Let Us Unite: A Battletech AU

Prologue
    • MarkWarrior

    MarkWarrior

    Well-known member
    Prologue(Part 1)

    Date: December 27, 2766
    Location: Unity City, Terra Terran Hegemony

    She blinked at the screen in front of her, a heavy breath leaving her lungs as she fought for the letters to stop blurring together.

    Rolling her chair back a bit, she laid her head down on the handbuilt hardwood, closing her eyes as the cold surface soothed her weary spirit.

    "Damned fool," Hanni muttered as she lifted her head and stood up from the chair, stretching and groaning in relief she walked to the window, rubbing her eyes with one hand as the other unlatched the window. Everything inside of her was weary. Richard had fought her on everything regarding his safety for the last year, and she was so tired of arguing with that spoilt brat!

    But, a smile spread across her face as she gazed at the lights that shined from Unity City and looked out the open window, the crisp Pacific Northwest air refreshed her and she looked at what the different families, corporations, and buildings had put up for the various Christmas lights competitions. With images ranging from 'Mech-sized Christmas trees and nativity scenes to Santa Claus riding on a massive sleigh.

    But then the sun began to shine less as it dipped below the horizon, breaking up the view and Hanni exhaled as the slight bit of energy that she had felt left her again, and with a heavy sigh moved to sit down again, attempting to refocus on the letters on the screen before a device on her hip began vibrating in a rhythm she'd hoped to never encounter in her lifetime. The silent alarm for the palace had been sounded, and for a second, everything in her stopped. Terror gripped her as she jolted out of the chair and her body began moving before her mind had caught up. Her tan uniform was halfway on before her heart caught up to her body.

    Hanni clenched her fist and slammed it down on her desk, the pain centering her again before she pressed a button on the terminal, the silent alarm turning into a mind-numbing claxon as she finished dressing, pulling on the cooling suit and grabbing her neurohelmet before sprinting out of her office.

    The forces on standby were already leaving Fort Cameron, a full lance and a company of marines moving down the streets as fast as they could, in the APC and hovercraft they used a short lance of 'mechs running after them as a part of the QRF.

    "'Mech first", Hanni nodded to herself as she ran to the 'mech bay, the blood pumping through her body and the adrenaline spiking through her as she forced her body to scale the gantries in record time to reach the top of her Atlas. Slamming her fist into the hatch's panel she dove in as soon as the doors slid open and began hooking up the suit to the coolant lines that ran through the seat, flipping a few switches she plugged her neurohelmet in and began rushing through the startup procedures, bypassing a few safety checks in the process.

    "The techs can chew me out later," the gunslinger muttered as she finished the authorization and armed her weapons, shifting the gantry with her 'Mech's giant hand and stomping out of the bay.

    "Colonel Schmitt! I've got large troop numbers moving in from the north. Warbook confirms them as the 4th Amaris Dragoons! What are your orders?!"

    Hanni held her breath for a second as she closed her eyes and centered herself, a slow exhale expelling what was left of the fear and panic that had been there as she opened her eyes and eyed the tactical map.

    "Everyone who's mounted up link up with your lance leaders and head to your designated areas. Alpha Company, we're going to have to hold off the 4th Amaris Dragoons while the rest of us get ready!"

    Gripping the triggers, Schmitt slammed her feet down on her pedals, sending the Atlas moving as fast as it was able two lances joining her and falling into a loose formation, with the lighter units screening for the heavier ones.

    "Major MacIntosh, I want a status report as soon as you've breached the palace, we've got a dropship on standby," Hanni glanced at the tacmap. "Godspeed Major, we'll do our best to give 'em hell."

    "Yes, ma'am," the Major's heavily accented voice replied. "We'll get them out or die trying."

    "Damn straight!" Schmitt grinned at the violence in the man's Scottish voice. "This is Colonel Schmitt to all Star League Defense Forces in the area, requesting whatever support you can provide," but there was nothing, and she felt a pit grow in her stomach as the radio chatter stayed on the local communications channels. "Alright, Black Watch!" She steeled her voice. "It looks like we get to earn our big paychecks today. We're outnumbered, possibly outgunned, but we're the best that there is, and we're damn well going to prove that today."

    She looked at the map of the area and picked out a spot, nodding to herself as she made her decision.

    "Alpha, Beta, you're with me, everyone else, you're to stay in Unity City, spread out, and make sure that you cover any VIPs that might attempt to escape. I'm cutting off the Dragoons."

    But as the nine 'Mechs moved to the Gorst Flats, a group of ASF screeched overhead, the IFF confirming them as part of the Rim Worlds Republic forces that were present in the area.

    As Hanni took a step forward, she nearly lost her footing as the ground rolled underneath her, her gyro screeching as it compensated for the loss of balance, and a short EMP messed with her sensors before she twisted the sticks to look back at Fort Cameron.

    Where her men and women had been was nothing but a cloud of smoke, a pillar that climbed into the firmament and mushroomed up into the sky.

    "No," the entire column stopped in their tracks and stared at the flame and smoke that continued to rise, the dust cloud shifting and beginning to flow with the wind and blanket the area as the nine Black Watch Mechwarriors fought their internal battles and continued into the Gorst Flats.





    "Major, we're breaching now. Keep the exit clear for us," Sergeant McLeod grit his teeth in anger at having to break into his own damned security checkpoint, his stomach twisting as he held back the rage that seeped into his gut. "Move it, people!"

    A pair of aerospace fighters streaked overhead, a sonic boom shaking the ground as the colors of the 4th Amaris Dragoons flew overhead, a cluster of bombs dropping from their anchor points as anti-aircraft fire from a handful of stations plucked the fighters from the sky.

    But it was too late, the ground shook with an earthquake not felt in over a hundred years as everyone present stopped what they were working on for a brief second as a second sun appeared, blotting out everything else before a mushroom cloud erupted on the outskirts of Unity City, a massive crater appearing where Fort Cameron once stood.

    The shockwave reverberated through the city, some buildings falling entirely as they absorbed the beginning of the concussive blast as dust clouds began to rise and choke out what little light remained.

    One Marine collapsed to his knees as he watched the mushroom-shaped cloud continue, tears dripping down his face and blood down his hands as his nails dug into his hands.

    "Fort Cameron…" He cried. "It's gone."

    "Pull yourself together!" another noncom grabbed the downed marine by his collar and shook him. "We're still here, and unless we move right fucking now, neither us nor the Camerons will still be alive!"

    "Go!" McLeod triggered the explosives, blowing the roof hatch open as the first marines dove into the building.

    Then the nuke was forgotten as the Black Watch Marines entered their element, with each squad heading for their designated areas, one shifting to the throne room as McLeod and his group methodically headed for the living quarters of the Cameron Royal Family.

    Hearing sporadic gunfire as they walked over the dead bodies of guards decorated in Cameron livery, the Marines moved faster and finally reached their destination.

    Driving into the room, they left their dead behind, bodies littering the hallways as a squad terminated two men standing over the babies in the royal chambers, their mother lying in a puddle of blood on the floor.

    "Check Lady Elise," the Sergeant ordered the medic as he wrapped the babies in a reflective blanket. His squad surrounded him as he tucked the two little ones into an armored baby carrier. "Little ones are secured!"

    "Sarge," the medic shook her head. "Lady Elise, she's gone."

    "We can't afford to get bogged down here," McLeod tucked carrier away behind him; they would survive, no matter what he had to do to ensure it.

    "We're mobile," a different marine took point as they began to head back through the hallway, as a third brought two shaken young women along with them. They headed for the nearby entrance and a group of soldiers in RWR uniforms opened fire when they came into sight, sending the squads into cover as they shoved the Camerons into corners and behind cover before standing in front of the bullets and lasers, men and women placing themselves between danger and their charges.

    "We've got to push forward!" McLeod fired a burst into a Rim Worlds Soldier, the young man falling back with a shocked expression on his face. "They're not going to be able to wait on us forever!"

    With a grunt, a critically wounded marine tugged some grenades off of one of the medic's kit before shoving the medic back into cover and pulling the pins, ran into the guns blocking the hall, the panicked firing of the RWR punctuated by the explosives that vaporized him and cleared the path for the rest of them to escape.

    Everything fell silent as the echo from the grenades finished traveling, the Black Watch gathered the few walking wounded and left those who were too critical behind. McLeod choked back a sob as they left the palace complex with only two squads left out of their company. "Major," the Sergeant's voice broke before he cleared his throat and gathered himself again. "We are exiting the Palace with VIPs!" McLeod finally broke through the silence. " Requesting immediate escort and coverage! I repeat, we have VIPs!"

    "Copy that Sergeant!" Major MacIntosh alternated PPC fire as an RWR Rampage tried to close in. "I've got APCs on standby! Get them in and head for the spaceport! We'll make sure you get there in one piece!"

    McLeod and his men stuffed the Camerons into the armored vehicles and sped off, the rest of the Black Watch lance following behind and providing cover fire and an escort while the empty APCs spread out to act as a diversion.

    "Colonel," MacIntosh reported. "Moving to spaceport, objectives secured!"

    "Major, we'll play distraction as long as we can, get to the spaceport and get out of here."

    "I can divert once they're at the spaceport to support," the major shifted and allowed a spatter of RWR autocannon fire to land on a section of his arm. "You'll need all the help you can get."

    "That's a negative, Major," Colonel Schmitt's voice was firm. "They need security. That's on you right now."

    The APCs and 'Mechs reached the spaceport where a lone Colossus was surrounded by the husks of dead 'Mechs and vehicles.

    "Get them on board!" the captain of the dropship ordered. "We don't have much time!"

    The 'Mechs and vehicles sped onto the loading bay, the massive doors shutting behind them as the Marines moved the Camerons off of the vehicles and further into the armored core of the massive dropship.

    "Reagan SDS, this is the SLS Abyss, we have VIPs onboard, we are requesting covering fire while we evac!"

    "This is Reagan, we'll hold out as long as we can!"

    "See you in hell Reagan," the captain smiled.

    "Godspeed, Abyss, we'll regroup when we can."

    The massive fusion torches of the Colossus class dropship ignited and a few squadrons of aerospace fighters bearing the green drab of the SLDF regulars moved into an escort formation as the ship made a break for orbit.






    "And now, it's left to us," Hanni looked at the forces arrayed against her on the tacmap. "Let's give 'em hell."
     
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    • Prologue: Part II
    • Prologue Part II


    "Let's move it, people!" Colonel Armstrong Duket yelled from his Rampage, the Assault 'Mech hiding his nervous anticipation. "The longer we take, the more time the SLDF has to regroup and crush us."

    The line of Combat Vehicles and 'Mechs seemed to move a bit faster as Duket detached a company to move as forward scouts in the direction of Unity City.

    "I doubt any of the defenses are left able to fight but I want the way ahead cleared out," Duket told Captain Petrovich. "Anything that stands in your path must be dealt with swiftly."

    "Yes sir!" Petrovich saluted from his Phoenix, the ten 'Mechs, and a pair of VTOLs in his company accelerating ahead of the rest of the column.

    The Medium Weight company used jump jets to move over a crest, landing and continuing further into the valley, the mist and darkness punctuated by the flares of their jets.

    "It looks like the Colonel was right," Petrovich's XO laughed. "Amaris, that fat bastard has done it!"

    As they reached the middle of the valley, Petrovich's XO disappeared as the crackle of a PPC was heard, his Shadow Hawk's cockpit vanishing as an Atlas stepped out of the trees and clotheslined the Captain's Phoenix, sending him crashing to the ground as his gyro screeched around him.

    Gauss slugs, lasers, and the flash of missiles brightened the night as the VTOLs and 'Mechs disappeared under a hail of accurate fire, with very few shots missing as Petrovich shook his head to clear out the ringing and dizziness just in time to see a massive armored boot descend on his cockpit, the last sound that he heard was of bagpipes flowing through the open channels.






    Lieutenant Gonzalez ducked behind cover as a burst of fire traveled through where his head had just been, the Shark insignia of the RWR troops shining on the enemy's shoulder as he primed a grenade and threw it down the hall.

    "Move up!" Gonzalez ordered a few marines. "We're almost there!"

    Behind the six marines were the bodies of the fallen, the olive drab of the Black Watch Marine's armor and fatigues occasionally showing through the dark black and red of Amaris' Bodyguards.

    Gonzalez followed after the Marines, pausing as he heard a groan of pain from an enemy soldier, the young man struggling to put the internal organs that were falling out back into his body, the light pink blood from his lungs mixing with the dark red from further down as he gasped with no air left in his lungs.

    Stopping, Gonzalez paused to put the soldier out of his misery before shaking his head. "No," he stared at the dying man. "I don't think I'll give you mercy," He spat on the ground. "You certainly didn't give any of my brothers and sisters mercy."

    Stepping over the desperate soldier, Gonzalez joined his marines and pushed on, leaving the dead and wounded in their wake as they finally reached the throne room of the palace.

    "Bastard's going to be in here," Corporal Jones said as she attached a shaped charge to the side of the armored door, reaching into her pack for several more before running detcord out to the hallway. "I know we have earpro," she looked at the short squad. "But you might want to cover your ears anyway."

    Nodding, they covered their ears as Jones triggered the charges, the sound booming in the space and sending up concrete dust and splinters as the metal and wood of the doors splintered and fell to the ground and the Marines rushed into the room.

    Amaris had moved behind the massive throne of the First Lord as his bodyguard detail began filling the entrance with gunfire and lasers.

    The six Marines fought through the throne room, Jones dying first as her armor finally gave way, a laser rifle boiling away her flesh, and her squadmate falling beside her as gunfire ripped him apart.

    Gonzalez dragged a marine behind cover as he threw his last grenade at the throne in a desperate attempt to kill Amaris, his rifle shifting back into his shoulder. He watched a lone tracer round hit Amaris as he pulled the trigger, the rounds leaving his magazine as he saw blood flying from the wound while Amaris collapsed back behind the throne.

    That image, of Amaris being hit burned itself into his brain when a round crashed into Gonzalez's helmet, snapping his head back and exposing him to the last burst of gunfire.

    "Medic!" One of Amaris's bodyguards pulled him out from behind the throne, signaling for one of the few medics left alive to assist.

    Amaris did not speak as someone bandaged his leg. No, he was looking at something else that had captured his interest.

    Amaris stared at a pudgy hand covered in his own blood, a few drops falling on top of Richard Cameron's body as the rest began drying.

    Amaris watched the drops fall on the headless corpse before he finally returned to reality.

    "Comms!" He screeched. "I want comms right fucking now! Someone get me Colonel Duket."

    "Just wait a minute Lord Amaris," the medic cautioned. "I'm not done yet."


    A flash of light erupted through the room and another headless corpse fell on the steps of the throne room.


    "Anyone else want to ask me to wait?" Amaris seemed to calm down.

    "Comms," a soldier with a massive pack with an antenna peeking over his shoulder knelt.

    Amaris allowed the solder to tune to the correct frequency before accepting the device.

    "Colonel Duket, why are you not at the palace yet?!" Amaris yelled into the device.

    "Lord Amaris, we seem to have run into a problem," the Colonel's voice was staticky and muffled, some sort of sound filling the air and making it hard to hear his voice.

    " What problem?" Amaris asked, his voice raising as he began to tremble angrily at the consistent sound emitted from the Comms device.

    "The nukes didn't get all of them," Duket stated bluntly. "I've lost near a battalion already, and our infantry are about to-

    "What is that damned infernal noise?!" Amaris cut the Colonel off.

    "It's bagpipes," Duket sighed. "They've been broadcast on every frequency since we lost our first company. We haven't been able to terminate the origin of the transmission yet."

    "How long until you are able to reach Unity City?"

    "If we can manage to kill those blocking our path," Duket replied. "Then our advanced units should be able to be there in a few minutes."

    "Then continue and push through, dammit!" Amaris ordered. "And shut down those damned bagpipes!"





    "Scout Company, report!" Colonel Duket barked, only to be met by silence. "Captain Petrovich, status report!" Still, no one responded.

    "Gamma company," Duket finally turned to a mixed group of hovercraft and heavy 'Mechs. "Go see what happened to Petrovich, and bring some infantry support, they may be able to bring us information."

    A handful of hover APCs detached themselves from the infantry section to follow after the company, with the handful of artillery pieces that the Dragoons had brought with them beginning to set up for supporting fire.

    "Major Everett," the Colonel called out, causing the Archer to slow down a bit. "Report back as soon as you've made contact."

    The Major's Archer waved a hand and moved out at a rapid jog, barely keeping pace with the faster heavies that made up a part of his Company's forces.

    As the company pushed through the trees, the handful of J. Edgars moving ahead of the heavier mechs as a screening force heard something unusual coming from their comms systems.

    "The hell is that?" the driver asked.

    "Some sort of music, I think?" the comms and sensors operator replied. "Trying to isolate it now."

    Then a pair of large pulse laser shots melted the frontal armor into slag and punched through, savaging the fusion reactor and sending the hovercraft careening into a nearby tree.

    "Contact!" a lone surviving hovercraft broadcast on every frequency. "We have heavy enemy contact!"

    "Get out of there," Everett ordered. "We'll handle it from here."

    The sound of bagpipes filled every comms channel as the heavy 'Mechs pushed into the Gorst Flats proper, their sensors now lighting up and revealing the outlines of nine 'Mechs clad in the olive drab of the SLDF regulars before they vanished from sensors entirely.

    A Flashman stepped out of the trees and its trio of large lasers illuminated the darkness and scarred a Thunderbolt, the two heavy 'Mechs exchanging fire as the Flashman seemed to weave around the enemy fire, its Anti-Missile System taking out what missiles tried to strike at it.

    Then an Atlas appeared behind the Flashman as the heavy 'Mech seemed to vanish back into the trees, its LRMs hammering down on the Thud before it too, vanished into the trees.

    The Black Watch appeared and disappeared, using the trees as cover and only ever taking minimal armor damage as they killed everything that began entering the valley, the darkness of night, heavy tree cover, and advanced technology allowed them to shred everything that entered the valley.

    But even the greatest of heroes cannot stand forever, and one by one, they began to fall.

    Charles Southorn's Flashman was the first to fall to the onslaught of the 4th Dragoons, his extralight engine that had allowed him to accomplish his hit-and-run tactics being breached by a lucky shot, his 'Mech falling as he ejected and vanished into the darkness.

    Then Jewels Ferrel's Crockett fell, her Gauss rifle shredding an enemy VTOL as a trio of PPCs from differing 'Mechs critically damaged the heavy weapon, the capacitors exploding and sending the Assault 'Mech hurtling to the ground as the fusion engine as its gyro gave up with a mighty screech, her 'Mech doing one last service in crumpling onto an enemy combat vehicle and preventing it from targeting any of her brethren.

    Two more fell before Colonel Duket and Amaris finally had had enough, and giving the order, a squadron of aerospace fighters screamed through the air over the valley and dropped a tactical nuke down on where the remaining Black Watch Mechwarriors stood.

    Colonel Duket watched grimly as the cloud moved up and through the atmosphere, the 4th Dragoons waiting for the initial fallout to cease before pushing through the broken husks of the Black Watch and the 4th Dragoons' own forces.

    There, standing in the field was the skeletal structure of both a Highlander and a Thug, their fists raised in a one finger salute as if daring them to step past or die, the faint sound of bagpipes lingering even though it should have stopped after the explosion and fallout.

    The Dragoons made a wide berth around the two 'Mechs, not willing to test whatever spirit it was that had allowed them to survive a direct nuclear detonation. Besides, they had a job to do anyway, even if they were down more than a quarter of their overall force strength.

    To this day, anyone that visits the Gorst Flats swears that when you near the site of the Black Watch's last stand, that you can still hear bagpipes playing from the Highlander and Thug that remain as a monument to what they accomplished.
     
    • Let Us Unite: Prologue Part III
    • Let Us Unite: Prologue Part III


    The SLS Abyss reached orbit, its aerospace fighter escorts encompassing it on all sides as it headed for the dark side of the moon, a lone coded transmission being broadcast all the while.

    "Shh," McLeod rocked one of the Cameron twins back to sleep, a nearby nurse holding the other as they were looked over in the medbay with Richard's sisters. "You're okay now," he calmed young Ian Cameron, trying to get the nine-month-old to go back to sleep after all of the loud noise. "We'll be there soon enough."

