Chapter 6.1
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 6.1 Rise Ye Children of the Lost World.
3021
Zaniah III
Red Base
A different perspective.
Benjamin Rommel
Zaniah III
Outskirts
“It’s not really a surprise you understand.” Colonel Enders offered kindly as his men wiped up the last of the resistance. It wasn’t. This wasn’t the first time the Colonel had been kind enough to wargame with the Iron Blooded Orphans. It had actually started cautiously, the first time had been just a few weeks after Vicky had left. But now every weekend the Rangers and Orphans gather together, out in the desert to hold some competitions.
The Orphans had lost each time.
In the end, even as their mechs slowly started to make a comeback, the Orphans never earned a grand win.
“I know. But we are learning.”
“Oh yes, drastic improvement. Your Hunchback Pilot is getting dangerous.”
“Lenden has only had his mech for a few months, but he is dedicated. Whenever he isn’t working his Rough Squad, he is in the Sims, or taking his mech out to train.”
“Good work ethic matters a lot in my experience. A good teacher tends to make up the rest.” Once more Colonel Enders brought up the Iron Blooded Orphans' biggest issue.
“I know. Finding a Mech Warrior that can teach us, sounds easier than it is. We don’t have a free mech so dispossessed warriors aren’t interested. We aren’t really famous anywhere other than Zaniah, so we don’t have a reputation to go off. And even with our MRB Rating increased thanks to our battle we are still listed as too green for most to be willing to bother.”
“Sounds difficult.”
“Oh that’s not even all of it. The few that get through all of those issues? I tell them about Zaniah, and they hang up. No one wants to come here.”
Colonel Enders chuckled lightly, as he leaned back lightly in his chair The two of them were sitting in a command truck the 10th had brought with them to keep an eye on the fight. Benny thought it was nice but he secretly preferred the Sensor system Vicky had given him.
“You may have to up the incentives. If you increase the pay heavily, or maybe offer them a non-combat contract you will catch some interest.”
“I’ve done something like that… The offers I received weren’t comforting.” Thinking of the very obvious scum and pirates that had been willing to ‘accept’ his offer. Well Benny refused to even consider them.
He would never put his family at risk like that.
“Well keep trying. You have made vast improvements, but there is a lot more for you to learn.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Benny sighed as he watched the last squad get hit by the target guns of the enemy, signaling they were ‘dead’ “Well it was a good try.”
“It was. You took out more of my men than I expected… Your infantry are still a little too daring around mechs though. You really should get them out of the habit of believing they can take a mech on foot.”
“It’s hard. Unfortunately, with Rough Squads action during the raid, they inspired everyone. I’ll keep working on it.”
“Well Sub-Commander Rommel, until next week?”
“Until next week Colonel.”
Gathering everyone together back into the trucks or armored vehicles they brought out for these little wargames Benny was relieved that no one seemed disheartened after their continued loss. As he climbed into the cab of one of the Normans plenty of hoots and hollers surrounded him, teasing towards those who did badly, or who lost explosively. It was all in good fun.
“Well Benny, we heard back from the planetary defense office, they decided that our scouting is already plenty good enough, we don’t have any required patrols like they were hinting at. I guess they finally got the word from the Governess to leave us alone.” Hanna, who had swiftly become his second in Command now that Vicky and Gauge were playing Lostech Hunters, told him as they pulled out along the old worn roads.
“Good. Patrols wouldn’t have been anything but a waste of time. You did send out the locations of the scrap we found back to them right?”
“Of course… Are you sure we should tell them about it? I mean you said there were old mechs in some of that junk, shouldn’t we take it for ourselves?”
“I asked Vicky, the same thing before she left, apparently there isn’t enough of the wrecks to be worth trying to get them running again, but if we send it up to the Governess, maybe they appreciate the heads up, and maybe just maybe, they can spend a lot of time getting the wrecks fixed up so that we will have more backup on the next raid.”
“I guess… We still have a lot of repairs we are working on anyways. How is your Centurion doing?”
Benny sighed, “It’s got everything we need, but replacing the broken Fusion Engine is… taking some time. If Gauge was here, we might already have it up and running, but without him, the repair unit is having to figure things out a bit at a time.”
“We should hire an actual Mech Tech.”
“I don’t know. If we do that… Well, a lot of our secrets are given out to someone just here for a job. Our Centurions are too new on the insides to be anything but factory bought.”
“I guess Benny. Anyway, did you hear about what Trouble Squad got into yesterday?”
“Hear about it? I had to clean up their mess. Seriously, who gave those kids permission to paint the interior of the base? I know I didn’t!”
“I think it was more of a case of them hoping their initiative would get them rewarded.” Hanna offered with a laugh as she drove.
“Yeah well I could do with a little less of Trouble Squads ‘initiative’ honestly.”
“For every time they screw up, they do something good as well, you know it’s good for morale.”
“Good for morale maybe, terrible for my sleep.”
“You're just mad still about the karaoke competition. What was it, ninth place?”
“The judges were bribed!”
Hanna’s laugh made his own break out. Things had been… Going well. He had some issues pop up, but Vicky had been right, he could handle this. Even if everyone including him would breathe a sigh of relief when she finally got back.
The crackle of the radio cut in before they could say anything more.
“Benny! You need to get back to base! Commander and the Delta Ops just rolled up!”
Benny blinked for a second before gasping. “I’m on my way!”
Hanna didn’t need any prompting, she hit the gas.
—-
I am so tired. The trip back from Helm had been long, doubly so thanks to Zaniah’s jump point being so far out. We hadn’t sent any alerts, or heads up to let the Company know. I was more interested in stealth than anything else, so we did our best to head home without letting anyone know we were here.
But seriously, I was really starting to hate dropship travel. It kept making me sick!
Of course now that we were on base it was spreading quickly, but I was so done with today. I still felt queasy from the dropship landing, so I headed straight for my room, to fall into my bed. I groaned a little, the dropship had been going at a bit more than 1G to get to Zaniah a little faster. I was tired and sore.
This sucked.
I don’t know how long I managed to rest in my bed before my peace and quiet was interrupted. “Vicky!” Benny called out as he entered my room, which I simply groaned back at him, as I turned my face out of my pillow enough to see him approach
“Goway.” I grunt, wanting to turn over but Benny gently pulled me into a sitting position.
“Never.” He informed me cheerily before lifting me bodily out of my bed despite my protests and hauled me out of the room.
“Put me down Benny! I’m tired!”
“Nope. We need a report, even if I have to kidnap you.”
“Traitor! This is illegal!”
“I don’t remember seeing any such law on the books Commander.”
“I’ll write a new one! Traitor! Oh hey Hanna. How are you?” I ask as I am pulled into the room to see the rest of the Command Staff sitting around a table, Gauge and Carl included, both of whom still looked a little shell shocked from our find.
“Commander! You can’t just come back and keep us in the dark! Gauge and Carl refuse to tell us what happened!” Hanna hissed, poking me once Benny plopped me into a chair beside her.
“You are all traitors, and my wrath will be terrible, but since I’m not allowed to take a nap after my long, arduous trip into the wilds of the Free World League. Fine.” I pulled my noteputer out of my pocket. I hadn’t bothered to put it away when I got back. The thing could withstand being hit by a bomb though. Me sleeping with it in my pocket wouldn’t even bend it’s case.
“Here.” I pushed it into the middle of the desk watching as everyone looked around before leaning in.
“What is it?” Sergeant Kurtz asked as he looked over the list that was displayed on my Noteputer.
“The full list of everything we got from the Star League Castle Brian, Field Library Helm.”
