Rough squad was ready. All of them were hanging out partying like their life was ending. Considering the morons would be trying to sneak onto a Combine base to steal their mechs… Well it likely was. I didn’t stop in. I was just walking to have something to do. Any prep was basically already done. Now it was just the long wait.

I moved on. There was plenty of activity on Whitebase. Plenty of kids wandering around. Their nerves just as active as mine. I passed a lot of them patting shoulders, or giving nods. Letting them know I believed in them.

It wasn’t them I was worried about.

It was me that I wasn’t sure I believed in.

Could I do this? I had… I had wanted to do more than just be another group killing people in the Inner Sphere. I had such high hopes.

But I shook that away. Hopes were good. Dreams were great. But reality was reality. I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to. Because I had some aspirations of conquering a planet.

I was doing this to rescue my kids. The memory of the Combine having comfort women struck me.

If they raped even one of my kids. I would burn the Combine to ash. I would fuck this entire Inner sphere. A million mechs and jumpships would fall into the hands of the Commonwealth. Let’s see how the Combine like that.

I turned a corner. A small section of the ship that was quiet as I put my head against the cold hull. “Damn it.” I wanted to rage. My stomach felt like fire, and every breath I took felt like I was expelling fire.

It took a few minutes before I had control of myself again. No. I wasn’t going to go down that path of rage and anger. That is how wars like the succession wars happen. I had to be better. No. It wasn’t that.

I wanted to be better.

“Commander?” I blinked. Turning to see Sasha of all people. Why was this girl so good at finding me when I was freaking out?”

“Sasha. I’m okay.”

“Sure. And I’ll go on that date with Vincent he keeps hinting at.” The older woman, at this point, she was closer to thirty than not moved in, and despite the armor pulled me into a hug.

“I mean it. I’m… Just freaking out because of the wait.”

“I figured. You aren’t the only one that doesn’t handle the wait before the battle well. Micky didn’t either… He was on the Isaribi you know?”

I bit my lip. Damn. I had promised to keep her little brothers safe. And now just like the rest of my kids, they were hostage to the Combine.

“No. None of that. I can feel you spiraling. I just meant… He was proud to serve as an engineer. He was the first of my little brothers to find a place for himself. He always wanted to travel. He got to see a ton of worlds. And hopefully he will see even more. You didn’t hesitate Commander. As soon as you heard they were taken, you moved. We move with you. All of us know you will bring them home. Alive, or dead. It doesn’t matter. Because we know that you will do it.”

“I would really prefer bringing them home alive.”

“Me too. But we are prepared for the opposite. I didn’t get it, you know? The whole cult of personality you have. When I first joined I only did it to try and keep my brothers safe, but I understand Commander. This life… It’s better than anything we could have hoped for before. We are valued, each and every one of us. So we will follow you. I will follow you.”

“That only makes it worse. How many will end up dying because of what I decide?”

“I think you asked me something similar before. Vicky. People die. Everywhere. All the time. Very few get to die doing something they believe in. Fewer still get to die doing it not just because they believe, but because they know they are changing the universe for the better.”

“I don’t even know if we are changing the universe for the better.” I mumble out, The commonwealth could do wonderful things in the future, The Federated Commonwealth even more so. But it could also crash and burn just as badly, if not worse than it did.

“I do. Because my little brother got to learn how to be an engineer. Another is becoming a pilot. A good one, with a good ASF that won’t fall apart under him. Another became a Mechwarrior… His father had been a mechwarrior. And his grandfather. We used to hear the stories he would tell of his family's battles. Then his father died. His Mech disappeared, he lost that. You gave it back to him. You gave all of us something.” She ruffled my hair lightly with a soft smile. “Good job Vicky.”

“Ugh. Don’t… say it like that I already feel like I’m a failure.”

“No. You need to hear this sometimes too Commander. You won me over. I’m not here because I like combat. I’m here because you put out the call. And if I die. Then I will die doing something I believe is right.”

“Thanks Sasha.”

“Anytime Commander. C’mon, I hear that Rough squad is going to be holding a ‘ritual’ in their own words in the mechbay. They brought the NeuroHelm. You know the one?”

“Oh I told them to leave that thing back on Zaniah! Damn it. Let’s go see what they are up to.”

We walked shoulder to shoulder back to the Mechbay. Where Rough squad had started a party.

And so on the first night of our burn towards a battle.

Everyone on Whitebase made merry.

For the War would start soon.

—-

Seven days. That’s about how long it took for us to burn towards Ko. Without a word. Nothing stopped us, although that doesn’t mean we hadn’t been noticed. We definitely had. But nothing yet. But hours away from final re-entry. I was called to the bridge.

Seems the shitlord finally decided to act.

“Commander? Call for you.”

“Play it. Let’s see what they want.”

The system spun up and suddenly I was looking at a 3d image of the man that had kidnapped my kids.

“This one is Governor Kagemuchi. So you have come. With more than I expected. If you hand over your three dropships. You will be allowed to leave along with your captured people. Any refusal could lead to… Unfortunate consequences for them.”

I didn’t say anything. Didn’t need to. My people surrounding me? We had already decided on our course.

The many hard faces around me spoke of one fact. We would not give in. I let the silence drift. Simply staring into the eyes of the man that had harmed my people. Finally my silence seemed to get the better of him.

“If you do not accept I will kill one of your people for every minute that-”

“Go ahead.” I stated clearly and loudly, and not a twitch of refusal ran through my command staff on the bridge. Captain Gilbert, one of the few not wearing our armor, was even with us. Standing firm. “We are here to rescue our people. If you hand them over now. We will turn around. That will be the end of it.” I took a step forward. Which admittedly, had less function through a holovid reader, but I think it still worked.

“You will rescue nothing if you do not-”

“Then we will avenge them.” I cut this fool off. I was done with this. “My people will not be used as bargaining chips. If you think we will crumple. If you think you have any control here. Then Governor. You don’t know us at all.”

“You have until we hit the atmosphere. If you call before then, and offer a truce, to hand over my people. Then once we have them we will leave.”

“The Dragons claws do not surrender to idle threats! You children will be killed, your equipment taken for the good of the Dragon. You have no chance! The soldiers of the dragon are not like those weaklings you have faced in the past. You will not succeed.”

“Then we will die fighting.”

I flipped the switch, turning off the call.

I didn’t turn, staring into the spot the man's image had once been.

The bridge was silent. As we waited the time ticking down.

He never did call back.

Instead as we drew closer, an alert sounded. ASF were on the way to stop us.

It was now or never. I switched to the PA system. “This is Vicky. I know all of you are feeling a little bit of everything. Scared. Angry. Nervous. That’s okay. We have the advantage here. We hold every card. They don’t know the rain of fire coming down upon them.”

I looked to my right. Benny and Hanna weren’t here, but Gauge was. He nodded. The boy least likely to want to fight, was firm in his conviction. How could I be any less?

“The Governor who kidnapped our family called us children. To outsiders we may seem that way. They see us as inexperienced. We are. But they don’t see the hours of blood and sweat we gave. The effort it took to get up every morning muscles still sore, to keep practicing. The hours upon hours we spent firing our guns.”

I was tapping my fingers on the console. I was definitely in the nervous camp. I wasn’t scared so much. But nervous? That I would make a mistake? That my family would be killed because of something I did? Yeah.

“I am issuing one rule. Don’t die. If you are in danger, retreat. Only to save another's life should you risk your own. So don’t die. I don’t want to have to plant any Eisen-Blume across this world. Not some snake filled hellhole. So live. Commander Eisen-Blume out.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 15.2 All's Fair
3025
Ko
In Orbit

Day 1.

A different perspective
Gabe Richthofen

Gabe felt his hands shake. He had never imagined he would be here now. Sure. He had the flight hours. He had a lot of flight hours. The fact of the matter was, Gabe had been in the air more hours than he had been on the ground in the last two years. That isn’t even counting the hours he got with the 10th.

So he had the flight time.

It just never felt like it mattered. He always felt like he was too young. Too inexperienced.

But he was needed. Vicky had put out the call. God was he angry. Just like everyone. Their friends. Their brothers and sisters, kidnapped!

“This is Corsair. Check in.”

“Freefall, Green.”

“Feddy, Green.”

“RedBaron, Green.” Gabe sighed. His Lance was headed by Corsair. Captain O’Connor was a great person to hang out with on the ground, but in the air she was a mean sonuva bitch. She was also a damn skilled fighter pilot.

And now? In a Royal Stuka? Gabe didn't want to be anywhere near her sights. He had been roped into being her wingman. She said it was because he was good enough to keep up. He thought it was because he was a little bit too slow to keep anyone else alive.

But that was behind him. There were multiple flights launching out of the three Colossus. The planet was sending up ASF to hit them on re-entry. That was not going to happen.

The large doors of the Colossus opened, and Gabe was very happy they had worked out the ASF launch procedure a while back while raiding pirates, because Colossus dropships were not ASF mules. They weren’t exactly designed for it normally. It had taken a while and a bit of work, but they had figured it out. Now the old infantry hangar had been remodeled as an ASF bays.

It wasn’t like the ISDF were going to do the infantry wave tactics of the old SLDF after all.

Each Colossus could now easily hold 8 ASF and even quickly deploy that number, without too much issue.

The fact was they had enough pilots to actually do that. Gave Gabe some assurance. Sure it had been a rough few months. It felt like on the crew side of things everyone was short staffed, but that didn’t matter. Not for this.

This was make or break it time.

“Alright then. Alpha Flight. Light your fire, let’s move.” She called and in a moment it was Gabes turn. He lit his engine, and felt the G’s hit. He sped out into the void. He oriented just fine on Corsairs wing. Hours and hours and hours spent in the void above Zaniah had given him plenty of practice. The times they had gone up for over a day at a time had taught him a lot.

He could just faintly see the Drive plumes of the other Flights. Each of them reinforced just like Alpha.

Four birds to a flight. And with three Colossus, each dropship carried two flights.

He shook himself, his mind was slipping, focusing on things that weren’t important. He had work to do. He had been given a ‘gift’ from the Commander after all.

His Stuka had a Lostech sensor system. A secret that he wasn't allowed to share with the outsiders. He understood. He knew why and agreed. But it did put a lot of pressure on his shoulders. Minutes pass as the Flights move into position, to cover the dropships. He couldn’t let a single dropship falter here. That was his family on board.

“Alright kid. It’s time.”

“It’s Redbaron.” He sniped back as he finished securing his helmet.

“Sure kid. Get yourself some kills in this fight, and maybe I’ll start calling you that.”

He didn’t respond. Too focused. The heat of re-entry was already starting to cover his cockpit, cutting his normal vision. Of course his Stuka’s normal sensors were also struggling.

But not the Lostech. “Corsair. Visual confirmation. Enemy Flight. They are coming in from these coordinates.”

“What? The fuck how did you see that?” Corsair barked.

“Got a glimpse.”

“Kid… Fuck I’ll risk it. Alpha, on my tail, let’s go for them.” Gabe followed more through sensors than sight as everything was fire outside his cockpit, into a slight shift in the re-entry turn. And a moment later. He was lined up. Long before they could see him. And frankly before he could see them.

But he had a clear shot. And these fuckers were protecting the scumbag that took his family. Lightning fired. ERPPC launched straight through the fire and fury of re-entry. He grit his teeth. He missed. He had pulled a bit too hard, and his shots skimmed over the nose of the Shilone.

Gritting his teeth at his failure, the heat of his Stuka soaring, he still had a few seconds of entry before normal sight would return. The enemy had no such issues, but they weren’t in range. The Shilone he had fired at turned and fired it’s Large laser. But instantly Gabe noticed the problem. He was still well outside of range. The Shilone’s fire did nothing but dissipate far too soon.

“The hell are you shooting at kid?”

“That fucker.” Gabe grumbled over the line as he lined up his second shot. His Stuka was heating up, but he felt cool. His hands weren’t shaking anymore.

This time he rode the turbulence. Not letting it jostle him except how he wanted. And in a flash Four arcs of lightning burst from the fireball his Stuka made on entry. Just as the flash of fire cleared enough, and a curse from Corsair came over as she realized they were lined up perfectly onto the enemy flight. The Four bursts of ERPPC fire smashed into the Shilone.

“Alright Alpha! Pick your targets! Fire at will!” Corsair bellowed over the line as more lightning joined Gabes own. The enemy ASF were not expecting so much fire from outside their range.

The Shilone he had hit survived his shot, but it had rolled heavily, smoke and fire burning out of it. It lost its place in its flight, and was probably out of the fight. So Gabe chose his second target. His Stuka heated up as it struggled to dump the heat from re-entry and firing, but he didn’t care. He was just sweating a bit. They would be sweating a lot soon. His Cooling Suit was working overtime to keep him active.

His trigger depressed and the battle was on. Alpha flight wasn’t alone. The enemy had sent up a lot of ASF cover. To try and surprise the dropships. Hell, his sensor had even picked up a few air breathers converging in.

The Combine had thrown everything they could into the air to try and stop the ISDF from landing.

“COME ON!” He screamed into the mic, any hesitancy forgotten, and he fired his ERPPC again and again. Then the enemy were in range, and then his Autocannon joined in. Anything to tear these fuckers apart. He flew, he dipped, he rolled, his armor was shattered from return fire. But the Stuka didn’t care. The enemy's lighter fighters were trying to get past them. To get to the dropships as they burned in.

The Flights only had one job. Stop them.

They did.

The enemy flights were so shocked at the ferocity they ran into. That their attack hesitated too long. The first dropship to finish re-entry was WhiteBase. Glowing white hot the current flagship of the ISDF, and a beast of a dropship.

Spoke.

None of the enemy fighters were expecting the dropship they had been targeting to suddenly reach out and touch them.

But it did. Targeting systems in perfect condition and backed up by the Commanders Sensors. The gauss rounds barked loud enough Gabe could hear it through the thin atmosphere and the fighting.

And the enemy shattered. The Colossus only needed 9 gunners Gabe remembered idly. And those kids?

They were a division of Homeguard. Marcus had finally figured out a way to get at least some of them involved. They would man the guns of the Dropships. After all, WhiteBase and the other dropships were a home too.

Gabe spent more hours than not in the air training over the last two years. Homeguard? There was almost never a moment that they weren’t training. It was a joke, that if Homeguard ever stopped firing their guns. The entire base would overflow with ammunition and the ISDF would have to sleep on top of Artillery shells.

And this? This was the chance Homeguard had been waiting for. A chance to fire their guns at the enemy.

By the time the second Colossus, the Pegasus had finished re-entry and it’s guns started firing the fight had already long left the enemy ASF. Not that Gabe, or Corsair were planning on letting them get away.

The fleeing fighters were chased by lightning, long after their rear guns could even come close, the Stukas fired. Although they did break off eventually. Their job was protection.

As the skys cleared. And no further threats came in Gabe felt exhilarated. He had done it. Survived, and fought well.

“Good job Alpha. Looks like we only lost one during the dust up. I want status checks, and let’s get on overwatch until everything is settled.”

“Roger!”

“Understood.”

“Roger that.”

“Oh and RedBaron? Not bad kid. If you keep this up I might let you keep that name. Otherwise I’m calling you Glimpse. Cause I have no idea how you got a glimpse of that wing through the fire.”

“Just lucky.”

“Yeah sure.”

Gabe sighed. He wasn’t sure how many he actually took down, if any. But his computer would have the record, he would go over it later. For now… he felt good. His training had paid off. Now? It was up to the ground forces. They would have a far tougher, dirtier job than his.

