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The Call
Chapter 1 - Aurigan Dreams (BattleTech CYOA)[]
The Wake Up Call[]
When I woke up, I had either gone insane or the rest of reality had. Or perhaps it was a bit of both. Ignoring the headache and slight sick feeling from my hangover, I climb out of bed as I decide to check which reality I am to get some handle on the nature of my insanity.
In hindsight, I should have figured out what body I had before I stood in front of the mirror and saw the green-eyed redhead of a young lady looking back with both womanly and athletic curves. Looking around for my wallet, I quickly fish out my driving license, one stamped with the symbol of the Aurigan Coalition, the golden Great Cormorant on a red shield.
Shield of the Aurigan Coalition.
Elizabeth Nora, lives in Cordia City, Coromodir and between the date on my clock and the one on my driving license, I am little over twenty years old.
Well, that explains some things such as who I am and where I am, but not other things such as a life in an alternative 21st Century Tier-Earth where the Inner Sphere and the rest of life as I know it are all part of a fictional setting for a tabletop game. Or in this other person’s life, the basis for a computer game they enjoyed playing and fanfic that they enjoyed reading.
Isn’t that existentially terrifying?
Still it does make some sense that I am Elizabeth Nora given my state of being hungover. Elizabeth Nora has, I mean I have drunk booze before while the other guy is a teetotaler who hasn’t had a drop since accidentally taking a sip of some in their pre-teens.
Those thoughts are pushed to one side as my phone begins to ring and I hastily leap upon the very welcome distraction. I don’t recognise the number, but right now, I’ll take a scam caller if it means being able to think about something other than all this.
“Hello,” I say as I answer the call, my voice sounding both familiar and foreign to me,“Elizabeth Nora speaking.”
“Miss Nora, this is Edgar Blythe of Legal Office of Evans and Blythe,” says the man on the other end,“Our firm has been contracted to assist the Federated Suns law firm of Whitaker, Coombes and May-Porter in executing the will of the late Aaron Herman, Duke of Bromhead, of which you have been named as a primary beneficiary.”
What.
“I beg your pardon?” I reply to the phone, defaulting to a more polite response thanks to my mother’s-wait.
Mum might have tried to teach me to be polite, but I never really paid attention. That was the other guy who did that and this phone call was supposed to distract me from all of this!
“-in a neighboring, non-hostile foreign realm, the law firm executing his will has enlisted the assistance of my law firm in sorting out your inheritance claim,” says the lawyer, having continued to speak despite my internal freakout,“Right now, the Herman Estate is the biggest thing on my agenda and I wish to arrange a face to face meeting with you at your convenience though I would note that sooner is preferable to later given Duke Herman’s titles.”
“Yeah, of course,” I reply as I try to wrap my head around things,“Just to make sure I got this right, a Feddie duke has died and he has me inheriting some of his stuff on his will.”
“A crude summary, but not incorrect,” replies the lawyer,“Whatever his reasons, Duke Herman made you into one of his primary beneficiaries and provided you don’t dismiss your claim, you stand to inherit some of his estate.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got this,” I say,“You wanted to arrange a meeting?”
Meeting with Mum[]
It doesn’t take long to arrange the meeting with the lawyer and I choose the early afternoon for when it takes place to give me some time to process all of this and talk to Mum. Speaking of which, I should head downstairs to bring this up with her. Moana is still on her first deployment while Dad may be visiting his side of the family with Malia and Melika, but Mum should be home with me.
On the other hand, I’ve some knowledge that I should write down in case it does end up being true. I doubt I’ll forget about the big prizes like the Argo or Helm or New Dallas or Castle Nautilus or even the Clans, but I don’t want to forget some of the smaller prizes like Epsilon Eridani or Rigil Kentarus.
“Mum,” I call as I walk into the kitchen where she is making herself breakfast and I resist the urge to frown at how weird that feels,“I just had this call this morning.”
“Anything important, Liz?” asks Mum as she glances over at me.
“Yes, it was,” I answer and I receive her full attention,“It was a lawyer calling me about the Duke of Bromhead’s will. Apparently he named me as one of his primary beneficiaries. You know anything about that?”
“I did mention that your father was a noble on more than one occasion,” replies Mum gently and I snort at that.
“You didn’t mention that he was a Fedrat duke who lived just across the border,” I grumble before getting the conversation back on track,“So he was my father?”
“He got me pregnant and gave me enough C-Bills to set up a new life here on Coromodir after we got up to some adventures together,” answers Mum,“While I am grateful for what he has done for me, he hasn’t been involved in your life enough for me to consider him your father.”
“But he was the one of the people who supplied half of my DNA, right?” I press further,“Is that why he named me as one of his heirs?”
“He is your other parent in that context,” confirms Mum,“I can’t say if that is why he put your name on his will. We didn’t exactly keep in touch after I set up my life here. I can tell you that he was one of the best men I know-knew even if he made some questionable decisions or at least those which had good intentions, but bad outcomes.”
