SW11

Chapter Index[]

Suomi Warders 11: Major Decisions[]

by Dave Wainio

Stellar Reef Recharge Station

Nadir Point, Sampsa System

18 November 3052

Major John Linna, Commanding Officer of the Suomi Warders, was home at last. Well, almost home anyway. In his drive to get home he had likely broken some sort of stellar travel speed record for crossing the Free Worlds League. Normally one was forced to wait about a week between distance eating “jumps” as the JumpShips recharged the special energy core that allowed them to bend time and space. But after receiving the first of Captain Osmo Woods’ messages regarding the kidnapping attempt against his daughter and the attack on his unit, John had spared no expense. He ran up a hefty ComStar bill lining up JumpShips to set up the closest thing to a command circuit that was possible for someone not directly affiliated with one of the great Houses that ruled the Inner Sphere. For the most part whenever he arrived in a new system, a new JumpShip was charged and waiting to go. Wealth did have it’s privileges.

He had just arrived in his home star system where a high velocity shuttle was waiting for him at the nadir point space station. Equipped to carry up to eight passengers as comfortably as possible under high gee thrust, the shuttle would cut the time required to get from the Nadir jump point to the planet Sampsa by about a third. Not a very big time savings compared to his many week trip but it was at least a minor comfort to a man that was hell bent on getting home as fast as humanly possible.

Although at the moment a balky air seal between the DropShip he was currently on and the station he wanted to go to was hindering his plans. As he fidgeted impatiently near the airlock he was beginning to seriously consider using one of the emergency evac suits to space walk his way to the station Stellar Reef and his waiting shuttle. The astech nervously fiddling with the control panel could sense the Major’s growing agitation. None of the other three people with the Major seemed to be in a forgiving mood either. Thus it was great relief to the maintenance assistant technician when the ready light cycled to half-green.

“They got it Sir,” the astech reported with a relieved sigh he couldn’t quite hide. “The connection tube is pressurizing now.”

John nodded slightly to indicate that he had heard. Usually he was cordial to the lower staff folk that kept the universe humming along, but today he just wasn’t in the mood for such small talk. He just wanted the damn airlock opened and to be on his way. No, the airlock problems had not been the astech’s doing; but Assistant Technician Mate Deng hadn’t been capable of doing anything about fixing the problem either. The techs aboard the station had eventually solved the cycling issue from their end.

The light went to full green. Sensing that he was better off just staying quiet at this point, the astech punched in the code to open the airlock and stepped aside. In the peculiar gate that magnetic boots forced on a human using them in a zero Gee environment, the Major strode through the door with his sister Holly and Sergeant Samantha Cascade directly behind him. Sergeant Harding, who spent most of his time running the Warder’s tech force, paused to flash a smile of forgiveness at the young astech and give him a quick pat on the arm. With a quick glance at the retreating backs of the four Suomi Warders, the astech shut the hatch before heading off for his regular duty station. Once a transfer of a some cargo was complete, the DropShip would be taking the rest of its passengers – including several more Warders – to Sampsa a few days behind the Major and his shuttle.

At the far end of the docking tube John glared at the cycle lights, willing them to change faster. The double green blinked and there was an audible hiss as the seal popped and the pressure equalized to the station’s level. As the hatchway irised open John found himself facing Lieutenant Naoko Fujiwara. She was holding a Combine honed attention stance complete with a salute frozen in the half completed position that was traditionally held until the superior officer started and completed their own salute motion. He surprised both her and himself when he skipped the saluting part and impulsively lunged forward and grabbed her in a bear hug, twirling her about twice before setting her back down.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he repeated during the swirls.

Naoko felt a bit dizzy from the sudden spinning, but as her boots clunked back to the deck they held her swaying in place.

“It was my honor to help,” she bowed as she collected herself. “Besides, many others were involved. I could not have succeeded without their aid.”

“And I’ll thank them too,” he grinned. “But you took action when it needed to be taken at great personal risk. You saved Sandi. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

“It was Bushido. I am Samurai. Action was required, thus I acted.”

“Plenty of other people would have failed to act. So regardless of what you may believe, I am in your debt. And now we’re going to skip your denials and move right to the introductions. Lieutenant Naoko Fujiwara, I am pleased to present my sister: Lieutenant Holly Linna, commander of the BattleMech Free Lance Holly’s Harassers. Holly, this is our visiting Draconis Combine attaché I told you about.”

Naoko bowed formally. “It is an honor to meet the Major-san’s sister.”

Holly frowned slightly in puzzlement as she returned a lack luster greeting with the other MechWarrior. It seemed rather damn obvious that her big brother was sweet on this lady Snake. Over the past three months on the DropShip Holly had gained the impression that Gracie and her brother were ‘together’ as the saying went on Circinus. It seemed that she had read things wrong.

“The shuttle is prepped and cleared for departure,” Naoko supplied after exchanging greetings with the non-coms.

“Then let’s go,” prompted the Major. “I have a date with a very special little lady that I’m already very late for.”

“Hey, did my ‘Mechs get here yet?” called out Holly as she quickened her step to keep up with her brother.

“Hai,” nodded Naoko. “Captain Woods arranged for their purchase and transport. They are already at your facility at the aerodrome next to our base.”

“Good,” smiled Holly in satisfaction. She knew that her brother had other things on his mind- such as his daughter Sandi and his ex-wife Lydia. But long unseen people nor half forgotten places from her childhood meant little to her at the moment. Waiting for her on Sampsa was her means of striking back at the pirates that had trashed her life. Four BattleMechs. The bastards had terrorized a little girl back then. Soon a grown up MechWarrior would be slinging some payback their way. Right now, nothing much else mattered in Holly’s life.

As John peppered Naoko with questions about the past few months, Sergeant Sammy Cascade kept a sharp eye on the scattered people along their path. It was very unlikely that anyone would even know the Major was here. But her mission orders were to protect the Major from when they left Sampsa until they returned. She’d constantly drilled her platoon that it’s always the last few hours of a mission where people got sloppy, got killed, and failed. Sergeant Cascade did not get sloppy and did not fail. To Sammy there was no tomorrow or next week or next month at the moment. There was only the here and now, and the near future. And right now she was keeping a sharp eye on everything and everybody.

Chief Master Tech Harding followed along with the others lost in his own thoughts. He’d been informed that the Major’s ‘Mech had suffered battle damage while being piloted by Lt. Jorgenson. Harding knew that his second would have competently repaired the Fire Wraith by now. But the Major’s ride was Harding’s personal baby. He just wouldn’t be able to really relax and enjoy being home until he’d gone over all the systems himself. His staff wouldn’t take any offence to his stripdown of their work. It was the way he’d always run things. Everything always got double checked, and if time permitted triple checked. The crew chief for any given machine always rechecked the checked no matter who did the original work. For the Chief Master Tech, “good enough” was never good enough. He smiled slightly as he had to admit that he was looking forward to getting his head back under the hood – so to speak – after all the time he’d just spent in space. Once he’d cleared the Fire Wraith for duty personally, then it would then finally be good to be home.

For her part, Naoko was glad when John started quizzing her about current events allowing herself to fall fully into the role of professional junior officer. She’d found herself unsettled during her wait for the DropShip to dock. Her incredible desire to see John, to have him back with her once again, had been tempered by an uneasiness about facing Lt. Aukland once again. Naoko had been greatly relieved when Gracie had not been in the advance party. Although she knew in the back of her mind that the meeting was inevitable. But more troubling than the specter of Gracie Aukland was Holly Linna and John himself.

Holly did not seem to have any joy at the prospect of returning home after many years. Even by the austere Combine standards Naoko had grown up with, the younger Linna showed very little emotion or humanity at all. It was as if the young woman had become not a warrior, but the weapon itself. Naoko could not even imagine what hardships Holly must have endured. But it was obvious that she had become a driven person. Judging by the way she had stiffened slightly when they shook hands, Naoko guessed that Holly harbored some anti-Combine sentiments as well. The Combine MechWarrior told herself to be careful around Holly, for the weapon cares not what gets between itself and it’s intended target.

Except for the quick moment when he was holding her tight, John was different than when he had left. Somehow more world weary as if his burdens had increased with finding his sister rather than lightened. And there was a hint of a new edge in his voice as he ran though his questions. Something vaguely feral. No, feral wasn’t quite right. But it was the closest word she could come up with. It wasn’t a huge change, but there was an aggressiveness to John now that wasn’t there before. Like a swordsman who had decided what new attacks he was now willing to use and what cuts he was willing to accept making them.

Shaking her head in anger at her inability to put her observations into proper words, Naoko let her thoughts be washed away by the answering of John’s never ending list of questions. John didn’t need a friend or a lover at the moment. He needed an officer to assist him in getting back up to speed and launching whatever plans he had devised. That was what she would be.

Hanger Three

Warder Aerodrome

21 November 3052

The shuttle was pulled slowly into the open hangar by a small tow vehicle. It’s flight crew had barely set the wheel brakes before the senior passenger was working the lock cycle on the exit hatchway. The lower section of the clamshell doors emitted a quiet whir as an extension slowly fed out so that a steeply raked set of stairs provided access to the ground. For the past ten hours the shuttle had dropped to a single G of acceleration to let the passengers recover from the extended high G trip but John’s legs were still a bit rubbery as he clamored off the shuttle. He didn’t really notice though. Despite being firmly in the grasp of planetary gravity, he felt as if he could have floated off down the steps. Waiting safe and sound near the bottom of the ramp was the light of his life.

“Oh Daddy,” she began. Then words failed her. She’d thought of a thousand things to say to him over the past month but couldn’t remember any of them. It didn’t matter though. As he scooped her up and held her tight words didn’t matter at all.

“I’m home Sandi, I’m home,” was all he could come up with for the moment.

But it was enough. At that moment there was no hanger, no shuttle, no other people. There was only the two of them and relief and joy and love.

“Hey, why are you crying?” Sandi asked as she glanced up and saw the wetness in the corners of his eyes.

“Because I could have lost you Snowflake. And because I’m glad I didn’t,” he smiled.

“Well stop it,” the little girl demanded. “ ‘Cause you’ll make me cry too. Besides, Great Grandma said MechWarriors don’t cry.”

John dabbed at his eyes with a free hand as he gazed fondly upon his only child. Somehow she’d gotten so big without him really noticing the changes. “Well I’ll tell you a secret. Your Great Grandmother used to exaggerate things a bit. Besides, there’s a special rule about crying a little bit when you’re the commanding officer.”

“What’s that?,” asked Sandi.

“If you do cry everyone will pretend they’re not watching,” he grinned impishly.

Sandi sneaked a peek past his shoulder and discovered that her father was right. Everyone seemed to be busy doing something or talking to each other. No one was looking at them at all.

“Now let’s get going,” he announced.

“Where to?”

“Anyplace you want to go. We’re doing something we should have done a long time ago. We’re going on a little vacation. Although first I’m going to introduce you to your Aunt Holly.”

“Is she coming on vacation with us?” Sandi asked eagerly.

John’s smile faltered a bit. “I’m afraid not Honey. I think she’s going to need some time by herself to get used to being home again. Maybe next time. Uncle Jeff will be back in another two days or so though.”

“Good,” she decided. “He better come on vacation with us so he can start getting used to little girls.”

“And why is that?” John was curious to know.

“Because somebody has to take care of me when you’re off fighting the bad people,” she explained while making it clear with her voice that she couldn’t understand how her Dad could possibly be so dense he didn’t see the obvious connection. “I’m still just a kid. I can’t stay home by myself.”

John looked over to where Sandi’s stepfather was politely standing off to one side with his driver. Her mother, his ex-wife, was where she belonged for the moment. In a cell. He still hadn’t decided what he planned to do about her in the long run. Dark thoughts threatened to infect his mood but he pushed them away for another time. Then he found himself chuckling at the thought of his carefree brother playing "Mr. Mom”.

“Yes, I suppose we’ll have to see about that,” he agreed. “But that’s for later. Right now let’s go meet your aunt.”

As he started to walk towards where the others had congregated he felt Sandi tap him on the shoulder.

“Daaadd,” she drawled, “I’m a big girl you know. I can walk by myself.”

“I know. But I’m not putting you down for at least a week.”

“A week,” she giggled, “that’s silly. You can’t hold me that long.”

But she made no attempt to wiggle free from his arms as he shifted her weight onto his hip to more easily carry her. In fact, she snuggled in closer to his side. A week was silly. But a little longer was just fine.

About ten minutes later Captain Woods was smiling to himself in contentment as he watched the Major drive off with his daughter. It had taken three batched radio messages on his way inbound to convince John that the planet wasn’t going to fall apart if he took a few days to be with his daughter while they waited for Lieutenant Aukland and the others to get back on the slower flying DropShip. The Major had resisted as first, but as he came to understand that Osmo really did have everything well taken care of he had finally embraced the idea. And that was why Osmo was so content. After all the danger, tension, and loss during the past year or so Osmo had finally been able to clear a few days where his friend John could lay aside the weight of being their leader and just be a dad. Woods hadn’t really thought much about parenting when he had been on active duty with the Dragoons. But having lived among the family oriented Sampsans for quite a while now he had found himself thinking that being a dad might be something he’d want to do some day.

And thinking of family, he turned his head to look at Holly Linna. Standing a few steps away from him, she was watching her brother’s car leave with an unreadable look on her face. The resemblance between the two was notable but not terribly remarkable. She was a mix between John’s taller lanky frame and her brother Jeff’s shorter, stockier frame. Her nose was similar to John’s and her eyes were close to the same. But her face was more rounded with a more generous mouth. As long as the two of them didn’t spend too much time side by side it shouldn’t be too hard to keep her identity secret for the month or two that would be required before they could gather the Warders and lift off. Right now their enemies didn’t seem to know she had survived and even if they did could only guess at what she knew about them. John and Osmo wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

So to most of the planet the scar cheeked woman with the perpetual scowl would be known as Tracy Duggan, mercenary leader of Blue Diamond Cavalier scout lance. At least until they got into space and her true story could be told.

The younger Linna was an enigma. Whatever emotions – if any – she felt about standing upon her home world once again were locked away behind flinty eyes. Her brief introduction to her niece was awkward and it was obvious that Holly had no idea how to interact socially with a child. So far the only animation Osmo had seen in her face was the look of anticipation that lit in her eyes when they had talked about her four BattleMechs.

She turned to look at him. “So Captain. If I understood you right a couple of minutes ago the Sergeant here is gonna be my watch dog.”

Osmo glanced over at Sergeant Cascade, who was standing at parade rest making no sign that she could hear the conversation regarding her. Despite the fact it was occurring about a meter from where Sammi stood.

“Sergeant Cascade will be your liaison assistant for the next few days,” he allowed as he returned his gaze to Holly. “She’ll help you find anything you need and get settled in while you wait for the rest of your lance.”