    The room returned to silence aside from the whimpers of Elena and Elizabeth on their beds and the beeping of the machines monitoring the sister's vital signs.

    "Sergeant," Major MacIntosh walked into the room. "You and your men did damned fine work in there."

    "I just wish we'd been faster," McLeod looked sadly at the young face that he held in his arms. "Growing up without parents isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemy."

    "May I?" MacIntosh gestured for the babe.

    "Of course, Major," McLeod made to stand up and hand the baby over but Ian began wailing loudly. "Once he's asleep, that is."

    "Understandable," MacIntosh smiled before nodding at the other marines that were guarding the bay. "Sergeant, you're directly responsible for ensuring the survival of everyone in this room. I don't care what you have to do, you make sure they survive, even if it's at the expense of all of us," the Major looked into the Sergeant's eyes, looking for some sort of question or weakness before nodding. "We're expendable. They," MacIntosh looked around at the four surviving members of the Cameron family. "They're not."

    "Yes, sir," McLeod made to salute. "No harm will come to them while I'm still alive."

    The major nodded, turning to leave the room. "That's what I'm afraid of," he whispered. The bad news would be told later when they had the time to deal with the emotions.

    "Major MacIntosh, report to the bridge," the nearby intercom announced, causing the officer to detour and begin heading for the Abyss's bridge.

    "Captain Daksha," MacIntosh nodded as he stepped onto the bridge.

    "We're heading for the coordinates that you gave us," Daksha looked at the screen in front of him, an unlit cigar dangling from his lips. "I hope that the information you gave us is correct, because if it isn't…" he trailed off.

    "It will be," Ian replied. "They're going to be there waiting. And the SDS Reagan will provide cover as it's able to."

    "The Reagan is one Caspar," Daksha shook his head. "That's not a lot of cover."

    "Then let's hope that they're too busy dealing with the rest of the SLN to pay attention to one ship fleeing," Macintosh sighed. "It's not like we have much of a choice right now anyway."

    "Right," Daksha looked at the projected route. "ETA is a few hours, you better get some rest. We're not going to be able to push past 1g with the kids onboard."

    –
    –

    And so the SLS Abyss continued its journey to the dark side of the moon, eventually coming around and spotting something their salvation waiting, a Black Lion class Battlecruiser and a pair of Titan class dropships flying as escorts.

    "SLS Abyss, please submit confirmation and stay on the present course," the Abyss was hailed.

    "Understood, Tripitz, transmitting authorization codes now," MacIntosh moved to the communications console and began putting in a series of specialized codes.

    "Identity and cargo confirmed," the Tripitz responded. "Begin transitioning to docking positions now."

    "Transitioning now," the Abyss's maneuvering thrusters shifted the bearing of the giant dropship, the ASF escorts following suit. "I hope you've got space for some extra ASF, I've got quite the escort here."

    "We'll make room. We're not leaving any of you behind when we leave."

    The SDS Reagan then received a direct order from the Tripitz and shifted to follow the new directive, heading for the light side of the moon and engaging whatever tried to follow in their footsteps.

    The Abyss entered the docking clamp as the escorting fighter squadrons coordinated with the Titans and the Tripitz for their actions, the escorting dropships eventually docking as well before the Black Lion class Battlecruiser began accelerating on a path towards the outskirts of the system, the Reagan following as an escort at a safe distance.

    "Major MacIntosh, I'm Captain Maxwell, I hope you've got a bolthole for us to jump to because we're going to be surrounded otherwise, we've got way too many of those thrice-damned Republicans in the right place for them to screw us over. The Reagan was the only SDS system that responded to any instructions, and we're going to have to use it while it's available to us. And before Amaris's goons manage to hunt us down."

    "I've got coordinates, sir," MacIntosh replied "I'll give the access codes once we've reached the jump point. I don't want any loose lips or unsecured frequencies to give us away."

    "Before today I'd have said you were paranoid, even for a member of the Goddamned Black Watch. But now," Maxwell looked at the map of the solar system. "I think it's clear that we got too cocky."

    "The future of the Terran Hegemony lies with us," Ian looked the captain in the eye. "Let's make sure it doesn't die with us."

    "You heard the man," Maxwell called out to his bridge crew. "Get ready for some hard shifts ahead, we're going to be very busy people."





    "Fuck me," Hanni Schmitt swore as she cut herself free from her ejection seat, the full head ejection prototypes not quite working as planned, with the rockets having thrown her into the ground when she had ejected into the path of the Nuke, the explosion had flung her and several others further than expected.

    Hitting the roof, she curled into a ball and lay there for a moment, everything hurt, and she could feel where a rib was driving into her lungs.

    It hurt to breathe, and there were more than just a few ribs broken. No, her collarbone had snapped and she couldn't put weight on one of her legs.

    Then the small hatch shifted open on the head, revealing the frowning face of Mechwarrior Ferrel.

    "Come on Colonel," the other woman helped Hanni outside of the Atlas's head. "We're lucky that we managed to get these installed before this battle," Jewels tapped the side of the hatch. "Otherwise the fallout would have killed us. As it is," Jewels climbed back in and was gone for a few moments before returning with a second carbine and a small duffle bag. "We're going to have to take the antirad meds."

    "The others?" Hanni managed to bite out through her pain.

    "Southorn and I got a lock on most of y'all," Ferrel opened a bottle of pain medication before helping the Colonel swallow it down. "Once we link up we'll have to figure things out from there."

    "Amaris," Hanni said between swallows.

    "Alive but injured from what we can piece together," Ferrel slung everything before beginning to put together an emergency stretcher. "And, there is some good news."

    Schmitt just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

    "They think we're all dead," Jewels managed to smile. "So it's not quite all bad as of yet."

    "They threw a goddamned nuke at us," Hanni growled angrily.

    "Believe me," Jewels' smile vanished. "I'm eager to get some payback too, but the Abyss managed to take off."

    "Duty trumps revenge," Hanni exhaled shallowly as she winced in pain again.

    "Alright, let's get you onto this stretcher," the other Mechwarrior shifted the broken form of the Colonel onto the stretcher and began to drag it behind her. "We've got to regroup with the others."

    –
    –

    "Well, I'll be damned," Frank Yanez grinned as the two women came into the clearing where the rest had set up camp. "We all made it out!"

    "Not all of us," Suarez sighed. "Not all of us."

    "Right," Frank sobered up. "But still, we're alive!"

    "Celebrate later," McFadden barked. "Right now we need to shift into evasion. They don't know we're alive yet, but they'll soon find out that some of us still have families alive in the Hegemony and on Terra."

    "Hazen was visiting her brother, too," Bryn Capell replied as Charles Southorn helped tie a splint to his arm, a grunt of pain leaving as the other man secured it with a sharp movement of his arm. "And the Colonel's family is on Terra."

    "We're not going to leave any of them behind," McFadden glanced at the sleeping forms of Colonel Schmitt and Jefferson Hinks. "If we want to really get out of the area though, we're going to need a ride."

    "I'm pretty sure I saw someone's house over that way," Charles Southorn's soft voice spoke up. "Now, it might be damaged beyond repair, but I'll bet there's a vic there we can commandeer."

    "Sounds like it's our best bet," McFadden stood up with a wince as she put weight on her splinted leg. "We need to take another dose of antirads before we move, but then we've got to get clear. We all need medical treatment, and I'll need to get access to something with a bit more strength than our current comms devices. I can alert Hazen and any others through our fallback channels."

    The four whose legs were the most intact grabbed the twin stretchers and picked them up, carrying the two critically wounded in loops cut into their packs so the final two could provide escort.

    "Frank, you're on point, I'll cover the rear," McFadden ordered as she shouldered the laser carbine.








    Author's Note: So, I rolled dice(and talked with a friend who's fairly knowledgeable about CBRN). And we came to a stunning conclusion. Some of the Black Watch may have been able to survive the nuke dropped on them. So, I rolled it out. And in keeping with the fine tradition of the Black Watch, most of them seem a bit too angry to die.

    So, below are the rolls. I did it percentile based with it broken up into four parts. 1-25=dead, No survival at all. 25-50=critically injured. 50-75 is minor injuries, and last but not least. Anything above a 75 is basically just exhaustion.

    Now, based on high or low in those 4 areas, I determined the severity and general location of the injuries (or lack thereof.).

    Without further meandering, the results are as follows.

    1. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=28 Colonel Hanni Schmitt (Critically injured)
    2. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=53 Major Colleen McFadden (Survives, injured)
    3. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=51 Major Bryn Capell (Survives, injured)
    4. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=60 Lieutenant Jennifer Suarez (Survives, injured)
    5. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=77 Lieutenant Frank Yanez (Survives, no injuries/minor injuries)
    6. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=92 Jewels Ferrel (Survives, no injuries/minor injuries)
    7. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=62 Charles Southorn (Survives, injured)
    8. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=28 Jefferson Hinks (Critically Injured)
    9. (D100 Percentile roll for survival)=24 Nathan Carlson (dead)
     
    • Prologue: Part IV
    • Prologue: Part IV​

    Date: December 27, 2766, 1900 Pacific Standard Time
    Location: San Diego, Camp Pendleton Military Hospital

    “Come on people, you need to leave, now!” a man dressed in the clothes of a Rim Worlds Republic uniform yelled through his loudspeaker as groups of armed soldiers forcibly removed people at gunpoint.“We’re evacuating the hospital, please exit in an orderly fashion, you’ll be reunited with your loved ones soon enough.”

    Elizabeth frowned as she shuffled along with the crowd, her hand cautiously stretched to the small of her back where a small laser pistol was secured in a holster before moving back to her side.

    “You SLDF?” A man asked from behind her, his bearing and cut that of someone who was also on leave.

    “Aye,” Elizabeth nodded. “Was visiting my brother. What unit you in, stranger?”

    “Mechwarrior O’Bannon, I’m in the Seventh Royals, you?” the man replied.

    “One Ninety First,” Elizabeth shifted so they walked together instead of with her back to him. “We should probably make ourselves scarce, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

    “Yeah,” O’Bannon nodded. “Something fishy’s going on here.”

    “Let me know if you spot any other SLDF,” Hazen muttered loud enough for him to hear. “You’ve got a bit of a height advantage.”

    “Copy that,” the Mechwarrior began inspecting the crowd as they finally left the hospital behind. “I hope my mom’s alright, she’s laid up with some nasty bug in there, and I’m supposed to have leave until she’s taken care of.”

    The crowd then watched as the RWR soldiers left the hospital, their guns pointed at the crowd as a group of airbreathing jets streaked by, a cluster of bombs falling and exploding on the roof of the hospital, sending a cascading effect that rippled down through as the ancient structure began to collapse.

    All was silent as the last piece of rubble slowly fell to the ground. Everything slowed to Elizabeth as a hot and violent emotion went through her like she had been struck by lightning. Her nose flared as she inhaled harshly, her lungs filling with the dust and smoke of the ruined hospital while everything inside of her warred with the calm and logical soldier that she had been trained to be.

    Finally, after what seemed like hours in her mind, the emotions won, and she pulled out her Laser pistol and shifted to run at the RWR soldiers still grouped up around the ruins of the military hospital that had stood for hundreds of years.

    “Whoa!” O’Bannon pulled her into a bear hug and tucked the laser pistol into a jacket, shoving her into an alley as the dust began to obscure their location. “I ain’t letting someone go and commit suicide like that.”

    Elizabeth couldn’t respond, her mind was still white-hot with rage, and had long since mentally classified everyone around her as a potential enemy.

    “We’ll get them,” the man tried to calm the angry Black Watch officer down but she twisted and dislocated his shoulder, and moved behind him as he dropped her to the ground and with a reclaimed pistol in hand.

    But it was too late, the dust cloud from the falling concrete structure had blocked all of her vision, and she had no visual on where the enemy soldiers were.

    “Fucking bitch!” O’Bannon swore, his shoulder held with his opposite hand. “I just saved your damned life!”

    “Fuck you, my brother was in there,” Hazen finally reclaimed the language center of her brain.

    “So was my mother, and you don’t see me lashing out at you!” O’Bannon yelled angrily.

    “Quit bitching, it’s only dislocated,” Elizabeth wiped a few tears away, locking her emotions down as she grabbed the man’s shoulder and casually popped it back into place with a sickening ‘crunch’. “If you’ve got any other SLDF buddies in town, gather them up and have them meet at Jack’s Bar on 29th.”

    “Okay,” the Mechwarrior rubbed at his shoulder. “And where will you be?”

    “Me?” Elizabeth stared into the dust cloud. “I’ve got some business to attend to, I’ll meet you there at,” she checked her watch. “Midnight, three hours should be plenty of time for me to finish what I need to do.”

    “Alright,” O’Bannon sighed. “I’ll try, no promises though.”

    “If you don’t make it, then you’re already dead,” She shrugged. “They’re not going to leave anyone else alive to resist. You can count on that”




    A few hours previously… Outskirts of Unity City

    “We’re going to have to ditch the flatbed,” McFadden nodded at Jewels as she brought the vehicle to a stop. “They’ve got a checkpoint up ahead on the street according to the comms chatter I’m picking up.”

    “I’d say split up,” Capell said after a minute. “But I think that’d be a death sentence for most of us.”

    “Then it’s a good thing I had the safe houses maintained,” Colonel Schmitt smirked as a small bit of blood came up as she coughed. “If I remember right, there’s one a block away from here.”

    “Right,” Yanez snapped his fingers. “It was around the corner. Give me a second.

    Frank grabbed his Survival kit and dug through it, finally pulling out a faded paper map.

    “Now, this thing’s a bit dated, but it’s got the city streets on it, and that’s what we need the most of right now.”

    Those who weren’t too wounded stood around the map while Suarez stood guard.

    “Closest safehouse is here,” McFadden pointed at a spot on the map. “But it’s a hole in the wall.”

    “It’ll work though,” Capell replied. “And we need access to those medical supplies,” he jerked a thumb at the critically wounded patients. “That place should have a fully stocked medical suite. I can stabilize them and we can collect the rest of the kit that’s stocked there.”

    “Might be able to get comms out to anyone who wasn’t in Unity City too,” Yanez added. “But based on their search patterns,” Yanez indicated the RWR soldiers that were slowly clearing out the city. “That place’ll be inside their envelope within an hour. So we need to get there and make sure it still looks like no one’s home.”

    “Right,” McFadden nodded. “We’re leaving the flatbed here, I want it scrubbed clean before we leave.”

    “Already on it,” Charles began wiping down any of the surfaces that they’d touched. “Major, can you get the last seat?”

    “Yeah,” Capell grabbed another cloth and wiped down the front passenger seat.

    The group of survivors began to move in the marching order that they had decided upon earlier, sticking to the shadows of darkened alleyways and on the outskirts as they reached the back entrance of the now-defunct electronics store.

    “It always weirds me out that we leave everything on,” Suarez shivered as they entered the storefront. “The flickering tri-vids and other stuff just makes it feel haunted.”

    “That’s part of the rumors surrounding this place,” McFadden smiled. “The more that people think this place is just a ghost store, the less likely they are to dig too deeply into it.”

    “And the few that do dig into it are mostly teens who were dared to do a night in the “haunted store”. Capell replied. “The past Black Watch weren’t idiots.”

    McFadden finally reached the men’s bathroom and a horrid smell greeted them.

    “The fuck is that smell?” Jewels asked.

    “Part of our cover,” Capell walked in ahead of the other major, reaching a far wall and touching the handicap panel, a slight glow appearing where his fingers had been. “It only responds when one of the authorized users touches it. If someone who isn’t authorized touches it, then nothing happens. It’s as good a cover as you can get for something like this.”

    After the slight blue glow disappeared, the wall slid open, revealing a set of stairs that receded into the darkness.

    “Welcome, to Safehouse twenty-seven,” McFadden assisted with the wounded. “Don't get comfortable, we won’t be here for very long.”

    Author’s Note: This is the First draft of this chapter and I’m a little bit under the weather. Expect some revisions.
     
    • Prologue: Part V
    • Prologue: Part V


    "The Black Watch sends its regards"

    "Where was this found?" General Samuel Hill asked his staff. "Amaris swore that we'd gotten all of the bastards."

    "It was spray painted on the wall above the bodies of the senior officers of the local garrison," a staffer reported. "The bodies were already cold by the time we found them."

    "How'd they go?" Hill asked, looking at the pictures of dead RWR soldiers.

    "It isn't pretty," the Lieutenant replied. "Most died to the IED, but the rest," he shook his head. "Precise headshots and kill shots. If it weren't for them being our enemy I'd be impressed."

    "Be impressed later," Samuel sighed as he rubbed at his graying temples. "Start patrolling near where this happened. The person who did this will be long gone by now, but we might get lucky."

    "Do you really think it's a member of the Goddamn Black Watch?" a rookie nervously spoke up.

    "I hope not," General Hill stood up from where he had been seated. "For the civilian's sake if nothing else. And if it is a Black Watch survivor, then we're going to need some more people. We can't let them slip through our net or Amaris will have our heads."

    "Right," Colonel Sanchez nodded as he finally finished reading the report. "We're going to want counter-espionage units on this. Which means we're going to have to reach out to another regiment that specializes in it."

    "Agreed," Hill tried to rid himself of the headache. "May God have mercy on our souls, Colonel. Because if we bring in counter-espionage, the SLDF won't."






    "This is all you could find?" Elizabeth asked O'Bannon.

    "Rest weren't willing to do anything. Or were part of the militia," the Mechwarrior shrugged. "What'd you want me to do? Try and force them?"

    "No," Hazen shook her head before looking at the ten or so people who were there, and then with a nod at the bartender, the music and all noise shut off. "I'm Major Elizabeth Hazen of the One Hundred and Ninety First Battlemech Division. A Mechwarrior assigned to the Royal Black Watch Regiment. If you saw the news recently, then you now know that the rumors of our deaths are greatly exaggerated. And that we managed to nearly kill that Fat Bastard Amaris even as he assassinated the First Lord in his own throne room."

    Hazen met the eyes of every single one of the soldiers, holding their gaze for a moment before glancing at the bartender and nodding.

    Jack turned and pulled a picture frame off of the wall, revealing a keypad and a handprint scanner that he placed his hand against before typing in a rapid series of numbers. The wood paneling behind his bar slid open to reveal a stairwell that led down into the bowels of the earth.

    "It's open," the retired Black Watch member nodded at Elizabeth. "I'll close it down up here and follow you."

    She led the ten soldiers down the stairs, the lights showing the way down to what had been created as a safehouse a century or so before, with constant maintenance and upgrades keeping the place modernized.

    "Safe House 427," Elizabeth glanced behind her. "The Black Watch has quite a few of these scattered around the Terran Hegemony in case of emergency."

    "Nice," O'Bannon walked over to a set of panels. "I take it you can get in touch with other safehouses from here?"

    "Aye," the Major took a seat and began typing in access codes, a flickering light shining in the corner of her vision. "We use encrypted frequencies on bands that are hard to pick up. But we don't want to transmit too much or we'll be found out. That being said," Elizabeth cracked her neck. "It seems that someone is trying to get in touch with us."

    "This is Bravo Whiskey Actual to any Bravo Whiskey survivors, please respond."

    "This is Bravo Whiskey Four-Two, I read you, five-by-five" Elizabeth leaned in, a smirk on her face. "I have ten assorted Freemen(1) with me and am awaiting further orders."

    "We have surviving Charlies, orders are to rendezvous at Rally Point Gamma," A female voice responded. "The Freemen have the choice to stay and resist or come with us. But our duty is clear."

    "Copy that Bravo Whiskey Actual, I'll be at rally point Gamma in two days."

    The transmission cut out and Elizabeth bolted up and began swapping on lights, opening the doors labeled Armory and Garage as she did so.

    "O'Bannon," she called out as she tossed several duffle bags to the floor. "You're on weapons detail. "Jack," she called out to the older man who had just finished coming down the stairs. "Start grabbing the cash. We're bugging out."

    "And the rest of us?" a shorter woman asked.

    "Tanker?" Hazen asked.

    "Yeah," the other woman crossed her arms. "What of it?"

    "That means you get to help Jack pick which vics we're bringing," Elizabeth sent her towards the garage. "The rest of you, start stripping anything we might need from here. We're on a tight schedule. They'll have Pendleton locked down in a couple of hours, we need to be out of sight and mind before they do that."

