Battletech [Battletech/Planetary Annihilation SI] Iron Blooded Commander

Doomsought

Well-known member
Nobody has surface to orbit weaposn anymore, and if an ASF does not want to join a fight, it is very hard to keep it from zooming off into the distance. Though that sort of realization might only come to people with more institutional experience.
 
Chapter 15.3

Seras

Well-known member
Chapter 15.3 All's Fair

3025

Ko

WhiteBase Bridge



Day 2.



“So why am I awake… An hour before my set time?” I grumble as I stumble into the war room on WhiteBase.


“Sorry Commander. We got some interesting information, and it does change a few things.” Benny offered with an apologetic shrug.


I waved him on as I took a few more sips of space coffee. None of the taste, all of the caffeine. It was warm. And helped wake you up and keep you up. Good enough.


“So Eric got the Mechwarrior talking, and she found out who it is we are facing.”


“You are leading to something, but I’m too tired for this.”


“Right Sorry. So we are facing the 22nd Dieron Regulars. With a call to ComStar we found out a bit about them. Here is the funny part. They are a regiment sized unit… On the lighter side, Which is why we have seen so many Panthers. But the funniest part? They’re specialized in scouting missions… I found out why they were so shy. We keep plucking out their eyes and their General is probably freaking out.”


I blinked. Sipping a bit of coffee as I considered that. It… Fit. They have been sending in scouts constantly, trying to get some eyes on us, but thanks to the sensors, and Nighthawks. They have failed at every step. I put myself in their shoes. I’m a general, my men are great scouts. Yet whenever I send some scouts against this strange raiding party they disappear…


“Benny. They are going to overreact to everything we do. That’s what they have been doing. Every time we poke them they try to double whatever we hit them with. They don’t know how much force we have.”


“Okay. So what? We overstretch them? Make them defend too much and smash them where they are weak?” Benny asked. I considered it. It was a good plan, Since we were all Heavy or Assault mechs it would work, but I shook my head.


“No. No, we want them to bring their force to bear. I want them thinking they have us on the backfoot. From now on, we need to use the same Lances we have already used. We want them to think they have an idea of our numbers. Break into Lances, or Companies. Go hit their defense points. Hit and fade, but not competently, If you start getting any resistance, retreat. Let them think… Let them think they have us on the backfoot. That we are too green. I want them to think we only have a few competent Mechwarriors.”


“Commander?”


“I have an idea Benny. Take care of it?”


“Okay, I’ll brief the men, and set up some plans… I’m going to borrow Erica. She will be perfect to maintain cohesion.”


“Do it. I need twenty minutes and some more coffee. Then I have some calls to make.”


I continued to wipe my eyes. Taking a few minutes to finish off my coffee and breakfast before climbing up through the interior of Whitebase. To the Bridge. The Comms officer, who’s name was escaping me for a moment, was quick to jump to my request.


“Call went through?”


“It did Commander. They are apparently interested in hearing from you. Putting it through.”


“Governor Kagemuchi. I want my people back.”


“Commander Eisen-Blume. As I stated before. Your men are now the Dragons. If you wish them returned, you should have handed over your equipment and bowed your head. Now the price for their safe return has gone up. I considered removing one of their heads, just to ensure your understanding of the seriousness of their situation.”


“I already told you murdering them isn’t going to make me back down. Consider this Governor. We have won every engagement we have had so far. Your people have lost their lives, and some have lost their mechs. This can end. Right now. Give me back my people. We will leave. We won’t even take any of the salvage from your men. You will be able to recover everything you have lost so far.”


“What little we have lost will be regained from your company once the last of your men are in chains or dead. I am the will of the Dragon here on Ko. The Dragons Will, does not hesitate.”


“Fancy words that don’t mean anything.” I stare into the image of the man that I had come here to defeat. “People are losing their lives. Defenders of your people are dying because of greed. Governor, see reason.”


“Hmph you are afraid.”


I shook my head, flipping the switch on the Holo unit. Cutting him off. My remorseful look was gone. As I turned to Gauge who had given me the signal I was waiting for during the conversation.


“You were right Vicky. That signal was definitely not from the Palace. I managed to track him down with the signal, and the sensor. He is in some sort of underground bunker. All of his signals are routed through the palace, but that’s easy enough for us to follow with your lostech.”


“Good. Check out that bunker. Find out if any of our people are down there. No I know it’s hard to tell a person from a person, but look around for anyone in chains, or prison cells.”


“Not gonna be easy to tell the difference, but I’ll keep an eye on it. Gonna send Delta in?”


“No not yet. I need the Governor to think he is winning… Until he isn’t. Guaranteed if we push too hard our captives die.”


“Yeah. Vicky. You okay?”


I blinked, turning to my best friend. “Yeah. I’m doing as well as I can be. Why?”


“Because you haven’t laughed once since we got the news. You don’t even smile anymore. You know. This is a serious thing, this war we are in, but that doesn’t mean you have to become someone else to do it. We got this. The enemy doesn't have a clue of what we have. They are fighting blind. It’s okay to… Be you.”


“I can’t.” I shook my head looking back over the bridge. Some of our people were still active. There was always someone up here, but it was quiet for the most part. “How can I laugh, or have fun when our people… They are probably doing horrible things to them! They don’t… They don’t respect our lives at all.”


“Yeah, But that’s always going to be the case you know? None of us, None of us would be angry if you laughed. We all look up to you. Seeing you so serious.. It’s actually a little off putting.”


“It’s supposed to be. This isn’t training, or a bandit raid Gauge. This is a full out, non-stop war. It only takes one messup to turn this entire thing around. They just need to be smart, or out think us, once. Just once.”


“Vicky.” He grabbed my head and turned me completely to face him. “You barely look anyone in the eyes, and spend all your time glaring at nothing. We need you. You can’t let this beat you down… It’s not your fault.”


I flinched. “It is. I sent them out. I didn’t even give them enough ASF defense. If they had a few more planes.”


“Then they would still be in the same situation. The Governor, he knew how much they brought with. He was ready. The Combine wanted this. They wanted our people. You can’t know when something bad is going to happen. You can prepare as much as you can, but bad things happen.”


“Trying to make me feel better, in this situation just makes me feel worse.” I grumble, but his arm pulling me in to a warm hug even with our armor in the way did make me feel better.


The jerk.


“So are you ready to stop messing around and come up with a plan?”


“I have a plan! What’s wrong with my plan?”


“Well… The rumor is that you are babying us too much. Everyone wants to go and fight. To get our people back, but you seem to be…” He trailed off at my glare.


“That’s just because you have books for brains! You can’t see my obviously superior master plan. I call it Operation Fish in a Barrel!”


“Well the name is as terrible as always. So I guess you are feeling better.”


“Pff. You just don’t understand my genius. Fine since you and your simple mind are too simple. I will explain my master plan!”


“Definitely feeling better. Alright explain away.”


“Well first-”


—--


A different perspective

Sub-Commander Benjamin Rommel 2nd Division, ISDF.

Ko


“So everyone got the plan?”


“C’mon Sub-Commander! This is bullshit. The Commander has been all overprotective ever since the Isaribi got nabbed. Stop holding us back, let us go out and kick Snake ass! We have the mechs and the will!” There were quite a few nods of agreement from the crowd. The entire 2nd Division, both Mechwarrior and Tanker were gathered together for this brief.


“Hey! Who do you think you are talking about? You don’t think our illustrious ditzy Blonde doesn’t have a plan? She is keeping it close. The enemy doesn't have a clue what is coming! She isn’t babying you idiots. She is tricking them!” Benny called out surprised at the sense he was getting. No one had ever just… gone against the Commanders plans before. Sure this was the first time she didn’t tell everyone what was going on, but there were too many people.


It made sense to keep it quiet.


“It’s not what I heard!” Corben offered. The man was just about the same age as Benny, and as a Tanker he tended to have a chip on his shoulder. But it was obvious that the morale was wonky as Benny looked over his people. Nodding heads filled his view. Something was up.


“Where exactly did you hear this impression the Commander doesn’t have her shit stowed, Hauptmann?” Benny demanded as he pushed through the crowd. Face to face with the boy that unfortunately was actually taller than Benny. “Because I would very much like to know that! As the one that knows more about the plan than anybody I would like to know who is spreading this kind of shit!”


“Fuck off Benny! The Commander has been acting funny for months now! She lost her shit! She always babied us! And now with the Isaribi lost she hasn’t been acting right! We have a full regiment of Assault mechs! We should be out there crushing the Snakes not waiting around for them to get more reinforcements! We need a leader that will actually step up and do what needs to be done!”


“And who is this leader?” The voice brought the argument to a complete silence. Benny thought with an internal smirk. Despite her griping Vicky did have a way of bringing an entire room's attention to her. The crowd of soldiers, who were acting more like children, spread from her passage as she walked up to Corben.


She was shorter than Corben, but from the way he looked. That fact certainly wasn’t what he was thinking. “Hauptmann, I asked you a question.” The crowd winced. When not actively Commanding a fight, Vicky rarely used ranks. It had become a bit of a joke that no matter what rank you actually held. To Vicky you were only ever a kid.


Benny thought that joke was more accurate than expected from the way Corben, in his early twenties, looked like a five year old with his hand in the cookie jar.


“Commander. I just…”


She sighed. Shaking her head, reaching up and without seeming to even realize it she brushed a hand through his hair ruffling it as she walked past both of them. Every eye in the Hangar on her as she moved up to the foot of the Atlas Benny had been using to hold the brief. It had like many things become traditional to hold briefings standing on the feet of your mech.


Just another weird thing the ISDF now did.


“Alright. So this is definitely my fault. My bad. Our prep for this… Mission. Has been extensive, but we still rushed some things, especially the setup from our old Battalion size to a Regiment. So that’s on me. We will do better. Learn from these growing pains and continue on.”


Her back straight, Arms resting in the small of her back and fierce blue eyes locked down everyone in the room. The armor really was a perfect fit for her. At this point Benny couldn’t imagine her in anything but the armor. It was just… Vicky.


“You are all concerned about the plan. That is my fault. As your Commander I should have made it clear that yes. We have a plan. That we are not messing around out here waiting for the Combine to beat us.”


“What is the plan!” Corben seemed to find some steel in his spine as he called out. Vicky took his question without concern. Pointing him out.


“None of your business, Hauptmann.” The crowd chuckled. Breaking some of the tension even as Corben seemed about to dig in before Vicky continued. “Operational security is a thing. Even if I am bad at it. You don’t need to know the overarching plan.”


“But let me ask you this. When your plan, which if I heard right was, take our regiment and charge into the city. Smashing through any defenders. Do I have that right? When that plan happens, and you find out that your charge meant that you got all the people from the Isaribi killed in response. How exactly does that meet the objective to rescue them?”


The crowd went silent and even Corben was flushing at that. None of the kids, even the most bloodthirsty members of Rough squad, was willing to sacrifice the Isaribi crew.


“We are not here to defeat the Combine Regiment. We are not here to punish evildoers. We are not here for vengeance. This is a rescue mission, people. That is it. That is the goal. We will not. For any reason, lose sight of that.”


She stood there. Proud and tall and he smiled. Damn that girl. He would have spent an hour or more arguing with these idiots, but Vicky? With a few sentences she has everyone in the room ready to follow her orders to their death if they have to.


“Trust me. Just once more. At least once more. Until we are burning off this world with our people back. Trust me!”


“Always!” Benny called out, and he wasn’t alone. The room had shifted. Any hesitation or concern at Vicky coddling them was gone. The woman. Because it was hard to call her a girl anymore had turned it all around. Even Corben was nodding grimly.


Benny would talk to him after even so. Something about this was wrong. He would be repeating his question about where he got the idea that Vicky didn’t have this handled.


But that was for later, because now he had to actually get his people back on track. Vickys speech had wound them up, so now he had to actually get them moving.


Damn that girl!


An hour later. A bit longer than he had wanted he was moving out. His Battalion was on track. Multiple small probing attacks with Lance size attacks. Just enough to keep poking the Combine. To make them realize they will need more mechs to handle them.


But not enough to think the ISDF were competent. They all had the same order hammered into their head. If they took damage, any damage, They were to retreat at full steam.


Let the Combine think them cowards. Let them think that children playing at war had no idea what they were doing.


Benny gripped his controls of his Atlas. Yes. He thought. Let them think whatever they liked. As Vicky liked to say.


They would learn. They would all learn.


Following along behind the slightly faster mechs in his Lance Benny finally handed off operational command to Erica who was back at the dropships her voice in everyone's ears as she took over and started relaying orders to the other Lances. For Benny it was go time.


“Alright everyone! Remember we aren’t here to be heroes. Poke the Snakes with a stick! Fire!”


LRMs roared out. The enemy weren’t surprised this time. They had been sticking Cameras and things outside their base. An attempt to get some working intel before an attack.


Benny’s Atlas roared it’s anger as he fired his Gauss. Not aiming at any mech as they were still hidden behind the walls. But Gauss makes good holes in Ferrocrete. He grinned as his shot revealed a Stinger hiding behind the wall, causing the light mech to jerk back away from the hole.


The enemy were responding. LRMs coming back over the wall. Most weren’t anywhere near in range, but a few hit here and there, Benny kept it together for a few minutes. Just firing his Gauss at anything. If something was moving, great. If not the wall was getting holes punched into it.


His lance finally retreated when barrage of LRMs from a turret the enemy had set up finally struck mostly on point. “Retreat! Scramble scramble!” He roared into the mic, making it great fun for the Lance. As everyone basically started running away in full sprint. He was sure the Combine were wondering what the cowards that had just attacked them were doing. But their lights harried them for a bit before retreating.


Mission successful.


—-


The engagement was going well. I kept a close eye on it as Benny led his 2nd Battalion into battle. He was better at using his vehicle support, she noticed. He was making sure the lances each had a Lance of tanks backing them up. Letting them use the Alacorns to the best effect sniping a light Mech and then hauling ass back to base.


The three targets Benny hit were outposts or guard posts that were being put up. Each of them had at best a Lance of Light mechs, but a company of vehicles, but already I could see the Combine responding, The defenses increased as the single Lance of assault mechs tore up some defenses before retreating at their first wounds.


Like green pilots terrified of dying.


I felt my face stretch into a smile. An evil smile at that. The Combine were Samurai. I would bet good money all during their training they were told how cowardly the Lyrans are. How they are weaklings easy to scare away with superior Combine skill.


What was it Sun-Tzu said? The original person, not the Liao. Appear to be weak where you are strong?


Well The Combine were reinforcing their defenses two, or even three Lances settling into the defensive positions.


Enough in their eyes to get around the slow lumbering assaults and take some out on their next assault.


I nodded. Letting the battleline settle for a few hours before Hanna moved. Just like Benny she did the same thing at the start of her shift. But unlike Benny she went with two lances of Mechs to each defensive position.


Enough to make the Company of Light mechs hesitate and give her cover to assault and retreat.


Then the commander on the other side requested more reinforcements.


“Just as Keikaku.”


“What? Vicky. Was that Japanese?” Gauge asked as he flicked on the lights in the War room, blinking my eyes in the bright light, I looked away from my Sensor screen and into the judging eyes of Gauge as he was thoroughly unimpressed.


“K-keikaku means plan.”


“I know what it means you idiot! Why are you hiding in the dark talking about… No I don’t care.” He rolled his eyes as I felt myself blushing. Damnit. “Hanna is on her way back but you know we are taking way too much damage here. The repair group can’t keep up. Hell I have been done in the hangars trying to repair some mechs. If you keep this up we aren’t going to have any mechs with armor left to fight.”


“I know. Tonight… Well I have a plan to fix that. We just have to keep the Combine reinforcing their defensive positions for now. Once Delta finds them we can move.”


“Ah. Nothing from Delta yet?”


I grit my teeth. “No. Sensors are great, but they can’t tell much about a person compared to any other. Delta is scouring the city trying to find where they are being held. Nothing yet.”


It was the single point of failure in my plan. If the governor felt threatened enough he might just make the call and have my people killed just to spite me. Combine were a bit known for that sort of thing.


“So you can’t find them.”


“No. Do you have any idea how many people are in prison-like conditions in that city alone? I swear half the damn population could be them. We won’t find them unless they…” I blinked. That could work. That could definitely work. “I have to make a call.”


“What? Vicky! Don’t just run away while blinking into space, tell me what you came up with! Vicky!”


—-


A different perspective

Colonel Hanna Hayha 3rd Division, ISDF.

Ko


Hanna really hated smart enemies.


With the Sensor they had turned away at least a hundred sneak attacks. Infantry, Vehicles, aircraft. And now?


The fuckers were trying to move an artillery piece into range. Well technically two. Thumpers. And so now it was Hanna’s problem. Of course it had been an easy spot. The Thumper only had a ten kilometer range. Give or take. They had seen it coming.