“Sure. Whatever,” snorted Holly in feigned non-interest.

Yet secretly Holly was both pleased and dismayed that the stoic Sergeant would be staying close for a few days. The older woman was perhaps the only person on the base that could really understand what Holly had been through. But the tough-as-nails trooper wasn’t the type to put up with any nonsense or self-pity. And was also one of the few people Holly had run into for a long time that she considered meaner than she herself was.

“So you done with me for now?” Holly wanted to know.

“Yes. We’ve provided you with a hand-cell unit and an ops manual on basic security for the base and aerodrome. The Sergeant can answer any questions you may have and if she can’t just call me. Your brother’s number is programmed into the cell if you decide later that you want to join him after all.”

Holly looked out in the direction the car had disappeared in and for a moment her face relaxed and a hint of uncertainty – of vulnerability – flashed across her features. Then in an instant it was gone.

“I don’t think so Captain. We just had way too much time crammed together in that DropShip. There’s nothing that needed to be said between us that hasn’t been said already. I just want to be left alone for a while. As the Sergeant rarely says anything unless asked a question, I’ll be close enough to alone anyway.”

With that Holly gathered her two bags and headed for the gaping hangar doors. Sammi followed her example and scooped up her gear and followed. Woods rubbed at his chin in contemplation as he watched them leave. He glanced at the two remaining occupants, Sergeant Harding and Lieutenant Fujiwara.

“Was that a flash of humor Lieutenant Linna just showed in her parting comment?” he asked.

“About the closest thing to it I’ve heard from her the entire trip,” nodded Harding.

“I imagine that’s a good sign then,” sighed Woods. “Well, there’s nothing more to see here. I’ve got work to do and I imagine you two do too. Dismissed. And Naoko…thanks for making the greeting flight. I’m sure it meant a lot to John to see you. And Chief…wait until you see what’s been going on in your ‘Mech bay while you’ve been gone.”

Chief Harding cocked his head sideways a bit as his eye’s narrowed. “I don’t suppose you’d care to elaborate Sir?” he asked.

Osmo smiled. “Not a chance Chief. Even us stuffy XO’s can develop a slight sense of humor now and then. Go see for yourself.” At Harding’s pained look Osmo couldn’t help but add, “Don’t worry Chief. They’re all good surprises.”

Harding snorted lightly. “Well, I best be getting back then to see for myself. Captain, Lieutenant.” With a pair of brief salutes he headed off towards the hangar exit as the two officers fell in a few step behind him.

Outside the hangar Holly paused and swept her eyes across the aerodrome. When she’d last been here as a child the place had been shut down and basically abandoned. Now there was a wire fence up, two new guard towers, and a group of the most god awful lumpy looking VTOLs she could ever remember seeing parked on the other side of the field from her.

“So what now Sergeant?”

“It’s your call Ma’am.”

“And if my call is to go find a bar, get drunk, start a fight and kick some local ass?”

“Then I know a few places where you can accomplish that goal. I will have to insist that you leave the knife here at the aerodrome however.”

Holly smiled. She’d come to know the Sergeant well enough in the past weeks to recognize the knife comment as part of the trooper’s wry sense of humor.

“Don’t worry. I just wanted to see what your reaction would be. What I really want to do is see my ‘Mechs. I imagine they’re in that big hanger over there. It looks like the only one tall enough for ‘Mechs to stand in.”

Sammi merely nodded that Holly had surmised correctly.

“I don’t see no wheels parked nearby. Looks like we’ll halve to hoof it.”

Sammi nodded once in agreement with a small shrug thrown in. Walking didn’t bother her. She did a lot of it.

“Well, let’s be off then,” announced Holly as she suited action to words.

A single soldier of the permanent base guard garrison was standing watch duty in front of the hangar. Although he had no idea who the lady officer in the unmarked olive drab coat was, he did recognize Sergeant Cascade. With a salute he handed over a sealed envelope that had the alarm codes. Holly felt a tingling along her scalp as she keyed the numbers into the pad mounted next to a person scaled door and pushed it open. It lead into a small empty office area, but the hangar entrance door was clearly marked to one side along with a big old fashioned switch box of giant levers used to engage the lighting system and power up the equipment grids. Holly pushed that door open as well, peering into the dim light and picking out the shadowy shapes of four 10 meter giants slumped in standing slumber. She found herself holding her breath as she reached for the main light bar and threw the switch.

It was literally a dream come true for her. Arrayed before her were four upgraded modern BattleMechs. And they were hers. All hers to put pilots in and do with as she pleased. It had taken more than half her liquid wealth to buy them and have them shipped here, but money meant practically nothing to Holly anyway. It was just a new tool now available to her to get what she really needed. Like these. She slowly walked towards them, oblivious to the two combat troopers that were trailing behind her.

Stopping at the foot of the one that had been closest, Holly ran her hand lightly along the cold armor plating is if welcoming an old friend. This was the first time she had seen them. She’d had very little to do with the actual purchase of the machines. She hadn’t been in the position to deal with finding BattleMechs from the edge of the FWL and had been unwilling to lose the two to three weeks it would have taken for her to detour to Outreach for a heavy metal shopping trip. So she’d left the procurement to her brother’s notably competent exec and simply selected from a short list he had sent her of available machines.

The entire affair had proved an odd experience in learning to trust others. Letting some upper officer pick your ‘Mechs for you in the Black Warriors would invariably result in the worse clapped out rust buckets one could possibly imagine. It had taken two beatings, three bribes, a few veiled threats and the promise of a romantic interlude (that had never actually occurred) just to get her hands on the creaky pair of Thorns and Commandos that had been her lance on Circinus. Officially her “Harridans” had been a scout lance, but privately they had always considered themselves as mobile targets meant to soak up enemy ammunition before the more senior MechWarriors joined the fray.

Captain Woods had not betrayed her grudgingly given trust. The machines looked factory fresh even though she knew that two of them were over ten years old and one had fallen in battle attacking the Warders not long ago. Despite some heavier BattleMechs the Warders had on hand she could have taken, Holly had decided to stay with light ‘Mechs. Scouting and harassing was what her lance had trained for and there wouldn’t be much time on Sampsa for learning new tricks before they were on their way back out to the Circinus Federation. Although at her brother’s insistence she had gone heavier than the 20 and 25 ton machines she had left behind for three 30 and one 35 ton model. Also at his advice they all mounted jump jets. That was another reason Holly had elected to stay with the lighter weight class her MechWarriors were familiar with. They’d need all the spare time they could scrape up working on their jumping skills. Neither Thorns or Commandos mounted jets.

There weren’t any stencils or markings on the great machines but Holly knew what each was and what it carried by memory from the data files Woods had sent her. Farthest from her rested a thin limbed SDR-7M Spider. A new 30 ton design that mounted twin medium pulse lasers as it’s only weaponry, the human shaped ‘Mech was durable for a light machine with a high top speed and excellent jumping capability. Ironically, this particular one had last fought against the Suomi Warders. Looking at it now, she could detect no sign that the machine had been on the losing side of a recent battle. Although she planned to talk it over with her lancemates before assigning mounts, she figured that the nimble and sure footed Yawni would likely end up piloting their speedster.

The two next closest to her she understood to be quite rare outside of Wolf’s Dragoon ranks. Yet it seemed that her brother’s Exec had some good connections on the Dragoon’s home world of Outreach. One was a FFL-4B Firefly. According to the data files it was less than a year old. Holly wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a BattleMech that was less than 20 years old until today. The Firefly was essentially a rounded armored torso on long thin legs with ‘knees’ that were very high up the leg. It was a bit slow for a light ‘Mech but about as well armored as a 30 tonner could be and built to take a beating if necessary with the special CASE system to protect it’s LRM reloads and a power plant layout that would require the central core section of the machine to be destroyed before the Firefly would give up a fight. An anti-missile system helped increase it’s longevity. With three medium lasers spread through the torso it was the scrapper of the three 30 tonners and Holly had no question in her mind that Leena Calahan would call dibs on the Firefly.

Next to it stood a machine that was at least ten years old. This Dragoon ‘Mech had been upgraded recently with a weapons exchange that left the FLC-4P Falcon with a pair of small lasers backing up a single medium pulse laser. It was a bit faster than the Firefly with a greater jump capacity and like the Firefly mounted good armor for a light and carried an anti-missile system to help keep the armor unblemished. The humanoid ‘Mech’s head assembly somewhat resembled a rodent snout with armored side slabs that looked like big ears to Holly. She figured that Inra would find the machine’s looks amusing as well and choose to give it a rodent related nickname rather than something related to the Falcon designation.

The one she stood under would be hers. She looked up the long legs of the 35 ton JR7-K Jenner with something akin to love-at-first-sight. It was a somewhat inelegant design with hip joints riding higher than the cockpit pod and a box like short range missile launcher positioned starkly upright between the two great metal donut “hips” the legs attached to. Armless like the Firefly, a pair of weapon pods stuck out from either hip donut with each mounting a pair of medium lasers. From where she stood below the main body section she could look up the five flared thrust nozzles of the jump jets. This was another battle survivor and was also in top condition. It’s good speed and maneuverability coupled with the excellent visibility from the forward thrusting cockpit and it’s ability to lay down some decent smack on anything threatening a lance-mate made the Jenner a good choice to command her lance from in Holly’s eyes. In fact, she really wanted to climb into it and take it out for a spin right this moment. But with a heavy sign she rested her head against it. Until she got a tech out here to help her dial in her neurohelmet and load her profile into the command computer it would be foolhardy to pilot it.

Well, that should be easy enough to take care of tomorrow she told herself.

Back in the doorway the two ground troopers waited quietly as the MechWarrior stood transfixed among the feet of the BattleMechs. Each trooper had a healthy respect for the destructive capabilities of even the lighter class machines. But neither really understood the reverence that MechWarriors seemed to have for their ‘Mechs. It was almost as if she were communing with the motionless Jenner she was leaning against.

“They’re a ….different …. bunch aren’t they Sergeant?” mentioned the guard quietly in reference to MechWarriors in general.

Sammi glanced at him mildly surprised that the garrison trooper would have the grits to make such a comment to a senior Sergeant that he was unfamiliar with.

“How so?” she asked as she rested her hands on her hips. It was a calculated stance meant to bring back memories of basic training. Most of the drill instructors assumed a similar posture when inviting a boot to dig himself a deeper hole by continuing to flap his gums.

He shrugged noncommittally. “Just the way they see BattleMechs I guess. To me ‘Mechs are just big tanks on legs. When the shooting starts you don’t want to be anywhere near one because if it’s on your side it’s gonna draw fire and if it’s on the other side it’s packing a whole lotta hurt to spray around. But to them the ‘Mechs are practically alive. Heck, they climb inside and make them be alive. Then they rumble out onto the battlefield and practically ask for anyone packing more firepower than a pistol to take a shot at them. Sure, I can see thrill of dueling an enemy one on one like some knight of old. But for me, I’d rather have my foes looking the other way right up to the moment I put a bullet or a knife in ‘em. Just seems more practical my way. Ya gotta love them MechWarriors though Sergeant. There’s no denying that when you have a couple a ‘Mechs on your side you’re gonna be laying out some serious pain on the other guys.”

“Too true,” agreed Sammi as she slipped back into the office. “Come on, let’s leave her to commune in peace until she decides to remember about us.”

As they shut the office doors and searched for a coffee urn Sammi was careful to memorize his name and section number. She liked troopers that didn’t intimidate easily and held sensible ideas about the best ways to perform mayhem on one’s fellow man. Her elite troopers didn’t grow on trees. She made them. From solid starting material like this Storliche kid might prove to be.

Over in the base proper Sergeant Harding approached the main ‘Mech Bay with mixed apprehension and curiosity. As he drove the jeep past the vehicle fueling pumps he couldn’t help but notice that one of the previously mothballed vehicle bays had the doors open and activity going on within. Just after that he saw that ‘Mech Bay Two had been turned operational as well. It looked like he had a lot to catch up on. But to Harding’s mind his first order of business was the Major’s mount- the Fire Wraith.

He parked outside the office entrance, intending to slip in unnoticed and take a quick peek at what his people were up to on his way the Camelot’s docking rig. His chief assistant knew him too well for that however. Sergeant Linda Tupala was waiting for him in the office.

“Welcome home Chief. I expect you’ll be wanting to check out the ‘ Wraith.”

Harding smiled. “I was thinking something along those lines,” he admitted. “And thanks, it’s good to be home.”

As she turned and headed across the office space Linda started a running dialog to bring Harding up to speed.

“I know you’ve heard about our little battle by now and I assume you’ve had a briefing on our hardware status. On the vehicle front the new Condor tank is operating fine. As to the destroyed Blitzkrieg ‘Mechs we stripped them and sold some of the stuff while stockpiling some of it. Mainly we kept myomer bundles and actuators that could be used in other chassis. Plus all the functional power plants. Between the salvaged Blitzkrieg ‘Mechs and prepping our own mothballed units in case the Major activated any of them we had to bring Bay Two back on line. We’ve got some extra astechs on hire but I didn’t want to hire any full techs without you having a chance to check them out.

“Of the salvaged rigs we’ve fully repaired three. A Spider that we sold to that ‘Merc unit that’ll be training at the aerodrome, a Centurion that’s ear-marked for Racker to pilot, and the Cappie Raven just in case we need her. Man is she a sweet bird. But we’re still having some problems getting the neuro-interface right. Luckily all the controls and hatches are marked in English from when the Blitzkrieg had it. Of the mothball fleet we’ve started working on just one- the ‘Siamese Cat’. I understand that Kissa will be piloting the old girl into action. We’ve got some big upgrades going on there but nothing that looks like a problem. It’s been Racker’s Centurion that has proven a real bear though.”

Harding smiled at the thought of the Cat being refitted for action. It had come into Warder hands in a most unusual fashion but had never been used. Her remark about the Centurion struck him as odd. They were and old and well known design. “Why, what’s wrong with it?” Harding asked.

“It’s having trouble accepting it’s arm graft. You see, we took the cannon arm from the trashed one and used it to make a new one that mounts a pair of pulse lasers…,” she started.

“Hold it,” interrupted Harding. “You tried to replace an LBX autocannon with pulsers? Why? The energy feed wiring and heat ducting alone would be a nightmare before you even started worrying about load balances and actuator feedback loads.”

“It’s what MechWarrior Nelson asked for and the Captain said go ahead and try. It’s not like they care what kind of engineering and man hours are involved in a project like that.”

Harding knew that while she might bitch about the difficulty of such a project, tackling such unorthodox jobs was what Linda and half his tech force lived for. “I take it that due to your many personal sacrifices the patient had grown a new arm?,” grinned Harding.