But the ISDF were up for it. It was time the rest of the Inner Sphere learned that too.

—-

We had landed in farmland. Long stretches of some sort of wheat or something leaving long sight lines, with lines of trees acting as borders of the fields. Between each farm was usually small forests, filled with ponds, or roughage. Places for animals to keep to themselves.

We weren’t being gentle to the field. I would need to remind myself to find the owner of this field and apologize in person when we were done. Because our fortifications didn’t care about the food growing beneath us. Not that much survived the drive plume of the Dropships.

The first twenty minutes of our landing was the most frantic. Our dropships landed and we began securing the area. Thanks to our sensors, it was easy work. And moderately safe. There wasn’t much fear of random ISF agents, or a regiment of Battlemechs or tanks sneaking up on us. So we had some time. And we used it.

It was funny. I had originally had my kids put up defense towers around Redbase to give them practice for doing it in the field. I hadn’t really considered how important that was until today. Watching the AC/2 flak turrets being set up around our dropships. Ensuring that any offense from the sky would find themselves with a nasty surprise.

I was sitting in my Nightstar. Guiding the defensive preparations, and keeping an eye on the enemy units surrounding us. I didn’t really know what to expect. The actual enemy unit on the planet was completely unknown to me.

So I was trying to keep a level head. Our mechs were already finished disembarking, acting as the wall of the defense, until the fortifications were set up.

And for the tanks to get their gear in order.

If there was any group in the ISDF that was the least trained, it might be either the navy, or the tankers. I hadn’t expected we would need to attack with this level of force before. Right now the experienced tankers were each commanding a tank, splitting up teams, just to give some experience to green crews.

Not that it helped much. Twice already as they disembarked, tanks crashed or ended up stuck or stalled.

Thankfully, while this invasion was serious. Whoever was in charge of the defenses wasn’t ready to engage in a banzai charge.

Yet.

So I settled in, overwatching the area. One of the first things we had begun crafting was actually a tarmac. The Stuka could stay in the air for a very long time, thanks to the fusion engine, but that didn’t mean my people could.

They had just got out of a nasty fight. I had birds in the air that were barely staying up there. So my Engineers were flattening a long path using a piece of equipment we had ‘bought’ back on Zaniah.

It would be enough. If a bit of a rough landing and take off.

Until then. There was only one other issue. “Delta, how is it?” My radio buzzed for a minute. The Combine were definitely trying some sort of radio interference, but the SLDF equipment both onboard the colossus, and the physical units I kept in a few Norman trucks we had brought with, were doing just fine cutting through. And hopefully keeping our comms secure.

“We are on site. O’Donnel is banged up, might be a broken leg, but his parachute kept him alive. Heading in now. We took care of a couple scouts. Looks like they aren’t expecting our fast movers.”

“Good. Stay low. Get our boy home safe.” O’Donnel, was an ass, an arrogant pilot, one of O’Connors. But he fought for my kids.

He would get another Stuka. Even if he had lost his first one. I switched frequencies.

“Corsair. How’s the sky looking?”

“Blue. Boring. Not enough snakes to fight. They all got scared off.”

“That’s good. Your Boy is fine. Broken leg but he’s already picked up by some of our scouts.”

“Shit already? You move quick Commander… Thank you. I’ve known him a long time.”

“He’s one of us now. Stay steady Corsair, we almost have our runway done.”

“Great. Another dirt runway. I love those.”

“Commander out.”

So the day went. An hour. Then two. The Combine general was either antsy, or confident. Because nothing came for us. Well nothing big.

Plenty of Infantry were sent in to scout. In fact it was an almost obscene number. If not for our sensors, there was no chance they wouldn’t have managed to sneak close. But well…

None made it close. Delta wasn’t even wholly responsible. Rough Squad was active. Disappearing more than their number in scouts. My Nighthawks were running full tilt. Every once in a while I would hear gunfire out in the distance, and another dot would disappear from the sensor.

And so the time ticked away. Slowly. Steadily. A few ASF attempted to pass close, but the Corsairs and my kids chased them off. Now that the Combine knew what sort of heat my ASF was packing they were skittish. But still a threat. They were obviously waiting, hunting.

Thankfully our defense towers were still unknown. So if they did manage to slip through they would get a taste of that.

Finally a change happened.
“Commander. We have a call coming in. Visual and audio.”

“If it’s from the Governor hang up. He had his chance.”

“No. Looks like a military frequency.”

“Patch it through then.” Nightstars were designed to be command mechs. You bet your ass it had a holovid comm system. The small hologram burst up and into the form of a woman dressed in a DCMS uniform.

“This is Sho-Sho Tatyana Sobiroff, of the 22nd Dieron Regulars, To the raiding elements, shut down all military equipment and surrender, The dragon’s eyes are on you now.”

“This is Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. ISDF, First Division Iron Blooded Orphans. My men were captured by Governor Kagemuchi. If my people are returned, I have no further interest in this world, its people, or its defenders.”

“If they are taken by the dragon, they belong to the dragon now. Lower your arms, and give in to the inevitable. Surrender.”

So she was one of ‘those’ people. An officer more than willing to get everyone killed.

Well that’s fine. I was more than willing to kill them.

“You have my kids. My only answer is war.” I flipped the switch on the comm unit, turning it off. There wasn’t any further point in talking. As if a Combine officer could let a merc unit that just landed on their planet go free anyways. The moment we hit the atmosphere, this war had already started.

I flipped to a new connection. “Rommel.”

“Commander?” Benny asked ready and willing.

“Defenses are up. Go scout them.”

“Understood Commander!”

—-

A different perspective
Benjamin Rommel
Ko

Benny had been waiting for this. His fusion engine rumbled as he kicked his myomers into motion. With a single step Benny began his march. “Second Battalion! We march!”

Hoops and hollers echoed for a moment. Lenden, the only ISDF member not in a Royal mech was the loudest of them all.

“Scorch. I know your people have been getting in position. Are they ready?”

“You know we are Fox! My boys have been scoping out the FOB.”

“Patch them into my comms. They are going to be our distraction.”

“Roger that!”

Benny felt the power of his Atlas as he kicked it up to full speed. It’s heavy legs uncaring what ground got in its way. It wasn’t fast. But it didn’t need to be. His Lance made up of the Command Element was ready.

Benny still wasn’t sure why Vicky kept calling it his ‘scout’ lance. But the four Atlas moved in rhythm. They had been working together for years at this point. A single lance under his command. He had practiced commanding both Lance, Company, and even a little battalion experience, but this was the real thing.

He opened his Atlas’s throttle. The Lostech Sensor, still one of the most amazing things he had ever seen. Just further proof in his eyes that Vicky was meant to do this.

“I’ll be taking designation Alpha Lance. Beta Lance is yours Scorch. Don’t lose picture of where you are. Protect Rough Squad and hit navpoint Beta. Delta Lance will be The spear. Delta, you will be breaching, understood?”

“Roger that Fox!” Michael King. Shouted back. The leader of Delta was a solid Mechwarrior. A little too full of himself on the ground, but he always followed orders and Benny definitely considered him for a promotion.

He was also the head of the King Crab Lance. One guess at where he took his name from. Also Benny wasn’t sure why Vicky would break into laughter every time they got brought up, but he was used to Vicky being Vicky at this point.

“Alright King, Nav Point Delta is you. Scorch. Break away. You are faster than us. Let Delta hit first, before Beta engages. Orders set. Go!”

Benny was in his element. This was where he was meant to be.

The first target was an FOB full of enemy tanks, and hovercraft. They had been massing for a while now. Benny had zero intention of letting the speed sucker punch their forces. So that was his first target.

And his first true battle against something more than pirate scum.

Benny watched as the enemy had yet to even notice their approach. Their scouts, who should have been relaying information, were all lying dead in the field. Delta, and Rough squad had been merciless. The infantry that headed out into the fields the ISDF had claimed never returned.

Finally he noticed it. As they got close enough that there was only a single copse of trees blocking them from view. Something seemed to have alerted them. They began moving. Rushing around.

“Rough Squad. Now. Delta. LRM targets. Alpha. LRM and target data. Let’s show them our roar!”

Seeing through the trees thanks to Vickys sensor. Benny aimed. He wasn’t as good as shot as Vicky, or anything like Hanna. But his Gauss round was aimed at an unmoving target. Even as explosions started shattering across the base. Rough squad having been planting explosives around.

Their training with Delta ops, shown off. The fuel storage going up in a sudden fireball was the most impressive act. The fireball shooting high into the sky.

Then Bennys Gauss rifle slammed into a parked Saracen and sent the crewless hovercraft spinning.

Despite the surprise. These weren’t house troops for nothing. Even if Benny still had no idea who they were.

Their crews were quick to get ready. Even if the lance of King Crabs marching into their base made their resistance futile.

Delta marched in King firing first, his AC/20’s more than a match for the vehicles. The pattering of Large lasers, and SRMs stripping armor, but creating the distraction Benny had wanted. Beta Lance, led by Scorch the lighter, but still powerful medium and heavy mechs pushed in from the side, as the King Crabs drew the fire. Lenden cleaned up. His barrage of Green medium lasers melting working, and unworking vehicles regardless.

The battle was already done. A few infantry tried to fight back, but Beta cleaned them out, and Rough Squad finished anything else off. Their Nighthawks clearing any remaining combatants in the building.

“Commander this is Fox. Enemy site Alpha is taken, and resistance is complete.”

“Fox. Battalion Status.”

Benny grimaced. Despite his best efforts. The enemy hadn’t gone without a fight. Enough of the vehicle crews had put their weapons on target. “Two medium armor damage. Four with light armor damage. Ammo. Green overall. Report is we lost at least two of Rough.”

“We will mourn them later. Send your damaged boys back for re-armor. I was watching. You got aggressive.”

Benny flushed. He remembered Vickys words when they were planning on the way over. Steady. Slow and steady. “Yes Commander.”

“Did you learn something?”

Benny thought about it. He had expected his equipment to roll over the enemy practically untouched. Instead despite the battle going completely his way, he had taken more damage than he had expected.

“Yes Commander.”

“Good. Use it. Use their FOB as a new defense grid location. Have Rough squad clear out scouts just like before. Slow and steady Fox.”

“I won’t let you down Commander.”

—-

“You never do.” I repeated the oft said phrase back, but I didn’t have time to remain on target with Benny. The enemy were obviously reacting to the news of our first assault. A King Crab Lance is no joke. But even a King Crab didn’t handle focus fire from a tank company.

It would be good practice to have our crew repair some armor mid mission. Not something we usually stuck around long enough to matter.

“Alright Corsair, you have a clear runway. Get your tail feathers down here.”

“Understood Control Corsair out!”

With that taken care of I had to turn to focus on the fronts.

There were three of them so far. The direction of the capital city to the east was the main one. There had obviously been some sort of military base in that direction.

Because that is where some mechs were.

The second was to the south. A group without any mechs, it was mostly armor. At least a battalion of vehicles. My guess was a planetary guard force.

The third was the one that worried me the most. To the north the main detachment of the mech force was here. And so were vehicles, and enough infantry I knew it was going to be a rather brutal fight.

Thankfully the enemy hadn’t realized our secret weapon yet. And I wasn’t about to let them know until it was too late.

Artillery was King. It was going to be a very direct reminder to the combine. More and more of the Mobile Long Toms were prepped out of the Dropships, covered in camo netting, but their guns were ready.. And they would have enough ammo… Well. I had no problem ensuring their ammo supply never ran out.

Six long toms per Colossus were readying themselves around our defenses. I angled them so that regardless of what force came calling, at least a nine of them could fire. Plus the Colossus were still armed. Homeguard… well they were guarding our home.

We had dealt the first blow. I was actually a little surprised that they had let us move first. From what I understood the Combine officers usually preferred to be on the aggressive side of warfare.

—-

A different perspective
Nakano Takeko
ISDF Base camp
Ko

Takeko was nervous. Commander Eisen-Blume had taken her as one of her Lancemates. Had given her a job that many in the ISDF had wanted. To stand beside the Commander on the Battlefield.

Takeko grimaced. Being in the Draconis Combine was… Weird. She had technically been born on a planet like this. Her parents had fled the Combine for one reason or another.

Takeko didn’t know. She had been dropped off at an orphanage in Solaris when she was three. Her parents were found dead not long after.

Sword wounds.

So she never knew them. Never knew any loyalty to this state. She was as Lyran as anyone. Spoke German, and couldn’t speak Japanese even if she wanted to. Still… It had been a decision she made to pick a Japanese name when she had gone through her ceremony. She had wondered for a long time what name to pick. But finally as the Commander asked her what her name would be, until she died and forever onward.

It was a small history lesson she had once learned from earth that had come to mind. So Nakano Takeko. Named after a warrior woman of Japan that had fought in the Boshin war. A woman that had fought and died bravely. And been remembered for over a thousand years.

Takeko had wanted that. To be remembered. Not like her parents, who she didn't even know the names of.

So she had taken the last name of a woman that fought and died bravely they had already shared a first name after all.

Sometimes she regretted it. Mostly because she kept forgetting that in the Japanese style, her last name came first. The Commander never forgot though.

Speaking of the Commander. As Takeko dallied in her thoughts, her radio crackled. “Takeko. Take Beta and hit nav point Charlie. We have some AT guns moving up, and I don’t want them there.”

“Understood Commander!” Takeko, switched stations, opening her comm system to Beta Lance, that she would be in charge of. “Beta. This is Takeko, taking command. Nav Charlie is our destination. Let’s move out!”

“You got it boss. Finally time to kill some snakes… No offense.”

“I’m as Lyran as you are Dumkopff.” She poked back. The leader of the Commanders Beta lance, technically the 112th was Daniel Wallis. The redhead was the head of the Highlander squad for a reason after all. He and his Lance were the aerial assault mechs. Something hiding on that mountain? Send the jump jet mechs.

Takeko only had a Black Knight. She wasn’t sure why Vicky had looked so pained when she handed the mech to her during her ceremony, but it was a good mech, a solid design. She liked it.

“Right right… Sorry Takeko.”

“Let’s move it Wallis. Commander has a job for us.”

“Right. Roger that!.”

The reinforced Lance moved out. Takeko herself had one of the Lostech sensors. It was why she was put in charge of this detachment. Every mech in the Commanders Lance had a Sensor. So they could help guide other lances, or lead everyone through the battlefield.

Then of course there was Erica’s Lance which would protect her or move off when she was helping the Commander guide the ISDF.

But that was a problem for later Takeko was on a mission. Rechecking her sensor she noticed the infantry company with vehicle support were moving AT defenses onto a hill overlooking one of the roads towards the capital. Probably to surprise ambush the ISDF tanks when they finally moved.

Takeko was still weirded out about how cautious the Combine officer was. Usually they would have been assaulted by infantry by the score by now.

Something weird was going on.

But Takeko had a job to do. Taking the Highlanders to come around a steep section of the ditch would let them jump up behind where the AT guns were being set up.

The infantry were sending out scouts, but Delta ops were working overtime. Takeko hadn’t realized quite how many people Delta Ops had recruited over the last few years. Originally a small squad they were more like a company at this point. Heading out in trucks, or off road quads they had picked up somewhere to get around.

And the enemy scouts died.

They were getting very good at taking out enemies. It helps when you know they were there long before they ever could expect to have been noticed.

So the Beta Lance moved.Takeko leading the way as she was faster than the Highlanders, but there wasn’t much for her to do. Just keep an eye on the sensor, on the path, and make sure they weren’t noticed until the enemy were taken care of.