    "And why will it be locked down?" O'Bannon tucked a pistol into his waistband.

    "Because of my hunting trip earlier," the Major shrugged. "I sent the Rim Worlds Republic and the Fat Bastard a message. I'm hoping that it makes it all the way to the top."

    "And what message was that?'

    "That even if you think you've killed something, that doesn't mean that it didn't leave ghosts behind."






    "How are they?" Capell asked,

    "Ribs have been removed from her lungs, I've got her bones set, and I've given her the meds she'll need," Lieutenant Frank Yanez sighed as he removed a set of bloodied gloves. "It was pretty touch and go with the Colonel and Hinks. But they're past the worst of it."

    "McFadden managed to establish contact with a few members that were outside of Unity City before Amaris launched his attack," Capell glanced at the sleeping members of the short company. "We're going to meet up with them at Gamma and figure things out from there."

    "Gamma's in San Francisco," Yanez scratched at some stubble that had begun creeping along his face. "It's going to be the third hottest search point on this continent for us."

    "It won't be for long," McFadden entered the room. "We've got a plan, but we're going to need the Colonel's authorization to finish it. She's the only one with the credentials to get us into the base we need."

    "Right,' Capell sat down on a nearby cot. "We should get some rest then, we'll have to head out pretty early if we want to reach Gamma in any sort of reasonable time frame."

    "My thoughts as well," the other Major moved to the shower. "I'll take second watch if you want."

    "No," Jewels Ferrel sat out of her cot. "I'm the least hurt here, I'll take watch while y'all rest up. I can sleep in the car if I need to."

    "Sounds good," Capell yawned and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep as the lights were dimmed.

    "Try to get some rest, Major," Jewels called into the shower. "The last thing we need is for exhaustion to get us killed."

    "If a Nuke couldn't do it," McFadden snarked. "Then I'm not sure a lack of sleep can do it. I'll sleep when I'm dead, Mechwarrior."

    The Scottish woman stepped out of the shower, toweling off her close-cropped strawberry-blond hair as she slipped on a pair of gym shorts and a tank top. "But thanks," her eyes softened. "I'm going to get some sleep right now. Lord knows we all need it right now."

    —
    —

    "Time to get moving," Jewels shook Major McFadden awake. "Frank and I loaded the vehicles, so if we're going to leave, then we should head out soon."

    "How're Schmitt and Hinks?" The major yawned.

    "Alive and on the mend, but they're not going to miraculously make a full recovery," Yáñez chimed in. "The rest of us should be good by the end of the week, maybe next week at full capability. But the Colonel will be down and out for a while."

    "I need her lucid enough to get us into MINSY," McFadden sighed. "I need her credentials to get us into the base beneath."

    "I'll be able to wake her up when we get there," the medic confirmed. "But after that, she'll need a full med suite and a doc that's got more than I do."

    "You've done well with what you've had," Capell walked in. "You're a trained battlefield medic, not a licensed surgeon. Now, let's get them into the vehicles, we need to get moving, I expect the trip will take longer even if the roads are clear."

    Mechwarrior Yáñez and Capell began moving the two critically injured into a comfortable-looking vacation van, wood paneling, carpet, and a bed, while Suarez and Southorn began throwing go bags into the back.

    "We go with ICE or Fusion?"

    "Fusión in both! We've got speed and durability. This puppy'll take an SRM four-pack and still be able to move!"

    "And anything after that?" Yáñez raised an eyebrow.

    "Whelp, that's what you've got the speed for," Charles smiled sheepishly. "If we run into any 'Mechs we're fucked."

    "So let's not run into anything," Capell slid into the driver's seat of one car. "There's a lot of people leaving Unity City right now. We'll blend in and head out. Yáñez!" He barked. "You're in the van, keep our wounded stable. Jewels, you're with me and Southorn. We're on weapons and security detail."

    "And I've got the cash," McFadden appeared with two duffle bags. "One per vehicle, a bribe will go a long way if we need to leave in a hurry. And given the fat bastard's tendency for executing messengers…"

    "Anyone who accepts a bribe will try to keep quiet about it," Capell agreed. "Suarez, get in the back of the van, Yáñez'll be occupied and they'll need a shooter."

    "Copy that," Suarez grabbed a rifle, slid open the back door of the van, and climbed in. "Ready to roll whenever you are."

    "Alright, let's get mobile," Capell hit a button in the sedan, opening the underground garage door. "Destination, MINSY."



    Author's Note: I had this written earlier this week. I figure Christmas Eve makes a decent Christmas present for y'all. 😝 have a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, all!
     
    • Prologue: Part VI
    • Prologue: Part VI​


    "Spicer, you intact enough to jump?" Captain Daksha asked the Mckenna class Battleship that was holding the zenith point as they approached, the space surrounding the other Star League vessel full of debris and immobile ships from both the Rim Worlds Republic and the Star League Navy.

    "Tripitz, we're bleeding a bit of atmosphere and will need an armor touch-up, but we should be able to follow. There better be a damned good reason for us to leave Terra though."

    Daksha looked around at his bridge crew and then locked eyes with Ian MacIntosh, who gave a small shake of his head.

    "I'm not at liberty to discuss it over open channels, but it's worth both my life and the lives of all of my crew."

    "Right," the Spicer replied. "The Reagan isn't going to be able to jump with us. So once we're out of here, we're on our own."

    "We'll feed jump coordinates once we arrive," Daksha looked at the terminal in front of him, noting the time that it would take to reach the zenith point. "See what you can pick up from S&R, and if any of the other ships are able to affect enough repairs to join us."

    "Understood Tripitz, we'll lock this down until you arrive."

    "Captain, are you certain that they can be trusted?" Ian asked, his shoulders set and squared as if facing off a potential enemy.

    "They're Star League Navy," Daksha's face darkened. "If we can't trust them, who can we trust?"

    "Amaris was able to position his people everywhere," Ian glared. "If they show a hint of disloyalty, you're going to put them down."

    "Understood," the captain gulped. "We'll be actively scanning the entire time."

    "And I hate to do this," Ian sighed heavily. "But we're going to have to send the Reagan to fend off the ships that are chasing us."

    "She'll have to stall them long enough for us to jump out," Daksha agreed as he turned to the comms officer. "Send the Reagan orders to turn hard and burn to stall or stop the pursuing enemies. We're not going to be staying to slug it out."

    The officer transmitted the instructions, receiving a confirmation and a sad string of binary code that was translated and forwarded across the various terminals.

    "There can be no progress, no achievement, without sacrifice."

    The SDS Reagan turned, her lack of crew meaning that she could pull off a maneuver that would have killed lesser ships, and the M-5 drone burning through fuel supplies that it knew it would never need again.

    The Rim Worlds Navy had been pursuing them with a trip of Lola Class Destroyers and one older model Aegis in the hopes of destroying the warship before it left the system, their thrusters burning at the edge of where it shifted from safe thrust to maximum.

    Those hopes were soon dashed as the Reagan entered weapons range and opened fire. The superior targeting computers ensuring that the heavy NPPCs carved away at one of the Block I Lola's armor, the deep gashes leaving it open for Naval autocannon to punch through, hitting some ammunition storage and sending the warship spinning out of formation as her crew desperately began putting out fires and work on other problems.

    The second Lola and Aegis, however, began to return fire. Their naval lasers and autocannon impacting and carving away chunks of armor.

    But it wasn't enough. The Reagan replied with volleys of fire, and cracked open the second destroyer with a nuclear explosion, the Alamo fired from the AR-10 system tearing it into two while the Aegis's missiles began to finally impact and cause damage to the drone. The great gulf of space now shrinking as the Reagan came to a split second decision as its power systems began to flicker from a lucky Naval laser hit.

    With a horrendous groan and strain, the Reagan fired its maneuvering thrusters and then shited to the maximum thrust it could handle and move at all under, the RWR ship unable to react in time as the prow of the Reagan slammed into the middle of the enemy Warship, cracking it in two and ensuring the Reagan was unresponsive.

    For a moment it seemed as if all had stopped in the system, but then a pair of surviving dropships tried to leave the wreckage of the battle, only to be vaporized by twin Heavy NPPCs and it became clear. The Reagan might not be mobile anymore, but God help you if you crossed close enough to be in extreme range of her weapons systems.






    The Black Watch members slowly followed traffic as it crawled along the western pacific highways, the Ancient Terran United States Interstate system still used as the basis. Unfortunately, even with many improvements over the centuries, the roads still slowed to a crawl after a disaster of any sort. And a coup of the kind that Amaris had just initiated was the worst kind of disaster.

    "Well," Capell sighed as he reclined his seat a bit. "I'm glad we told the other groups we'd be there in a few days, because at this rate, it sure looks like that's the truth."

    "Better that we move slow and act like the regular civvies," McFadden replied through the old CB radio system they'd had installed on the cars. "We'll be less conspicuous that way. Besides, this allows us to rest and recover a bit as we get closer. The last thing we want is to not be ready once we get to MINSY. There certainly won't be a lot of rest then."

    "Right," Bryn forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. "It looks like it clears up a bit ahead."

    "Just make sure that your crew is rotating driving and sleeping back there," the other Major yawned into her radio. "We'll do the same here."

    "Yes, ma'am," Capell stretched for a minute before allowing the sedan to creep forward to keep up with traffic. His mind still struggling to break out of combat mode even a day after being out of his 'Mech.

    "You alright?" Charles glanced over and saw the Major's hand grabbing a sidearm and checking the chamber with a quick press check before repeating it with another weapon, placing them both within easy reach.

    "Yeah," Capell checked one last weapon. "Just hate the post combat nerves. And I feel like we're surrounded by potential enemies at the moment."

    "Those are Hegemony citizens though," Charles responded. "We should be able to trust them."

    "Some of them, yes," Capell agreed. "Some of them are patriots, retired veterans, etc. And they'll die before giving up and surrendering to Amaris. But an overwhelming majority of the people here on Terra? They don't and won't care as long as their lifestyles aren't changed all that much. So long as the Fat Bastard lets them keep watching their shows and letting them have easy access to their luxuries and food they won't lift a finger. Not at this stage at least."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Tyrants always seem reasonable at first. They don't restrict all freedoms right away. That's actually one of the reasons we're able to blend in with this group right now. But in a month, maybe two, Amaris will slowly start to narrow down what you can and cannot do, what you can say. And more importantly, what you can't say. Then the fear'll set in, and the people won't be willing to do anything that might end up with them dead. That doesn't include those who'll form insurgency groups obviously, but those will still be a minority and drop in the percentage bucket compared to the majority that won't do anything."
    "But aren't people different today?" Charles protested. "More people should be willing to defend the Hegemony."

    "Time changes, people, people remain the same," Jewels muttered softly. "History rhymes and follows a cadence. Rise and fall, plateau, and then rise again."






    "So why San Francisco?" O'Bannon asked Hazen as they finally picked up speed once the heavy traffic outside of Camp Pendleton had died off.

    "Couple of reasons," Elizabeth noted the speed limit signs and then blew right past them at an easy 15 km/h over what was posted. "First, lots of Black Watch family members are located there. Part of what you didn't see was a coded message sent via text, but we're going to recover those families that we can and get them out before Amaris can track them down. The second reason is that the other members have a getaway plan, and I'm not briefed on all of the things that have been secreted away over the years. Jack would actually know more about some of that thing than I do."

    "None of you have the clearance," the old bartender shook his head as he loaded an ancient shotgun before tucking it away into a duffle bag. "I've got an inkling of what they have in mind, but I'm not able to confirm anything anyway."

    "So, we're all in the dark," O'Bannon sighed. "That's just great," the burly 'Mechwarrior turned away from the two Black Watch members. "Wake me up when we get there. I need to rest before I go insane from hanging out with the two of you."

    "Well, he's definitely not Gunslinger material," Jack snarked.

    "Tell me about it," Elizabeth chuckled. "I think he'll end up with about half of the group that decides to stay behind and play insurgency."

    "As if you're not one of those people," Jack scoffed. "You and I both know better than that."

    "I want revenge," a tear dripped down her face. "But I've a duty and a responsibility to see to it that the Camerons survive. That will be my revenge."

    "I'll make sure that those who decide to stay have access to some good kit," Jack replied as the day slowly began to fade into twilight. "I won't be able to guarantee their survival. But they'll have damned good chances of pissing Amaris off, and might even be able to pull of some miracles."

    "And sometimes, that's all we can ask for."
     
    • Prologue: Part VII
    • Prologue: Part VII​

    Date: December 29, 2766, 1900 Pacific Standard Time
    Location: San Francisco, Suburban outskirts

    "Wait in the car," Elizabeth got out and tucked a sidearm into a concealed holster, her jacket covering the weapon as she approached a nearby house and knocked on the door before stepping slightly to the side.

    "Hello?" A couple opened the door, a young face peeking out from behind her parent's legs. "Can we help you?"

    "I'm Major Elizabeth Hazen, I work with your mother, and you need to come with me," she stated bluntly. "We're getting the families of the Black Watch out of Harm's way, and you're just one of a few on our list on Terra."

    "Right," the man's face hardened. "Just give us a few minutes."

    The door closed softly and the man knelt to look at his daughter and wife.

    "Remember where the go-bags are?" He asked Colleen.

    "Yes!" Colleen replied.

    "I need you to go get the ones out of the garage, I've got to get some things out of Daddy's room, okay?" Mitchell Schmitt glanced at his wife, noting her tears before pulling her into a tight hug. "It's okay," he stroked her back. "We'll get out of this, we just need to be smart about it. If the Major's here, that means that we've got very little time to pack and leave."

    Alexandra closed her eyes, wiped the few tears that appeared and exhaled. "What do you need me to do?"

    "Go into the office and open the safe, grab whatever money and valuables are in there, and put them in the bags that Colleen's grabbing," Mitchell then opened the door and welcomed the Major in. "Major Hazen," he nodded. "I'm sure you've got your kit, but I'd prefer to use my own."

    Leaving the Black Watch Major to watch his wife and daughter, Mitchell went upstairs and pulled a duffle bag from under his bed before uncovering a rug and opening a floor safe.

    There, lying in the floor safe was the kit he had been allowed to purchase and take with him when he had finished his term as jump infantry.

    "Hello old friend," he sorted through what would be useful and what wouldn't be before throwing it into the bag and heading downstairs, his eyes meeting Elizabeth's and his wife's. "I'm ready. Let's go."

    "How secure is your vehicle?" Hazen asked as she glanced up and down the street.

    "Fusion, not armored, but I did spring for something a bit more rugged," Mitchell hit a button, and a garage door slid open, revealing a couple of decades-old Chevrolet Suburban.

    "That works," Elizabeth walked over to the sedan and popped open the trunk, fishing out an older CB radio. "Here, we can stay in touch while on the road with this."

    "Already got one," Mitchell replied. "Now lead the way, I'll follow."






    "So, our original plan isn't going to work," Capell looked at the group, McFadden nodding in agreement. "Amaris's going to be able to track our dropship launch, our original plans didn't take into account the SDS systems getting knocked out so rapidly."

    "So instead we're going to use the regular civilian traffic before Amaris halts it," McFadden briefed. "We'll still head to MINSY to make sure our identities are rock solid, but we're going to end up leaving it behind."

    "Once we make it to an HPG that's not shut down, we'll wait for confirmation on which location the Camerons were moved to," Capell finished, glancing around the motel room. "We're going to have to chart the next few civilian dropships, which means that I need one of you to start looking over the launch schedules. Once we get to MINSY, we'll get into the computer systems and get us set up with tickets and narrow down where we want to go."

    "New Dallas is probably one of the places we'll want to head to first," Suarez stated. "The Boltholes might not be on common maps, but New Dallas won't be attacked yet. Amaris'll have to concentrate on knocking out Terra and securing his base of power here first."

    "We need MINSY for one other big reason," Frank Yanez sighed. "I'm pretty sure they've got a better med suite than what we had in the Safehouse. And I'm going to need access to it to finish getting the Colonel and Hinks to full recovery."

    "And there's the hard part of all of this," McFadden leaned back against the nearby wall. "We have to get the wounded out without giving ourselves away."

    "We can work on that story tomorrow on the drive," Capell turned to face the door. "I'll take first watch, you guys get some rest."

    –
    –

    "I fucking hate I-5," Suarez let her head drop onto the steering wheel, the horn blaring before she lifted it. "Aren't there faster ways to get to where we're going?"

    "Not through the mountains," McFadden sighed. "Once we make it through the mountains we'll be past the worst of the traffic. But until we get past the traffic out of Unity City we're going to be slow for a little while."

    "I just hope that Hazen's having a better time of this than we are," Capell's voice came in through the radio. "Because I'm about ready to make a run on Amaris a second time if we have to do this for much longer."






    "We're not going with you," O'Bannon crossed his arms in defiance. "You have your mission. But we have ours, and we swore our oaths."

    "So be it," Elizabeth nodded in understanding before pulling out a notebook and a pencil. "You're going to want some places to lay low," she began jotting down a few safe house locations. "I'll give you the authorization codes, but I'm not going with you."

    "They killed your brother," O'Bannon glared. "Surely you want to take the fight to the fat bastard."

    "With everything inside, yes," Hazen's voice might as well have been made of steel and ice with the emotion that was locked within. "But I have a duty and a responsibility to something higher than my own revenge.

    "So be it," O'Bannon sighed. "We'll keep Amaris thinking that the Black Watch is alive and well. Hopefully, he'll think that we're remnants of the ones he thought were dead."

    "Do it right, and he'll never know the difference," Hazen smirked. "Give them hell for me, Mechwarrior. Give them hell."

    Turning and walking away, Elizabeth almost turned to stay, but then her heart hardened and she continued, opening the door to the Schmitt's Suburban and climbing in.

    "Where to?" Mitchell asked, his fingers tapping idly on the wheel.

    "I've got two other families we need to try and exfil," Hazen opened up a map of the area. "Goal's to try and get them out as well."

    "Then let's get to it," looked up from where she was sitting in the back seat. "Lots of ground to cover."

    "You sure she wasn't military?" Elizabeth asked.

    "I never served," Alexandra matched Hazen's stare as she fed a magazine into a rifle and chambered a round. "But I married into a military family. I had to learn a thing or two."

    "I… May have taught her how to shoot," Mitchell grinned. "I think a woman who can outshoot me is sexy."


    "Little ears," Alexandra warned her husband. "I'm not explaining gunpowder as an aphrodisiac to Colleen."

    "Mom, what's an aphrodisiac?" The eleven-year-old asked, an innocent look on her face.







    Two days later… San Francisco

    "Welcome to Warehouse 13," Charles Southorn waved the vehicles through the dark into the warehouse.

    "It's a warehouse," Capell shrugged. "Nothing really special about this one."

    "Nevermind," Southorn shook his head. "Did the others get the message?"

    "Dead drop listed this as the meet-up location," Suarez shrugged. "They might be running late though."

    "No one was present when I cased it," Jewels shrugged. "But I might have missed something."

    Then a trio of vehicles pulled up and Elizabeth Hazen stepped out of an older model Suburban.

    "See, I heard y'all were dead," Hazen's normally controlled southern accent bled through.

    "To be a bit cliche," Bryn Capell grinned. "Rumors of our death were gravely exaggerated."

    "Well it's good to see you," she glanced at McFadden, locking eyes with the XO. "What's the game plan, ma'am."

    "We're heading to MINSY to lock down some civilian identities," the woman replied. "After that, we're going to use civilian shipping."

    "Cuz using a dropship openly is a good way to get us killed," Hazen agreed. "If the SDS weren't taken out I'd push for it, but as it is, we're going to have to be careful."

    "We're also using MINSY to get the Colonel and Hinks back up to being at least walking wounded," Yanez stepped out of the van. "The Colonel's awake if you guys want to speak to her."

    Hazen glanced at Mitchell Schmitt and the others before jerking her head at the van in a silent message to McFadden.

    "Mitchell, you want to take Colleen and visit for a moment while we work out the rest of the plan?"

    "Yeah," he picked up the girl and walked her over to the van that the wounded were kept in.

    Then the rest of the people in the cars opened their doors and stepped out, Suarez and Southorn grinning wildly as their families ran up to surround them.