She smiled broadly at the implied compliment. “Indeed. A standard Centurion’s arm just isn’t wired for heavy energy weapons or internally shielded to keep the heat from the actuators. So we took the shoulder and elbow stump of the busted up arm and essentially redesigned the whole thing. To keep the gyro happy we needed the arm to stay around eleven tons in mass. One large pulser, one medium pulser and two heat sinks later and wa-la: laser arm.”

“That was a smooth piece of work. What about the ammo bins and feed equipment in the torso?”

“Ripped all that stuff out and stuffed another heat sink plus a C3 slave in there. There’s not a refit kit available to upgrade a Centurion to double sinks, so we added the extra standard ones. And by the way, that Shayne kid we signed as a tech when his MechWarrior sister joined up is amazing. He worked out a special cam gear for the myomer to pull across that steadies the aim of the large pulse laser and did great work getting the C3 wired in. But clever as your little workshop Elves are, it looks like we need the old Wizard to iron out the final detail.”

“Which is?”

“The overall mass is the same, but the weight distribution is different. The old cannon arm was heavy at the end while this arm is heavier around the elbow and upper arm. The gyro reports are all in the green zones but Racker swears that the arm is swinging too fast. It runs past the target and has to drift back and when he takes it up to a run he says it feels “uneven”. I thought maybe it was just him, but the Lawman tried it out and reported the same problems. We’ve re-calibrated, recalculated, reformatted, and even whacked it real hard with a wrench for good measure to no avail. I’ve run out of ideas Chief.”

He couldn’t help but grin. First because he loved a challenge, and second just because he was still the best. “If it’s not there already dump all your data in my work files on the network and I’ll take a look at it and see what I can come up with.”

As they wound their way through the small shop areas Linda filled him on a few minor personnel issues until they emerged into the bay itself. At his first look at the Major’s BattleMech Harding came to a complete stop.

“Why are there big holes where the lasers are supposed to be?’ he asked very calmly considering the first thoughts that ran through his head.

Rather than be concerned about his obvious irritation, Linda found amusement in the look on the Chief’s face. Still, she knew it wouldn’t be wise to try to milk his dismay for very long. “That answer is right over here Chief. I think you’ll like it, but the final call will be for you and the Major.”

Harding had no clue what she was talking about, but followed her around the Fire Wraith to a heavy work cradle that held an exposed medium laser. He glanced at it, then blinked and looked closer. For a few moments he studied it in silence.

“The excitement chamber is different. It has extra heat baffling and the focusing chamber isn’t normal. The power feeds are bigger too,” he noted at long last.

“All true. Chief, may I present the future of laser weaponry. This is from the proof of concept run of the new extended range medium class laser. We have four of them for field testing.”

Harding ran his hand along it as he looked more closely at the weapon once again. He knew that the Major’s company was involved in research on lasers using weapons captured from the Clans. A concept proof meant that they were past the prototype stage and were now trying to work out mass production techniques. In fact, Harding was sure he could spot several places where the welds had been done by hand rather than a robot welder. These babies were probably still a few years away from the mass markets. But they undoubtedly worked. He’d need to do some double checking of whatever data had been supplied with these things before even considering using them. As the C3 system the Warders employed encouraged long range shooting by supporting ‘Mechs, these new extended range lasers seemed like just the right ticket.

“I think I might learn to like surprises after all,” he grinned.

Main Parking Apron

Warder Aerodrome

24 November 3052

First Lieutenant Sven Jorgenson took another quick look down the MechWarriors standing in file behind him as the shuttle carrying the rest of the Circinus expedition rolled slowly down the tarmac toward them. Directly to his right stood his lance. Lt. Dhafar was nearest, his happiness with this current duty obvious on his face. Next to the Combine warrior was young Jason Nellson who bounced slightly in place as his nervousness leaked out. On the other side of Jason, Frank Parks slouched almost casually, glancing around occasionally with the same half smile he usually wore that suggested he always found life amusing. Frank caught Sven looking his way and gave him a grin and a wink. To Frank’s side Vilho Rajanene stood almost at full attention with his eyes tracking the approaching shuttle like a missile lock. Sven couldn’t help but smile to himself at the obvious pride radiating from Vilho. He’d been particularly tight with Gracie Aukland, usually serving as her wing before his breakdown had temporarily removed him from their ranks. To be reunited as peers once again would do both he and Gracie a world of good. While Vilho had been attached to Sven’s lance temporarily, the Lance Leader of the Steele Posse figured he’s work something out to get Vilho back in Mother Goose’s lance as soon as possible.

Of course Gracie might need to rename her ‘Lady Killers’ at that point….but he doubted Gracie would have a major problem with that. Warder tradition deemed it bad luck to rename an active unit, but Gracie had never been much for tradition.

The Lady Killers themselves were next in the line of MechWarriors. Keena Washington looked as anxious to see Gracie’s return as Vilho was. The ex Solaris warrior had remained somewhat aloof since she signed on with the Warders but had formed a close bond with Gracie. When Gracie had left the Solaris pilot had taken it rather hard and had become more distant. Aukland’s return should bring “Cowgirl” back into the fold so to speak. Misty Florens was a harder read for Sven. She was a solid MechWarrior with a quiet, helpful demeanor yet despite having commanded her in battle he still didn’t have a firm grasp on what her drives were. He sensed that perhaps she was still in the process of redefining herself after loosing so many of her CORDF fellows to the Nova Cats not so very long ago.

Seemingly carved of Sampsa granite, Naoko Fujiwara stood at perfect attention at the end of the line. He still had trouble reconciling the warm mirth he’d seen in her brown eyes during relaxed times around the Major with the almost robotic and empty preciseness she displayed now. Admittedly she had little reason to feel warmly toward Gracie after the public mud flinging session Gracie had engaged in on her way out a few months back. While this utter lack of emotion was perhaps the Combine way, it was somehow chilling to Sven. Rotating Vilho into Gracie’s lance and Naoko out might be a good idea.

The shuttle rolled to a stop and Sven glanced the other way to where Captain Woods stood with two other people. One was the ever-proper Sergeant Samantha Cascade. She was a few steps back, the perfect picture of the always competent senior non-com that had seen it all in life. Twice already. Next to the Captain was the biggest enigma of their little group of soldiers- the Major’s sister Holly Linna. As the MechWarriors had already learned of the Major’s trip and had recently been filled in on who their visiting mercenary associates really were, they were among the very few that would know Holly’s true identity until after the Warder’s lifted off to attack the pirates. To the rest of the unit Holly was “Tracy Duggan” and her three lance mates were a group of free lance light ‘Mech jocks hired to fill a temporary need in the upcoming contract. They would stay mostly secluded on the aerodrome, although a number of joint exercises were planned to get a feel for their battlefield capabilities.

Although in a sense that feeling-out process was going to begin right here in a few moments. The three MechWarriors about to exit that shuttle would be scrutinizing the Warder pilots just as hard as the Warder’s would be sizing them up.

In the line Frank took advantage of Sven’s looking away toward the Captain to lean over and nudge Jason.

“Eye’s front Romeo. Our new targeting decoys are about to appear,” he whispered.

Shakespeare’s tragic tale had survived the millennia. The younger pilot understood the implication. “Romeo?” asked Jason defensively. “What are you talking about Ranger?”

“I’m talking about your fascination with the Major’s sister Hot Shot. She’s a looker all right but believe me pal, that’s territory you’re not ready to conquer yet. Heck, I wouldn’t even try and I’m irresistible.”

Jason flushed beat red as he stammered denials. “I am not looking at her. In fact,..that is I….dang it Ranger stop laughing at me.”

Frank worked hard at putting a neutral look back on his face. He knew how paranoid Jason was that people laughed at him behind his back. “No problem Racker. I was just rattling your chain a bit. I’ll drop it.” But even as he was backing off the subject Frank saw in the younger man’s face that he had been on target. The kid did have an infatuation with the Major’s long lost sister. It would probably be no big deal. Something he’d get over in a few weeks. Ranger had taken a liking to the kid, almost like being his older brother or something. He tried to look out for Jason but this was probably an area that wouldn’t respond well to any well intentioned advice.

“Attention,” called Captain Woods suddenly as a ramp was rolled up to the doorhatch by a pair of techs.

As the senior MechWarrior of the three ex-Circinus pilots on the shuttle, Inra Bhati was first out. She stepped smartly down the short set of stairs and snapped to attention at their foot. Dressed in an unmarked but military style olive drab jumpsuit, the dusky skinned MechWarrior saluted first Holly Linna then Captain Woods.

“Lieutenant, I present your lance in good order. Captain, we request permission to enter your domain.”

Holly just nodded while Woods returned the salute.

“Permission granted, and welcome to Sampsa,” he replied crisply.

She took a few steps forward to let her sister Yawni follow her off the ramp. Behind the younger Bhati came MechWarrior Leena Calahan. Leena wandered down the ramp nonchalantly as she exchanged nods of greeting with Holly. After her came the rest of the Warder ground troopers that had gone as security. At the top of the ramp Gracie appeared, pausing for a moment to savor the view from the elevated position.

Gracie felt a tear threaten to squeeze thought the corner of one eye as her gaze swept the line of MechWarriors below. Her friends and comrades, turned out to meet her despite the strained circumstances she had left under. Sure, they all knew she had been acting under orders to stage her exit scene by now. But she also knew that several of them would have sensed that a little bit more than play acting had been involved. She exchanged welcoming grins with Sven on her way down then stopped to take Wood’s extended hand at the bottom of the ramp.

“Welcome home Gracie,” he said simply as he shook her hand.

“Thanks. It’s good to be back.”

He smiled knowingly. “Go say your hellos to the troops while I do the welcoming brief with our visitors.”

She headed over to the Warder MechWarriors while the Captain turned to address Holly and her lance mates.

“Lawman you battle dog you,” laughed Gracie as she gripped Sven’s hand tightly. “I hear you went and started this little war without me.”

“Well they dropped by uninvited and didn’t seem willing to wait until you got back so we had to shoot them up a bit to convince them to stay. We’ll take down the next batch together though Goose.”

“You know it,” she promised as she released his hand and moved down the line.

“Sirocco, good to see you. I hear you really got at ‘em at the pumping station.”

“I was pleased to be of service,” he allowed. “It is good to have you back First Lieutenant.”

“And Racker, how’s the mouth injury you suffered?” she chided Jason.

“Fine Ma’am,” he mumbled red faced.

“Lighten up Jason,” she smiled as she reached out and ruffled his short hair. “That’s the second time you’ve ridden down a ‘Mech under heavy fire without flinching while holding your place in the battle line. You’ve done us proud twice now and I’m sure you’ll continue to do so.”

Jason positively beamed under her compliments as he stammered his thanks.

“And you, you stinker,” she mock growled as she turned to Frank Parks. “I hear you snuck another kill in on me while I was away.”

Frank shrugged but couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “He wanted to dance the tango with me. I didn’t find him to my liking as a dance partner so I had to put him down. Too bad you missed the party.”

“Too bad,” she agreed. “Although I attended a rather interesting little get together or two while I was away.”

Then she was standing before Vilho and found herself speechless.

“It seems we walk the same path once again,” he suggested with a quiet smile.

“Oh God it’s good to see you with us again,” she breathed in reply as she grabbed him in a bear hug.

As she released him and stepped back she caught a look of wry amusement on his face. “What?” she wanted to know.

“Nothing,” he grinned. “Except that the next time I come to you with a big personal problem and ask you to keep it secret for me, do me a favor and kick me in the rear.”

“That’s a solemn vow,” she agreed. Then she grabbed hands warmly with Keena.

“Hey Cowgirl. Sorry I put you through all of that.”

“I’m sorry I doubted you. Welcome back Mother Goose. When do we get to go kick in some more ‘Mech armor?”

“Pretty soon,” promised Gracie. “Pretty soon. And Storm, congratulations on your first kill as a Warder.”

“Technically he surrendered,” Misty reminded her Lance Leader.

“Even better that way. Captured ‘Mechs are worth more the fewer holes we shoot in them. Although don’t let that stop you from drilling the stubborn ones until they look like Swiss cheese.”

“Won’t be a problem,” smiled Misty.

Then Gracie found herself before Lt. Fujiwara. The Combine liaison officer could have been chiseled from cold lexan.

“Lieutenant,” Gracie said quietly. “I can’t ever thank you enough for your actions in saving John’s daughter. And as to other things…we need to talk alone later. I owe you an apology, and an explanation.”

Gracie thought she saw a flash of something leak through Naoko’s military composure but didn’t have a clue how to read it.

“At your convenience,” bowed Naoko. “I now formally return command of the lance to you First Lieutenant.”

“Thank you. I accept command.” It wasn’t until just then that Gracie noticed that someone was missing. “Do you know where John is?”

Naoko shook her head in the negative. “I believe he called Captain Woods to say he was running late Ma’am.”

Gracie frowned slightly. That was a little weird. She knew that John’s brother had elected to use a commercial shuttle to return planetside but it should have beat them back. John and Sandi were planning to meet him at the DropPort. Well, schedules change. If it was anything serious, Osmo would have said something to her by now.

“And that concludes my summary,” the Captain was saying to Holly’s crew as Gracie was looking about for John. “Any questions?”

Leena Calahan had hardly heard a word the Captain had said. She’d spent the brief speech studying the Warder MechWarriors. They really didn’t look like much to her considering their reps in some Circinus circles. The big guy looked like he knew his stuff. Probably drove a heavy and knew how to use it’s firepower. Two of them, the tall dark skinned woman and a slim sandy haired guy, had definitely been giving her a look of challenge. Probably the outfit’s two hot shots; in their own minds anyway. They’d either end up her best friends or bitterest rivals. The hard case with Asian features at the end of the line was a Snake or Leena was a goat herder. She could smell a Drac from two kilometers away. What this one was doing deep within the League she had no idea, but as a general rule she didn’t get along with citizens of the Combine.

Something Yawni was asking drew Leena’s attention back to those standing around her.

“Truly?” Yawni pressed once again, uncertain if she dared take the Captain at his word. “There are no turf zones in the city to worry about crossing or gang colors to avoid accidentally flaunting?”

“Well, I suppose there are a few small sections of the city that are pretty rough,” Osmo allowed. “But there aren’t any gang control zones or government protections zones or anything like that. Which reminds me, it would be best if you didn’t wear sidearms in the city. Generally only the police go armed.”

The sisters exchanged surprised glances. “I suppose we can learn to adjust,” allowed Inra.

Leena reached into the zippered carry pouch she’d been handed a few moments before and pulled out a handful of colorfully marked paper with numbers and various wildlife prints. “What’s this stuff?”

“Normally we do electronic deposits for pay but as you will need a day or two to establish some sort of bank account here, we have provided the first two months of your contract pay in a mix of cash with the rest on a money card,” he explained.