“So my old man is a noble and he is dead,” I mutter,“Well, thanks for the info, Mum. I’ll guess I’ll just see what the lawyers want and what Duke Herman left me in his will.”
“Try not to get wrapped up in anything dangerous,” warns Mum,“I left that sort of life behind, but I don’t know if Aaron did the same despite his intentions to. You might be an adult now, but I would rather you didn’t get dragged into any messes that he left behind.”
Meeting the Company[]
It turned out that the meeting with Edgar Blythe was about confirming that I am the one who stands to potentially inherit, if I was willing to take that inheritance and then once I confirmed my interest, sorting out my travel arrangements to Bromhead so I and the other primary beneficiaries could sort things out with the Legal Office of Whitaker, Coombes, and May-Porter on Bromhead.
And that is how I ended up in a dropship, traveling both off-world and out of the system for the first time in my life and most likely not the last. That is because the inheritance that was being left to me is a mercenary company. An honest to Blake mercenary company that Duke Herman was putting together before sickness got him. I think it was cancer or radiation sickness or some combination of that, but before he bit the dust, the old man got far along enough that it had some serious equipment to its name and was registered with the Mercenary Review Board.
The Rimward Sentinels was what Duke Herman had called his new band of mercs. I liked the sound of that even as this turn of events sounded awfully familiar. In those other memories, I heard of this scenario before and even read a couple of stories based on it. Asha Blackwing from the OWA who went Lyran and that Blakist girl Erin something who ended up playing politics in the League.
Danais Class Cargo DropShip...making its approach of Federated Suns world of Bromhead.
Of course, that didn’t tell me much about what to expect, but it did give me some idea of what happened and a better idea of what was awaiting me. In this scenario that I could remember reading about, an illegitimate child inherits a mercenary company from their mysterious father when the latter dies. Said mercenary company has a lot of hardware, including Jumpships and Dropships alongside a whole load of ‘Mechs, ASFs and tanks, but has no or next to no people. Also some C-Bills, but having better equipment means less C-Bills.
And because there is a dark side to every bright side, there would be a downside or three to go along with everything so yeah for that.
But back to the situation at hand, it has taken just over a month of traveling to reach Bromhead, but in the start of February, the Danais Cargo DropShip that I am hitching a ride in is now approaching the planetary spaceport.
And that month has given me time to think.
Helm and New Dallas are important, but they will be hard to access due to how distant they are from the Coalition no matter how gamechangng their data cores are. I vaguely know how to find those data cores and that should be enough if I have the element of surprise. Helm needs the landholder’s data chip to access its cache and can be found by following the Vermillion River until it ends. New Dallas has no salvage to be found, but it has a data core in a bunker in the ruins of its capital city, in an area that was part of the original city.
Meanwhile, the Argo, Castle Nautilus, and the Dobrev should be far more accessible to me. The Argo is on Axylus and with the Argo, Castle Nautilus can be found on Artu. The Dobrev should still be drifting towards Tarragona and speaking of Tarragona, that is where Momma Bear should be. If I can swoop in before the Baumann Group finds it and starts selling its contents, then I could get all of it without having to worry about the Black Widow or the Bounty Hunter getting involved. Hopefully.
Actually, the Baumann Group should only just be getting started rather than being the local top dog for the pirates in the region.
There is also the continued survival of the Aurigian Coalition. The Coalition is my home and I am a loyal supporter of House Arano, but if my-those memories are to be believed, it won’t last long. High Lord Arano dies in seven years and then Santiago Espinosa coups the new High Lady, Kamea Arano. The end result is three years of tyranny and oppression before Kame Arano reclaims her rightful throne with the Aurigian Coalition being left on the verge of collapse, something it never recovers from.
I will not let my home be destroyed if I have anything to say about it and between this mercenary company and this otherworldly knowledge, I do believe that I’ll have something to say about it.
“Miss Nora?” calls a voice as I leave the Danais and enter the waiting lounge of the spaceport, one that I am unfamiliar with.
“Yes?” I call back hesitantly as I look around for the voice, spotting a sharply-dressed man in a business suit with a middle-aged woman in an AFFS naval uniform that has no insignia, but several medals.
“Mister William Whitaker of Whitaker, Coombes, and May-Porter,” the man introduces himself,“On the behalf of myself and my partners, I have come to assist you with your stay on Bromhead in the hopes of sorting out the Herman Estate with swiftness and ease.”
“And I am Commodore Leona Geary of the Rimward Sentinels,” says the woman as she looks me up and down,“I wanted to see what my new boss is like in person.”
“Well, I’m in business clothing so don’t expect too much,” I reply,“So Commodore. What does that mean?”
“I command the naval assets of the Rimward Sentinel and since Duke Herman’s death. I’ve been acting as CO until the new owner, which is currently you, takes up their position.” answers Commodore Geary, “And we have enough naval assets that my title is worth something. We only got one JumpShip, but that JumpShip is a Monolith so it is worth three Invaders in my books. As for dropships, we’ve got three Fortresses for ground forces, a Union-CV for aerospace and a Mule for cargo and transport.”
