IBC Chpt 13-1

Iron Blooded Commander

- Chapter 13-1 -

A moment's rest

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Too many Recruits at the Gate

Red Base
Zaniah III, Lyran Commonwealth
3023

Red Base

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!"

F***. "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?" I questioned

"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!"

---

What you need are planes!

Commander's Office
Zaniah III, Lyran Commonwealth Space
3023

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 Battlemechs 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 Aerospace Fighters." 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."

---

"Friends" but not "Comrades"

Conference Room, Red Base
Zaniah III, Lyran Commonwealth
3023

"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." Vicky told her firmly.

"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 Air 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."

---

If it's good enough for a Duchess...

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.

Corsair Medium Aerospace Fighter

I had made it myself.

The four planes would be stored inside here, and during their maintenance, the crew that O'Connor's 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.

Stuka Heavy Aerospace Fighter

It wasn't every day you see eight perfect condition Royal Stukas. 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." O'Connor said in hush of amazement.

"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."

---

Gleefully Happy Kids

<<"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."

Alacorn Heavy Tank

"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.

---

Wheeling, but No Dealing

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.

CPLT-K2 Catapult Heavy BattleMech

"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!" I wined

"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." Gauge firmly told me.

"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!" I tried to explain.

"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." I pointed out.

"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!" Gauge yelled

"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!" Gauge argued

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!" I pouted

---

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