The terrain was rough, but nothing compared to Zaniah. By this point, even the reserve mechwarriors had plenty of experience in a cockpit. Plus everyone had their own Neurohelm now. She bounced as her Black Knight jumped over a ditch. It wasn’t an easy maneuver but she had gotten used to doing it in Zaniah on the rough sandy dunes. Beta following in her example without Jumpjets, although they landed rougher than she had.

“Quiet as you can Beta. We are getting close.”

“Roger!”

The enemy company were hard at work according to Takeko’s sensor. The infantry were digging in, trying to give the AT guns some cover. The guns had been towed in by some Goblins. Also carrying the infantry.

The AT guns weren’t a worry, they were coming in behind the enemy, but the Goblins each had Large lasers. And were kept active.

“Okay Beta. Target data is being sent. Twelve enemy AT guns, and twelve Goblin transports. Focus on the Goblins they have Large Lasers and Machine guns. The infantry have some SRM launchers, but we should be able to disrupt them enough in the initial fight not to matter.”

“You got it, Takeko. We are ready for this!” Daniel called back. She could hear the eagerness in his voice.

She didn’t say anything. She hoped they were.

They slowed, trying to move as quietly as possible for the last mile. The four Assault mechs were down to a slow plodding walk to reduce seismic as much as possible.

Takeko had a bit more freedom, but even she was trying to place her steps carefully.

“We should just charge in. Takeko. They don’t have any mechs!” Daniel eventually laser commed in. The boy was always impatient, it had been the reason he had been pushed back for earning his own Mech for so long.

“Danny. You know as well as I do this isn’t a game or training exercise anymore.” She was sending the comm message just to him, thankful that her Black Knight had plenty of Command equipment in the cockpit.

Danny was sensitive to criticism. “Commanders orders. We need to try and preserve our armor as much as possible. No risks. This is a war.”

Takeko could feel the cool lines down her cheeks. She had copied the Commanders symbol. It had seemed appropriate since she was under her direct command. But it was a reminder, a good one. Every time she saw them, she remembered why they were doing this.

Why it was so serious.

A sigh crackled over the line. “Fine. If the Commander wants it that way.” He grumbled but she had her own sigh of relief not sent over the comms. Discipline was pretty good, usually.

But this was a unique instance. A lot of the Mechwarriros that had been on reserve for one issue or another were out here. Danny was too impatient. It led him to taking headlong charges expecting his mech to bully through.

Takeko couldn’t allow that. Vickys reminder to Benny when he made that mistake had been heard loud and clear. Even Benny had been embarrassed at losing sight of what was happening.

These weren't pirates they were hunting.

Finally the Lance made it to their objective. Takeko split from them. She would head around, and when the Highlanders jumped in, she would move in from another direction, hopefully the pincer would reduce any surprises.

Tactics, she reminded herself. Go into every fight, gaining every advantage you could, while reducing the enemies advantages. The Commander had told her that once during a training match.

So when it was time Takeko gave the order. “Beta. Engage!”

The roar of four Highlanders engaging their jump jets roared over the hills and cliffs. The enemy immediately reacted. Infantry running for cover or equipment, the Goblins each roaring into full activation.

But it was too late. The LRMs rained down followed by four angry assault mechs.

Takeko moved. Even as she kept an eye on the fight Gauss rifles barked and Goblins were smashed to pieces. But there was more of them than the mechs. The return fire began. Large lasers burn cutting streaks into the Highlanders armor.

Takeko burst around the corner, beginning to climb the hill from the other side, both assaults coming up behind the enemy. Takeko let rip. Her Pulse lasers targeting a single Goblin. The vehicle practically melting from the sustained heat. Her ERPPC Targeting another, and ripped lightning into the formation. The Goblin shrieking as metal overheated.

Beta was in their element. With surprise they fired. SRms hitting armor, or clumps of Infantry trying to fire back. Mediums arcing out to cut and burn. Their Gauss barking on every reload. The Highlanders kept very cold simply kept firing.

Her Black Knight was heating up. But she wasn't’ about to stop firing. Still racing up, she practically stomped on a goblin keeping it from moving as she shot her KinSlaughter ERPPC directly into the turret. Once that was done, her Large Pulse once more arced out. The unique sound of Lasers pulsing echoed over the infantry causing quite a few of them to drive for cover.

But she wasn’t aiming for them. She allowed her lasers to cut into the side of a second Goblin.

Beta wasn’t willing to let her take all the credit. Danny jumped. Letting loose a barrage of his SRMs from his arm mid air, before coming down heavily on a Goblin. Even Takeko flinched at the horrible scream of metal compressing down.

The Infantry not long after began throwing up their hands, or simply running. They hadn’t done much in this fight, but Beta had felt the bite of their SRMs. Once Takeko was sure none of them were going to fire again. She signaled to Beta that the fight was over. Giving herself a few moments to cool off, she wiped sweat from her bangs. As even with the Cooling suit her cockpit was heating up. She watched on as Beta smashed the AT guns into scrap.

The Goblins which had all been disabled would also have to be crushed down. Commanders orders.

Leave the enemy no salvage.

—-

“AT Guns are down Commander. Returning to base.”

I sighed a relief. Takeko had done a damn good job. The highlanders had taken some armor damage but that was inevitable. At least it had been light damage all around.

With the AT guns they were trying to set up for an ambush down, the road was clear. Still.. What was the enemy doing? Not a single attack yet? Whoever this enemy Commander was they were cautious, way too cautious for a normal Combine general.

“No way someone gets to the rank of Sho-Sho, and acts like this much of a scaredy cat. Something else is going on.”

It was the only thing that made sense. This Tatyana Sobiroff was more dangerous than I had assumed.

Noticing something, I switched channels. “Corsair. We got another enemy flight, looks like airbreathers. What have you got ready for a pass?”

“I’ll go up. My Lance is ready we just got done with a break.”

“Roger that. Sending you data.” It was something I was trying to be careful with, how much data I sent. I couldn’t just tell her that I knew exactly where the enemy were and how many of them. But sometimes needs must. I wasn’t about to let the enemy drop bombs on my head.

I continued to overview the battlefield. Even as the roar of Stuka engines started up, and a Flight of the machines roared off our tarmac.

I was trying to figure out what this Commander was thinking. Our brief interaction had led me to believe she would go through the normal Combine playbook. But this level of hesitation was odd.

I mean I was using it of course. Our defenses were getting set up, and settled. It would help.

I rolled my eyes. “Delta Ops. You got another squad of infantry trying to move in on the north side. Take them out. I don’t like these peepers.”

Carls voice came through but I could hear he was tired. “Ugh, what is it with this person! How many scouts do they even have!?”

“You sound tired Carl. You okay?”

“Yeah, fine Commander. I set up a rotation, I’m actually in a command truck right now taking a break. I’ll send Eris to this group. Her squad can handle them.”

“Alright keep it up Carl. You and Delta have done amazing work.”

“Thanks Commander. Delta out.”

I was getting annoyed. Time to poke these people again.

“Hanna.”

“Commander. You got orders for me?”

“I do. They have been setting things up for a while. I want you to go and outrange them. Take a Rhino squad, and just poke them and keep doing it. I don’t want them to have a moment's rest on the north side.”

“Oh Vicky. I knew you loved me. You give me the best jobs.”

“Yeah yeah. Get out of here. And don't take any damage. I want a complete one sided assault. Hit them at ranges they can’t.”

“Roger!”

—-

Hanna Hayha was ready. Her grin was splitting her face as she stomped out of the defenses. Her squad followed after. Alpha Company, of the third Battalion. The 311th was created for one purpose. Long range. Accurate. Fire.

Using Lostech to hit outside the range of anyone else.

Vicky had given Hanna a choice of what she wanted to pilot, and what she wanted her Lance to use.

There had only been one active choice. Her Nightstar stomped forward, She had considered having her Lance us Highlanders for the mobility, but it was best to have an entire lance for that. So instead, her three lance mates were all in Marauder 2R’s

“Hauptmann? What’s the word?” Mara Romeo asked. Unlike most, she had gone the more odd naming scheme the Iron Blooded had picked up. She had picked her name after her mech, Started by Lenden Scorch.

“We are going to be sniping our enemy, Commanders rule. No taking damage. We are only supposed to hit them from out of their range.”

“Damn. Commander giving us the tough missions.”

“Slow down a bit Mara. Me and the Rhinos are slower than your Marauder.”

“Ah! Sorry Hauptmann. My Maddy is just excited. I can feel it wanting to shoot some snakes.”

“Yeah yeah. Keep it contained. We are going to prove to Benny that the 3rd Battalion is the elites, not him.”

“You got it Hanna!”

They stomped out sticking to the road to the north. The Royal Rhinos, the mainstay SLDF LRM Carriers following behind us slowed but kept up well enough. Checking her sensor Hanna noticed the enemy definitely knew they were coming. Despite the ECM, they probably got them on Seismic, it wasn’t like they were trying to be stealthy.

No, she wanted them to know who was coming. Hanna looked out, farther ahead, the long road covered on each side by copse of trees and then fields, ending at the enemy base. They had built up right on the road itself, uncaring about traffic and the like. No the infantry and mechs they had stored here were active, building defenses, although Hanna wasn’t sure why.

They were well within Artillery range still… She was surprised Vicky hadn’t blasted them into scrap yet. But that was for Vicky to worry about. As they appeared down the road the enemy jumped into action. Tanks and vehicles were readied, and Hanna could ‘see’ the lance of light mechs, Two panthers, and two Cicada start up and get ready for a battle.

Hanna had no intention of giving them a fight. “Alright Alpha! Hold here, Nav points are targeted. Looks like they did bring some LRM carriers. So let’s show them ours!”

Hanna could hear the dark chuckle of the Rhino lance's Hauptmann as the Rhino’s spread out and began aiming. Unlike the old Carriers, these were the SLDF versions a more advanced carrier than ones made by quickscell.

Hanna had stopped them just on the edge of LRM range. Sure it wouldn’t lead to the most damaging barrages, but it still meant our Rhinos got in on the action.

Little did they know her weapons reached out a bit farther.

The enemy fired first. They had obviously set up some sort of system of where to fire their LRMs in case of an attack. So their carriers didn't hesitate a barrage of missiles arcing up and then down towards them. The rain of missiles wasn’t deadly, but would have left some bad armor damage.

If the four Rhino’s AMS systems didn’t let loose a quiet roar as missile after missile simply exploded in mid air.

The Rhino’s return volley had no such issues. Each Rhino had 2 LRM 20, on a turret, and a LRM 10 on the hull. With their ECM systems, it made them hard to hit to begin with. As the light rain of the enemy LRMs came in. The few that even got close to her detachment were soon shot from the air. Then the Rhinos opened up. Vicky really was right. Sure losing a bit of firepower hurt, but these things were much more useful.

The turret alone on the Rhino meant it could change targets in seconds without having to completely move.

The LRMs rained down focusing on the enemy LRM batteries. Hanna wanted to cut off any long range fire from the base.

While that happened the enemy mechs came out to fight.

She could see the moment the enemy mechs realized what it was they were facing. Two Panthers jumped over the ferrocrete walls they had set up, PPC aiming towards them.

Only to still for just a moment, when they got visuals on what it was they were up against.

Gauss Barked as Hanna fired, Both Panthers moved. A strange sort of motion almost bending the Panther at the waist backwards and then turning into a half side step meant her Gauss smashed into the walls behind them. Destroying two chunks out of the ferrocrete.

They didn’t even fire back. Already knowing they were still out of range. So instead they jumped again. Both jumping in a different direction and forward. Hanna’s lance opened up. While the Normal PPC was out of range. The ERPPC was well within range.

Burst after burst shot towards the sky. Hanna even added her own single ERPPC to the fray Only one of their barrage hit, shattering armor on the panther, but not disabling it, as it managed to land with a loud bang. Still out of range. I could practically hear the screams of rage from the pilot.

It must be horrible not to be able to shoot back.

So Hanna Fired her Gauss. This time she did a second hesitation aiming and waiting that half step. He engaged his Jets trying to jump out of the shot he expected.

Hanna fired a second after. Both Gauss rounds hammering into the Panther. Unfortunately at different points, Yet the force imparted screwed up his jump regardless pushed backwards nearly flipping around the pilot was… Damn good. He managed to spin hard enough that his legs took the brunt of the fall but that was still a nasty crash as he rolled a few times. The scream, of mech armor ripping apart echoed around.

“Don’t get tunnel vision! We have four mechs. Hold, don’t let the Rhino’s take shots. Focus targets!” She almost cursed. Without the Rhino’s she would have fallen back and led them around a bit, but now she was stuck in a line. This was a mistake, she realized. She hadn’t expected the enemy to be able to get close. And she was going to pay for it.

The second Panther finally got into range and opened fire. A PPC arced out, and despite Hanna’s attempts it shattered some armor on her shoulder. For it’s trouble it received the sudden attention of two of her lancemates. Their ERPPC staggered out, each Marauder only shooting one at a time, leaving the poor Panther facing a wave of bolts. They didn’t miss as much. Despite his best efforts.

The pilot knew what he was doing and Hanna had to admit, he was probably better than they were. But not that much better.

She grunted. As a PPC blasted into her. The Cicada had managed their objective, flanking in from the left and right, both had opened up on her. Her Nightstar felt the burn, armor shearing off at the lightning.

Her last Lancemate had kept their cool, as the Cicada on the right took his shot, he received not just two ERPPC blasts in return, but the AC/5 had barked out. The Cicada went down. He didn’t rise back up.

The rest of the enemy were starting to charge in, hovercraft and tanks, trying to divert fire from their light mechs, but despite their best efforts, The Rhino’s and Hanna’s Lance were keep their fire constant.

Still Hanna was furious, she had already taken more damage than she expected. She opened fire. The Panther was taking damage, but he was spreading it, keeping his mech alive. Gauss barked. This time in separate shots, her Nightstar taking a step forward as it’s fired a different gun every second. But for all her anger, this pilot was good. Realizing that the tables had turned, he took another shot, his PPC burning another mark in her armor as he jumped backwards, over the trees.

That didn’t stop her from firing. Trees cracked and fell as Gauss burst through the cover, but he was moving fast, swiftly realizing she still had eyes on him, he ducked down, using cover of the roads higher level to keep himself safe enough to pull back the Cicada did the same. And despite her attempts. Once they started moving and got out of her range, Hanna could do nothing to chase them down.

“Alright everyone report in!” She roared out. Her blood boiling she would make them pay for that. She stomped up to the Panther still trying to regain it’s feet. The Mechwarrior apparently still awake. She stomped with her Nightstar. Squashing the PPC arm under her 95 ton weight. A gauss rifle poked the cockpit literally butting up against the glass. “Surrender.”

With the retreat, the enemy vehicles were butchered or fled, it was a bittersweet fact that they were able to claim this base without too much more resistance. Hanna got to stick around, watch the Mechwarrior be captured, and stuffed into a Norman by a few members of Rough Squad and driven back to base. Hopefully he would have some answers that Vicky would like.

“Dammit. I took damage. Vicky is going to be so annoyed.”

—-

“So this is him?”

“Yep. Chu-I Sakamoto. He won’t give us anything else. Just telling us his rank.” Eris offered with a shrug. “It’s pretty common for DCMS soldiers. I could get more out of him but it would involve… Rough measures.”

“No, no torture. Just find out what Regiment he is with. I want to know why Tatyana is acting so weird.”

“That I can do.”