The problem was getting to it. Delta was busy. Rough was… Doing Rough squad stuff crazy bastards. ASF wasn’t likely either. Unfortunately the damn things were well in the enemy defense cordon.


That meant she was going to send something to handle this.


And she knew just who, and what.


Striding out of Trojan Base she took a moment to look over the people that were running around. Even at the late time activity was everywhere. Three shifts meant someone was up at all times.


No one wanted to be the one sleeping when the enemy attacked.

She passed a fire of all things. Someone had actually dug a pit, and a few chairs had been placed around it. The kids were hanging out and relaxing after their long day.


Hanna liked it. This is what they should be. Happy. She left them in peace. She would keep watch while they rested. So that in the morning they would be well rested.


She walked into Whitebase. Passing a few kids doing diagnostics for the Repair Unit. The technicians had taken to basically commandeering wandering kids into the repair unit to do some work. So it became a fearsome act when any member of Repair Unit stalked the halls.


Heading up to the Bridge she caught up with Vicky, waving her into a side room. They would need privacy for this.


“Hanna?”

“I need to borrow your Spector.”


The blonde blinked and frowned. “That’s risky. It’s not really meant to be used here.”


“Well the enemy are moving up a pair of Thumpers, they have too much air defense for a safe ASF run, and they aren’t anywhere near Rough Squad. Apparently they have been paying attention to where our mayhem makers are.”


With a keen eye Hanna watched Vicky consider it. The blonde as usual thought too much. Seemed to always want to spend a few minutes thinking things through unless the idea came to her in a moment of inspiration.


Hanna sort of hated that Vicky was usually pretty competent at those moments.


“Okay. I’ll allow it, you are right. We need to take those Thumpers out. But not alone.” The blonde literally rushed off leaving Hanna in the room for a few moments before she sighed and realized she would have to follow her.


Damnit Vicky you blonde bimbo!


Racing after the girl Hanna really had to struggle to keep up. Benny’s trick of making Vicky run all the time was paying off because Hanna was struggling to keep up with the nerd. That wouldn’t do. She would have to start joining those practices herself soon.


Can’t let Vicky actually be more fit than she was.


She caught up to Vicky in the Storage hangar for the Whitebase. It was mostly empty but Vicky ran around “Everyone out! This hangar needs to be locked down. Out out!” Shooing the kids out as she locked down every entrance. Hanna made sure everyone was out even before finally Vicky stopped moving.


For a girl that hasn’t slept much in the last week, Vicky was seriously too manic.


“Alright. Hanna. I’ll make a Spector Lance for you to work with, but this has to be kept utterly secret.”


Hanna considered it for a moment before grinning. “That condition I can work with.”


“Alright cool let me get them ready. Find four pilots.”


“Three pilots.” Hanna offered back. She was here after all.


“Don’t be stupid. You aren’t going anywhere. You are in command. You get to stay back and watch other people do fun things now.”


“Bitch.”


“That’s what you get for calling me a bimbo!”


“I didn’t say it aloud!”


“You were thinking it! I know! I always know!”


“Tsk Whatever. Get on with it then. I’ll go grab a few I know will be up for it.”


“Remember this stays secret!”


—-


A different perspective

Lenden Scorch

Ko



Lenden grinned as his boys went to work. He wasn’t there unfortunately. Being a Mechwarrior and a Lance lead came with some responsibilities. But he was watching from a Lostech Sensor.


Of course Vicky didn’t know he had one.


He had blamed it on Gauge taking one to fiddle with back when he stole it years ago.


She had shrugged at that. It was Lendens go to when dealing with the Commander, blame something missing on Gauge and she would shrug and continue on.


Hell half the time it really was that Nerd, so that backed up the times it wasn’t.


“Get’em boys.” He whispered as he watched his boys sneak into the enemy base. The plan was to steal a Lance of the Panthers. Those mechs were pretty nasty lights, and Benny knew they would sell for a good amount even if his boys didn’t keep them. Plus they would be great support for the Assaults.


He watched the dots sneak in, a few of the enemy dots disappearing as they took them out, just like they were trained.


The Nighthawk clad members leading the way, as the un armored kids came in behind, to loot or secure buildings. But not everything was going well. Lenden frowned when he noticed it, but Rom the man in charge of the assault hadn’t.


The enemy had been alerted. A fight broke out. And Lenden stared helpless as the fighting got rough. Rough Squad had to retreat, but there were deaths.


He grit his hands. He wished he was there. He wished he had sent more of Rought Squad.


He wished he hadn’t just had to watch his friends die.


He exhaled, pushed it away. This was the life he chose. He knew from the start that members of Rough Squad would die. Hell.


He had thought he would be the first.


But he did promise that Rough Squad would do better next time. If their current equipment wasn’t enough, he would bug Vicky for more. He would make sure his boys were the best equipped force they could be.


So that they could all come back with enemy loot and pop a beer.


—-


Late that night with confirmation from Delta I went to work. Sure I hadn’t slept much in the last while, but that was what space coffee was for! Slipping into my Spector I moved into WhiteBases Hangar which had been cleared out. I moved towards my Nightstar. They were still working on fixing the damage I had taken. Honestly considering how long it took for armor repairs I was starting to wonder if this might be the new most powerful ability I used on my Nanoforge.


I still wasn’t sure if this would actually work. The Nanoforge really was more about just creating from a blueprint. But this was important. I aimed my Medium Nanoforge and when nothing happened, because there was nothing selected in the Noteputer I willed it to do something different. “I need to repair this.”


The slow birth of green as my Nanoforge activated and in a flurry green light seeped into my Nightstar. It took longer than expected at first, but when I realized the Nanoforge wasn’t repairing just the obvious stuff, it was also fixing any wear and tear the mech had gone through.


When it was done. The armor on my Nightstar was as perfect as it had been the day I made it. Only one thing was different from that day.


I groaned. The Stupid Nanoforge! Phantom was seared into the metal itself, the paint job no longer something that could just be washed away.


Stupid eldritch abomination!


I sighed, pulling myself away from the Phantom and heading towards the next mech in the bay. I had a long night ahead of me.


Over and over the Hangar filled with Green that night.


—-
 
Chapter 15.4

Seras

Well-known member
Chapter 15.4 All's Fair

3025

WhiteBase Bridge

Ko


Day 3.


“I almost can’t believe it.” I mutter staring into the Digital Holomap that was displayed on the bridge of Whitebase.


“I can. He wants to prove himself.” Gauge shrugged. “Do we really need his help?”


“No. But… I can respect that he came anyway. Okay he’s landing, make sure the ASF forces are defending. Clear a path for that Leopard to land.”


“Already done before I called you up.”


“Good. I guess I’ll go out and say hello to Vincent.”


The Leopard holding the young Baron had left before us on our trip out, but with having our own Jumpship we ended up here a bit before them. Looks like Vincent had been serious about fighting with us.


I could honestly respect that.


Of course now I will have to explain to him what our real goal here is, and that he can’t run out and kick Combine ass.


“Commander! Enemy ASF movement!”


“Alright get our birds in the air double time, and let the Leopard pilot know they got incoming.”


I settled in watching the dots representing all of the players on this field. Watching as our ASF force took off. The fast reaction, something they had been practicing just to make sure. After all, 100 miles sounds like a lot, until you are going at ASF speeds.


Watching four flights of Stuka flow into the sky to fight against the varied Combine ASF. We outnumbered them already thankfully. The Combine didn’t have much ASF forces left. We had done a good job of knocking them out of the sky, and frankly, they didn’t have a lot to start with.


“How is it going?” Benny asked as he pulled himself onto the bridge, his hair a little messy from just getting out of his bunk.


“Should be good. Vincent showed up in a Leopard. The Combine are trying to contest his re-entry but we already have our flights in the air. They probably aren’t expecting us to know where they are at. Should be able to secure the sky before the Leopard hits atmo.”


“Good! Good.” He offered blinking sleepily for a moment as he fought back a yawn. “What are we going to do with them?”


“No idea.” I sighed watching as the Stuka finally seemed to come into view from the Combine ASF and like had become routine, the enemy turned and burned. Desperate to get out of any strike range of the Stukas guns.


As I watched. We never did get close, but at least it meant they were too busy running away to contest the Leopard.


“Next time we see some Combine pushing in, including Vincent. It should satisfy his desire for fame and such.”


“You sure Commander? You did give them some of our mechs. He might do some serious damage. It might disrupt the plan.”


“I think you vastly over value our mechs Benny… Actually. This is a good chance. Make sure he has some backup, I don’t want him to die, But without our sensors and such… It will be interesting if everyone sees the difference. Send him out, but keep him under control. And see what he can do.”


“Wait. Did you just hand this massive headache off to me?!”


“Good luck Sub-Commander.” I offer with a smile as I pat his shoulder. Bed time!


“Damnit Vicky!”


—--


A different Perspective

Vincent Allessa Baron. Captain of the Zaniah Guard 1st Lostech Lance.

Ko


“What a shithole.”


“Captain, it’s just farmland.”


“It’s cold! I hate this planet already.”


“It’s a Snake pit. Of course we should hate it. Come on. Looks like they are sending out a group to meet us. Who is that? The Commander? They should be grateful we came to help!”


“Shut up Marv. That is the 2IC. Eisen-Blume isn’t here. And be grateful that bitch is scary.” Although Vincent wasn’t going to say that, he didn’t disagree. Eisen-blume was a freaky little brat.


“Stow it. Both of you.” He grumbled as he marched forward to meet Benny. “Benny, you brought us to a real shithole.”


“It was actually pretty nice before we landed. Welcome to Ko. Honestly we didn’t think you were going to make it.”


“We had a deal. I’m not about to give back my new ride. What’s the situation?”


“That is a good question. C’mon Commander wants you to have a full debrief on what we are doing here. It’s complicated and we don’t want to push the Combine too much.”


“We don’t want to push the Combine? The fuck are we even doing here then?” Marv whispered to Barry but with a Glare both stowed it like ordered. The guys were Vincent's childhood friends. He had gotten them into the Military, got them training, and they were his men. But that doesn’t mean they were perfect.


Walking into the massive fucking dropship the brats were running around in always sent Vincents teeth on edge. These kids played with toys that would make any LCAF regiment drool with want.


But at least he had finally gotten his just deserts. They had given him a fucking Lostech Mech. So Vincent was here to fight in their stupid little battle. He would kill some more Snakes, get some salvage and go home richer and more powerful.


Maybe even enough to become the Heir. This might just be his real chance to convince the world he was the best one to be in charge.


“Alright, Vincent, here is our current understanding of the enemy positions and our defenses.”


It took Vincent less than a second to realize what he had just walked into. “You are surrounded… fuck me did I just walk to my death?”


Benny snorted, the younger boy was always a little shit. “Relax. That’s the plan. We have a bit of a surprise cooked up for them, but in order to make the impact that we need, we are gathering them up. Drawing them in.” He waved a hand and the map zoomed out, which is something Vincent nearly whistled at.


Holomaps like this were rare. Zaniah had one, that was an old piece of equipment taken in a raid a hundred years ago. It worked. Mostly. But not nearly this clear, or without any lag. That same move without have taken three minutes for the map to load on the one at home.


“So you can see we are almost ready. The 22nd Dieron Regulars have pulled in almost all of their mechs. Give it another day and at least 90% of the mechs on the planet will be around us.”


“That’s a lot of metal. They will be able to fuck you over.”


Benny looked up from the map and blinked for a second before a nasty smile slipped across his face. “That’s what they think too. When we are done here. The Combine will remember us. I promise you that.”


Rolling his eyes at the bravado Vincent was much more worried at the fact the map didn’t look good. “Okay so I am here. Now. What am I doing.”


“Actually the Commander wasn’t sure at first, but as always she came up with a plan.”


“Sasha told me you brats call those Vicky Plans, and they are usually fuck horrible.”


That caused the boy to laugh while Vincent could see Marv taking it bad. The boy hated when people laughed at him. He waved a hand at him grabbing his attention gesturing for him to chill.


Benny finally stopped laughing before continuing. “Y-you got that about half right. See a Vicky Plan sounds okay ends up being a shit show, but always works out for the best in the end. Like us ending up on Zaniah. That was a Vicky Plan. Just don’t ever tell her about that last part. We don’t want her to know we trust her plans.”


Vincent tried not to take it personally about his mothers hiring the brats being a shit show. Benny was right. It had been a bit of a shitshow after all. The fact they had found a Castle Brian alone still made Vincent's hands clench into fists whenever he was reminded.


“Okay so what is the plan?”


“Right, so this is important. Direct orders here Vincent. No matter what you do here, you can’t push the Combine too much. If they retreat from their positions, or decide to go all in on an attack we fail.”


Vincent blinked before remembering the reason the brats were even here. “You still looking for your people?”


A look of hatred crossed the normally affable Sub-Commander. Vincent took a step back before the boy took control of himself. “We are still working on it. Until we have them, we can’t have anything push the Governor into thinking killing them off is the best way to do this. You get it?”


Vincent took a moment a breath in and out. If it was anyone else, but these brats Vincent might be trying to punch his face in for trying to hold him back, but Vincent actually sorta maybe a little tiny bit respected the brat. Benny was solid. Plus he piloted a fuckin Atlas, and the few times they had practiced with him in that beast of a machine had proven that he had the chops to pilot it too.


“I get it. But I’m not sitting around here all day. I came here to fight.”


“Of course. You are going to take your lance, and a few tank lances and go poke the Combine, get a feel for them. Get a taste of what we are up against. Don’t worry about doing anything but keeping your mechs in the best shape possible, and seeing what is out there. If you need to retreat do it.”


Vincent almost felt insulted from the idea that he would need to retreat! Especially with the Lostech machines he and his Lance were piloting.


“Fine.”


“Alright. Head south. Hit this defensive position.” Benny pointed out changing the map, and while the map wasn’t in real time, the actual numbers shocked Vincent.


“How Accurate is this?” He asked pointing towards the numbers of defenses. It even had a listed location for a minefield and where it was.


“Very. Our scouts are not to be trifled with.” Benny offered with a dead serious look. “I got the updated report just a few minutes before you came in.”


Vincent blinked surprised but knew that any question about the brats scouts would be ignored. It was the last time. Arthur had spent months asking about how they were able to keep an eye on the enemy during the Zaniah raid so well only to get ignored.


Vincent wasn’t his brother, he shrugged. And took a close look at the military base he was targeting. Mostly tanks and vehicles, but they had a company of light mechs.


He nodded. “Alright. Let’s get moving.”


Marv was grumpy, but at least Barry looked ready. Fay was still on board. The bitch was practically sleeping in her cockpit now. But well.


Vincent could hardly blame her.


Her Catapult was a beautiful mech. But he had eyes only for his new girl.


The Battlemaster-1Gb was a beautiful mech. The assault was quick for an assault mech, but fit him perfectly.


Barry was jumping into his Griffin-2N His ERPPC would make him a solid long range sniper.


And Marv was in his Shadow Hawk-2Hb.

Vincent was confident these Combine bastards would have no idea what was coming for them. He felt a fierce grin split his mouth as he clambered into his mech. All four mechs starting up with a rumble of their fusion engines. Ready to go to war.


“Vincent. We are sending a company of tanks to back you up like I said. Let them cover your rear don’t get too far ahead of them. I don’t want those light mechs to get behind you and tear them up.” Bennys voice came over his radio almost as soon as Vincent started up his mech.


“I got it already! I’m taking Command. Thanks Sub-Commander!” Vincent grumbled as he took his first step out with his mech, The Leopards bays opening and Vincent was in his element.


“Captain Alessa, This is Mitchell. I’ll be your tanker today. Followin’ you.”


“Good I’ll be moving at a good clip.”


And he did just as he said. His Battlemaster stalking out into the farmland his lance forming up behind him, Fay’s Catapult moved at the same speed as his Battlemaster so they set the pace, with the Shadow Hawk and Griffin bouncing along on their sides, keeping a scouting perimeter, something his brother had taught him.


Grumbling at that thought Vincent switched through a few imaging systems his mech had to check for any traps, but there wasn’t anything he could see.


Hopefully the scouts the brats sent out were as good as they thought.


Stomping through the fields on a forign planet Vincent allowed himself a few moments of awkwardness. He had never been off Zaniah before. A new world. A New mech. In the middle of war. It certainly wasn’t where he ever expected himself to end up. But he would do the best he could.


“We are coming up on them. All units, eyes open.” He radioed out, his arms raised up, both ERPPC aimed down towards his enemy. He was ready.


And it was good he was, because their forces had been noticed. Already he could see a few helicopters and VTOL taking to the air. He unleashed his ERPPC, Barry joined him a second later, and although nothing was hit, it certainly scattered the air support.


“Let’s go!” He roared his blood pumping as he brought his Battlemaster to a sprint. “Tanks setup a firing line!” He remembered to command as he moved closer, at the same time fire started coming in.