    "I love you," Suarez leaned into her husband's arms. "I'm sorry I didn't call. There just wasn't any time."

    "You're alive," he leaned down and nuzzled her neck with a sad smile on his face. "That's what's important to me and the girls."

    "You alright?" Bryn looked at Elizabeth's stone face. "Lionel was in the hospital last I heard. If he's not with you then…"
    "They bombed the hospital he was in," Elizabeth clenched her fists together, her knuckles turning white as rage flooded through her again. "I made them pay for it though."

    "They probably already got my family," Capell frowned. "They live in Unity City, and I doubt Amaris left any of them alive."

    "You didn't check?" Elizabeth asked.

    "Elizabeth," Capell chuckled darkly. "I'm an only child, my parents are old fashioned and refused the life extension treatments. They're decaying in a nursing home because they refused to let me pay for anything. If anything, they'll probably spit in Amaris's face by dying before he gets to them. They're stubborn, and haven't wanted to speak to me in years."

    "But they're family," it clicked. "Lots of us are going to be losing people, aren't we?"

    "Anyone who is on Terra is at risk," Bryn replied. "The Colonel, Southorn, and Suarez are lucky. They've got their immediate family. But everyone else?" Let's just say that there's going to be a lot of prayer and tears."

    "And a whole lot of bloodshed before this is all over."
     
    • Prologue: Part VIII
    • Prologue: Part VIII​

    Date: December 30, 0800 Pacific Standard Time,
    Location: Mare Island Navy Shipyard Museum, Vallejo California, Terra, Terran Hegemony (AKA MINSY)

    "A bit closer please," Hanni Schmitt whispered, her ribs still causing pain when she breathed too deeply. "It needs my biometrics."

    Nodding, her son and Charles moved her closer to a panel set into the side of a display case of the museum, her hand resting long enough for the panel to accept it before she lifted her head to focus her eye on the scanner, her voice barely picked up by the microphones as she gave the proper authorization codes.

    Then, a display with a Submarine shifted, the water it had been resting in draining away into a storage area far away, revealing a set of stairs that led underneath the Battlemech-grade glass.

    "I got you," Mitchell picked up his mother and allowed her to rest as he set her on the stretcher they had brought.

    "Let's move it, people!" Hazen took charge. "We've got a job to do, and a very limited time to do it in. Amaris probably knows by now that he didn't get all of us, and he's going to be tracking us down. That leaves us with a very small window of opportunity to get off of Terra."

    "I've got to stay with the wounded," Yanez looked at the Colonel and Hinks, a frown on his face as he sighed. "Southorn, Schmitt, Jewels, you're going to help me get them down there."

    "Right," Mitchell grabbed one end of the stretcher while Jewels grabbed the other end and they began carefully walking down the staircase, Black Watch members with weapons raised covering the rear and the way down in case they had been compromised.

    "Clear!" Jack and Capell echoed as they cleared the first room.

    "We've got a metric fuck ton of dust down here," Capell coughed. "I think the base is empty."

    "Language," Alexandra glared as she covered Colleen's ears.

    "Right," Capell smiled sheepishly. "Sorry ma'am."

    The group made their way inside, the concrete foundations having been hollowed out and reinforced by DOME years if not decades ago, there was computer equipment, replacement 'Mechs, and even a spare Pueblo class dropship stashed away here for a rainy day.

    "I'll start putting together our identities," McFadden stated. "Capell, you and some of the others can start putting together whatever we'll need to make our disguise work."

    "I'll need some extra hands with me," Yanez wheeled the Colonel towards the medical section. "We've got some treatments that should get them on their feet long enough to get us off-world if I remember these large-scale facilities."

    "What do you need?" Jewels asked.

    "Someone to help me keep them still," the medic sighed. "Some of these treatments are going to hurt like hell. And if we're not careful they'll be hurt worse than before."

    "I'll help put together the identities," Hazen joined Capell. "I take it someone's going to try and get access to the accounts?"

    "Yup," Southorn headed towards a nearby terminal. "No idea how much cash we'll need, so I'll pull the account numbers for each of the nations we've stashed away for rainy days."

    "We'll also have to figure out how to take that with us," Suarez jerked a thumb over at the mobile HPG that was mounted on a nearby trailer. "I don't want us to end up in the dark insofar as the location of the Camerons is concerned."

    "That shouldn't be too hard," Hazen glanced at the 12-ton device. "Claim it's specialized scientific equipment for charting planetary movements or some shit. If that doesn't work, we bribe the dropship captains until we get to a jumpship."

    "I'll start pulling a truck around," Suarez gestured for her husband to come help. "I figure we'll try to leave in three hours."

    "We'll leave whenever Yanez is finished," McFadden shook her head. "I don't want to rush any medical procedures."

    "Then it's back to hurry up and wait," Southorn chuckled. "Always seems to come back to that."





    Date: January 2, 2767
    Location: Star System 10.14526 Classified system known as Hotel

    "Why are we here?" Austin Little, the Captain of the Spicer asked as he walked onto the bridge. "This system isn't on any of my charts."

    "For good reason," MacIntosh replied. "In case of a situation like what happened a few days ago, the Camerons secured what we call 'Boltholes'. Places known only to the Black Watch to secure the Cameron Dynasty if anything were to happen. As it is, this isn't the Bolthole we'll be permanently using, this is just a stopover while we effect repairs to your ship and the Blue Quest."

    "Then where are we going?" Captain Little crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Because we just abandoned Terra to a bunch of Periphery Scum."

    "We've got two jumps," MacIntosh sighed. "I'm not willing to give more details than that because of potential leaks, but suffice it to say that your orders are pretty much to ensure that the Camerons are secured as well as possible. The Hegemony has to be secured by the SLDF or any local militia troops. Our job is to ensure that there's still hope for the Hegemony to be reborn."

    "Fine," Little uncrossed his arms. "Tell me about these 'Boltholes'. Will there be repair facilities of any sort?"

    "There should be enough for us to get the Warships we have in decent shape, yes," MacIntosh replied. "But most of the systems will be automated. When we constructed these, we had to ensure that no one was able to talk about what they'd done."

    "No, they weren't killed to ensure secrecy," he waved off their concerns. "We stashed them away on a secure world and let them live out their days in luxury."

    "Right," Daksha, the captain of the SLS Tripitz finally spoke up. "We need to get some work crews over to the Blue Quest, otherwise she'll end up stranded here, they managed to repair her enough to jump once, but aside from that…" he trailed off.

    "We picked up enough survivors from the other ships that we should be able to have rotating crews until she's up and running," Little leaned back against the nearby bulkhead. "Terra's fallen, hasn't it?" he finally asked after a moment of silence.

    "If it hasn't yet, it's going to," MacIntosh replied. "We were outnumbered by a significant margin down there. And I wouldn't count on anything beyond insurgency forces surviving for much longer than into January."

    "Then we better get to work," Daksha turned and began giving orders. "We've got a lot to do."





    Date: December 31, 1100 Pacific Standard Time
    Location: San Francisco Spaceport, California, Terra, Terran Hegemony

    "Mr. Jackson, please enjoy your trip," the spaceport was eerily quiet for how many people there were in and around it as Jack moved through the line, his bag passing through the scanners without sending any warnings.

    "Thank you," Jack smiled and shook the attendant's hand. "I hope that the rings of Saturn are as beautiful as they say."

    His small talk done, he moved through the spaceport, locking eyes with several of the other Black Watch members as they all moved through different areas before boarding the same dropship at different times, with Suarez and her family masquerading as scientists with the HPG as cargo. Then, as they all boarded and were ready to leave, the ship began boosting off, the fusion torches creating a second sun as the passenger aerodyne began moving down the runway, eventually breaching orbit and heading towards Titan at 1g.

    "And now we wait," Jack muttered to himself as he leaned his head back to try and get some sleep on the trip.

    –
    –

    Unfortunately, the dropship was stopped halfway through the journey to Titan, as a Rim Worlds Navy Vessel pulled up beside them.

    "Civilian vessel Pony Express, please match course so we may perform an inspection, failure to do so will result in immediate weapons fire," the Rim Worlds Warship broadcast as it matched speed with the much smaller dropship.

    "This is the Pony Express, we're lining up our approach now," the civilian pilot replied as a docking collar extended to the ship, docking with it as an airlock cycled and a handful of soldiers boarded and began searching the ship and its cargo.

    "Is there anything specific you're looking for?" a flight attendant asked, hoping to speed the soldiers up so they could get moving again.

    "Just making sure that there are no stragglers hiding among you lot," the soldier replied, a couple of the boarders began checking the passports and IDs of the passengers, a few of the nobles from First class were pulled out and brought onto the Warship before the squad leader was told to come back to the RWR ship.

    "That's everything that we needed," the soldier smiled at the attendant. "Thanks for asking though, dollface."

    The soldiers then left the way they came, although first class was a good deal emptier as the Pony Express was allowed to go back to her route.

    "Nobles?" Alexandra asked her husband as the ship began to move again.

    "The ones most capable of resisting Amaris," Mitchell explained. "They likely have 'Mechs and some small amount of hired troops or Mercs. But won't act if family is being held hostage. It's one of the oldest methods for keeping people in line, but it works. Unless the family is fanatical enough to not care, anyway," he trailed off.

    "I just hope that there's a jumpship willing to let us board," Alexandra whispered. "I'm worried about Colleen, I don't want her to grow up in this hell."

    "No one does, but we'll have to endure for a little while," Mitchell kissed her on the cheek. "Now try to get some rest, Titan isn't as closely monitored, and we're going to be really busy when we land."

    –
    –

    After days aboard the dropship, the Pony Express finally came in for a landing at one of the domed cities of Titan, the runway running into a depressurized bay where it waited for the doors to close and the area to be pressurized before allowing the passengers to disembark.

    As the Black Watch members filtered into the spaceport, they stopped and joined the crowd around a tri-vid screen, a video with a news anchor showing smoke behind her and tears dripping down her face.

    Lost for words, she simply sat there, gesturing at the words on the banner as she openly wept.

    Behind the woman were piles of bodies surrounded by the 'Mechs and tanks bearing the shark of the Rim Worlds Republic, a Firestarter prominently on display as it moved to the next stack of bodies and its flamers ignited the pile, then a few seconds later, turned and began setting the town behind it on fire as well, the screams of people inside of the buildings could be faintly heard before someone shut the Tri-Vid off, waving for people to disperse.

    "Some of those bodies," Hazen leaned in to whisper in McFadden's ear. "They were wearing SLDF uniforms."

    "It gets worse," McFadden replied. "Some of them were wearing RWR uniforms."

    "Seems like not everyone was happy to follow unlawful orders," Capell agreed. "This is only the beginning of this sort of shit. I really hope that General Kerensky manages to get here quickly, otherwise this is going to end in progressively more death and bloodshed."
     
    • Prologue: Part IX
    • Prologue: Part IX​

    Date: January 3, 2767
    Location: Redacted, Titan, Terra

    "Majors, are we sure that we're not going to be found out?" Mitchell asked. "Because I'm pretty sure an unregistered dropship that takes off from Titan is something that'll be pretty noticeable."

    "We don't leave the dropships we've got stashed fall off the registry or out of sight and mind," McFadden shook her head. "Some of us come often enough and make it look like it's a merchant vessel that is on an off season."

    "If we do get stopped, we just act like it's our usual yearly route," Capell shrugged. "Merchants that only operate during specific times isn't unusual, especially in the Inner Sphere. So we should be able to get away with it."

    "What about Jumpships?" Hazen asked from where she was powering up the Pueblo class ship. "We're going to need to secure passage out before Amaris locks down the system entirely."

    "We're only a few days out from the Zenith point," Mitchell pointed out. "I'm sure that there'll be one we can commandeer or pay off."

    "Regardless, we don't have the time to stand around talking about it," Jewels dragged a case of foodstuffs into the nearby galley. "Suarez has already secured the second HPG and gotten it onboard. So all that's left is the 'Mechs and we can leave."

    "Right," McFadden nodded. "They're not our usual rides, but they're what we have stashed here, so we'll load them up and make sure that they're maintained while we're en route to the Jump point."

    "I just wish we had some ASF escorts," Capell sighed. "Having some as a surprise should shit hit the fan is something that would be nice to have."

    "We'll make do," Hazen shrugged. "But let's get moving, we leave in two hours."

    –
    –

    "Titan Control, this is Messenger, we are transmitting our flight plan," Hazen broadcast to the local air traffic control.

    "Messenger, back to your usual run?" ATC asked. "It's been a few months since you landed."

    "Had to visit the family on Terra, make sure that the money was all distributed to the cousins, you know how it is," Hazen laughed. "You got a course for us?"

    "Affirmative, Messenger, taxi to dome two seven zero and wait for confirmation of door clearance."

    "Copy that, moving to dome two seven zero," the dropship began wheeling through the tunnels set aside for Aerodynes.

    "Be advised, there have been some… Surprise inspections in the last few days. Make sure that you've got any contraband secured and locked away. We've heard they're looking for booze!"

    "Wilco," Hazen responded, glancing back at some of the others, a question in her eyes. "We'll be sure to lock up the whiskey and tequila."

    "Just make sure you bring some back for us," ATC chuckled. "We'll get in touch when you reach two seven zero, ATC, out."

    "The 'mechs and HPG are hidden, right?" Hazen asked.

    "It's taken care of," Capell replied. "We've got a few Haulermechs strapped down, but that's the only thing they'll find aside from the usual small arms that are onboard a Dropship."





    Date: January 5, 2767
    Location: Star System 10.14526 Classified system known as Hotel

    "The Spicer and Blue Quest have been repaired and crews shuffled around to fill holes," Dashka briefed the other two captains and Major MacIntosh. "We're not at a skeleton crew, but we're not at our full coverage either until our wounded are out of the medbays."

    "I'll contact each of you with the coordinates for the next jump after our K-F drives are all fully charged," MacIntosh stated. "Once we've reached Bolthole, we'll go Comms silent aside from a single repeating HPG broadcast to any surviving Black Watch members."

    "And what about our families?" Captain Little asked, Captain Kathryn Jones nodding in agreement. "They're still on Terra or in the rest of the Hegemony."

    "Alright," MacIntosh exchanged glances with Captain Daksha before sighing. "The Tripitz was specifically staffed with crew members who didn't have family to leave behind. All of the Warships that are on standby for evacuation efforts such as what we accomplished were staffed as such."

    "So what do we do?" Jones looked around the table.

    "We find those who want to return to the Hegemony and we load them up on the Tripitz," MacIntosh explained. "It's the most intact ship, and the one that Amaris and those who fought in and around Terra will recognize once they've had time to go over the intelligence logs. You then try to get to General Kerensky, explain what's happening, and return to Liberate Terra as soon as possible."

    "And those who remain with us will go on to Bolthole," Daksha finished. "We'll need the extra manpower to secure and hold the system. So, while we wait for everyone's drives to finish recharging, we'll begin sorting out personnel and loading the gear everyone will need onto the different dropships and Warships."

    "You sure you want to give up your ship, Daksha?" Little asked. "Surely you'd rather take the fight to the enemy?"

    "I'm serving the task that I was assigned," Daksha shook his head. "I will gladly give up my ship if it accomplishes the survival of the Star League and the Hegemony."

    "We'll sort all of that out later," MacIntosh replied. "Right now, we need to establish what repairs still need to be finished and how we're going to split and sort personnel. The Titan dropships and their ASF are coming with me, so we'll start with designating dropships to go…"





    Date: January 7, 2767
    "C'mon now," Sergeant McLeod helped the Wet Nurse gather up the Cameron Twins before moving over to the next room and gently shaking both Elizabeth and Helena Cameron awake. I hate to wake you, lasses, but we're transferring ships."

    "Will we be safe there?" Helena asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

    "Aye," McLeod smiled, the girls warming to the old noncom. "As safe as we can be. We're transferring over to the Spicer, she'll keep us safe until we reach Bolthole, and then we'll get to be on solid ground again."

    The girls nodded and began to change out of their nightgowns and into the clothing that had been provided, the SLDF fatigues looking slightly large on their frames.

    "Now, can you help me with your niece and nephew?" the Sergeant asked. "They've been a bit fussy all day."

    Elizabeth nodded, shifting positions to accept the bundled up Ian Cameron.

    "He's so small," Ian smiled up at her and reached for her hair. "No, you can't have that," she pried away the fist, not wanting her hair to be tugged on.

    "They always are," McLeod led them to a small craft, the girls boarding as the Black watch ensured the seals were good before launch. "Then they grow up to be taller than you."

    "When do we get to go home?" Helena asked, her voice cracking as she began to cry. "I just want to go home."

    "Shh," The sergeant pulled her into a grandfatherly hug. "We might not be able to return to Terra for a little while, but we can make a home out of wherever we are," he gently stroked her hair and let her hold him until she stopped weeping.

    "Better?" He asked.

    Helena nodded, not willing to speak as she stared at the wet and snot stained part of the Sergeant's uniform.

    "A good cry is necessary sometimes," the old man smiled. "Why, I remember when my daughter was a bit older than you…"





    Date: January 5, 2767
    Location: Zenith Point, Terra

    "Jumpship Euphrates, you got space for one more?" Hazen asked as she ran the Jumpship through their intelligence documents.

    "You caught us at just the right time, Messenger," the Tramp class Jumpship responded. "We were about to bring the sails back in and leave."

    "Well, if you'll let us talk things over when we dock, we've got a proposal for you," Elizabeth replied. "And we've got the funds to make it happen."

    "As long as it gets us out of here, I'm fine with anything," the nervous voice replied. "You're clear to dock at collar three. Just make it quick."

    "They're going to take us if we have to commandeer the ship," A voice said, shocking the members who were up on the bridge.

    "Colonel," they snapped to attention as she limped forward and sat in a chair. "I wasn't aware you were awake, Ma'am," Major Capell said what they were all thinking.

    "If we're going to have to pay them off, someone's got to sign off on the expenditure of those funds," their CO snarked before coughing a bit. "Besides, the SLIC has people embedded in many Jumpships, we just need the right confirmation codes to verify and utilize them as assets. Codes that most of you were not given access to."

    "Well, we've got an hour before docking," Elizabeth sat back down. "So whatever we need to transmit, we need to do it now."
     
    Last edited:
    • Prologue: Part X
    • Prologue: Part X​

    Date: January 5, 2767
    Location: Zenith Point, Sol

    "Look, we've mainly got civilians fleeing from the Rim Worlds armies on the other two dropships," Joanna Savage, the captain of the Euphrates explained. "And I'm ex-SLDF myself, so if you've got a place to get to, then please. By all means give me the coordinates and I'll head there myself."

    "We head towards Bryant," Colonel Schmitt spoke softly. "It is one jump from here, and if we need to, we are within one jump from several locations that I have the coordinates to."

    "Let me discuss it with the dropship captains," Savage replied. "If they want different passage, I'm going to let them go now."

    "Just make it quick," Hazen cautioned. "I don't think any of us want to stick around for much longer."

    The call disconnected as Capell began to go over the personnel records that they still had access to for now, the other major eventually pulling up a service record for one Joanna Savage.

    "Well, She's not SLIC, but she served with distinction for twenty years, retired and bought a jumpship with her husband," Capell summarized. "She's solid, and her entire family is on the Jumpship, I think we can trust her, for now."

    Shortly after he was done reviewing her profile, Savage had reconnected via comms.

    "The Euphrates and the dropships attached to her are yours to command, Colonel," Savage stated. "What are your orders?"

    "We go to Bryant," Hazen said bluntly as the Colonel slowly drifted back into a restful sleep. "Then, if everything goes well, we have to transmit a message. If things do not go well, we will instead give you emergency coordinates to jump to."

    "Understood," Savage nodded. "Our L-F battery is at full charge, and we're bringing in the sails now."

    "Then whenever you're ready, captain," Hazen replied.

    The comms cut out as Savage began to bark orders to the family members that were manning the various stations on the Euphrates, her son beginning to lay in the coordinates for the Bryant nadir point.

    "Coordinates are programed in, permission to execute jump?"

    "Execute," Savage ordered, the young man hitting the switches that would initiate the jump.

    Then space and time began to fold as the miracle of the Kearny-Fuchida drives began to bend the laws of physics to their will, the gap between systems shrinking as the Euphrates disappeared from the Sol system, the empty space filling with dust as a rough outline of the jumpship and her dropships appeared in Bryant, the ship sending out a burst of radiation as it appeared at the nadir points.