I walked off as Eris got back to work. Things had been going well enough. It was getting late into the day. I still had no idea what the Combine were thinking. They kept sending in Infantry into our area, only for them to get taken out before they can send any information back, but I expected some sort of reaction, or action on their part other than information gathering.

It was weird.

Their mechs had taken to staying in company sized formations. No more single Lances for us to pick off. Apparently Hanna’s attack had startled them. But that was fine. They still didn’t have good eyes on everything that I had brought. And under the cover of night a lot of work would be done.

The base around each of the dropships was buzzing. Despite the late hour, people were still rushing around. We would be switching to the third shift soon, although I haven't taken a break yet. Soon I promised myself. Once I finished up my last tasks. I checked in with a few of the commands. O’Connell was happy that the Combine had stopped sending aircraft over.

They had lost too many already to the Stuka.

But her people would stay on standby just in case.

Benny and 2nd Battalion would be taking over Command for the night. Hanna was irritable. Her Nightstar had taken a lot of damage for an assault that I had told her not to take any. But that was war. She had been surprised that Light mechs would charge into a Lance of Heavies.

She learned. And passed it around. It was a good learning experience even if it had her spitting nails.

Then I walked onto Whitebase, the storage hangar was emptied out, a purposeful act I had set up in advance, as I walked into the rear of the Hangar where a storage container was pushed against the wall. It was taller than it was wide, and with a hand pushed against a SLDF Security sensor hidden on the container. It slowly opened.

My Spector loomed over me in the dark.

“Time to get to work.”

Loading into the secret mech gantry that was set up inside the cargo container. It had taken me a while to figure out how I was going to transport this thing without it becoming well known. It was too valuable as an unknown to let it just show up on our mech roster.

Once I was strapped in, the Chameleon and Null Sig hid me from prying eyes. Well as long as they weren’t using one of my Sensors anyways. I spent a good half an hour replenishing our ammunition stores. We hadn’t used much overall, but I made sure to stock up on LRMs, and our Artillery Unit would be happy. I made sure to make even more Long Tom Ammo for them. Plus a lot more Arrow IV missiles. We hadn’t used any yet, but when it was time to go loud I wanted to make sure we didn’t have to stop firing for anything.

Our six launchers would have plenty of ammo to keep them running.

I also made some additional armor plates, and random equipment we had discovered we needed more of through the day. Once that was done. The Hangar was opened at a radio call. The troops currently on lookout for me were those in the know. They would start passing out the additional equipment through the night.

Invisible-ish and undetected as I walked out of the hangar. Then out the hole in our defenses that had been purposefully opened. Then I went out into the farmland of Ko.

It was always a rush being a faster mech. I did love the Nightstar, assault mechs were definitely my true love. But there was something about feeling like you are the fastest thing in the world. I had three objectives tonight

First, Metal Extractor.

I raced out to the nearest extractor point. I did have to dodge through some defenses, but it was laughably easy to sneak through the Combines patrols. Considering how late it was, and how effective we had been at wiping out any attempts to scout the area.

In just a few minutes, my Medium Nanoforge had a metal Extractor at the point I had chosen. Although it took longer to hide it than to make it.

Once that was done. Objective 2 was active. With some actual metal income, I was ready to cause some havoc on the next day. Delta had come through of course. They always did. They had already had a few people sneak into the city. Jarlton was a big city, a Capital, even if Ko was more focused on agriculture, that still meant they had to have factories to process the food.

Which is why I ran east. Towards the city and where Delta had found an empty warehouse. I raced through the farms until I hit the city where I had to slow. Unlike before there were a lot of people in this city even if most of them were staying home.

The Combine had initiated a curfew.

That wouldn’t stop us. With my Spector. I was able to walk around the few checkpoints by being difficult to see especially at night and knowing where the enemy all were. None of the soldiers had any idea of what was happening.

The walk to the warehouse went by without issue. The streets of the city were dead. And my invisible-ish mech didn’t care about cameras.

With a single click on my radio, something that wouldn’t be picked up if anyone from the Combine was listening. The warehouse opened and I stepped through the large rolling door closing behind me.

I popped the hatch of the Spector. “Alright Carl. You got me for a few hours. What do you need?”

The Nighthawk clad soldier gave me a grin. As he stood on one of the catwalks letting us talk without yelling.

“Bombs Commander. Lot’s of Bombs.”

Well that was easy enough. The Warehouse was flooded in green.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15.3 All's Fair
3025
Ko
WhiteBase Bridge

Day 2.

“So why am I awake… An hour before my set time?” I grumble as I stumble into the war room on WhiteBase.

“Sorry Commander. We got some interesting information, and it does change a few things.” Benny offered with an apologetic shrug.

I waved him on as I took a few more sips of space coffee. None of the taste, all of the caffeine. It was warm. And helped wake you up and keep you up. Good enough.

“So Eric got the Mechwarrior talking, and she found out who it is we are facing.”

“You are leading to something, but I’m too tired for this.”

“Right Sorry. So we are facing the 22nd Dieron Regulars. With a call to ComStar we found out a bit about them. Here is the funny part. They are a regiment sized unit… On the lighter side, Which is why we have seen so many Panthers. But the funniest part? They’re specialized in scouting missions… I found out why they were so shy. We keep plucking out their eyes and their General is probably freaking out.”

I blinked. Sipping a bit of coffee as I considered that. It… Fit. They have been sending in scouts constantly, trying to get some eyes on us, but thanks to the sensors, and Nighthawks. They have failed at every step. I put myself in their shoes. I’m a general, my men are great scouts. Yet whenever I send some scouts against this strange raiding party they disappear…

“Benny. They are going to overreact to everything we do. That’s what they have been doing. Every time we poke them they try to double whatever we hit them with. They don’t know how much force we have.”

“Okay. So what? We overstretch them? Make them defend too much and smash them where they are weak?” Benny asked. I considered it. It was a good plan, Since we were all Heavy or Assault mechs it would work, but I shook my head.

“No. No, we want them to bring their force to bear. I want them thinking they have us on the backfoot. From now on, we need to use the same Lances we have already used. We want them to think they have an idea of our numbers. Break into Lances, or Companies. Go hit their defense points. Hit and fade, but not competently, If you start getting any resistance, retreat. Let them think… Let them think they have us on the backfoot. That we are too green. I want them to think we only have a few competent Mechwarriors.”

“Commander?”

“I have an idea Benny. Take care of it?”

“Okay, I’ll brief the men, and set up some plans… I’m going to borrow Erica. She will be perfect to maintain cohesion.”

“Do it. I need twenty minutes and some more coffee. Then I have some calls to make.”

I continued to wipe my eyes. Taking a few minutes to finish off my coffee and breakfast before climbing up through the interior of Whitebase. To the Bridge. The Comms officer, who’s name was escaping me for a moment, was quick to jump to my request.

“Call went through?”

“It did Commander. They are apparently interested in hearing from you. Putting it through.”

“Governor Kagemuchi. I want my people back.”

“Commander Eisen-Blume. As I stated before. Your men are now the Dragons. If you wish them returned, you should have handed over your equipment and bowed your head. Now the price for their safe return has gone up. I considered removing one of their heads, just to ensure your understanding of the seriousness of their situation.”

“I already told you murdering them isn’t going to make me back down. Consider this Governor. We have won every engagement we have had so far. Your people have lost their lives, and some have lost their mechs. This can end. Right now. Give me back my people. We will leave. We won’t even take any of the salvage from your men. You will be able to recover everything you have lost so far.”

“What little we have lost will be regained from your company once the last of your men are in chains or dead. I am the will of the Dragon here on Ko. The Dragons Will, does not hesitate.”

“Fancy words that don’t mean anything.” I stare into the image of the man that I had come here to defeat. “People are losing their lives. Defenders of your people are dying because of greed. Governor, see reason.”

“Hmph you are afraid.”

I shook my head, flipping the switch on the Holo unit. Cutting him off. My remorseful look was gone. As I turned to Gauge who had given me the signal I was waiting for during the conversation.

“You were right Vicky. That signal was definitely not from the Palace. I managed to track him down with the signal, and the sensor. He is in some sort of underground bunker. All of his signals are routed through the palace, but that’s easy enough for us to follow with your lostech.”

“Good. Check out that bunker. Find out if any of our people are down there. No I know it’s hard to tell a person from a person, but look around for anyone in chains, or prison cells.”

“Not gonna be easy to tell the difference, but I’ll keep an eye on it. Gonna send Delta in?”

“No not yet. I need the Governor to think he is winning… Until he isn’t. Guaranteed if we push too hard our captives die.”

“Yeah. Vicky. You okay?”

I blinked, turning to my best friend. “Yeah. I’m doing as well as I can be. Why?”

“Because you haven’t laughed once since we got the news. You don’t even smile anymore. You know. This is a serious thing, this war we are in, but that doesn’t mean you have to become someone else to do it. We got this. The enemy doesn't have a clue of what we have. They are fighting blind. It’s okay to… Be you.”

“I can’t.” I shook my head looking back over the bridge. Some of our people were still active. There was always someone up here, but it was quiet for the most part. “How can I laugh, or have fun when our people… They are probably doing horrible things to them! They don’t… They don’t respect our lives at all.”

“Yeah, But that’s always going to be the case you know? None of us, None of us would be angry if you laughed. We all look up to you. Seeing you so serious.. It’s actually a little off putting.”

“It’s supposed to be. This isn’t training, or a bandit raid Gauge. This is a full out, non-stop war. It only takes one messup to turn this entire thing around. They just need to be smart, or out think us, once. Just once.”

“Vicky.” He grabbed my head and turned me completely to face him. “You barely look anyone in the eyes, and spend all your time glaring at nothing. We need you. You can’t let this beat you down… It’s not your fault.”

I flinched. “It is. I sent them out. I didn’t even give them enough ASF defense. If they had a few more planes.”

“Then they would still be in the same situation. The Governor, he knew how much they brought with. He was ready. The Combine wanted this. They wanted our people. You can’t know when something bad is going to happen. You can prepare as much as you can, but bad things happen.”

“Trying to make me feel better, in this situation just makes me feel worse.” I grumble, but his arm pulling me in to a warm hug even with our armor in the way did make me feel better.

The jerk.

“So are you ready to stop messing around and come up with a plan?”

“I have a plan! What’s wrong with my plan?”

“Well… The rumor is that you are babying us too much. Everyone wants to go and fight. To get our people back, but you seem to be…” He trailed off at my glare.

“That’s just because you have books for brains! You can’t see my obviously superior master plan. I call it Operation Fish in a Barrel!”

“Well the name is as terrible as always. So I guess you are feeling better.”

“Pff. You just don’t understand my genius. Fine since you and your simple mind are too simple. I will explain my master plan!”

“Definitely feeling better. Alright explain away.”

“Well first-”

—--

A different perspective
Sub-Commander Benjamin Rommel 2nd Division, ISDF.
Ko

“So everyone got the plan?”

“C’mon Sub-Commander! This is bullshit. The Commander has been all overprotective ever since the Isaribi got nabbed. Stop holding us back, let us go out and kick Snake ass! We have the mechs and the will!” There were quite a few nods of agreement from the crowd. The entire 2nd Division, both Mechwarrior and Tanker were gathered together for this brief.

“Hey! Who do you think you are talking about? You don’t think our illustrious ditzy Blonde doesn’t have a plan? She is keeping it close. The enemy doesn't have a clue what is coming! She isn’t babying you idiots. She is tricking them!” Benny called out surprised at the sense he was getting. No one had ever just… gone against the Commanders plans before. Sure this was the first time she didn’t tell everyone what was going on, but there were too many people.

It made sense to keep it quiet.

“It’s not what I heard!” Corben offered. The man was just about the same age as Benny, and as a Tanker he tended to have a chip on his shoulder. But it was obvious that the morale was wonky as Benny looked over his people. Nodding heads filled his view. Something was up.

“Where exactly did you hear this impression the Commander doesn’t have her shit stowed, Hauptmann?” Benny demanded as he pushed through the crowd. Face to face with the boy that unfortunately was actually taller than Benny. “Because I would very much like to know that! As the one that knows more about the plan than anybody I would like to know who is spreading this kind of shit!”

“Fuck off Benny! The Commander has been acting funny for months now! She lost her shit! She always babied us! And now with the Isaribi lost she hasn’t been acting right! We have a full regiment of Assault mechs! We should be out there crushing the Snakes not waiting around for them to get more reinforcements! We need a leader that will actually step up and do what needs to be done!”

“And who is this leader?” The voice brought the argument to a complete silence. Benny thought with an internal smirk. Despite her griping Vicky did have a way of bringing an entire room's attention to her. The crowd of soldiers, who were acting more like children, spread from her passage as she walked up to Corben.

She was shorter than Corben, but from the way he looked. That fact certainly wasn’t what he was thinking. “Hauptmann, I asked you a question.” The crowd winced. When not actively Commanding a fight, Vicky rarely used ranks. It had become a bit of a joke that no matter what rank you actually held. To Vicky you were only ever a kid.

Benny thought that joke was more accurate than expected from the way Corben, in his early twenties, looked like a five year old with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Commander. I just…”

She sighed. Shaking her head, reaching up and without seeming to even realize it she brushed a hand through his hair ruffling it as she walked past both of them. Every eye in the Hangar on her as she moved up to the foot of the Atlas Benny had been using to hold the brief. It had like many things become traditional to hold briefings standing on the feet of your mech.

Just another weird thing the ISDF now did.

“Alright. So this is definitely my fault. My bad. Our prep for this… Mission. Has been extensive, but we still rushed some things, especially the setup from our old Battalion size to a Regiment. So that’s on me. We will do better. Learn from these growing pains and continue on.”

Her back straight, Arms resting in the small of her back and fierce blue eyes locked down everyone in the room. The armor really was a perfect fit for her. At this point Benny couldn’t imagine her in anything but the armor. It was just… Vicky.

“You are all concerned about the plan. That is my fault. As your Commander I should have made it clear that yes. We have a plan. That we are not messing around out here waiting for the Combine to beat us.”

“What is the plan!” Corben seemed to find some steel in his spine as he called out. Vicky took his question without concern. Pointing him out.

“None of your business, Hauptmann.” The crowd chuckled. Breaking some of the tension even as Corben seemed about to dig in before Vicky continued. “Operational security is a thing. Even if I am bad at it. You don’t need to know the overarching plan.”

“But let me ask you this. When your plan, which if I heard right was, take our regiment and charge into the city. Smashing through any defenders. Do I have that right? When that plan happens, and you find out that your charge meant that you got all the people from the Isaribi killed in response. How exactly does that meet the objective to rescue them?”

The crowd went silent and even Corben was flushing at that. None of the kids, even the most bloodthirsty members of Rough squad, was willing to sacrifice the Isaribi crew.

“We are not here to defeat the Combine Regiment. We are not here to punish evildoers. We are not here for vengeance. This is a rescue mission, people. That is it. That is the goal. We will not. For any reason, lose sight of that.”

She stood there. Proud and tall and he smiled. Damn that girl. He would have spent an hour or more arguing with these idiots, but Vicky? With a few sentences she has everyone in the room ready to follow her orders to their death if they have to.

“Trust me. Just once more. At least once more. Until we are burning off this world with our people back. Trust me!”

“Always!” Benny called out, and he wasn’t alone. The room had shifted. Any hesitation or concern at Vicky coddling them was gone. The woman. Because it was hard to call her a girl anymore had turned it all around. Even Corben was nodding grimly.

Benny would talk to him after even so. Something about this was wrong. He would be repeating his question about where he got the idea that Vicky didn’t have this handled.