Turrets opened up along the walls, although only the longest range fire came anywhere close. In retaliation ERPPC fire opened up, Vincent firing his two guns like a gunslinger, each arm firing at a different target hitting more often than not.


Barry was more rigid, his shots aimed and focused. It meant they were making good headway into the turrets when the walls exploded outward.


“What the fuck!?”


Smoke dark and heavy rolled out, and it took only a few moments before it rolled all the way towards him. “Fuck! They are blinding us! Move back out of the smoke, don’t go straight, adjust your path so you aren’t where they last saw. Tankers stay together!” He demanded as he started stepping backwards still firing an ERPPC into the smoke every few moments just enough to keep his heat low but still sending something downrange.


“Enemy contacts! I jumped over the smoke, and saw at least a Lance of jumpers coming in!” Marv called out over the radio a moment later and Vincent cursed.


“That means there is probably another Lance or two on the way as well. C’mon let’s get out of this smoke!”


He didn’t quite make it out before the first mech found him. The Stinger came out of the smoke, and it was pure instinct that had Vincent fire at it. As he nearly jumped out of his seat it startled him so bad.


The pilot was good though. Jump jetting he dodged the lightning, the pilot even had the audacity of taking a step on his Battlemasters shoulder as it flew over him. The hit actually rocking him so hard in his cockpit that he felt his own shoulder bruising as he bounced around in his seat.


“Fucker!” He snarled, but even as his rear took a hit from the Stinger, Anther mech appeared infront of him. The Cicada opened fire Medium lasers burning scores into his armor, but he growled, opened fire with his own mediums. Four arcs of green cut into the Cicada and that startled it, just in time for his Large pulse laser in his chest to open up. The beam cutting through massive amounts of the bug mechs armor the pilot obviously realized he was in trouble as he suddenly bugged out into the smoke.


An ERPPC shot burning back into the smoke where the mech had gone, although Vincent wasn’t sure it if hit.


Another scream of his computer as his rear armor was cut away again.


“Dammit! I got a jumper on my back!”


“Already handled.” The calm voice of his Tanker came over and a moment later a thunderous noise echoed over the battlefield. The smoke spun away as a huge something ripped through it, and the Stinger got hit by something, smashing the mech completely onto its side.


Looking over Vincent got the image of an Alacorn tank it’s three Gauss rifles aimed his way before the smoke filled in the space he had just cleared. Grumbling a little vincent shot an ERPPC shot into the stinger, coring it and ensuring it was out of the fight.


A PPC buzzed over his cockpit and he jerked aiming towards what had just fired on him, but he realized in a moment what was happening.


The damn thing gave him a shallow bow. That PPC was just a warning shot. Growling at the arrogance Vincent stopped himself from stomping the Alpha Strike button. Instead he bent his Battlemaster just the slightest amount. And accepted the duel.


Fucker. PPC fired first, almost instantly, a snap shot that had Vincent cursing as he barely managed to raise an arm over his cockpit to keep it from hitting him square on. Growling he hip fired his ERPPC watching as the Panther damn near twirled as it dodged the shot, and then he lowered his other arm and fired that one.


That seemed to catch the pilot by surprise it didn’t quite manage to dodge. Its left arm sacrificed to limit the damage but then something changed.


That pilot wasn’t playing anymore Vincent realized as he shifted SRMs blasting his armor as the Panther simply moved. Jump jets, shifting motions, Vincent started struggling to get any hit on target. His mediums worked the best, scoring a few lines in it’s armor, but every other shot was like shooting the smoke they were fighting in. Even trying to get close didn’t work.


Just like the stinger, whenever he did, the Panther jumped over him his ERPPC were dodged consistently, the enemy pilot always had his eye on Vincents arms. And it was pissing him off. Firing off a barrage of SRMs suddenly which only semi worked, his hands completely out of position Vincent let loose his Large pulse. The second surprise weapon worked better.


The Panthers armor sheared at the power of the Pulse laser and it’s existence definitely shocked the enemy pilot. It earned Vincent the space he needed, as the Panther tried to dodge the laser, his ERPPC fired.


The Pilot. Whoever this guy was he was a fucking elite Vincent realized because his Panther despite just dodging a surprise attack, the pilot noticed and literally bent his Panther backwards the lightning bolt of his ERPPC firing over it’s chest, before with a strange burst of jump jets it was back upright.


Vincent gaped.


That was fucking impossible. People can’t just dodge everything! He nearly screamed but the crackle in his radio stopped the fight. “Vincent! We need to pull back! They are attacking Fay! Marv already took serious damage.” Barry urgently called for him.


Right, this was a battlefield. And Vincent just wasted a lot of time in a fucking duel. He lowered his gun and moved backwards.


The Panther pilot watched but not continuing the fight even as the smoke rolled in fading him from view.


Thankfully it wasn’t too bad. The Tankers had done a good job clearing their escape. Idly Vincent realized that was probably the plan from the start. The enemy lights all seemed to realize they were retreating and disappeared back into the smoke not willing to force a battle here.


When Vincent finally walked clear of the smoke he winced. Fay was torn up. One of her missile pods were gone.


Marv was limping. His Shadow Hawk was beat to hell. But other than a missing left arm at the elbow, and a leg that seemed to be damaged he was okay.


Barry was probably the best off. His Griffin and ERPPC made getting close to him a dangerous prospect.


“Zaniah Lance, report!”


“Alive Walking wounded.” Marv checked in.


“Alive Orange armor.” Barry.


“Alive Half done. Gonna need a mechbay.” Fay called out sounding the angriest of them all. But she shouldn’t be. This was Vincents fault not hers.


“Tankers Status?”


“Some minor armor damage on a few of us, but nothing serious.”


“Good we are pulling back.”


Vincent had a long walk back. Marv was barely at half speed. But that was fine. It gave him plenty of time to go back over the battle.


He had gotten his ass kicked by a Light mech.


“Dammit.”


Marching back into the ‘base’ the brats had set up, Vincent went straight to his Hangar bay on the Leopard. Did he seriously just have one battle and screw up his chances of even taking part in this battle anymore?”


He was slow in shutting down his mech. It felt like failure. Ash on his tongue. This was supposed to be his great moment.


A knock on his cockpit pulled him away from his brooding as he glanced up and blinked. Quickly hitting the cockpit release, “Sasha. What are you doing here?”


“Heard you went out to fight. Pretty impressive.” She told him simply as she looked him over. “I don’t see any cuts, injuries?”


He shook his head. “Just some bruises. I’m fine. Nothing but my pride.” He muttered.


She scoffed, like usual the woman cared nothing for his pride. “Let me see then.” She orders as she climbed into his cockpit he sputtered as she settled in nearly in his lap. Although her armor made it more uncomfortable than he would have liked. “C’mon stop wasting time show me the bruises.”


Her brusque tone gave Vincent no chance to resist, so he simply pulled the cooling suit down his shoulder showing the large bruise already forming there. With deft gentle movements she pulled out a container of some bruise balm and started spreading it onto his shoulder.


It did feel better.


“You did a good job.” She whispers into his ear, and as he turns to look up at her she struck.


Oh… Oh! He felt himself grin as he returned her kiss. Both of them growing more eager.


He kicked out a few times, managing to hit the cockpit close button with his foot as he rolled her over and started trying to peel her out of her armor.


Damn brats. She had to stop and show him how to get out of it. Almost ruined the mood.


Almost.


—-


“Thoughts?” I asked. The gathering of our command staff on the bridge of WhiteBase had been a good idea. The smoke screen the Combine had used was something none of us had expected.


Gauge responded first. “The smoke was mostly just that. But the sensor shows it has some chaff element in there as well. Probably why it messed with sensors. It won’t bother us, but for a normal Battlemech? Probably cause a lot of trouble unless you are quick to change what sensor you are using. Seismic would have still worked fine.”


“Vincent is still as green as we are.” Benny offered with a shrug. “It’s a good example of what would have happened to us as well.”


“At least we found out what those strange bombs the Combine have been setting up are. Thoughts?”


“Well if they try it again, a mech with a sensor will give them a nasty surprise. Otherwise we let them blow them up and retreat? Have a defensive line of tanks for a fallback point.” Benny decided working out the problem in his head.


“This was a smart move.” I finally added pointing to the Holoscren. That smokescreen was good enough to give their lights time to get close. That light company just chewed up four mechs that definitely outmassed them.


“But we knew they were up to something there. All we did was activate a trap we already knew was there. We just didn’t know what it did.” Benny offered.


Hanna though scoffed. “We let Vincent and his lance get chewed up. He is going to be pissed if he finds out we knew something was up and we didn't say anything.”


“Maybe. But since we will be repairing his stuff on our dime, and we made sure he had a fallback point he doesn’t have much room to complain. Welcome to war everyone. That is the sort of fights we would be facing if not for our sensors and other advantages.” I offer out pointing to the map.


“Commander is right. This was… Eye opening.” Benny admitted grumpily. “I expected our equipment to give us a better advantage but lostech… It wasn’t enough to bridge the experience gap.”


“But we don’t have that problem. We have more equipment than Vincent has. If they had tried that move with us, we would have shot them as they charged into the smoke!” Hanna argued but I was shaking my head.


“The sensors are just one advantage, and we can always find ourselves in a fight without them someday. I’m glad Vincent came with now. This battle alone was worth it. Benny. Thoughts on how to improve our skills?”


He sighed. Shoulders drooping. “I don’t know Commander. Frankly. We just don’t have the schools, or teachers for that. Hire some elite mechwarriors to train us? Or send some kids to military academies… You could always get into the Nagelring.”


I snorted. “No. That wouldn’t work. Trust me I would burn that school to the ground within a month. I don’t deal with arrogant nobles very well.” There were some snickers around the room. “Okay so we aren’t getting anything else from this fight. Let’s wrap it up and focus on the current war. I want everyone ready. It’s getting closer to the time for us to move. When we do… There won’t be any allowances for screwups. Lock everything down people. This is a War.”


Somber nods were my acknowledgment as the room emptied.


I stared out the window of the bridge somberly. I was glad the plan I had decided on had nothing to do with fair fights. Watching the Duel between Vincent and that Panther had spooked me too. Vincent wasn’t a terrible Mechwarrior. He trained hard. And had some solid teachers.


That Panther pilot was an elite, and he had nearly won.


A fucking light mech going up against an assault mech. I blew out the frustration pushing my forehead against the cool glass.


“Thought I would find you stressing out.” Hanna’s voice pulled me away from the glass as she walked up beside me.


“We aren’t ready for this. Everything is tethering on an edge, and I’m doing my best to pretend it’s not. If these idiots just attacked us full tilt… Our losses would be catastrophic.”


“But they won’t because we have done a damn good job cutting out their eyes. They don’t know what we have, and are more than happy to slowly try and pick us off, while waiting for reinforcements.”


“Don’t remind me.” We had only been on Ko for a few days now, but it wouldn’t long before another Combine force jumped in. I was honestly surprised it hadn’t happened already.


“None of that. We got this. We are sitting on our hands playing their game for now. But your plan will work. We will get our people back, and give the Combine a real black eye.”


“If everything works out. As Vincent learned today, the enemy get a choice too.”


“Yeah, that smoke was crazy.” Hanna admitted shrugging “But we both know it wouldn’t work against us. Vincent popped a trap they thought would work on us, and look he made it out. Took some damage but made it out.” Hanna settled in beside me looking back into the bridge as she rested against the glass.


“It’s just. They have experience with this Hanna. They came up with a plan I wouldn’t have even thought of, despite our advantages, they found a way to level the playing field. And when it was level? A fucking Panther nearly killed Vincent. I am almost afraid to watch Vincents Battle Rom of that fight. We fought him enough times. He is a solid mechwarrior.”


“There are crazy elites out there Vicky. There always has been. I mean. You talk to Morgan Kell! Do you think that Panther pilot wouldn’t have been ripped apart by him?”


“No Morgan would have beaten him. But Morgan Kell is Morgan Kell. He is one of the best mechwarriors in the entire Inner Sphere. Top 99%”


“Right. So stop stressing about them being more skilled than us. They aren’t unbeatable. If you are that worried, use your bimbo brain to come up with a plan so we don’t fight them at all. I mean isn’t that basically what you are going to do?”


“Of course. Everyone in the Inner Sphere has been fighting almost ritually for almost a century now. We don’t have to fight that way though. We have equipment they don’t.”


“Right. So in the future if you run into some elite asshole… Don’t fight him. Just blow his ass up.”


I snort, “Even if that won’t always work, I don’t think I can just murder anyone better than me with high explosives without something happening.”


“That’s where you are wrong Vicky. If something happens, you just use more explosives.”


I turn to look at her with a quirked eyebrow.


She smiled shrugging. Rolling my eyes I went back to looking out over the base. So much was riding on what happens next.


I just hope it was enough.


—-
 

xachariahxx

Well-known member
For some reason, I'm not getting alerts here when this story has updated for the last few days. Ty for the chapter.

Also, I'm slightly wondering if somehow Isabella Nash managed to escape Phecda. The planetary garrison had to ship off some mechs now that they had shiny new Royals, so she managed to escape the dropship brig on it's way back to Lyrian space, then steal a light mech that was being transported with. Having lost two mechs now, she can never return to the FWL (and of course she could never join Lyrians/Caps), so she takes her stolen mech and signs up for the one military who will have her. They don't trust her, but she's assigned to a low value/rebuilding unit: the 22nd Deiron Regulars.

Turns out that every time we see her, she's even more elite but also in a worse spot. By the end of the fic she'll be downing mechs on foot with nothing but a jetpack and explosives, like a one-woman Rough Squad.
 
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Chapter 15.5

Seras

Well-known member
Chapter 15.5 All's Fair

3025

WhiteBase

Ko


Day 4.


I think it was a matter of experience. That even I fell into. We weren’t super elite death squads yet. We still made mistakes, still came at things in a straightforward and blunt manner in a lot of ways.


I mean it worked. Because the rest of the Inner Sphere was so used to being ‘careful’ and ‘securing logistics’ and other things that weren’t important.


So I was very pleased I had come up with a plan to handle our missing people without us actually having to find them in the first place!


Cause finding hidden people was hard.


“Commander?” Bennys voice crackled over a personal line. Today was it. The day we were done playing the weaklings.


The enemy, the 22nd Dieron Regulars had moved their entire regiment into an encirclement. One hundred and Twenty mechs in total. 80% of them are lights. With a few command Mediums. They also had the Planetary guard working on support. An entire Regiment of Vehicles, tanks and air support. Helicopters were new. They had tried a few over flights this morning, but had been shot down long before they caught sight of us.


Which was good. I would hate for the entire plan to be ruined if the enemy ran away.


And they would. I settled into my Nightstar. The noon sun overhead preparations were ready.


It was time.


I switched comms. An open channel to every person in the ISDF. Except for Delta. But that was another story.


“This is Commander Eisen-Blume. For the last three days I have held you back. For the last three days we have fought without exposing our strength. This was important. Today. Now you get to see why. The enemy are overconfident. They think they can tear us apart on our next assault. They think us cowards.”


“That’s fine.” I felt my Nightstar start up. It’s fusion engine rumbling. A faint tremor. More like the mech was trembling in excitement. Another chance to strike.


“Because I don't put much stock in the opinions of men that proclaim themselves honorable, even when they stand aside as people are butchered. As people are enslaved. These Honorable Samurai think themselves our superior.”


Everyone felt what came next. The Camo netting that had been placed over every Long Tom fell away as the massive guns shifted aiming towards their targets.


Each and every gun aimed at a Lance or more of Mechs or tanks.


“Let’s see how superior they are in an hour!” I roar. My Nightstar stepped out of Whitebase. It’s armor pristine. And I had done a little extra.


I thought it was cool. The flag of the ISDF, the Iron Blooded Symbol. A ten foot long version was fluttering in the wind on the side of my mech. It hung down like my mech was wearing a Caparison like a medieval knight's horse. But it was very obvious and something that was totally stupid if I hadn’t created it from my Nanoforge.


“All members! This is my order. Commence Operation!”


The roars broke out both over the comms line and just aloud echoed into the air.


The ISDF moved.


And in a single furious roar. That echoed over the entire farmland for miles and miles.


The ISDF let the Combine Samurai know their fury.


Eighteen Long Toms opened up with near perfect accuracy, aiming for the densest grouping of the enemy. Six Arrow IV missiles launched along with them. The missiles aimed at closer targets as they couldn’t fire as far. But as one barrage of missiles fired. Another was already being loaded to fire as well.


And as the guns fired. As the ASF engines lit up and pushed them into the sky. The ground trembled for another reason entirely. An entire Regiment of Mechs charged out into the world.


Three Battalions. One hundred and eight mechs. And an equal amount of Vehicles roared out of the base in three directions. Each group Targeting the enemy military bases.


My Nightstar pointed nose towards the City. This march only had one ending.


—-


A different Perspective

Carl Shade Hauptmann ISDF Delta Ops

Ko, Jarlton city


Carl still wasn’t sure if this was going to work. It had every hallmark of a Vicky plan. But damn if he wasn’t willing to take the risk.