Silence swept the room. Jittery hands reached out to the noteputer as they started scrolling. ID and ID of mechs, page after page of infantry equipment, things that the Inner Sphere didn’t even have anymore, or even knew had existed were slowly scrolled through.
“W-what do we do with all this?” Hanna finally broke the silence, or voice so soft to be almost unhearable.
“That stuff? Not much yet. The real prize is this.” I swept a few peoples hands away and scrolled all the way to the bottom
[Helm Memory Core.]
“That is the single most valuable item on the list if you can believe it. With it, we have the science available to restart… Everything.”
“My God.” Alfred Kurtz looked like he was going to have an aneurysm “Is this real? Can it be real?”
I bit my tongue, I was about to say something as a joke, but frankly, this was a serious moment for the older man. “Sergeant, I would not lie about something like this.” I gave him a soft smile and the man looked like he was gonna start crying.
Benny was chalk white as well, a hand over his mouth as the momentousness of what he just saw hit him.
The rest? Well everyone was shocked, or surprised. Although Gauge looked smug. He had been studying from the Memory core since we first discovered Helm after all. That was a long couple months.
“So, I was planning on taking a nap so I was more put together for this, but since this meeting is happening.” I grumble to the group as I rub my eyes lightly fighting back a yawn. I was still a little queasy but this was important enough I put that all to the side.
“Sorry Commander.” Benny whispered, although his face was still ashen as the realization of what we had found continued to make its way through his head.
I waved him off “We need to decide what we are going to do with this. I have some ideas, but I am also open to suggestions. This is big. Bigger than anything any of us have ever done. Or maybe will ever do again. So we need to take care with how this goes. But a warning first, for everyone. This doesn’t leave this room. If anyone finds out about this before we figure out what to do, before we spread this knowledge to the Inner Sphere, you can guarantee they will attack us to try and claim the knowledge for themselves. So please. Say nothing.”
“Y-yes. Of course Commander. I won’t. I wouldn’t… This is too important. Commander just for finding this… Let’s do this right, we may only have one chance otherwise this explodes in our faces.” Alfred offered the man rubbing his face for a moment as if waking from a dream.
“Okay. So Commander, what’s your plan?” Hanna asked, prompting me to continue.
“Good question. I’ve… been fighting with myself on what to do with it for a long time. It’s not an easy decision to make you know. Deciding the course of the entire Inner Sphere.”
That alone made everyone realize that indeed we were in a meeting doing just that.
“I think… Trust. I’m not going to let the fear of what happened in the past stop us from making a difference. I’m going to send a complete copy of the Memory Core to the Archon, and ones only carrying medical or terraforming information to the rest of the Inner Sphere eventually.”
“Wait, we can’t give that to the Snakes! Or the League! They will use it against us!” Benny denied instantly, even as some of the others around the table nodded.
“If it’s medical tech they probably can’t use it to harm us Benny, but…” Hanna slowed. “I don’t like it either Commander. We shouldn’t be helping them! They’re snakes, they will stab us in the back as soon as they can!”
There were nods around the room. Some of us in this room had lost parents to League raids, or even Draconis aggression. But I couldn’t let that stop us from doing what was right. That was the greatest problem of the InnerSphere, everyone wanted to win, they all ended up losing. Now how to convince a group of kids not to torch the Inner Sphere?
“On Stewart, Gauge and I ran across something pretty interesting.” I said slowly at first as I figured out how this should be said. “We were out shopping when we walked past an orphanage.”
I let that echo around the room for a minute. “I stopped and talked to them, you know. As soon as they heard my accent, they viewed me as an enemy, but we still talked. I gave them a few stories of what it was like being in a merc company. And they told me what it was like to be an orphan in the Free World League. You know what I learned?”
I stood up, just to give myself some room to pace. This had been rolling in my mind ever since that moment. “I learned that we aren’t any different. Not really. Us orphans, doesn’t matter where we are from, we all have the same wants and needs. If I was born in the League and I offered this same option to them they would say the same thing. Don’t give it to the Lyrans. They are the enemy. Don’t give it to the Capellans, they are the enemy.”
I stop. Looking around the room meeting the eyes of my friends, my allies. “I’m kinda sick of making enemies. I think it’s time we instead started making some friends. More than that though. I think it’s time that the Inner Sphere remembers what it means to be human. That sometimes we war with each other but sometimes? Sometimes we unite when it’s important enough we put aside all the old wounds.”
“What does that mean Vicky? What are you thinking?” Gauge asked quietly, everyone was quiet, as my voice had been rising as I spoke, as I grew more heated at how annoyed I felt at the stupidity of the Inner Sphere.
“I think that the Inner Sphere doesn’t need a StarLeague or some asshole ruling from Terra. What it needs… What the Inner Sphere really needs is a force made up of people from every corner of the Inner Sphere and beyond. People that said enough is enough. I think… I think I want to make a new SLDF.”
My words stirred plenty of reactions from across the table, but I was fully in a rant now. Not willing to stop.
“But this time, not controlled by assholes who want power, but instead an SLDF that is a sword pointed at the throats of anyone looking to send us back to the stone age. The Inner Sphere Defense Force… That’s what I am thinking. I think we get the Archon, and Prince Davion on board with the idea, the cost of giving them the Memory Core, and then… Then we grow. We keep growing. Taking in anyone that wants to be more than stuck in a rut…. No matter where they are from.”
I was pacing as the idea rolled off my tongue. “We can recruit orphans from every corner of the sphere, kids that were directly harmed by the constant wars. And instead of teaching them that the League are the enemies, or the Combine. We make them into a shield for all the people. We can take them in, supply them, train them, and send them out to put an end to the petty wars. We spread knowledge and civilization wherever we go, we can drop copies of the Memory Core on every planet we visit. That way no one can ever wipe out our knowledge again. There will always be another Memory Core ready to restart civilization… And we guard against anyone that tries to stomp it out! We can end the Succession wars, just with our decisions here. We can look into the face of the five great houses and say… No more.”
“Holy fuck Vicky… You're insane.” Hanna muttered out in shock. “You actually want to do that, to just… go to the great houses and say no more? Succession war over? You think that’ll work?”
“Not the endorsement I was looking for there Hanna.” I grumble, but she shakes her head before anyone else could interrupt.
“I’m not… No you don’t get it Vicky. I don’t mean I’m against it. Just… Fuck. Who the hell thinks, ‘let’s just change the Inner Sphere’? No one. It’s insane. You have to be insane to look at how the world really is and just… Just say it can be better. I don’t think anyone thinks they can do that anymore… It just doesn't work that way.”
“Totally batshit.” Carl agreed, looking at me like he had never seen me before.
I started pouting as Alfred Kurtz interrupted. “You are probably the most insane person I have ever met. And I once knew a General that wanted to fight a MechLance with infantry and bayonets.”
“Wow. Okay gang up on Vicky day huh?” I muttered darkly, before Benny rose up catching everyone's eyes.
“You are insane. But maybe we need that sort of crazy. We need someone insane enough to say no more… I’m with you. Let’s do it. Win or lose, we can all be written down in the history books as the absolute crazies that decide they were going to change the Inner Sphere. For the better.”
It was quiet in the room for a bit. As the idea percolated around.
“Well if Benny is in, I guess I’m with you, I can’t let your craziness rub off on him too much.” Hanna added.
“I like Crazy. Besides, I haven’t gotten my stealth suit yet, Commander.” Carl said with a grin.
“You still owe me a Castle Brian. So you can’t get rid of me.” Gauge offered with a casual smile. He probably more than any of the others was with me.