“I got that part in your briefing,” she groused. Or at least she thought she heard him mention something about it. “What I meant was what kind of money is this supposed to be? I ain’t never seen these before.”

“Oh. I see. Those are FinMarks. Planetary currency good in this system. By law and trade agreements they are always valued the same as a Marik Eagle.”

“So what’s an Eagle in C-Bills these days?” Leena wanted to know.

Osmo blinked twice as he opened his mouth, then paused. “I’m not exactly sure,” he admitted at last. “I’d halve to check with the personnel or accounting people for that.”

Holly smiled to herself. In the few days she’d known the Captain that was the first time he had failed to have an answer. “We can worry about C-Bills later Leena. Right now I think there are a few more important things to think about standing in that hangar over there.”

The other three all turned their eyes hungrily towards the indicated hangar. There were indeed more important matters to attend to.

“I’ve got some techs meeting us to do the software loads and neurohelmet adjustments,” Holly continued after a brief pause. “Now let’s go shake our fellow MechWarrior’s hands like good little girls so we can get to prepping our ‘Mechs. I’ve got to make a few visits a later today with my brother but there should be plenty to keep you all occupied while I’m gone. And girls, no need to intimidate them too badly. There’s plenty of spares and ammo for everyone here.”

“No gang zones, no ammo shortages, no repair problems,” sighed Yawni, “truly, this is like the Third Heaven.”

“Except for the part were people occasionally try to blow up your ‘Mech,” snorted Leena.

“Not even the Third Heaven is perfect,” shrugged Inra.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it before ” grinned Leena. She’d learned long ago that the Bhati sisters had some rather interesting religious views. But their belief in their Goddess had never affected their fighting abilities. Leena just treated them like the superstitious many MechWarrior’s had like always entering the cockpit with the right foot first or having lucky clothing or sayings and so forth. Their beliefs did not require active recruitment of others so there had never been much friction. As to Leena, her beliefs ran towards backing your friends no matter what, doing unto everyone else first before they did unto you and letting whatever afterlife there might be take care of itself. It wasn’t very deep but it worked for her.

Sidney Federal Prison

Women’s Wing

Suomi City

24 November 3052

John nodded tight lipped to the guard as he was let into the meeting room. It was a corner chamber on an upper floor. Two large windows filled most of one corner, the thick unbreakable material criss-crossed with thin security bars as an extra measure. Being meant for upper class detainees, four plush chairs and a durable table of real wood sat centered in the room rather than the bare metal furniture used in rooms on lower floors. As the guard stepped back into the hall and closed the door behind him, Lydia Touborg turned to face John from her perch near the windows. He noticed that despite the maximum security facilities she was being held in that somehow she had gotten her hands on some blush and eye coloring. Her hair looked suspiciously well coifed as well.

A relieved smile lit her pouty lips as her teary eyes brightened and she started towards him with hands out stretched.

“Oh John, I didn’t expect you to visit me. Now that you’re back I’m sure you can help clear up this silly mistake. The authorities have the queerest idea that…..”

“Just shut the hell up and sit down,” he interrupted as he pointed at one of the chairs.

Started by the tone of the outburst Lydia actually stumbled slightly. “But,” she started to protest.

“But nothing. I know exactly what the authorities think you’ve been up to,” he retorted icily. “And I know that they don’t know the half of it. Yet, anyway. I’ve got a number of important things to do today so I don’t have time for your puppy dog eyes or your damn play acting. Now sit down.”

Momentarily cowed by his overt hostility, Lydia deflated somewhat as she slunk over to the chairs. She managed to muster enough defiance to choose a different one than the chair he had pointed to originally, but she otherwise held her tongue. This was a John she had never seen before. There was something almost … menacing about him. She found it somewhat stimulating actually. As he approached and rummaged through a soft briefcase he was carrying Lydia felt her fear starting to drain as curiosity slipped in. Then for a long moment he just stared at her. At first she smiled hesitantly, wondering if perhaps he was having thoughts similar to hers. But as the moment dragged on silently she began to get edgy. Lydia didn’t think she liked what she was reading in his eyes.

Finally she could stand his silent scrutiny no more. “If you have so many important things to do, why are you just staring at me?”

He rubbed at his chin and made a single clicking with his tongue against his teeth as if he had reached some sort of conclusion. Then his eyes focused back on the here-and-now, boring into hers.

“Deciding if I should have you killed or not,” he said matter-of-factly.

Her mouth dropped open as her startled mind worked to re-engage itself. She tittered hesitantly. “My nerves aren’t much for jokes these days John.”

“It’s no joke Lydia,” he assured her.

“You can’t be serious,” she yelped as panic nibbled at the back of her thoughts. “It’s just not…

“…not like me?” supplied John. She trailed off as he supplied the exact words she had been about to speak. He leaned forward toward her, his voice dropping to a low growl. “I assure you my dear, you have no idea the things I am capable of doing. We all wear blinders of our own making Lydia. Mine kept me from seeing your true colors for far too long. Yours view me as a simpleton do-gooder type perpetually hampered by my honorable intentions. Let me fill in some of the gray for you darling.

“From the day the Starcade was attacked I have single mindedly pursued two goals. In the pursuit of those goals I have killed people from BattleMechs, killed people with guns, ordered my troopers to kill people for me, and even killed people with my bare hands to get at what I wanted. Along the way I’ve bribed people, bought information from shady sources, used false identities, used my political influence, outright defied planetary government officials, and even mislead my own troops to get at what I wanted. And what I want – stripping away any fancy notions of justice or karmic retribution- is to kill the people that murdered my parents and took my sister. It’s not pretty when you look at it in the harsh light of truth, but my vendetta has been washed in blood from the decks of that star liner all the way to you.”

“Me?” she squeaked in surprise.

He pulled out the bound papers he had been looking for earlier and slapped them on the table before her. Hesitantly she reached out and took them, quickly scanning down the first few paragraphs of text.

“I found a few interesting people on my recent trip to the Periphery,” he supplied while she was skimming the transcript. “One of them was once the helmsman for the Salvador of Loadstar Stellar Shipping. Perhaps you recall that ship. He had an interesting tale to tell of his docking with the Starcade. You’re holding a copy of his statement.”

She looked up at him in surprised shock. This couldn’t be happening. She’d been assured long ago that the Salvador’s crew was dead and all traces of her involvement had been erased. At his nodded invitation to finish reading she took a few moments to do exactly that. Lydia had thought she was making a quick Finmark on the side helping one of her father’s smuggling operations when she had recorded several messages to be used gaining docking permission from the Starcade. She had no reason to expect the massacre that had resulted. But if this statement made it to the courts then combined with her current legal problems no one was going to believe her. Worse yet, Sampsa law had little leniency for abetting. The get away driver faced the same charges as those that committed the robbery. If the gunmen killed someone, the driver would be held just as accountable. Being found to have been involved with the Starcade attack in any fashion at all was essentially a death sentence on Sampsa.

“I see you understand the implications of that little testimonial,” observed John.

Lydia frowned. She hadn’t realized that she had been so transparent with her expressions just then. The dire results she potentially faced rallied her faltering courage. Having discovered her connection to his parent’s murder John may have found a new level to the game of power between them, but she was still the better player.

“I see that this wasn’t notarized, and it would also seem to hint that your mysterious helmsman did not return with you. Thus this isn’t even worth the paper it’s printed on as evidence. My lawyers will see to it that it never sees the light of a court room.”

He leaned back with a sly predatory smile as if he was enjoying playing with his prey. Lydia eyed him warily. His mother had been a trial lawyer. No doubt he knew more about the law than she did so he would have known that evidence was weak. Yet he seemed pleased that she had made the observation rather than concerned. Lydia shifted somewhat when he suddenly stood from his seat, preparing to scuttle out of reach if necessary. But instead of reaching for her he walked over to the room’s only exit.

“Samsa law allows for anyone with directly observed evidence of, or participation in, a crime event to testify regardless of the desires of either the prosecution or the defense in pursuit of the truth. Allow me to reintroduce someone to you.” He knocked on the door sharply with his knuckle. It swung open again and the guard ushered in a young woman wearing a military uniform unfamiliar to Lydia. Piercing blue eyes drew Lydia’s attention away from the long scar that ran down her cheek. The new comer’s face was a touch rounder and her nose a bit wider than her older brother’s, but even with the extra years added Lydia recognized the missing Linna sister immediately.

“Oh. My. God,” breathed Lydia softly. “Holly. You’re alive.”

Holly pushed the door closed behind her with one foot, never taking her hot gaze from Lydia’s face. The temptation to stride over there and choke the life out of the witch was almost overwhelming. Knowing that if she did give in to her berserker impulses she could kiss away any chance of piloting a ‘Mech against the Starcade pirates was enough to keep her temper in check. Holly crossed her arms and continued to glare at the older woman while John walked back towards the single table.

“I see that no introductions are required,” observed John blandly.

Lydia’s mouth worked silently as she struggled to regain her voice. Another lie. All these years that she had tried to persuade John to give up the search for Holly she had been trying to do him a favor. But just like they had told her the Salvador’s crew was dead, they had been wrong about Holly as well. What else had they been wrong about? What else still existed? Something clunked onto the table top and she snapped back into attention as her eyes focused on an old fashioned metal cased sound tape. The letters “alvad” were still barely legible on the side facing her.

“What…what do you want?” she asked slowly. If that was really what it looked like she was essentially a dead woman. Yet John was here for some reason instead of at the courthouse handing over his evidence.

“I want to see your eyes bug out as I choke the life from you with my bare hands,” spat Holly from across the room. “But my big brother had other priorities. I’m going to go along with them for now.”

In response to her questioning look at him, John laid another document on the table before Lydia. She picked it up and read through the first part. It was a custody release that would grant John full legal custody of her daughter.

“That’s blackmail!” she exclaimed indignantly.

“And your point is?” John wanted to know.

“My husband will never stand for this! He loves Sandi very much.”

For the first time John’s expression softened and something other than cold anger touched his face. “I know. And because he cares about her welfare he brought that document to me the first day I touched down Sampsa.”

“No,” breathed Lydia in disbelief. But as she flipped to the end she saw that the document had indeed been drafted by her husband’s lawyer and already bore his signature.

“I could have the courts strip her from you, but he wanted to give you the dignity of making the best choice for Sandi.”

Snarling, Lydia took the stamp pad he offered and placed a thumb imprint at the proper location. She wouldn’t be allowed a pen unless supervised by a guard. But even as she pressed her thumb to it she silently swore to herself that somehow she would get Sandi back.

“One more,” he said as he placed yet a third document before her.

“What’s this one?”

“You’re surrendering all your DEW Industries shares.”

“To who? Holly?”

“No, to our daughter,” he supplied.

Lydia shrugged. That wasn’t a real issue for her. Company bylaws barred her from exercising a board vote while under criminal indictment. The shares would have all passed to Sandi some day anyway. She pressed her thumb to that one too.

“That’s it,” he announced as he scooped up all the papers and put them in his bag before pocketing the tape cassette. “Good bye Lydia”.

And with that he turned and headed for the door. Just before he knocked on it Lydia called his name plaintively.

“John..wait. I need you to know…I had no idea all those people were going to get killed. I didn’t know about Holly. I’m…I’m sorry…” Her voice trailed off. What was there she could really say at this point. “You probably don’t believe it, but I always loved you.”

He paused for a moment before speaking to make sure his voice would be steady. John didn’t turn to look at her. “I pity you Lydia. Despite all we had, all you had, it was never enough. And now you’ve shattered so many lives. Including your own. But I cannot forgive you. We have nothing more to say Lydia. But I think Holly wants to share some parting thought with you.”

John knocked on the door and slipped out the instant it opened. Lydia held her breathe as she found herself alone with the creature that was Holly Linna.

Holly stepped up to the opposite side of the table but resisted the urge to emphasize her words by laying hands upon her brother’s ex-wife. “I have no pity,” Holly told her evenly. “It was burned out of me long ago by men so evil even you pale by comparison. Listen to me and understand. Whatever plea bargains or court maneuvers you try, you better make sure this prison is the rock you bury yourself under. The day you step foot outside of jail is the moment I start stalking you. Even if you’re 93 when you get out, your first day of breathing free will be your last. I will kill you and do it slowly and painfully. I trust I have made myself clear.”

Lydia nodded mutely. Whatever had befallen Holly these past years had obviously made the other woman a homicidal maniac.

Holly smiled a very unpleasant smile and went over to the door to be let out. A guard entered the room to take a sagging Lydia to her cell as the two Linna siblings were escorted down a different hall.

“I don’t remember anything about finding a ship’s recording drive,” Holly mentioned as they waited for the elevator.

“It’s a fake,” he confided. “Just a little something to help keep her off balance.”

“A bluff. I’m impressed. You would have done better in the Black Watch that I would have originally thought.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he snorted.

“I still think we should have just paid off the guards and beat the crap out of her though,” sighed Holly.

As the eyebrows of their escort went up in surprise at her comment she smiled sweetly at him.

Sampsa Federal Complex

War Department Offices

Suomi, Sampsa

24 November 3052

General Latoya Harrisberg was staring at budget projections from the replacement program for their oldest AeroSpace fighters but she really wasn’t seeing them. As the time for her appointment with Major Linna drew nearer she found herself reminiscing about her academy days with John’s grandmother rather than evaluating procurement plans. It was a damn shame about the cancer that had claimed her life. She’d been one of Latoya’s few true friends. Some wag once claimed that old soldiers never die, they just fade away. Latoya knew that to be far from the truth. Sooner or later, everyone died. The only uncertainly involved was how much dignity and honor would reside in your passing.

She couldn’t help but think about her old friend on the rare occasions that John crossed her path. He was a reserve officer with the defense force, but being part of the BattleMech section of the mechanized cavalry rather than in the AeroSpace arm their meetings had always been at social gatherings before. He’d never once tried to use her friendship with his grandmother for personal gain…yet just yesterday he’d sent a private message asking for a private meeting and invoked his grandmother’s friendship with her. Latoya couldn’t refuse of course. And John would have known that. That he would use his grandmother’s memory somehow worried the General that she was about to be told something she really didn’t want to hear.

A light knock at her door brought her head up. That could only be her aid-de-camp Colonel Tapiovarra. Everyone else that wanted her attention used the intercom. Jeffery preferred a more personal approach whenever possible. She called for him to enter and he pushed open the heavy wood door, his puukko knife clanking slightly at his side as he let himself in.

“General, Major Linna has just been admitted through security and will be here momentarily. I thought you might want the head’s up.”

“Thanks Jeffery. From your expression I get the impression that something is wrong.”

