Trial of Annihilation {A Battletech Story}


Gareth Hollis stared at the monitor screens with grim satisfaction. Watched as the Jaguar Congress Class Frigate was consumed in thermonuclear fire. Watched as the Black Lion completed its humanitarian defense of the planetary refugees escaping from Clan Oppression. Who would have believed that the Crimson Corsair, once the bane of Graven's Deep, would one day become their Savior?

'It has begun..." he whispered almost in awe as what was left of the frigate became a thousand incandesant flares as they began falling through the planetary anmosphere.

The Wild Weasle Mining Company had long since concluded their preparations in the Dawson's Belt. And for a time after, had simply been monitoring the strange activities of the Crimson Corsair via her message relay station. Then from the background they had even assisted her wtih the coup she had just perpetrated on the planetary surface.

Graven's Deep would for a few weeks be more or less free again. Though Gareth knew that it was but a brief repreive. The Clan Invasion was about to begin in ernest, and Graven's Deep would be central to their operations in keeping the supply lines open.

Gareth had also learned about the backdoor that the Corsair's spies had planted in the Comstar Class A HPG that had been completed here earlier this year. And had used it to learn what he could of Clan intensions.

The planet had been conquered by Clan Smoke Jaguar, perhaps the most ruthless of all the clans, and by far the most avid in their Crusader beliefs. But it wouldn't be the Jaguars who maintained this planet. That would be the venue of Clan Diamond Shark who were to be responsible for that supply line.

It had of course been too much to hope for that Clan Wolf be given those duties. But Clan Wolf had just been the arm of the Kulrutai. The Trial of Annihilation had been the product of the Clans as a whole, and it had been left incomplete for hundreds of years now. The destruction of the Jaguar Frigate had been the first direct stroke perpetrated by Wolverines in the reopening of aggression with the Clans. But there were many more to come. Oh yes, many more indeed. The Wild Weasles had done their job well. Clan Diamondshark would have their hands full keeping controll of Graven's Deep.

He wished the Graven's Deep fugitives well in their flight as the various jumpships began to wink out of existance, traveling on in their escape route toward the relative safety of the Inner Sphere.

But he knew that the Crimson Corsair was not finished with the Clans. She would be a thorn in their side for a good long while he believed. Of course though the Black Lion was a powerful ship, it was dwarfed by some of the heavy battleships possessed by the Clans. It was only a matter of time before she encountered a fight she simply could not win.

He had brought up to his superiors the possibility of enlisting her aid in the fight against the Clans. But it had been determined that she was a bit too reckless and uncontrollable. And if she couldn't be trusted, it was best to maintain their secrecy a bit longer.

Soon enough the Wolverines would reveal themselves openly. But not untill the invasion with the Inner Sphere was beyond hope of recall. Once it had begun, then the Wolverines would make their play. And the Diamond Sharks would feel the bitter sting of destruction. They would be the first... But not the last. First order of business would be to cut the supply lines.

Then they could turn their attention to the exposed flanks of the clan invasion armies as they fought and clawed their way through the gathering Inner Sphere's defending armies.

The Wolverines would become the hammer, the Inner Sphere the anvil and one clan at a time would become the victim.


Gareth looked away from the monitors as the Black Lion engaged her jump drive and vanished from Graven's Deep and opened the hailing frequencies with the Wild Weasle Mining Ship hidden behind the Asteroid that Gareth's duty station was built into.

"Captain Cameron, go verify that all 9 of the refugee dropships made it to their respective jumpships. If there are any Clan survivors still adrift... eliminate them. I want this to be a complete mystery when the next Clan fleet arrives."

"Aye Commander!" came the reply.

Gareth Hollis stood up then and left the CIC room. It was time to report the success of their activities on Graven's Deep to his superiors on Gulo Gulo....




Alan~

The Chronicals of Gamma Rayz {A Battletech Story}



Pomme de Terre... In a moment of meditative reflection Billy's thoughts were pulled from the forward view screen full of stars and even from the beautiful redhead seated in the command chair with her small rosebud mouth smiling mysteriously at him.

Pomme de Terre had wrought nearly as many changes upon him as Graven's Deep had... As Solaris had...

The fighting, the vengence, the bloodlust that had soaked the gound red on Pomme de Terre had burned out the last vestiges of hate that may have remained in him after Graven's Deep.

It had left him with a profound longing for peace, and the quiet hermitic life of the Temple of Doom with the Prophets of Sunaj.

He knew his decision to step down had been a shock to the Wayfinders. He had lead them to victory after victory and ultimately destroyed the April Eights Society. Avenged Myramoto Hesai's death. And came to terms with his own self.

He didn't need to command the Wayfinders. That was not his purpose. He had never been meant to lead in such a way. The Wayfinders had not been his creation. They had not been his salvation. They had been a tool and little else.

Honor dictated that he return the tool to it's rightful owner after its use. And so he had. He knew that despite all the doubts that had plagued her life, Ingrid would be a more able commander than he could ever hope to be. More than he would ever aspire to be.

He yearned for a simpler life, and so it was that after seeing the unit back and safely in Ingrids hands, he had taken his leave to return to the one place in the Galaxy that he could call home. The only place that would welcome him home.

Graven's Deep.

For Billy the return to Graven's Deep was like unto the return from some great pilgramage. As if his entire life had been a part of that pilgramage, and only after finding enlightenment through it could he at last find peace as well.

He returned to his Villa in the Citystate of Genoa. There were still troubles in that place. And it was not long before the Regis and Viceroy had asked if he would be interested in becoming the Primora of Genoa and member of the World Senate.

Billy had smiled sadly. He was a war hero here. But he had never been a politician and it would never do. He politely declined and shortly thereafter retired from public life entirely to take up his devotions in the Temple of Doom of the Prophets of Sunaj, deep within the Jungles of Gorg.

Here he came to master his mind spirit and body as never before. Came to understand the mystical and learned to focus and direct his chi. To become one with his surroundings. To find the emptyness of the void.

But though his devotions and exorcizes honed his body mind and spirit, it also revealed an anomoly that he could not deny. He was still victimized by one ambition. And even recognition of that ambition would not let him set it aside.

He had been Lancelot... He had no rivals in all the known galaxy... Where was his Arthur? Where was his true purpose.

His devotions enabled him to lock his ambitions away. To settle his hate. To ease from the grip of any emotions and view life from the cold reality of the void. But it couldn't give him any true sense of purpose.

Who existed that he could bend knee to? What cause could he follow? Did the Right hand of Death exist to be completely without purpose? Existing only to slaughter with indiscriminate need?

Billy needed more... Needed purpose... Not just the calmness of the void...

In his meditations he began to delve deeper within his soul. To haunt the deepest recesses of his mind to find the answer that had eluded him all his life. Why was he here on Graven's Deep?

On Solaris he had challenged every warrior who would face him. Had slaughtered them all. Had left a bloody trail of destruction right to the top and made them all bend knee to him. They had been sheep, one and all!!

On Pomme de Terre he had once again found his enemies to be little more than sheep lead to the slaughter. And his triumph over them had given him no glory or comfort. It was just something that had to be done. And so it had.

On Graven's Deep... he had met his match. Had overcome Tiberius Breen and emerged victorious. He had never felt so alive as the day he had fallen to his knees bleeding with Breen's knife protruding from his stomach. But Breen hadn't bested him. Breen had fallen and Billy had lived on.

But he understood the yearning at last. Was he seeking his own mortality? Was he seeking death? Or was it that death was merely the vessel that he believed would carry him to find his true purpose?

Lancelot had fallen to Arthur. Only to rise again in his service.

Billy had been slain and had risen again when he joined the Prophets of Sunaj. But they too were waiting for something. Waiting for a cause. Waiting for Death to once again stalk the world. And it would come again. The elder master had foreseen it.

So it was that in the early weeks of July when the strange men from the stars known as the Clans once again descended upon Graven's Deep, the Prophets were ready. That hadn't stopped the invasion though. These Smoke Jaguars had quickly overwhelmed every defense other than that of the mighty Gorg Jungles themselves.

And this time there would be no leaving. The Clans were here to stay. Comstar seemed to capitulate to them immediately and turned over access of the HPG to them, though they did sue for the option to continue to serve the Clans as they had served the Inner Sphere.

Billy's distrust of all things Comstar increased by an order of magnitude having witnessed this sickening event. But there had been little time to ponder on such things. Billy had instantly taken up Raiden, and lead the Prophets and other resistance fighters in an unceasing guerrilla warfare campaign against the Jaguars.

They captured Clan weapons and equipment, and used it against them. They haunted them wherever they went. Soon Billy and Joseph Grimm were once again fighting side by side as the resistance became more organized. But they both knew it was all futile.

There were an unending stream of ships and men passing through Graven's Deep. No sooner did they kill two Clanners when 4 more would pop up to replace them. The clans were a modern day Lernaean Hydra. And there was no way to strike at the body from Graven's Deep, only the heads that kept darting in to kill. Sooner or later the Clans would win. It was just a matter of time.

That was when Billy had been contacted by an unremarkable pudgy man of no particular skill or nature. A man who had a secret to divulge. A way to escape the trap of Graven's Deep! A way to get word out about the plight of this world!! A way to strike at the Hydra's body! They had only to give their trust to his Captain... the Bane of Graven's Deep... The Crimson Corsair who the pudgy little man assured them wanted vengeance against the Clans more than life itself!!

it took weeks to coordinate the resistance to make the counter attack. It was a completely volunteer mission, and many would be killed or sacrificed to make this mission possible. For Billy's part, he volunteered to lead the primary diversionary raid, mustering all of the remaining resistance into a battalion of nearly 40 mechs. He would issue a challenge for lordship over this world and lead them out onto the Plains of Karmain to fight the Clans in one final battle. The plains were the worst possible killing grounds for the resistance battlemechs. It would allow the Clans to bring to bear their longest range weapons with impunity. It would spell the end of the resistance on Graven's Deep without any shadow of a doubt. It would be a lure too great for the Smoke Jaguars to resist. It would allow the Crimson Corsair to land the Black Lion and pick up the survivors.

Meanwhile after the diversion was in operation other resistance cells would attack every Citystate spaceport, now bereft of their Clan defenders and sieze any and all available dropships for the escape.

Everything hinged on the Crimson Corsair's ability to follow through with her end of the bargain. To clear the skys of Clan defense ships and aerospace fighters. Most of the refugee dropships would be lightly armed and armored civilian vessels. No match for hardened Clan Aerospace Fighters let alone the heavier Clan Dropships and titanic Warships.

But the Crimson Corsair had assured them that she could and WOULD clear those skys. There was little enough time to determine her true motives. For it was generally accepted she must have ulterior motives in helping Graven's Deep. But if aid were to be had, it would be worth any risk.

And so it was that the unholy alliance between the Crimson Corsair and the Warriors of Graven's Deep was forged.

Then on August 14th 3049, the attack began. The ruse had worked perfectly, and the Clans had mustered 3 full trinaries to face them. 30 frontline Omnimechs and perhaps 50 Elementals, would face Billy's 40 Battlemechs and the remaining hundred or so Warriors of Sunaj.

The battle was titanic, but the Smoke Jaguars were overconfident and eschewed their range advantage to charge in with lightning speed and began to cut the resistance mechs to ribbons. It was the slaughter that all had predicted. But despite their overconfidence and obvious hatred of any who would defy them, they observed the rules of Zelbrigin and the battle was kept to a series of duels. Billy had hoped they would and ordered the resistance to also follow the arcane rules for battlefield duels. It slowed down the fighting in general, and gave the resistance more time, if less chance of actual success.

Billy fought his way through 2 such duels... 3... 4... Raiden was heavily damaged by then. 5 duels... 6...

Then the world seemed to explode. Gargantuan beams of light, raked across the Clan ranks severing mechs in half, Capitol Autocannons and ballistic missiles struck sending up gouts of rock and dirt a hundred feet high. Eruptions that threw up bolders the size of houses!

Billy was less than 500 meters from the leading edge of that destruction when it began! The shockwaves of it knocked Raiden to the ground in an instant and Billy was stunned nearly unconscious. By the time he recovered and struggled Raiden back to its feet again the battle had ceased.