    But no one had possession of sensors that moved beyond light speed, and it took time to adjust their sensors for new developments even with the advanced technology of the modern era.

    And so they waited, first fifteen minutes went by, then thirty, and finally at forty-five minutes, their sensors finally pieced together what the system of Bryant looked like.

    "We have Warships in system!" Joanna's husband reported. "Sending standard Star League handshake protocols, wait one."

    The comms signal went out, and and returned another fifteen minutes later, a Rim Worlds Republic warship demanding the Euphrates surrender or be destroyed.

    "We've got Rim Worlds Naval vessels here," Joanna's husband Adam finally stated. "We need to leave."

    "Get me a channel to the Messenger, they've got the coordinates for us to jump into."

    "On it!" the man's hands flew over the controls. "Contacting now."

    "Messenger is not responding to hails for vocal comms," he reported, we've got coordinates and instructions to hold for another fifteen minutes before jumping..."

    "Fuck," Joanna muttered underneath her breath. "How far out is that warship?"

    "Rim World's Corvette is closing in, estimated arrival is thirty mikes if they're moving at 1g."

    "And sustained burn of 1.5 will put them arriving in twenty," Captan Savage sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing, Messenger."


    –
    –

    "HPG pulse will last for another fifteen minutes!" Capell reported. "If we want Bolthole to know that we're still here we can't jump yet."

    "Euphrates has the Jump coords," Hazen reported. "They're holding for now."

    "As soon as the Pulse is finished I want you to give them the go ahead," Schmitt ordered. "We cannot be captured."

    "Prepping nuke just in case," McFadden reported as she opened a small suitcase with a tactical nuclear warhead embedded. "I'll need a second code to arm once we're ready."

    After McFadden said that, the bridge fell silent as the minutes crawled by, the HPG pulse continuing while the Euphrates entered the coordinates for the next jump and held their breath, the Lithium Fusion battery dumping its contents into the K-F drive to prime it for the jump.

    "Oh God have mercy," Adam wept as he finally tuned into the radio waves and Tri-Vid broadcasts showcasing the horrors occurring on the world below. The few satellites had recorded the Rim Worlds Republic bombarding the Castle Brians from orbit, their troops landing and beginning to do the same things that they had seen on the Terran broadcasts before they had left Titan.

    The Euphrates recorded all the of the transmissions as they waited, the Corvette drawing closer until simple text was transmitted.

    "Jump!" it read.

    "Coordinates are entered, we're clear to jump!" the navigator reported.

    "They're in weapons range!" the sensors officer yelled.

    "Jump now!" Savage barked as a naval autocannon round traveled towards the Euphrates.

    The jumpship flickered, and then vanished from Bryant as the massive slug traveled through where the Euphrates had just been.

    "That, was way too close," Joanna exhaled as she held her chest right over her heart. "Get the Messenger on the horn, I've got some yelling to do."






    Date: January 14, 2767
    Location: Hotel

    "Godspeed Tripitz," Daksha said as the Black Lion class battlecruiser finished loading up the last of the supplies that she would need for the journey to the periphery.

    "Sorry about the state the Spicer's in," Captain Little gave a sad smile. "Hopefully she treats you better than she treated me."

    "We'll make sure the old girls get fixed up," Daksha smiled. "Find Kerensky and get him back to Terra, I don't want to have to wait forever to be able to go home."

    "Copy that. Spicer, Blue Quest, we'll see you around."

    The SLS Tripitz vanished as she jumped, the remaining crew members who remained with the Spicer and Blue Quest saluting as she left."

    "You think they'll succeed?" Daksha asked MacIntosh.

    "I'm praying that they do," the man crossed himself. "But I'm prepared for them to die in the process. Now, are we ready to jump?"

    "The Blue Quest still has several compartments that they can't access because they're exposed to vacuum, but she's jump capable," Daksha shrugged. "So we're as ready as we can be."

    MacIntosh nodded as he wrote down long memorized coordinates on a small sheet of paper.

    "Enter these, then burn them," MacIntosh instructed. "And after we've arrived, you're to purge the data from the astrogation computers."

    "Understood," Daksha carried the paper over to his navigator, where he personally entered the coordinates in and then burned the paper in front of him. "Slave the Blue Quest to us," Daksha ordered. "We jump in thirty minutes."

    –
    –

    "Jumping in three, two, one. Jump is successful, wait one, local SDS system is asking for identification."

    Macintosh sat at the nearby station and transmitted six ten character strings to the M-9's that were stationed there, some of the codes authorizing both the Spicer and Blue Quest to remain in the system, while the others designated the Spicer as a priority protection given the Camerons were onboard.

    "ID is sent," MacIntosh relayed. "Move to the second planet in the system, That's where we need to be.

    "Trio of Caspars are moving into escort formation," the sensors officer reported.

    "Welcome to Bolthole," MacIntosh stated. "It might not look like much, but it'll be home for a little while."





    Date: January 22, 2767
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    "Captain Jones, the Blue Quest has priority in the repair bays," Daksha said as they had dropships and small craft begin ferrying any SLDF Army and nonessential personnel down to the city below. "The Spicer's hurt, but we've still got more armor than you do."

    "Copy that," Jones replied. "We'll get the old girl reskinned after we've offloaded the extra supplies."

    "And Kathryn," Daksha noted the dark bags underneath the other captain's eyes. "Get some rest, I expect there'll still be plenty of work for us to do."

    "I'll do my best, sir," Kathryn smiled sadly. "But there's so much here, and she's my ship. I'm gonna stick with her until she's full repaired before I take some leave."

    "Just don't burn yourself out," Daksha warned. "We'll be relying on you."

    "Understood," Kathryn replied. "Blue Quest, out."

    "Just because we have SDS systems doesn't mean that we get to slack off," Daksha looked at his bridge crew. "They failed over Terra, and we're not going to allow a repeat of that here. Do I make myself clear?"

    "Aye sir!" the bridge roared.

    "After the Blue Quest is done with her repairs, we'll rotate out," he looked around, meeting the eyes of every single officer and noncom. "That will be when we get our R&R, until then, we stay vigilant. Not a single Rim World or House Lord ship gets to the planet while I still draw breath."

    –
    –

    "It's not much," Sergeant McLeod said as the SLS Abyss slowly settled onto the pad below. "But Bolthole has enough for us to survive, and maybe even thrive."

    As the Camerons moved off of the dropship, they were greeted by what appeared to be a basic military base, everything was clearly laid out according to the Star League manuals, and the Entrance to the Castle Brian underneath was carefully concealed. Surrounding the walled complex, was ground ripe for growing crops as far as the eye could see, with a few rivers flowing between the obviously marked fields.

    "Get them to the HQ," MacIntosh ordered. "We'll start up the generators and begin checking on the local inventory. And Sergeant," He paused.

    "Yes, sir?" McLeod replied.

    "Don't let the Camerons out of your sight. The last thing we need is for DoME to have accidentally released a predator here that has a taste for a new meat product."

    "Understood sir," McLeod returned to his post. "I'll ensure that they survive."

    The Twins and Cameron sisters were then surrounded by the remnants of the Black Watch Marines as the SLDF regulars that were on board the Abyss began offloading 'Mechs, Vehicles, and personnel.

    The Engineers immediately were loaded up into trucks and headed for the generator complex, the massive Fusion reactors having been loaded and prepared for decades of lying dormant.

    "I want those generators up and running within the hour," MacIntosh ordered. "And someone get to the HPG complex and make sure that it gets started, I don't want to miss any emergency transmissions from Kerensky or the SLDF."

    "Do they even know where Bolthole is, sir?" one of the engineers asked.

    "Kerensky was briefed on its existence," MacIntosh replied. "But the coordinates were never made known to him."

    "Then how will they know that the Camerons are alive and well?" Someone asked.

    "There are systems set up to report to HPGs that are in other hidden systems that the fat bastard shouldn't be able to get intel on," MacIntosh replied. "Unless everything goes wrong and the HPG network is completely shattered, we should have confirmation of receipt within a month or so."

    "Either way, we've got a job to do!" another officer barked. "Stop woolgathering and get your asses in gear, these 'Mechs and vics won't move themselves!"





    Twelve hours later…

    Location: Bolthole HPG complex

    "Sir, we've got a transmission that was waiting for us when we reactivated the main generators," a technician informed the major.

    "Well, let's hear it," MacIntosh crossed his arms.

    "This is Major Elizabeth Hazen, Black Watch survivors have escaped Terra and are shifting to escape protocols. Our coordinates will be sent via text to follow this transmission. Please confirm that Bolthole is secured and we'll arrive with due haste."

    "Are we able to transmit yet?" MacIntosh asked.

    "Negative, we're only able to receive while we finish up the update procedures," the Tech shook his head. "This system has ten years of updates to complete. We'll have to complete those before we can move forwards with any transmissions."

    "How long will that take?" MacIntosh asked.

    "Five, maybe six hours," the tech shrugged. "We're talking about updates that improve data transmission rates as well as reception quality."

    "Get it done and then let me know when we're ready to transmit," MacIntosh replied. "I don't want to leave any survivors out there that might be able to make it to Bolthole."

    "Understood, we'll get it done."

    "You've done good work here, make sure you're rotating and getting enough rest. There's plenty of work to go around. No need to burn yourselves out."

    "Once the updates are started we'll rotate keeping a watch on it and checking on the physical components," the lead tech replied. "Make sure you get some rest as well, Major. You're the ranking officer down here, after all."

    "I'm Black Watch, Lieutenant. I'll sleep when I'm dead, and so far, it looks like we're all too angry for that to happen."
     
    Last edited:
    • Prologue Part XI
    • Prologue: Part XI​
    Date: January 6, 2767
    Location: Star System 12.17686 Classified system known as Echo

    "System scans show some debris, but other than that, it seems we're in the clear," Savage briefed the now somewhat capable Colonel Schmitt and the rest of the Black Watch officers. "Now, what's the plan? I've got scared civilians on the other two dropships, and they've been hailing me with questions since we jumped out of Bryant."

    "We have to wait," Schmitt said softly, her body still recovering from the injuries. "There are multiple locations that they could have gone to, and if we spent time looking through each one we would be moving around for the greater part of a year."

    "So, how long do we wait before you decide to just be done?" the captain of the Euphrates sighed.

    "Give us until the end of the month," Hazen glanced at the Colonel, receiving a nod. "Then we'll give you coordinates and begin going through each of the systems that we have documented."

    "I… Should be able to talk them into that," Joanna sagged. "But if there's nothing, I'm going to have to drop them off somewhere safe before I'd be able to carry you to wherever it is that you need to go."

    "Just give us a month," Hazen replied. "That should be all we need."

    "I hope that you're right," Savage crossed her arms. "Because if you're not, then we're about to potentially waste our lives on a wild goose chase."

    "We sent out transmissions to all of the Bolthole locations within range," Capell stated. "We'll get a response."

    "So what do I tell the other captains?" Savage asked. "They've trusted me this far, but they don't know what's actually going on."

    "The truth," Schmitt's voice cut through the noise. "You tell them that we're waiting for the right message that where we're going is safe."

    "Alright," Savage raised a bulb of whiskey and drained the entire thing. "I'll get it done."

    The Tri-Vid winked out as the Black Watch members turned and looked at eachother.

    "There's more than one Bolthole?" Southorn asked. "I only knew that they existed, not where they were or that there was more than one."

    "And if not for the emergency situation, you would never have known any more than what you already did," Capell replied. "Each of the senior officers is given information on one location. Barring Major Hazen and Colonel Schmitt, who likely have more information than the rest of us."

    "And that's all that you're going to speak on this subject," Elizabeth glared at the other officer. "It's kept compartmentalized for a goddamned reason."

    "Yes, ma'am," Bryn jerked back into proper bearing.

    "And everyone else who just heard that, I want this moment forgotten. Am I clear?" Hazen's eyes met every single officer barring the Colonel's.

    "Yes, Ma'am!"






    Date: January 21, 2767
    Location: Liberty zenith point.

    "Captain, sensors just finished recognition, we have Rim Worlds Naval vessels moving into range," the sensors officer reported, her face a mask of calm.

    "Dump the L-F battery!" Captain Little ordered. "Get us out of here!"

    "Dumping battery and spinning up K-F drive, Aye sir!" the Astonavigator's hands flew across the controls. "Where do you want us?"

    "Closer to the Periphery," Little stated. "And get to ready stations, I want the gun crews ready to go when we reach the next system."

    A klaxon sounded as people began sealing their suits and preparing for combat, the SLS Tripitz winking out of existence in the Liberty system, only to reappear 'Above' Hall.

    "Two enemy Corvettes in system," The sensors officer highlighted the position. "They'll be within firing range in twenty mikes."

    "Get us in range," Little ordered. "And have the engineers start hot-loading. We'll need every chance we can get if we're going to make it to Kerensky in time."

    –
    –

    The Tripitz guns were soundless in space, but the recoil was felt all the same as a pair of Pinto-class corvettes began attempting to flank the Battlecruiser.

    "Enemy's long range armaments are firing, minor hits,"

    We don't have the ammo to burn in a prolonged engagement," Little stroked his chin. "Gun crews are to wait until they're certain of a hit before firing."

    "Wait until we see the whites of their eyes, eye sir."

    "Show the projected course," Little looked at the screen that showed the current data and projected courses for the enemy corvettes.

    Looking at the data, he grabbed a noteputer and began running some quick calculations.

    "Change course to this heading, and prepare the port maneuvering thrusters," Little sent the information over.

    "But sir, we'll be exposing our flank!" the navigation officer protested.

    "I'm aware of that , Ensign. Follow the order," Little glared from the captain's chair.

    "Aye sir," the ensign begrudgingly acknowledged the order. "Shifting to your course now."

    The Tripitz seemed to rotate as if to run away from the twin corvettes, the Rim Worlds vessels higher speed giving them the ability to overcome the larger battlecruiser's speed as well as dodge and shots that were fired from the rear of the vessel.

    "Sir, they're chipping away, that shot was close to our engines."

    "Just hold for one more minute," Little ordered as he watched the screen.

    "Signal to both broadsides to prepare to fire. Engage the thrusters now!"

    The ship spun around suddenly while still maintaining its momentum, the broadside guns gutting the corvettes as the battlecruiser's main guns and missiles were now in a solid range, the hghly capable Star League crew members and gun crews capable of executing both commands nigh simultaneously.

    One corvette took a massive autocannon round that carved away what little armor it had before a nuclear tipped missile impacted on the guts within, the Pinto cracking open and spilling both atmosphere and personnel into the void of space.

    The other Corvette was more lucky, but not by much, it took a nuclear tipped missile and seemed to stop entirely, the only thing carrying the vessel forward being the sheer momentum it had maintained.

    "Enemy corvettes are down, armor status is still in the green for the most part, even if we are missing a bit on the flanks."

    "Get the K-F drive and the L-F battery charged. We need to get out of here before someone decides to come check and make sure that everything's on the up and up here," Little ordered. "And reload our magazines. This is only the first fight of many."





    Date: January 23, 2767
    Location: Bolthole, Terren Hegemony

    "Major!" a voice called out from where the officer was assisting in unloading and cataloging various supplies. "HPG is ready for transmit!"

    "I'll be right there," MacIntosh finished setting down the crate before dusting off his working uniform, passing his clipboard over to the other man, and following the technician to the HPG.

    "We've got it set to transmit to the system that was reported in the message," the Tech briefed the Black Watch member. "And have now shifted to ensuring the rest of the surrounding infrastructure was maintained properly."

    "Good work," Ian nodded. "Start working with the generators. We've already got some people on them, but I want everyone checking them over just in case of power failures."

    "Yessir," the tech shifted his direction to a different portion of the HPG complex. "If you'll follow Nick, he'll take you right to the room where you need to go.

    "Major," a grease and dirt covered man with a faded 'Nick' scrawled on his jumpsuit greeted Ian. "Sorry for the mess, follow me."

    Leading the man further in, they came to a room setup with a recording device and Nick began to give instructions.

    "Hit this button here to start recording the message, and after you're done, hit this one. Then let me know when you're ready and we'll begin transmitting."

    –
    –

    "Transmitting message in the next fifteen," Nick said as he plugged the 'Noteputer with the message into the HPG's computer. "If we're expecting them to jump in, then you might want to let our friends in the void know."

    "Already taken care of," Ian replied. "Thank you for your help. Let Max know that I'm assisting with inventory if he needs me."

    "Wilco," Nick yawned. "I'll keep manning the HPG, and I'll send a messenger if we get any responses or messages."



    Date: January 24, 2767


    Location: Echo

    "HPG is active," Capell reported, the device buried deep within the Messenger receiving a burst of data through the folds of reality for a brief moment.

    "It's MacIntosh," he grinned. "That magnificent bastard did it! They've sent the coordinates for their location."

    "Transmit the location to the Euphrates," Schmitt ordered, her voice sounding better now that she'd had a month of recovery. "I'll need to be on the bridge before we jump, or we'll end up shot out of the sky."

    "Yes, ma'am," Hazen grabbed the datapad and began to transmit the coordinates to the Jumpship. "Capell, McFadden, compose and send a response. We're leaving."

    –
    –

    The Euphrates appeared in Bolthole, a Caspar Duo and the SDS systems targeting the jumpship and dropships for a brief moment before the authorization codes were transmitted by the Messenger.

    "SLS Messenger, It's damned good to see that more people made it out!" Captain Daksha's voice echoed through the bridge. "We've cleared a path for you and the other two dropships to follow down to the surface. For both your safety, and the safety of everyone else, do not deviate from that course or you will be destroyed."

    "Copy that, Spicer," Elizabeth replied. "We'll follow it on down."

    The trio of aerodynes detached from the Euphrates, even as a Titan class Dropship began heading for the Invader class Jumpship.

    "Tecumseh, Timepiece, follow the course we transmit," Hazen relayed. "We're safe here, just stick to it and we'll see you down on the ground."

    –
    –


    "Colonel Schmitt, Major Hazen," MacIntosh stood at attention along with the remnants of his lance and the Marines with him, barring the group still guarding the twins and Richard's sisters. "Welcome to Bolthole. She might not look like much at the moment, but she's home."

    "Major," Hanni hobbled down the ramp. "Bolthole stands secure. Now, where are the Camerons? I need to see them."

    "You did good work," Hazen whispered to MacIntosh as Sergeant McLeod began leading them to the compound where the Camerons were kept secured. "

    "The girls are traumatized," McLeod explained. "The twins on the other hand, are too young to understand what is going on, and shouldn't have as many issues. At least not any that are evident at the moment."

    "We managed to rescue their wet nurse," MacIntosh continued. "But we're going to have to ask Richard's sisters how they want the children raised. They're technically the ones who would be stepping in as Regent."

    "That's problems for later, Major," Hanni said as she entered the building. "Right now, our job is to ensure that they're alive to return to Terra. We can sort out the rest after the SLDF has dealt with the Fat bastard."

    –
    –

    "Can I help you?" Joanna asked as a lone SLDF soldier entered her bridge.

    "We want you to go back to collect intelligence," a man bearing the rank pins of a Lieutenant said as he ran his hands through his close cropped hair. "We can't guarantee that Kerensky will get the intel from the Tripitz."

    "Let me talk it over with my family," Joanna replied. "I'm willing to lay my life down for the Hegemony and the Star League, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my entire family for it."

    "I understand," the Lieutenant replied. "We'll give you a week or two to decide while we make offers to the dropship captains and their crews."

    "I'll have an answer by then," Joanna glanced at her husband, who nodded in agreement. "I can't promise anything sooner, though."

    "We've still got work to do if we were going to refit the dropships and you ship for the intel runs," the Lieutenant replied. "Take your time."

    –
    –

    Author's Note: The next chapter will be the last of the prologue.(I hope) And there will be two time skips involved. Just giving you fair warning.
     
    • Prologue: Finale
    • Prologue: Finale​

    Date: May 26, 2767
    Location: One jump away from Flintoft, Taurian Concordat

    "Captain, we're in the Concordat, but I'm afraid I've got some bad news," the Tripitz shook as the impacts of naval autocannon detonated against the armor.