The Governor Kagemuchi had hidden himself away in an underground bunker. It was Delta’s job to get to him. Honestly Carl was looking forward to this.


It was the first time Delta really got to do more than strike from the shadows.


“Everything is ready.” The whispered word reached him and he nodded. The entire squad, although at this point they had expanded past just the initial four, was here. Three squads of Nighthawk clad badasses. Because Carl didn’t recruit the most brave, or the most fit.


He picked the ones willing to die to do what needed to be done.


It was a secret he kept from The Commander. She wouldn’t get it, and whine until he changed his recruitment. But everyone knew. If you were anti-social you went to Rough Squad. Lenden would sort you out. If you were willing to murder anyone to protect family, then you join Homeguard.


If you were willing to lay down your life you joined Delta.


Carl hefted his Mauser. The heavy rifle was too much for infantry, but the SLDF mainstay weapon was perfect for Nighthawks. Honestly Carl wondered if that wasn’t intentional. If there was a plan in there somewhere for the SLDF infantry to all be power armored fighters eventually.


He shook that thought away and focused. The Governor thought he was safe. Thought no one knew where he was. Thought that an army of infantry could keep him safe. Thought that strong walls and defenses would be enough.


He was wrong. The order had come down. Don’t let him escape. Don’t let him make any calls. Secure him alive. They may need to trade him for the crew.


So Delta ops would perform.


He nodded to Samantha who nodded back, a detonator held in her hands. She plunged it together, and the building they were in shook. As did nearly a hundred locations all across the city.


The power then went out.


The governor just had every power line connecting to his little base go out. And the idiot didn't’ have an internal generator.


Guard stations all across the city had also been targeted. It would keep them busy and out of any offensive action until the mechs were in the city.


Carl jumped down from the top of the building flaring his Jump jets to land in an easy crouch. Racing ahead. He was on point. The Sensor had already been used to create a path. He remembered every step. Every person that was a threat.


Their first mission had taught Carl a lot about preparing. He still smiled whenever he thought about the infiltration.


He didn’t slow as he ran through the glass doors of the faux business front. Some generic office front. The Mauser was raised up and firing instantly, the security guard behind the desk dying in a spray of blood. The Submachine gun he had under the desk no longer a threat.


He kept moving. Delta following in his wake a wave of unstoppable killers. Skipping past three doors, he blew the door knob off the next letting Richard who was his shadow, chuck a frag grenade into the room.


They continued on. He shot the knob on the fourth door on the right the metal melting into nothing under the power of his Pulse laser. It led to a stairway which Carl instantly jumped out into the center and let his Jump jets guide him down. By the time he touched down on the ground he was already firing. The hallway through the door at the bottom would have plenty of men in suits with guns.


But now it was dark. Pitch black as the lights had been taken out. Delta didn’t care. The Nighthawk had Nightvision.


Their resistance didn’t matter to Carl. His Mauser blew through the steel door and into the men behind it. Lines of light piercing steel.


By the time he charged through it and Richard landed behind him, he was already in a firefight, Small arms skittering up his Nighthawk but failing to do more than giving him more targets. Richard joined him on his right. His Automatic Shotgun Spraying the hall with Shrapnel.


Samantha joined his left a moment later, her Mauser going full auto simply decimating anyone foolish enough to be seen by her. Then two more Nighthawk clad members of Delta hit their sides and they pushed forward in a line.


That Hallway was the entranceway, a long tunnel with multiple checkpoints down it’s length. By the time all of Delta was on the floor it was now quiet. Carl pushed forward breaking into a full sprint. His JumpJets gave him some additional boost. A Maneuver he had trained for years for.


The few doors along the way were stopped and cleared by Delta by expediently chucking a Frag grenade into the room.


The screams were ignored. Delta had a fucking job to do.


The last door was armored. But that was what preparation was for. Instantly forming up he waited as Samantha planted an SLDF Explosive along the door. C6 or something. Carl didnt care what it was called.


He cared it blew things up good.


A few moments later Samantha backed up as well, and clenched the plunger.


The explosion would be deafening, it still was even with the Nighthawk helmet protecting their hearing as best it could. But Carl didn’t wait. He already knew what was on the other side.


He rushed through the flames into a room that was more like an entrance way to a manor than a secret bunker.


He jumped using his jets to get to the second floor. The darkness was just as bad here and he felt himself grinning. Delta took care of the few guards in this section of the base. Carl had one job. Secure the hostage, before he could escape through the escape tunnel.


Yeah this guy was so scared for his life he had a secret escape tunnel for his secret bunker.


Carl hurried along, a quick check on his scanner confirmed his target. Looks like the governor was bolting.


Not a problem. Carl didn’t bother slowing down for the fragile wood door in his way simply shouldering through it his Mauser already up and aimed. A few bodyguards were left behind to try and slow the assault. One died instantly as multiple pulses of his rifle ripped through the table he had been hiding behind. The other was firing.


A burst of his jets and Carl was over the man and falling, his armored left hand grabbed the needler and crushing it in his grip a foot planting down to knock the man flat where a second burst of his Mauser one handed ended that threat.


Carl continued moving. The escape tunnel was hidden under a rug, but it was also electronically locked.


A few bursts of his Mauser broke the lock and his gauntlet ignored the heat of melting metal as he pulled it open to rush after.


The nightvision was useful, the Governor was running ahead with a flashlight, but Carl didn’t need it. Simply charging along at full tilt. His stomping stride was obviously heard, but it didn’t matter. The Governor wasn’t fat, but he was also well past his military service. Where Carl was fit, and in power armor.


He ran him down long before the man ever could have gotten away by slipping back into the city.


When he reached him, his first act was to grab the man by the back of his head and lead him right into the knee he pummeled into his stomach.


The retching noise of the man being hit by a solid metal knee was sweet on Carls ears. A second knee put out any fight in the man, the gun in his hand knocked away as Carl slammed him into the wall of the tunnel.


“Where are they!” He demanded once he had the man pinned down only the knowledge they needed him alive kept Carl from continuing to strike the man until he stopped moving.


“I-I don’t know! Who do you want! I know where lots of people are!” The governor babbled once he caught his breath but it took a moment before Carl realized this idiot didn’t even know it was attacking him!


Slamming his face against the wall again earning a squeal of pain Carl started again. “The members of the Iron Blooded you kidnapped from the Isaribi! Where are they!” He roared.


“You are with them!?” The governors eyes were full of fear, but the actual shock at what he was seeing was even stronger. “Who are you people! These things don’t exist!” He screamed but Carl was not interested in answering questions.


The fist buried in his gut seems to bring a moment of silence. As carl pushed his armored face plate against the gasping mans face.


“I exist. I am here. And I am angry. Where are my people?”


“I will tell you nothing! They will die if I am not relea-”


Slamming him against the wall again Carl growled. “You will die if you do not.”


That seems to sneak through some inkling of the situation for the man as finally he started talking.


—-


By the time we hit the Combine defensive position it was chaos.


Our artillery had been almost perfectly on target. Plenty of Light mechs had been hit so accurately by the Artillery Unit that the Long Tom round had passed directly through the mech. Of course the explosion of the high explosive Long Tom Rounds then meant scraps of mechs were scattered all over the ground.


I didn’t care about any of that. As we walked up. The enemy were trying to resist. Light mechs were jumping around trying to stay mobile so as not to be targeted by Artillery, but that just left them in our sights for the first rounds of our Gauss.


The sight of multiple Light Mechs falling from the sky riddled with holes sent the enemy into a frenzy. They threw everything at us.


I was in the lead. But I was not about to stop. Even as a PPC burned against my mechs shoulder. Even as LRMs landed around us. Even as Infantry fired shoulder mounted SRMs.


This was our moment. If we faltered here we would have a long slog of a battle ahead of us. I kept the momentum going. Not once did my Phantoms heavy footfalls slow. My Gauss were fired off as soon as they cycled. My ERPPC thundered. They targeted me. Of course they did. I was in the lead. Wearing a massive flag on my mech.


That was fine. Because I had an entire battalion of very angry mechwarriors at my back. And a battalion of tanks behind them.


Plus the Artillery. “Danger close” was just a cute word for my people. Artillery continued to rain on the enemy even as they realized how fucked they were. Light mechs fell like wheat to us.


Where every battle before this we stumbled when we were struck back. This time when the Combine Samurai tried that. All it did was end in fire and thunder.


I just had to hope that the absolute shock of our assault would mean we wouldn’t take any losses. But even I wasn’t hopeful for that. Even as we finally broke the defenders at this military base. Their walls smashed, their turrets melted, Infantry, mechs and vehicles surrendering under our onslaught.


Some tried to retreat.


The light mechs that had run were still being targeted. The tanks that rolled away were pounded. The ones that thought themselves smart by going underground?


They too were faced with rounds shattering whatever entrance they might have escaped into.


The ISDF were here. And we were angry. And it was happening on three different fronts at once. Our ASF were in the air. Gabe led them around to any air resistance the Combine still had.


We marched through the military checkpoint they had been setting up against us without slowing, and simply marched into Jarlton. The capital was a massive modern city and nothing was left capable of resisting us. A few armored vehicles were deployed but with the sensor they never stood a chance. Which is why when I marched through the streets my Caparison waving in the wind.


People noticed. Sure most were smart enough to hide. But not all of them. Some too stupid to run away during an attak, some too slow. Some simply want to see their potential end. We made a hell of a sight. My Nightstar was beaten. Bloody. Bruised. But my flag still waved. A hole through part of it, where an AC round had gone through, but it was still clear. Still visible.


I walked straight to our objective. The Governor's mansion. It was a beautiful Japanese manor, two stories surrounded by ancient looking walls. We walked through, uncaring about what damage we did. I walked up to the front of it’s massive doors. Before turning my Nightstar now a physical guardian keeping any one from entering.


Not long after that, the fighting died down across the three battlefields. The Long Toms finally quieted.


Ko was conquered.


I don’t know how I felt about it. I had never wanted to put myself or my kids in this position, but if it was to protect them I would conquer, and conquer again. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to.


—-


The enemy wasn’t totally defeated at this point. Although the stragglers weren’t faring well. The mechs that ran were hunted down by kill squads. Doesn’t matter how fast you can move if no matter where you hide a lance of assault mechs hunt you down.


Humans were endurance hunters. My kids brought that old fact back up on Ko.


But the main focus of the next few hours were the acts of Delta ops.


Carl had done it. While ensuring the Governor wouldn’t be able to send out a message to execute any of the kids. They had managed to secure the man.


Carl had even found out where they were.


I had gone with my Nightstar as Delta and a Lance of mechs had hunted down the building our kids had been kept in. It was rather obvious to all of us why we hadn’t found them.


They were being held in a brothel.


I swore that if even a single one of my kids had been raped the Combine would pay. The brothel was big. More of an upper class pleasure house than anything. This made me think more Geisha, than back alley.


I was still furious when I dismounted and kicked the door in. Two Nighthawks at my back and my laser pistol in my hand. The people inside were cowering. Obviously workers of the place. But I wasn’t interested in them.


Yet.


“You have thirty seconds to bring out my kids.”


“There is no need for such rudeness.” The voice called out a thick japanese accent leant to a very peculiar spoken english but it was understandable enough. “We will comply with your demands Onna-Bushi.” The woman was old. A full kimono and walking with a cane. But the way the girls and boys in the entranceway turned to her. I had probably just found the owner.


“Twenty seconds.” My glare must have told just how serious my threat was, and with a jerk of her head some of the people in the front ran off.


About five seconds before my threat would have been forced out of me. Someone wearing a kimono that I recognized walked cautiously out of the back room.


Sandra was done up beautifully. But that only made my teeth grind. Her hazel eyes widened in shock when she saw me. And I could instantly see the tears there. My arms were already open when she ran into me. “Vicky!” She cried into my shoulder. My arm was full, but I kept my weapon free despite holding my kid tight, my eyes promised nothing but death to the old woman.


“She is untouched.”


The very fact the woman realized what was causing my anger only made it worse. This bitch knew and probably ‘took care of’ the girls captured.


“I was told all of my people are here.”


“Yes. The others are coming. Some were in classes… My people are gathering all of them as we speak. There is no need for violence here.”


“There already has been violence here. Kidnapping is an act of violence!” I snarled but it was Sandra crying in my shoulder that quieted me.


“That is so.” The old woman nodded but nothing else came from her. No apology or sympathy.


I ignored the old woman after that focusing on Sandra as the girl held onto me for support. Finally she seemed to pull herself together for a moment her eyes tear streaked and red she let out a huff of laughter. “What’s that on your face Vicky?”


I blinked before remembering the facepaint. “New tradition. We put it on whenever we go to war… It’s to remind us that if we die someone will cry.” I explained and that had her tearing up but nodding.


“Thank you. For coming.”


I tilted my head a little confused. “Why wouldn’t I come?”


We stare at each other for a few moments before she bursts into laughter and grabbing me into another strong hug, her laughter turned to sobs again but that was okay she was safe. Whatever that had been about I would do everything I could to fix it.


Over the next twenty minutes more of my kids were brought forth.


I had already called in a few trucks to pick them up but it was a tearful exchange, many of them…


They hadn’t been treated well.


Told that their future would be as a prostitute and punished if they refused.


I heard many horrible stories from their lips and it was only because in the end we were the good guys that I didn’t lose my cool.


Sandra stood by me. The girl had been their captain. She was guilting herself into believing she was responsible for their circumstances.


She had apparently decided to surrender rather than fight the raiding party that attacked them.


I didn’t blame her.


But unfortunately, with the good news.


Came the bad.


“Mal, Rich, and Emma all… Died.” Sandra admitted when the numbers finally came in and they were missing.


“How?” I couldn’t say anything more. My throat was closing up.


“They tried to escape. Emma… She had been chosen by some Nobleman. Or Samurai I guess he liked how she looked. Decided to buy her out, that’s the only way any of us would be… taken. We were all being trained to make ourselves more valuable… Mal and Rich refused… You know how they are. Those three were best friends.” Sandra was crying then and pulled her into a hug my own eyes tear filled.


“They were caught trying to steal weapons. The officer that caught them shot them.”


I swallowed my rage. She didn’t need that now. “Don’t suppose you remember who?”


She shook her head and I didn’t let that frustration out. I would have loved to find that particular officer. But considering how butchered the planetary defenses currently were?


He was probably already dead anyway.


“C’mon. Let's go Sandy. This whole thing is over. It’s time to go home.” The blurring of her eyes once more in tears told me just how much those words meant to her. I guided her and my other kids out of the building, into Normans that had been sent to pick them up. The group of 39 of my kids were given an escort that would make a leader of a great house blush.


Now that they were back with us, we wouldn’t let anything happen to them.


—-


Everything was rather tense even with our people returned. We couldn’t quite celebrate our peoples return since we were standing on a planet that we had all but in name conquered.


“We should stay. We can put down a base, have the LCAF come in and settle down.” Benny offered the first one to speak as the meeting started.


I was doubly thankful that I wasn’t the one to speak up next. Gauge took that over for me. “We aren’t here to do that Benny. We don’t have… any training for that. We should get our people, gather up and leave. We already did enough. If the LCAF wants this world it won’t take much to secure it for them.”


My mouth opened but Benny waved me off. “Not yet Commander. Let me talk first. I know we aren’t supposed to be conquerors but we are already here. We have seen that this planet has it’s problems. I never said it before but the Combine are our enemies. Now it is a personal matter. We should keep working. We can put some serious hurt on the Combine just by taking this world. The Coordinator won’t stand for that. He will send more. Right now we are the best equipped regiment in the Inner Sphere. We should use that. Now. Force the Combine to keep expending their strength on us. We can take it. We can dig in. Become an immovable position right here.”


I knew that Benny was hinting at creating a Castle here. But I shook my head. “I know what you are feeling Benny. I feel it too. My stomach clenches every time I think of what they did to our people.” The looks around the room all turned dark every hint at what had happened to those captured tended to cause some very fierce glares.


But I breathed out a heavy breath. “But we have to be better.”


My common refrain seemed to do it as even Benny looked a little abashed. “Isn’t fighting the combine the right thing?”


I shrugged. Which seemed to startle him a bit. “I don’t know. Honestly. Truly. I don’t know if going to war permanently with the Combine is the right thing to do. It feels good, sure. The idea of going out and fighting against the evil Combine. Like we are right back in Immortal Warrior right?”


That reminder of our adventure earns me a few chuckles and a lightening of the atmosphere. Slightly.


“But war is something the Combine are very familiar with. Don’t kid yourself, everyone. If the Combine had wanted us gone. They would have destroyed us. Nukes. Bioweapons. Overwhelming force. The Coordinators of the past have used all of these against stubborn elements.”


“You think they would nuke us!?” Hanna asked shocked, the rest of the room joining in.