Craters filled the forward view screens. Bits and pieces of clan battlemechs lay everywhere. Billy moved quickly through the obscuring dust and smoke and found the object of his search. The remains of the last mech he had been dueling with. The mech looked like a cross between a Marauder and a Catapult. It was missing both legs and most of it's right torso. He grabbed the wreckage and started off at a run through the smoke where he could hear the overwhelming sounds of fusion engines. That would be the Black Lion.

Suddenly he broke through the smoke and saw the ship as it settled heavily to the ground. The surviving 16 mechs of his battalion were running and limping toward the ship as fast as they could. The Black Lion was truly immense. An enormous black blade of a ship over a kilometer in length and sprouting with more weapons ports that Billy had seen in one place before.

The Crimson Corsair....

Billy caught up with the rest of his unit just as they reached the bottom of the loading ramp. Quickly he struggled up the ramp and into the cavernous holds. There was no time to settle the mechs into the awaiting mech bays. The ship began to lift off even before the cargo ramps and doors were fully retracted and closed. And the ship was under violent attack.

The Black Lion lurched suddenly and nearly every mech in the hold toppled to the decks.

Billy called out to all of them to grab onto each other and remain on the deck.

Shortly thereafter the mechs lay like a mass of ants all gripping and locked with each other, and pushing against nearby walls. The Ship lurched and bucked in its efforts to evade the battering fire from some unseen foe. the mechs slid across the decks now and then but the damage was minimized. Then all at once gravity ceased to exist and the mass of mechs began to float up from the floor. But the drives kicked back in gently and with a loud clatter the mechs settled once again to the decks. The ride settled a great deal thereafter and crewmen began hurring about to strap down mechs that could not stand, and direct those that could to various empty mech bays.

Climbing down from Raiden's blistered and cracked carapace Billy was glad to see that Joseph Grimm had made it through the fighting. But neither of them trusted the Crimson Corsair yet. They needed to see if the rest of the plan had succeeded.

They rushed to the bridge followed by an escort of Sunaj Warriors and an accompanying number of ship crewmen.

When the bridge door opened they could make out the rapidly dying glow of some vast ship on the forward screens. And the Black Lion was moving to intercept 9 refugee dropships that had escaped the planet. Only 9. 16 had been selected for the breakout.

For Billy the battle had been a dynamic success but Joe didn't know the current status of Loni and her ship. It was quickly sorted out that she had successfully escaped aboard the Icarus, a Triumph Class Dropship, that like one otherrefugee ship needed to get to the Nadir point to reach their own jumpships.

The Corsair issued orders for those two ships to dock with the Black Lion temporarily, while the remaining 7 docked with 3 jumpships that had been part of the rescue attempt.

Once the 3 jumpships were loaded and away, Black Lion jumped to the Nadir Point, allowing the two dropships to disembark and return to their own jumpships.

Billy Cho bid Joe and Loni Grimm farewell for the moment, having decided to remain on the Black Lion untill the fleet had successfully managed its escape.

Meaning he was keeping his Sunaj Warriors aboard the Black Lion to make CERTAIN that the Crimson Corsair's intensions were as expected.

Then after the last Jumpship had departed, the Crimson Corsair initiated her second jump and joined the rest of the fleet 30 lightyears closer to the Inner Sphere.


It would be a long voyage...




Alan~

The Saga of Ingrid and Isadora Wilson {A Battletech Story}


Isa checked her messages one last time before she called it quits for the night. The next week the Wayfinders would be taking off for Trell 1 to do some pirate hunting. Zodiac had prepard for this of course. Had built an engineering Lab on wheels that she could use to continue her research when the Wayfinders were away. And her things were already packed and ready to go. She would miss having access to the High-Energy Laboratory here in the main Zodiac Complex, but it couldn't be helped.

The last message in the list had been received only an hour and a half ago and was from Comstar. Quickly she opened it and turned to the Holoprojector. It was a reply from Bell! She'd thought maybe her message had been lost somewhere. It had been sent months ago.

Saddened at first at the mention of Puff, she rubbed her nose and listened on. She actually was feeling much better these days. She'd actually entertained ideas of dating Mike Jones a few times. But no, it turns out that he wasn't interested it seems. He'd only talked to her because of some stupid bet.

"Men!" she muttered

Ingrid gets a worried look to her face as Bell tells about the politics in the Taurian Concordat and shivers despite herself. Then she recognized that. She got shivers anytime something bad would happen. She'd never told anyone. But she knew. If Bell and Johnny remained in the TC bad things would happen to them. Gooseflesh ran down her arms and she rubbed them absently as the message went on.

Then Isa finds herself nodding vigorously when Bell mentioned that she would probably be heading back to Antellos.

"Yes, Yes please do that!" she whispered fervently.

"But... we HAVE a permanent home. Did I forg.... I DID!" She smacked her palm against her forehead and shook her head ruefully.

"I mean it wasn't finished back then, and we were still living out of the barracks. But I had known about Aspiron for close to a year now." She muttered miserably when she realized that her failure to mention it may have cost her a visit by her best and only friend...

Then she bursts out laughing as the permacrayon pirates lay seige to the Holochamber and waves at her. She finds herself waving back.

Sniffing she blinks to clear her eyes and decides not to stay in her quarters that night. She was going to go see Inga Ngeer!!

The turbo lift never seemed to take as long as it did that day bringing her to the parking garage. She rushed out to her little car and with a squeel of tires that echoed loudly in the cavernous halls she sped up and out of the Aspiron complex and headed for Ingrid's house.

Wonder of wonders she was home AND alone when she arrived. She held nothing against Colin. He seemed a likable enough guy. The sort of person that Ingrid really needed to find. The kind that generally never gave her a second glance. But she needed Ingrid to herself this night. So this was very fortuitous.

She rushed up and burst in excitedly and in a rush told Ingrid all about the message from Bell.

Ingrid was slightly overwhelmed by the unexpected exuberance of her little sister but she too was happy to hear the news and together they listened to the entire message a few more times. Ingrid in particular replayed the Permacrayon Siege several times giggling.

Then Isa turned to Ingrid soberly after getting herself a glass of tea.

"Ingrid... I can't go with you this time. I am going to stay here at Aspiron. There are several experiments running that I will need the High Energy Laboratory for, and... well I hope that Bell and Johnny will come visit now that Aspiron is complete. I plan to tell her all about it, complete with videos and what not. And if they leave Antellos quickly to come here, they would arrive only a few months into the Trell contract."

"So, I'm staying. I hope you understand sissy."

Ingrid blinked and it was obvious that she was struggling wtih some inner demons herself. Ingrid had not left Isa's side since she was 9 years old. Had been her protector, and provider. Her Sister, and her Friend. The two of them were closer than words could say. And had been ever since their parents death.

Ingrid knew that Isa would probably come wtih if she asked her to. But in truth, Ingrid wanted to stay as well. But she knew that neither option would be the right one.

Isa... little Isa was growing up.

Taking a deep breath Ingrid smiled warmly at her. "Of course I understand Isa. I only wish I could stay and meet with them too! But you had best make sure that you get a TON of Trideo for me and send me waves all the time, or I will send Dawreo back here to film everything you do day and night!" she giggled.

Isa looked shocked. "You wouldnt!"

"Oh yes I would! Just you try me and find out!" Ingrid teased but she looked serious enough to do it too.

They both fell to laughing

"We've never been apart sissy" Ingrid wispered at last and reached out to touch Isa's cheek.

Ingrid couldn't remember when they had began calling each other sissy. Since forever itseemed.

"Come, turn around and let me brush your hair. I won't be able to after next week and on for more than a year!"

Ingrid and Isa both canceled virtually all of their business appointments for the next week and spent nearly every waking and sleeping hour together as if trying to squeeze in a years worth of memories together before they parted.

Then on March 31st Isa watched from the Galatea Spaceport Observation Deck as the Brittany Spears and War Beast and another tramp frieighter hired for the job lifted from Galatea for the 4 month journey to Trell 1.

Isa swallowed hard and tried and failed to hold back the tears. "Take care of yourself sissy." she whispered as the ships became pinpoints of light in the blue sky.

She stopped by the Comstar HPG facility on the way home and checked out a Holobooth and selected Standard Rate. Bell would still be months away from Antellos. There would be plenty of time for this message to arrive. It would be waiting for her when they arrived.

Pressing the record button she sat back and smiled.

"Bell, I was so happy to get your wave. And I can't say enough how much I think you did the right thing by getting out of the Taurian Concordat before things got too bad. I dunno, I just had a bad feeling about all that.

But I wanted you to know that the Wayfinders DOES have a permanent base, though we didn't open the doors to it untill about 5 months ago. Its called Aspiron.

She leans forward and puts a datachip in the slot and selected "Attach".

Take a look at it. I have attached some film taken by Dawreo that gives a virtual tour of the place. It was actually designed by Col John Renwick. Supposed to be one of the premier construction engineers in the Federated Commonwealth.

Anyway, I have decided to remain here on Aspiron instead of traveling with the Wayfinders in hopes that you will be able to come visit.

There is dropship facilities and guest housing here enough to take care of all your needs. And I am certain that I could use your help in the Labs if you have time enough to stay awhile. And who knows, I bet there are thousands here who would love to meet your Canopian Cousins!" She blushes despite her attempts at being cosmopolitan

"Maybe I could even entice you to stay longer than just a short visit?

Ingrid of course has to travel on with the unit. She is the Commander of the Wayfinders now. But she should be back in just over a year's time.

And if Johnny has ever been interested in taking Comstar bonded contracts, all the experts are expecting the 5th Succession War to erupt any day now. Certainly wtihin the next couple of years"

She pauses and sighs. Isabella must know how difficult the decision to part with Ingrid had been. She knows how close they are.

"Anyway, I am hoping to see you soon! And just wait till "Auntie Isa" gets holds of those permacrayon pirates! She will just spoil them rotten!" She giggles.


Adios Bell, Johnny, Draven and Doreen!"

She leans forward and presses Stop, and then Send.

"Well... done is done." she whispered softly and then began the long drive back to Aspiron...


alone.





Alan~

here comes a big post.

re-editing

re-editing

The Price of Glory {A Battletech Story}



The door to the extravagant and darkened office was flung open on its hinges suddenly and crashed against the wall in a single motion like a shockwave from the explosive entry of the hawkish woman who strode into the room.

With a muttered curse Joanen kicked the slowly swinging door closed again and stalked over to the expansive highly polished desk that dominated the room. Behind it, the lights of Asgard twinkled in the darkness.

She leaned on the desk for a few minutes fuming.

"How DARE he!?" she exclaimed to nobody.

Taking a deep and calming breath she circled the desk and sat down, masaging her temples to foil the onset of what promised to be a world class headache.

Sitting forward at last, she turned on her computer and performed a query on her current nemisis.

Prince Eric Stephansson, Heir Apparent to the Jarldom of Skallevoll. Son of Jarl Stephan Thorvaldson, himself the first of his line to sit on the Skallevoll throne following the death of the former Jarl Sten Bjelbo, who died under "mysterious circumstances" some fifty years prior. Prince Eric would soon be Jarl if Stephan's medical reports were accurate.

Her fingernails drummed impatiently on the desktop.

Taping a few keys she brought up an image of the Prince at his coming of age Ceremony 3 years back.

A resplendent looking man, she mused. And as arrogant an ass as she had ever been forced to endure.

What was he doing here on Rasalhague? Didn't he have someone on Skallevoll he could torment with his infinite spare time?

She sat back and turned her chair to look out the bay windows over the city of Asgard below. It was a beautiful view and always helped to relax her.

"What right did he have to question my pedigree?" she said aloud. "He who himself is the son of an usurper. But more importantly... why?"

She spun back to her computer and began searching... She would find out. One way or another. She'd made some serious contacts in the last year here at the capitol... and could make things mighty uncomfortable for the young prince if push came to shove.

She began to sift through the public archives of Eric's recent appearences, and known objectives. None of them seemed to be at odds with her own goals. Skallevoll was one of the most coreward of the Republic's worlds. Plagued more by pirates than by politics in general.

Then she came across some paparrazzi photos of the young Prince attending the recent Hansdottir Winter Retreat.

"Petra..." she mused darkly.

"Surly you know better than to set wolves on my trail... Are you still trotting around like Corson's lost lap dog?"

Then she closed the screen and called up files she was keeping on Baronette Blixt Corson.