I turned to Alfred Kurtz who just looked around unable to comprehend what was happening, or being said. “I’m just a soldier… I don’t usually get involved in this sort of… Craziness. And it is crazy. I don’t think you kids realize just what it is you are saying you are wanting to do… But Commander, I’m a Lyran soldier, I fought and bled for my Archon. If you are willing to help the Commonwealth, I’m with you.”
I smiled at him, “Thank you Sergeant. I'm Lyran too. I don’t have any plans on doing anything that would damage the Commonwealth. If there is peace, we are the best traders. I could see us coming out on top regardless.”
“So… How do we start? You got a little off topic there Commander.” Hanna prodded.
“Right. Right. Actual steps. First step. We keep training. We will need military might to do anything. So before any other steps, before we reveal the Memory Core or start spreading it around. We build up first. Because once we move on the Memory Core, things will pick up fast.”
“Vicky! You can’t just… Not hand the Memory Core out! At least give it to ComStar!” Gauge urged but I shook my head.
“ComStar is still a multinational organization Gauge. It only takes one traitor inside to find out and spread the knowledge to get us all in trouble. So we go slow, but just for a year or two. We build up, train up.”
“I don’t… Vicky, if we give it to ComStar some of the Great houses find out, but ComStar can start spreading it, getting everything ready!”
“Or someone could steal it from them before they get a chance, and then maybe the Coordinator ends up with a copy before anyone else, before anyone can build up enough to stop him.” I shook my head. “It’s too big. Too important. Has to be us. Someone else might get it wrong.”
The quiet of the room stood out to me for a moment. Damn I was tired. “Gauge? You with me?”
Conflicted. I could understand why. He respected what ComStar purported to be. What they said they were.
“You need to be better Vicky. Better than everyone else. Better than ComStar. If you want to be the one that fixes the Inner Sphere… You have to be more.”
Sure just drop the future of trillions of people on my shoulders. “Gauge.” Our eyes met and I nodded. “Even if it kills me. I’ve already started down this path. To utopia or bust.”
He snorted a little at my joke which meant I won. That was how the game was played. “How long before you start passing the Memory Core around. Really?”
“A year? Maybe two. Definitely before 3025. We need time to ensure that we can defend the cores we put down, and I want to give it to the Archon first. So the Commonwealth has an advantage. But every planet. No matter who they are with.”
He nodded. “I’ll have a lot of studying to do then.”
“Good. Teach everyone as much as you can. It will help us out. Until then. I will be upgrading our holdings so that in case of emergency well… Let’s just say I copied all the defenses from the Castle Brian on Helm. Anyone that tries to poke us in the future is going to be in for a surprise.”
“Wait…Commander, are you saying you are going to build a Castle Brian… Here?!” Sergeant Kurtz asked, his mustache twitching in shock as I nodded. The quiet of Gauge and I’s conversation ending as everyone started talking.
“That’s right. Under our feet, our underground will connect right to it. I’ll start working on it soon, shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to finish up considering my build speed. While I’m doing that. We need to increase our training speed. How have our kids been doing in the Sims Benny?”
“Good. Really good, we have actually been having wargames with the 10th almost every weekend too. They have been a huge help. Colonel Enders had some of his veterans walk us through a bunch of different skills that anyone in the LCAF would know.”
“Good! I’ll work on getting us some actual training mechs for outside of the sims too. They didn’t exactly keep Chameleons in stock at Helm. But I can work around that the Lyran way, with Money.”
“Right. Damn Vicky. It’s good to have you back. You and your craziness.” Benny added as the room slipped into more casual conversations, sharing the stories of the adventures we had while apart.
—-
The next few days were… Tense. To say the least. The regular troops weren’t of course, I received a lot of happy welcome backs from my kids. But the Command Staff? They were freaking out, and I was trying to keep them calm. I rested for the first few days. Truthfully I was exhausted from the trip. So I slowly caught up on what I had missed. Learned about Bennys work on getting training from the 10th.
Although he hadn’t exactly been the most cordial to the Governess. I could understand why, but I needed her to at least be neutral about us. So that was on my list of things I would need to deal with.
But my first concern was setting up defenses. Taking the Centurion I had built before I left, I created a single new mech. One that I was planning on using as my new secret constructor bot for a good long while into the future.
Mostly because the Spector, the SPR-4F specifically mounted an ECM, Chameleon Light Polarization shield, and a Null Signature System. Which meant that the damn thing could turn invisible, was impossible to catch on radar, and gave off no heat signatures or anything a ‘modern’ battlemech would be able to catch. It was also nearly as fast as my Locust.
Then I upgraded it to a Spector-NFX. Replacing it’s Large Laser with the Medium Nanoforge. The Double heat sinks that kept it sinfully cool in the Zaniah heat were just the cherry on top.
A few nights after I arrived I took off into the desert in it, planning on building up more Metal Extractors. Because for what was going to come? I would need all the production I could get. The Spector was a whole new beast compared to any of the mechs I had piloted before. For one it had jump jets. Which I had no experience with, so I didn’t touch them. For another it ran an XL engine, so it was nearly as fast as my Locust while being a lot bigger.
I raced deep into the desert. Using the sensor to search out locations to put metal extractors. Soon enough. Over the next few weeks. More and more popped up into the desert. Coated in rock to appear just like the terrain around them.
—-
I still had other issues I had to concern myself with, Which is why I was currently sitting once more across from Governess Alessa, although this time I was cordial enough to sip the tea. Despite my hidden grimace at the taste.
“I am pleased you accepted my request for lunch Commander Eisen-Blume. Your Sub-Commander, Rommel, refused my requests while you were gone.”
“Sub-Commander Rommel isn’t much for politics Lady Alessa. Believe me it was best for everyone that he refused your requests. I apologize if he came off as rude at any point. I would prefer my company, and your government to keep a more cordial relationship.”
“Yes of course. I think nothing of it then. Was your trip successful? You were off planet for some time.”
“No. Unfortunately it wasn’t. I was attempting to pick up some more mechs and a few other things for my company, but unfortunately, the League was less than hospitable.”
“Hmm. To slip into Marik space instead of purchasing here in the Commonwealth, it’s an interesting choice.”
“Well buying new supplies wasn’t my only purpose, but it was only chasing rumors, Lady Alessa. Unfortunately nothing came of it.”
“A shame then I’m sure. Do you expect to go chase after rumors again, or will you be staying to defend your landhold now?”
I ignored the potential pointed comment. “No more rumor chasing for a while at least. Unless I hear about a dropship for sale somewhere, I’ll be staying on planet for the foreseeable future.”
“Hmm. Good. I can’t help you with that problem, but you could always reach out to the good General, he may know where one can purchase a used dropship.”
“Oh. That would be helpful. Thank you. I’ll have to do that.”
“Yes, but I am reaching out for another reason. Thankfully, my son's mechs are repaired. They need training of course. While Arthur has received training at Sanglamore, he unfortunately became dispossessed during his tenure in the armed forces. Vincent recieved a fine education but without a personal mech of his own, his own skills are lacking.”
“I don’t see how that involves me, Lady Alessa. You already know my company's biggest weakness is our own lack of experience and training.”
“Yes. But Vincent is going to be receiving a remedial education of sorts from Arthur. While doing so, having a Lance to practice with and against, will assist him greatly as you can’t truly be a Mechwarrior on your own.”
“Ah… I think I see.” It was… an interesting offer. I couldn’t deny that. But the real question was could I trust it?
“I can see your hesitation, I do understand it Commander, but I am going to insist. My son's future is paramount to me. After Arthur lost our family ShadowHawk, both of my sons only completed rear line duties. While Arthur did serve, his career was nothing impressive especially after becoming dispossessed, he will be the future governor of Zaniah, and with his record as it is, he will run into difficulties with my people. He needs to prove he has the martial aptitude to protect them.” She sipped her tea.