“Yes. Without a doubt. In a heartbeat even. Ko is a useful world, but if the Coordinator felt he was about to lose it? That an enemy like us that could dig in and never be pushed out would take it? Yes. He would burn a nuke. Accept the political repercussions and sleep soundly that night. We aren’t big enough to go Conquering Benny. We are small enough still despite everything that if someone decides to just flip the board. We lose the game.”


“So we just up and leave? After everything we did here?” Benny demanded. It was probably the loudest he had ever gotten with me.


“No. In fact we don’t do that at all. We spend the next few days salvaging, taking our stuff and our people and head home. But we aren’t leaving them without a little reminder that we were here. After all Benny I made a promise.” I pulled it out of my pocket. A little something I had cooked up a few nights ago, in my spare time.


“And I don’t break promises.”


—--


It was a parade.


Of sorts.


My people, almost all of them in fact, were heading into the city. The people were watching in shock as once more Lostech mech after Lostech mech stomped into their city down their thoroughfare. My Nightstar in the lead as we headed once more for the Governors Manor. It was there I had decided to hold our last act on this world.


This was a statement.


As I walked I could see the faces of the civilians. Many of them talking and pointing. It didn’t matter that we were enemies. It didn’t matter that we had already walked down this road the day before. To the people on the street it was part of the show. Especially since we hadn’t done a single C-bill worth of damage to the city itself. Outside of military targets anyways.


They were probably shocked at how gentle this invasion was.


Well I liked the idea of completely walking away without shattering even a single brick, but that wouldn’t happen. Not today.


I walked through the Governor's gates, destroying them. Across his perfectly kept lawn, uncaring about the long foot prints left in the green grass as I marched up to the Two story building.


Then I started shooting.


And it wasn’t just me.


Within twenty minutes the fires were out, and there was nothing left of the building. The remains stomped flat.


Then carried in between four Atlas a structure was walked into place. The Grade 10 Ferrocrete had been something I built just before this. As it was placed atop the rubble my kids went to work. Those that had skill building libraries jumped in with construction equipment. Each side of the building was secured with massive poles made of thick Ferrocrete. The damn things were nearly as tall as an Atlas, and were hammered into place by the mechs as well.


The sound drew even more attention than what had come before. People were wandering closer to see what it was we were doing.


Other than a good amount of my people on security keeping an eye on the crowd in case someone decided to attack us. We let them. The crowd growing even as the spectacle continued.


Then boxes were dropped off. The object I had pulled out in my meeting was distributed. The first to move were the 39 we had recovered. Each of them took the Iron flowers and just like we had once done on Zaniah dove them deep into the ground around the building we were putting up.


Then more and more. And this time I told them to place as many as they like.


Other than the single walkway, flowers were planted throughout the night. And many tears along with them. I gave no grand speech this time. This was a personal moment for each of my kids.


In the morning my engineers had finished their work. With my ‘help’ in secret that night. A Memory core was planted deep in the ground. Along with a kill switch. The building above became the smallest but probably most eye-catching library we had built so far.


As long as the Combine left it alone. Someday. When it was time to release the full Memory Core to the Inner Sphere they would have theirs.


If they decided to destroy the Library? Then they would get nothing.


By Mid-afternoon the next day we still had quite a crowd, plenty of people wondering what was going on, what we were doing.


Then when everything was done. Kagemuchi was driven onto the site. Delta had done a good job holding him over the last two days, the man looked rough, but unharmed. His hair is a mess and clothes in disarray but no new bruises. He was in perfect health.


Then the men that had been holding the crowd back moved in. Settling instead among the fields of red flowers at the foot of the new library. The front doors were open and there I stood. The Phantom was over my head, The Long ISDF flag fluttering above me as I waited. The Governor was loudly complaining about his handling as he started snapping at the guards guiding him up, but when he finally caught sight of me.


He stopped. And started struggling backwards.


It made sense. The Governor may be my enemy, but I wouldn’t treat him as a fool.


No one wants to walk towards the person holding a bear blade. The Katana I was holding idly in my right hand should be familiar with the Governor it was his.


A symbol of his office and status as a Samurai of the Combine.


I waited as he was pulled forward and the crowd noticed. They came in, putting pressure inwards until he was at my side, my kids keeping the crowd back more with their presence than anything else. The fact they were all heavily armed and backed by Mechs leant a certain fear in the crowd as they stared at the show I was about to put on.


The Governor was pale. Terrified.


I let the blade shift causing him to nearly jerk to his side only to find himself unable as some of the biggest men in the ISDF held him in place.


I opened my mouth, but my words echoed from above. My Phantom echoed out what I said to the crowd. “I am Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. ISDF First Division the Iron Blooded Orphans. I have come to this planet, because my people were taken by your governor in a raid. If he had been reasonable, I would have gladly paid for their safe return, and I would never have set foot on this world.”


I raised the sword letting it rest against the mans throat. But I wasn’t looking at him. I was looking at the crowd.


“I am not an invader. I am not a warmonger. I do not enjoy battle and bloodshed. Lives were lost because I came here. Both yours and mine. Families broken, and destroyed because this mans greed.”


I could almost feel his pulse through the sword it was pressed so close to his jugular, but I wasn’t a murderer.


“Governor Kagemuchi has paid dearly for his greed. So has the Combine. The 22nd Dieron Regulars, your former protectors are gone.”


I let that echo around. Many of the crowd probably didn’t know quite how complete the battle had been on our side. During the salvage operations ongoing Delta and Rough Squad were still securing the AO. They had turned away plenty of civilians at gunpoint.


“The 22nd no longer has a mech to their name. They no longer have a tank, or any other heavy vehicle. The ISDF have completely, and fully destroyed the regiment. They stood between me and rescuing my people.”


“They don’t anymore.”


I let that echo out into the crowd.


“If we were any other force in the Inner Sphere, your city would be on fire, we would be looting your resources, if not outright settling in after our conquest of your world.”


“Lucky for you we are not. We are the ISDF. That name has meaning! We are the defenders of the Innocent. Not Tyrants here to claim your possessions. We spread knowledge freely!” I point to the building behind me.


“This Library has courses and books free for anyone who wishes them. It’s the same data we plant on Lyran Worlds. On League Worlds! We will plant this information on the worlds of the Federated Suns, on the worlds of the Confederation! To any Periphery world we can reach!”


I looked out over the crowds. Stared into the eyes of the reporters who had their cameras rolling. To the people that were scared. Afraid about what would happen to their lives now that their ‘defenders’ were gone.


“The dark age is over. The ISDF is here. We will re-light the future of the Inner Sphere one world at a time. These are my ideals. The ideal of the entire ISDF. It is what we train for, what we fight for.”


“But to those out there with greed in their heart? I will throw those ideals away in order to protect my family. Like we have here. If you think we can be bribed you will find out you are wrong. If you think we can be blackmailed, you will find that useless. If you think we can be suborned by capturing my people and using them as hostages?”


“We will come.”


I turned away from the crowd looking to the Governor who was doing his best to keep the very sharp blade from piercing his skin.


“Governor Kagemuchi. You kidnapped my people. My Family. Attempted to hold their lives hostage so you could steal our equipment. You wanted my dropships Governor. How do they taste when you choke on them!?”


The crowd was silent.


My people were stern faced, but I could feel the bloodlust shimmering off them.


But this was the moment. The sort of moment that alters the course of a group.


“This blade. It’s yours. I am told Samurai view their blades as a part of them, a symbol of your honor.”


I turn with a strong motion slam the blade into a crack in the ground then heave.


The blade snapped with a loud ring. As I held the hilt. Ending in a jagged blade.


“There is your honor. As broken in blade as it exists in your soul.”


Without the blade held to his throat the Governor regained a bit of color. And a bit of spine. “You will not get away with this! You insult not only me, but the Dragon! His claws will claim your life!”


“Governor. Or should I just say Mr. Kagemuchi. You are directly involved in a plot that potentially lost the Coordinator a planet. And an entire Regiment of his men.” I stepped in close until our noses were touching, although I had to bend down a little as I was quite a bit taller than the man.


“Who exactly between the two of us needs to worry about Dragon Claws?”


That was it. I had nothing left to say. I walked away, my people with me. The Crowd split finding themselves standing among the red flowers as we climbed into mechs and walked out of the city.


Behind us stood something unique. Walls fit for a Planetary ruler. But a broken open gate. Inside a field of red flowers, immortal as only iron can be, then a small squat ugly building but inside a comfortable room filled with computers each having access to knowledge that while not lost, is difficult for the common person to get. All in easy to follow courses and classes.


A small sign was the only verbal remark left behind by its creators.


The Iron Blooded Library.


All are welcome. Knowledge is the light that guides us towards the future.


Protect it.


—--


“What is that?” I asked, I was overseeing the dropships being loaded up. You would not believe how much stuff we had brought with, and that we had picked up in just a few days. The amount of salvage I had been given puppy dog eyes over was getting old, but it was this that was most interesting.


The boys of Rough Squad and their leader all jerked in surprise at my question. They were all in the back of Pegasus Base. Hidden deep in the spare storage bay. The boys of rough squad were all gathered around a stack of containers.


Containers that hadn’t been there when I reviewed the loading.


Lendens surprise quickly shifted to a calm. “Nothing Commander, just making sure my boys are keeping busy helping get everything loaded up.”


“Not only do I not believe you. Ever. I’m also not stupid. Why do you have a container full of contraband Lenden?” I pointed to the Container that had been quickly hidden behind a few of the Rough squads tallest members backs as they tried, and failed to create a human wall to block my vision.


“Contraband? Commander! I protest that! This is loot! A very large difference from Contraband!”


“It wasn’t on the manifest. You are going to overweight the dropship, we are already loading down Lenden you can’t just fill up the ship without telling anyone.”


“It’s on the manifest! Filed under miscellaneous equipment.”


“And who put that on the manifest exactly.” I mutter pulling out my noteputer that had the manifest, and indeed there was a rather heavy amount of weight on the Pegasus listed under Misc equipment.


The boy looked a little uncomfortable for a moment. Before shrugging. “Guess you caught me Commander. I went in and put in the weight of our salvage in the manifest.”


The easy admittance forced a snort out of me. “Okay so it was Benny then.” I agreed.


Lendens eyes widened in shock. “What no way! It was me!”


“Please Lenden, I have known you for a decade. The only time you ever admit to a crime is to protect someone else that had done it. It’s one of your few redeeming traits.” I tell him with a chuckle enjoying his pouty look.


“Okay before I decide anything. Why do you even have… One hundred and ten tons of salvage? Jesus Lenden did you rob a museum or something?”


“No the Governor.” he replied easily with a grin. “Well that and the 22nd. We stole a bunch of their mechs after all.”


I blinked. I hadn’t know that. “When did you steal their mechs? Why wasn’t I told?”


“Please Commander you were freaking out. We stole a few out from under them at night, and a few were taken when we jumped their people. One was taken at the end. We hunted down some asshole in a Cicada for like ten hours after the big battle. We caught him napping.”


“Please don’t tell me any more. I don’t want to have to court martial you for war crimes that I am sure I am about to hear.” I rubbed my face. “If Benny already okayed it. And it’s full of mech salvage Rough Squad commandeered I guess I can allow that. But what else is in there?”


“Well we did pick up a nice present for you Commander!” Lenden offered with a sinister grin his arm wrapping around my shoulder as he pulled me towards the container. “I remember how you always complained you didn’t have a fancy hover car like the Governess does. Well. Governor Kagemuchi didn’t need his anymore…”


I knew I was barely hiding my interest when I tried to ‘casually’ ask “Does it have heated seats?”


“Commander! You wound me! Or Wound Kagemuchi! He is a man of taste and class! My ass was toasty as shit when I drove this thing back.”


“Well. Since it’s already stored…”

—-



As the drives of my dropships shot us off Ko. After my normal sickness, I kept myself busy. There was a lot of work to do. You would think after a planetary invasion would be the slow part but it wasn’t.


Repairs. Settling everyone after their success.


Mourning those that had fallen.


Not just from the Isaribi. We hadn’t gotten away completely unscathed despite how well we had done.


During the final assault Benny lost a Rhino with all hands, to the Combine. They had apparently realized what was happening and attacked rather than tried to retreat. They had died like Samurai.


In a worthless charge that only minimally worked.


But it lost us three people.


That wasn’t all. Despite Lendens fake upbeat attitude Rough Squad had a few losses. Infantry were not meant to sneak onto bases and steal equipment.


We had ten losses from Rough Squad. The fact Lenden had kept it from me had earned him an ass kicking when I found out. But it was done.


Our final assault hadn’t left us untouched either. A lucky shot had cockpit killed one of our Highlanders. Daniel was still raging about it.


We had conquered a world for Fourteen Iron Blooded Orphan lives.


It honestly didn’t feel equal. Their lives were worth more than some measly planet.


And yet. As the dropship pulled away as we finally started heading home, I could only feel relief that we hadn’t lost more. That at least we had saved more than we lost.


Six days of dealing with crying kids. Either from loss, or what they had gone through. Six days of trying to bring order to chaos.


And on the last.


As always things got complicated.


“Commander! Jumpship sighted! Markings confirmed… 5th Sword of Light.” Captain Gilbert called out once I came hurrying onto the bridge. After the alert had sounded.


Fuck. The Swords of Light were the Combines most elite Regiments. Not only were they the best of the best, the most skilled mechwarriors, they were also the regiments that were given the best equipment.


“Captain. How is the Clementine?”


“Not a worry Commander. They are parked far enough away not to be in any danger.”


“Okay… are we in trouble here?”


The captain hesitated. “I don’t know. They could intercept if they burn hard… But they only have Overlord Dropships. I would bet our Colossus against them in every engagement. Even with our… hodgepodge crews. Plus our ASF forces have proven their worth.”


“Captain! Commander! Call incoming from the dropship!”


“Commander?” The Captain asked, and I nodded. Settled into a chair before the Holovid.


“Go ahead and accept it.”


“Roger!”


The vid fuzzed a moment, we were close enough to a near 1 to 1 connection but it was still a long distance.


The man took a few moments once the connection firmed before he began speaking. “I am Tai-Sho Palmer Conti. 5th Swords of Light.”


“Commander Victoria Eisen-Blume. ISDF, Iron Blooded Orphans.”


We watched each other for a few minutes, the man was settled behind a wooden desk of all things as if he was just in his office for another day at work.


“You are quite busy for a Tri-Vid Star. Perhaps you should have stayed on the movie sets rather than come to our worlds?”


I blinked. That was a… Weird statement. Plus that damn movie was going to haunt me. It wasn’t even that good! It was kinda cheesy! Even if the kids made me watch it all the time.


“My people were taken. So I came. Tai-Sho Conti, I am on my way back to Lyran space. It shouldn’t take you long to realize that out here I have you helplessly outgunned. Let us pass.”


He blinked before snorting, “It is not the Combines doctrine to allow a retreating force to escape. Especially after a raid on our world. You should power down your drives Commander. We will only execute you for the audacity. The rest of your people will be taken alive.”


For a moment I had a reflexive instinct to order the dropships to turn towards the fuckers. It was one thing to take out a regiment like the 22nd Dieron Regulars. Sure losing a regiment was horrible for the Combine, but losing the 5th Sword of Light?


I doubt the Coordinator could have enough people commit Seppuku to recover from it.


But I wasn’t here to wound the Combine… Anymore than I already had.


Instead I decided to take a different track. “Retreating?” I spoke aloud, letting the word echo. The bridge crew around me were all smiling now. I turned to look at them. “Are we retreating? Why wasn’t I informed? Captain Gilbert! Shame on you for not informing me we were retreating!” I mocked, and the crew were breaking into sniggers, or giggles.


Captain Gilbert was shaking his head even as he tried to hide a smile breaking out across his lips.


Conti was looking at me like I was something odd. “Your amusement will not last Commander.”


“Oh Tai-Sho. You shouldn’t make promises you can’t be sure of. Let me guess Tai-Sho. You jumped in, and noticed us approaching and decided to reach out before actually contacting the surface of Ko? Or are you still waiting for a response?”


I will give him this. Me flipping the script mocking and laughing at him did nothing to damage his calm. “We will hear from the surface shortly, Commander. But it is your life that is being decided here. And the lives of your crew.”


“My crew will happily fight you Tai-Sho. It is only my desire to end our action against the Combine here that stops them from continuing. We are leaving. If you attempt to stop us, we will remind you of the difference between our ships.”


“Meaningless. You have just come from a raid. You will have losses and be tired. We are fresh. You can not match us.”


“Fourteen.”


The man blinked, before seeming to realize I was playing a game with him, “Girl. I am not interesting in-”


“I had fourteen losses in total during the rescue operation on Ko.”


“I no longer have time for jests. Surrender.”


“Fourteen people died Tai-Sho. I like that number. It’s a low number. Even still too high. But if you attack it will go up. But if you attack. I will destroy you utterly. Just as I did to the 22nd Dieron Regulars. They no longer exist. Good Day Tai-Sho.”