Last reports placed him serving with some upstart mercenary company called the "Strike Lightning Guard".

She smiled wickedly despite herself. The poor boy had sunk as low as he could possibly go. She'd never dreamed that he would actually take the mech and try to use it, dear boy.

Her eyes narrowed in contemplation. Was he behind this? she wondered. Did he somehow have the means to strike at her so even from the Federated Commonwealth?

Tapping a few more keys she paused in contemplation. Comstar reported that unit as currently stationed on Barcelona. And recent news out of Barcelona had reported a world beset by riots and torn by insurrection.

She smiled wickedly. She had encountered Lord Pedro Niles from Barcelona two years ago during the Crown Aniversery Celebration right there on Rasalhague. She couldn't remember who had invited the Lyran Lord. But he had practically debased himself for her favors. If she remembered correctly, he was a widower.

Maybe it was time to go ahead and eliminate a few loose ends while the opportunity beaconed. After all... accidents could happen in such turbulent times as Barcelona was experiencing. And if the death of Blixt Corson didn't settle Petra's fires... then she would be happy to take more direct measures with the Baroness. But for now... her memory recalled that Pedro had been putty in her hands...

She began to compose a message to Lord Niles.




Alan~

The Saga of Ingrid and Isadora Wilson {A Battletech Story}


Ingrid paused before the podium with its forest of microphones and smiled around at the gathered reporters and audience for this special news confrence.

She felt butterflies in her stomach for perhaps the first time ever when stepping before the cameras. Ingrid was anything but shy and had always basked in the glow of media attention.

But this time was however a little different. This time she was perhaps slightly out of her element, and she almost fumbled her own introduction.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Northwind and beyond. It is with great pleasure that I speak with you today and wish you all to bear witness to one of the great turning points in my life.

Before I delve too deeply into the actual details of the affair, I wish to express my deepest thanks to Clint McKinnon, Laird of Clan McKinnon, and to his wife, Lady Brianna McKinnon of Clan McGowan for their true friendship and who's personal efforts have made this opportunity available to me.
I would also like to mention my close personal friend, Colin McKinnon without whom, none of this would have ever happened.

I would also like to say hello to my sister Isadora, and express my hope that she is watching back on Galatea since I am certain that this announcement will affect her as much as it has myself."

She pauses a moment smiling as a rash of pictures are flashed.

"As often happens in life we find ourselves caught unawares by events beyond our control. Most of the time such events seem to be the beginnings of dark tidings and uncertain futures.

But occasionally such events may herald a positive change. And such was this occasion for me when less than 24 hours ago, I learned that Isadora and I are the only currently living heirs to noble families of the Free Rasalhague Republic."

She looks over to Colin and motions him out onto the stage with her before continuing.

"Nobility... for me it had always been something ethereal and ephemeral. Somethng that could perhaps be touched.. but never embraced. To actually join such august circles was beyond my wildest imagination. And to be honest it still is.

I must say that I have little if any experience in living up to the expectations of such honors. And I am proud to have friends about me to keep me on the strait and narrow!"

She smiles warmly up at Colin.

"In 2 days time, I will take ship and begin my travels to Rasalhague to the Office of Noble Patents and present our claims! Though I wish everyone to know that I have no intention of pursuing a life of politics and would undoubtedly be terrible at it!" She laughs lightly which triggers a similar responce from the assembled audience.

"I also wish everyone to know that I still plan on continuing my career with the Wayfinders Mercenary Battalion, as well as with Tri-star Productions and Zodiac Engineering. In fact the Barbietech film crew is here today as well and they will be documenting the entire process as it happens!"

She smiles brightly around untill the hubub settles down again.

"Now, I will be happy to answer any questions that I am able." She pauses and selects one of the forest of hands that were raised.

"My first question Ms Wilson, is what is the mystery lineage that you are claiming relations with, and will you be changing your name?"

Ingrid smiles and shakes her head at them. "Well, I have been advised to wait on announcing my actual lineage untill after it has been verified through the Office of Noble Patens. I am certain you will understand. But yes, once this process is over, I will be hyphenating my name to include my noble heritage. Next?"

"Ms Wilson, there has been long speculation on whether you will also be changing your callsign from Candy to Barbie to suit the Barbietech show. Have you made a decision on this?"

"Well actually call signs, like nicknames are often given to you rather than something you choose yourself. I will answer equally well to Candy or Barbie if it comes to it. Next?"

"Ms Wilson, You've mentioned Colin McKinnon as being a close personal friend. Is there a wedding in your future?"

Ingrid at once bursts out in giggles and smiles mischieviously up at Colin before answering. "Oh, like I would answer such a question before sending out invitations! Next?"

There is a mad scramble of reporters taking notes.

"I have a question for Mr McKinnon if I may?" Ingrid nods and claps softly as Colin steps up to the podium.

"Mr McKinnon, I understand you used to serve wtih the Northwind Highlanders. Why did you leave them, and how did you come to join the Wayfinders?"



The questions continued on for close to half an hour before Colin and Ingrid stepped from the stage arm in arm.

Two days later taking the Command Circuit Clint McKinnon had organized back to Galatea sent Ingrid spiraling into a nighmare of sickness as her TDS kicked up in the extreme, with Dr Beverly monitoring her closely during the voyage and stating that Ingrid needed to avoid doing this in the future as there were several moments when her life had been in jeopardy.

However by the time she was back on planet she was her old self again. Upon learning that Isadora would not be traveling with her to Trellwan or Rasalhague, Ingrid devoted herself for the remainder of the week to spending time with her little sister.

During this time she made arangements to proceed on to Rasalhague when the Wayfinders left for Trell 1, or Trellwan as it was called by the locals of that world. She left planet with the Wayfinders on the Britany Spears, waving her final goobyes to her sister as she ship prepared to lift off. Then as it approached the Zenith Jump point Ingrid took a shuttle from the to another jumpship which would take her and Colin, and the Barbietech Film Crew on to Rasalhague.

From here she would proceed to Rasalhague and then on to Trellwan from there. She had to make a personal appearance in order to deliver the required DNA samples and to bring all the associated identification and documentation obtained in the MIIO run background check with her for delivery to the Office of Noble Patents claims department.

Another background check was to be conducted of course, and she was to be informed of the results of the tests within the month.

She left at once for Trellwan and due to ship to ship transfers actually arrived nearly three weeks before the rest of the Wayfinders themselves.

A message was awaiting her at the Comstar Center when she arrived. The results of her claims were in.

Ingrid Genevieve Wilson was proven in fact to be a direct DNA match for her Grandmother, the late Illiana Sverker Dame of Gothenburg, assassinated in September, 2997. And a direct match for her Grandfather the late Sten Bjelbo, Jarl of Skallevoll, killed in an unexplained automobile accident in May, 3004.

The message included the official Patents of Nobility from her Grandmothers lineage and Patents of Royalty from her Grandfathers lineage.

A second message had also arrived, from Elected Prince Haakon Magnusson, Lord of the Free Rasalhague Republic, requesting her presence in audience at her earliest convenience to discuss her future within the Republic.

Ingrid shook her head ruefully. It hadn't taken long at all for the politics to begin... just as Lady Brianna had said it would be.

She would need to discuss this with her Staff when the rest of the Wayfinders arrived. Untill then she would not give any reply.

In the mean time, she made what arrangements she could to prepare for the Wayfinders arrival and establishment here in Sarghad City.

Trellwan was a dismal little planet, as inhospitable as any Ingrid had ever observed. The locals were not friendly with off-worlders in general, and the 2341st Fed-Com Battalion occupying the Lyran Fortress up near the Mountains of Thunder Rift were not much better seeming to be a bit resentful that mercenaries had been sent to interfere in their affairs.

The Wayfinders were not going to be "invited" to stay in the fortress though Major Ian Blackwell had instantly made accomodations for her in the guest quarters when he learned of her "Noble" status.

Ingrid had refused out of hand of course. She would remain with her troops as was proper. However when Queen Mara of Sargad City insisted that she accept quarters and offices within Sarghad Palace for the duration of her stay on Trellwan, she did acquiesce.

Through the Queen's chancelor she managed to locate several buildings that were available for lease that would serve adequately as barracks and offices for the Wayfinders during their stay.

But there was little to see down in the muddy odoriferous streets of Sarghad City, even though the forlorn city was the capitol of this miserable little planet and site of the only Starport on Trelwan.

Somehow she didn't think this mission would turn out to be a great deal of fun...




Alan~

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

Dweller’s Market 3048

It seems so strange to think that I have been on planet only two weeks, but have already been appointed Planetary Physician of Galava. I didn’t even finish medical school because of refusing to take the Hippocratic Oath, but I have already reached a position that many in my class back on New Avalon would have loved to obtain.

The High Chancellor and other members of the Galava World Council had met just before the opening of the Dweller’s Market apparently. I was told of my appointment along with the rest of the people gathered for the opening of the Dweller’s Market. I was in McKayla waiting to be announced so I could show off how she changed. Hearing Mr. Lookwood say, “we are proud to introduce to you Nixie Jester, call sign “Spiritsword”, Planetary Physician of Galava, and her Flying Battlemech, McKayla” threw me for a loop, but I went on to demonstrate how McKayla converted so that I would not scare the people of my new planet.

The first time I converted her was just after Yuri had got her put together out of the mothballed state. Yuri wanted to make sure everything was in working order before putting the finishing touches on her new paint job. Shortly after I converted, my sensors showed that I was targeted by a number of ‘mechs and other weapons so I was concerned that they were malfunctioning. When I was promptly asked to identify myself by the Whitestone Militia, I knew they were functioning correctly. Yuri told me that LAMs were not familiar to the natives. Justin of the Training Hall and Caravan Mohan was more blunt than anyone else. He said that if I didn’t want shot down, I needed to show the people what my flying battlemech could do and how it did it.

Apparently I have the only LAM on planet and jets are unheard here as well. I saw the airships of this world during Dweller’s Market. White Wall has VTOL’s, Haven has a helicopter, The Landing has prop engine planes that I recognize from video games played with Max, and Steel Crossing has Zepplins. Yuri painted McKayla up proper for the demonstration at Dweller’s Market and put all the symbols I would need to be identified by all the groups on planet. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Circle of Swords symbol wasn’t my personal one after she had enlarged it and put it right under the cockpit with the Caravan medical symbol in place of my personal one. Underneath it is the Blue Cross of the Warden’s Medical symbol with the planetary symbol of Galava on it.

At least, now I know what the three flags outside of Lisetta’s medical clinic stand for. My arrival surprised and delighted everyone that I’ve met so far, but I was so unexpected that I was handed over to the only other medical person on planet. Lisetta is a native of Galava who lives in Whitestone. Apparently, she learned a lot of basic medical and surgical skills from the DIS Doctor who left planet a year before I got here. Her father apparently is the leader of Caravan’s Rest, which used to be Bunker, and is where the Dweller’s Market was held this year.

Dweller’s Market is a yearly trade festival and all around party. The mix of languages, cultures, and trade goods blew me away. It was like the mercenary auction on Galatea without the structure. You could literally get anything available on planet there, and apparently this was the first time the Dweller’s Market had been open to all of Galava. I got invited to more cities than I could name, more proposals than I could count, and felt more alone than I had since I left Andurien. These people look at me as a blessing, as a healer, as a miraculous spirit sent by the heavens. They don’t know that I am here as atonement for people that I left to worse care than the hands of pirates. But this is entry is about the Dweller’s Market…not about the past that haunts my soul.

I still don’t know who the Dweller’s are, were, or where they fit into the picture. So far, I’ve figured out that the Marshals are from all over the planet and serve in the Galava Defense Force. They bear their city symbol and the Galava symbol on their vehicles. Caravans or Pikkies are the nomadic gypsy traders. They identify themselves by families with colors, not city symbols. They have a home base at Caravan’s Rest since the Shockwave from the South gave them the city that used to be called Bunker. The Shockwave is the High Chancellor’s fiancée/girlfriend and also my next door neighbor. She used to be a pirate and now has a vendetta against them and those that act like them. She has that in common with the people of the Wastelands. Those people look like the Amazons of the Laura Croft Tomb Raider game I played with Max, expect that they have male warriors as well. There are monks at Steel Crossing like in the Crusaders games. There is a Japanese citystate with an overlord, Su Shen by name. The people of Mossburg are from near the Luxmark explosion and are starting to get sick; they will be my first “house call”.