“You want him to be connected to our reputation. We already fended off the raid, and if the people hear that he is training us, it makes him seem more skilled. More capable.”
“Perceptive as always. Yes. Preferably during the next raid both of my sons will take part and once more send away any League aggression, it would go far in shoring up their shortcomings in the eyes of my people.”
I slowly nodded. That made plenty of sense. Which is why on the inside I didn’t trust it. But I also couldn’t just refuse out of hand.
It would help to have an actual mechwarrior who went through real training, especially at a school like Sanglamore, which is basically the number two mechwarrior academy in the Commonwealth. To have that person willing to offer us some training? “Alright. We will assist in your son's training, and in payment receive the same training from your eldest. If you want them to assist during a raid I of course wouldn’t refuse, but I will retain operational Command of my people. I do hope you understand that.”
“Of course. You are the Mercenary Commander after all.”
With that our lunch turned to more calm topics. I learned more about the nobility of Zaniah than I ever had any interest in, and in exchange, I offered a few anecdotes of what it was like commanding a mercenary company.
Never once did either of us relax. Always were we watching the other for the knife.
—-
With the less pleasant tasks of work and meeting important people done with, I could focus more on the base, and my kids.
“So you fixed her huh?”
“Y-yes Commander! It took a lot of work, but I managed to figure out what was wrong with the Fusion engine connectors and I got it to start up. Since I was the one who did it they… Everyone said it was mine?” Erica said, her questioning tone made me laugh.
“She is yours. Mechwarrior.” I told her, and like always seeing that bloom of pride in their chest made me happy.
I was going to give them all that damn look if it was the last thing I did. “T-thank you Commander! I won’t let you down, I’ll prove I’m worthy to pilot your Locust!”
“Well before you do any of that. What’s your name Mechwarrior?” I ask, just as I had all of the kids.
Her smile in return was blinding. “I’m going to be Erica Tesla! From this day until my last!”
I blinked a little. Hadn’t I heard something like that before? Then I remembered. Benny had said something similar… Were the kids starting a tradition? I ignored that, remembering vaguely what I had responded to then. “A name with a lot of history. Are you able to bear it?”
“I am!”
“Then Lieutenant Tesla. That’s not your name until you die. It’s yours until history forgets you!” I tell her poking her in the chest lightly.
I watched out of the corner of my eye, plenty of kids were watching in, all of them looking proud, like they were taking part in something. Erica looked like her birthday and Christmas had come at the same time.
“Thank you Commander.”
“Good. How is your training coming then?”
“T-training?”
I blinked at her question. “You're a mechwarrior. How much stick time have you gotten?”
“O-oh. Lot’s of Sim time!”
“Good. You will need more, so I’m giving you access to the Warrior pods. Just make sure you are ready for combat when it comes. We will need our scout after all.”
“C-Combat… wait.” She looked at me in horror as she realized what becoming a Mechwarrior actually meant. “B-but I don’t know how to fight!”
I put a hand on my shoulder giving her a gentle smile.
“Better figure it out.”
From the look of horror on her face I don’t think that answer helped.
—-
There was one more thing that I felt like it was finally time to get taken care of. I had finished enough of the Castle Brian that I felt secure enough to do this. Deep underground, in a room well inside the interior of the Castle, hidden behind the same secure door that I had found the Nighthawks in.
Was a massive private room. It did have a mech entrance as well simply for expedience. But that too was a security door. If someone didn’t know it was there. They wouldn’t be finding it.
Inside my Spector inside my secret room, I finally selected an option on my Noteputer I had purposefully ignored until now. And in a burst of green light a Factory. The first I had created slowly formed. This one was thankfully small.
After all, I was setting it up to produce SLDF Cooling suits. Of course I could have gone crazy and done double heatsinks, or Gauss Rifles, or any of the other amazing Lostech I now had.
But this was something that every mech warrior needed one of, was small, easy to transport and was incredibly expensive in price. No one else had access to them after all. So I built a factory and in it’s completion I watched as it activated for the first time. A metal shipping crate of Cooling suits. Each one perfectly formed slid off the factory's nanoforge in just a few seconds. The shipped container carrying something like twenty thousand of the suits folded and pressed.
Yeah that was fucking cool. I went on to construct a few other factories just to have them ready in case of emergency but they all stayed quiet. It wasn’t time yet for the full production of a Commander to hit the Inner Sphere.
But soon.
—--
A different Perspective
Baron Vincent Alessa,
Zaniah III
Outskirts
Vincent was getting tired of dealing with these children. “Just do as I say! If you follow my orders we can win!” He screamed into the radio as his Rifleman shifted, large lasers ready.
He would beat his older brother this time, and then he wouldn’t have to deal with these orphans ever again.
Then he turned a corner. The blue of PPC fire splashed across his vision.
*Mech Disabled*
“FUCK!” He screamed, the VR mode he was in, meant his mech turned off although kept upright to keep from any injury from happening.
“Sorry old timer. Looks like you lost again.” The voice buzzed into his line as a Centurion came out from behind him. The large laser shot out was simulated, but it still burned across Arthurs Awesome according to the computer, weakening the armor enough that the second and then Third Centurion coming up behind him pierced through, the computer identified the Awesome’s torso giving way from the damage, disabling two of his weapons.
“Alright I surrender. Another good fight!” Arthur commed to the group, before switching to a private channel, “Vincent, you charge in too fast, make sure you check your corners, if only one of my PPC hit instead of all three, you could have finished me off.”
“Fuck off! You aimed right for me. Shoot at one of the fucking brats once in a while!”
“I didn’t gun for you Vince, you keep charging in. Watch what they do next time. They aren’t veterans, but they have more battles under their belt than you do.”
“They are children! They never had a day of real training in their mechs in their lives. They should hand them over to real soldiers!”
“Don’t think they care about your opinion little brother. And keep that to yourself, Mother is doing her best to keep the peace. ComStar wasn’t happy.”
“Fuck ComStar too! They can focus on the HPG’s like they are meant to and stay out of our affairs!”
He hissed as his mech unlocked giving him full control again as the VR system reset.
“I should be in the Awesome, not you.” He hissed only after making sure his radio was not set to transmit. His elder brother was a fool. Completely incapable. He lost the family battlemech, nearly destroying any hope of Vincent earning the respect he deserved.
“Baron, we are resetting, let’s go.” That voice echoed over his coms and he scowled. Benjamin Rommel was on Vincent's last nerve. At least it was just him, and not their beloved ‘commander’ The girl was even younger. Barely a teenager, and she was incredibly bossy. If he had to hear her ‘advice’ one more time he was going to turn off VR mode and show her his Large laser.
“Don’t order me around Red 2. And Pick a damn callsign, you make me sound like a fool when I call out to you!”
“Red 2 IS my callsign. Over.”
“Brats!” He hissed, before taking a deep breath. He was in control now. Not his brother, not his mother, Him!
“Okay new pathway, Red 2 do as I say this time! I won’t have you mess up my plan again. Red 3 Same goes for you! I don’t care if Arthur tries his stupid ‘passive’ sensor mode again. We aren’t letting him sneak up on us this time!” He grumbled as they took their spots before the VR system confirmed that Arthur was ready.
Vincent would let Arthur ‘teach’ him for now, until it was obvious to anyone who the better mechwarrior is, then. Then he would claim the Awesome for himself, and the title of Governor. Arthur was too weak to be the Governor of Zaniah. Not with how he failed to ever fight back against the raids before now.