“Hmm? No Ma’am. Not wrong really, just odd. He’s wearing his Warder’s uniform and has an aid with him in an unmarked MechWarrior jumpsuit. There’s no reason for him not to wear the uniform of his own command, but the handful of times I’ve seen him up here on the hill it’s always been in civies or his SDF uniform.”

“Which means he must be here on what he considers to be Suomi Warder business,” she observed. “Considering how badly we screwed up letting those raiders drop on his unit he’s got plenty of reason to be displeased with us at the moment. Are there any rumors about what he’s been up to recently?”

“Nothing new since your briefing after the pump station battle,” supplied the Colonel apologetically. “He’s only been back home a few days but his XO has been hiring support personnel for weeks. They seem to have started preparing to mobilize before he even returned but what contract he might have is anyone’s guess. As a routine matter I checked with Mercenary Registration and he brought four MechWarriors back with him but they’ve been registered as an independent command.”

She frowned in thought. That was odd. Why not just hire them outright. Lord knows he’d been doing plenty of that lately between his additional armor units and that company of VTOLs. “I imagine we’ll find out what’s going on soon enough.”

And indeed several minutes later the Colonel was ushering John into the office. John saluted both Sampsa officers in turn, who returned the courtesy.

“Should I be thinking of you as John, Major Linna, or Mr. Linna on this visit?” asked the General as she rose from behind her desk and extended her hand. While he was wearing his Warder dress uniform, she couldn’t help but notice the absence of the knife belt that was a tradition of the Sampsa warrior class.

“Probably a little of all three General,” he replied seriously. “I’m afraid I’m about to curse your day by making it much more interesting. But I expect the main surprise will be agreeable.”

“Surprise?” asked Latoya wearily. “I’m not much for surprises.”

“Well, I’ve got some big ones with me Ma’am. May I have your word that what I’m about to share with you will not go beyond these walls?”

“I can’t make that promise about anything I judge to affect planetary security, you know that. And I think I want my Aid Colonel Tapiovarra to hear what you have to say as well.”

John smiled. “As you wish General. I accept your terms. I think the best place to start may be to just bring her in.” With that, he stepped back so he could motion through the partially open door. Hesitantly, Holly Linna edged into the room and nodded at the General.

Latoya leaned against her desk for support as she waved at Jeffery to shut the door. The Colonel did so, his eyes burning with the question his lips dared not ask. Who was this young woman that nearly floored the General with her mere presence? He looked darkly at the Major, wondering if this was some sort of personal attack on a level the Colonel didn’t understand.

The General caught his scowl. “No Colonel. John has done me no wrong. You wouldn’t recognize her, and I’m almost surprised I do. In fact, I’m afraid to believe what I think I’m seeing is really true. Holly, that is you right?”

“Yes General Harrisberg. It’s me,” allowed Holly quietly. “I eventually escaped my kidnappers. I’m finally…back now. I … I apologize for missing Grammy’s death and funeral. I know she was one of you closest friends.” Holly ended with a flustered shrug. Of all the things circumstance had forced upon her, being upset she had missed a funeral seemed odd to her. But there was no denying the truth to herself. She felt bad about having missed her Grandmother’s services.

“No, no, no my Dear,” breathed Latoya as she surged forward to grip Holly’s arms in her hands to confirm that the apparition was real. “You have nothing to apologize for at all. What a living hell you must have gone through. It’s we that need to apologize for ever letting them take you and the others and for giving up on finding you.”

The Colonel kept shifting his shocked expression between the three. He hadn’t known Holly as a girl, but the story of the Starcade massacre and the kidnapped six was legend to native Sampsans. It was almost like he was seeing the dead returned to the living.

“What about the others?” he found himself asking.

Holly turned her face to him and Jeffery thought he might wilt under the heated fury locked in her eyes. “They separated us two girls from the boys right away. I never knew what happened to them. My friend died during our escape.”

“We have small hope to believe they may still be alive as slave labor in the Periphery,” John added solemnly. “Along with a bunch of other prisoners they’ve seized over the years.”

Jeffery’s hand trembled with rage as he unconsciously gripped his puukko’s hilt. “We must strike. They must be liberated!”

“Actually, that’s what I’m here to talk to the General about,” admitted John.

Latoya looked at the Major curiously, unwilling to release Holly lest the girl somehow disappear into thin air once again. “What is it you have in mind?”

“I need fighters. Say about six of them. I could just buy some on the open market, but these pirates are well connected and I don’t want to tip them off if I can help it. Plus time is of the essence.”

“John, as much as I really might want to, I can’t just detach a flight of AeroSpace fighters to you. You know the bureaucracy doesn’t work that way.”

“I know General,” he soothed. “And that’s not what I’m here to suggest.”

“Why don’t we all take a seat and then you can explain your plan to me,” the general suggested. Soon she was back behind her desk with the other three arrayed in chairs around the other side.

“Here’s the overview,” John said as he fixed his eyes on the General’s. “A while back we were attacked while defending Hamano by the same rouge mercenary command that attacked us here just recently. Their employer has been using semi-legit mercs and outright pirate bands to keep various areas destabilized to keep sales up and seize the occasional bit of advanced technology to reduce R&D costs. We unknowingly blundering into one of their plots and have been under attack by them in various guises every since. Mainly they have been focusing on killing me, including that assassination attempt on Outreach where we captured two of the assassins. I recognized them from the Starcade and realizing that our foe had ties to that incident as well.

“During all of this an investigator my brother had on his payroll happened to spot Holly in a crowd on a distant planet. That’s where I’ve been the past few months. Off looking for my sister. Between some things that Holly remembers, some information we got from a DropShip pilot that had flown for the Starcade killers, things Captain Woods picked up from the raiders that attacked here, and information dug up by my brother’s investigator we’ve put together a pretty good picture of the entire Starcade affair. The long and short of it is that the ringleaders are still alive and running a band of pirates from a secret planet near the Circinus Federation. It’s on that planet that they have a number of prisoners for the purpose of raising food and potential ransom.”

“Astonishing” sighed the Colonel. “The people that hired the assassins, do you know who they are?”

“Not yet,” John said grimly. “Not that we can prove anyway. We’re hoping to find something useful when we hit the pirates.”

“So how do my fighter craft figure into your plans?” asked Latoya.

“With your upgrade program underway there are a number of ships mothballed plus more scheduled to rotate to the reserve fleet. A portion of those will be sold to help fund the upgrades and new purchases. Although any number of government departments can recommend a sale, your office has final approval over all deals. Plus you’re on the Military Equipment Procurement Committee. What I’m asking for is that you help me buy about six surplus craft as quickly and quietly as possible. Ones that are still combat worthy. I can take it from there.”

The General rubbed at her nose as she considered his request. “I may have to let the Vice President and upper command know why I want to bypass the normal bidding procedures and make a quick sale. But frankly I don’t see any problem getting you six fighters. Is this really all you want? Hell Major, for a crack at the Starcade murders you could probably get a spec op team and maybe a JumpShip escort out of the War Department.”

“No offense General,” started John, “but the last thing I need is a bunch of Staff Officers looking over my shoulder and trying to run the show from behind my back. Besides, I’m going to be operating within a Periphery government’s territory. If any Sampsa regular units are involved it changes from a non-aligned mercenary action against pirates to an incursion by FWL troops against a border state. And, if I may be frank, this one is personal for a lot of my people.”

Latoya exhaled slowly. He was right on the mark with his political assessment. “I can’t argue with your read of the politics Major. I lost some good friends- including your parents- on that ship when those butchers attacked it. I just wish I was a younger woman so I could worm my way onto your strike force.”

“There’s one more thing,” John added hesitantly.

“Which is?” she prompted.

“Circumstances force me to offer my resignation from the SDF. A number of my officers will be requesting the same. If you could see your way to have them accepted with honor circumstances I’d appreciate it.”

She nodded slowly. Latoya loathed the thought of losing the talent John and his people could bring to the SDF in a real emergency but if he was still a reserve officer when he lead his attack then he would be open to charges that he was secretly acting under SDF orders. “I have friends on the Personnel Board. I can see to it,” she agreed.

“Thank you Ma’am.”

“Major, if I may ask a question?” started Colonel Tapioverra. “Where are your AeroSpace pilots coming from?”

“I don’t exactly have that one pinned down yet,” admitted John sheepishly. “We’re planning on screening some of the ex-military pilots that are now flying commercial. If worse comes to worse I can pick them up from Outreach but I hope to avoid having to do that.”

“If I may be so bold,” grinned the Colonel, “ I think I may have an idea or two for you in this area. If you can hold off for a day or two on any decisions I may be able to help you out.”

“Certainly Colonel, I have plenty to keep me busy in the mean time. Any help would be welcome.”

There wasn’t much more to say other than filling in a few details and soon the Linna siblings were on their way again. As they exited the building Holly paused on the rotunda balcony, peering into the memorial park below with it’s various memorials.

John gave her a few minutes before finally asking, “is something wrong?”

“No, not really I guess,” she replied in a long exhale. “John, do you think we have time for a quick side trip?”

“Sure. Where do you want to go?”

“I think….I think I’d like to visit where mom and dad are. And grammy and grand pa-pa too. You know… to tell them I’m back I guess.”

He reached out and rested a hand lightly on her shoulder. “They’d like that. We’ll stop and get some fresh flowers on the way.”

Military Training Preserve

Suomi Continent, Sampsa

26 November 3052

Holly Linna drummed the fingers of her right hand absently on the arm rest of her Jenner’s command seat as her eyes scanned a hard copy map of the Joulukinkku Hills. Joulukinkku was Finnish for a Christmas ham dinner. Why some ancient surveyor had elected to name the broad swath of rough, forested terrain after a holiday dish was beyond her. But after numerous checks she was still finding that the printed map she had purchased from a camping and sporting goods outlet matched up to the computerized one the Warder techs had sent to her for download into her ‘Mech. Not that she really expected any trickery, but her short career with the Black Warriors had taught never to take anything for granted going into a competitive exercise.

And although everyone involved with the day’s practice session repeatedly stressed these were just warm up sessions for Holly and her lance to get the feel of their new ‘Mechs Holly knew better. Every exercise, even “friendly ones”, was a test by the established MechWarriors of the newer ones. Which suited her just fine. It’s easy to stay focused when the whole universe is against you.

But even as she thought it she knew it was a partial lie. It had used to be easy to stay focused. That her thoughts were wandering now rather than staying centered on the tactical situation was proof of just that fact. For a woman who had thought herself dead to any emotion other than anger she had found herself beset with many conflicting thoughts and feelings. So she had dealt with them as she had dealt with her early pain and fear. She buried it under her drive for vengeance. Now that she was back on her home planet with physical proof that so much she thought she could never have again was actually available if she was willing to reach out for it, she was finding it harder and harder to keep the errant thoughts at bay. She’d never worried about a future beyond killing her abductors. Now those thoughts kept trying to leak in during unguarded moments.

“So Long Blade, what do think?” asked MechWarrior Calahan over her headset as Holly’s silence had reached into several minutes.

Holly slipped the hard copy away again. Long Blade was the call sign she had adopted when Inra had pointed out that her original choice, puukko, would often be changed to ‘puke-o’ or some such by their esteemed fellow Black Warriors. The puukko was a forearm length knife of the ancient Terran Laps so Holly had gone with a close translated equivalent.

“I think you’re right Swifthawk. If we can surprise and down that Grand Dragon we’ll have a clear run straight in to scout the buildings at the target zone.” The Swifthawk as a Circinus hunting fowl that often tackled other flying birds two and even three times its size. Holly had no problem envisioning her trusty friend Leena as just such a creature.

“That’s an awful lot of BattleMech to take down fast enough to avoid reinforcements,” opined Inra from her Falcon.

“Always the voice of caution ‘Dancer,” snorted Leena into the comms.

“It looks like they’re gone to single patrols, counting on their weight advantage to tie us down ‘Dancer,” observed Holly. “What do you think Flame? Did you read any signs that anything else was out there?”

Inra’s chosen call sign was Death Dancer in honor of the Goddess, but everyone had always shortened it to just ‘Dancer’. She didn’t mind. She looked over at her sister’s Spider for Flame’s answer even though she couldn’t see into the cockpit from her current position.

“I…I don’t think so Long Blade. But although these are the best sensors I’ve ever seen, if a BattleMech is sitting out there cold someplace I wouldn’t have picked it up.”

“I know that Flame,” agreed Holly. “But what are the odds that Lawman would choose to just park one of his four ‘Mechs? He’d have to guess which approach we’d use. He’s not the gambling type. We’re going in. Everyone stay on passive sensors. Flame takes point and when you get to that tall hill do a quick low power ping so we can make sure Sirocco is walking the same patrol route. Let’s go do it people.”

As affirmative came back over the comms Holly ran the situation through her mind one last time looking for anything she might have missed. Their assigned mission was to make a scanning run on a group of buildings (which were actually tents set up for the exercise but that was close enough) and get back to their rally point with the information. Lt. Jorgenson had only his lance of four ‘Mechs to stop them and was restricted from getting within a kilometer of the ‘base’ until either he or the infantry attached to the ‘base’ made contact with her force and then only if the contact was within two klicks of the base. Lawman knew their general starting vector but not the final rally point (unless someone decided to cheat). All the ‘Mechs had been fitted with special sensors and low power targeting lasers to simulate weapons fire. Holly and her team was free to tackle the mission in any fashion that wished as long as they completed the task within four hours of the starting bell.

After studying the map the night before (the one she had bought), they had decided upon the best screened approach and made high speed into that area then went passive and came in at slower speeds with Flame doing the occasional quick “ping” to check for enemy units. She’d found one at extreme range and backed off. By moving and pinging they had plotted the enemy ‘Mech’s patrol route then moved in closer and shut down so that Inra could dismount and visual identify the target. From almost a kilometer away there was no way the walking BattleMech was going to sight a single person hiding on a hilltop.

Holly would have preferred that the most inexperienced pilot of the Steele Posse had been in the patrolling unit but it could have been worse. It wasn’t Ranger or Lawman. She didn’t have the proper equipment to jam his communications but if they could take him down quickly enough they could use their superior speed to vacate the general area before any of the spread out Posse could respond. As they were still outside the two klick range of the base by the rules Lawman couldn’t just send his lance running to protect it. Now that she thought about it, Holly found it mildly surprising that Jorgenson had patrol routes outside of two klicks. He was probably assuming he would be spread too thin to keep her from running through his screen and was angling to try to cut her off after they hit the base.

Inside his 60 ton Grand Dragon Basem was carefully staying to his assigned patrol way points. A while ago he had thought he’d picked up some active radar but had not been able to get a firm bounce from any targets. Just on general principals however he had charged the capacitors of his laser weaponry and cycled an imaginary load of missiles into his twin LRM launchers. His attached training gear reported all weapons on line and ready to fire. It seemed unlikely they would try to attack him but if he did get lucky and flush them he’d probably only get a shot or two off before they used their superior speed and jump jets to evade him. He planned to make those shots count.