Then there are the Wardens who apparently are the descendants of the Star League Regiment that was stationed here when this planet was part of the Rim Worlds Republic. I don’t know what they call themselves, but they certainly got a gift during Dweller’s Market. Whitestone Alchemical Company, the DIS offworlder regulators that stayed behind, presented Commander Styles the mission logs of her ancestor Captain Styles that they had uncovered in a dropship in the mine near Whitestone. Commander Styles looked me up near the end of Dweller’s Market to let me know a few things that she thought might be important to my work here on Galava. The most important thing was that Luxmark had been situated near what the mission log revealed was a “weapons cache” and that Galava had been part of the Rim Worlds Republic. I don’t remember a whole lot about military history, but I do know that nuclear weapons were not outlawed during the time of the Rim Worlds Republic.

Dweller’s Market was a good way to introduce myself to the planet that is now under my medical care. Being the only physician on planet will be a lot of work. I hope to be able to train others like Lisetta had been, but that will be something to discuss with the World Council. For now, I need to get ready for my first house call. And I fear the answers to Mossburg’s sickening lie in the Luxmark explosion. How do you tell your first patients that you think it is their very home that is making them sick and that it will get worse? This planet doesn’t have the technology to clean up a nuclear explosion or the resources to treat radiation sickness. I hope that I am wrong in my hypothesis, but I fear what I will find on my first house call…

The Saga of Kailey Johansson {A Battletech Story}


It had been a while since Kailey'd had a known stalker. The combination of living in the security provided by Aspiron, and that for perhaps the first time in her life, she was actually... working. Really working.

Oh she had been technically traveling as an assistant with Dr Mohinder even a couple of years back when he was doing his research into the cure for TDS.

She shook her head with a small smile on her face reminesing. "He'd actualy put it in his pocket.."

Shaking her head she turned from lab samples she was studying, pulled the polyurethane gloves from her hands and steped from the medical lab that was held in her Magellan. Walking down the hall, she entered the cockpit and sat down in the main pilot seat, rubbing the kink in her neck.

Outside, the warehouse doors were closing behind one of the security jeeps that was entering the building, but she could still see through the closing doors, the severe dust storm that was obscuring everything beyond about 30 meters.

What an adorable little planet... she thought sardonicly.

Her thoughts drifted back to Dr Mohinder. That had seemed more of an "Adventure" to her than work if truth be told. The whole thing. Somehow she had never truly felt the sting of work during that time, nor had she truly felt in danger throughout the entire event on Graven's Deep.

The return to New Avalon had been one of disappointment of course. No Cure. Then Dr Mohinder had got himself killed crossing a road. Crossing a Road! What bitter irony to have been through everything that had happened on Graven's Deep only to be struck by a freight truck less than a mile from his home on New Avalon.

Kailey had returned to the glitz and glamour of her Cheshire Estates right there on New Avalon and had soon found that it no longer really held the excitement it once had. She had once loved shocking the media with her various antics. It all seemed a bit.. childish now.

But her return had brought a resurgeance of stalkers and paparazzi that she'd found annoying now instead of flattering or challenging.

She'd only remained at Cheshire for a few months before she'd decided to take her Magellan, and return to the Wayfinders.

Her thoughts at the time had been simple and two fold. She was fascinated by Dr Punjab al Habib, and his "psychic" healing. She had wanted to document it. Maybe discover some method of synthesyzing it. Oh as a researcher, she was more of a lab assistant than a leader in the field and had no illusions that she would actually discover anything significant. But it also would also bring her closer to Isadora Wilson, who had published a graduation thesis on Plasma Weapon Technology that had the New Avalon Institute of Science all abuzz with speculation.

She'd always wanted to be a part of something great or significant, that money couldn't buy. She'd banked on Isadora's theories being correct, and established the Zodiac Engineering Corporation, in hopes that Isadora would take advantage of the opportunity to see her designs to reality.

That had paid off in spades of course and Zodiac was now in the field testing stage before wide spread production of the "Wilson Plasma Cannon" began.

Then in the aftermath of the Pomme de Terre mission, Dr Habib had left and been replaced by Dr Jennifer Laura Beverly, a Medical doctor and genetics research scientist.

Kailey had pounced on the opportunity and offered to build a Genetics Laboratory at the Aspiron Zodiac facility for her if she would look into genetic manipulation of hair folicle melanin, eumelanin and phaeomelanin levels. To her great surprise and joy, Dr Beverly had agreed, and the project had been at the forefront of Kailey's personal research since the Genetics Lab was completed.

Kailey had also managed to arrange for Dr Mohinder's research and samples to be delivered to Zodiac for further testing. Who knew, perhaps a cure for TDS really was possible.

But she had been working on these projects the last few months nearly as hard as Isadora was at producing the first Plasma Cannons. And between these projects, and being the CEO of Zodiac, and CFO of the Wayfinders, she been kept very busy indeed.

It struck Kailey as rather odd. She'd never really dedicated herself to any sort of work like this before. But the work had kept her busy, and for the most part she'd remained on Aspiron since it's completion in October of 3048. The end result of which was that she'd been out of the public eye for some time.

It had caught her quite by surprise when Dawreo visited her on the Jumpship Corona's primary Grav-Deck and been informed that one of the Wayfinder New-Hires, a man named Xiao Zhang had been following her and asking about her. At first she'd kept waiting for the punchline to some joke. But Dawreo had been serious.

Samira Xavier had been with her at the time and Kailey had asked her to see if Olen would look into it for her. Well... it turned out to be sort of a mistake or something. Xiao had indeed been asking about her but had appearently been trying to figure out how to best approach her to ask a favor. He'd learned of her ability and interest with puzzles, and he'd had a conundrum that he was struggling with himself.

It seems that his family, Liao loyalists one and all, had been disgraced during the 4th Succession War, and had went into hiding when they had been branded traitors by Maximillion Liao for their failure in dying to the last man during the War.

Xiao's brother Dan, had been abandoned during the family's escape from the Confederation and was never seen again.

Now it appeared that he'd completely lost contact with his family after they'd failed to show up at his graduation ceremony, and had no idea where they were or how to locate them. The last clues he had were his fathers mech and family swords.

All this struck Kailey as one of the most original pick-up lines she'd ever heard and she smiled whenever she thought about it. Despite what all the tabloids said about her, she really was a rather astute individual.

But Xiao had been right about one thing. This was a puzzle that she found quite irresistable. She'd had to discard the obvious solutions. She knew for example that Tab Hunter worked for MIIO, and had been Dr Mohinder's Bodyguard on Graven's Deep. It would be simplicity itself for MIIO to perform an investigation and locate Xiao's missing family. However she doubted very much that MIIO would be at all interested in spending time and money tracking down a missing family of Liao Loyalists.

In fact performing nearly any sort of typical investigation into their whereabouts would likely result in driving them deeper into hiding. Also, if they had went into hiding to avoid someone hunting them, the Maskirovka was the most likely culprit, then an ill-conceived search for them could potentially lead Maskirovka assassins right to them in the process. This would not do.

The Conundrum then was "How to locate them without letting either the family or the Maskirovka know about the investigation..."

Setting her mind to this task she set out the projected details. If they were still alive, and still at large, and still in hiding, they would have most certainly assumed a secret identity. And having lived in the often oppressive culture of the Capellan Confederation they would have learned of the necessity of hiding from Maskirovka agents. Also, having lived the last 20 years in the Federated Suns, they would have been wary of MIIO for similar reasons.

Where then would Liao Loyalists, wanted for treason, go to hide?

The first piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

The Free Worlds League. A realm close by and so full of strife and chaos, it would be simplicity itself to disappear.

Andurien seemed the obvious choice of locations. The very seat of chaos in the FWL. At least it would be the place to begin.

A second piece of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. "The Maskirovka's first order of business would undoubtedly be to track the son, Xiao, back to the parents, knowing that sooner or later either the son or the parents would attempt to make contact with each other."

Thus the Conundrum now included a time element. "The family had to be found before they attempted to contact Xiao on their own."

She paused to consider. Could there be Maskirovka agents within the Wayfinders?

She quickly discarded that possibility. No... not with Tab Hunter already so firmly entrenched in the unit. Any such agent would have to deal with Tab or Tab would deal with them.

So someone who will be watching the unit from outside then. A native Trell? Unlikely though she had little doubt that the indigs were not incorruptable if it came to it.

An agent in the 2341st BCT then? Possibly, but again not likely. Such an agent would have had to be a sleeper, and it was unlikely that locating this particular family was important enough to the Maskirovka to risk such a long term investment.

Most probably the spy would be another offworlder who had beaten them to Trellwan once their Contract had been posted with the Comstar Mercenary Review Board.

She would quickly discover who all had arrived on planet during the last several months and through process of simple math calculations determine who the most likely candidates were based on travel and communications time limitations. It was just a matter of bureaucracy and bribery. Both of which Kailey was exceptionally good at.


Xiao Zhang...

'You naughty little man.' she thought

She wondered what her parents would say if she brought a Capellan home to their dinner table.

It would be priceless just to see their faces!

Not that she really cared a whit about societal conventions and propriety anyway. One need only pick up one of the tabloid sheets to see that.

She wondered where Xiao's loyalties truly lay. She knew that the Sins of the Father affected the Son in Liao culture.

After they arrived on Trellwan and got settled, she decided she would try and pick his brain a bit. See what made him tick.



Alan~

February 3049
Galatea

Mike Jones entered his bedroom and sat at his desk. It had been a long day trying to upgrade the Assassin's small laser. He was tired, but instead of getting ready for bed, he unfolded a letter that was laying on his desk and started to read it.

Dear Mike,

I know that you weren’t fond of The Wayfinders either and I hope you have found some place that can use your talents. I leave from Glen Arden in early November to go to Galava. I know that I just kind of snuck away without telling people that I was leaving so promptly, but I couldn’t stay any longer. I really appreciate all the help getting my LAM in running condition. I know that I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. I have chosen a name for her and when she gets out of mothballs she will be christened McKayla. I intend to keep the Circle of Swords logo on her. I’ve met two residents of Galava here on Glen Arden. They assure me that I will be accepted and have plenty to do on Galava. Apparently during the year I served in the Circle of Swords, the planet was attacked thrice by pirates and had a major explosion at a research facility. I expect to encounter a barely civilized world and face pirate attacks from what the two young ladies had to say.

Whitestone appears to be the name of the town with the Galava Spaceport and I guess if you want to reach me that would be where to contact me. But I will be two months of space travel from an HPG and as far as I know a merchant ship only comes every 6 months. So…I doubt you will be able to keep in touch, but know that I will remember your friendship forever. I don’t count very many people among my friends, but you are one of them. And as such, I will warn you that in you travel leads you to the Free World League’s planet of Andurien, do not trust Lord Fredrick Zandbergen or his sons Gregory, James and Harold. My father and half-brothers arranged for my grandmother’s murder. They are not people to tangle with…I hope your travels and dealings never involve them, but I felt I had to warn you. And since I don’t want my credits going to them, you are my representative on my ComStar account. That may change in the future, but I have no family that doesn’t have a bounty on my head if I set foot on my native planet. So, I elected to designate you when the Circle of Swords disbanded. Before then it had been the unit…but now I am going to a periphery planet where I know no-one. Lord Fredrick’s blood money/bribe is still in the account...I’ll never touch it as long as I live…maybe it can help you along your journey. I had the info needed from your will as HR person for the Swords.

I hope your journeys are blessed. If the Fates ever bring you to Galava, look me up.

Nixie “Sprite” Jester
October 3048, Glen Arden


Mike smiled. Despite Nixie's attempt to conceal the meaning of her mech's name with Gaelic spelling, he recognized that it was named after him. And that pleased him. He felt like a part of himself would always be with Nixie, protecting her. He unfolded his noteputer and began typing a reply message.


Nixie,

Thank you for your letter. It has cheered me up and given me a lift at an exhausting time for me. I have joined a company called the Strike Lightning Guard commanded by Captain Rylie Buckland. It is a good fit for me. Captain Buckland has me upgrading two of the unit mechs with extended range lasers. That is taking up a lot of my time. In addition, she has entered the unit in a football game, so my vast experience with that game has been useful too. I am proud to say that we have pulled off a victory against The Grizzlies.