Of course neither had Vincent, but that's besides the point.
3021
Zaniah III
Red Base
A different perspective.
Benjamin Rommel
Zaniah III
Outskirts
“It’s not really a surprise you understand.” Colonel Enders offered kindly as his men wiped up the last of the resistance. It wasn’t. This wasn’t the first time the Colonel had been kind enough to wargame with the Iron Blooded Orphans. It had actually started cautiously, the first time had been just a few weeks after Vicky had left. But now every weekend the Rangers and Orphans gather together, out in the desert to hold some competitions.
The Orphans had lost each time.
In the end, even as their mechs slowly started to make a comeback, the Orphans never earned a grand win.
“I know. But we are learning.”
“Oh yes, drastic improvement. Your Hunchback Pilot is getting dangerous.”
“Lenden has only had his mech for a few months, but he is dedicated. Whenever he isn’t working his Rough Squad, he is in the Sims, or taking his mech out to train.”
“Good work ethic matters a lot in my experience. A good teacher tends to make up the rest.” Once more Colonel Enders brought up the Iron Blooded Orphans' biggest issue.
“I know. Finding a Mech Warrior that can teach us, sounds easier than it is. We don’t have a free mech so dispossessed warriors aren’t interested. We aren’t really famous anywhere other than Zaniah, so we don’t have a reputation to go off. And even with our MRB Rating increased thanks to our battle we are still listed as too green for most to be willing to bother.”
“Sounds difficult.”
“Oh that’s not even all of it. The few that get through all of those issues? I tell them about Zaniah, and they hang up. No one wants to come here.”
Colonel Enders chuckled lightly, as he leaned back lightly in his chair The two of them were sitting in a command truck the 10th had brought with them to keep an eye on the fight. Benny thought it was nice but he secretly preferred the Sensor system Vicky had given him.
“You may have to up the incentives. If you increase the pay heavily, or maybe offer them a non-combat contract you will catch some interest.”
“I’ve done something like that… The offers I received weren’t comforting.” Thinking of the very obvious scum and pirates that had been willing to ‘accept’ his offer. Well Benny refused to even consider them.
He would never put his family at risk like that.
“Well keep trying. You have made vast improvements, but there is a lot more for you to learn.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Benny sighed as he watched the last squad get hit by the target guns of the enemy, signaling they were ‘dead’ “Well it was a good try.”
“It was. You took out more of my men than I expected… Your infantry are still a little too daring around mechs though. You really should get them out of the habit of believing they can take a mech on foot.”
“It’s hard. Unfortunately, with Rough Squads action during the raid, they inspired everyone. I’ll keep working on it.”
“Well Sub-Commander Rommel, until next week?”
“Until next week Colonel.”
Gathering everyone together back into the trucks or armored vehicles they brought out for these little wargames Benny was relieved that no one seemed disheartened after their continued loss. As he climbed into the cab of one of the Normans plenty of hoots and hollers surrounded him, teasing towards those who did badly, or who lost explosively. It was all in good fun.
“Well Benny, we heard back from the planetary defense office, they decided that our scouting is already plenty good enough, we don’t have any required patrols like they were hinting at. I guess they finally got the word from the Governess to leave us alone.” Hanna, who had swiftly become his second in Command now that Vicky and Gauge were playing Lostech Hunters, told him as they pulled out along the old worn roads.
“Good. Patrols wouldn’t have been anything but a waste of time. You did send out the locations of the scrap we found back to them right?”
“Of course… Are you sure we should tell them about it? I mean you said there were old mechs in some of that junk, shouldn’t we take it for ourselves?”
“I asked Vicky, the same thing before she left, apparently there isn’t enough of the wrecks to be worth trying to get them running again, but if we send it up to the Governess, maybe they appreciate the heads up, and maybe just maybe, they can spend a lot of time getting the wrecks fixed up so that we will have more backup on the next raid.”
“I guess… We still have a lot of repairs we are working on anyways. How is your Centurion doing?”
Benny sighed, “It’s got everything we need, but replacing the broken Fusion Engine is… taking some time. If Gauge was here, we might already have it up and running, but without him, the repair unit is having to figure things out a bit at a time.”
“We should hire an actual Mech Tech.”
“I don’t know. If we do that… Well, a lot of our secrets are given out to someone just here for a job. Our Centurions are too new on the insides to be anything but factory bought.”
“I guess Benny. Anyway, did you hear about what Trouble Squad got into yesterday?”
“Hear about it? I had to clean up their mess. Seriously, who gave those kids permission to paint the interior of the base? I know I didn’t!”
“I think it was more of a case of them hoping their initiative would get them rewarded.” Hanna offered with a laugh as she drove.
“Yeah well I could do with a little less of Trouble Squads ‘initiative’ honestly.”
“For every time they screw up, they do something good as well, you know it’s good for morale.”
“Good for morale maybe, terrible for my sleep.”
“You're just mad still about the karaoke competition. What was it, ninth place?”
“The judges were bribed!”
Hanna’s laugh made his own break out. Things had been… Going well. He had some issues pop up, but Vicky had been right, he could handle this. Even if everyone including him would breathe a sigh of relief when she finally got back.
The crackle of the radio cut in before they could say anything more.
“Benny! You need to get back to base! Commander and the Delta Ops just rolled up!”
Benny blinked for a second before gasping. “I’m on my way!”
Hanna didn’t need any prompting, she hit the gas.
—-
I am so tired. The trip back from Helm had been long, doubly so thanks to Zaniah’s jump point being so far out. We hadn’t sent any alerts, or heads up to let the Company know. I was more interested in stealth than anything else, so we did our best to head home without letting anyone know we were here.
But seriously, I was really starting to hate dropship travel. It kept making me sick!
Of course now that we were on base it was spreading quickly, but I was so done with today. I still felt queasy from the dropship landing, so I headed straight for my room, to fall into my bed. I groaned a little, the dropship had been going at a bit more than 1G to get to Zaniah a little faster. I was tired and sore.
This sucked.
I don’t know how long I managed to rest in my bed before my peace and quiet was interrupted. “Vicky!” Benny called out as he entered my room, which I simply groaned back at him, as I turned my face out of my pillow enough to see him approach
“Goway.” I grunt, wanting to turn over but Benny gently pulled me into a sitting position.
“Never.” He informed me cheerily before lifting me bodily out of my bed despite my protests and hauled me out of the room.
“Put me down Benny! I’m tired!”
“Nope. We need a report, even if I have to kidnap you.”
“Traitor! This is illegal!”
“I don’t remember seeing any such law on the books Commander.”
“I’ll write a new one! Traitor! Oh hey Hanna. How are you?” I ask as I am pulled into the room to see the rest of the Command Staff sitting around a table, Gauge and Carl included, both of whom still looked a little shell shocked from our find.
“Commander! You can’t just come back and keep us in the dark! Gauge and Carl refuse to tell us what happened!” Hanna hissed, poking me once Benny plopped me into a chair beside her.
“You are all traitors, and my wrath will be terrible, but since I’m not allowed to take a nap after my long, arduous trip into the wilds of the Free World League. Fine.” I pulled my noteputer out of my pocket. I hadn’t bothered to put it away when I got back. The thing could withstand being hit by a bomb though. Me sleeping with it in my pocket wouldn’t even bend it’s case.
“Here.” I pushed it into the middle of the desk watching as everyone looked around before leaning in.
“What is it?” Sergeant Kurtz asked as he looked over the list that was displayed on my Noteputer.
“The full list of everything we got from the Star League Castle Brian, Field Library Helm.”