I flip the switch on the Holovid. Letting the mans face disappear into static. “Captain keep us moving, but keep a damned close eye on them. I want to know the moment they do anything.”


“Understood Commander!”


—-


In the end the Tai-Sho of the 5th made a token effort to chase me down. His drives ‘slowing’ without appearing to do so a few hours after they started burning for us. It seems they finally got an update from Ko.


I don’t know what they were told. But it didn’t matter to me. I watched the darkness of space as my dropships attached to the Clementine and the Jumpship powered and ready quickly disappeared us into nothing.
 
Last edited:

Omnimercurial

Active member
That was a thing of beauty....

I only ask if Vicky made a point of rescuing any other Brothel Prisoners while present on Planet?

Did she visit the nearby Orphanages?
 

Brian-88

Well-known member
That was a thing of beauty....

I only ask if Vicky made a point of rescuing any other Brothel Prisoners while present on Planet?

Did she visit the nearby Orphanages?
You don't want Combine orphans. They're basically indoctrinated from birth in the superiority of the Combine and the glory of the Dragon. Same with CapCon orphans, even the FWL orphans were hostile as hell at first.
 

xachariahxx

Well-known member
You don't want Combine orphans. They're basically indoctrinated from birth in the superiority of the Combine and the glory of the Dragon. Same with CapCon orphans, even the FWL orphans were hostile as hell at first.
Yep. All those Combine, CapCon, FWL people are brainwashed into mindlessly thinking that their form of government is superior and deserves to rule the inner sphere.

Lyrians are different. They are educated into knowing that their form of government is superior and deserves to rule the inner sphere. :LOL:

The only people who miss out are the Federated Suns, and that's because they don't get education.
 

Brian-88

Well-known member
Yep. All those Combine, CapCon, FWL people are brainwashed into mindlessly thinking that their form of government is superior and deserves to rule the inner sphere.

Lyrians are different. They are educated into knowing that their form of government is superior and deserves to rule the inner sphere. :LOL:

The only people who miss out are the Federated Suns, and that's because they don't get education.
Nice way to completely misrepresent what I said. FWL, Commonwealth, Periphery and Federation at least have basic human rights as part of their culture (with some exceptions like the Marion Hegemony). The CapCon and the Combine are literal slave states that indoctrinate their subjects from cradle to grave to believe that their rulers are divinely ordained to rule over all of humanity. If the Kuritas stay true to their stereotype of 1940's Japan then the Coordinator is thought to be a God in human form, and the Chancellor is called Divine Wisdom for God's sake.

She can recruit from their worlds, but it will require an on staff psychologist to work them through the deprogramming. Go listen to some interviews of North Korean escapees or CCP defectors that actually aren't afraid of telling the truth. That is what she's dealing with.
 

Omnimercurial

Active member
It really depends on the Orphanage Practices and how old or deprived the Orphans are.

The younger they are, the easier to educate/indoctrinate/rehabilitate.

The more suffering or poverty they have suffered, the more disenfranchised/disenchanted with the DC they will be.
 
Chapter 16.1

Seras

Well-known member
Chapter 16.1 Shocked Awe

3026

Tharkad

The Triad


A different perspective

Col. Earl Fritz


“Good. Gentlemen, about the other matter?”


“Apologies General, our connections are still slow coming, but I do have some information about the Ko incident.”


“Well Fritz, let’s hear it.”


“Very well Sir. The ISDF…”


“Yes I know they picked about the most arrogant name in the Sphere, get on with it.”


“Yes Sir. The ISDF landed on Ko with minimal losses. Reports indicate, only some ASF losses before landing. They landed with three Colossus class Dropships. Yes, gentleman, that data is accurate.”


“How the hell did these mercs find three Colossus without anyone knowing about it!?” One of the men in the smoke strewn room called out angrily smashing the stub of his cigar into the ashtray, before reaching into his jacket to pull another.


“We don’t currently know. One was confirmed by LIC Command to have been found on Phecda. Archon put out orders to leave the ISDF alone, and so other than a Lohengrin attache, we don’t have much intelligence on them. Apparently the few Intelligence agencies that tried anyways ran into… Problems.”


“They got their base locked up tighter than a Combine Princess’s virgin asshole.” Grunted another man and many in the room chuckled at the thought.


“Yes sir. If not for the Archons, direct orders, we might be more concerned, but they have been vouched for. Although I do have a note saying the Archon was shocked at the information about Ko when it was delivered. Apparently, even she didn’t know about the ISDF’s entire resources.”


“Hah! That’ll serve her a bit. Putting too much trust in mercs is bad for business. I wonder how much of those Lostech machines the kids have been piloting were taken from bases that should be going to Commonwealth soldiers.”


“I couldn’t say Sir.” Fritz sighed internally, he hated moments like this, being the presenter to a group of the highest ranked generals in the Commonwealth was always a pain in the ass. Most of them didn’t care what he said, and those that did would ask questions that Fritz would have trouble answering.


“Enough Handoven. Leave the Colonel alone. What do we have on the Archons relationship with these ISDF. If she is ordering us to leave them be, what exactly is the connection?” A few grumbling agreements went around the room.


“Apologies General, but the Archon’s office hasn’t given us much. General Steiner, only offered that the ISDF have done great work for the Commonwealth, and should be treated as a trusted ally until such a time as the Archon revokes the orders… The fact that the Commander of the ISDF arrived on the Triad a few years ago transporting Morgan Kell, may have something to do with it.”


Nods went around the room. Morgan Kell may be a merc, but no one denied he was a Lyran through and through. The Generals of the Commonwealth happily considered him as one of them.


“Damn, I wouldn’t mind having one of those dropships for my command.” A grumble reached out of the darkened room, and with that, the grumbles all basically agreed, more than a few were cursing that they hadn’t been handed to them so they could finally ‘get something done!’ Fritz just kept his mouth shut.


Insulting Generals was a good way to lose your commission.


“Colonel! Tell me something, this battle of Ko. The report is obviously full of nonsense, so what were the losses on both sides, and I heard rumor, that these ISDF trashed every mech taken from the 22nd, that they couldn’t take with them?”


“Yes General, the ISDF did destroy any mech or vehicle that they recovered that they couldn’t take with them, I believe the LIC attache described it as “Aggressively thorough,” in the report.” Fritz sweated a bit “And I am afraid that even from outside sources our report is accurate General.. If you are referring to the losses taken on by the ISDF. They were confirmed from multiple sources.”


“Bullshit.” That same general cursed out as he ripped open the report packet. “It says here that the ISDF took FOURTEEN, losses over the course of the battle, and that isn’t mechs downed, that includes infantry!”


The rumble of voices washed over Fritz as the Generals, all pulled open the packets, many of them hadn’t even touched them until this moment, and as the men all read through the papers, many of them let out curses of surprise.


“The numbers were confirmed. The ISDF landed with only a single ASF loss on their re-entry, but the pilot was recovered. From there, they led the 22nd in an anti-scouting engagement. They were apparently so successful, that the General in charge of the 22nd, had no idea of the true force brought to bear against her.”


Fritz took a moment to take a sip of water before continuing. “The Commander of the ISDF landed with eighteen Long Tom Artillery pieces…”


“Jesus Christ! Who brings that much artillery on a raid!?”


“The ISDF apparently.” Grumbled another jokingly as the chatter around the room lifted up, stopping Fritz from following any specific conversation.


“Go on Colonel! Ignore the chatter of these old gossips.” Ordered one of the generals, to a short upraised roar of denial before Fritz decided to do as ordered.


“The ISDF landed with so much artillery, but the scouting elements of the 22nd never got close enough to their landing sight to alert their command. So since the ISDF was showing off so much heavy equipment, the 22nd apparently decided on a defensive engagement. They surrounded the ISDF from their bases in the area probably hoping to use the emplacements to blunt any assault.”


“Fuck. They surrounded an artillery park.” A general muttered, and that idea sent the others into nods of understanding.


“No wonder they won with so few losses. The Combine would have never parked so close to an artillery park if they had known it existed!”


“Hah, good play then, keeping the scouts off their ass meant they had a shooting gallery.”


“Yes Sir. The artillery barrage, and this information is from a Combine officer on the ground that survived and sent a report to Luthien that we retrieved, stated the artillery was impossibly accurate. The officer reports seeing artillery, drop directly onto moving mechs as they attempted to dodge the fire.”


A whistle let out, “How the hell did these mercs manage that? Anything on that?”


“Apologies General, the only note we have about their artillery capability, is a tendency towards. ‘Extreme training time like much of the ISDF towards any matter.’ I believe this may just be a very experienced artillery crew.”


“Well I’ll hand it to them, that’s a nice trick. Think we could pull it off?”


“Colonel, do we have a listing on how many shells they fired out of the Long Toms?”


“Ah apologies General, I do not, at least nothing exact… It does seem that the artillery barrage from all eighteen Long Toms lasted at minimum over an hour as they continued to hammer fortified positions that the 22nd retreated to. So the amount of shells would be… Obscene, I believe the term would be.”


That earned him a few chuckles from the generals but a few frowns as the actual competent men did the math.


“Are you telling me that girl shot close to six thousand rounds!?” A general sputtered out his cigar falling out of his mouth in his exclamation. “That’s what… Twelve or so million C-bills in ammunition!?”


The roar of shock from that filled the room. Not just at the absurd number, no Fritz also realized how shocking that was.


What sort of merc had that much money to burn on a raid that ended with no actual raiding!?


“That isn’t all the artillery they used.” Fritz felt forced to add into the arguments breaking out along the room.


The Generals went silent as they absorbed that fact, “Well get on with it Colonel! Explain yourself!”


“Yes Sir, the ISDF had three working Colossus, if you are unaware Generals, the Colossus class dropship carries with it two Arrow IV launchers. All six of which were added into the artillery barrage.”


“COLONEL!” A roar ripped through the room as General Handoven ripped himself from his seat. “Are you honestly telling me a mercenary company, that I have only heard of because they were on a damned HOLOVID, has the capability of fielding twenty four artillery pieces, six of them Lostech, and can then fire them for over an hour, and I somehow, for some reason had no intel on this before hand? How the hell are they even affording such a thing?!”


The General was red faced and furious. Because even Fritz had realized just how shocking that knowledge was. Artillery was not something any general worth their salt ignored, but that many pieces? For a raiding force especially? He had seen such things at defensive worlds, but on a raid? What kind of fool would bring that much artillery?


“I believe Handoven that is what the Colonel is telling us. Now sit down and stop scaring the lad, I think we are all trying to process what we just learned.”


“Twelve million C-bills, and… Do we even have a number for the cost of Arrow IV at the moment?”


“No, that was added to the extinct equipment list a century ago. Those missiles are priceless.”


“Did the snakes think the sky was falling on them?” A general choked out a laugh, which broke the shock of what they just learned and made them realize their enemy was the subject of the assault.


“Well Damn, my friends if nothing else we can be assured of one thing!”


“Get on with it Lergen, I don’t have time for the length of your jokes.”


“Well then my friend, it means we know this Commander is definitely Lyran, only a Lyran would cause such overkill!”


“Hah! I’ll drink to that!


—-


A different perspective

Takashi Kurita

Luthien


The man bowing before the Dragon was nearly beneath his notice.


Nearly.


He was one of the few surviving officers of the former 22nd Dieron Regulars. Brought directly before the dragon to explain his failure.


“The enemy artillery was our first realization of our failure. It… It did not stop. The fire was too accurate for any normal artillery group, and there was simply too much. The honorable mechwarriros gave their life in combat, but the rain of fire simply. Ended them.”


The man wasn’t at fault for this, but there was no other to place the blame onto. He would at least be given Honor in his death, he had not tried to flee when the summons came.


“Very well.” The words silenced the man completely. “My Garden is in need of watering.” The silence was deafening, but not in fear, Takashi could see the man nearly break down in tears, that his honor would be kept.


“I thank you for this Honor Coordinator.” The man rose and was escorted out of the throne room. The aides would take care of the man from there.


“Bring him.” The order was acted on instantly, the pathetic Governor Kagemuchi was dragged into the room, his face streaked with tears, it was obvious the man had been begging long before he was brought forth.


“You have failed the Dragon.”


The whimpering of the weasel before him only disgusted Takashi all the more. “You were given a task that was already completed in your stead. You merely had to gain the information I required. You instead gained nothing but useless ramblings of children, and lost not only those captured for you, but the honorable warriors that guard you.”


“F-Forgive me Co-” The man was cut off by a harsh strike from his guards.


“You were not given leave to speak!” The guard growled, looking up at the Dragon for orders, but Takashi merely waved him off with a single lifted finger.


“Their loss could even be acceptable, as we have now learned much about a new enemy of the Combine from their loss. But worse. Worse than even that, is your actions after. You allowed yourself to be captured, to be paraded before the entire Inner Sphere. You dishonored the Combine. The Dragon.”


The man looked horror struck.


For a moment. The knife stabbed into his throat ended his mewling.


“Ensure ComStar is not transmitting that Holovid any longer.” He ordered the aide that had walked in a moment after the man had died. Good he had no time for failure.


“Your will be done.”


“And… a message must be sent.” He considered his next action carefully. For an enemy to cause this much damage to the Combine, he would normally send a message, a threat to them directly from him, but these… Mercenaries. They were not his peers.


But at the same time, they had caused more damage than a Mercenary could ever hope to achieve. Not just to his military power, but to his honor. They had slighted the entire Combine with their acts. Worse they had ensured the report left the Ko HPG terminal. The entire Inner Sphere had seen the Commanders words to the former Governor.


Yes. He decided. He would send a message personally. To ensure these ‘ISDF’ understood the enemy they had made this day. The plans to destroy them were also being worked on, his orders firm.


“Rain from a Dragons Whisker?” He questioned himself. He sometimes hated that he was forced to use the Dragon, in every poem, but such was the way of things.


—-


A different perspective

Francis Altdorf


First officer Altdorf had a good ring to it. Before this he had just been Lieutenant. A competent Lieutenant, but stuck behind thousands of others looking for a command position on a dropship.


But then the ISDF, some little known merc company had put out a hefty paycheck for officers to crew some dropships. It happens from time to time, some mercs find a dropship during a job and need crew to move the girls.


Francis had no idea what he was walking into. He had taken on a advisor position to the ‘Captain’ of the ship, a boy that had almost none of the experience needed, but at least he knew that, Francis had to admit working with him hadn’t been as horrible an experience as he had expected.


These ISDF people were inexperienced, but capable. The fact that he had now worked on an actual Colossus meant he wasn’t just a Lieutenant. He was a unique Lieutenant now. There were probably less than a few hundred people in the LCAF that could claim anything close to the same.


But Francis wasn’t about to let a cash cow go.


He wasn’t sure what the ISDF were really about, he wasn’t sold on the few times he had asked Captain Miller about the ISDF, about how they were planning on acting as the defenders of the Inner Sphere, and beyond.


He had been surprised about the libraries though. That was… Respectable. The sort of thing that people took notice of.


But the pay for this job was twice what he had been making as a contractor with private dropships. Sure there was the danger that came with Hazard pay, but considering the Colossus was probably the closest thing to a warship in the Inner Sphere, he felt safer here than on a normal dropship.


He had been raided by pirates before, and he certainly would have liked a few of the Gauss rifles attached to this beast of a ship back then.


“I refuse Captain.” He finally stated to Captain Miller. The Dropships had finally landed back on their home base, some minor world called Zaniah.


“You refuse?” Miller asked, if nothing else, the boy, and he honestly was, barely into his twenties it was laughable to Francis to think of him as a man, Francis had nearly a decade on him.


“Captain you need officers, and you frankly don’t have enough trained men. I now have more experience with the Colossus dropship than nearly anyone in the Inner Sphere, and you need people with experience. My Commission was over when the battle was completed, but you need me. And frankly, there isn’t anywhere else in the Inner Sphere I would rather serve. So you are stuck with me, Captain.”


The boy opened and closed his mouth twice before chuckling. “Fine Francis, I will just have to deal with your terrible jokes, for a while longer. I’ll reach out to Command and get a new more permanent contract set up.”


“Perfect. I am glad to work with you, Captain.”


Francis nodded. He would quite enjoy serving on board a ship like this, even if he had to deal with some mercs, at least his safety was better anywhere else. He patted the Console of the Colossus, she was a good ship. Sturdy, and practically new. None of the common issues of dropships plagued her.


“They certainly don’t build them like this anymore.” He whispered to her. Only reassured of his choice to stay on as crew for the ISDF. And who knows, maybe he would actually start believing these crazy kids and their wild plans.


Probably not. But anything could happen.


—--


My fingers tapping against the table echoed around the room. The armored glove made the sound tinny rather than flat. But it was still a good estimate of my annoyance.


We came straight back home from Ko. Landing back in our home, and settling in normally would have been a joyous occasion, but not this time.