“Sirocco, approaching way point theta,” he reported into his comm as his machine stepped near the designated area. It was a particularly bad place to be he had noted on earlier passes. It was in the bottom of a shallow valley surrounded by steep wooded crevasses on many sides that could easily hide a BattleMech sitting at low power.

“Roger Sirocco,” came Lawman’s disembodied voice. Nothing more, just an acknowledgement that the routine report had been noted. It was a routine answer, all that Basem expected. Had there been a contact elsewhere it would have been reported.

Basem slowed as he crested a hill. His sensors still showed clear and the secondary panel that could display C3 data fed to his modified Grand Dragon from a variety of sources including overhead satellites was dark. Using orbital thermal scanners wasn’t part of the mission rules. Using his own was fair game however. He wasn’t exactly feeling nervous per se…but it was well into the projected time window for contact. Two quick touches magnified his view in the center of his HUD display and set up a second heat based image on the C3 display. He swept his torso from side to side, looking for anything that might be unusual.

Despite the fact that her BattleMech was currently on minimal power and generating no real heat to speak of, Holly had to wipe at the sweat that had trickled into her eyes from under her neurohelmet. With her lance secreted in different folds of the hills there was no way to establish a laser link for secure communications. Trying to contact the others now ran the risk of Sirocco registering the comm signal even if he couldn’t break the encryption. Her sensors could pick up the various radiation signals from his radar and other sensor instruments as well as detect the electromagnet field of his fully powered fusion plant. But she couldn’t actually see him. Her scope told her only that he had slowed to a near stop but she had no idea why. She looked at her chron display. She had about twenty seconds to call an abort.

No, she decided. Even if Sirocco suspected something now was going to be their best chance. In any exercises after this it would be unlikely the Warders would risk not working in pairs. That would limit their tactical plans. It would also mess with the heads of at least a few of the Warder MechWarriors. She’d learned very quickly with the Black Warriors that the pilots of heavier ‘Mechs hate being taken out by lights. It made them more skittish in later engagements. This was the first exercise and Holly wanted to make sure they left the proper impression with her brother’s pilots.

Within the Grand Dragon Basem was just starting to chide himself for getting paranoid when his display lit up with a new contact. A BattleMech had just appeared behind him, probably having been sitting in a ravine at minimal power to avoid detection.

“Contact,” he announced as he started to twist his ‘Mech around. He didn’t bother explaining anything else. Although they were cut off from Bifrost and the sat network, the Posse was still running the specialized C3 combat information system amongst the four ‘Mechs of the lance. His sensor and position data would be fed to Lawman and the others.

“Just keep them busy for a few moments,” came Sven’s reply.

Basem checked his impulse to swing all the way around with the First Lieutenant’s reply. Lawman had been convinced that the Blue Diamond Cavaliers – as Holly’s unit was being called while still in disguise – would go on the offensive rather than play hide and seek. The new contact was too far away to be a threat for a few moments anyway. If this was an ambush then the rest of them should be lighting up his sensors any second now. And there they were. Three signals partially masked by terrain but almost in his hip pocket by ‘Mech weaponry ranges. They would undoubtedly be jetting out to fire on him in another second or two. Had he turned to chase the first contact he wouldn’t have had the time to react to the new threat. Sighting along the signal of the closest contact he set his targeting sights just above the hill line in that direction.

Even though this was just a training mission, he could feel the surge of energy that came with the anticipation of combat. “Reading four contacts now. Preparing to engage,” Sirocco called as the snout nosed head of a Falcon appeared above the trees some 200 meters before him.

The light weight Falcon was jumping towards him at a shallow angle. Rather than fire immediately he waited for all of it to appear while adjusting his aim to take in her downward arc. The blue-green of low powered simulation lasers flashed towards him from her soaring ‘Mech. He remembered that one was supposed to represent a medium pulse laser. What the other two were simulated he couldn’t recall. Not that it mattered really. All three shots went well wide as the Falcon pilot struggled somewhat with the jump controls. Glancing at the range indicator just before firing he saw that she had been out of effective range for her pulse laser anyway. Basem didn’t have a solid tone lock for his missiles but just as she touched down he fired the extended range large laser that had replaced the PPC normally mounted by a Grand Dragon.

Inra silently berated herself for both her sloppy landing and accidentally squeezing the firing stud of her weapons control stick. Now she was carrying excess heat without good reason. As if the Goddess was showing her displeasure with her disciple’s poor showing the Falcon’s attached simulation electronics deducted two thirds of her armor total down her left flank. Sirocco had placed a solid hit on her with his first shot. It seemed that he was not momentarily surprised into inaction. Her options were somewhat limited at the moment. As soon as she had her feet firmly under control she pushed the throttle to the blocks and started to arc in on the vaguely ape looking Grand Dragon. The blanks loaded into her AMS system started banging away from her torso as a radio signal informed her computers that she was now under missile attack. Minor armor damage was tacked on to various body locations as she picked up speed.

Sirocco saw that two more attackers were coming in from the other side, one definitely on a vector to pass behind him while the other was in position to break to his front or rear. Neither mounted long range weaponry but in less than ten seconds that was going to be a moot issue. There really wasn’t much he could do to protect his rear arc. Somebody was going to get there sooner or later. But he’d do his best to make it later and limit the exposure to only one opponent. He pushed his own throttle wide open, moving towards the place the Falcon had first touched down at as he spun his torso hard to his left. He’d circle in the same general direction as the Falcon, making it harder for the Jenner or Spider sweeping up on him to get in behind.

Flame came straight on at him, closing the range as quickly as possible to try to distract the Grand Dragon’s firing on her sister as Dancer slowed slightly to sharpen her turn and steady her aim a bit. Lasers light up the distance between the three ‘Mechs as attached sensors and computers decided who had hit whom and how hard. Although the training laser generated negligible heat the computers were tracking probable build up and would penalize movement accordingly. Sirocco elected to fire only his grouped medium lasers, holding the ER large in reserve. His pulse laser stripped the remaining armor from the left torso and inflicted minor internal damage while one of the standard mediums clipped a leg. Between the two smaller ‘Mechs they managed to score two medium pulse laser hits against him doing minor damage to arm and torso armor. In her Jenner Holly held her fire, intent on waiting until she was in optimum position at very close range. But Sirocco obviously didn’t plan to let them get away easy. Picking the Firefly as the ‘Mech that was supposed to flush and turn him had seemed like a good idea as it was the only one in her lance with a long ranged weapon. But now when they could use the Firefly’s decent firepower, it was too far away to help.

“Hull breach,” reported ‘Dancer. It was risky but she threw her torso swinging around to the right while chopping her speed and pushing hard over on the piloting stick to reverse her direction. If she kept circling the way they were now her left side would remain fully exposed. Unluckily for Inra, Basem had a primed ER Large laser in reserve for opportunity fire. He drilled the turning ‘Mech in the upper right back, scoring a near knockout of her entire right hull. ‘Dancer completed her reverse turn but wouldn’t be able to afford risking a direction change like that again. But at least her strongest armor was once again between her and her opponent. “Heavy damage right torso,” she added to her report.

Flame decided to pass in front of the Grand Dragon rather than behind it. She and her sister were both now travelling in the same direction, although Flame’s Spider was moving much faster. By getting in real close to Sirocco she hoped to pose a more tempting target and draw his fire while her sister got back up to speed. But even as the Jenner slowed on the hilltop behind him and the hard charging Spider that was almost in his face laced pulsed light across his front Basem wasn’t relinquishing his chosen target. Not a gambler by nature, he chain fired through his weapons at the jinking Falcon preferring the likelihood of scoring a few hits between four weapons over the all or nothing approach of one single blast. His LRMs would be out of the equation until she put some more range between them.

Tracking the Falcon required him to reverse twist and opened up his rear to the Jenner. He’d just have to trust to his ‘Mech’s thick hide to weather one barrage before he could complete the turn to present his frontal armor to Lt. Linna. He concentrated on gunnery and put his pulse laser and ER Large on target while missing with the pair of standard medium lasers. Inra grimaced as her battle display informed her she’d just lost all her armor on the right arm and about half from the left leg. So far the only BattleMech getting cut to pieces in these hills was hers.

Within the Jenner Holly finally found herself in the firing position she had been after. It had taken longer than expected and ‘Dancer had paid the price. Luckily the Flacon hadn’t suffered any telling internal damage but it was only one decent hit away from being in serious trouble. Well, maybe Holly could so something about that.

“Now I’ve got ya you bastard,” she gloated to herself as she let loose with everything she had.

She got a decently concentrated spread across his upper rear including catching the right arm with two simulated SRMs. As there was no actual damage to visible assess, the training system offered text messages regarding an enemy’s status and would superimpose artificial flames on targets through the targeting HUD. Holly spat a cuss word as she read extensive armor damage, no notable breaches. She consoled herself with the knowledge there couldn’t be anything left back there. The next one of them to unload into his rear arc would be causing internal damage. Swifthawk should be closing in on this battle very soon now, guaranteeing that someone would be getting that shot.

Holly’s calculations were interrupted by Leena’s call from the Firefly.

“Watch your six Long Blade, new Tango. Repeat, new Tango!”

Blinking in surprise Holly extended the range on her radar display as a blue flash sizzled past her view port from behind just as her damage readout reported a hit on her left leg that stripped all the armor and – according to the computer – fused her knee actuator. To emphasize the point, her control systems froze the joint in place in real life as well. Her sensors told the story but she flipped on the rear view camera with the flick of her thumb for confirmation. Lawman’s 60 ton Lancelot had appeared out of nowhere. He was pretty damn far away, but at a higher elevation giving him a good line of sight down into their little shooting match. With that damnably stubborn Grand Dragon feeding targeting information through their shared C3 system, Lawman might as well be standing only three steps behind her.

“My knee’s gone,” called Holly. “We need to take Sirocco down now before Lawman picks us apart from long range. I’ll hobble in close to keep his attention. Flame and ‘Dancer get behind him. Swifthawk, try to distract that Lancelot.” She squeezed her control grips in anger as she started limping towards the turning ‘Dragon. How in the hell had he managed to pop up like that? Unless he had been on stand down himself using Sirocco as bait. But if that was so, how could he have known they’d attack here? Was Captain Woods feeding him sat recon data on the sly?

In a strange way the swirl of a BattleMech combat can resemble the ancient maritime battles of wooden ships and iron shot. Similar to the lulls when gun crews would be ramming powder down cannon bores and pushing the weapons back into firing position on deck, the recharging and reloading of ‘Mech weapons and the need to hold off firing to let heat sinks do their job created brief moments of calm between the lashing storms of fire. And just like a close quarters naval action, the MechWarriors maneuvered for minor position advantages while knowing that they were going to be taking hits when the shooting started again. The only questions were where and how bad. Especially for Basem, who was surrounded, and for Holly who was hobbled and was about to be facing some notable firepower as she watched the Grand Dragon continue to turn until it was facing her.

A Jenner’s best armor was it’s speed and agility. Having neither at the moment Holly could imagine the rocking that she would probably be experiencing if all the damage her machine was absorbing had been real. She’d given back as good as she had got, but at twice the mass her enemy possessed more than twice her armor. The Bhati sisters both reported scoring internal damage on his rear, but whatever the computers had decided the medium pulsers had chewed into hadn’t been enough to change the Grand Dragon’s label to disabled. Any moment now she figured she could expect Lawman to blast another ER Large laser or two into her exposed structure and finish her off.

Leena had turned her Firefly and launched her five missile LRM system at the Lancelot when it had powered up and appeared on the hilltop behind her. But rather than engaging her, the target closest to him, Lawman had chosen to fire on Holly. Having no experience at all with C3 information relays Leena didn’t know that the slowing Jenner near Basem was actually a surer target for Sven to hit than her much closer but fast moving Firefly. Thus she assumed he had fired on Holly as a personal issue and that he would shoot at Holly again regardless of how much fire she threw at the Lancelot. She just wasn’t mounting a knock out type weapon. But she’d been in similar situations before and had a tactic for dealing with it. The Chicken Run.

“Go ahead and twist to one side Sirocco,” Lawman was advising the younger pilot as his targeting reticule turned red. “I’m probably about to take that Jenner out of the fight. Protect your back.”

“Roger,” replied Basem as he concentrated on working his controls. By twisting his torso while shuffle turning in place he should be able to swing his exposed rear out of harm’s way for at least the time it would take the Flacon and Spider to slow and reverse course again. With a little luck he might be able to take down the Falcon with his next barrage leaving only the Spider to harass him. His medium class weapons were already ready to go. The ER large laser should finish recharging in the next few seconds.

Sven took a quick glance at the Firefly closing on him before refining his aim on the Jenner. To his practiced eye it looked like Leena was on a collision course with him. As she had plenty of room to take any attack vector she wanted, it was obviously a deliberate ploy. He calmly zoomed in his targeting view and placed two scoring lasers directly in the middle of the limping Jenner’s back. Lawman saw that the smaller ‘Mech was being labeled as disabled but his attention had already reverted back to the Firefly. It was now less than 100 meters away and there was no doubt that it was headed directly at his stationary Lancelot.

Leena spat a curse as the Lancelot fired before she was able to force it out of position. In the Black Warriors pilots that damaged their ‘Mechs in training runs would be facing a serious hassle from their superiors. Even the threat of collision was enough to make them back off. It seemed that Lawman was made of sterner stuff…or at the very least had a more forgiving boss. While it was too late to save Holly, making the big man move his big ‘Mech was now a matter of pride to Leena. He had to learn that even in defeat neither she nor the rest of her lance would ever back down one centimeter.

In the second or so it took for those thoughts to flash through her mind she had covered at least half the remaining distance. A new realization washed through her at that point. He wasn’t moving. The split second she spent in indecision was more than she had. She pulled at her controls to veer off but the impending collision was now inevitable. Leena saw the Lancelot shift at last, moving far more quickly than she would have thought possible. It dipped it’s shoulder as it leaned downhill towards her a bit, then brought the armored weapon barrel that comprised the arm on that side up in a blocking motion as his 60 ton BattleMech shifted it’s weight into her just as the two machines made contact. The cracking boom of the collision was incredible inside her cockpit as she was slammed forward into her restraints. It felt like she’d just done a belly flop onto duracrete as all the wind was driven out of her and she literally saw stars. Already unbalanced by her last instant attempt to veer away and stunned by the force of the crash, retaining control of her rebounding Firefly was out of the question. There was a moment of vertigo followed by another bone jarring body slam into the backrest of her pilot couch as the light ‘Mech crashed backwards flat onto it’s back. Numerous warning trills filled her cockpit but she couldn’t hear anything above the ringing in her ears as she fought to suck in a full breath.