Silence swept the room. Jittery hands reached out to the noteputer as they started scrolling. ID and ID of mechs, page after page of infantry equipment, things that the Inner Sphere didn’t even have anymore, or even knew had existed were slowly scrolled through.
“W-what do we do with all this?” Hanna finally broke the silence, or voice so soft to be almost unhearable.
“That stuff? Not much yet. The real prize is this.” I swept a few peoples hands away and scrolled all the way to the bottom
[Helm Memory Core.]
“That is the single most valuable item on the list if you can believe it. With it, we have the science available to restart… Everything.”
“My God.” Alfred Kurtz looked like he was going to have an aneurysm “Is this real? Can it be real?”
I bit my tongue, I was about to say something as a joke, but frankly, this was a serious moment for the older man. “Sergeant, I would not lie about something like this.” I gave him a soft smile and the man looked like he was gonna start crying.
Benny was chalk white as well, a hand over his mouth as the momentousness of what he just saw hit him.
The rest? Well everyone was shocked, or surprised. Although Gauge looked smug. He had been studying from the Memory core since we first discovered Helm after all. That was a long couple months.
“So, I was planning on taking a nap so I was more put together for this, but since this meeting is happening.” I grumble to the group as I rub my eyes lightly fighting back a yawn. I was still a little queasy but this was important enough I put that all to the side.
“Sorry Commander.” Benny whispered, although his face was still ashen as the realization of what we had found continued to make its way through his head.
I waved him off “We need to decide what we are going to do with this. I have some ideas, but I am also open to suggestions. This is big. Bigger than anything any of us have ever done. Or maybe will ever do again. So we need to take care with how this goes. But a warning first, for everyone. This doesn’t leave this room. If anyone finds out about this before we figure out what to do, before we spread this knowledge to the Inner Sphere, you can guarantee they will attack us to try and claim the knowledge for themselves. So please. Say nothing.”
“Y-yes. Of course Commander. I won’t. I wouldn’t… This is too important. Commander just for finding this… Let’s do this right, we may only have one chance otherwise this explodes in our faces.” Alfred offered the man rubbing his face for a moment as if waking from a dream.
“Okay. So Commander, what’s your plan?” Hanna asked, prompting me to continue.
“Good question. I’ve… been fighting with myself on what to do with it for a long time. It’s not an easy decision to make you know. Deciding the course of the entire Inner Sphere.”
That alone made everyone realize that indeed we were in a meeting doing just that.
“I think… Trust. I’m not going to let the fear of what happened in the past stop us from making a difference. I’m going to send a complete copy of the Memory Core to the Archon, and ones only carrying medical or terraforming information to the rest of the Inner Sphere eventually.”
“Wait, we can’t give that to the Snakes! Or the League! They will use it against us!” Benny denied instantly, even as some of the others around the table nodded.
“If it’s medical tech they probably can’t use it to harm us Benny, but…” Hanna slowed. “I don’t like it either Commander. We shouldn’t be helping them! They’re snakes, they will stab us in the back as soon as they can!”
There were nods around the room. Some of us in this room had lost parents to League raids, or even Draconis aggression. But I couldn’t let that stop us from doing what was right. That was the greatest problem of the InnerSphere, everyone wanted to win, they all ended up losing. Now how to convince a group of kids not to torch the Inner Sphere?
“On Stewart, Gauge and I ran across something pretty interesting.” I said slowly at first as I figured out how this should be said. “We were out shopping when we walked past an orphanage.”
I let that echo around the room for a minute. “I stopped and talked to them, you know. As soon as they heard my accent, they viewed me as an enemy, but we still talked. I gave them a few stories of what it was like being in a merc company. And they told me what it was like to be an orphan in the Free World League. You know what I learned?”
I stood up, just to give myself some room to pace. This had been rolling in my mind ever since that moment. “I learned that we aren’t any different. Not really. Us orphans, doesn’t matter where we are from, we all have the same wants and needs. If I was born in the League and I offered this same option to them they would say the same thing. Don’t give it to the Lyrans. They are the enemy. Don’t give it to the Capellans, they are the enemy.”
I stop. Looking around the room meeting the eyes of my friends, my allies. “I’m kinda sick of making enemies. I think it’s time we instead started making some friends. More than that though. I think it’s time that the Inner Sphere remembers what it means to be human. That sometimes we war with each other but sometimes? Sometimes we unite when it’s important enough we put aside all the old wounds.”
“What does that mean Vicky? What are you thinking?” Gauge asked quietly, everyone was quiet, as my voice had been rising as I spoke, as I grew more heated at how annoyed I felt at the stupidity of the Inner Sphere.
“I think that the Inner Sphere doesn’t need a StarLeague or some asshole ruling from Terra. What it needs… What the Inner Sphere really needs is a force made up of people from every corner of the Inner Sphere and beyond. People that said enough is enough. I think… I think I want to make a new SLDF.”
My words stirred plenty of reactions from across the table, but I was fully in a rant now. Not willing to stop.
“But this time, not controlled by assholes who want power, but instead an SLDF that is a sword pointed at the throats of anyone looking to send us back to the stone age. The Inner Sphere Defense Force… That’s what I am thinking. I think we get the Archon, and Prince Davion on board with the idea, the cost of giving them the Memory Core, and then… Then we grow. We keep growing. Taking in anyone that wants to be more than stuck in a rut…. No matter where they are from.”
I was pacing as the idea rolled off my tongue. “We can recruit orphans from every corner of the sphere, kids that were directly harmed by the constant wars. And instead of teaching them that the League are the enemies, or the Combine. We make them into a shield for all the people. We can take them in, supply them, train them, and send them out to put an end to the petty wars. We spread knowledge and civilization wherever we go, we can drop copies of the Memory Core on every planet we visit. That way no one can ever wipe out our knowledge again. There will always be another Memory Core ready to restart civilization… And we guard against anyone that tries to stomp it out! We can end the Succession wars, just with our decisions here. We can look into the face of the five great houses and say… No more.”
“Holy fuck Vicky… You're insane.” Hanna muttered out in shock. “You actually want to do that, to just… go to the great houses and say no more? Succession war over? You think that’ll work?”
“Not the endorsement I was looking for there Hanna.” I grumble, but she shakes her head before anyone else could interrupt.
“I’m not… No you don’t get it Vicky. I don’t mean I’m against it. Just… Fuck. Who the hell thinks, ‘let’s just change the Inner Sphere’? No one. It’s insane. You have to be insane to look at how the world really is and just… Just say it can be better. I don’t think anyone thinks they can do that anymore… It just doesn't work that way.”
“Totally batshit.” Carl agreed, looking at me like he had never seen me before.
I started pouting as Alfred Kurtz interrupted. “You are probably the most insane person I have ever met. And I once knew a General that wanted to fight a MechLance with infantry and bayonets.”
“Wow. Okay gang up on Vicky day huh?” I muttered darkly, before Benny rose up catching everyone's eyes.
“You are insane. But maybe we need that sort of crazy. We need someone insane enough to say no more… I’m with you. Let’s do it. Win or lose, we can all be written down in the history books as the absolute crazies that decide they were going to change the Inner Sphere. For the better.”
It was quiet in the room for a bit. As the idea percolated around.
“Well if Benny is in, I guess I’m with you, I can’t let your craziness rub off on him too much.” Hanna added.
“I like Crazy. Besides, I haven’t gotten my stealth suit yet, Commander.” Carl said with a grin.
“You still owe me a Castle Brian. So you can’t get rid of me.” Gauge offered with a casual smile. He probably more than any of the others was with me.