I am making friends. I have a lancemate named Nathan that I enjoy spending time with, despite his insistence that I need a lady on my arm at all times. He is a good friend, but his ladychasing always reminds me that you are not here.

We have received a contract for garrison duty on Barcelona in the Lyran Commonwealth. So, we will be heading in the oposite direction from The League. I expect this to be quite boring and plan to write on a somewhat regular basis.

The funds have been transfered without any problems, and I have been trying to decide what to do with the money. My first idea was to erect a life-size bronze statue of you in one of the parks here on Galatea. There is just enough funds for the statue, an ivory pillar and a plaque praising your qualities. My other idea was to set up a relief fund for civilian victims of war. When I make up my mind, I will let you know.

I am sure that you will do great on Galava. It sounds like a good place for you. I like the name your mech, and I'm glad you are keeping the symbol for the Circle of Swords. I can't do the same. I don't want to imply mixed loyalties. But I will never loose my ties to the past. In fact, I have kept in touch with Olan and Samara. They are doing well in the Wayfinders.

Good bye for now. I will stay in touch.

Mike

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

First House Call – January 3049

You couldn’t ask for a more ideal setting for a winter trip. Mossburg has the outward appearance of a picturesque German Village in the Terran Alps. But underneath the surface lies more danger than I ever encountered on Ascella. The death that lies beneath the surface of Mossburg is more subtle than a Chinese Bandit. It has destroyed the plants, contaminated the water supply, and is slowly killing all that it touches.

I had to turn down the Mossburg ale and beer that have been the trademark and livelihood of this community. And for the safety of the entire planet, I had to ban the sale and transportation of all goods from Mossburg. Luxmark had been trafficking in nuclear weapons. A nuclear explosion below the surface is the only thing that could account for the results I have seen. The surface of the Luxmark facility is no more contaminated that if a fusion reactor had blown, but the water samples Lady Hesper helped me obtain contain such high levels of radiation. Radiation poisoning, that is what is sickening Mossburg.

I hated telling the mayor what my diagnosis was. And as long as the people stay here in Mossburg, they will only get worse. I don’t have the equipment needed to treat radiation sickness, nor the medicine to do so. There is nothing I can do for these people other than to help them move and ease their symptoms with remedies they already know. And so I have failed my first patients as thoroughly as I did Lady Helena’s people.

The snow here looks so beautiful and pristine, but it can carry the contamination away from here when it melts. I don’t have the knowledge to help these people or to keep the radiation that is in the water supply from spreading. I will have to confer with Natalia, the Shockwave, to see if she knows of any plants that could be planted to help leech the radiation out of the land. Apparently she studied ecology before coming to Galava, maybe she knows of a way to keep it from spreading. And maybe Lady Hesper knows a way to seal off the contaminated water supply via geological methods.

Luxmark should have to pay for what they did to the people of Mossburg. I can only hope that they haven’t done this to any other planet…and I may have to seal my own fate to see that they aren’t allowed to do this to any more people. Hospital protocol on New Avalon dictates that all possible nuclear radiation poisonings must be reported to MIIO and the Federated Contagious Disease Committee. Galava is out here in the periphery and therefore outside of their jurisdiction, but Luxmark is Lyran.

The chances of my father and the lordlets finding out that I contacted MIIO, the FCDC, and the Iron League using my grandmother’s name to get my message through is slim. The Free Worlds League is full of spies, subterfuge, and chance things happening though… I need to keep others from experiencing the fate of Mossburg, but is it worth risking my life to try to follow protocol from the Federated Commonwealth here in the periphery?

I wish I had someone to talk to…someone to understand… I’m beginning to get to know the people here on Galava, but six weeks is not long enough to forge the deep friendship needed to discuss the family secrets that haunt my soul and color this decision. I wish Mike, Olan, Sam, Elena, or Max was here to talk to…three of them should have gotten my letters by now. But I need to leave the only family I ever knew in the past and find one here on Galava.

How can I do that though when they are a part of my call sign? Mr. Lookwood’s introduction at Dweller’s Market had stuck. Yuri had painted Spirit instead of Sprite and Mr. Lookwood looked at the symbol and introduced me as Spiritsword. I don’t know if he meant it to come across as Spirit’s Word or Spirit Sword. It doesn’t really matter; I get called Spirit, Sword, or Doc by almost everyone. I don’t think most of the people of Galava know my actual name…a sign that I don’t have a family here yet, even though the people are friendly.

The Chronicles of Gamma Rayz {A Battletech Story}



The Black Lion’s halls were long dark corridors near devoid of life at most hours it seemed. Billy paused at a view port and looked at the myriad of stars revealed there, then continued on his walk, heading for the mech bays.

The time for change would soon be upon them again. The time for their little fleet to break up on their separate missions. Billy however had decided that he wouldn’t be leaving. At least not right away. Not because of the reasons that had caused him to remain on the Black Lion these last few months. No… He trusted Angelica now. And her plan, however flawed, was better than no plan. She intended to warn the Elysium Fields, Oberon Confederation, and Greater Valkyrate. To try and gather a coalition of Pirate Lords together, fall back to Star’s End, and begin making plans for a counter attack against these Clanners.

And for Billy… War with the Clanners was inevitable. He knew that now. All the events of his life had been sculpting him for this conflict. It was his destiny. He’d been Bred for War as surely as the Clanners themselves had been.

Oh, Billy knew a lot about the Way of the Clans now. Kuladin Furey had spent many hours answering Billy’s questions. And where data from spies had been available to test, Kuladin’s words had been truthful. For this simple act, Billy had cut the first of Kuladin’s Bond Cords. He’d proven his Integrity.

Billy reached the Mech bay observation deck and leaned against the armored view pane that looked down across the open bays with one forearm. In the first bay was his mech Raiden. His Thug Battlemech had carried him through a nearly undefeated string of victories since his agreement to work with the Yakuza back on Solaris. Raiden had only failed him once.

Tiberius Breen.

Tiberius had been his match, skill for skill. But the Clanner’s mech had been superior. Billy had recognized it the moment the fight began. But he’d fought on until Raiden had suffered damage that would have crippled it the rest of the fight. Then the battle had continued on foot. Tiberius’d had shown great honor and had left his Omnimech after Raiden had failed and agreed to meet Billy with knives. Again they had matched each other skill for skill. And Tiberius had been larger, physically superior. In the end both of them had delivered a killing stroke in the same instant. Though Billy’s slash had been aimed to Breen’s throat, while Tiberius had opted for a gut wound.

Both wounds would have slain. But Billy’s cut had slain faster. At the time even as he’d felt his life’s blood flowing out onto the ground and felt that he’d achieved a great victory.

Now he realized that it was Tiberius who had achieved the greater victory there. For Tiberius had throughout the battle kept awareness of the Way of the Clans. To Waste nothing. Tiberius would have taken him alive. Billy on the other hand had slain a magnificent warrior.

He had no remorse for the lives he’d slain during his career. But he could now see the waste associated with some of those kills.

Some of them.

Movement caught his eye. Kuladin was down there, working on the captured Mad Cat. Of course. He hoped that upon regaining his status as a Warrior that he would be reassigned to his old machine.

Billy had no problem with that.

But it may be a long time before he cut the Bond Cord for Fidelity. Billy was NOT a very trusting man.

Kuladin was the first man in Billy’s entire career that had attacked him and lived. Only strange circumstances had left Kuladin alive. Billy smirked with the remembrance of it.


Kuladin,having apparently survived the attack that had crippled his Omnimech, had been dragged aboard the Black Lion still unconscious inside the wreckage of his mech after the battle on Plains of Karmain on Graven’s Deep.

Billy had rushed off to the bridge of the warship and spent much time in planning and discussion with the Crimson Corsair along with Joseph Grimm, and Princess Loni Grimm~MacDonald in the Black Lion’s forward CIC chambers.

By the time Billy had returned to the Mech Bays an hour or so later, Kuladin had already been found, and imprisoned in the brig.

Billy’s blood had boiled with the news, and he’d stalked down to the brig to see his prisoner with every intention of killing him on the spot.

When Billy arrived, Kuladin had been pacing his cell like a caged panther but he stopped upon seeing Billy and spread his arms wide as if to show Billy he was unarmed and Powless, as the Clanners say.

“I am Star Colonel Kuladin Furey and freely admit my responsibility in this defeat and absolve my command of any implication of wrong doing. I salute you Billy Cho and your Partisans. The Smoke Jaguars will cede this world to you. Though you must know that there will be other Clans who shall make claim upon it. Do what you must.”

Billy had looked at him, considering. He’d believed he understood what Kuladin was waiting for. He’d seen it a few times when certain heroic members of the resistance had fought valiantly and been captured by the Clanners. They were taken as a sort of slave, that the Clans referred to “Bondsmen”.

Billy had come down here to kill the man and was still of a mind to do so. He’d killed in cold blood before and held no hesitation for such things. Billy had always killed those who had fought against him.

But as he carefully watched Kuladin, Billy came to realize that that the man would accept willingly death as the due price for his failure as readily as he would a Bondsman’s service.

According to resistance spy reports, at least some of these bondsmen had been put to work unchained and unguarded and it was said, that they would be offered the chance to fight again someday when they had proven themselves. It was all something to do with three bond-cords fastened around the bondsman’s wrist.

Billy had sneered at the thought as he stepped in closer, his hand dropping down to settle on his shiv. Kuladin had noticed the gesture but made no move to stop what he must suspect would happen next. Billy stepped around Kuladin and stopped directly behind the much larger man.

“Do you wish to live?” Billy’s whisper questioned, his voice deadly cold.

“I will not beg you Warrior. If you despise my skill so that you feel I am unworthy to serve you, then do so. I ask only that you do not have my children slain.”

That caught Billy by surprise, and his hand eased off his shiv as he continued his circuit around the big man.

“You will tell me about the taking of Bondsmen Clanner. If I am satisfied, I may let you live. However you must know, that shall require other answers from you about the Clans if I choose accept the burden of you.”

“Now speak… or not… as you wish.” Billy came to a stop in front of him again.

Kuladin regarded him for long moments. “Without your bond, I am under no obligation to serve you. Yet your request is reasonable for one who is ignorant of Clan Ways.”

Clearing his throat, Kuladin began:

“It is the Way of the Clans to eliminate wastefulness. The taking of Bondsmen is a part of this, and it is also a part of Isorla, or “To the Victors of battle go the Spoils of War”. Potentially anything captured in battle may be claimed as Isorla. This includes defending warriors who are captured. This is an option, and when it is applied to captives, it is generally given only to those the victor wishes to Honor, given only to those whom the victor does not wish to waste.” He paused a moment looking down at Billy.

“The taking of Bondsmen requires the setting of goals fit for the Bondsman to prove himself to his Bond Holder. This is done symbolically through the use of 3 Bonds Cords attached to the left wrist of the Bondsman. Each cord has specific meaning. The First Cord represents Integrity. The Second Cord represents Fidelity. The Third Cord represents Prowess.”

“Typically, the Bondholder will cut each cord as the Bondsman proves his worthiness of each. When the last cord is cut, the Bondsman is accepted fully into his new Clan. If he had been a warrior before then he would be a warrior again.”

Staring at Billy a moment he continued. “I would be remiss to my honor if I did not reveal to you that Smoke Jaguars do not generally take Freebirth Surats as Bondsmen.”

Billy had considered this for a moment. It was a trap of course. To claim offense was to claim kinship with the Surats he spoke of. To say nothing would be to allow the insult without riposte. In that moment, Billy’s dislike for the man disappeared. He grinned mischievously at him and walked from the brig saying nothing further that day.

The next day Billy had returned to Kuladin’s cell holding three Zip-Ties, a red one, a white one, and a black one.

“OK, here’s the deal big guy. I don’t generally suffer lemmings that have attacked me to live.” He paused briefly to catch Kuladin’s reaction. Kuladin had stiffened, then had slightly inclined his head to him with a smirk.

“Now, yesterday you told me the Clan ways and means of taking Bondsmen. Now let me tell you MY way. I’m gonna give you your chance to wear these Bond Cords. But you will only ever receive just ONE chance. Until the last cord is cut, I will be looking for any reason at all to cut your throat! Give me just one hint that you are ever not 100% on board with whatever is going on and it’s over. One Chance.”