Lawman finished balancing his ‘Mech after being driven back two steps as Captain Woods’ voice came through his comm.

“Report please Lawman, we’re showing real armor damage on you.”

“That’s affirmative Bifrost. We’ve had an accidental collision between myself and Swifthawk’s Firefly. Her ‘Mech is down, I repeat: her ‘Mech is down.”

“Understood Lawman. Do you require medivac at this time?”

“Negative, I don’t think so Bifrost. She’s probably just shaken up. But I’m going E-V to check on her condition. Have the medical team on stand by just in case. I’ll call in an update when I have new information.”

“Roger Lawman. I’m calling off the exercise. Give me an update ASAP.”

“Will do,” replied Sven as he started unbuckling his restraints. Woods was already on the open comm channel telling everyone to stand down from the training mission.

At the foot of his ‘Mech as Sven was disconnecting the lift line from his harness he paused to examine his mount. He’d shattered a good number of armor plates all across his left side. The arm had been especially hard hit. The weapons simulation receptors had been busted and literally flung off his ‘Mech by the force of impact while the only sign of the simulation laser that had once been attached to that arm was the mounting plate. He’d just created several hours of work for his tech. The ground was vibrating with the approach of Holly’s Jenner as he punched in the emergency access codes into Leena’s hatch lock. He was relieved to discover that the overly paranoid ex-Warrior had not changed them from the codes Warder techs had installed when the machine first made planetfall here. Both his and Holly’s attempts to raise Swifthawk on the comms had brought only incoherent groans. As he pushed the hatch open he saw that she had recovered her wits at least a little as she was feebly trying to work the release buckles on her harness.

“Lay still a moment and let me check you for injuries,” he instructed as he stepped into the confining space. At the moment the rear wall was his “floor”.

He couldn’t quite catch her reply as he leaned across her and studied the control boards before make a few selections. The warning tones all stopped and the power plant set itself into a stand by mode. “What was that again?”

“I said,” coughed Leena, “that you smacked me but good.”

“Contrary to what some of our hovertank crews might tell you, running into objects twice your mass is not a recommended maneuver. Now, any sharp pains anywhere? Any serious pain around your neck?”

“It hurts when I breathe deep,” she admitted.

“Can you move your arms and legs all right?

“Yeah. Tender, but everything seems to be working.”

“Okay, I’m going to unbuckle you then help get you out so you can sit up. Your rib cage was probably heavily compressed. Hopefully just bruised and nothing cracked. Either way it’s going to hurt a bit. Ready?”

“Yeah,” she said as she gritted her teeth. “Ready.”

As carefully as he could Sven hoisted her from the seat and backed out of the cockpit door to set her down on the ground. Holly was just approaching after climbing down out of her Jenner.

“Is she all right?” called Holly.

Sven glanced back at his commander’s sister. “Banged up a bit Lieutenant. May or may not have some cracked ribs though. I don’t want her trying to pilot her ride back to the drop camp until you’re sure she’s up to it though. If she can’t, we’ll fly someone in to do it.”

“Understood,” agreed Holly as she knelt next to her friend.

“I need to report in to Captain Woods,” announced Sven. “Excuse for a moment please.”

They both nodded and he walked off several paces to make his call in via the comm link he had brought from his BattleMech. Holly took advantage of the moment to lean in closer to Leena and speak to her privately.

“What the hell happened?”

“I tried to run him off target like we’ve done before back home,” supplied Leena. “Only it seems that the Lawman doesn’t flinch like Circinus MechWarriors do. In fact, he set down and whacked me with a shoulder.”

“No….really? Lawman?” asked Holly dubiously. She glanced over at the huge MechWarrior. He showed no signs of being angry or excited or anything. The Warder First Lieutenant appeared to be treating the whole thing like some minor fender bender accident between ground cars in a parking lot.

“Solemn word,” sighed Leena against the ache in her chest.

Hhmm, noted Holly in curiosity. She straightened up as Sven turned and walked back to them. Mild tremors carried to the three of them from the footfalls of the other three Mechs approaching the prone Firefly.

Sven made a show of turning and looking over the damage to his machine before slowly doing the same to Leena’s prone BattleMech. Neither woman said anything while he conducted his visual examination.

“In case you didn’t read the ROEs for all live training sessions MechWarrior Calahan, a stationary vehicle or BattleMech has ‘right of way’ and it is the responsibility of the moving one to avoid the stationary one. Additionally, if you do find yourself on a collision heading with something facing you then break to right. I believe that just before you accidentally ran into me you broke left.”

“So that little extra love tap you gave me right as we hit was actually you going to your right I imagine.”

“You could say that,” he deadpanned. Then his calm gaze turned to Holly. “Lieutenant, as I’m sure you have noted a noticeable bit of damage has occurred. Both BattleMechs have suffered armor damage and the scoring systems attached to both have been smashed up as well. We can either agree to absorb our own damage costs or if you prefer you can ask for an accident panel to review the incident and assign cost based on percent blame. I’ll leave it up to you as I’m okay with either.”

Holly looked up at the fallen ‘Mech and actually found a rueful grin had slipped onto her face. As non-combat damage to her independent unit, the repairs would be coming directly out of her pocket. Luckily as an heir to part of the Linna family fortune she had very deep pockets.

“Sounds fair to me. We each cover our own damage and call it a day.”

“Agreed. Well, here comes everyone else. Lieutenant, return to the drop camp at your own recognizance. If Swifthawk there can’t safely pilot don’t let her try to be a hero. Call for someone to bring her Firefly in. We’ll load up and lift in about four hours for the base. I'm going to take my lance by the firing range for a bit. I’ll see you back at the camp.”

“So I guess we score a failure on our first go round?” asked Holly as Sven started to leave.

He paused and looked back at the two of them, then over at the Bhati sisters who were closing on foot. He noticed that Basem had chosen to stay in his Grand Dragon. “No. We’ll pick it up in a day or so. But it doesn’t look good. Your mission timer will start where I stopped it and you only have two functional ‘Mechs to complete the mission with.” He started towards his Lancelot once again.

Holly and Leena exchanged glances, each aware that back home they’d be in the ‘loss’ column already and both wondering why Lt. Jorgenson was letting the entire illegal charge maneuver thing drop like this had been an actual accidental collision.

Yawni whistled in appreciation of the damage done as she walked up. “It seems you made an impression on our training officer,” she observed.

Holly and Leena both gave her sharp looks.

“I hope that wasn’t an intentional pun Flame,” growled Leena. “I’m not exactly in a joking mood.”

Yawni stared back with the best wide eyed innocence she could muster.

Meanwhile Inra had scuttled after Sven.

“Excuse me Lieutenant, but may I ask a question?”

He paused. “Sure Death Dancer. What’s on your mind?”

“How did you know what we would do? And where we would do it?,” Inra wanted to know.

Lawman shrugged. “Lucky deduction. Goose told me you were all aggressive pilots. I assumed that you’d want to try to make some sort of statement early on to show that you don’t plan on being pushed around by anyone. I have access to the same maps you do. There were only two routes with really good cover so I figured you’d use one or the other. Sirocco and I took one while Racker and Ranger took the other. I figured a lone ‘Mech would be a target too tempting to pass up. If you did the unexpected and ran straight for the target then we would have tried to head you off on the way out.”

“I see,” Inra replied simply. And she did. When he put it like that it seemed rather obvious actually. “Thank you First Lieutenant.”

He cocked his head questioningly and she explained.

“For the lesson in strategy. You divined what we would do while we failed to think about how you might deploy. And for the lesson in tactics. The staked goat is an old ploy but obviously still effective.” With a nod she turned to join her lance mates.

He watched her go with a touch of amusement dancing behind his eyes. He wondered what Basem would think of being called the ‘staked goat’? Anyway, at least one of them seemed more interested in learning rather than trying to show off what they already knew. Hopefully the others would come around soon. There was only a few more weeks on the ground for live training. Lawman keyed the comm he was carrying.

“Listen up Posse. The show’s over for today so as soon as I mount up we’ll reform at Nav Delta. Since I don’t want to listen to Ranger pout about missing the action all the way back we’ll swing by the range and do a little live fire. Go ahead and take your training system off line but leave your weapons powered down until we enter the free fire zone around the range.”

“Ah well,” drawled Ranger into the comms. “It’s not the same as trashing newbies but it will have to do.”

Warder Base (Fort Ilmarinen)

Outside Suomi City, Sampsa

26 November 3052

“Hey Lawman, wait up,” called a familiar voice as he was just about to step on the accelerator of the base utility cart.

“Sure thing Goose,” he yelled back through the vehicles open window. Gracie was standing in the office door to the main MechBay. Her crew chief was visible just inside and waved at him. He nodded and waved back.

A few moments later Gracie had finished her conversation and jogged over to climb into the utility rig next to Sven.

“Headed for the Review Board meeting I presume?” she said as she jumped in.

“Yep. You need to stop any place first?”

“Nope. I’m ready to go.” She waved her personal digital computer pad at him as he started away from the bay. “I happened to pull the battle ROM footage from your little run in with um…what’s her call sign again?”

“ ‘Swifthawk’,” he supplied.

“Yeah, that’s it. Anyway, that was a pretty nasty bump.”

He glanced sideways at her from behind the wheel. “Meaning?”

“Meaning you smacked her pretty darn good,” shrugged Gracie.

Reflexively he looked in the rear view mirror to look back into the large bay doors. The Firefly had been taken to the Warder’s main bay for repairs that couldn’t realistically be done in the makeshift hangar at the Aerodrome.

“Are you saying you don’t approve?” he asked mildly.

She laughed. “Hell no. If it had been me I would have knocked her flat, stomped on her ‘Mech’s chest a few times, then drug her out of the cockpit and slapped her around a bit just to make sure she got the message. Actually I was wondering why you let her off the hook. That was a pretty serious safety violation she broke.”

“I’m sure she got the message and won’t try anything stupid like that again. Besides, she was trying to protect her Lance Leader while seriously outgunned so I figured she scored a few points for innovation if nothing else. But mainly it was a trust issue. If I dropped a load of regulations on her head they’d all just assume we were looking for any means we had to ‘keep them down’ so to speak. As they seem to have a serious case of distrust for authority, I figured that if I demonstrated that we’re willing to bend the rules too that they might come around to a more cooperative mood sooner rather than later.”

“So you gain their trust more quickly by showing that you are partially untrustworthy. Very inscrutable of you oh Great One,” she smiled approvingly. “Are you sure that there’s no Capellan blood in your family line?”

He looked at his own reflection in the mirror as he snorted in amusement. Classic Nordic features including blue eyes and blond hair looked back at him. “Well if there is, they must be mighty recessive genes.”

As Sven and Gracie sped across the base, the Bhati sisters were wandering aimlessly across the bay floor towards the massive open doorway. Leena and Holly were lifting new armor plates into place with the overhead crane system along side one of their techs. The other had refused the overtime to go home and eat dinner with his family much to Leena’s disgust. There seemed to be a small army of Warder tech scurrying about. Far more than any of the ex Black Warriors could remember seeing in one place at one time. Inra and Yawni both figured the Warder crew would be willing to lend a hand but neither of their lance mates seemed inclined to ask for any help. Or even accept it if it was offered. The sisters hoped that the work would be done before the general assembly tonight. They were curious to see what customs and traditions bound these Warders together.

“We have several hours of free time,” Yawni pointed out to her older sibling. “What should we do with it?”

“I’d suggest a drink and a meal if we kind find them.”

“A solid suggestion,” agreed Yawni. “Perhaps that tech over there could help us out?”

The pair drifted over to where a young man was standing before a piece of machinery. He was intently watching a pair of monitors and making the occasional control adjustment based on whatever the numbers were telling him.

“Excuse us, but could we ask you a question?” queried Inra.

“Hold on just a few more moments,” he answered without taking his eyes off the monitors. “I’m almost done with this.”

The sisters exchanged glances and slight shrugs then stood by quietly as the other adjusted dials and punched in keyboard commands. The machine was humming while he worked, then the sound faded as he announced “There. That’s got it.” He opened a hood and carefully pulled out a hand sized control board that had a couple of computer chips on it.

“There, what do you think?” he asked excitedly as he showed it to them.

“Uh…it’s very nice,” replied Inra politely.

“Very…control board looking,” added Yawni helpfully.

The young man laughed at their puzzled expressions. “Doy…sorry about that. You have no idea what I’m so excited about of course. Man this thing is rad tech. Anyway, I just finished etching this board and compiling the chips. You’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s a real swift piece of work. Anyway I’m Shane Washington. Crew Chief for the Orion over there. What can I do for you?”

Both MechWarriors grinned at the pride and possessiveness in his voice when he mentioned the Orion. Techs always seemed to act as if the huge war machines were their personal property.

“We were hoping you could tell us where we might get something to eat,” supplied Inra.

“Sure. You have a couple of choices actually. There’s a small pantry here in the bay with some snack foods, and two main cafeterias on the base you could go to. Or if you want you can come over to the Lion’s Den with me. I’m meeting my sister there and a couple of other folks.”

“The Lion’s Den? What type of place is it?” asked Yawni.

“It’s right at the main gates. Sorta a combined officer’s club and NCO lounge. The Den is a big bar – restaurant place with game tables and stuff. It’s pretty cool. If you’re worried about intruding I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem. But if you want I’ll just give you a ride and you can go your own way in the Den.”

“Our thanks then Tech Washington. We’ll be happy to accept your ride at least.”

John looked over the information on his computer screen then shuffled though the hardcopy prints sitting on the counter next to his portable.

“I know I said it at the start of this meeting,” he continued after the brief pause, “but I just want to say it again Osmo. You’ve done an incredible job getting the unit ready to deploy while I was gone. Including finding ‘combat engineers’ to sign on for the trip. Hiring one of the tribal forest fighting heavy equipment crews was a stroke of genius.”

Osmo waved off the praise. “I can’t take credit for that. They approached me wondering if we had any work following the attack on us.”

“They’ll be perfect for digging defensive works around anything we need to protect on the fly,” added Gracie. “And since they’re already used to risking their lives cutting fire breaks in the face of raging infernos a little nearby combat noise shouldn’t spook them.”

“I agree,” nodded John. “And in response to the excellent work Osmo has shown dealing with the raid and prepping the unit for departure I am recommending a commendation be placed in his record. All those in favor?”

“Aye,” voted Sven and Gracie heartily as Osmo coughed in embarrassment and abstained.

“The motion carries,” announced John. “Is there any other business at the moment?”

Because John had looked down again to check his notes he didn’t notice the look traded between Sven and Gracie. Each had been asked by Osmo to lag behind to talk to the Captain about something he didn’t want John to know about yet. After the others agreed that they were done he snapped shut his computer.