I turned to Alfred Kurtz who just looked around unable to comprehend what was happening, or being said. “I’m just a soldier… I don’t usually get involved in this sort of… Craziness. And it is crazy. I don’t think you kids realize just what it is you are saying you are wanting to do… But Commander, I’m a Lyran soldier, I fought and bled for my Archon. If you are willing to help the Commonwealth, I’m with you.”
I smiled at him, “Thank you Sergeant. I'm Lyran too. I don’t have any plans on doing anything that would damage the Commonwealth. If there is peace, we are the best traders. I could see us coming out on top regardless.”
“So… How do we start? You got a little off topic there Commander.” Hanna prodded.
“Right. Right. Actual steps. First step. We keep training. We will need military might to do anything. So before any other steps, before we reveal the Memory Core or start spreading it around. We build up first. Because once we move on the Memory Core, things will pick up fast.”
“Vicky! You can’t just… Not hand the Memory Core out! At least give it to ComStar!” Gauge urged but I shook my head.
“ComStar is still a multinational organization Gauge. It only takes one traitor inside to find out and spread the knowledge to get us all in trouble. So we go slow, but just for a year or two. We build up, train up.”
“I don’t… Vicky, if we give it to ComStar some of the Great houses find out, but ComStar can start spreading it, getting everything ready!”
“Or someone could steal it from them before they get a chance, and then maybe the Coordinator ends up with a copy before anyone else, before anyone can build up enough to stop him.” I shook my head. “It’s too big. Too important. Has to be us. Someone else might get it wrong.”
The quiet of the room stood out to me for a moment. Damn I was tired. “Gauge? You with me?”
Conflicted. I could understand why. He respected what ComStar purported to be. What they said they were.
“You need to be better Vicky. Better than everyone else. Better than ComStar. If you want to be the one that fixes the Inner Sphere… You have to be more.”
Sure just drop the future of trillions of people on my shoulders. “Gauge.” Our eyes met and I nodded. “Even if it kills me. I’ve already started down this path. To utopia or bust.”
He snorted a little at my joke which meant I won. That was how the game was played. “How long before you start passing the Memory Core around. Really?”
“A year? Maybe two. Definitely before 3025. We need time to ensure that we can defend the cores we put down, and I want to give it to the Archon first. So the Commonwealth has an advantage. But every planet. No matter who they are with.”
He nodded. “I’ll have a lot of studying to do then.”
“Good. Teach everyone as much as you can. It will help us out. Until then. I will be upgrading our holdings so that in case of emergency well… Let’s just say I copied all the defenses from the Castle Brian on Helm. Anyone that tries to poke us in the future is going to be in for a surprise.”
“Wait…Commander, are you saying you are going to build a Castle Brian… Here?!” Sergeant Kurtz asked, his mustache twitching in shock as I nodded. The quiet of Gauge and I’s conversation ending as everyone started talking.
“That’s right. Under our feet, our underground will connect right to it. I’ll start working on it soon, shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to finish up considering my build speed. While I’m doing that. We need to increase our training speed. How have our kids been doing in the Sims Benny?”
“Good. Really good, we have actually been having wargames with the 10th almost every weekend too. They have been a huge help. Colonel Enders had some of his veterans walk us through a bunch of different skills that anyone in the LCAF would know.”
“Good! I’ll work on getting us some actual training mechs for outside of the sims too. They didn’t exactly keep Chameleons in stock at Helm. But I can work around that the Lyran way, with Money.”
“Right. Damn Vicky. It’s good to have you back. You and your craziness.” Benny added as the room slipped into more casual conversations, sharing the stories of the adventures we had while apart.
—-
The next few days were… Tense. To say the least. The regular troops weren’t of course, I received a lot of happy welcome backs from my kids. But the Command Staff? They were freaking out, and I was trying to keep them calm. I rested for the first few days. Truthfully I was exhausted from the trip. So I slowly caught up on what I had missed. Learned about Bennys work on getting training from the 10th.
Although he hadn’t exactly been the most cordial to the Governess. I could understand why, but I needed her to at least be neutral about us. So that was on my list of things I would need to deal with.
But my first concern was setting up defenses. Taking the Centurion I had built before I left, I created a single new mech. One that I was planning on using as my new secret constructor bot for a good long while into the future.
Mostly because the Spector, the SPR-4F specifically mounted an ECM, Chameleon Light Polarization shield, and a Null Signature System. Which meant that the damn thing could turn invisible, was impossible to catch on radar, and gave off no heat signatures or anything a ‘modern’ battlemech would be able to catch. It was also nearly as fast as my Locust.
Then I upgraded it to a Spector-NFX. Replacing it’s Large Laser with the Medium Nanoforge. The Double heat sinks that kept it sinfully cool in the Zaniah heat were just the cherry on top.
A few nights after I arrived I took off into the desert in it, planning on building up more Metal Extractors. Because for what was going to come? I would need all the production I could get. The Spector was a whole new beast compared to any of the mechs I had piloted before. For one it had jump jets. Which I had no experience with, so I didn’t touch them. For another it ran an XL engine, so it was nearly as fast as my Locust while being a lot bigger.
I raced deep into the desert. Using the sensor to search out locations to put metal extractors. Soon enough. Over the next few weeks. More and more popped up into the desert. Coated in rock to appear just like the terrain around them.
—-
I still had other issues I had to concern myself with, Which is why I was currently sitting once more across from Governess Alessa, although this time I was cordial enough to sip the tea. Despite my hidden grimace at the taste.
“I am pleased you accepted my request for lunch Commander Eisen-Blume. Your Sub-Commander, Rommel, refused my requests while you were gone.”
“Sub-Commander Rommel isn’t much for politics Lady Alessa. Believe me it was best for everyone that he refused your requests. I apologize if he came off as rude at any point. I would prefer my company, and your government to keep a more cordial relationship.”
“Yes of course. I think nothing of it then. Was your trip successful? You were off planet for some time.”
“No. Unfortunately it wasn’t. I was attempting to pick up some more mechs and a few other things for my company, but unfortunately, the League was less than hospitable.”
“Hmm. To slip into Marik space instead of purchasing here in the Commonwealth, it’s an interesting choice.”
“Well buying new supplies wasn’t my only purpose, but it was only chasing rumors, Lady Alessa. Unfortunately nothing came of it.”
“A shame then I’m sure. Do you expect to go chase after rumors again, or will you be staying to defend your landhold now?”
I ignored the potential pointed comment. “No more rumor chasing for a while at least. Unless I hear about a dropship for sale somewhere, I’ll be staying on planet for the foreseeable future.”
“Hmm. Good. I can’t help you with that problem, but you could always reach out to the good General, he may know where one can purchase a used dropship.”
“Oh. That would be helpful. Thank you. I’ll have to do that.”
“Yes, but I am reaching out for another reason. Thankfully, my son's mechs are repaired. They need training of course. While Arthur has received training at Sanglamore, he unfortunately became dispossessed during his tenure in the armed forces. Vincent recieved a fine education but without a personal mech of his own, his own skills are lacking.”
“I don’t see how that involves me, Lady Alessa. You already know my company's biggest weakness is our own lack of experience and training.”
“Yes. But Vincent is going to be receiving a remedial education of sorts from Arthur. While doing so, having a Lance to practice with and against, will assist him greatly as you can’t truly be a Mechwarrior on your own.”
“Ah… I think I see.” It was… an interesting offer. I couldn’t deny that. But the real question was could I trust it?
“I can see your hesitation, I do understand it Commander, but I am going to insist. My son's future is paramount to me. After Arthur lost our family ShadowHawk, both of my sons only completed rear line duties. While Arthur did serve, his career was nothing impressive especially after becoming dispossessed, he will be the future governor of Zaniah, and with his record as it is, he will run into difficulties with my people. He needs to prove he has the martial aptitude to protect them.” She sipped her tea.