    "I can see the Monsoon and the Avatar," Little coughed. "Bring us about and get our broadsides focused on the battleship, we've got to take it out of the fight first if we want to stand a chance."

    The Tripitz rotated, her autocannon's tracer fire bright against the dark of the void as the missiles arced to flow at the Monsoon that attempted to challenge her.

    "Sir, batteries A through E are offline, crews are gone as well," the damage control officer reported. "I've got teams moving to render aid as we speak."

    "Get them on the guns," the ship shook again, the red glow of the lights dimming for a brief moment. "We can recover the dead and wounded later, but if we don't take these two out, there won't be any dead or wounded to recover, because we'll all be dead."

    "Enemy batteries on this side are dead!" a sensors officer reported, we've hit something critical!"

    "Push that offensive now!" another rumble and a shake caused the navigation officer to hit his head on a console, knocking him clear out.

    "Get him off of the bridge and into a life boat!" Little unbuckled and ran over to the console, strapping himself in and refamiliarizing himself with the the controls for a couple of seconds before setting his hands back on the sticks.

    "Sir, Monsoon is dark," an explosion erupted into the void, nearly as bright as a new star for a brief moment before reality set in and the wreckage of the old Terran Battleship floated away.

    "Brace, I'm using the chemical thrusters!"

    The ship suddenly spun around, the intense G-forces causing some bouts of near unconsciousness for a minute or so before they regained their posts.

    The Avatar heavy cruiser was all that remained, but her escorting fighters outnumbered the Tripitz's, and the fighter screen that the Black Lion relied on dwindled away as the two Warships hammered away at eachother, the Tripitz eventually floating away from the wreckage of the other two as its power conduits were damaged.

    The Battlecruiser was leaking atmosphere, and what limited power it had left the Captain diverted to the sensors and comms, his hope that someone would pick it up and be able to respond. But there was nothing, the dropships had been destroyed, and all that was left was dust and echoes, a few surviving Aerospace fighters ignited their fusion torches in the hope that the nearby planet might have some hope of sustaining life, But after a few days, the crews surrendered to the lifeless void.

    They never accomplished their mission. Aleksander Kerensky was never made aware of the fact that Camerons were able to survive, and instead of a rapid and immediate push back into the Terran Hegemony, he went about conquering the Rim Worlds Republic and securing said state before launching an invasion to liberate the Hegemony.





    Date: January 5, 2772
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    "Look, I hate to say it, but it doesn't seem like General Kerensky is going to move on the Hegemony at any sort of timescale that will help. And the only reason our Jumpship made it back with our intel is because if it's lithium Fusion battery. It might be time to go on ice," Elizabeth sighed. "The twins have been raised here for pretty much their entire lives at this point."

    "She's right," Capell agreed, a troubled look on his face. "If Kerensky takes another decade to take the Hegemony, we're going to have issues. Might as well go on ice, and make sure that we rotate shifts out of cryo."

    "But ultimately, the decision is yours, ma'am," McFadden looked at Colonel Hanni Schmitt. "We can weigh in all we want to, but you're in charge here."

    "We haven't gotten any communiques back from the Tripitz. And I'm afraid that we're out of range of Kerensky's mobile HPGs. I'd use the jumpship, but Every system within one or two jumps is either dangerous due to not being well charted, or The fat Bastard has locked down with the SDS," Schmitt tapped her fingers along the table. "I think it is time to go on ice. As long as we rotate properly, we can attempt to at least make sure that we keep the gear in working order."

    "I'll start drawing up the rotation schedule," Hazen stood up from the table. "Capell, start getting things mothballed. McFadden, I want the Warship crews and captains briefed and instructed on what the protocols are. And I'll have some of the others begin briefing the civvies, I don't want them to panic."

    They all dispersed and began to get to work, Sergeant McLeod ensured that the Camerons were both briefed and ready for the cryo chambers, while the rest of them accomplished their duties, and a month later, the cryo pods sealed shut over the Black Watch and the other remnants of the SLDF in Exile. Once again, Bolthole went silent aside from the steady maintenance of the farming machines and the hum of the generators that maintained the cryo chambers.

    In the void, the Drones continued their patrols, taking into account the two Warships that remained in a preprogrammed geosynchronous orbit around Bolthole.






    Unfortunately, by the time General Kerensky decided to invade, it was too late. Most of the Black Watch members that were aware of Bolthole's existence had been killed in the brutal guerilla warfare that they waged against the Amaris regime, and those who were aware, had no intelligence on whether any of the Camerons made it out alive or not. So they operated as if the Camerons had not survived the Coup, and so a dynasty fell as many have before.

    The Star League had fallen, and General Kerensky led most of what was left of the SLDF into the Coreward Periphery, leaving only a few scattered commands behind that either fell in line with Comstar or became Mercenaries, even while stubbornly clinging to their roots as SLDF Regular units.

    First, two decades passed, then have a century. And finally, the year 2856AD arrived, ninety years to the day of the Amaris coup, the cryo pods hissed open for the first time.

    –
    –

    A programming error, a single one carried over instead of a zero ensured that the Black Watch and their charges slept for far longer than intended. A Galaxy in war and chaos awaited them. But there's always the chance to induce change.

    This, is the story of the Inner Sphere, and how things changed.

    Whether it was for the better or the worse, only history will tell….
     
    • Chapter I
    • Chapter I​

    Date: January 1, 2856
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    The facility was quiet aside from the buzzing of the power plants attached to each of the cryo pods, and as the program finally reached the end of its internal clock, the pods began to hiss open according to the algorithm that had been programmed nearly a century before.

    The first to awaken and stumble out of the pods were the technicians, medics, and doctors. Those people first ran checks and scans on each other. There was a known risk of ice crystals forming in important organs, and they wanted to ensure that there was no danger of that before assisting in waking the others.

    After two hours, the techs and medics began to awaken the others, section by section, until the facility was alive with the groans and complaints of soldiers, sailors, and everyone else.

    “So you’re telling me that we’ve been asleep for nearly a century?” Colonel Schmitt raised an eyebrow, her nude form not changing how intimidating she was.

    “Yes, ma’am,” the tech wrung his hands. “There was a glitch in the software, and it wasn’t something that we would have caught unless we’d spent a year going over it before going under.”

    “Fine,” the Colonel began to put on her uniform. “Start waking up the crews, I want intel and I want it yesterday.”

    “We’re already in the process, Colonel. We’ve woken up Elizabeth and Helena as well.”

    “Good, I’m going to need them present when we start making decisions.”

    “We are going to need to have everyone checked out by the medtechs,” a medic chimed in from where he was finishing up with Elizabeth Hazen’s immediate check. “And we’re going to have to work through some muscle atrophy. Luckily we weren’t in cryo for so long that we resemble coma patients. But, three months is still a lot of muscle mass to regain.”

    –
    –

    Bolthole was brimming with life again as the SLDF remnants began to go over everything again, ensuring their inventory remained the same and that proper maintenance was done.

    The Warship and jumpship crews began to reacclimate themselves back to their ships, with the Jumpship eventually leaving a few months later to go collect intel on the state of affairs in the Inner Sphere.

    Meanwhile, those still on Bolthole were clearing out the land, conducting maintenance, and beginning to train themselves for war again. One thing was for certain. The Camerons may have survived for now, but there would be enemies, and there was a lot to prepare for.





    Date: June 7, 2856
    Location: Carver, Capellan Confederation

    “Jumpship Euphrates, you are clear to remain in the system and begin trading,” a heavily Russian-tinted voice informed Lieutenant Jorge.

    “Major,” The temporary captain glanced at Major Bryn Capell. “How do you want to approach this? Every transmission we have indicates Carver is now occupied by the Capellan Confederation.”

    “Keep collecting data,” Bryn said. “Don’t make any overt moves, after we’ve done a bit of investigating here, we’ll head towards the Fedsuns, maybe see if there’s anything more we can pick up there.”

    “If you want, we can see about laying in a course to move full circle,” the Astrogation specialist spoke up. “Hit all of the Star League members to see what intel each one has.”

    “We’ll do that,” Capell agreed. “But one thing at a time. I’ll take the Messenger down along with some of the foodstuffs that we brought with us. Even if they don’t buy a lot, we can still collect data.”

    “Sir, do you want us to leave some agents behind?” one of the Hegemony Intelligence agents asked.

    “No, I’m going to need you to see about the HPG though. I’m not sure what this ‘Comstar’ is up to, but I want whatever information they have.”

    “If they’re using Terran systems, I’ll be able to get in,” the expert promised. “But it might take some time to ensure we get everything they have.”

    “We’ll drag out the data collection as needed. We can’t act like we’re in a rush, we’re simply traders plying a new route after all.”


    –
    –

    “Your ship is to be inspected,” a group of armed men and women met the Messenger when it landed. “You will prepare your ship and we will see if there is any contraband to be found.”

    “We’re just here to exchange foodstuffs,” Bryn smiled calmly. “We’ve got nothing to hide from the law.”

    The Capellan security team went through the ship with a fine-toothed comb, not finding anything out of the ordinary, even the star charts reflected the story that the crew had been giving.

    “Sir, everything checks out,” the security team leader whispered into the official's ear. “What do you want us to do?”

    “See if the local Maskirovka will keep an eye on them. I do not like foreigners on my world.”

    “Welcome to Carver V,” the official then smiled at Major Capell. “Please, ply your trade here, we are always welcome to new merchants.”

    “We’re just looking to see if there’s any new routes that we can try,” Bryn continued his smile. “Do you happen to have a hotel recommendation? The Messenger’s got a nice set of quarters, but nothing beats a nice bed.”

    “There are quite a few places to stay for merchants such as yourself. Any of them would be welcoming of you.”

    “Thank you. Now, I’ll need to help offload my cargo, it was a pleasure meeting you, sir.”

    –
    –

    “There’s a lot of bugs here,” the THIC agents were gathered in the hotel room with Major Capell. “We’ve got them rigged on our prerecorded conversations. But we’re definitely being watched.”

    “Team one will head to the HPG,” Capell ordered. “While Team Two and I will act as regular traders. Make some sales, get price gouged a bit, the entire works.”

    “We’ll need several hours to acquire data from the HPG,” a tech stated. “So we’re going to have to do this right the first time.”

    “We plan tonight, and execute it in the morning,” Bryn looked around. “I believe we still had the plans for the Carver HPG?”

    “Maybe the actual building,” one of them shrugged. “But they’ve created an entire complex. So we’re going to have to operate off of guesswork after we’re inside of the complex.”

    “We need that intel,” Bryn sighed. “Unless someone’s got another plan?”

    “We’re not going to be able to pull whatever Comstar has on Terra without being found out for now,” the first tech shrugged. “But if we have Team One ‘Regularly’ visit the HPG on every world we go to, we can at least somewhat have a cover story.”

    “So, based on the local maps we bought, the entrance to the compound is here…”





    Date: June 17, 2856
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    “And you’re certain that I’m the Director-General?” Elizabeth Cameron asked timidly.

    “Yes, ma’am,” Hanni Schmitt looked the young woman directly in her eyes. “I understand that it’s not something you expected, but we’re going to have to give you a crash course in both politics and military leadership.”

    “And if I don’t want to?” Elizabeth asked a bit defiantly.

    “Then we have to see if Helena’s up to it. And given that she has taken over the guardianship of your niece and nephew.”

    “Right,” Elizabeth shuddered. “I’m not ready to be a mother yet.”

    She set her shoulders firmly and met Hanni’s eyes.

    “So, what do I need to learn? And how do I avoid becoming like Richard?”

    “First things first. I’m putting you through Boot Camp. Politics and the military are to be kept separate, but you’ll need the discipline. And, it’ll help you understand why your military advisors make our decisions.”

    “Alright,” Elizabeth sighed. “And avoiding becoming like Richard?”

    “Listen, learn, and know to admit when you’re wrong,” The Colonel replied. “Do those three things and you’ll start out better than Richard and you can only go up from there.”

    “And boot camp?”

    “Some of the civilians that made it out of Terra with us are going to be joining in. You and Colleen should get along well. As for the rest… You’ll learn it when you go through the process. The Politics will come later and I’ll have to dig out some of my old lessons before I can teach you that. I’ll also grab the few nobles that are with us, they’ll probably know a thing or two that we can utilize.”

    “When does Boot Camp start?”

    “Two weeks,” Hanni smiled softly. “You have time to prepare.”

    “Good,” Elizabeth set her stance. “Then let’s do this.”

    “Good attitude,” Hanni’s smile broadened. “Keep that, and it’ll take you far. Provided you don’t get broken in the process. Now get some rest, you’ve got a busy year ahead of you.”

    The woman turned and left the office as Elizabeth Hazen stepped out of the shadows.

    “You sure this is a good idea, Colonel?”

    “The Hegemony needs a Director-General,” Hanni sighed. “It’s not like we have any other options.”

    “What do we want to put her in?” Hazen asked.

    “We can sort that out later,” Hanni shrugged. “For now, we prepare and wait for Capell to return with intelligence. Because without it, we’re here in the dark.”

    “Not for long,” Hazen reminded her. “After all, as long as there’s hope, there’s a light ahead.”

    “Hope, and God-willing, a lot of firepower brought to bear against those who’d try anything.”

    “Prepare the nukes and pass the ammunition,” Hazen smirked. “There’s always a war to fight. And I play to win.”

    “Amen.”
     
    Last edited:
    • Chapter II
    • Chapter II​

    Date: June 17, 2856
    Location: Carver V, Carver, Capellan Confederation (former Terran Hegemony world)

    Lieutenant Michael Brown pointedly refused to look at the rest of Team One while they slowly walked into the HPG compound. He didn't want to give away the objectives or that they were agents before they even started. Meanwhile, a sleepy Comstar Guard looked at the group before stopping them.

    "Name, and business in the HPG complex," the bored and overweight man pulled out a battered clipboard.

    "Mickey," Brown offered with a broad smile. "And this is a part of our trading crew. Gotta send a message back to the family, let them know that we made it to the next stop on our route. That sort of thing."

    "Yeah, whatever," the Guard shrugged. "Just don't cause any trouble. You don't want to see what happens to troublemakers."

    Brown exchanged incredulous glances with several of his team members before replying.

    "Of course, don't want any problems with Comstar. Would you happen to have a map of the compound? Or perhaps someone who can show us where we need to go?"

    "Yeah," a paw of a hand reached for a radio on his belt. "Acolyte Jackson, we've got another group who needs to be shown to the message transmission section."

    The radio crackled in response before a harried young man appeared, adjusting a pair of glasses as his robes flowed around him.

    "Welcome to the Carver V Hyper-Pulse-Generator Complex," the man waved for them to follow him. "Now, I'll cover some of the new construction as we head towards the message composition center," the man sneezed into a tissue. "Sorry, I've got allergies. Now, while there are still several portions of the complex under construction, such as the school and hospital, you'll find that…"

    Brown and his chosen partner waited for an opportune moment to slip away as the Acolyte continued to speak, eventually breaking contact with the group in a place where there was a blind spot on the internal cameras.

    "Keep him occupied," Brown whispered to his teammate before he vanished, a note left in the woman's hand detailing where they would meet up once the mission had been completed.

    "I'm surprised they didn't search our bags," Brown's partner for this mission, Victor Goldstein commented. "Especially when their scans weren't penetrating it."

    "You saw the guard," Brown replied. "They're complacent. Or at least they are here. Regardless, we can't assume they'll all be like this."

    The two pulled off their clothes, revealing the sneak suits underneath.

    "Masks on, we can't be identified if things go wrong."

    –
    –

    "I'm glad they didn't change anything about the actual HPG Stations," Brown muttered as he climbed a ladder that led into the station from the electrical grid maintenance hallways. "Victor, are you still tapped into the security systems?"

    "Yes, I'm causing disruptions on your entry point now," Victor replied. "You'll have about two minutes to get into the server room."

    "Let me know when you're ready."

    "Go!"

    Brown slipped down the hallway, his suit's adaptive camouflage blending in with the walls as he neared a door panel.

    Pulling out a small 'Noteputer, Brown connected to the panel and began cycling through authorization codes that he'd been given for this mission until the panel cycled and flashed green, the door sliding open as if it were welcoming him home.

    "We're in," Brown pulled a data core out of his backpack and began loading it with data from the system, the system decrypting the data in the process.

    "Stop moving," Victor's voice whispered in Brown's ears. "You've got a couple of robes headed in your direction."

    Brown carefully slipped into the darkness of the room, his suit blending in as a pair of acolytes glanced around before sliding the door open.

    "You're sure we won't be found in here?" One of the pair asked.

    "I'm sure," the man grinned. "No one comes down here except for the routine maintenance. There's not going to be anyone coming here for a while."

    "Good," the woman shirked off her robe, revealing an ill-maintained figure underneath. "That means we can finish what we started earlier in the Precentor's office."


    –
    –

    "And this is the message composition section," Acolyte Jackson finished, his eyes traveling over the group. "When you're done with your messages, simply hit 'send' and we'll collect them so that they can go out with the day's message cycle."

    "Everything go well?" the woman whispered to Brown.

    Brown simply gave a small nod, a pained look on his face.

    The group then acted like the usual HPG customers, they recorded their messages, and detailed who they were to send it to. The SLIC tech they used to connect to said computers meant that the messages were never actually sent, but to the Comstar Acolytes rendering assistance, nothing was wrong or off.

    The Terran Hegemony Agents disappeared as they had left, leaving no signs that they were ever there aside from the memories of the people who had seen them. And memories? They were unreliable, at best. At the worst? They wouldn't be able to identify anything more than the features that were commonly shared among the people of Carver V.

    "You get the data?" Major Capell asked once they had all returned to the Messenger.

    "Yeah," Brown shuddered. "We got the data. But it'll take time to go through it and understand it. Even if we did manage to get it decrypted.

    "We'll have the analysts that we brought with us begin going over it. We need to know the state of things in the Inner Sphere."





    Date: July 1, 2856
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    "My name is Staff Sergeant Matthews! But you will call me Drill instructor, or Sergeant," a man paced in front of the motley group of nobles and civilians. "Let me be the first to welcome you into the reborn Terran Hegemony Armed Forces!" he yelled at the group of civilians who were now dedicating their lives to the military. "Now, I will be perfectly clear. I do not care which noble family you are from, I don't care about what your home life was like, and I do not care, about your Goddamned feelings!

    "I will be offensive, I will be fucking vulgar, and I will not give a lone solitary fuck how you feel about it. My job is to transform you from sacks of shit, and into soldiers. I will tell you to do things that you don't understand, I will break you physically, and maybe mentally. But the end result will be the best group of soldiers that the Inner Sphere has ever seen. Am I understood?"

    "Yes sir!"

    "Instructors Rodriguez and Ortega will be instructing you on the proper stance of attention. You will treat my words as if they were from God himself, and their words as if from his Prophets."

    –
    –

    "I thought Matthews was dead," Hazen glanced at Colonel Schmitt. "He'd retired and everything."

    "Nah," Hanni grinned. "He retired and then got bored. So transferred to the Marines, and was stationed aboard the Tripitz when the Fat Bastard started everything up."

    "And now he's back in his element," Elizabeth Hazen looked at the group doing push-ups. "You know that he'll break them, right?"

    "I want him to break them," Colonel Schmitt replied. "The difference is, that I don't just want him to break them. I want him to rebuild them into something that will withstand the future. Elizabeth," Hanni turned to face the young woman. "Regardless of what's happening in the Inner Sphere, what we do here in Bolthole, will make the difference for our people. And we need the Camerons with their heads on straight. We cannot afford another Richard Cameron. So we need Elizabeth to be smart, experienced, and above all else, centered. We're putting her through Boot Camp so that she develops the discipline that Richard lacked. We're tutoring her in politics because Richard was a Dick, and refused to listen to advice or wisdom. The Cameron's very legacy and survival rely on us getting this right the first time. We are not going to get another chance here. The stakes are too high for us to fuck it up."

    "What do you need me to do, Colonel?" Hazen snapped to attention.

    "Start running preparedness drills. Both for attack and defense. We're going to need our people ready to do either at a moment's notice."

    "And what will you be doing?"

    "Me?" Hanni turned. "The Black Watch is the Opfor for those exercises. Once you've gotten them started, you need to mount up. We're going to have some fun."
     