Even with the return of our people. We had losses. And more than that. The after effects of such heavy battle was making itself known to everyone.


The first thing I had done once we landed was set up a psychiatry visit for everyone. Every psychiatrist on Zaniah had basically been hired. Not all of them were great. But I made sure those that needed it continued to visit.


I wasn’t one of them. Not because it wouldn’t be helpful, it probably would. But because I already long ago accepted the horrors of what I would end up doing.


I ended up murdering a lot of people on Ko.


And I would do it again. Without hesitation.


“Can you stop that?” Gauge asked me, irritated from where he sat beside me. The older boy was reading through something on his noteputer but his eyes pulled away to glare at me.


My finger stilled and I took an exhale. “Sure. Sorry.”


“Don’t worry about it.” He finally offered “Shouldn’t be long now. The others will be along soon.”


“I know. I’m just antsy.”


“Everyone is fine Vicky. Not everyone is cut out for battle. I mean, considering how many people we had see combat so few people having real issues is a bit of a blessing.”


I snorted at that. Nightmares, panic attacks, PTSD. A blessing.


“It’s not like you are going to make them leave or something Vicky. Relax.”


“I would never!”


“I know. That’s what I mean, they will always have a place here. They know that. Even the ones that are really upset. Didn’t Simon join the culinary squad?”


“Yeah… He couldn’t.. Didn’t want to fight anymore.”


“Well now he doesn’t have to. And he is still with us. One of us.”


“Oh not this again.” Hanna interrupted as she waltzed into the office. “Benny tell Vicky to calm her tits.”


“Vicky calm your tits.” Benny agreed as he followed Hanna in. My finger quickly changed from tapping to flipping off the two brats.


“Well I’m glad these meetings haven’t changed.” Alfred muttered as he walked in. He had stayed behind with the newest recruits and those not coming along during the invasion of Ko.


I smiled a little at that as more of the command staff wandered in. This was a full staff meeting. Eris was even invited.


Finally I calmed as the room filled up. People I know were okay. They were alive and mostly uninjured.


“Glad to see everyone.” I started off and the room silenced as I stood. “This is the first full meeting since our return from Ko. We are here to talk about what that means for us. What our actions will mean for the ISDF into the future.”


“Commander.” Eris broke in. “Before anything else. Although I am not unused to you avoiding me whenever we need to speak. This time I am going to have to request some time. LIC command is sending me a lot of questions about what happened on Ko.”


“I figured they would. Let me go through the meeting a bit first Eris. I have a feeling a lot of your questions are going to be answered anyways.”


“Understood Commander.”


Sighing I turned back to the others. “Benny.”


The boy nodded as he stood. “As many of you know, our performance on Ko looks great from the outside, but with an internal look it is very obvious we got lucky.” He waved his hand through the Holovid player in the middle of the table. There an image of a woman appeared. “This was our enemy on Ko. The Former General of the 22nd Dieron Regulars. Tatyana Sobiroff.”


The image swirl quietly as we all looked at her. The older woman was scowling into the camera wherever this picture was taken.


“We got this image from ComStar after the battle. For a Combine General she was surprisingly careful. Despite having us surrounded she never started mass wave tactics. This is probably why.” The image shifted showing a small detailed blurb about the woman.


Including her tendency to specialize in scouting.


“We went up against the very best enemy we could have. A regiment of light mechs led by someone used to seeing farther than their enemy.”


A few mutters from those gathered as I nodded along. We had of course learned this from our captured soldier during the battle. I was glad we did. It put into place a lot of how the woman acted.


“So because we kept cutting out her eyes she didn’t know what to do.” Benny continued. “A Commander that is so used to having their eyes on the enemy suddenly losing that must have been quite a shock. It gave us the time to prod her into the position we wanted.”


“Lucky us.” Lenden muttered. The boy was glaring angrily at the image. Despite everything Lenden had taken the loss of more of his boys pretty hard. He tried to hide it. Tried to pretend it was alright, with jokes and smiles, but his attitude would often turn bitter. I had seen how much more he had been training since we left Ko as well. He was more than dedicated now.


“Yes. If we faced a heavier regiment I believe even just a medium regiment would have increased our casualties by over ten times… A heavy regiment, likely more than thirty.”


“That’s a big jump.” Hanna uttered and Benny hesitated before nodding.


“It is. We are a bit over our heads when it comes up against elite pilots.” He flipped a switch on the Holovid, and new scene started playing.


I had watched it more than once since it happened. Vincents run in with an elite Panther pilot in the smoke had become something I had reviewed over and over again. Trying to learn something from the fight.


Because that pilot probably would have killed any of us one on one.


That fact shocked me. Sure bigger mechs meant stronger, but there came a point where if someone was just that much better than you it hardly mattered. Since you couldn’t hit them.


“This is the Battlerom from Vincent Alessa during the fight. Everyone is going to be reviewing this fight as part of their training.” Benny offered his own blue eyes locked on the fight with a frightening intensity. “Because unless some of us can handle someone at this level, we can’t truly say we can go to war.”


“Is that a concern?” Gauge asked, cutting in. “This was a rescue mission. We aren’t exactly going out and declaring war on the Combine.”


“We aren’t.” I answered. “But that doesn’t mean the Combine isn’t.” I wave my hand to Benny and he nodded.


“We have good reason to believe the Combine isn't done with us. We gave them a nasty bloody nose. They aren’t going to like that.”


“Fuck what they like. We beat them. Bad. They know better than to touch us now!” Hanna muttered but I put a hand on her shoulder and shook my head.


“Next time we won’t be facing a regiment that has never heard of us. It will be a regiment ready to fight us on every front. They will know what our tactics are, and what equipment we have. We won’t be able to artillery wipe them again.”


“Speaking of.” Eris broke in. “There are questions about the feasibility of what you did on Ko to the LIC. They are requesting numbers for your artillery effectiveness.”


Benny broke in before I could. “We spent about 12 million C-bills in Ammunition for the Long Toms during our assault.” He interrupted, laughing a little at the look of shock on the woman's face. “That’s just in the rounds fired. Not including repairs needed for our engagement. Considering that was all ammunition we didn’t purchase, because it’s a little difficult to do that right now. I believe the street value would depend on rarity on each world. That’s not something most commands would be willing to do. Plus… The Arrow IV missiles are in essence priceless as well. Considering we launched.. More than I want to admit to during the assault…”


Thankfully Benny didn’t reveal the actual numbers… We had fired more missiles than we could have reasonably loaded on the Colossus. Just one more instance of logistics fuckery I had made possible.


Eris winced at that reveal, although thankfully everyone in the know about how easy it is to get more kept their faces blank, or played along.


“Very well. With the cost of use, and the near complete destruction of any salvage. I doubt LIC will consider implementing your strategy.” She offered writing down something on a Noteputer.


“Yeah I doubt they could convince their generals to step away from Mech focused warfare anyways.” I answer. “Benny. Keep going.”


“Right. So we got really really lucky. Our people had an advantage in nearly every aspect but pilot skill, but it showed. We decided to allow the morale increase of the victory spread to all of the men, we the command staff need to be fully aware of how close that victory really was. Despite what the numbers currently tell us.”


“One mistake and they could have crushed us.” I add making sure the point stood. “Up until this point we have all, including me, let our equipment superiority carry us. That needs to stop now. We are going to be ramping up our training for mechwarriors. To try and increase our parity. We have a stellar reputation. We have had outsiders wanting to join us as mechwarriors in the past. Some of those that can be considered elites, are going to be invited to join us as trainers.”


“We already train Vicky. Hell we even have skilled mechwarriors to do the teaching. We don’t need more people.” Hanna argued.


“I don’t agree.” I tell her running a hand through my short hair. “Hanna you are one of the best mechwarriors we have. I would put you in competition against just about anyone. You're definitely a veteran at this point. I mean you spend more time in your cockpit than you do out of it, but you saw that Battlerom. If you were put up against that pilot. Could you win?”


Hanna’s normal arrogant swagger was nowhere to be seen as she hesitated. And in that revealed the truth.


“We can be better.” I tell the room calmly. “And we will. We need some of our best to become elites. So we need more training. Something only an elite can teach us. The tricks that the absolute best of the best use.”


“Okay so you hire some new mechwarriors. That’s gonna hit our morale hard.” Hanna brought up.


“I know, but I’ll take the extra pressure it will put on some of the kids for the chance to make sure next time we have to defend ourselves we will be ready.”


That went around the room for a minute and all I got in return were nods. I let out a breath of relief that it wasn’t a stupid plan.


Sometimes I had worries. Same as anyone.


“Sasha. How is the recovery of the injured going?” I finally ask, turning to the older woman to continue the discussion.


Blinking a little at being singled out she took a moment to start. “They are doing well. As you know. Most of the injuries were minor. A few broken bones and such. Those that… Were heavily injured mostly didn’t survive.”


I frowned at that. The fact we had lost tankers, and even a mechwarrior still hit me hard. I had thought… I had thought the plan had been perfect. But the enemy got a choice too and they had used it.


The Mechwarriors weren’t the only ones that needed more training.


“But not all.” I spurred on and she nodded.


“Correct. A few were heavily injured… Thanks to our medical equipment most of them will make a full recovery… With enough time. Your upgrade of the hospitals here on Zaniah was well timed Commander. They had enough time to learn how to use most of the lostech. We aren’t Canopus, or the NAIS, but our doctors have some of the best equipment in the Inner Sphere. Miller will get his eyesight back. Mostly.”


I exhaled slowly as I nodded, trying to keep that bitter rage in check. “Make sure he has everything he needs?”


“Of course, you leave the injured to me.” She ordered firmly, and I nodded in thanks. Glad the older woman had my back with that. Seeing my kids injured was… Rough.


I looked around the room. “Okay let’s go over some lighter topics. Benny how did our unit composition hold out, and any thoughts for improvement now that we are at a regimental size?”


“A few things need to be changed, and some Lances need to be diversified, there is a reason most modern Lances use a range of different weight classes. I do have some basic ideas, although I haven’t written up a major change yet.”


“Alright let’s hear what you have so far, I want everyone to jump in if they have something to offer as well.”
 
Chapter 16.2

Seras

Well-known member
Chapter 16.2 Shocked Awe

3026

Zaniah III

RedBase


I had known that going all out like that was going to change things. Especially in the Commonwealth, it was one thing to be a mercenary group, which many still viewed us as, that had helped stop a raid on a planet.


It was a whole other can of beans, when news from Ko spread across the Inner Sphere. Of course the Combine did everything in their power to quell the broadcasts, I had even heard that the 22nd Dieron had been ‘stood down’ instead of ‘annihilated to the last’ according to the Combine news agencies.


That didn’t really matter, because for the few days we controlled the planet, ComStar had no problem spreading the news of what happened. The ComStar News Bureau had picked up our actions on Ko without problem. The final Holovid of me holding the Governor Kagemuchi at sword point had become doubly famous once it had been revealed I was the “SLDF Standard Girl.”


I reminded myself to make a note to take a mercenary contract out on Haufenpfah. A few assassins should remind him of my irritation at what he had done.


But that led to the current situation. The ISDF were more than just the local heroes now. We came back after basically single handedly conquering a Combine world.


That just didn’t happen. The Combine were the single greatest military in the Inner Sphere, we walked up, squared up on them, and punched them in the mouth.


Then we walked away.


Eris had sent me basically a stack of requests from Generals in the LCAF requesting my regiment for raids, and assaults.


It was starting to become an issue.


What was worse was the fact I was now sitting across once more from Governess Alessa, who had requested a meeting with me not long after we had returned but I had put it off for as long as I could.


I really didn’t want to deal with her right now. It was exhausting dealing with politicians. They were always so schemey!


I sipped my garbage leaf water, barely hiding my grimace at the taste. Why couldn’t anyone drink a real drink, like a soda, or coffee. Even if space coffee was just a horrible tasting caffeine delivery system.


“Lady Alessa.”


“Commander Eisen-Blume. Thank you for keeping my son safe during the battle.” The Governess offered simply, without preamble. “He informed me that you made sure he had plenty of reinforcements to retreat, even if his showing was… lacking.”


“No, his showing was exactly what I hoped for. He popped a trap, and showed that despite all of our training there are men out there better than we could imagine. His BattleRom of his fight probably taught my people more than anything else during the assault.” I denied her immediately. “We owe Vincent a lot for taking that risk.”


The Governess blinked surprised at what I had just said, obviously she wasn’t expecting my words. Not really a surprise. Vincent had taken his one assault during the battle… roughly. He hadn’t liked ‘losing’ the fight.


I felt bad still for it, since I had sort of set him up into a difficult situation to see what would happen. Him popping that trap, and showing high level combat was valuable. Considering everything I had no issue supplying his four mechs with all the repair parts they needed after we lifted from Ko.


“That was not exactly how my son described it.”


I nodded at that. “Your son looks at the battle as a Mechwarrior, where every battle he goes into he should win that fight. I am looking at it as the Commander in charge of a large very serious battle. Vincent performed perfectly, no one died, he hit them exactly where we needed him to, and his efforts gave us valuable intel.”


The Governess nodded slowly as she sipped her tea. “Thank you.” She agreed. “I will have to pass on your words to him, I am sure he will appreciate them.”


I shrugged, I doubt Vincent would really care, he never really had any real respect for me in that way. He was kind of an asshole.


“Is that why you requested this meeting?”


The Governess blinked at me, as if I had just said something monumentally stupid.


Then she snorted. “I forget how indifferent you are to politics.” She shook another sip of her tea having seemingly relaxed in a way. “Yes Commander. I requested a meeting so I could commend you on your work and thank you for your service, as is customary to a returning raiding force. You did something that surprised the Commonwealth, of course I am pleased that you were successful. Even with our… Difficulties.”


This was my turn to blink. “Thanks then?”


She rolled her eyes at me. Which was weird, she was usually far more put together. “You are as difficult to deal with as ever. Victoria do yo-”


“If you have to, call me Vicky.” I interrupted. No way was I letting this woman use my full name. I already had to deal with Katrina.


“Vicky then, do you realize what you have done? How the Commonwealth reacts to such things?” The woman sighed “I don’t think you realize just how much your actions are in the news. It has been quiet recently, raids are down, things are slowing, and you just went and upended the Inner Sphere. There aren’t that many regiment sized commands in the Inner Sphere. You aren’t the Eridani Light Horse.”


“No. No I’m not.” I offered a little bitterly. I wanted to respect that group, and I did to an extent, but the remnants of the SLDF were no better than any other merc group at this point in time.


She noticed my bitterness with the EDF, but didn’t mention it, instead continuing. “And yet, a new Regiment just appeared, and then destroyed one of the Combines… You aren’t just some strange mercenary group on the outskirts of the Commonwealth anymore. I have been fielding questions about you from across the Commonwealth since the news broke.”


“Sorry for the trouble?”


Another snort. “I accept your apology, but that’s why I asked to meet with you. I am not a military woman, Vicky, so I decided to bring this directly to you. Here is the list of requests I have received, it would do you good to create a list of answers to many of them. That way when the questions come down, an answer you are pleased with is going out.”


“Err. Isn’t that weird? If they are asking you about me, shouldn’t you tell them what you think? I mean, it’s not like they are asking me directly, thank God.”


A noise escaped the Governess that, I realized only after a moment was a groan as she pressed her face into a hand. “What did I do to deserve this?” She whispered to herself before looking up and seemingly nodding to herself after a moment… I think she just remembered the whole poisoning orphans thing.


“Vicky, you are now a political actor. I invited you here, to ensure you realized what that meant, and ways to best protect your people and now use your status to your advantage… I am offering my experience to assist you in this. It’s obvious to me that you plainly don’t have the interest in politics, but politics now has an interest in you.”


I blinked. it struck me.


The Governess was basically offering to work with me.


Wow. The Ko raid really did change things.


“I would appreciate any advice.”


This time she smiled nodding. “Let me call in General Faulkner. His advice on handling the military politics will be invaluable to you, while I can help with the civilian side.” She offered, and I felt nothing but dread. I had just been trapped into learning, and dealing with politics, I was wrong, she was even more evil than I ever expected.


—-


I was totally unprepared for the sudden betrayal. As I entered back into the base, I was brutally attacked. Betrayed!


Both of my arms were captured and my feet dangled. I growled, I wasn’t exactly short, and there weren’t many people in the ISDF that were taller than me. “BETRAYAL!” I screamed as the two cackling boys walked me right down the hall in the opposite direction of where I was going. The other kids we passed all giggled or waved as I was walked past them. “Traitors! My wrath will be terrible! SO MANY LAPS!”


But they all simply accepted that as I was dragged into one of the break rooms. The room was pretty packed, and I was forcefully settled into a seat on the couch infront of a large Holovid.


“Hanna.”


“Vicky.”