“You want him to be connected to our reputation. We already fended off the raid, and if the people hear that he is training us, it makes him seem more skilled. More capable.”
“Perceptive as always. Yes. Preferably during the next raid both of my sons will take part and once more send away any League aggression, it would go far in shoring up their shortcomings in the eyes of my people.”
I slowly nodded. That made plenty of sense. Which is why on the inside I didn’t trust it. But I also couldn’t just refuse out of hand.
It would help to have an actual mechwarrior who went through real training, especially at a school like Sanglamore, which is basically the number two mechwarrior academy in the Commonwealth. To have that person willing to offer us some training? “Alright. We will assist in your son's training, and in payment receive the same training from your eldest. If you want them to assist during a raid I of course wouldn’t refuse, but I will retain operational Command of my people. I do hope you understand that.”
“Of course. You are the Mercenary Commander after all.”
With that our lunch turned to more calm topics. I learned more about the nobility of Zaniah than I ever had any interest in, and in exchange, I offered a few anecdotes of what it was like commanding a mercenary company.
Never once did either of us relax. Always were we watching the other for the knife.
—-
With the less pleasant tasks of work and meeting important people done with, I could focus more on the base, and my kids.
“So you fixed her huh?”
“Y-yes Commander! It took a lot of work, but I managed to figure out what was wrong with the Fusion engine connectors and I got it to start up. Since I was the one who did it they… Everyone said it was mine?” Erica said, her questioning tone made me laugh.
“She is yours. Mechwarrior.” I told her, and like always seeing that bloom of pride in their chest made me happy.
I was going to give them all that damn look if it was the last thing I did. “T-thank you Commander! I won’t let you down, I’ll prove I’m worthy to pilot your Locust!”
“Well before you do any of that. What’s your name Mechwarrior?” I ask, just as I had all of the kids.
Her smile in return was blinding. “I’m going to be Erica Tesla! From this day until my last!”
I blinked a little. Hadn’t I heard something like that before? Then I remembered. Benny had said something similar… Were the kids starting a tradition? I ignored that, remembering vaguely what I had responded to then. “A name with a lot of history. Are you able to bear it?”
“I am!”
“Then Lieutenant Tesla. That’s not your name until you die. It’s yours until history forgets you!” I tell her poking her in the chest lightly.
I watched out of the corner of my eye, plenty of kids were watching in, all of them looking proud, like they were taking part in something. Erica looked like her birthday and Christmas had come at the same time.
“Thank you Commander.”
“Good. How is your training coming then?”
“T-training?”
I blinked at her question. “You're a mechwarrior. How much stick time have you gotten?”
“O-oh. Lot’s of Sim time!”
“Good. You will need more, so I’m giving you access to the Warrior pods. Just make sure you are ready for combat when it comes. We will need our scout after all.”
“C-Combat… wait.” She looked at me in horror as she realized what becoming a Mechwarrior actually meant. “B-but I don’t know how to fight!”
I put a hand on my shoulder giving her a gentle smile.
“Better figure it out.”
From the look of horror on her face I don’t think that answer helped.
—-
There was one more thing that I felt like it was finally time to get taken care of. I had finished enough of the Castle Brian that I felt secure enough to do this. Deep underground, in a room well inside the interior of the Castle, hidden behind the same secure door that I had found the Nighthawks in.
Was a massive private room. It did have a mech entrance as well simply for expedience. But that too was a security door. If someone didn’t know it was there. They wouldn’t be finding it.
Inside my Spector inside my secret room, I finally selected an option on my Noteputer I had purposefully ignored until now. And in a burst of green light a Factory. The first I had created slowly formed. This one was thankfully small.
After all, I was setting it up to produce SLDF Cooling suits. Of course I could have gone crazy and done double heatsinks, or Gauss Rifles, or any of the other amazing Lostech I now had.
But this was something that every mech warrior needed one of, was small, easy to transport and was incredibly expensive in price. No one else had access to them after all. So I built a factory and in it’s completion I watched as it activated for the first time. A metal shipping crate of Cooling suits. Each one perfectly formed slid off the factory's nanoforge in just a few seconds. The shipped container carrying something like twenty thousand of the suits folded and pressed.
Yeah that was fucking cool. I went on to construct a few other factories just to have them ready in case of emergency but they all stayed quiet. It wasn’t time yet for the full production of a Commander to hit the Inner Sphere.
But soon.
—--
A different Perspective
Baron Vincent Alessa,
Zaniah III
Outskirts
Vincent was getting tired of dealing with these children. “Just do as I say! If you follow my orders we can win!” He screamed into the radio as his Rifleman shifted, large lasers ready.
He would beat his older brother this time, and then he wouldn’t have to deal with these orphans ever again.
Then he turned a corner. The blue of PPC fire splashed across his vision.
*Mech Disabled*
“FUCK!” He screamed, the VR mode he was in, meant his mech turned off although kept upright to keep from any injury from happening.
“Sorry old timer. Looks like you lost again.” The voice buzzed into his line as a Centurion came out from behind him. The large laser shot out was simulated, but it still burned across Arthurs Awesome according to the computer, weakening the armor enough that the second and then Third Centurion coming up behind him pierced through, the computer identified the Awesome’s torso giving way from the damage, disabling two of his weapons.
“Alright I surrender. Another good fight!” Arthur commed to the group, before switching to a private channel, “Vincent, you charge in too fast, make sure you check your corners, if only one of my PPC hit instead of all three, you could have finished me off.”
“Fuck off! You aimed right for me. Shoot at one of the fucking brats once in a while!”
“I didn’t gun for you Vince, you keep charging in. Watch what they do next time. They aren’t veterans, but they have more battles under their belt than you do.”
“They are children! They never had a day of real training in their mechs in their lives. They should hand them over to real soldiers!”
“Don’t think they care about your opinion little brother. And keep that to yourself, Mother is doing her best to keep the peace. ComStar wasn’t happy.”
“Fuck ComStar too! They can focus on the HPG’s like they are meant to and stay out of our affairs!”
He hissed as his mech unlocked giving him full control again as the VR system reset.
“I should be in the Awesome, not you.” He hissed only after making sure his radio was not set to transmit. His elder brother was a fool. Completely incapable. He lost the family battlemech, nearly destroying any hope of Vincent earning the respect he deserved.
“Baron, we are resetting, let’s go.” That voice echoed over his coms and he scowled. Benjamin Rommel was on Vincent's last nerve. At least it was just him, and not their beloved ‘commander’ The girl was even younger. Barely a teenager, and she was incredibly bossy. If he had to hear her ‘advice’ one more time he was going to turn off VR mode and show her his Large laser.
“Don’t order me around Red 2. And Pick a damn callsign, you make me sound like a fool when I call out to you!”
“Red 2 IS my callsign. Over.”
“Brats!” He hissed, before taking a deep breath. He was in control now. Not his brother, not his mother, Him!
“Okay new pathway, Red 2 do as I say this time! I won’t have you mess up my plan again. Red 3 Same goes for you! I don’t care if Arthur tries his stupid ‘passive’ sensor mode again. We aren’t letting him sneak up on us this time!” He grumbled as they took their spots before the VR system confirmed that Arthur was ready.
Vincent would let Arthur ‘teach’ him for now, until it was obvious to anyone who the better mechwarrior is, then. Then he would claim the Awesome for himself, and the title of Governor. Arthur was too weak to be the Governor of Zaniah. Not with how he failed to ever fight back against the raids before now.
Of course neither had Vincent, but that's besides the point.