    • Chapter III
    • Chapter III​

    Date: August 10, 2856
    Location: Caph Jump point

    “Capellans managed to take a lot more clay than I expected,” Major Capell sighed as he looked through the reports of what Caph looked like now. “There’s no point in stopping here. Caph isn’t much more than a piece of dirt right now, the factories, the people, everything is just… destroyed. The planet is a ruin, and we’re going to have to rebuild it eventually. But for now, we’re going to have to bypass it.”

    “So where do we go next then?” Lieutenant Brown asked.

    “We’ll head on over to Northwind,” Bryn replied. “There are a few things that we need to check on there. And, it’s controlled by the Federated Suns at the moment. So while you and the analysts finish going over the data we pulled from that HPG complex, I’ll be doing some ‘tourism’ while Team Two hits this HPG complex. I want to see if we can compare and contrast the data sets. See if things are compartmentalized or shared along the HPG network.”

    “Understood, Major. Am I cleared to know what it is that we’re going to be looking for down on Northwind? Or is it need to know?”

    “Need to know for now, Lieutenant. Just know that it’s something that will help us out in restoring the Hegemony.”

    Bryn locked eyes with Michael, a serious look in his eyes.

    “Lieutenant, if what we’ve found out so far is true, we’re outnumbered, outgunned, and are now weaker than the Outworlds Alliance. We have neither the size nor the numbers to wage a conventional war if it is needed. And we definitely don’t have the power to force any of the Star League member states to do anything. What we do have, is the element of surprise, and a little bit of time. So, we’re going to find all of the dirty little secrets, we’re going to check every last hole in the ground that DoME dug and filled with military gear. And even a few that DoME wasn’t responsible for. Jonathon Cameron was a paranoid bastard. But now, I’m starting to wonder if maybe he was right to be paranoid. I doubt that we have all of the intel on the sites that were hidden akin to Bolthole.”

    “So there’s something useful on Northwind,” Michael nodded. “That’s all I needed to know, sir. I’ll finish crunching this data and summarize things into a report.”

    “We jump in two days, if you manage to finish it by the time we make landfall on Northwind, you can accompany me to the location where I’m going to be inspecting. If it’s even there at all.”

    “We’ll get it done.”






    Date: August 15, 2856
    Location: Bolthole

    “What are your orders, Colonel?” Captain Daksha asked the woman who had boarded the SLS Spicer and was standing on the other side of his desk. “At this point, we’re basically sitting here in the system doing nothing but running drills to keep sharp.”

    “I want you to go take a peek at a couple of off-the-books systems,” Colonel Schmitt’s eyes glinted with mirth. “There are a couple of secrets that were hidden away not just for the Camerons to be hidden away. But for a… Resurgence if you will. So, I’m going to give you a list of several locations that I want you to head to, if there’s anyone there not loyal to the Hegemony…. Well, you’ll be in command, but it would be best if they were not allowed to leave the systems. For their safety, as well as for ours.”

    “I’ll take the Blue Quest and secure one system at a time,” Daksha replied. “I assume that I’ll need some ground forces though.”

    “I can spare a mixed battalion,” Hanni responded. “We currently don’t have enough to do more than that and remain secure here in Bolthole. Once Major Capell returns with intel, we’ll be able to piece together more on what forces might be loyal to the Hegemony and the SLDF.”

    “I understand,” Daksha nodded. “Give me the coordinates and I’ll see to it that it is done.”

    “Major Hazen will accompany you. She possesses the coordinates and HPG frequencies that are able to reach Bolthole. Without them, you will not be able to return.”

    “One day, you will have to allow us to possess the astrogation data,” Daksha shook his head as he smiled a bit. “I understand OpSec, but this is a bit much.”

    “I disagree,” Schmitt replied. “After all, it’s the reason that we are alive today. Anyway, let us discuss the system of Luyten 68-28…”






    “Sir, the Marines are reporting they’ve captured a Yardship and the facilities that were in the process of repairing said yardship. All hands have surrendered, there was minimal resistance.”

    “Good,” Captain Daksha looked at the command display. “Have the Blue Quest move in and prepare to drop ground forces on the facilities on Luyten. I don’t want a single message getting out that we are here.”

    “Understood,” Major Hazen replied. “We’ll make sure it gets done.”

    “Oh, and Major,” Daksha turned. “If they react anything like the people up here did, we might have some new recruits to add to our forces.”

    “We’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?” Elizabeth asked as she left the bridge and headed for a shuttle.

    After transferring to the Blue Quest, the Major made her way to the dropships that were attached to the vessel. Bolthole was an old project, so it didn’t have a bunch of new hardware, but it did have a small fleet of dropships that had been parked and mothballed for use. Restoring a Union and a Triumph had been light work for the technicians.

    “You ready?” Elizabeth asked Jack, the reactivated Black Watch member acting as her XO for this operation.

    “It’s been a while,” the man grinned. “But I think I’m still good enough.”

    “Good,” Hazen replied. “I’m trusting you to watch my back out there.”

    “I’m a deft hand in an Phoenix Hawk,” Jack laughed. “I’ve got you covered, Major.”

    “You know, one day I’ll get the story of why you passed up being the CO out of you.”

    “You can try,” Jack replied as he headed for the gantries. “But I’m not sure you’ll be able to find any answers.”


    –
    –



    “You ever wonder why we got stationed here?” Acolyte James Durante asked his partner as they walked the halls of this dead-end post. “I mean, we just sit here and monitor the aging ships that are floating up there. Even the few people that are trying to repair and salvage some of them don’t do much.”

    “Look,” Jane Agnis sighed. “I know why I’m here. And I think I just figured out why you ended up here too. I got shipped here because I’m too honest for my own good and I don’t brownnose well enough to get promoted. You, you’re here because you don’t know how to keep your mouth shut.”

    “I can keep secrets!” James protested.

    “Yeah, but you never stop fucking talking,” Jane turned around and glared at the man. “You’re always chattering about stuff. And that would be fine If you could read the room and know when to shut up. But no, instead, you take silence as us accepting it and you, keep talking instead!”

    “Ouch,” James tried to play off the pain that he felt at her accusations. “I thought we were friends.”

    “We are,” Jane sighed as she calmed down. “I’m just frustrated and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

    As the two began heading back into the main complex from their checks on the automated greenhouses the red flash of lights cut through the twilight as the air raid sirens began to sound off as a group of dropships began landing.

    “Are we under attack?!” James asked.

    “Looks like,” Jane’s voice turned to ice. “But if we are, it looks like it’s Zombie Kerensky. Because that’s a ship painted in SLDF colors and with the Cameron Star painted on it.”

    “Well, shit.”
     
    • Chapter IV
    • Chapter IV​


    Date: August 23, 2856
    Location: Luyten 68-28


    “Two Yardships, that are about halfway repaired,” Captain Daksha began. “And an entire fleet of SLDF warships that are near scuttled wrecks. Aside from one or two of the least damaged, it will take years, if not decades to repair the fleet here. So I hope that you have some good news, Major. Because this was not what we had hoped for.”

    “Thankfully, only a handful of the people on the ground were combatants, and they all surrendered quickly,” Elizabeth began. “We also managed to capture the head of the facility. We’re waiting to see the results of a soft interrogation before we make any judgments though.”

    “The preliminary questions that we’ve been asking have been positive though,” The lone Terran Hegemony Intelligence officer spoke up. “It seems that this was the station where careers went to ‘die’ for lack of a better term.”

    “We need more people,” Elizabeth replied. “So we’re beginning a solid vetting process. The plan is to cycle them back to Bolthole while we arrange for this ‘Comstar’ to continue getting their regularly scheduled reports.”

    “And when they inevitably send more people here?” Daksha asked.

    “Then we get more recruits,” Elizabeth shrugged. “We’ll have to leave that part of the plan for later, for now, we have to focus on what’s right in front of us. For now, this site is secured, and we have the engineers to continue repairing the yardships in the bays.”

    “But we don’t have the crews for them,” Daksha sighed. “We face something that we’ve never experienced in our time in the military. A lack of manpower.”





    Date: September 1, 2856
    Location: Halifax City Northwind, Federated Suns

    “We are going to have to hold you folks for a bit,” a uniformed man in Davion colors informed Major Capell and Lieutenant Brown. “It normally wouldn’t be much of a problem, but given the Capellans have been advancing, we’re a bit on the defensive as of late.”

    “That’s fine,” Capell replied. “Can you give me a timeframe on when we’d be allowed to go hiking a bit?”

    “Hiking? In this weather?” The Davion glanced out the window at the snowstorm outside.

    “Look, this is something of a pilgrimage for me and my brother. Our grandparents were from Northwind, and we’re hoping to see if their old house is still there in the mountains.”

    “This blizzard’s supposed to last for the rest of the week,” the officer sighed. “If nothing comes back in the negative, you’ll be free to travel once the local governments give an all-clear.”

    “That’s all I needed to know, thank you for your time, mister?”

    “Oak, Francis Oak.”

    “Then me and my brother will get out of your hair, I’m certain that you have other things to do.”

    “Welcome to Northwind,” Francis smiled. “Enjoy your stay.”

    “So, it looks like we’re going to have to bunk on the Messenger for a little while,” the two men stepped back onto the aerodyne dropship. “That gives us more time to go over and make reports on the intel that we pulled from Comstar’s databanks. The more that we get done here, the less we have to do when it comes to the future.”

    “Right,” Goldstein sighed and rubbed at eyes with deep bags underneath them. “I’ve finished decrypting the few files that were hidden and encrypted. I also sorted the remaining files in order of what looked like priority communiques or information. Now, I’m going to pass out for the next twenty-four hours. The rest of you can have fun looking everything over.”

    “Don’t look at me,” Brown glanced at Capell. “I finished the work that I was assigned, you’ve got the report on your desk. But there’s a lot more data than we expected to pull. It’s as if Comstar trusts in their encryption matrices above any enemy's ability to crack them.”

    “Something to do later when we establish a solid profile.”

    Bryn grabbed a ‘Noteputer and began going over data with the analysts and THIC agents. If he was going to be stuck here for a little while, he might as well be productive.

    –
    –


    “So, we’re going in full cover I guess,” Brown looked at the half-meter snow that covered the ground outside of the dropship. “Otherwise we’d rent a snowmobile or something.”

    “Something like that,” Bryn stepped out of a nearby cabin, dressed in warm winter clothes with a nice set of boots on. “Make sure you’ve got layers on and that your bag’s packed. You’ll need your SLDF ID and a firearm or two if we get hit by any ambush predators out there. We’re going to have to bus out to a town called Shawshank, and then we’ll hike out from there.”

    “This is going to suck, isn’t it?”

    “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be known to the Black Watch.”

    The two men then left the dropship and headed out of the spaceport, Teams One and Two would hit the HPG while they were gone to collect more data points. But Major Capell and Lieutenant Brown had another task to do, and it lay in the frozen and cold wastes of the nearby mountains.

    “So, are we really going to grandma’s house?” Michael asked once they had gotten off of the bus in Shawshank and begun walking up into the mountain range.

    “Kinda,” Bryn replied. “It’s half code, and half truth. One of the founding members of the Black Watch retired to Northwind about a century or so back. But the thing is, you never really retire from the Black Watch. You simply know too much for that to be allowed. So, she became what we call ‘Grandmother’. And the plot of land she bought was turned into something a bit more useful.”

    “Useful, how?” Brown quirked an eyebrow.

    “You’ll see when we get to the cabin. If it’s still there, that is.”

    So they plodded on through the snow for a few days and nights, and the local star warmed them slightly even if it wasn’t hot enough to begin melting the snow.

    “We’re about a kilometer away now,” Bryn finally spoke.

    “And we hiked out here, why?”

    “Because we’re not casting suspicion on ourselves by doing it this way,” Bryn shrugged. “The last thing we want is for MIIO or the Capellans to catch wind of us. So we’re doing things slow and methodically.”

    “Still, this is a lot of hiking for one facility,” Brown sighed. “I figured it’d be shorter than this.”

    “It’s just up ahead,” Capell grinned. “We’ll be there shortly and then you’ll see why it was hidden out in the middle of nowhere.”

    –
    –

    “It’s a log cabin,” Michael deadpanned. “You brought me out here for a lone solitary log cabin.”

    “It’s nicely furnished though!” Bryn patted the other man on the back before heading to the ancient liquor cabinet. “They’ve got some nice stuff here too, 2750 Glengarry Reserve? Man, that stuff has a nice kick to it.”

    “Please tell me we didn’t come all this way for a bottle of liquor?” Michael sighed.

    “Nope,” Bryn pressed his thumb against a panel inside of the liquor cabinet, a few minutes later, the sound of an automatic door sliding open was heard. “Come on, help me move this out of the way.”

    The two of them picked up the beframe and moved it to reveal a small hatch in the concrete.

    “Shouldn’t someone have found this by now?” Brown asked.

    “Not likely,” Capell shook his head. “This thing is shielded from pretty much every form of scanning known to mankind. And if you’re in the bunker underneath, then anything aside from a direct nuclear strike will be shrugged off.”

    “And down the rabbit hole, Alice went.”






    “Look, I just want to know where you’re taking us,” Jane Agnis repeated as she was escorted onto a dropship. “I’m not going to fight or struggle, but if you’re planning on killing us, why go to all of this trouble?”

    “Kill you?” A man clad in a Black SLDF uniform raised an eyebrow. “No, we’re just making sure that you can’t communicate with your superiors. Everything will be explained once you reach your destination.”

    “Conclusion,” James Durante muttered behind her. “We’re fucked and going to die horrendously.”

    “I don’t think that’s quite it,” Jane whispered back. “They’ve not hurt any of us since the Precentor surrendered. And they’ve been disciplined as well. Not like what we’ve seen from the Capellans or Kuritans.”

    “I’m just saying, this is just like the tactics the Maskirovka use back home. They lull you into a sense of security, and then, when you least expect it, there are cuffs and you’re thrown in the Gulag.”

    “Hey, you two,” the uniformed soldier addressed the two of them. “The Major wants to speak to you.”

    “Why?” Jane asked. “I’m simply a janitor and maintenance person.”

    “Because Major Hazen just got to look through the personnel files. And both of your names came up. So I’m going to escort you both to the Precentor’s office. You’re not going out on the Abyss. You’re staying here, along with the rest of the people whose names were flagged.”

    “Great,” James sighed. “Whelp, forced labor for life it is. Let’s go ahead and get it over with.”

    “Moron,” Jane chuckled. “I think things are going to be just fine.”

    Edit in place of Author's Note: The total number of people that the Hegemony Remnants have at their disposal numbers around 5k. That's in total. So they don't exactly have a lot of ability to take and hold territory at the moment.
     
    Last edited:
    • Chapter V
    • Let Us Unite: Chapter V


    “Welcome to Grandma’s house,” Bryn flipped a switch, bright lights flickering on as an old fusion engine rumbled to life.

    “Holy shit,” Lieutenant Brown swore as the hallway opened up into a vast cavern. “You dug up the motherfucking mountain.”

    “Not exactly,” Bryn shrugged. “This was one of DoME’s projects long before we built the connecting tunnel from the cabin. What started as an evacuation city and underground aquifer was soon repurposed for a training and intel-gathering facility. Technically, ‘Grandma’s House’ is just the cabin that leads to this facility. The training portion of the facility,” his hand waved over at the underground city that was lit up and showing in the distance. “Is called the Black Watch School of Urban Combat. But we generally just called it the ‘School’. But we’re not here for School, we’re here for something else entirely.”

    So the two men began moving through the facility, the Lieutenant taking in everything with a look of awe as the broad spaces of the cavern began to narrow. With helpful maps and signs explaining what certain locations were.

    “This facility spent forty years being expanded,” Bryn explained. “We wanted to make sure that our training and intelligence was top-notch. Unfortunately, all of the training and intelligence in the world matter little if the very person that you’re charged to protect is a fool.”

    Then they finally reached the far section of the facility, the sign on the floor and above the doorway helpfully indicating that this was the ‘Computer Room’.

    “Welcome to the Batcave,” Bryn snickered as the door slid open, revealing a massive computer with a multitude of screens. “Or at least that’s what I always called it.”

    “I don’t actually get that reference, sir,” Lieutenant Michael Brown raised his eyebrow. “Why would you call anything a Batcave?”

    “Uncultured swine,” Bryn shook his head as he moved to the computer and pulled a small sheet off of the chair, dust falling to the ground before he shifted to do the same to the computer screens. “Dust, it doesn’t matter where you are, it gets everywhere.”

    “So what’s special about this computer? Why is this one more important than any of the others?”

    “For one thing,” Bryn’s fingers began flying across the keys as he navigated menus and began opening several screens. “It’s an observation device that’s tied into every single one of the major planetary systems in place. Including the HPG that’s here, so it’s been collecting data since the fall of the Terran Hegemony.”

    Michael’s eyes widened as he realized what that meant.

    “Also, there’s one other thing that this computer has access to,” Bryn stood up, moved to a nearby storage container, and began pulling out a data storage device. “While Bolthole has a Prometheus Core, this has something a bit different,” the Major plugged the device into the computer and began downloading the data before standing up and wiping his hands off. “It has all of the old data that both the SLIC and THIC gathered from all of the nation-states that existed before the Fat Bastard tried to kill us all.”

    “What do you mean data gathered from the nation states?” Brown asked.

    “It’d take a while to explain,” Bryn shrugged. “It’d be so much easier if you actually understood what I meant when I said Batcave.”






    “Everyone on the line!” Drill Instructor Shane Matthews yelled, the barracks room echoing as the recruits stumbled out of bed and put their heels on the back of the yellow line. “It seems that some of us, have decided that lights out means we can do whatever the fuck it is that we want!”

    He walked back and forth, eyeing each of the recruits, his eyes blazing with fury.

    “I am here to remind you, that your time, does not belong to you! No, all of your time belongs to me. And then, after I am done with you. If someone should decide to grant you liberty, then, and only then, will you be allowed to have your own time. And because someone decided to sneak out of the barracks, we will now be training!”

    “Put your PT gear the fuck on!” the other two Drill Instructors moved through. “Hurry up!” Sanchez glared. “Get out of my fucking barracks, now!”

    “Yes ma’am!”

    After the recruits had headed out into the darkness of the early morning, Matthews pulled the last of the three Drill instructors to the side.

    “Take them through the anti-mech courses,” he ordered the younger man. “I’ll meet you there.”

    “Understood, Staff Sergeant.”

    After the room had emptied, the old man sighed and glanced around at the barracks, removing his cover and scratching his bald head for a moment before setting the ‘Smokey Bear’ back down and reseating it.

    “It wouldn’t do to let them think I’m anything less than invincible,” Matthews groaned before setting his expression and heading out at a jog. He had over half of the recruits convinced that he had superpowers. And it wouldn’t do for the rest to be unconvinced.

    –
    –

    “Today you will be running anti-mech drills!” Matthews stepped out of the darkness, surprising the recruits as his voice boomed throughout the field. “You know your positions, now move!”

    “Cameron!” the Recruit platoon leader yelled. “You’re in charge of Bravo, I want you to flank around to the south!”

    “Copy that, “ the young woman replied, turning and issuing orders to the men and women that were under her command. “Everyone grab an SRM, we’re going to need to hit it all at once.”

    Half of the group of twelve grabbed the launchers, the other half each grabbing a backpack of reloads and swinging it onto their backs before following the Cameron around.

    “Wait for it,” Elizabeth muttered as she pulled a missile out of the pack and loaded it into the launcher. “It doesn’t know that we’re here yet.”

    As she spoke, the Wasp turned around, its searchlight scanning the perimeter.

    “Get down, hug the earth,” the squad laid down in the muddy ground of the training area, their drab green blending in as the searchlight passed over them, the torso of the ‘Mech turning before it stomped towards a squad that wasn’t as well hidden.

    “Its back is turned, hit it in the rear armor once you’ve got good sight acquisition,” Elizabeth ordered, shifting to a position to help with reloading the launcher.

    When the Wasp had focused on the other squad, Elizabeth gave the order, and the six manpack SRMs left the manpack launchers, four of the six missiles rocked the light ‘mech forward, the pain rounds shattering red against the rear.

    “Reload and hit it again!” the teams reloaded and fired the launchers one more time before falling back and into a bombed-out crater that was full of mud from last week’s rain.