“Got it?” Billy questioned.

Kuladin nodded his head slightly again the smirk fading slowly.

“Good, now hold out your wrist.”

Billy had then put all three zip ties around the big man’s left wrist and cinched them down. Then taking wire cutters he removed the tails.

Outside the cell he could hear the ship crew muttering. “Is he insane?” “Is he really going to let that monster lose on the ship??” “I’m goin to inform the Captain!” One of the crewmen left quickly then.

By the time Billy had reached the mech bays with Kuladin walking a few paces behind the Crimson Corsair was entering from the other side. They met somewhere near the middle of the bay.

“What is he doing out of the Brig?” she’d snapped

“Kuladin serves me now.” He’d explained simply.

Rage seemed to boil up in the redhead’s emerald eyes momentarily, and then she’d tilted her head looking at Billy closely and smiled. Here was a man to be feared. A man worthy of her own designs she thought.

“Well… Keep him out of my way.” She’d said at last.

And like that, Kuladin Furey was free to move about the ship, though he was told where the restricted areas were, and was reminded again, that he had but one chance.


But Kuladin wasn’t the last person he’d let live who had attacked him. As Billy watched Kuladin work, he winced at the thought of this second occasion. It had been more than a month back now, just a few weeks away from Graven’s Deep…

“She is completely Psycho!” Billy’d thought, looking at the blade in his hand. The same blade she had tried to kill him with less than 2 hours earlier.

It was a fine blade he’d observed. Damascus steel, with sculpted ivory handles, perfectly balanced for throwing. And it was now his. Whether she wanted it back or not. In fact it was the finest blade he’d ever owned.

Tossing the covers back he’d got up and crossed the room to the mirror. He could see Angelica reflected there, still asleep behind him on his bed, her red hair spilling out across the pillows over a darker red stain of dried blood.

He glanced down at the gash across his ribs. He’d just barely caught her wrist in time to stop that from becoming a killing stroke. Had in fact quickly disarmed her, and before she could react had the blade pressed tightly to her own throat ready to kill.

“WHY?!” He’d roared

She’d moaned then looking up at him with something akin to awe in her green eyes. Then she’d leaned up into the blade and kissed him, cutting herself in the process!

“Psycho…” he’d repeated.

But he’d needed answers that night, and he’d set out to find someone, anyone who could give him those answers. What he’d found was a pair of ship crewmen huddled around a computer panel in the wall. They looked up at him and were startled, obviously surprised.

“They didn’t expect to see me alive…” he thought. “They knew… and hadn’t said anything.” He needed to learn more about his hostess, and these two would tell him everything he wanted to know.

The first man went down with like a light bulb from Billy’s surprise Iajitsu-like kick to his jaw.

The other was actually quite cooperative… and talkative.

Billy had been the first man they knew of, to have ever survived Angelica’s affections. “She was the Black Widow for real.” They’d said. Then they’d shown him some data-files on her, Medical reports, Psychological profiles. She really was Psychotic. It explained much, and settled his suspicions a great deal.

Before he left the two crewmen that night, he’d made it plain that should he encounter any other such surprises during his stay on this ship without them warning him, they would be stuffed into an airlock and left to float home whether it had been their fault or not.

They got the point.

Now, weeks later Billy realized that this had really been the turning point in a greater series of events. Prior to this night, their mission together, had been just that… a mission. A coalition against the Clans.

She’d been gone by the time he’d returned to his bed chambers, and when he’d saw her the next day it may as well have been that the attack had never happened. In fact, she seemed even more friendly. As if in surviving her attack he’d passed some test.

Her attraction for him had increased as well. And for Billy’s part he couldn’t deny a return for that attraction, Psycho-Wench or not. Her psychosis and his own would work well together.

Their passions had continued, if a bit more cautiously. He’d begun tying her up during their liaisons, which she seemed to both expect and enjoy.

Even now as he leaned against the armored glass above the Mech Bays, he still shook his head.

“Psycho” he murmured. But at least he felt he understood her.

But another fact had emerged during the last few weeks. She had begun to defer to him in many things. Everyone aboard could feel the shift in power. A power he’d never really wanted. But he would use that power to fight the Clans. Like the Wayfinders had been… it was a tool, nothing more and nothing less.


A lot had happened in the following weeks as the fleet approached the Inner Sphere. The fleet was actually starting to break up now, various jumpships heading to separate destinations. It had taken far longer then they had wanted. But the Clans had jumped ahead of them along major routes of travel and thus they had been forced to take a round-about passage that taken them far longer.

The plan was for the fleet to break up and give warning to the Draconis Combine, Free Rasalhague Republic, and the Lyran Commonwealth.

Joseph Grimm and Princess Loni and a core of Graven’s Deep Militia had been traveling with him on the Black Lion for most of the voyage, survivors of the Plains of Karmain mostly. The hundred or so survivors among the Prophets of Sunaj were also aboard. For the first time in more than 800 years, the Temple of Doom was abandoned. All that existed of the Prophets were here, and they would be remaining with Billy aboard the Black Lion.

Soon Joe and Loni and their following would be leaving aboard the Daedalus and its attendant dropship the Icarus. They would be heading on to Trellwan. An unlikely target that should allow them to get word out to the Lyran Commonwealth about the imminent invasion.

Billy wondered how much good that would actually do. Would they even be taken seriously? Would it matter if they were?

From what Billy had learned about the Clan Invasion from Kuladin, this was a war the Clans meant to wage across the entire Inner Sphere, and they felt utterly confident in their ability to execute that war.

Fractured as the Inner Sphere was, Billy had little doubt about the outcome himself. But it didn’t matter. He would fight them to the last. And expect no less from them.

He pushed himself away from the observation glass at last and took the lift down to the Mech Bay to join his Bondsman.

There was still a lot to do…




Alan~

To Be or Not To Be... {A Battletech Story}



The White Fang slowed its approach and came into orbit around Graven's Deep. General Quarters had been sounded the moment they had entered the system and discovered... nothing.

There should have been a Smoke Jaguar Congress Class Frigate here and perhaps half a dozen dropships. But there was nothing. Just... Nothing.

They weren't even picking up anything from the ground based units aside from some garbled report from the Comstar Adepts in Genoa.

As they neared their drop trajectory Shiam patched into the ship's external sensors. There was a great deal of drifting wreckage in orbit. Could the Comstar reports have been true? Had the entire Smoke Jaguar garrison, and attendant fleet have been completely wiped out? How?

Shiam was sitting in his Timberwolf awaiting the dropship's arrival on planet.

He didn't have long to wait.

The ship bucked violently as it pierced the atmosphere at a steep angle, bringing them quickly to their LZ before planetary defenses could be brought online to stop them.

But there was no resistance. No storm of aerospace fighters.

Nothing...

Even as the White Fang was slowing to make it's landing, the great bay doors were opening and mechs began leaping out in all directions to secure the drop zone.

But there was no driving need. No hiden enemies came screaming from the jungles to attack them.

Nothing.

What had happened here?

Shiam took his Trinary and headed south toward Genoa and the Comstar Facility.

He was surprised to see one of the work hover trucks keeping pace with them. as they moved out onto what appeared to be a major highway.

"Mia, what are you doing?" he spat into the comm "I did not tell you to follow us!"

"You didn't tell me to remain behind Star Colonel." she replied smoothly. "I was once a member of the Explorer Corps. I know Comstar systems and security. You may need me."

Shiam grunted but made no protest.

Mia had caused him no small ammount of trouble. Not only had he been reprimanded for "Antagonizing" the Smoke Jaguars during a diplomatic liason mission to assess the effectiveness of their new Protomechs, but she had been unwilling to remain quietly in the background while the clans discussed the invasionary plans for the Inner Sphere. She had been called more than once to the Kurultai to give testimony on the Inner Sphere's defenses and prepardness.

Which meant that he himself was called to these meetings.

Which meant that he had to suffer multiple insults and challenges both for his actions and her behavior, and had become involved in three seperate Trials of Grievence. THREE!!

It wasn't that she was insolent. But she was yet ignorant of the Ways of the Clans There had been no time to teach her yet. For instance, she had been unable to recite even the first stanzas of the Rememberance.

Shiam had accepted full responsibility for it of course. His codex would record his shame.

And now.. here he was ariving well back from the leading Invasion convoys. He would not participate in the first wave. Maybe not even the second.

His Trinary had been assigned duties generally given to a soloma unit. To hunt down periphery pirate scum and destroy them. It was insulting. But as his commander had pointed out. These scum were directly in line with the invasion, and they HAD to be dealt wtih. He would be among the first to actually fight in this invasion even if it wouldn't be against the Inner Sphere.

Yes... Mia had been a great deal of trouble. Just as Jamar had said she would be back on Huntress.

But she'd also brought him a great deal of pleasure. he smiled.

The streets of Genoa were virtually empty he noted. And they encountered no resistance even as they secured the HPG compound.

The re-taking of Graven's Deep had been accomplished in less than 6 hours time. It had been a combined attack between Clan Wolf, Diamond Shark, and Ghost Bear warriors who had been part of this supply fleet. Each target secured. No fighting.

Nothing.

Shiam climbed down and entered the Comstar compound noting the signs of recent battle. They quickly rounded up the Adepts and left them under mech guns out in front of the compound while Shiam and Mia continued their investigation inside.

Soon they had managed to dig up the reports. It had been a pirate raider according to the reports, working in conjunction with a cordinated attack by resistance partisans.

It seemed impossible. How could such rabble defeat Clan Warriors so thoroughly? And what nonsense was this about a pirate in posession of a Warship? There was some confusion if it was a Black Lion Class Battlecruiser, or some other type of warship called The Black Lion.

The Inner Sphere HAD NO WARSHIPS! Where had this one come from?

Mia seemed to be as genuinely puzzled as he was. She had never heard of the Crimson Corsair before. At not least beyond the public legends about her. And the legends had never mentioned any sort of warship. In the legends... the Black Lion had been an Overlord class Dropship.

This Warship, shown in at least one set of surviving battle Roms was of an unknown design, and had apparently destroyed not only the entire Smoke Jaguar defensive fleet, but also a Congress Class Frigate that had been insystem at the time. Had also participated in the ground fighting, and had assisted more than a dozen refugee dropships in escaping the planet.

And the Black Lion apparently did all this without sustaning heavy damage!

It was unthinkable!

The Crimson Corsair, Billy Cho, and Joseph Grimm were pirates worthy of hunting!

THESE were pirates he would take honor in defeating. The Smoke Jaguars were ever too quick to pounce. But the Wolf Pack would bring them down...

It turned out that Mia had proven herself as invaluable as her word when she'd managed to uncover secret records of communications this Crimson Corsair had made using the HPG, apparently without the local Precentor or Adepts knowing through some sort of back door into the system. It had been through this back door that these pirates had managed to plot the break out from Graven's Deep.



That night Mia received a summons that awoke her from a light slumber. She was told to report immediately to the dropship Mech Bays.

What now? she wondered. But she scrambled into her jumpsuit and took the first lift quickly down to the mech bays.

She gasped as she stepped into the darkened bays lit only by the moon through an open bay door, and saw a tall man standing there waiting for her, wearing a vicious looking Black Wolf Mask. She recovered slowly and cautiously entered the bay looking around for some secret attack.

"Mia!" the mans voice intoned solemnly "You proved your Integrity on Strana Mechty during the Kurultai both in your actions and your truthful information which has played no small part to this invasion. And for that I cut your first Bonds Cord."

"Seyla...." a number of other voices whispered around her, and from the darkness others approached silently. They were all wearing Wolf Masks.

It must be Shiam! She though furiously, trying to figure out what was happening.

"You have proven your Fidelity during the Trials of Possession which secured Clan Wolf's place in the Invasion. Though you were not permitted a warriors weapon, your actions in driving your hover truck into the legs of that Jade Falcon Fire Moth proved your loyalty. And for that I cut your second Bonds Cord."

"Seyla..." the voices intoned louder this time.

She took a deeper calming breath. Whatever this was, she would not face it with fear.

"This day, you have displayed your prowess in discovering hidden messages planted there by the pirates who wrested this world from Clan Smoke Jaguar. And for that, I now cut your third and last Bond's Cord."