We acknowledged each other, as my glare had no effect against the girl that was cleaning her nails with a knife as everyone settled in. “Popcorn?” Gauge asked offering the bucket to me, and I took the entire bucket from him with a glare. He just smiled at my wroth before the Holovid kicked on.


“Oh you have got to be kidding me.” I grumble. But all the kids were cheering as news report after news report played. All of them about the Ko Battle. I was forced to sit through a marathon of all the news reports in the Inner Sphere talking about our battle, some were pelted by Popcorn by the crowd, especially the Combine ones, but most of them earned cheers or cat calls when they described our actions.


“Is this really necessary?” I whisper to Hanna who snorted at me. Long finished cleaning her nails she was happily stealing my popcorn as we watched.


“Yeah, you need to relax. A movie night of sorts is just what you need. Plus look.” She pointed out and I could see Sandy, and a lot of her former crew were also packed onto other couches. “It’s good for them.”


I had to acknowledge that too. Their cheers were the loudest of anyone when it came to what we had done. The fact some of the news reports even had information about what had happened to them which is what led to the battle invigorated some of them.


What they had gone through was known, and many of the reporters spoke with sympathy. Of course the reporters didn't know everything that had happened. The debrief for all of them had been…


Well I had left early because otherwise my desire to name my next Colossus Shiroyama and take it to the Combine would have grown too much.


The Combine had been VERY interested in the ISDF. Very interested in where we had gotten the information the Commonwealth now had.


Eris had already sent the information to the LIC that the Combine were at least nominally aware that the Memory Core existed.


The cat wasn’t out of the bag, but with knowledge of it existing it wouldn’t be long now.


But the kids had done a good job keeping themselves alive. Many of them had revealed some information, and had cried into my shoulder while apologizing for doing so.


Again there was a reason I was forced to leave the rest of the debriefs to the others. Knowledge of the Memory core was nothing to my concern for my kids. And I made sure they all knew that.


So it was a good chance the raid on the Isaribi had been more than just an equipment raid.


My thoughts were pushed away when the Holovid showed a picture behind the reporter about that stupid movie.


My groan as I dumped my head into my popcorn to get away from it was completely drowned out by the shouting cheer of my kids.


While I hated that movie, it was basically necessary watching in the ISDF. I swear there was movie night at least once a week about it.


“You're all doing laps forever.” I grumble into the popcorn, but I don't think anyone even heard me. Instead they had already changed the Holovid. The Jingle for the Immortal Warrior already playing.


—-


The next few months felt a lot like idling. Just wasting time. But I also knew it was important, all of my kids had a sense of normalcy resume, before we got back to it. Although while they were laying around I was fielding angry messages, or requests from all across the Inner Sphere.


Katrina funnily was a bit of both. On one side, her message by HPG was very concerned, hoping that our mission was a success and that everyone was okay. She had even put me in touch with some military psychologists, that might help.


They had.


On the other hand. She gave me a very disapproving angry mom look after that and hammered into me. “I should have told her before I left.” yadda yadda. “Upsetting dangerous enemies.” Blah blah blah.


I think the only line that actually made me wince was the old “I’m not angry, just disappointed you didn’t trust me.” Although I still wasn’t sure if she was talking about my late message about our mission, or the Colossus.


Or something else. I am pretty sure I had at least a handful of other things that I haven’t told her about yet… Well that’s future Vicky’s problem.


On the other hand, the idea that had been forming ever since we saw that Panther pilot show off what it meant to be an elite mechwarrior was coming together. Hanna, Benny and I were putting it all together.


The outsiders had been hired. I had built up a new complex outside Redbase to house our guests, some might take it as a slight, but I made sure the building was very luxurious, as I had explained to the first Elite pilot that arrived. “I figured giving you your own privacy off a military base will suit you more.”


That and I didn’t want them wandering around my base.


But Hanna had done as I asked, gathering together some of the best pilots across the ISDF, and putting them into a single unit for this training.


“You are the elites of our mech forces.” I tell them standing on the foot of my Nightstar as the group including Hanna stood at attention before me. “You will be the elites that we use to stop enemy elite pilots from overrunning our forces. Considering circumstances, and history there is only one thing this program can be called. Gunslingers! Train hard!”


The roar of approval from the mechwarriors was what I wanted to hear. Restarting the SLDF Gunslinger program wasn’t really possible, the fact was the knowledge was basically lost, or at least it was lost to us. Venus the training world of the Gunslingers had been thoroughly destroyed by Amaris.


“The Gunslingers were once the SLDF’s answer to the Ronin of the DCMS. The ISDF too see the Gunslinger program to be the answer to the modern Samurai!” And it was. The best answer to an elite mechwarrior was another elite mechwarrior with a parity, or more advanced tech.


That was the goal here. To create the elites of the ISDF. Hanna standing tall in the front of the line of Mechwarriors hadn’t known what I intended to call this formation. From the sparkle in her eye it had been a good choice. “Now, Gunslingers! You have instructors, learn from them, put your arrogance away. The ones you are learning from are officially elite Mechwarriors. They will know things that we don’t. Learn them, master them. Become the Elite you were born to be.”


I saluted the group, and the return salute was full of support.


Hopefully they would keep that excitement, once the training actually started. I had talked to one of the elite pilots about what the plan was.


It was going to be harsh. Honestly I was tempted to name the program the N7 school instead. But well. Gunslinger had class.


—-


“Hello no. No with a side of fuck no!”


“Vicky. I’m not asking.” That shut me right up despite how much I hated it. Gauge had been squirrely since we got back. Now I found out why.


“Gauge. You can’t just leave!”


“I can. I am. It’s important to me Vicky.” He breathed out a long sigh. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. But this is important. I need… Well I have some things I need to find out, don’t worry, I won’t… Your secrets will always be safe with me.”


“Fuck secrets! I’m not worried about that! ComStar is… Far away..” I ended weakly, damnit, I couldn’t just say ComStar were dangerous. We hadn’t had the conversation about them frankly yet, and worse, I still didn’t have any actual evidence. Finding actual examples of ComStar Malfeasence, wasn’t as easy as you would think.


“I know.” he offered instead which brought my furiously racing mind to a stop.


“I know something about ComStar is… Wrong. I need to see how bad it is Vicky, I believe in ComStar, in what they should be, just like I believe in the ISDF. How can I stand aside and not try and do something. I’m going to Terra. Michaelson got me an offer to join ComStar. I’m sure they will try to interrogate me on you, but… Do you trust me?”


“Yes.”


“I need a sensor.”


“Okay.”


“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone or how much I will be able to send through the mail, but trust me.”


“You're my family. Of course I trust you. Idiot.”


“Thank you.” I groaned at his earnest tone as he pulled me into a hug. “This isn’t forever. I just have something I need to do. What can I say I learned about responsibility from the girl that decided to shoulder the future of the entire Inner Sphere.”


“Low blow.” I grumble but I pull away from him. “I would send an HPG with you if I thought I could fit one in your luggage.”


Gauge snorts at that. “I think Terra is a little far for that. But I appreciate the thought besides, our communications team has improved a lot. Our tests of the Mobile HPG were successful, if you ever need to send an HPG message, well. You have as many HPG’s as you need.”


“I know. I just always thought you would end up being my HPG guy.”


“I am… I’m just gonna be the HPG guy for the Inner Sphere too.”


“Pfft.” I couldn’t help but snort at his bad joke. “Seriously Gauge, I don’t like this, you will be completely out of reach and ComStar… Just... Don’t trust them.”


“I won’t.”


—--


So the Combine were going to be a problem. One in which I decided that I would be ready for. A fucking Haiku had been sent by the Coordinator. One he had personally penned.


I don’t read Japanese, and I certainly don’t know shit about poetry.


I did decide to keep it though. If I ever did a museum for the ISDF that would end up there. But it meant the Coordinator wasn’t willing to end our relationship as it stood.


So as always I decided I would take refuge in audacity. Thanks to our recent efforts recruitment had been… Extreme. The ISDF was growing, and I had already been forced to consider new ways to earn money in order to keep up, even with the Cooling suits now available for more civilian use, it still was barely keeping our income above our costs. I had taken to putting up some of the SLDF Neurohelms for sale. The price of those helped ensure we had plenty of funds in reserve for any emergency.


With how many people we had coming in, it was finally time for our next expansion, which is why I was gathering a lot of people into a Leopard.


The Leopard had originally been the same one Vincent had taken out to Ko, but well… I ‘rented’ it from the Governess. And then created my own. I would explain that the old one got blown up or something when I give her a new one as an apology, but that was for the future, because the thing was, no one really knew we had a Leopard.


I was going to use that.


“Vicky, I really don’t like this ‘idea’ the idea that you specifically won’t tell me about.” Benny grumbled. We were standing on the tarmac and once more Benny was trying to weasel an explanation about what the hell I was planning out of me.


“Sorry Benny, I know you want to know, but I need to keep this one close to my chest. Just trust that it’s a good idea, or if not that, trust that it’s probably a Vicky plan.”


He snorted at that. “I don’t think you are supposed to call your own plans Vicky plans, that’s our word.”


“Eh. If you can’t beat em.”


“But seriously Vicky. We kind of need you here. Disappearing into the black for… however long this is going to take.”


“I know. Trust me. I know. If it could be anyone else, I would not be going but you have access to everything including our stockpile, right now we are just in training mode anyways. Or at least that’s were I am leaving off. If you feel it’s time, you are in command.”


“Hopefully it won’t come to that before you are back.”


“Hopefully.”


“Jeeze, first Gauge and now you? What next do I have to worry about Hanna running off to Solaris?”


“I had thought about setting the Gunslingers program on Solaris so they could use the Mech fights as training.” I tell him with a wiggle of my eyebrows before he slugged my arm.

“Don’t joke around.”


“Sorry sorry. I’ll be in touch… The Communications unit has our HPG up and running, we have signal times, and things, as long as we aren’t too far out, we can always even have face to face communications. Just be careful.”


“I’ll keep it in mind. Fuck without Gauge here, I might actually have to train someone to be my 2IC, Hanna is too busy with Gunslinger right now.”


“Yeah, well I’m going with only a few officers, I’m gonna be the one in charge for everyone going with me too.”


“Vicky… You are always in charge. You moron.”


I gave him a wink, as he was unable to resist rolling his eyes. Looks like he was calm again. “Benny. I’ll be back. Take care of everything for me.”


“You know I will.”


—--


A different perspective

Eris Stingler


“What do you mean Vicky left!?” She wanted to scream. Her handlers were going to be furious, but the Archon was going to kill her!


“Yeah she left early this morning, sorry I can’t say anything else, can’t even tell you any more than that, whatever the Commander is up to, it’s like super sneaky Delta level shit.” Catherine was a nice girl, and one of the sources for Eris’s gossip and rumors among the ISDF.


She also had never refused to share information before.


“But you know more, do share.”


“Nope. Sorry Eris, don’t even try your spook stuff with me, like I said this is Delta shit, it got passed around to keep our mouths shut. So we keep our mouths shut. You will just have to find out where the Commander went when she gets back like the rest of us.”


Eris was honestly shocked, she hadn’t expected Catherine to actually realize she was being milked for information. “I don’t do ‘spook’ stuff with you Catherine, I simply enjoy your company.”


“And my lack of filter.” The girl says with a smirk, Huh Eris had to admit she hadn’t expected such awareness from the girl, but it was a good thing for the ISDF, just annoying for Eris. “C’mon don’t look so put out. No one knows where Vicky went, and she was sneaky when she left, I can tell you this, so at least you have something, cause you're a friend. Benny doesn’t know where Vicky is going.”


Eris blinked at that, her next stop would have been the Sub-Commanders office to try and weedle information, but finding out that even he didn’t know anything?


That was… Concerning. What was that Gremlin up to!?


Before Eris could say any more Catherine was already walking away. “Go on I know you want to hunt down what info you can. Chat with you later, You won’t believe what Donal has been up to!”


Eris sighed, she was sure she wouldn't believe what Donal was up to, and as much as she would enjoy hearing about it, Eris did have a job to do.


Keeping track of a gremlin shouldn’t be this hard!


Rushing through the base she noticed right away the difference. Without the Commander there was a change in the atmosphere, it wasn’t a lack of discipline or anything like that, but the change was noticeable. Walking into the Sub-Commanders office she only received a groan from the boy.


“I don’t know anything, she didn’t tell me anything, and I can’t tell you anything that I do know. Please don’t waste my next few hours interrogating me.”


Huffing in annoyance Eris took a seat across from him. “I have never done such a thing, why does everyone believe I am going to pull them into a closet and interrogate them!?”


“I don’t know probably something to do with being an LIC agent… And you did kind of kill your last target didn’t you?”


“He was a disgusting pirate, and it was for the good of the Commonwealth.” She replied flatly, seriously the last time they had fought pirates, and taken them prisoner she had actually had some of the others remind her not to murder them! What did these kids think of her!?


“Riiiiight. Well listen, Vicky left without actually telling me she was planning on leaving, and we lost Gauge, so I’m a little busy here.”


“You do remember that while I am a member of LIC, I am also a member of the ISDF, officially, and I do have experience in command, and handling paperwork?”


“Not a chance in hell, I am sure a lot of my paperwork already ends up across your desk, but I’ll be damned before I hand it to you on a silver platter. Gonna have to work for it spook.”


“Tch.” She clicked at him, irritated that it only seemed to make him more amused.


“But since you offered for extra duty Private Stingler-”


“Hauptmann!”


“Not in the ISDF your not.” He told her with a smirk, Vickys purposeful order not to give Eris a higher rank would have rankled if not for the fact it was literally only the title itself she didn’t receive she was being paid well, and she was treated as if she had a higher rank.


Apparently the kids thought it was hilarious.


“Thank you for that reminder.”


“Right, well if you aren’t busy we do have a group of people that I don’t trust constantly on base. Keep an eye on those elite pilots we hired. On top of the Corsairs, and the crew for the Dropships… And I’m sure we have some more people to keep an eye on.”


“Oh Sub-Commander, I already do all of that, and more.” She hissed at him. “Please ensure that the room is locked the next time you and Hanna decide to find each others tonsils? I would hate for video to be released to the Commander, I am sure she would treat it with the respect and privacy it deserves.”


She stands and leaves, a glimpse out of the corner of her eye showing a pale faced Sub-Commander as she closes his office door.


Make fun of her will he?
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
“I am… I’m just gonna be the HPG guy for the Inner Sphere too.”


“Pfft.” I couldn’t help but snort at his bad joke. “Seriously Gauge, I don’t like this, you will be completely out of reach and ComStar… Just... Don’t trust them.”


“I won’t.”
Ah @%&# Vicky. You forgot ComStar has access to stuff like the Neural Interrogation Computer and Chemical Interrogation methods. It doesn't matter how careful Gauge is, they're fully capable of simply extracting data right out of his head if they decide it's needed.
 

Brian-88

Well-known member
Ah @%&# Vicky. You forgot ComStar has access to stuff like the Neural Interrogation Computer and Chemical Interrogation methods. It doesn't matter how careful Gauge is, they're fully capable of simply extracting data right out of his head if they decide it's needed.
ROM is probably going to be watching him really close.

For the life of me I can't figure out where she is headed though. Maybe to break down some warships but it's far too early to try and crew them, so she isn't going to make more.
 

xachariahxx

Well-known member
If I were Vicky, the thing I'd want is space supremacy. This arc has been about building up defenses. That means either a warship or some drones. The warship template should be easier to get, but good luck manning them. She already has dropship manning shortages (exacerbated by the colossi), so warships would be even harder, especially since nobody in the IS has manned one in ages.

Drones seem like they'd be a lot harder to actually find, but once you've got them they're exactly what she needs. Just set up in space and spam out enough to make the planet impregnible. Inability to jump doesn't matter if you can generate them on location, so it serves as a general purpose solution for securing her libraries later and spreading the promise of the Star League. It also doesn't scare the great houses... offensively at least, since they'll still be shitting bricks that someone can pump out Caspars, but no worries the ISDF can come lay siege to planets.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
If I were Vicky, the thing I'd want is space supremacy. This arc has been about building up defenses. That means either a warship or some drones. The warship template should be easier to get, but good luck manning them. She already has dropship manning shortages (exacerbated by the colossi), so warships would be even harder, especially since nobody in the IS has manned one in ages.

Drones seem like they'd be a lot harder to actually find, but once you've got them they're exactly what she needs. Just set up in space and spam out enough to make the planet impregnible. Inability to jump doesn't matter if you can generate them on location, so it serves as a general purpose solution for securing her libraries later and spreading the promise of the Star League. It also doesn't scare the great houses... offensively at least, since they'll still be shitting bricks that someone can pump out Caspars, but no worries the ISDF can come lay siege to planets.
Seras has stated there will be no drones, as it would destroy any sense of danger. Otherwise, Vicky could just blitz to Camelot Command and get a drone controller and pile of working VoidSeeker blueprints, and make Zaniah impossible to invade even for the full Star League in a few weeks.
 

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