“I saw the Monolith on my way in from the jump point, but I haven’t seen the DropShips,” I say.
“We have them all parked planetside,” replies Commodore Geary,“For those of us crewing the DropShips, waiting planetside is preferable to waiting in orbit, at least on a planet like Bromhead.”
“While I am sure that the two of you should have this conversation at some point, this is not the best time for it.” intercedes Mr Whittaker,“It has already been over a month since the late Duke Herman died and it would be best for all parties if his affairs got sorted out sooner rather than later.”
“The man has a point,” agrees Commodore Geary,“Mercenary companies that stay idle for too long die. The sooner we can finish building up our forces and start taking on jobs, the better.”
“Of course,” I reply,“Lead the way then.”
“I have a car waiting to take us to the office where we can handle the paperwork,” says Mr Whittaker to me before glancing at Commodore Geary is,“Will you be joining us, Commodore Geary?”
“Me and my people are caught up in this so I have reason to get involved, so yes,” answers Commodore Geary,“And this will give me a chance to bring Miss Nora up to speed on the status of the Rimward Sentinels.”
“This way ladies,” says Mr Whittaker as he sets off.
“The Rimward Sentinels are currently in an interesting spot,” says Commodore Geary as we set off after Mr Whittaker,“We have a lot of hardware, but not enough manpower and what manpower we do have is lopsided. Very lopsided as we have full crews for all of the ships, but no personnel for our ground forces. Duke Herman did have a few recruits lined up, but no contracts got signed before his unfortunate and unexpected death. We are registered with the Mercenary Review Board and ComStar is rightfully respecting our status as a mercenary company in good standing despite what some of the locals are claiming.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, trying to keep my nervousness out of my voice as that last bit does not sound good.
“For what it is worth, the new Duchess has a good head on her shoulders and figured out not to do anything stupid,” explains Commodore Geary, “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all of her family. They and a fair chunk of the locals feel that our hardware should be handed over to the planetary militia or used to form a ducal guard. They attempted to claim our equipment on the grounds that they belonged to the Herman family and misusing them to play mercenary was a gross abuse of ducal assets. I promptly took it to ComStar and the robes rightfully told the locals where they could stuff it because the Rimward Sentinels are a registered MRB and we hold good standing with them.”
“What about the AF-whatever the Feddie military is called?” I ask, stumbling over the acronym.
“The AFFS wouldn’t say no to our ‘Mechs and ships, but they aren’t foolish enough to push the matter.” answers Commodore Geary,“Morally, it would be a dishonourable action that is unbefitting of the AFFS and contrary to regulations. Practically, the AFFS is the biggest employer of mercenaries in the Inner Sphere and it can’t afford the backlash of seizing, successfully or not, the military hardware of an MRB-registered company in good standing. That said, I would rather get away from Bromhead and line up a contract sooner rather than later. The longer we stick around without doing anything, the more ideas the locals will get and more of them will begin to question why we deserve all of our equipment if we aren’t doing anything with it.”
“I get the idea,” I say,“we should be able to find some employment back in the Aurigan Coalition. There is a shortage of hardware not C-Bills over there and if not, Herotitus is next door and while it is no Galatea, it is the biggest hub of mercenary activity in this part of the Periphery.”
“That sounds like you are going to take up command,” notes Commodore Geary as we reach Mr Whittaker’s shiny black car.
“Yes, I am.”
Author's Chapter Notes[]
- Word from the Author
- The start of the story and while I know there are similar stories to it, I hope this one is a bit of a twist to by the main character choosing to align with a minor periphery state rather than one of the successor states. Rather supporting the nascent Federated Commonwealth or otherwise trying to save the Inner Sphere, Elizabeth’s big dream will be to secure the future of Aurigian Coalition and turn it from a sixth-rate power into a third-rate power.
Fortunately for her, I have paid attention to the BattleTech threads on SB and I have a decent idea of what the possible LosTech locations are. Funnily enough, finding out about all of those LosTech locations is part of what led me to writing this story as I wanted something to do with that knowledge. To keep things honest, I have written down what I could remember of the LosTech caches and sites before I started writing this without looking any of those things up and I’ll be using that list as a reference for what Elizabeth knows about the various LosTech sites.
Anyway, LosTech prospecting is going to be a recurring aspect of this fic since I find that a cool part of BT and part of the story will be dealing with the challenge of getting to those LosTech caches and then getting the goodies back home to use. Some of the sites are hard to get to even if you know about them while others have locals who may not be inclined to just let such goodies slip through their fingers. Not to mention that once Elizabeth has uncovered enough LosTech caches, she will develop something of a reputation and have more (greedy) eyes watching what she is up to.
Also a bit of trivia, Elizabeth Nora is the name of my player character in my main playthrough of the BattleTech game. I’ll also be updating this fic once a day until I’ve run out of pre-written updates to post.