"Seyla!" the voices growled around her as the cord was cut from her wrist.

"I welcome you now into the pack of the Wolf Clan. You are ready. Tomorrow, before we leave Graven's Deep we shall shall hold a Trial of Position for you. Tonight Mia Wolf... we shall remember."

"Seyla..." the voices intoned at once,

Then on cue the Wolf Loremaster stepped forward, her elaborate Wolf Mask staring at mia with a savage snarl, and fastened a Codex around Mia's left wrist.

Then she presented Mia with her own mask. A Winter Wolf mask with terrible black fangs...

In processession they all exited the ship proceeded in silence to a prepared clearing in the jungles. The moon was reaching it's zenith and their Ululating cries met the moon's cool light.

Then they sat in circle, and began to recite the Rememberance of Clan Wolf... The ceremony continued through the night untill the moon set against the distant mountains, and the last "Seyla" was whispered into the darkness...


Mia couldn't sleep afterward. And she would end up facing the Trial of Position still tired from her all night vigil.

Mia had no wish to slay or harm her fellow Wolves. And she held no great ambitions, still.. she was able to defeat two opponents, and earned the rank of Star Captain.

She was assigned to a Mad Dog, and she along with the other 4 members of her Star would be joining Shiam's Trinary aboard the White Fang.

For the first time in Mia's life... She was truly content.

Mia was proud to be Mia Wolf.




Alan~

Tanzu & Hana Story: ‘The Wheel Keeps Turning’ [Part: 1]...{A Battletech Story}

Hana looked back at her computer screen one last time before heading out of her small apartment, down on the screen was an list of names of dispossessed Mechwarriors looking for work. On that list was the one name, the name she had been waiting months to see and that name was Kuma Tanzu. Tanzu had done just as she had told him to in her message and placed his name on the list of unemployed dispossessed Mechwarriors with just the info that was needed for his name to end up on the select list that was now displayed on her screen. It had been her programming skills that had made this list a reality, one of her first assignments as Head of Office Security at Luxmark’s Weapons Research and Development Lab on Solaris VII. It had been her list program that she would later learn that had killed at least one and maybe many more.

Hana walked out the front door to her apartment building her grey leather coat hiding the weapons and stealth suit underneath as she walked to the waiting taxi that the doorman had call for her. Upon sitting down in the taxi Hana told the driver the address and he looked back at her with something like surprise and suspicion but said nothing as they drove off. The slums between Black Hills and Cathay are no place for a lone young woman, but Hana had no fear. Fear was no longer a part of her and would never be again, but respect for the threats she might face there she did have. Then again she was also carrying a very large laser pistol and in the case that lay on the seat beside her was her vibro katana.

The ride took far longer than it seemed possible and the whole time Hana once more went over the events of the last year and a half in her head. During the three months at New Avalon, MIIO had gotten everything they could from her and in return she had gotten training in skills to start her new life and once she could she started looking for a way to make her own way in life. It had almost been like fate when after only a few days of looking she was offered employment with an expanding research company, Luxmark, and was assigned as Head of Office Security at Solaris VII. Of course these titles always sound more important than they really are, in truth she was only the head of a department that consisted of herself, two other computer programmers, and one retired cop. The only thing she was the security for was the office building that housed the executives’ offices and was not even in the same place as the research facilities. In truth, she was a glorified secretary with a gun, who stopped people from getting company information be it by theft or hacking. On top of her general duties, she was give some assignments by the some of the executives and these ranged from being an armed date to working up programs for company use.

For once Hana’s life was becoming boring again, but that feeling only lasted a month as it had taken her that long to realize that the hiring program to find Mechwarriors to test new weapons started to match missing person reports. It had totally been by accident, she had woken up in the middle of the night from at the time she had thought was a nightmare but in reality had been her gift, but after waking up she had turned on the news just in time to see a report about an identified body found in the river. When they said the name, she knew at that moment her life was no longer going to be boring. She recognized the name as one of the men that her hiring program had recommended for hire to for research testing and it had not taken long for Hana to learn that yet another hire had been reporting missing by a friend.

That had been enough to raise her suspicions and set her on edge about her new employers, but not enough to know if it was just coincidence or if there was something greater going on here. It took some digging and some creative hacking, but within a few days Hana had her hands on the blueprints for the lab facilities. For the most part, they looked just as one would expected a weapons testing and development lab to look all except for the over large testing grounds and what looked like prison cells worked into the floor plans marked as ‘subject holding area’. Hana needed to know just what her new employers were up to, but she had no access to the labs and her activities at the offices were monitored just like everyone else’s. Either she needed to get inside that facility or have someone else do it for her. It was with this thought that she had sent her message and it was that message and the man that had responded to it that brought her out into the rainy night in the slum.

Hana climbed out of the taxi and paid the man before sending him on his way. As soon as the taxi was out of sight, she took off her coat and turned it inside out and the nice grey leather coat became a almost pitch black coat that seemed to soak up any light that touched it. Then she opened up the case she was carrying and pulled out her katana and strapped in onto her belt before heading into the alley between two warehouses and started climbing up the fire escape of one of them. Moving as quietly as she could and relying on the noise of the rain to cover up her movements she made her way to a window so as to look in on the warehouse before entering.

It had been almost two years since Hana had seen him and even from the view of the upper story window and looking down on his back he still sent shivers through her body and a pain into her chest. Tanzu set on the floor of the warehouse where the light from a single candle reflected off his katana’s blade that set just in arms reach in front of the mediating man. She could not see much inside the warehouse do to the dark of the rainy night sky that was broken up with the ever sporadic lighting that sent shadows dancing across the warehouse interior. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind’s eye and the world open up in front of her in her mind and she now saw more clearly than she ever would have been able to with her own eyes in this dark night.

Oh how far had she come from the scared shy slave in his care, afraid of even her own shadow, now she called on her ever present gifts as if they were just another part of her like breathing. For over a year now she had been honing her skills with her gifts and now they were as much apart of her senses as her own eyes and ears were. It was not that long ago that she had feared her gifts and what dangers they had would have brought to her and him, and it had been that fear that had sent her running from this man so many months ago.

Now with her new vision she could see that Tanzu was not as still as he appeared to be the muscles of his right shoulder were tensed up like a spring ever ready to uncoil, and like a snake that uncoiling would bring with it a deadly strike most likely from the katana that lay at his feet. She should have know that her presence would not have gone unnoticed, although he didn’t have any gifts his sense were razor sharp, a sharpness that only come from surviving in places that do not forgive the unaware, places that most would call hell.

Tanzu’s voice broke through the silence of the warehouse like a thunder clap although he only spoke with no raise in his voice, “If you are here to strike me down, try, but I grow tired of your continued watching.”

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

Pirate’s Landing – February 3049

The communications base had not detected the incoming dropship. Apparently this pirate leader knew enough to sneak in behind the moon and mask their ship signature with the moon. Gads, I hate pirates! Not as much as Natalia, Shephard, and Reese though. Shephard had some of his people stationed towards where the best guess for the pirate landing had been. Reese and his trainees had been preparing for a surprise attack training session near the communication base. Natalia had blatantly challenged them before they even landed, something about clearing a mark…I don’t know exactly what the challenge was about, but obviously it was a long standing one. It is obvious that these people do not like pirates at all.

I came to this planet to be a doctor and pirates are the bane of this physician’s life. When the dropship was finally detected, I had been in Mossburg and was staying to help the remainder of the people who were leaving be on their way. If only I could get the other 1/3 of the people to relocate! I waited to see if the pirates were going to land at a probable landing site, the site of the Luxmark explosion. These pirates did not have the best dropship crew in the galaxy, they held their angle of decent from the time they entered atmosphere. I even know better than that thanks to hide and seek simulator games with Max. Apparently the crew did not expect anyone to be watching for them and they headed straight for what had been a good landing site in the past.

I judged the angle correctly and took off shortly after they entered atmosphere. Hide and seek with Max had trained me to mask my signature in their wake. Real life worked just like the simulator. Commander Styles alerted people that the communications base was the probable target and it was just pure luck that things fell the way they did. Olan would have had us prepared for a hot drop even if we weren’t expecting to need one, but these pirates were not of that mind. Too many years of happy raiding without resistance had lulled them. From their radio chatter with Natalia, it seemed they were expecting her to come alone.

Things didn’t go that way though. The GDF took the first shots at them as they started unloading ‘mechs and the Training House trainees were close on their heels. Natalia arrived about the time they started the engines back up to take off. They never should have turned them off. The challenge to the leader was issued again, but the response was that the blood mark would wait and all of those that aided Natalia would face death when this pirate group returned.

The pirate dropship was badly damaged by the time it actually took off and they were still under fire. The unlucky pirates who had been unloading with the GDF first opened fire, died in their ‘mechs. The ones who thought they would limp off the planet to return again were mistaken. There is a reason that I came to this planet, and so many hours of training in the Sensoround with Max gave me the idea. I put myself at more risk to keep this group from coming back than people were happy with, but a large laser and two medium ones can change a crippled dropship into a downed dropship. Targeting the engine on a dropship you could fly yourself isn’t that complicated. Getting the shot you want without taking any damage is. The pirate dropship crashed in a fiery explosion kilometers away from the communication base in uninhabited land.

McKayla got patched up by Yuri while I was repairing the damage the pirates had done to the GDF and Training House trainees. The upper building of the communications base suffered some damage to the higher levels, but I got to do surgery and have a recovery ward in the lower levels of the building above the underground base. Only a few injuries were life threatening, but it is still important to set broken bones and bandage cracked ribs. I started with the people of this planet and expected to get some pirates being dragged in from the wreckage at some point. They never came…all I heard was that Natalia, Penance, and Erik had verified that there were no survivors. Natalia thanked for me for helping her to get rid of the mark the pirate had mentioned. I don’t know what happened at the crash site, and I don’t want to know.

I do know that I really need to petition the World Council to let me start training some others in basic medical skills. First Aid classes for starters. Nursing/Med Tech for those that show aptitude and ultimately surgery. If this planet is going to survive thrice yearly pirate attacks, there needs to be more of a medical support team than just Lisetta, Lady Hesper and I. Lady Hesper makes a fair nurse and Lisetta is as almost as skilled as I am in surgery, but it isn’t natural to her and she would prefer to not have to do the serious cases. But I must get to sleep before I have to do the next round of bandage changes and talk to the World Council members about something they want me to do.

Tanzu & Hana Story: ‘The Wheel Keeps Turning’ [Part: 2]...{A Battletech Story}


Tanzu stepped out of the shower of the small office and living quarters that were an afterthought addition to the ran down warehouse. Tanzu finished drying off and dressing in the dark before he walked out into the office and grabbed his meditation mat, a candle and his ever present vibro katana. Ace had rented this place after they had finished their mutual business on Pomme de Terre and made their way to Solaris VII together, but in truth Tanzu would have found a way here with or without Ace’s help. It had only taken Hana asking for his help to have him here despite all the misgivings he had about this. Tanzu sighed as he walked out onto the warehouse floor and over to the giant feet of his ‘War Mule’ before placing his meditation mat on the floor. Looking up at the ‘mech Tanzu stared at the Wayfinders symbol and the old argument started up in his head once more. Sitting down he lit the candle then placed his katana on the floor in front of him and started his meditation in hopes of working through his uncertainties.

Tanzu let out a breath as he slowed his breathing and his heart rate with every breath he let out. Life had been so simple when he had started out to look for his daughter, but with the ending of that quest with the discovery that his daughter Mia was on a mission for ComStar many loyalties tore at him. Jet had complicated his life far more than Tanzu liked. With Jet’s death, the loyalties he had held for him had transferred on to Ingrid and the Wayfinders. Life as a Ronin should not have such complications of loyalty as he was now facing, he had sworn to serve with the Wayfinders and now they were off trying to make their way without him because he still felt like he owned Hana his loyalty and protection. Hana’s message had reached him as his family duty had end and he was returning to the Wayfindres. It had been more than a former master’s loyalty that had swayed his decision to come here it had been the memory of her face and the fact that for the year and eight months he had missed having her by his side. And so, he was on this path longing for it to begin and end so he could return to carry out his duty to Ingrid and the Wayfinders.