But that was for later, because now he had to actually get his people back on track. Vickys speech had wound them up, so now he had to actually get them moving.

Damn that girl!

An hour later. A bit longer than he had wanted he was moving out. His Battalion was on track. Multiple small probing attacks with Lance size attacks. Just enough to keep poking the Combine. To make them realize they will need more mechs to handle them.

But not enough to think the ISDF were competent. They all had the same order hammered into their head. If they took damage, any damage, They were to retreat at full steam.

Let the Combine think them cowards. Let them think that children playing at war had no idea what they were doing.

Benny gripped his controls of his Atlas. Yes. He thought. Let them think whatever they liked. As Vicky liked to say.

They would learn. They would all learn.

Following along behind the slightly faster mechs in his Lance Benny finally handed off operational command to Erica who was back at the dropships her voice in everyone's ears as she took over and started relaying orders to the other Lances. For Benny it was go time.

“Alright everyone! Remember we aren’t here to be heroes. Poke the Snakes with a stick! Fire!”

LRMs roared out. The enemy weren’t surprised this time. They had been sticking Cameras and things outside their base. An attempt to get some working intel before an attack.

Benny’s Atlas roared it’s anger as he fired his Gauss. Not aiming at any mech as they were still hidden behind the walls. But Gauss makes good holes in Ferrocrete. He grinned as his shot revealed a Stinger hiding behind the wall, causing the light mech to jerk back away from the hole.

The enemy were responding. LRMs coming back over the wall. Most weren’t anywhere near in range, but a few hit here and there, Benny kept it together for a few minutes. Just firing his Gauss at anything. If something was moving, great. If not the wall was getting holes punched into it.

His lance finally retreated when barrage of LRMs from a turret the enemy had set up finally struck mostly on point. “Retreat! Scramble scramble!” He roared into the mic, making it great fun for the Lance. As everyone basically started running away in full sprint. He was sure the Combine were wondering what the cowards that had just attacked them were doing. But their lights harried them for a bit before retreating.

Mission successful.

—-

The engagement was going well. I kept a close eye on it as Benny led his 2nd Battalion into battle. He was better at using his vehicle support, she noticed. He was making sure the lances each had a Lance of tanks backing them up. Letting them use the Alacorns to the best effect sniping a light Mech and then hauling ass back to base.

The three targets Benny hit were outposts or guard posts that were being put up. Each of them had at best a Lance of Light mechs, but a company of vehicles, but already I could see the Combine responding, The defenses increased as the single Lance of assault mechs tore up some defenses before retreating at their first wounds.

Like green pilots terrified of dying.

I felt my face stretch into a smile. An evil smile at that. The Combine were Samurai. I would bet good money all during their training they were told how cowardly the Lyrans are. How they are weaklings easy to scare away with superior Combine skill.

What was it Sun-Tzu said? The original person, not the Liao. Appear to be weak where you are strong?

Well The Combine were reinforcing their defenses two, or even three Lances settling into the defensive positions.

Enough in their eyes to get around the slow lumbering assaults and take some out on their next assault.

I nodded. Letting the battleline settle for a few hours before Hanna moved. Just like Benny she did the same thing at the start of her shift. But unlike Benny she went with two lances of Mechs to each defensive position.

Enough to make the Company of Light mechs hesitate and give her cover to assault and retreat.

Then the commander on the other side requested more reinforcements.

“Just as Keikaku.”

“What? Vicky. Was that Japanese?” Gauge asked as he flicked on the lights in the War room, blinking my eyes in the bright light, I looked away from my Sensor screen and into the judging eyes of Gauge as he was thoroughly unimpressed.

“K-keikaku means plan.”

“I know what it means you idiot! Why are you hiding in the dark talking about… No I don’t care.” He rolled his eyes as I felt myself blushing. Damnit. “Hanna is on her way back but you know we are taking way too much damage here. The repair group can’t keep up. Hell I have been done in the hangars trying to repair some mechs. If you keep this up we aren’t going to have any mechs with armor left to fight.”

“I know. Tonight… Well I have a plan to fix that. We just have to keep the Combine reinforcing their defensive positions for now. Once Delta finds them we can move.”

“Ah. Nothing from Delta yet?”

I grit my teeth. “No. Sensors are great, but they can’t tell much about a person compared to any other. Delta is scouring the city trying to find where they are being held. Nothing yet.”

It was the single point of failure in my plan. If the governor felt threatened enough he might just make the call and have my people killed just to spite me. Combine were a bit known for that sort of thing.

“So you can’t find them.”

“No. Do you have any idea how many people are in prison-like conditions in that city alone? I swear half the damn population could be them. We won’t find them unless they…” I blinked. That could work. That could definitely work. “I have to make a call.”

“What? Vicky! Don’t just run away while blinking into space, tell me what you came up with! Vicky!”

—-

A different perspective
Colonel Hanna Hayha 3rd Division, ISDF.
Ko

Hanna really hated smart enemies.

With the Sensor they had turned away at least a hundred sneak attacks. Infantry, Vehicles, aircraft. And now?

The fuckers were trying to move an artillery piece into range. Well technically two. Thumpers. And so now it was Hanna’s problem. Of course it had been an easy spot. The Thumper only had a ten kilometer range. Give or take. They had seen it coming.

The problem was getting to it. Delta was busy. Rough was… Doing Rough squad stuff crazy bastards. ASF wasn’t likely either. Unfortunately the damn things were well in the enemy defense cordon.

That meant she was going to send something to handle this.

And she knew just who, and what.

Striding out of Trojan Base she took a moment to look over the people that were running around. Even at the late time activity was everywhere. Three shifts meant someone was up at all times.

No one wanted to be the one sleeping when the enemy attacked.
She passed a fire of all things. Someone had actually dug a pit, and a few chairs had been placed around it. The kids were hanging out and relaxing after their long day.

Hanna liked it. This is what they should be. Happy. She left them in peace. She would keep watch while they rested. So that in the morning they would be well rested.

She walked into Whitebase. Passing a few kids doing diagnostics for the Repair Unit. The technicians had taken to basically commandeering wandering kids into the repair unit to do some work. So it became a fearsome act when any member of Repair Unit stalked the halls.

Heading up to the Bridge she caught up with Vicky, waving her into a side room. They would need privacy for this.

“Hanna?”

“I need to borrow your Spector.”

The blonde blinked and frowned. “That’s risky. It’s not really meant to be used here.”

“Well the enemy are moving up a pair of Thumpers, they have too much air defense for a safe ASF run, and they aren’t anywhere near Rough Squad. Apparently they have been paying attention to where our mayhem makers are.”

With a keen eye Hanna watched Vicky consider it. The blonde as usual thought too much. Seemed to always want to spend a few minutes thinking things through unless the idea came to her in a moment of inspiration.

Hanna sort of hated that Vicky was usually pretty competent at those moments.

“Okay. I’ll allow it, you are right. We need to take those Thumpers out. But not alone.” The blonde literally rushed off leaving Hanna in the room for a few moments before she sighed and realized she would have to follow her.

Damnit Vicky you blonde bimbo!

Racing after the girl Hanna really had to struggle to keep up. Benny’s trick of making Vicky run all the time was paying off because Hanna was struggling to keep up with the nerd. That wouldn’t do. She would have to start joining those practices herself soon.

Can’t let Vicky actually be more fit than she was.

She caught up to Vicky in the Storage hangar for the Whitebase. It was mostly empty but Vicky ran around “Everyone out! This hangar needs to be locked down. Out out!” Shooing the kids out as she locked down every entrance. Hanna made sure everyone was out even before finally Vicky stopped moving.

For a girl that hasn’t slept much in the last week, Vicky was seriously too manic.

“Alright. Hanna. I’ll make a Spector Lance for you to work with, but this has to be kept utterly secret.”

Hanna considered it for a moment before grinning. “That condition I can work with.”

“Alright cool let me get them ready. Find four pilots.”

“Three pilots.” Hanna offered back. She was here after all.

“Don’t be stupid. You aren’t going anywhere. You are in command. You get to stay back and watch other people do fun things now.”

“Bitch.”

“That’s what you get for calling me a bimbo!”

“I didn’t say it aloud!”

“You were thinking it! I know! I always know!”

“Tsk Whatever. Get on with it then. I’ll go grab a few I know will be up for it.”

“Remember this stays secret!”

—-

A different perspective
Lenden Scorch
Ko

Lenden grinned as his boys went to work. He wasn’t there unfortunately. Being a Mechwarrior and a Lance lead came with some responsibilities. But he was watching from a Lostech Sensor.

Of course Vicky didn’t know he had one.

He had blamed it on Gauge taking one to fiddle with back when he stole it years ago.

She had shrugged at that. It was Lendens go to when dealing with the Commander, blame something missing on Gauge and she would shrug and continue on.

Hell half the time it really was that Nerd, so that backed up the times it wasn’t.

“Get’em boys.” He whispered as he watched his boys sneak into the enemy base. The plan was to steal a Lance of the Panthers. Those mechs were pretty nasty lights, and Benny knew they would sell for a good amount even if his boys didn’t keep them. Plus they would be great support for the Assaults.

He watched the dots sneak in, a few of the enemy dots disappearing as they took them out, just like they were trained.

The Nighthawk clad members leading the way, as the un armored kids came in behind, to loot or secure buildings. But not everything was going well. Lenden frowned when he noticed it, but Rom the man in charge of the assault hadn’t.

The enemy had been alerted. A fight broke out. And Lenden stared helpless as the fighting got rough. Rough Squad had to retreat, but there were deaths.

He grit his hands. He wished he was there. He wished he had sent more of Rought Squad.

He wished he hadn’t just had to watch his friends die.

He exhaled, pushed it away. This was the life he chose. He knew from the start that members of Rough Squad would die. Hell.

He had thought he would be the first.

But he did promise that Rough Squad would do better next time. If their current equipment wasn’t enough, he would bug Vicky for more. He would make sure his boys were the best equipped force they could be.

So that they could all come back with enemy loot and pop a beer.

—-

Late that night with confirmation from Delta I went to work. Sure I hadn’t slept much in the last while, but that was what space coffee was for! Slipping into my Spector I moved into WhiteBases Hangar which had been cleared out. I moved towards my Nightstar. They were still working on fixing the damage I had taken. Honestly considering how long it took for armor repairs I was starting to wonder if this might be the new most powerful ability I used on my Nanoforge.

I still wasn’t sure if this would actually work. The Nanoforge really was more about just creating from a blueprint. But this was important. I aimed my Medium Nanoforge and when nothing happened, because there was nothing selected in the Noteputer I willed it to do something different. “I need to repair this.”

The slow birth of green as my Nanoforge activated and in a flurry green light seeped into my Nightstar. It took longer than expected at first, but when I realized the Nanoforge wasn’t repairing just the obvious stuff, it was also fixing any wear and tear the mech had gone through.

When it was done. The armor on my Nightstar was as perfect as it had been the day I made it. Only one thing was different from that day.

I groaned. The Stupid Nanoforge! Phantom was seared into the metal itself, the paint job no longer something that could just be washed away.

Stupid eldritch abomination!

I sighed, pulling myself away from the Phantom and heading towards the next mech in the bay. I had a long night ahead of me.

Over and over the Hangar filled with Green that night.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15.4 All's Fair
3025
WhiteBase Bridge
Ko

Day 3.

“I almost can’t believe it.” I mutter staring into the Digital Holomap that was displayed on the bridge of Whitebase.

“I can. He wants to prove himself.” Gauge shrugged. “Do we really need his help?”

“No. But… I can respect that he came anyway. Okay he’s landing, make sure the ASF forces are defending. Clear a path for that Leopard to land.”

“Already done before I called you up.”

“Good. I guess I’ll go out and say hello to Vincent.”

The Leopard holding the young Baron had left before us on our trip out, but with having our own Jumpship we ended up here a bit before them. Looks like Vincent had been serious about fighting with us.

I could honestly respect that.

Of course now I will have to explain to him what our real goal here is, and that he can’t run out and kick Combine ass.

“Commander! Enemy ASF movement!”

“Alright get our birds in the air double time, and let the Leopard pilot know they got incoming.”

I settled in watching the dots representing all of the players on this field. Watching as our ASF force took off. The fast reaction, something they had been practicing just to make sure. After all, 100 miles sounds like a lot, until you are going at ASF speeds.

Watching four flights of Stuka flow into the sky to fight against the varied Combine ASF. We outnumbered them already thankfully. The Combine didn’t have much ASF forces left. We had done a good job of knocking them out of the sky, and frankly, they didn’t have a lot to start with.

“How is it going?” Benny asked as he pulled himself onto the bridge, his hair a little messy from just getting out of his bunk.

“Should be good. Vincent showed up in a Leopard. The Combine are trying to contest his re-entry but we already have our flights in the air. They probably aren’t expecting us to know where they are at. Should be able to secure the sky before the Leopard hits atmo.”

“Good! Good.” He offered blinking sleepily for a moment as he fought back a yawn. “What are we going to do with them?”

“No idea.” I sighed watching as the Stuka finally seemed to come into view from the Combine ASF and like had become routine, the enemy turned and burned. Desperate to get out of any strike range of the Stukas guns.

As I watched. We never did get close, but at least it meant they were too busy running away to contest the Leopard.

“Next time we see some Combine pushing in, including Vincent. It should satisfy his desire for fame and such.”

“You sure Commander? You did give them some of our mechs. He might do some serious damage. It might disrupt the plan.”

“I think you vastly over value our mechs Benny… Actually. This is a good chance. Make sure he has some backup, I don’t want him to die, But without our sensors and such… It will be interesting if everyone sees the difference. Send him out, but keep him under control. And see what he can do.”

“Wait. Did you just hand this massive headache off to me?!”

“Good luck Sub-Commander.” I offer with a smile as I pat his shoulder. Bed time!

“Damnit Vicky!”

—--

A different Perspective
Vincent Allessa Baron. Captain of the Zaniah Guard 1st Lostech Lance.
Ko

“What a shithole.”

“Captain, it’s just farmland.”

“It’s cold! I hate this planet already.”

“It’s a Snake pit. Of course we should hate it. Come on. Looks like they are sending out a group to meet us. Who is that? The Commander? They should be grateful we came to help!”

“Shut up Marv. That is the 2IC. Eisen-Blume isn’t here. And be grateful that bitch is scary.” Although Vincent wasn’t going to say that, he didn’t disagree. Eisen-blume was a freaky little brat.

“Stow it. Both of you.” He grumbled as he marched forward to meet Benny. “Benny, you brought us to a real shithole.”

“It was actually pretty nice before we landed. Welcome to Ko. Honestly we didn’t think you were going to make it.”

“We had a deal. I’m not about to give back my new ride. What’s the situation?”

“That is a good question. C’mon Commander wants you to have a full debrief on what we are doing here. It’s complicated and we don’t want to push the Combine too much.”

“We don’t want to push the Combine? The fuck are we even doing here then?” Marv whispered to Barry but with a Glare both stowed it like ordered. The guys were Vincent's childhood friends. He had gotten them into the Military, got them training, and they were his men. But that doesn’t mean they were perfect.

Walking into the massive fucking dropship the brats were running around in always sent Vincents teeth on edge. These kids played with toys that would make any LCAF regiment drool with want.

But at least he had finally gotten his just deserts. They had given him a fucking Lostech Mech. So Vincent was here to fight in their stupid little battle. He would kill some more Snakes, get some salvage and go home richer and more powerful.

Maybe even enough to become the Heir. This might just be his real chance to convince the world he was the best one to be in charge.