    “Stay still,” Elizabeth dragged one of her squadmates into the crater and the mud.

    The light ‘Mech had ignited its jump jets and moved to where it thought the missiles had come from, its legs stomping next to the crater as it moved past.

    “Reload,” Elizabeth ordered. “Hit it again while it’s close.”

    The missiles fired again and when they hit, a flare was launched out over the field, the bright light creating what felt like a second sun in the sky.

    “The scenario is ended!” Sanchez called out. “Fall in for debrief!”






    “Staff Sergeant,” Colonel Schmitt leaned forward across her desk. “How is the training of our civilians going?”

    “Surprisingly well,” the man scratched the center of his balding head. “I think being attacked in the palace must have lit a fire underneath our Director-General-to-be’s ass. Because she’s thrown herself into training, and while I didn’t make her platoon leader, she’s distinguishing herself very well as the 2IC. We’re about to move on from basic infantryman’s training and into more technical skills.”

    “Do you think that she’ll be ready for actual combat?”

    “I think that it will be necessary. If she’s not willing to become blooded and learn how the forces work, I think that you’ll have a bunch of different folks deciding that the Camerons are dead and gone and that there should be a new dynasty in place.”

    “That’s treason, Matthews,” Hanni glared.

    “It’s the truth, Hanni, and you know it,” Shane sighed. “I’m old enough to remember what Jonathon Cameron was like, and just how far Richard fell from the tree that was his father. Richard took all of the hard work his father did and not only spat on it but stomped it flat into the ground. So don’t give me that bullshit. I’m Black Watch too, and if not for the sheer tenacity and fucking grit that Elizabeth is displaying in training I’d have given up on the entire dynasty and stayed retired.”

    He paused, a scowl on his face as he looked out the window at the gorgeous skies of Bolthole.

    “Hanni, we’re going to turn her into a wartime leader. And it’s going to kill every ounce of innocence that remains in her soul. God have mercy on us. But if we don’t, then the future of the Terran Hegemony and the Star League dies right here and now.”

    “Fuck me,” Hanni leaned back in her chair before standing up and heading to a nearby cabinet. “I’m getting a drink, what’s your poison?”

    “Whiskey.”

    The current leader of the Hegemony armed forces in the system pulled out two decanters and poured the golden liquor into them,

    “We’re going to hell. You know that, right?”

    “Heh. That would require us dying first. And last time I checked, ain’t nobody managed it yet.”

    “To the Black Watch, too angry to die!”

    “Amen.”

    The glasses were clanked together as the officer and noncom turned to look at the work being done around them.

    “We got a preliminary report from Major Capell,” Schmitt finally spoke as she sipped her whiskey.

    “And?” Matthews straightened up in his chair.

    “It’s both worse and better than we had ever expected. The Star League, it’s shattered, just like we predicted. Only difference is that none of the predicted factions formed. So they’re all at each other’s throats. There’s destruction on a scale that we never expected. And worlds are missing, or even just gone. The Hegemony? Its pieces are scattered to the winds of the various nations. We have our work cut out for us if we want to reestablish the full nation that we hail from.”

    “If it were easy,” Matthews grinned as he tossed back the last of his whiskey and stood up.

    “Then it wouldn’t be Black Watch,” Hanni responded to the adage. “Where are you going?”

    “To finish training the Black Watch candidates down there,” Matthews’s grin turned savage. “I’ve been gone for a couple of hours, and their classroom time is up. Which means that it’s time for me to make an appearance.”

    “Keep me posted.”

    “Wilco, Colonel,” he opened the door before looking over his head. “They haven’t beaten us yet, and as long as we draw breath, the Hegemony lives. It was never the planets, it’s the people that dwelt within the nation. I’ll do my best to remind our Director-General that soldiers, politicians, and public servants are just that. Servants of the people. But while I do my job, I need you to get things ready. Because Elizabeth Cameron isn’t going to want to remain still. She’s got a fire, and is going to need something to do.”

    “Understood, Sergeant,” Hanni nodded. “Now you should get to your recruits. I’m sure they’re missing your guidance already...”
     
    • Chapter VI
    • Chapter VI​

    Date: October 15, 2856
    Location: Bolthole, Terran Hegemony

    “Major, we’ve been over the data you’ve gathered so far,” Colonel Schmitt glanced at the man sitting across the desk from her. “We’re altering your mission slightly.”

    “I’m ready for whatever you need, Colonel,” Capell locked eyes with his CO. “Just give the word, ma’am.”

    “We went through the data and found all of the units that used to be sworn to the Star League and Terran Hegemony,” Hanni interlaced her fingers as she smiled. “While you’re on your intelligence gathering operations, you’re to begin seeding the HPG complexes with an automated program. Said program will send a message to each of said units with a message to each of them. We’ve already built the program and set the date, it is up to you to execute and be in Echo system waiting for their arrival.”

    “And if things go wrong?” Bryn asked.

    “We will have the Blue Quest on standby waiting for any potential issues,” The Colonel replied. “But first, we need the message sent and your mission carried out.”
    “Do you have a specific date in mind for me to get to Echo?” Bryn asked. “Because that will dictate the pace and locations that I conduct my operations in.”

    “You have until the end of March,” Hanni glanced at a nearby calendar. “That should give the first group enough time to reach Echo.”

    “I’ll get moving then,” Capell stood up and saluted the Colonel. “Was there anything else, ma’am?”

    “No, you’ve already given me your vocal and written reports. That will be all, Major. Godspeed.”

    –
    –

    “Brown, get your people together,” Major Capell walked into the THIC personnel’s barracks. “We’ve got shit to do.”

    “Where are we headed, major?”

    “We’re going to finish our SIGINT gathering mission, and we’re also going to be embedding preprogrammed messages to be sent via the HPG after we leave. Full briefing will be conducted en route.”






    Date: November 17, 2856
    Location: Hilton Head, Terra

    “Anything get flagged by the system today?” Adept Roman asked, a cup of coffee in his hand.

    “Nothing aside from the usual combat deployments and such,” a robed Acolyte responded. “Lot of Mercenary groups are getting holiday messages this year though.”

    “More than usual?” Roman asked.

    “Not really,” the Acolyte shook his head. “Only unusual thing is that the senders wanted to remain anonymous.”

    “Ignore that for now,” Roman leaned over to glance at the message’s contents. “We need to focus on what the House Lords are attempting now. Precentor ROM has instructed us to focus on the Federated Suns. If we can leak information to the Draconis Combine, then we may be able to shift the course of the war, ensure that things happen in such a way that is favorable to keeping all of the Successor states at war with each other.”

    “Yes, adept,” the Acolyte closed out the message and began analyzing the current communications from Federated Suns worlds. “Shifting focus to the Federated Suns.”






    Date: December 24, 2856
    Location: Free Worlds League

    “I have still not decided who among you is to succeed me,” an old man rasped, his body turned away and facing out of the window of the hospital room that he was currently confined in. “As it currently stands, you will have to decide whom among you is to replace me once I pass away.”

    The assembled senior officers of the Eridani Light Horse simply stood in silence as the man turned his wheelchair around and considered the four regimental COs that were present.

    As the old man opened his mouth to speak again though, a knock sounded on the door and the Old man’s aid stepped through, a sheet of paper in his hand as he knelt down beside the wheelchair-bound Colonel and whispered into his ear.

    The Colonel unfolded the note and frowned, an eyebrow rising as he noted the cipher that was on the letter.

    “Lieutenant, get my notebook,” Colonel Bradley instructed, holding out a wrinkled hand to accept the leather-bound book.

    The Old man took a pen from the book and began writing down the solution to the cipher, the letters now sorted in the proper way before he nodded.

    There, underneath the original letters, was written the full message in detail, and while short, it had enough information for him to make a decision.

    “Does the Eridani Light Horse still hold to their oaths?”

    Underneath that short note, was a set of coordinates as well as the symbol of the Royal Black Watch.

    “Begin preparing the unit to leave,” Bradley ordered. “Lieutenant, arrange a meeting with our Mercenary Liaison. Our contract and time among the Free Worlds League is over.”






    Date: December 24, 2856
    Location: Perkasie

    “Colonel Brighton, I’ve got a message from the local HPG complex intended for you,” a junior officer entered the Blue Star Irregulars office.

    “Well?” the old man raised an eyebrow. “Spit it out, Subaltern.”

    “It’s a printout, sir,” the officer opened a small bag before handing the letter over. “The Comstar people had no idea who it was from though.”

    The Colonel sighed and accepted the sheet of paper, his gray eyebrows arching as he read through it before opening a drawer on his desk and pulling out a faded notebook.

    Flipping through it, he nodded at his shorthand before taking a pen and beginning to write on the paper, the cipher revealing a message.

    “Does the 1894th Light Horse Regiment Still hold to their oaths?”

    With a shaking hand, the Colonel wrote the coordinates into his notebook in a shorthand he had devised long ago before setting the paper on fire, the ashes falling into the ash tray on his desk.

    “I need to speak with the Avatars and the 21st Rim Worlds,” Brighton muttered. “Then we begin to move.”

    A similar scenario played out across the Inner Sphere, with the aging officers of many units receiving a message and responding to it, or their younger replacements simply ignoring it because they didn’t understand what it meant. But all across the nations, mercenaries and House units began to move, slowly and steadily, before finally vanishing from the ‘Sphere as a whole…
     
    • Chapter VII
    • Chapter VII​

    Date: July 1, 2857
    Location: Hilton Head, Terra

    “You mean to tell me that twelve to fifteen regiments of both house units and mercenaries have vanished into the ether?” Precentor Rom asked, a scowl adorning his face as he glared at the team that was supposed to monitor these sorts of situations. “We had plans to break up any attempts at peace that were made in the next decade. But instead, What has happened is that the Davions took the loss of mercenary groups as a reason to push into the offensive. The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation has been captured along with St. Ives. The Draconis Combine nearly pushed through to New Avalon before being stopped at Markesan. We had a precarious Balance in the Inner Sphere. One that we were careful to maintain so that no singular nation was dominant over the other. But with the push of the Combine, the Lyran Commonwealth and Free Worlds League have agreed to a tentative peace. And all of this is because none of you thought the movement of mercenaries important enough to bring to my attention!”

    The Precentor paused, his face red as he inhaled to continue.

    “The Inner Sphere stands upon a precipice,” he stopped yelling. “And we had every opportunity to change that. Instead, what we are left with is a scenario that is worse than the worst case that we had planned for. In a decade we would have fed intel to the Fedsuns that would allow them to retake Robinson, and the status quo would have been maintained.”

    Precentor ROM then sat down in a chair and faced them.

    “I had been hoping that this was all an elaborate prank or joke, but instead, I am left to pick up the pieces of your failures. With that said, you are being replaced with more reliable personnel. While I do not consider this failure enough for death, it does mean that your future in our organization is limited. You will all be transferred to areas where you can do no more harm to us in the future. Leave your work behind, we will need all your data to unfuck this situation.”

    ROM turned and nodded to the security on standby and they moved in to escort the failures out of the facility.

    “Sir, is there anything I can do to help you?”

    “No. I’ll get some caffeine and painkillers into my system to deal with this migraine, and then I’ll rest once we’ve found a way out of this Clusterfuck.”





    Date: April 1, 2857
    Location: Classified….

    “Remember people, we’re here to end this war between us and the Capellan Confederation,” Rebecca Davion looked at the rest of the command staff. “I’m aware that the snakes have pushed us back, and we have plans to retake Robinson and all of the worlds lost to them, But if we want to accomplish that, we need to remove one of the fronts of this war.”

    “Field Marshal,” the XO stepped forward. “If I may lay out the plan?”

    “Go ahead,” Rebecca nodded.

    “MIIO has reliable intel that the Chancellor is on world. That means that we’re going to face opposition on a level that we haven’t in years. Our goal is to not just punch holes through their defenses, and then exploit the holes.”

    “Lighter elements will be pushing through with flanking maneuvers and leading the Capellans into ambushes where our heavier tonnage is,” Rebecca spoke up, the display showing the overall plan.

    “Battalions are to operate independently if communications are lost. If there are no communications after a week, fall back to the dropships and get off world.”

    “Any detailed plans have already been handed to you on one-time pads. Open them after the jump and prepare to execute them.”

    “Yes ma’am!”





    Date: Sometime in June… 2857
    Location: System designated as ‘Echo’ by the Terran Hegemony…


    “Bradley, you stubborn sonuvabitch! It’s been far too long!” Colonel Brighton of the Blue Star Irregulars grinned at the wheelchair-bound man. “I thought you were dead and passed on the torch.”

    “Not yet,” Bradley replied. “Not after that message.”

    “What did your cipher say?” Brighton asked, a curious gleam in his eye. “Mine wasn’t specifically tailored to me, but I also wasn’t a senior officer when we retook Terra.”

    “I believe they avoided the specifics for a good reason,” Bradley pulled the letter that he’d secured in his ancient notebook. “But after the question, there was a reference that was only known to people who were colonels in the SLDF.”

    “So you believe that it’s the truth?” Brighton sat down. “I’ve been dealing with senior staff who have asked questions of me on this at every turn. And I don’t even want to talk about the dependents.”

    “I believe that we will find out soon enough,” Bradley pressed the letter back into his notebook before securing it in a satchel on his chair.

    “I suppose you’re right,” Brighton sighed. “But the anticipation is worse than when I was in training waiting to see my first ‘Mech.”

    A few minutes of silence passed by as both of the old men allowed their thoughts to drift off to different times long past.

    “Colonels,” Bradley's aide stepped into the room. “A Warship just appeared in the system, her registry shows her to be the SLS Spicer.”

    “She was considered lost with all hands at the beginning of the coup,” Bradley wiped a solitary tear from his eye. “Did they send any transmissions?”

    “Just for the leaders of every unit to approach and either shuttle in or begin docking procedures with dropships.”

    “I assume that you will wish to travel together,” Bradley turned to Brighton.

    “Aye,” Brighton replied, standing up and making way to the nearby viewport where you could see the Warship in the distance, its bulk dwarfing all of the jumpships around. “If I remember correctly, the Spicer only has six collars. We’ll have to share. Especially given some of these units are battalion size or smaller.”

    “There have been many old companions meeting here in the system,” Bradley wheeled over. “I imagine that many of us will be sharing rides to see what awaits us.”
     
    Last edited:
    • Chapter VIII New
    • Chapter VIII​

    Location: SLS Spicer, System Echo

    It was as if a subdued song were playing in the background as the trio of ex-SLDF colonels boarded the Warship. The Star League and Terran Hegemony flags were lit, but the colors seemed muted and faded. The Cameron Star’s silver sheen dulled to dark steel as if it had been bloodied and hastily cleaned. The Golden Starburst of the Hegemony had dulled to a dark and dirty yellow instead of a brilliant gold.

    The three were directed to the Grav deck and stopped when they entered. There, waiting for them, as if it were a dream, was the head of the Goddamned Black Watch. And beside her was a young woman wearing a plain SLDF uniform with no rank pins or insignia aside from the Cameron Star upon her collar.

    Bradley paused, his wheelchair stopping as he wiped a tear from his face.

    “You got old,” Hanni smiled gently at the leader of the Eridani Light Horse.

    “And you didn’t age a day,” Bradley tried to smile through the tears that had begun streaming down his face. “I almost didn’t believe the message. It hurts so much… To have hope. But I’m an old man. And I needed that chance to survive.”

    “I know that hope can be hard,” Hanni knelt and helped wipe tears away. “But you don’t get to give up yet, Ezra. You are still needed. And I’ll be damned if you die in a few months because you’ve decided to pass on the torch.”

    “The Eridani Light Horse holds to their oaths,” Colonel Ezra Bradley’s voice broke and then finished on a firm note.

    “As does the Blue Star Irregulars,” Brighton finally spoke up, the twinkling of his eyes showing that he was also on the verge of tears. “We are under your command.”

    “The 42nd Striker Regiment and the 10th Heavy Assault Regiments of the Star League Defense Force stand at your disposal,” Colonel Jeremiah Bradford stated.

    “And the Terran Hegemony thanks you for holding fast to your oaths in these troubled times,” The young woman stepped forward.

    “This is acting Director-General Elizabeth Cameron,” Hanni introduced her to the group. “Her, as well as her sister, and both of Richard’s children were safely evacuated from the palace amid the coup.”

    “What’s the play here? “Bradford leaned forward.

    “First, we’re taking you to our base of Operations,” Elizabeth looked at the trio, meeting each of their eyes in turn. “I am not my brother, I know the value of your experience and of those who are under your command. And I have studied our intelligence briefs. I know that you lack the equipment to outfit your forces in full. She glanced at Brighton and Bradford. “Both of your units have been hammered hard by the recent fighting. I would see your people and gear restored. We will take this time to heal and make plans. The Amaris Coup was not accomplished in a day. And it will take time to orchestrate the restoration of the Terran Hegemony.”

    “And the Star League?” Bradley asked. “What of it?”

    Hanni and Elizabeth exchanged glances before Cameron finally replied with a heavy sigh.

    “That remains to be seen,” Hanni stated. “For now, we intend to restore the Hegemony first and work on everything else later.”

    “You’ll need to meet with the smaller unit COs,” Bradford commented. “There are a lot of individual companies and lances that answered the call instead of full regiments.”

    “We’ll cycle through the leaders,” Hanni nodded. “I’m transferring Major Hazen to work as your liaison until you arrive at Bolthole. Once there, you’ll begin repair and refit while we shuttle all the units over.”

    “Just one question,” Brighton turned to the Director-General. “Why did you change the color of the flags?”

    “We are a nation in exile,” Elizabeth met his eyes, steel shining in her blue gaze. “And things must change if we are to survive. Changing the flags is simple, but it reflects our current situation. And they will be restored if we succeed.”






    “Michael, we need to strike now,” Peter Davion looked at his nephew as they looked at the current map of their territory. “The DCMS is overextended, and they’ve become bogged down on the worlds they invaded. We must trust Melissa to handle the Capellan Confederation while we deal with the threat at hand.”

    “Do we have the forces for that?” the First Prince sighed. “After all, the Blue Star Irregulars have vanished.

    “As did small parts of many other units in every nation,” Peter responded. “They are now stuck reorganizing. Allow me to take the Robinson March Militia units and a few RCTs. We’ll pin the Draconis Combine in place and surround them. They will die on our worlds, and then we’ll push back to Robinson. Trust me, nephew, we need this victory, lest we suffer another Kentares IV.”

    “Take what you need,” Michael nodded at his uncle. “Even if you must strip the garrison from New Avalon to accomplish your goal. We here on New Avalon are not immune to the perils of war. It is time that we learned that.”

    “Michael,” Peter sighed. “I know that you desire peace above all else, but if we are to return to peace, then we must push the Combine back into their borders, lest we become little more than a failed state and our people slaves to the Dracs.”

    “Let’s hope that Melissa succeeds in her secondary objectives then,” Michael looked at the red that tore into his realm as a fury roared in his gut. “I may wish for peace. But I understand what is necessary,” he paused as he considered the intel on the units that had pushed into his realm and savaged his people. “Uncle, do not allow them to flee. Those units are to be eradicated, and their colors taken and put in full view of the Inner Sphere. Their shame and defeat will be broadcast to the nations. Of particular concern,” he highlighted Markesan. “Even if you accomplish nothing else, the 2nd Sword of Light are to be utterly destroyed. Not a single member is to be left alive to draw their swords against the Federated Suns.”






    “Colonel, the palace complex is heavily defender, we’ll be outnumbered three to one if we pursue.”

    “We have artillery,” Rebecca replied, her Victor still decently armored and with ammunition. “And our support is behind us. We’re pushing ahead, three lights to an Assault ‘Mech is a fight I’ll take any day.”

    “You heard the lady, close rang Assault’s pair up with long range supports, our vehicle support is covering the rear.”

    “Artillery batteries, standby for danger close firing missions,” Rebecca barked. “We’ll need accurate fire over volume.”

    “Understood, Colonel, setting up for precision strikes.”

    “Now let’s see what you’re really made of, Chancellor,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s find out if superior firepower really does bring about peace.”

    Author’s Note: Sorry for this being late, I was sick for the past two days and my brain was too fried to write during that time. Expect a lot of my fics to get updates today.
     
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