“In that case I’ll be skipping along,” announced the Major. “I promised Sandi that I would catch her game. I’ll be back in time for the assembly though. Just ring me if anything urgent comes up.”

After exchanging goodbyes he headed out the door of the conference room and then went down the short hall and around the corner to the entry lobby. There he almost bumped into a woman in civilian garb as she was entering the building.

“Excuse me…Ms. Skorrel,” he said as he recognized her. She was one of the investigator/consultant that worked for his corporate security company.

“My fault Major Linna. I was lost in thought and wasn’t watching where I was walking,” she countered.

“What brings you out to the base?”

“I dropped off some more background checks at admin,” she lied smoothly. “They asked me to have Lieutenant Aukland sign something for them. They said she was in this building.”

“The Elvenhome Room,” John supplied. “We just finished our meeting. I think she’s just shooting the bull with Captain Woods and Lieutenant Jorgenson now so just go on in.”

“Thank you Sir. And good day to you.”

“And to you as well Ms. Skorrel.”

Janet started across the lobby but as soon as the Major had exited she stopped. Giving him a moment to move away from the clear paneled door she stepped back into the lobby and looked around quickly. Perfect she decided. The two lavatory doors were in the small lobby area. She went to the ladies doorway and pushed it open. Empty. Janet fished a small compact from her pocket and opened it so she could use the mirror to look over her shoulder. Then she stood in the doorway with her back to the lobby. She waited that way, prepared to finish “walking” into the bathroom if need be to hide herself while she waited. It wasn’t long before she heard voices up the hall. The others had finished as well.

Woods nodded goodbye to the MechWarriors as Sven was demonstrating BattleMech positions and facings with his hands to Gracie. The Captain walked out whistling cheerfully. The other two had agreed completely with his plans. John would be in for a big surprise during the general assembly. Although he noticed someone headed into the women’s restroom on his way out Osmo didn’t give it any thought. There were a number of other people out and about this part of the grounds in the late afternoon.

The two MechWarriors were just picking up their things to leave when Janet knocked on the door then pushed it open. She smiled and nodded hello to their curious expressions.

“Lieutenant Aukland, I’m afraid I just missed you before you left on your …little trip. I have the information you asked about with me.”

Sven started to excuse himself but Gracie waved him off before he could. “No Lawman, why don’t you stay and hear this too. Just after we got back from Outreach I was feeling a bit suspicious so I hired Janet to run a background check for me. I’m sure I’m about to find out I was a complete fool but you might as well listen in so the next time I get one of these half baked ideas you can talk me out of it."

He shrugged his acceptance of her invitation and slid back down into a seat.

“I’m afraid the news is bad Lieutenant Aukland. My initial checks didn’t turn up anything of note, but since you were gone and you had told me expenses weren’t an issue I decided to take a little trip to Outreach. I regret to inform you that your suspicions were well grounded. Kaitie Woods has a falsified past and is in all likelihood an agent for Wolfnet – or at least an operative for the Wolf’s Dragoons intelligence gathering operations.”

“Hold on a moment,” complained Sven. “I just came in on the tail end of all this so you’ll excuse me for being a bit skeptical. What evidence do you have that leads you to believe the Captain’s wife is working for Wolfnet?”

Janet opened the file pouch she was holding and spread the various contents on the table for the two Warder officers to look at as she gave them an overview of her investigation.

“The standard background checks I ran came back clean, but that didn’t mean very much as most of Kaitie Woods’ life had supposedly been spent on Fletcher and without going there it would be impossible to determine if the references were real or just clever blinds. So I decided to spend a few days watching her. She spends most of her time doing economic research, which would not appear unusual as she is employed as a business analysis writer. Except the subjects she was researching were not the subjects of her reports. Or to be more precise, she was doing unrelated research for an unknown reason. And being very careful about who might be watching her. Far more careful than one would expect from the average citizen.”

“But in this case she was right to be worried about being spied on,” interrupted Sven.

“Indeed she was,” agreed Janet. “Luckily I proved better at watching than she proved at spotting watchers. Her activities got me to wondering about her short time on Outreach where she met and married Captain Woods so I decided to go there and check on a few things. A nocturnal visit to her supposed employer on Outreach quickly proved that it was a dummy company consisting of nothing more than a nice lobby and conference room attached to a big empty building.”

“Nocturnal?” interrupted Sven again.

“I don’t think we want to know,” hushed Gracie as she motioned for the investigator to continue.

“From there it was just a matter of some sophisticated computer work and good old fashion pavement pounding by foot. Although I think we could pull it off if we used out best code slicers, on my own I didn’t want to risk trying to break into the Dragoons’ computer files. But the planetary media and history ones were a different matter. I set up a face recognition program, gave the search some narrowing parameters, and left it alone for a few days. The shots you see there are the result.”

The two Warder officers looked through the prints. There were six, and a few lacked enough detail to be absolutely sure it was Kaitie, but in two there was no doubt who they were looking at. One was from a ‘human interest’ type story about summer in the city parks and Kaitie just happened to be sitting on a blanket with two other people on one side of the shot. Although the shot didn’t mean anything by itself, the story it ran with was dated more than a year from when she supposedly first arrived on Outreach.

It was the second that was most damning. It showed Kaitie in a Dragoon uniform with a group of other junior officers at the dedication ceremony for a new building in Harlech.

“That one kind of surprised me,” noted Janet as the two MechWarriors peered at it. “I would have thought Dragoon intel wouldn’t let a picture like that be taken, much less recorded in the public files. Although it’s possible that they are used to thinking in military terms only in which case such a picture would have no military value. Industrial type ‘civilian’ espionage may be ‘below their radar’ so to speak. There are a few other things, most of them contradicting her supplied history. That she’s Wolfnet is just an informed guess. The only other entities with the ability and desire to place her would be the Caps, Andurion factions, House Marik, and some corporate entities. I did some checking but I couldn’t find any links between Kaitie and any of them.”

“Thank you Janet. You’ve been most thorough,” replied a deflated Gracie as she slumped in her chair. She hadn’t wanted to be right.

Sven was still staring at the photo. He really didn’t want to go where he was about to go. But he knew it was his duty.

“Janet,” he asked in a steady tone, “in your professional opinion what is Kaitie doing here and what are the odds that Captain Woods is unaware of her assignment?”

“The highest likely hood is that she is collecting political stability and economic strength data for Outreach. And acting as a channel to pass information for others.”

“You mean for Osmo,” accused Gracie.

“Yes, I mean for Captain Woods,” agreed Janet sadly. “I checked with the janitorial staff of the hall they supposedly got married in. The carpeting was being changed that week. I went to the lodge they supposedly spent their honeymoon at. No one could remember seeing them even though the computer records claim they stayed there. The Wolves have placed agents in other units in the past. Yours, with it’s strong ties to the electronics and weapons industries, is a tempting target. I couldn’t find any recorded incident of a Wolf agent actively harming the command he or she was spying on. But as we’ve recently learned, the Dragoons first came to the Inner Sphere as spies for the Clans. They may have decided to side with us against their former masters but a leopard has a hard time changing its spots.”

“Thanks, that will be all for now,” sighed a dejected Aukland. “Keep all this to yourself for the time being okay Janet?”

“My word Lieutenant. My apologies to you both. This is hard news.” Janet Skorrel quietly withdrew from the room.

For a long time neither Warder moved nor said a word.

“Our intelligence officer who happens to also be our executive officer is on someone else’s payroll,” sighed Sven at last. “I believe this is what one calls a ‘bad thing’.”

“Damn, damn, damn,” whispered Gracie. “How do we tell John? What do we tell John? This is really going to devastate him. Hell, it devastated me. How could we have missed such an obvious ploy? An intel officer that left the Dragoons to follow his true love to a new life in the Free Worlds League. What idiotic suckers we must look like to his bosses. I bet the only way you leave Wolfnet is feet first. Damn.”

“A small unit like us wouldn’t seem like a likely target for them,” opined Sven. “On the surface anyway. I guess we were the ones thinking too military and not enough civilian. We test out new League military gear. We’re a perfect place to plant a spy.”

“So what now?” asked Gracie. “Do we call him and say ‘hey, how’s the game going? Hey great. By the way, your buddy Osmo is a Wolfnet Spy’.”

Sven shook his head slowly. “No, I can’t see that it would do any good. There’s nothing new happening between now and later tonight. In fact, I’d suggest we wait until after the assembly. He’s going to be calling for a campaign vote. No reason to burden him with this just before he calls for the vote. If he feels this somehow scrubs the mission he can still call it all off.”

“I agree,” she nodded. “I just don’t understand how he could do this to us. I know Osmo’s actually back in the command trailer but with the C3 it’s almost like he’s right beside us in combat. A comrade in arms. He was a big part of saving Sandi’s life. A big part of building the unit up into a good sized fighting force. How could he do this to us?”

“That’s the damnable part,” sighed Sven as he forced himself to stand up. “He really hasn’t done anything to hurt us. All his time here he’s been giving the Warders his best efforts. I bet the extra cooperation we got when we were on Outreach was probably courtesy of his Wolfnet friends. And those shiny new BattleMechs he found for Holly. It’s just that his help comes attached with a price tag. He keeps the Dragoons informed of what we’re up to and why while passing on any interesting technical tidbits like our experiments with the advanced C3 units.”

“You’re not suggesting that we don’t tell John are you?”

“No, I’m not suggesting that at all. John has to know. If our own history has taught us anything, it’s that you never know who will be fighting with you and who might be fighting against you. “

Gracie climbed wearily to her feet as well. “I do hope you’re about to suggest we go get a drink.”

“A double. At least,” he agreed.

Assuring the helpful ‘Mech tech that they would come by his table later, the Bahti sisters wandered slowly in the general direction of the bar soaking in the atmosphere and just getting the feel of the place. It definitely had the ambiance of a soldier’s hang out. Right now the place was boisterous and seemed to be awash in good will. Fighting spirit was high and everyone knew that whatever mission they were about to undertake would be happening soon. But while it reminded them somewhat of the bars they’d known back home, the Lion’s Den was equipped at what would definitely be considered the highest end of Circinus taprooms. Or at least the best one they had ever been in. The other thing they noticed was that there was no dark undercurrent of fear. These people were not worried about attack, nor wary of each other.

This was a good thing to them. The kind of thing that made leaving the planet that had been their home worth doing.

Yawni grinned slightly and looked at her sister with a gleam in her eye. “You don’t suppose they have ice cream drinks here do you?”

Inra laughed. Ice cream was luxury treat her sister dearly loved. While it wasn’t too uncommon to find various drinks with a body made of crushed ice, they had only known of three places in Clayborn Remembered that served ice cream based bar concoctions. With the help of a blender they had occasionally made beer-shakes back at home but in truth it was only Yawni that actually enjoyed them. Inra and the others merely drank some to be sociable.

“I’d say the best way to find out would be to ask.”

“Why yes dear sister,” smiled Yawni, “you may buy me a drink. I thought you’d never ask.”

Inra groaned for having walked into that but lead her sister to the bar where they were lucky to have three infantrymen decide to move to an open bar game table emptying stools for them. They sat down and waited until the bar tender happened to look their way and waved him over.

“What can I get you ladies?” he wanted to know.

“Do you serve any fancy drinks made with ice cream?”

“Yeah. I can grab you a menu card …”

“No need,” interrupted Yawni. “I am sure that in the next few weeks I will try them all. I would like whatever one is at the top of the list.”

“You got it,” he nodded in amusement at the two newbies. He figured they had to be visiting pilots for training. That happened from time to time. “And for you Ma’am?”

“What do you have that is…MechWarrior like?” asked Inra.

“Well, there’s the Large Laser, the Alpha Strike, the ‘Mech Coolant….”

“I like the sound of that one. One ‘Mech Coolant. I understand you serve food here as well?”

“Four star kitchen. I’ll bring you menus.”

As he moved off to start their drink order and take care of others Yawni leaned in close and spoke quietly to her sister.

“Four stars out of how many?”

Inra could only shrug. She had no idea either. Shortly they had their drinks and Inra was pleased to find that the Mech Coolant was indeed the same florescent green most real coolant was colored as a warning not to drink the stuff. A bit down the bar from them a group started whooping it up as one of their number downed an Alpha Strike. Or tried to anyway. He got most of the large tumbler down then started coughing and had to return the glass to the bar top with some liquid still in the bottom. These drew great mirth from those around him. She wasn’t positive but Inra thought she could see some sort of vapor rising from the glass. Maybe she’d stay away from those until she found out what was actually in them.

“I thought Shane must have been mistaken but here you two actually are,” announced a friendly voice from behind them.

They turned to find Lieutenant Parks, “Ranger” from their aborted exercise this morning, standing behind them.

“Come on over and join us. You can rib Basem about how you were about to take him down with a couple of Lights and meet Keena outside the cockpit. Her brother Shane, a tanker buddy of mine named Shaw and two of the VTOL guys are with us too. The more the merrier. In fact, because I lost a side bet to Keena, dinner is on me.”

“That is most kind, but we must pass on your offer of dinner,” replied Yawni.

Inra hastened to explain. “We mean no offence to you, but providing a prepared meal for another has important significance in our beliefs. Doing so causes certain obligations between the parties.”

“I see,” observed Frank even though he plainly did not. Not understanding the exact parameters of a situation had never stopped him before though. “Well, how about booze? Can a guy buy a couple of ladies a drink and it be kosher?”

“I do not understand what ‘kosher’ is,” replied Inra, “but the Goddess had no prescriptions regarding drink.”

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” he beamed. “Now grab your glasses and follow me.”

Then he looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them before leaning in to add something quietly to them.

“Remember, several people with us aren’t in on the whole story of who you are. So be careful in answering any questions that come up.”

“We will be vigilant,” Yawni promised.

As Ranger lead the two MechWarriors back to his table he couldn’t help but think that things were looking good about now. He had two of Holly’s outfit here in a social situation. There would be the chance to do a little bridge building - especially after that collision episode this morning. Too bad he hadn’t been around to see that. Holly’s crew had been keeping mostly to themselves on the aerodrome. Frank was all for a competitive spirit, but the Major’s sister and her wing Calahan took their “us against the world” mentality a bit too far in his opinion. But it seemed that at least half of Holly’s lance was willing to open up a bit. It was a start.

Yep, as he glanced around the bar he could sense the patron’s mood. It was more crowded than usual as many sections had received light or reduced duty pending the voting assembly that was in a few hours. Mother Goose was back, Kissa was back, the Major was back with his sister no less; morale was running high. His own included. Yep, from where Lieutenant Frank Parks stood all systems were green and the road ahead looked smooth.

SW11

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Suomi Warders 11: Major Decisions[]

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