“Alright, Vincent, here is our current understanding of the enemy positions and our defenses.”

It took Vincent less than a second to realize what he had just walked into. “You are surrounded… fuck me did I just walk to my death?”

Benny snorted, the younger boy was always a little shit. “Relax. That’s the plan. We have a bit of a surprise cooked up for them, but in order to make the impact that we need, we are gathering them up. Drawing them in.” He waved a hand and the map zoomed out, which is something Vincent nearly whistled at.

Holomaps like this were rare. Zaniah had one, that was an old piece of equipment taken in a raid a hundred years ago. It worked. Mostly. But not nearly this clear, or without any lag. That same move without have taken three minutes for the map to load on the one at home.

“So you can see we are almost ready. The 22nd Dieron Regulars have pulled in almost all of their mechs. Give it another day and at least 90% of the mechs on the planet will be around us.”

“That’s a lot of metal. They will be able to fuck you over.”

Benny looked up from the map and blinked for a second before a nasty smile slipped across his face. “That’s what they think too. When we are done here. The Combine will remember us. I promise you that.”

Rolling his eyes at the bravado Vincent was much more worried at the fact the map didn’t look good. “Okay so I am here. Now. What am I doing.”

“Actually the Commander wasn’t sure at first, but as always she came up with a plan.”

“Sasha told me you brats call those Vicky Plans, and they are usually fuck horrible.”

That caused the boy to laugh while Vincent could see Marv taking it bad. The boy hated when people laughed at him. He waved a hand at him grabbing his attention gesturing for him to chill.

Benny finally stopped laughing before continuing. “Y-you got that about half right. See a Vicky Plan sounds okay ends up being a shit show, but always works out for the best in the end. Like us ending up on Zaniah. That was a Vicky Plan. Just don’t ever tell her about that last part. We don’t want her to know we trust her plans.”

Vincent tried not to take it personally about his mothers hiring the brats being a shit show. Benny was right. It had been a bit of a shitshow after all. The fact they had found a Castle Brian alone still made Vincent's hands clench into fists whenever he was reminded.

“Okay so what is the plan?”

“Right, so this is important. Direct orders here Vincent. No matter what you do here, you can’t push the Combine too much. If they retreat from their positions, or decide to go all in on an attack we fail.”

Vincent blinked before remembering the reason the brats were even here. “You still looking for your people?”

A look of hatred crossed the normally affable Sub-Commander. Vincent took a step back before the boy took control of himself. “We are still working on it. Until we have them, we can’t have anything push the Governor into thinking killing them off is the best way to do this. You get it?”

Vincent took a moment a breath in and out. If it was anyone else, but these brats Vincent might be trying to punch his face in for trying to hold him back, but Vincent actually sorta maybe a little tiny bit respected the brat. Benny was solid. Plus he piloted a fuckin Atlas, and the few times they had practiced with him in that beast of a machine had proven that he had the chops to pilot it too.

“I get it. But I’m not sitting around here all day. I came here to fight.”

“Of course. You are going to take your lance, and a few tank lances and go poke the Combine, get a feel for them. Get a taste of what we are up against. Don’t worry about doing anything but keeping your mechs in the best shape possible, and seeing what is out there. If you need to retreat do it.”

Vincent almost felt insulted from the idea that he would need to retreat! Especially with the Lostech machines he and his Lance were piloting.

“Fine.”

“Alright. Head south. Hit this defensive position.” Benny pointed out changing the map, and while the map wasn’t in real time, the actual numbers shocked Vincent.

“How Accurate is this?” He asked pointing towards the numbers of defenses. It even had a listed location for a minefield and where it was.

“Very. Our scouts are not to be trifled with.” Benny offered with a dead serious look. “I got the updated report just a few minutes before you came in.”

Vincent blinked surprised but knew that any question about the brats scouts would be ignored. It was the last time. Arthur had spent months asking about how they were able to keep an eye on the enemy during the Zaniah raid so well only to get ignored.

Vincent wasn’t his brother, he shrugged. And took a close look at the military base he was targeting. Mostly tanks and vehicles, but they had a company of light mechs.

He nodded. “Alright. Let’s get moving.”

Marv was grumpy, but at least Barry looked ready. Fay was still on board. The bitch was practically sleeping in her cockpit now. But well.

Vincent could hardly blame her.

Her Catapult was a beautiful mech. But he had eyes only for his new girl.

The Battlemaster-1Gb was a beautiful mech. The assault was quick for an assault mech, but fit him perfectly.

Barry was jumping into his Griffin-2N His ERPPC would make him a solid long range sniper.

And Marv was in his Shadow Hawk-2Hb.
Vincent was confident these Combine bastards would have no idea what was coming for them. He felt a fierce grin split his mouth as he clambered into his mech. All four mechs starting up with a rumble of their fusion engines. Ready to go to war.

“Vincent. We are sending a company of tanks to back you up like I said. Let them cover your rear don’t get too far ahead of them. I don’t want those light mechs to get behind you and tear them up.” Bennys voice came over his radio almost as soon as Vincent started up his mech.

“I got it already! I’m taking Command. Thanks Sub-Commander!” Vincent grumbled as he took his first step out with his mech, The Leopards bays opening and Vincent was in his element.

“Captain Alessa, This is Mitchell. I’ll be your tanker today. Followin’ you.”

“Good I’ll be moving at a good clip.”

And he did just as he said. His Battlemaster stalking out into the farmland his lance forming up behind him, Fay’s Catapult moved at the same speed as his Battlemaster so they set the pace, with the Shadow Hawk and Griffin bouncing along on their sides, keeping a scouting perimeter, something his brother had taught him.

Grumbling at that thought Vincent switched through a few imaging systems his mech had to check for any traps, but there wasn’t anything he could see.

Hopefully the scouts the brats sent out were as good as they thought.

Stomping through the fields on a forign planet Vincent allowed himself a few moments of awkwardness. He had never been off Zaniah before. A new world. A New mech. In the middle of war. It certainly wasn’t where he ever expected himself to end up. But he would do the best he could.

“We are coming up on them. All units, eyes open.” He radioed out, his arms raised up, both ERPPC aimed down towards his enemy. He was ready.

And it was good he was, because their forces had been noticed. Already he could see a few helicopters and VTOL taking to the air. He unleashed his ERPPC, Barry joined him a second later, and although nothing was hit, it certainly scattered the air support.

“Let’s go!” He roared his blood pumping as he brought his Battlemaster to a sprint. “Tanks setup a firing line!” He remembered to command as he moved closer, at the same time fire started coming in.

Turrets opened up along the walls, although only the longest range fire came anywhere close. In retaliation ERPPC fire opened up, Vincent firing his two guns like a gunslinger, each arm firing at a different target hitting more often than not.

Barry was more rigid, his shots aimed and focused. It meant they were making good headway into the turrets when the walls exploded outward.

“What the fuck!?”

Smoke dark and heavy rolled out, and it took only a few moments before it rolled all the way towards him. “Fuck! They are blinding us! Move back out of the smoke, don’t go straight, adjust your path so you aren’t where they last saw. Tankers stay together!” He demanded as he started stepping backwards still firing an ERPPC into the smoke every few moments just enough to keep his heat low but still sending something downrange.

“Enemy contacts! I jumped over the smoke, and saw at least a Lance of jumpers coming in!” Marv called out over the radio a moment later and Vincent cursed.

“That means there is probably another Lance or two on the way as well. C’mon let’s get out of this smoke!”

He didn’t quite make it out before the first mech found him. The Stinger came out of the smoke, and it was pure instinct that had Vincent fire at it. As he nearly jumped out of his seat it startled him so bad.

The pilot was good though. Jump jetting he dodged the lightning, the pilot even had the audacity of taking a step on his Battlemasters shoulder as it flew over him. The hit actually rocking him so hard in his cockpit that he felt his own shoulder bruising as he bounced around in his seat.

“Fucker!” He snarled, but even as his rear took a hit from the Stinger, Anther mech appeared infront of him. The Cicada opened fire Medium lasers burning scores into his armor, but he growled, opened fire with his own mediums. Four arcs of green cut into the Cicada and that startled it, just in time for his Large pulse laser in his chest to open up. The beam cutting through massive amounts of the bug mechs armor the pilot obviously realized he was in trouble as he suddenly bugged out into the smoke.

An ERPPC shot burning back into the smoke where the mech had gone, although Vincent wasn’t sure it if hit.

Another scream of his computer as his rear armor was cut away again.

“Dammit! I got a jumper on my back!”

“Already handled.” The calm voice of his Tanker came over and a moment later a thunderous noise echoed over the battlefield. The smoke spun away as a huge something ripped through it, and the Stinger got hit by something, smashing the mech completely onto its side.

Looking over Vincent got the image of an Alacorn tank it’s three Gauss rifles aimed his way before the smoke filled in the space he had just cleared. Grumbling a little vincent shot an ERPPC shot into the stinger, coring it and ensuring it was out of the fight.

A PPC buzzed over his cockpit and he jerked aiming towards what had just fired on him, but he realized in a moment what was happening.

The damn thing gave him a shallow bow. That PPC was just a warning shot. Growling at the arrogance Vincent stopped himself from stomping the Alpha Strike button. Instead he bent his Battlemaster just the slightest amount. And accepted the duel.

Fucker. PPC fired first, almost instantly, a snap shot that had Vincent cursing as he barely managed to raise an arm over his cockpit to keep it from hitting him square on. Growling he hip fired his ERPPC watching as the Panther damn near twirled as it dodged the shot, and then he lowered his other arm and fired that one.

That seemed to catch the pilot by surprise it didn’t quite manage to dodge. Its left arm sacrificed to limit the damage but then something changed.

That pilot wasn’t playing anymore Vincent realized as he shifted SRMs blasting his armor as the Panther simply moved. Jump jets, shifting motions, Vincent started struggling to get any hit on target. His mediums worked the best, scoring a few lines in it’s armor, but every other shot was like shooting the smoke they were fighting in. Even trying to get close didn’t work.

Just like the stinger, whenever he did, the Panther jumped over him his ERPPC were dodged consistently, the enemy pilot always had his eye on Vincents arms. And it was pissing him off. Firing off a barrage of SRMs suddenly which only semi worked, his hands completely out of position Vincent let loose his Large pulse. The second surprise weapon worked better.

The Panthers armor sheared at the power of the Pulse laser and it’s existence definitely shocked the enemy pilot. It earned Vincent the space he needed, as the Panther tried to dodge the laser, his ERPPC fired.

The Pilot. Whoever this guy was he was a fucking elite Vincent realized because his Panther despite just dodging a surprise attack, the pilot noticed and literally bent his Panther backwards the lightning bolt of his ERPPC firing over it’s chest, before with a strange burst of jump jets it was back upright.

Vincent gaped.

That was fucking impossible. People can’t just dodge everything! He nearly screamed but the crackle in his radio stopped the fight. “Vincent! We need to pull back! They are attacking Fay! Marv already took serious damage.” Barry urgently called for him.

Right, this was a battlefield. And Vincent just wasted a lot of time in a fucking duel. He lowered his gun and moved backwards.

The Panther pilot watched but not continuing the fight even as the smoke rolled in fading him from view.

Thankfully it wasn’t too bad. The Tankers had done a good job clearing their escape. Idly Vincent realized that was probably the plan from the start. The enemy lights all seemed to realize they were retreating and disappeared back into the smoke not willing to force a battle here.

When Vincent finally walked clear of the smoke he winced. Fay was torn up. One of her missile pods were gone.

Marv was limping. His Shadow Hawk was beat to hell. But other than a missing left arm at the elbow, and a leg that seemed to be damaged he was okay.

Barry was probably the best off. His Griffin and ERPPC made getting close to him a dangerous prospect.

“Zaniah Lance, report!”

“Alive Walking wounded.” Marv checked in.

“Alive Orange armor.” Barry.

“Alive Half done. Gonna need a mechbay.” Fay called out sounding the angriest of them all. But she shouldn’t be. This was Vincents fault not hers.

“Tankers Status?”
“Some minor armor damage on a few of us, but nothing serious.”

“Good we are pulling back.”
Vincent had a long walk back. Marv was barely at half speed. But that was fine. It gave him plenty of time to go back over the battle.

He had gotten his ass kicked by a Light mech.

“Dammit.”

Marching back into the ‘base’ the brats had set up, Vincent went straight to his Hangar bay on the Leopard. Did he seriously just have one battle and screw up his chances of even taking part in this battle anymore?”

He was slow in shutting down his mech. It felt like failure. Ash on his tongue. This was supposed to be his great moment.

A knock on his cockpit pulled him away from his brooding as he glanced up and blinked. Quickly hitting the cockpit release, “Sasha. What are you doing here?”

“Heard you went out to fight. Pretty impressive.” She told him simply as she looked him over. “I don’t see any cuts, injuries?”

He shook his head. “Just some bruises. I’m fine. Nothing but my pride.” He muttered.

She scoffed, like usual the woman cared nothing for his pride. “Let me see then.” She orders as she climbed into his cockpit he sputtered as she settled in nearly in his lap. Although her armor made it more uncomfortable than he would have liked. “C’mon stop wasting time show me the bruises.”

Her brusque tone gave Vincent no chance to resist, so he simply pulled the cooling suit down his shoulder showing the large bruise already forming there. With deft gentle movements she pulled out a container of some bruise balm and started spreading it onto his shoulder.

It did feel better.

“You did a good job.” She whispers into his ear, and as he turns to look up at her she struck.

Oh… Oh! He felt himself grin as he returned her kiss. Both of them growing more eager.

He kicked out a few times, managing to hit the cockpit close button with his foot as he rolled her over and started trying to peel her out of her armor.

Damn brats. She had to stop and show him how to get out of it. Almost ruined the mood.

Almost.

—-

“Thoughts?” I asked. The gathering of our command staff on the bridge of WhiteBase had been a good idea. The smoke screen the Combine had used was something none of us had expected.

Gauge responded first. “The smoke was mostly just that. But the sensor shows it has some chaff element in there as well. Probably why it messed with sensors. It won’t bother us, but for a normal Battlemech? Probably cause a lot of trouble unless you are quick to change what sensor you are using. Seismic would have still worked fine.”

“Vincent is still as green as we are.” Benny offered with a shrug. “It’s a good example of what would have happened to us as well.”

“At least we found out what those strange bombs the Combine have been setting up are. Thoughts?”

“Well if they try it again, a mech with a sensor will give them a nasty surprise. Otherwise we let them blow them up and retreat? Have a defensive line of tanks for a fallback point.” Benny decided working out the problem in his head.

“This was a smart move.” I finally added pointing to the Holoscren. That smokescreen was good enough to give their lights time to get close. That light company just chewed up four mechs that definitely outmassed them.

“But we knew they were up to something there. All we did was activate a trap we already knew was there. We just didn’t know what it did.” Benny offered.

Hanna though scoffed. “We let Vincent and his lance get chewed up. He is going to be pissed if he finds out we knew something was up and we didn't say anything.”

“Maybe. But since we will be repairing his stuff on our dime, and we made sure he had a fallback point he doesn’t have much room to complain. Welcome to war everyone. That is the sort of fights we would be facing if not for our sensors and other advantages.” I offer out pointing to the map.

“Commander is right. This was… Eye opening.” Benny admitted grumpily. “I expected our equipment to give us a better advantage but lostech… It wasn’t enough to bridge the experience gap.”

“But we don’t have that problem. We have more equipment than Vincent has. If they had tried that move with us, we would have shot them as they charged into the smoke!” Hanna argued but I was shaking my head.

“The sensors are just one advantage, and we can always find ourselves in a fight without them someday. I’m glad Vincent came with now. This battle alone was worth it. Benny. Thoughts on how to improve our skills?”

He sighed. Shoulders drooping. “I don’t know Commander. Frankly. We just don’t have the schools, or teachers for that. Hire some elite mechwarriors to train us? Or send some kids to military academies… You could always get into the Nagelring.”

I snorted. “No. That wouldn’t work. Trust me I would burn that school to the ground within a month. I don’t deal with arrogant nobles very well.” There were some snickers around the room. “Okay so we aren’t getting anything else from this fight. Let’s wrap it up and focus on the current war. I want everyone ready. It’s getting closer to the time for us to move. When we do… There won’t be any allowances for screwups. Lock everything down people. This is a War.”

Somber nods were my acknowledgment as the room emptied.

I stared out the window of the bridge somberly. I was glad the plan I had decided on had nothing to do with fair fights. Watching the Duel between Vincent and that Panther had spooked me too. Vincent wasn’t a terrible Mechwarrior. He trained hard. And had some solid teachers.

That Panther pilot was an elite, and he had nearly won.

A fucking light mech going up against an assault mech. I blew out the frustration pushing my forehead against the cool glass.

“Thought I would find you stressing out.” Hanna’s voice pulled me away from the glass as she walked up beside me.

“We aren’t ready for this. Everything is tethering on an edge, and I’m doing my best to pretend it’s not. If these idiots just attacked us full tilt… Our losses would be catastrophic.”

“But they won’t because we have done a damn good job cutting out their eyes. They don’t know what we have, and are more than happy to slowly try and pick us off, while waiting for reinforcements.”

“Don’t remind me.” We had only been on Ko for a few days now, but it wouldn’t long before another Combine force jumped in. I was honestly surprised it hadn’t happened already.

“None of that. We got this. We are sitting on our hands playing their game for now. But your plan will work. We will get our people back, and give the Combine a real black eye.”

“If everything works out. As Vincent learned today, the enemy get a choice too.”

“Yeah, that smoke was crazy.” Hanna admitted shrugging “But we both know it wouldn’t work against us. Vincent popped a trap they thought would work on us, and look he made it out. Took some damage but made it out.” Hanna settled in beside me looking back into the bridge as she rested against the glass.

“It’s just. They have experience with this Hanna. They came up with a plan I wouldn’t have even thought of, despite our advantages, they found a way to level the playing field. And when it was level? A fucking Panther nearly killed Vincent. I am almost afraid to watch Vincents Battle Rom of that fight. We fought him enough times. He is a solid mechwarrior.”

“There are crazy elites out there Vicky. There always has been. I mean. You talk to Morgan Kell! Do you think that Panther pilot wouldn’t have been ripped apart by him?”

“No Morgan would have beaten him. But Morgan Kell is Morgan Kell. He is one of the best mechwarriors in the entire Inner Sphere. Top 99%”

“Right. So stop stressing about them being more skilled than us. They aren’t unbeatable. If you are that worried, use your bimbo brain to come up with a plan so we don’t fight them at all. I mean isn’t that basically what you are going to do?”

“Of course. Everyone in the Inner Sphere has been fighting almost ritually for almost a century now. We don’t have to fight that way though. We have equipment they don’t.”

“Right. So in the future if you run into some elite asshole… Don’t fight him. Just blow his ass up.”

I snort, “Even if that won’t always work, I don’t think I can just murder anyone better than me with high explosives without something happening.”

“That’s where you are wrong Vicky. If something happens, you just use more explosives.”

I turn to look at her with a quirked eyebrow.

She smiled shrugging. Rolling my eyes I went back to looking out over the base. So much was riding on what happens next.

I just hope it was enough.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15.5 All's Fair
3025
WhiteBase
Ko

Day 4.

I think it was a matter of experience. That even I fell into. We weren’t super elite death squads yet. We still made mistakes, still came at things in a straightforward and blunt manner in a lot of ways.

I mean it worked. Because the rest of the Inner Sphere was so used to being ‘careful’ and ‘securing logistics’ and other things that weren’t important.

So I was very pleased I had come up with a plan to handle our missing people without us actually having to find them in the first place!

Cause finding hidden people was hard.

“Commander?” Bennys voice crackled over a personal line. Today was it. The day we were done playing the weaklings.

The enemy, the 22nd Dieron Regulars had moved their entire regiment into an encirclement. One hundred and Twenty mechs in total. 80% of them are lights. With a few command Mediums. They also had the Planetary guard working on support. An entire Regiment of Vehicles, tanks and air support. Helicopters were new. They had tried a few over flights this morning, but had been shot down long before they caught sight of us.

Which was good. I would hate for the entire plan to be ruined if the enemy ran away.

And they would. I settled into my Nightstar. The noon sun overhead preparations were ready.

It was time.

I switched comms. An open channel to every person in the ISDF. Except for Delta. But that was another story.

“This is Commander Eisen-Blume. For the last three days I have held you back. For the last three days we have fought without exposing our strength. This was important. Today. Now you get to see why. The enemy are overconfident. They think they can tear us apart on our next assault. They think us cowards.”

“That’s fine.” I felt my Nightstar start up. It’s fusion engine rumbling. A faint tremor. More like the mech was trembling in excitement. Another chance to strike.

“Because I don't put much stock in the opinions of men that proclaim themselves honorable, even when they stand aside as people are butchered. As people are enslaved. These Honorable Samurai think themselves our superior.”

Everyone felt what came next. The Camo netting that had been placed over every Long Tom fell away as the massive guns shifted aiming towards their targets.

Each and every gun aimed at a Lance or more of Mechs or tanks.

“Let’s see how superior they are in an hour!” I roar. My Nightstar stepped out of Whitebase. It’s armor pristine. And I had done a little extra.

I thought it was cool. The flag of the ISDF, the Iron Blooded Symbol. A ten foot long version was fluttering in the wind on the side of my mech. It hung down like my mech was wearing a Caparison like a medieval knight's horse. But it was very obvious and something that was totally stupid if I hadn’t created it from my Nanoforge.

“All members! This is my order. Commence Operation!”

The roars broke out both over the comms line and just aloud echoed into the air.

The ISDF moved.

And in a single furious roar. That echoed over the entire farmland for miles and miles.

The ISDF let the Combine Samurai know their fury.

Eighteen Long Toms opened up with near perfect accuracy, aiming for the densest grouping of the enemy. Six Arrow IV missiles launched along with them. The missiles aimed at closer targets as they couldn’t fire as far. But as one barrage of missiles fired. Another was already being loaded to fire as well.

And as the guns fired. As the ASF engines lit up and pushed them into the sky. The ground trembled for another reason entirely. An entire Regiment of Mechs charged out into the world.

Three Battalions. One hundred and eight mechs. And an equal amount of Vehicles roared out of the base in three directions. Each group Targeting the enemy military bases.

My Nightstar pointed nose towards the City. This march only had one ending.

—-

A different Perspective
Carl Shade Hauptmann ISDF Delta Ops
Ko, Jarlton city

Carl still wasn’t sure if this was going to work. It had every hallmark of a Vicky plan. But damn if he wasn’t willing to take the risk.

The Governor Kagemuchi had hidden himself away in an underground bunker. It was Delta’s job to get to him. Honestly Carl was looking forward to this.

It was the first time Delta really got to do more than strike from the shadows.

“Everything is ready.” The whispered word reached him and he nodded. The entire squad, although at this point they had expanded past just the initial four, was here. Three squads of Nighthawk clad badasses. Because Carl didn’t recruit the most brave, or the most fit.

He picked the ones willing to die to do what needed to be done.

It was a secret he kept from The Commander. She wouldn’t get it, and whine until he changed his recruitment. But everyone knew. If you were anti-social you went to Rough Squad. Lenden would sort you out. If you were willing to murder anyone to protect family, then you join Homeguard.

If you were willing to lay down your life you joined Delta.

Carl hefted his Mauser. The heavy rifle was too much for infantry, but the SLDF mainstay weapon was perfect for Nighthawks. Honestly Carl wondered if that wasn’t intentional. If there was a plan in there somewhere for the SLDF infantry to all be power armored fighters eventually.

He shook that thought away and focused. The Governor thought he was safe. Thought no one knew where he was. Thought that an army of infantry could keep him safe. Thought that strong walls and defenses would be enough.

He was wrong. The order had come down. Don’t let him escape. Don’t let him make any calls. Secure him alive. They may need to trade him for the crew.

So Delta ops would perform.

He nodded to Samantha who nodded back, a detonator held in her hands. She plunged it together, and the building they were in shook. As did nearly a hundred locations all across the city.

The power then went out.

The governor just had every power line connecting to his little base go out. And the idiot didn't’ have an internal generator.

Guard stations all across the city had also been targeted. It would keep them busy and out of any offensive action until the mechs were in the city.

Carl jumped down from the top of the building flaring his Jump jets to land in an easy crouch. Racing ahead. He was on point. The Sensor had already been used to create a path. He remembered every step. Every person that was a threat.

Their first mission had taught Carl a lot about preparing. He still smiled whenever he thought about the infiltration.

He didn’t slow as he ran through the glass doors of the faux business front. Some generic office front. The Mauser was raised up and firing instantly, the security guard behind the desk dying in a spray of blood. The Submachine gun he had under the desk no longer a threat.

He kept moving. Delta following in his wake a wave of unstoppable killers. Skipping past three doors, he blew the door knob off the next letting Richard who was his shadow, chuck a frag grenade into the room.

They continued on. He shot the knob on the fourth door on the right the metal melting into nothing under the power of his Pulse laser. It led to a stairway which Carl instantly jumped out into the center and let his Jump jets guide him down. By the time he touched down on the ground he was already firing. The hallway through the door at the bottom would have plenty of men in suits with guns.

But now it was dark. Pitch black as the lights had been taken out. Delta didn’t care. The Nighthawk had Nightvision.

Their resistance didn’t matter to Carl. His Mauser blew through the steel door and into the men behind it. Lines of light piercing steel.

By the time he charged through it and Richard landed behind him, he was already in a firefight, Small arms skittering up his Nighthawk but failing to do more than giving him more targets. Richard joined him on his right. His Automatic Shotgun Spraying the hall with Shrapnel.

Samantha joined his left a moment later, her Mauser going full auto simply decimating anyone foolish enough to be seen by her. Then two more Nighthawk clad members of Delta hit their sides and they pushed forward in a line.

That Hallway was the entranceway, a long tunnel with multiple checkpoints down it’s length. By the time all of Delta was on the floor it was now quiet. Carl pushed forward breaking into a full sprint. His JumpJets gave him some additional boost. A Maneuver he had trained for years for.

The few doors along the way were stopped and cleared by Delta by expediently chucking a Frag grenade into the room.

The screams were ignored. Delta had a fucking job to do.

The last door was armored. But that was what preparation was for. Instantly forming up he waited as Samantha planted an SLDF Explosive along the door. C6 or something. Carl didnt care what it was called.

He cared it blew things up good.

A few moments later Samantha backed up as well, and clenched the plunger.

The explosion would be deafening, it still was even with the Nighthawk helmet protecting their hearing as best it could. But Carl didn’t wait. He already knew what was on the other side.

He rushed through the flames into a room that was more like an entrance way to a manor than a secret bunker.

He jumped using his jets to get to the second floor. The darkness was just as bad here and he felt himself grinning. Delta took care of the few guards in this section of the base. Carl had one job. Secure the hostage, before he could escape through the escape tunnel.

Yeah this guy was so scared for his life he had a secret escape tunnel for his secret bunker.

Carl hurried along, a quick check on his scanner confirmed his target. Looks like the governor was bolting.

Not a problem. Carl didn’t bother slowing down for the fragile wood door in his way simply shouldering through it his Mauser already up and aimed. A few bodyguards were left behind to try and slow the assault. One died instantly as multiple pulses of his rifle ripped through the table he had been hiding behind. The other was firing.

A burst of his jets and Carl was over the man and falling, his armored left hand grabbed the needler and crushing it in his grip a foot planting down to knock the man flat where a second burst of his Mauser one handed ended that threat.

Carl continued moving. The escape tunnel was hidden under a rug, but it was also electronically locked.

A few bursts of his Mauser broke the lock and his gauntlet ignored the heat of melting metal as he pulled it open to rush after.

The nightvision was useful, the Governor was running ahead with a flashlight, but Carl didn’t need it. Simply charging along at full tilt. His stomping stride was obviously heard, but it didn’t matter. The Governor wasn’t fat, but he was also well past his military service. Where Carl was fit, and in power armor.

He ran him down long before the man ever could have gotten away by slipping back into the city.

When he reached him, his first act was to grab the man by the back of his head and lead him right into the knee he pummeled into his stomach.

The retching noise of the man being hit by a solid metal knee was sweet on Carls ears. A second knee put out any fight in the man, the gun in his hand knocked away as Carl slammed him into the wall of the tunnel.

“Where are they!” He demanded once he had the man pinned down only the knowledge they needed him alive kept Carl from continuing to strike the man until he stopped moving.

“I-I don’t know! Who do you want! I know where lots of people are!” The governor babbled once he caught his breath but it took a moment before Carl realized this idiot didn’t even know it was attacking him!

Slamming his face against the wall again earning a squeal of pain Carl started again. “The members of the Iron Blooded you kidnapped from the Isaribi! Where are they!” He roared.

“You are with them!?” The governors eyes were full of fear, but the actual shock at what he was seeing was even stronger. “Who are you people! These things don’t exist!” He screamed but Carl was not interested in answering questions.

The fist buried in his gut seems to bring a moment of silence. As carl pushed his armored face plate against the gasping mans face.

“I exist. I am here. And I am angry. Where are my people?”

“I will tell you nothing! They will die if I am not relea-”

Slamming him against the wall again Carl growled. “You will die if you do not.”

That seems to sneak through some inkling of the situation for the man as finally he started talking.

—-

By the time we hit the Combine defensive position it was chaos.

Our artillery had been almost perfectly on target. Plenty of Light mechs had been hit so accurately by the Artillery Unit that the Long Tom round had passed directly through the mech. Of course the explosion of the high explosive Long Tom Rounds then meant scraps of mechs were scattered all over the ground.

I didn’t care about any of that. As we walked up. The enemy were trying to resist. Light mechs were jumping around trying to stay mobile so as not to be targeted by Artillery, but that just left them in our sights for the first rounds of our Gauss.

The sight of multiple Light Mechs falling from the sky riddled with holes sent the enemy into a frenzy. They threw everything at us.

I was in the lead. But I was not about to stop. Even as a PPC burned against my mechs shoulder. Even as LRMs landed around us. Even as Infantry fired shoulder mounted SRMs.

This was our moment. If we faltered here we would have a long slog of a battle ahead of us. I kept the momentum going. Not once did my Phantoms heavy footfalls slow. My Gauss were fired off as soon as they cycled. My ERPPC thundered. They targeted me. Of course they did. I was in the lead. Wearing a massive flag on my mech.

That was fine. Because I had an entire battalion of very angry mechwarriors at my back. And a battalion of tanks behind them.

Plus the Artillery. “Danger close” was just a cute word for my people. Artillery continued to rain on the enemy even as they realized how fucked they were. Light mechs fell like wheat to us.

Where every battle before this we stumbled when we were struck back. This time when the Combine Samurai tried that. All it did was end in fire and thunder.

I just had to hope that the absolute shock of our assault would mean we wouldn’t take any losses. But even I wasn’t hopeful for that. Even as we finally broke the defenders at this military base. Their walls smashed, their turrets melted, Infantry, mechs and vehicles surrendering under our onslaught.

Some tried to retreat.

The light mechs that had run were still being targeted. The tanks that rolled away were pounded. The ones that thought themselves smart by going underground?

They too were faced with rounds shattering whatever entrance they might have escaped into.

The ISDF were here. And we were angry. And it was happening on three different fronts at once. Our ASF were in the air. Gabe led them around to any air resistance the Combine still had.

We marched through the military checkpoint they had been setting up against us without slowing, and simply marched into Jarlton. The capital was a massive modern city and nothing was left capable of resisting us. A few armored vehicles were deployed but with the sensor they never stood a chance. Which is why when I marched through the streets my Caparison waving in the wind.

People noticed. Sure most were smart enough to hide. But not all of them. Some too stupid to run away during an attak, some too slow. Some simply want to see their potential end. We made a hell of a sight. My Nightstar was beaten. Bloody. Bruised. But my flag still waved. A hole through part of it, where an AC round had gone through, but it was still clear. Still visible.

I walked straight to our objective. The Governor's mansion. It was a beautiful Japanese manor, two stories surrounded by ancient looking walls. We walked through, uncaring about what damage we did. I walked up to the front of it’s massive doors. Before turning my Nightstar now a physical guardian keeping any one from entering.

Not long after that, the fighting died down across the three battlefields. The Long Toms finally quieted.

Ko was conquered.

I don’t know how I felt about it. I had never wanted to put myself or my kids in this position, but if it was to protect them I would conquer, and conquer again. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to.

—-

The enemy wasn’t totally defeated at this point. Although the stragglers weren’t faring well. The mechs that ran were hunted down by kill squads. Doesn’t matter how fast you can move if no matter where you hide a lance of assault mechs hunt you down.

Humans were endurance hunters. My kids brought that old fact back up on Ko.

But the main focus of the next few hours were the acts of Delta ops.

Carl had done it. While ensuring the Governor wouldn’t be able to send out a message to execute any of the kids. They had managed to secure the man.

Carl had even found out where they were.

I had gone with my Nightstar as Delta and a Lance of mechs had hunted down the building our kids had been kept in. It was rather obvious to all of us why we hadn’t found them.

They were being held in a brothel.

I swore that if even a single one of my kids had been raped the Combine would pay. The brothel was big. More of an upper class pleasure house than anything. This made me think more Geisha, than back alley.

I was still furious when I dismounted and kicked the door in. Two Nighthawks at my back and my laser pistol in my hand. The people inside were cowering. Obviously workers of the place. But I wasn’t interested in them.

Yet.

“You have thirty seconds to bring out my kids.”

“There is no need for such rudeness.” The voice called out a thick japanese accent leant to a very peculiar spoken english but it was understandable enough. “We will comply with your demands Onna-Bushi.” The woman was old. A full kimono and walking with a cane. But the way the girls and boys in the entranceway turned to her. I had probably just found the owner.

“Twenty seconds.” My glare must have told just how serious my threat was, and with a jerk of her head some of the people in the front ran off.

About five seconds before my threat would have been forced out of me. Someone wearing a kimono that I recognized walked cautiously out of the back room.

Sandra was done up beautifully. But that only made my teeth grind. Her hazel eyes widened in shock when she saw me. And I could instantly see the tears there. My arms were already open when she ran into me. “Vicky!” She cried into my shoulder. My arm was full, but I kept my weapon free despite holding my kid tight, my eyes promised nothing but death to the old woman.

“She is untouched.”

The very fact the woman realized what was causing my anger only made it worse. This bitch knew and probably ‘took care of’ the girls captured.

“I was told all of my people are here.”

“Yes. The others are coming. Some were in classes… My people are gathering all of them as we speak. There is no need for violence here.”

“There already has been violence here. Kidnapping is an act of violence!” I snarled but it was Sandra crying in my shoulder that quieted me.

“That is so.” The old woman nodded but nothing else came from her. No apology or sympathy.

I ignored the old woman after that focusing on Sandra as the girl held onto me for support. Finally she seemed to pull herself together for a moment her eyes tear streaked and red she let out a huff of laughter. “What’s that on your face Vicky?”

I blinked before remembering the facepaint. “New tradition. We put it on whenever we go to war… It’s to remind us that if we die someone will cry.” I explained and that had her tearing up but nodding.

“Thank you. For coming.”

I tilted my head a little confused. “Why wouldn’t I come?”

We stare at each other for a few moments before she bursts into laughter and grabbing me into another strong hug, her laughter turned to sobs again but that was okay she was safe. Whatever that had been about I would do everything I could to fix it.

Over the next twenty minutes more of my kids were brought forth.

I had already called in a few trucks to pick them up but it was a tearful exchange, many of them…

They hadn’t been treated well.

Told that their future would be as a prostitute and punished if they refused.

I heard many horrible stories from their lips and it was only because in the end we were the good guys that I didn’t lose my cool.

Sandra stood by me. The girl had been their captain. She was guilting herself into believing she was responsible for their circumstances.

She had apparently decided to surrender rather than fight the raiding party that attacked them.

I didn’t blame her.

But unfortunately, with the good news.

Came the bad.

“Mal, Rich, and Emma all… Died.” Sandra admitted when the numbers finally came in and they were missing.

“How?” I couldn’t say anything more. My throat was closing up.

“They tried to escape. Emma… She had been chosen by some Nobleman. Or Samurai I guess he liked how she looked. Decided to buy her out, that’s the only way any of us would be… taken. We were all being trained to make ourselves more valuable… Mal and Rich refused… You know how they are. Those three were best friends.” Sandra was crying then and pulled her into a hug my own eyes tear filled.

“They were caught trying to steal weapons. The officer that caught them shot them.”

I swallowed my rage. She didn’t need that now. “Don’t suppose you remember who?”

She shook her head and I didn’t let that frustration out. I would have loved to find that particular officer. But considering how butchered the planetary defenses currently were?

He was probably already dead anyway.

“C’mon. Let's go Sandy. This whole thing is over. It’s time to go home.” The blurring of her eyes once more in tears told me just how much those words meant to her. I guided her and my other kids out of the building, into Normans that had been sent to pick them up. The group of 39 of my kids were given an escort that would make a leader of a great house blush.

Now that they were back with us, we wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

—-

Everything was rather tense even with our people returned. We couldn’t quite celebrate our peoples return since we were standing on a planet that we had all but in name conquered.

“We should stay. We can put down a base, have the LCAF come in and settle down.” Benny offered the first one to speak as the meeting started.

I was doubly thankful that I wasn’t the one to speak up next. Gauge took that over for me. “We aren’t here to do that Benny. We don’t have… any training for that. We should get our people, gather up and leave. We already did enough. If the LCAF wants this world it won’t take much to secure it for them.”

My mouth opened but Benny waved me off. “Not yet Commander. Let me talk first. I know we aren’t supposed to be conquerors but we are already here. We have seen that this planet has it’s problems. I never said it before but the Combine are our enemies. Now it is a personal matter. We should keep working. We can put some serious hurt on the Combine just by taking this world. The Coordinator won’t stand for that. He will send more. Right now we are the best equipped regiment in the Inner Sphere. We should use that. Now. Force the Combine to keep expending their strength on us. We can take it. We can dig in. Become an immovable position right here.”

I knew that Benny was hinting at creating a Castle here. But I shook my head. “I know what you are feeling Benny. I feel it too. My stomach clenches every time I think of what they did to our people.” The looks around the room all turned dark every hint at what had happened to those captured tended to cause some very fierce glares.

But I breathed out a heavy breath. “But we have to be better.”

My common refrain seemed to do it as even Benny looked a little abashed. “Isn’t fighting the combine the right thing?”

I shrugged. Which seemed to startle him a bit. “I don’t know. Honestly. Truly. I don’t know if going to war permanently with the Combine is the right thing to do. It feels good, sure. The idea of going out and fighting against the evil Combine. Like we are right back in Immortal Warrior right?”

That reminder of our adventure earns me a few chuckles and a lightening of the atmosphere. Slightly.

“But war is something the Combine are very familiar with. Don’t kid yourself, everyone. If the Combine had wanted us gone. They would have destroyed us. Nukes. Bioweapons. Overwhelming force. The Coordinators of the past have used all of these against stubborn elements.”

“You think they would nuke us!?” Hanna asked shocked, the rest of the room joining in.

“Yes. Without a doubt. In a heartbeat even. Ko is a useful world, but if the Coordinator felt he was about to lose it? That an enemy like us that could dig in and never be pushed out would take it? Yes. He would burn a nuke. Accept the political repercussions and sleep soundly that night. We aren’t big enough to go Conquering Benny. We are small enough still despite everything that if someone decides to just flip the board. We lose the game.”

“So we just up and leave? After everything we did here?” Benny demanded. It was probably the loudest he had ever gotten with me.

“No. In fact we don’t do that at all. We spend the next few days salvaging, taking our stuff and our people and head home. But we aren’t leaving them without a little reminder that we were here. After all Benny I made a promise.” I pulled it out of my pocket. A little something I had cooked up a few nights ago, in my spare time.

“And I don’t break promises.”

—--

It was a parade.

Of sorts.

My people, almost all of them in fact, were heading into the city. The people were watching in shock as once more Lostech mech after Lostech mech stomped into their city down their thoroughfare. My Nightstar in the lead as we headed once more for the Governors Manor. It was there I had decided to hold our last act on this world.

This was a statement.

As I walked I could see the faces of the civilians. Many of them talking and pointing. It didn’t matter that we were enemies. It didn’t matter that we had already walked down this road the day before. To the people on the street it was part of the show. Especially since we hadn’t done a single C-bill worth of damage to the city itself. Outside of military targets anyways.

They were probably shocked at how gentle this invasion was.

Well I liked the idea of completely walking away without shattering even a single brick, but that wouldn’t happen. Not today.

I walked through the Governor's gates, destroying them. Across his perfectly kept lawn, uncaring about the long foot prints left in the green grass as I marched up to the Two story building.

Then I started shooting.

And it wasn’t just me.

Within twenty minutes the fires were out, and there was nothing left of the building. The remains stomped flat.

Then carried in between four Atlas a structure was walked into place. The Grade 10 Ferrocrete had been something I built just before this. As it was placed atop the rubble my kids went to work. Those that had skill building libraries jumped in with construction equipment. Each side of the building was secured with massive poles made of thick Ferrocrete. The damn things were nearly as tall as an Atlas, and were hammered into place by the mechs as well.

The sound drew even more attention than what had come before. People were wandering closer to see what it was we were doing.

Other than a good amount of my people on security keeping an eye on the crowd in case someone decided to attack us. We let them. The crowd growing even as the spectacle continued.

Then boxes were dropped off. The object I had pulled out in my meeting was distributed. The first to move were the 39 we had recovered. Each of them took the Iron flowers and just like we had once done on Zaniah dove them deep into the ground around the building we were putting up.

Then more and more. And this time I told them to place as many as they like.

Other than the single walkway, flowers were planted throughout the night. And many tears along with them. I gave no grand speech this time. This was a personal moment for each of my kids.

In the morning my engineers had finished their work. With my ‘help’ in secret that night. A Memory core was planted deep in the ground. Along with a kill switch. The building above became the smallest but probably most eye-catching library we had built so far.

As long as the Combine left it alone. Someday. When it was time to release the full Memory Core to the Inner Sphere they would have theirs.

If they decided to destroy the Library? Then they would get nothing.

By Mid-afternoon the next day we still had quite a crowd, plenty of people wondering what was going on, what we were doing.

Then when everything was done. Kagemuchi was driven onto the site. Delta had done a good job holding him over the last two days, the man looked rough, but unharmed. His hair is a mess and clothes in disarray but no new bruises. He was in perfect health.

Then the men that had been holding the crowd back moved in. Settling instead among the fields of red flowers at the foot of the new library. The front doors were open and there I stood. The Phantom was over my head, The Long ISDF flag fluttering above me as I waited. The Governor was loudly complaining about his handling as he started snapping at the guards guiding him up, but when he finally caught sight of me.

He stopped. And started struggling backwards.

It made sense. The Governor may be my enemy, but I wouldn’t treat him as a fool.

No one wants to walk towards the person holding a bear blade. The Katana I was holding idly in my right hand should be familiar with the Governor it was his.

A symbol of his office and status as a Samurai of the Combine.

I waited as he was pulled forward and the crowd noticed. They came in, putting pressure inwards until he was at my side, my kids keeping the crowd back more with their presence than anything else. The fact they were all heavily armed and backed by Mechs leant a certain fear in the crowd as they stared at the show I was about to put on.

The Governor was pale. Terrified.

I let the blade shift causing him to nearly jerk to his side only to find himself unable as some of the biggest men in the ISDF held him in place.

I opened my mouth, but my words echoed from above. My Phantom echoed out what I said to the crowd. “I am Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. ISDF First Division the Iron Blooded Orphans. I have come to this planet, because my people were taken by your governor in a raid. If he had been reasonable, I would have gladly paid for their safe return, and I would never have set foot on this world.”

I raised the sword letting it rest against the mans throat. But I wasn’t looking at him. I was looking at the crowd.

“I am not an invader. I am not a warmonger. I do not enjoy battle and bloodshed. Lives were lost because I came here. Both yours and mine. Families broken, and destroyed because this mans greed.”

I could almost feel his pulse through the sword it was pressed so close to his jugular, but I wasn’t a murderer.

“Governor Kagemuchi has paid dearly for his greed. So has the Combine. The 22nd Dieron Regulars, your former protectors are gone.”

I let that echo around. Many of the crowd probably didn’t know quite how complete the battle had been on our side. During the salvage operations ongoing Delta and Rough Squad were still securing the AO. They had turned away plenty of civilians at gunpoint.

“The 22nd no longer has a mech to their name. They no longer have a tank, or any other heavy vehicle. The ISDF have completely, and fully destroyed the regiment. They stood between me and rescuing my people.”

“They don’t anymore.”

I let that echo out into the crowd.

“If we were any other force in the Inner Sphere, your city would be on fire, we would be looting your resources, if not outright settling in after our conquest of your world.”

“Lucky for you we are not. We are the ISDF. That name has meaning! We are the defenders of the Innocent. Not Tyrants here to claim your possessions. We spread knowledge freely!” I point to the building behind me.

“This Library has courses and books free for anyone who wishes them. It’s the same data we plant on Lyran Worlds. On League Worlds! We will plant this information on the worlds of the Federated Suns, on the worlds of the Confederation! To any Periphery world we can reach!”

I looked out over the crowds. Stared into the eyes of the reporters who had their cameras rolling. To the people that were scared. Afraid about what would happen to their lives now that their ‘defenders’ were gone.

“The dark age is over. The ISDF is here. We will re-light the future of the Inner Sphere one world at a time. These are my ideals. The ideal of the entire ISDF. It is what we train for, what we fight for.”

“But to those out there with greed in their heart? I will throw those ideals away in order to protect my family. Like we have here. If you think we can be bribed you will find out you are wrong. If you think we can be blackmailed, you will find that useless. If you think we can be suborned by capturing my people and using them as hostages?”

“We will come.”

I turned away from the crowd looking to the Governor who was doing his best to keep the very sharp blade from piercing his skin.

“Governor Kagemuchi. You kidnapped my people. My Family. Attempted to hold their lives hostage so you could steal our equipment. You wanted my dropships Governor. How do they taste when you choke on them!?”

The crowd was silent.