Lightning broke the darkness of the interior of the warehouse and Tanzu saw it in the shadows painted across the floor of the warehouse. There was a figure in one of the upper windows, watching him and waiting. Tanzu cursed himself for allowing such distractions to affect him so and started to tense up his body in anticipation of the action that was soon to come. The figure seemed to be waiting for something and banking of the fact that Tanzu had not noticed them. If they were waiting for backup or for some signal to attack, Tanzu needed to press the matter and set them off balance so he could get out from the open.

Tanzu’s voice broke through the silence of the warehouse like a thunder clap although he spoke with no raise in his voice, “If you are here to strike me down, try, but I grow tired of your continued watching.”

Tanzu didn’t even wait for a heart beat after his statement before he was on the move. In one fluid motion, he stood and grabbed his katana and turned to face the figure in the window, but as quick as he was the figure was gone from the window before he had completed his turn. Not waiting for the figure to take the next move, Tanzu ran sidelong to place the large legs of the War Mule between him and his unknown intruder. Tanzu opened up his senses and slowed his breathing waiting for any sign from his intruder before taking action that might unknowingly put him in danger.

It was on the fourth slow breath that Tanzu caught the scent of his intruder’s perfume. Apparently his intruder seemed to enjoy flowery fragrances, it was a mistake they might live to regret as it was the only sign they let slip of their presence. Tanzu spun about and swung his katana with his movement, but not fast enough as the figure ducked underneath the strike and slid to his right as they only now drew their blade. The fact that the figure had not been prepared to strike him gave Tanzu pause and he took two quick steps away from the intruder to put some space between him and them, but he didn’t have much of a pause as the figure swung their blade at him in an over head attack that he quickly blocked. It was over the crossed blades that Tanzu got his first look at the face of his intruder and his heart stopped as he realized just what he had done. Although she now wore different colored hair and seemed to have to put on some muscle and weight, it was the face of Hana.

Hana gave him a shy smile before commenting, “It’s nice that you came, Tanzu.”

Tanzu slid his blade away from her and took a step back from her before answering her. He gave a polite bow, “I see that your skills have improved, but you still broadcast your attacks. Maybe that was your intent. You said you were in need of my assistance so I have come.”

Tanzu watched as her facial expressions went from one of playful shyness to sadness then to guarded hardness before she returned his polite bow in greeting, “I have once more found myself a member of some plot, but this time I have no intention of leaving before I have at least learned just what my new employers, Luxmark, are up too and if need be put a end to it.”

Tanzu move back towards his waiting meditation mat and took a seat giving him time to contemplate the heat he had heard in Hana’s voice. She most likely felt like she was being used again to do other’s dirty work like ComStar had done with her. He could understand her anger, but he believed she was more interested in ending whatever Luxmark was doing and less about just learning the details of their operations here on Solaris. She would not have called him if she didn’t believe that it was worth his time. If this company was really up to something that needed to be stopped, it would be done.

Tanzu waved his hand in Hana’s direction and gestured for her to have a seat next to him, “Hana sit, tell me what you know and just how you think I will be of use to you in this mission.”

Hana took a seat across from him on the other side of the still lit candle and placed her katana in front of her. She took a deep breath and some of the hardness left her face as she look Tanzu in the eye before speaking, “Well the first part of my plan is already in motion with you just arriving and placing your name on the unemployment list as I asked you too. Now your name will be placed on a list I have created for consideration for hire by the company to test weapons. They have hired several such Mechwarriors in the past and seem to need at least one more every week. Once hired, you will be taken to the lab facilities and have more accesses than I would ever be able to gain and hopefully with that access we can learn just what Luxmark is up too.”

Tanzu smile a little as he just didn’t have the heart to tell her that her plan was more likely to lead to his death than the discovery of any Luxmark wrong doing, but then death had never been an unknown to him. Hana looked a little surprised at his sudden smile, and he had no idea just what she would read into it. But then, he never knew just went on behind those hazel eyes. “Tea would be nice, do you have time for a cup before you must depart as we need to work out a few details with your plan before we part ways on this path.”

The Price of Glory {A Battletech Story}



Joanen strode into Prince Elect Hakaan Magnusson's Radstadt Palace tugging primly on her white silk gloves to secure them and smooth out wrinkles.

"The Countess Joanen Larsdottir of Skodsgarten!" the court harold announced wtih a booming thump of his brass staff of office against the marble floor that echoed around the cavernous hall as she strode past him.

If she was miffed that few if any of the Radstadt Courtiers attending the Landsraad Summit turned to notice her entrance there was no outward sign.

The Summit was a week long event that would culminate in several grand meetings.

It was the first Landsraad Summit that Joanen had ever attended... as a Countess. Formerly she'd been merely a Lady of the Court and of the great landed gentry, but she had been of the "Minor Houses" and had been ignored out of hand during the last such gathering.

But times would change. Were changing.

As she strode past the minor nobility that populated the areas closest to the grand foryer, she smirked. She had been one of them so recently. But no more.

As she continued forward, she began to feel the difference. The seperation of station. That natural pecking order which permitted only the most powerful to have direct access to Prince Hakaan Magnusson himself. To one astute in the politicraft of the Rasalhague Court it could almost be felt as a pressure, a barrior that began to push one back, the closer they approached to the Prince.

She felt that pressure now as she continued walking forward. The frowns, and distainful glances. But she knew how far she could proceed without insult. And she continued walking untill she was at the very edge of that barrier. She could just see Prince Hakaan from there. She smiled, knowing that she would be closer one day. Much closer.

Glancing to her left she turned a vapid smile on Baron Karl Von Strogden as he raised his glass to her and allowed herself to be drawn closer to him.

"Ahhh, Countess Joanen... you are looking radiant tonight!" he began. Baron Strogden was a giant of a man, more than six and a half feet tall, and of enormous girth and flaming red hair, though it was shot through with grey now in his waning years. His beard was full and lay in two great braids down the front of his dublet. He looked more the Viking than anyone Joanen had ever seen.

"Baron Karl, what a pleasure seeing you here." He smiled and took her profered hand in his own patting it with a surprisingly gentle strength for their huge size.

He chuckled merrily. "Well I have never failed to attend the Landsraad, Countess. There is precious little enough that the Great Houses have in direct participation, regarding the running of Rasalhague. I will never give up my vote or voice!"

"Indeed!" she agreed vehemently.

"This year's Landsraad should be quite eventful I think." He said mysteriously.

Instanly Joanen was on point, though she pretended only a vague interest. "Oh? Is there something I should know?"

"Haven't you been keeping track of the news my dear?" Karl looked at her questioningly. "Sten Bjelbo's long lost heir has shown up suddenly. Apparently Illiana's scion survived after all and has come to make her claims." he chuckled distractedly. "A shake up among the Royalty is always interesting to watch."

Then he turned to her with a twinkle in his eyes. "There will be opportunities here Joanen... for the wise and the wicked. Mark my words." He grabbed a flagon of mead from the silver tray of a passing waiter.

Joanen's smile became genuine. She decided that would need to cultivate her ties with Baron Strogden further. She had deeply underestimated the big man's nose for politics. She HAD in fact been keeping abreast of the news, but this had still escaped her. She wondered where the Baron received his information.

She instnictively began searching among those arrayed closer to the throne, and after a few minutes her eyes alighted upon her quary. Prince Eric Stephansson...

Keeping her eye half on the young Prince, she began maneuvering as close as she dared. She would not be welcome in the company he was currently keeping, but he would not remain there indefinitely.

As it turned out, she'd had to wait nearly two hours before her opportunity presented itself. Prince Eric was apparently leaving early, and with Duchess Brigitta Westermark hanging on his arm no less.

That cow! Joanen thought with surprising agressiveness. Just because she was one of the wealthiest land owners in Rasalhague... and born to her titles... and possessed of Sif's own beauty...

Why did every head turn as she walked by?? Joanen fumed

So caught up with her venom was Joanen, that she nearly missed her chance.

"Prince Eric!" she smiled widely and approached them. "I am surprised to see you here." she began.

Eric frowned and then sneered when he recognized her. "Well if it isn't Lady Joanen... oh wait, wasn't it a countess title you recently bought? Excuse me, then COUNTESS Joanen... Ahem..." He glanced at the duchess who began giggling.

"I understand that all of this must seem horrribly new to you.... what about my presence here surprises?" he finished with a malicious glint in his cold blue eyes.

His smug arrogant sneer made Joanen's blood boil and again she was nearly distracted from her goals.

"Oh, yes this is all wonderfully exotic! And I am proud to at last be among such worthy fellowship... " she began. "But perhaps my lack of understanding has lead me to false assumptions... I understand that the Jarldom of Skallevoll will soon be returning to it's rightful owner. An Heir to the Bjelbo line has put forward her claim... Didn't you know?"

Then she glanced at Brigitta and continued. "Really Duchess... You should be more careful... in whom you place your trust."

Brigitta frowned momentarily, removing her hand from Eric's arm.

"Countess... you overstep yourself! Consider it a blessing that you are female else I would challenge you to a duel on the spot." Eric growled

"I am indeed blessed then. Oh, but do not let my prattle delay you 'Prince' Eric." She emphasized the title that he may soon be losing. "I am certain you have... other matters to be about."


Brigitta took the opportunity of the distraction to wander off through the crowd, leaving Eric to fume alone before Joanen.

"Indeed!" he spat and strode away toward the exit.


Joanen watched him go with a darkly satisfied look in her eyes.

Behind her Baron Karl Von Strogden suppressed a knowing smile as his eyes flitted among the participants of the encounter with a satisfied look, and thinking. "The ambitious are so very easy to manipulate..."



Alan~

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

Surprises in Galavan Skies – June 3049

Everyone was excited that multiple dropships came in system with the jumpship. The Iron League had sent their first trade ships. In spite of herself, Nixie was excited. She didn’t have any messages because of the delay in communications between the nearest ComStar facility and the Iron League. She learned that she had been very lucky to get her messages sent out on a Federated Commonwealth merchant ship returning home from Glen Arden. Lady Hesper had advised her to send any personal messages with the DIS dropship captain and that is she had done. Lady Hesper had also stated that she did not need to worry about covering the cost for the messages she was sending on behalf of the planet. Nixie hadn’t asked who was covering the cost, but learned from Clara and Ky that it would be delivered within hours of its arrival at the HPG facility.

A year ago, she had left everyone she had known behind and headed for this planet. This had been the first jumpship to come since she had arrived. The galaxy was smaller than many would have you believe though. She had changed a lot in six months, but knew one day she would leave on a jumpship like the one that was here now. She had intended to find a home on Galava, but found herself instead. This planet had given her back her confidence and her warrior’s spirit. Her letter on behalf of the planet showed just how much, and she hoped her personal letters would reflect the same. The planetary one should arrive mid-August. Her personal ones should arrive just about the time of Dweller’s Market, after the next jumpship. If they didn’t somehow arrive sooner, one might be hand delivered.

She smiled as remembered the response when she’d handed her messages to Captain Xavier of the DIS Merchant Dropship. He signed that he’d received payment for messages to Michael Jones, Maximillian Knight c/o Wayfinders, and Olan & Samira (Xavier) Stonedell c/o Wayfinders. He’d read the names back to her and stopped at Sam’s name. He’d turned and yelled “Mère Xavier, nouvelle au sujet de fille Samira!” She’d known what he said, but there was no way she expected to be attacked by a group of youngsters screaming “Tante Samira!” “Parle au sujet de tante Samira s’il vous plait!” The woman who had kept the youngsters away during loading of the shipments, came and guided the little ones back into the ship. A lovely woman that rivaled the Wastelanders in beauty had come out as the youngsters were going back. She’d approached Nixie and asked, “You know our Wild Wind?” They had been so excited and thrilled to learn what little news she had of Sam. Nixie shared the few pictures she had of the Circle of Swords with them before they took off. They’d stayed as long as they could on planet without missing the jumpship to hear stories of Sam. They’d taken photos of the pictures she had so they would have some record of their girl. And Nixie would lay odds that a family visit was in the wind. There certainly were surprises in the skies of Galava and it was time now to go deal with the ones she’s uncovered in April.


TO: MIIO, FCDC, CMRB, and Iron League
From: Nixie Jester, granddaughter of Lady Helena Zandbergen, Andurien, FWL, Planetary Physician, Galava

RE: Illegal Experimentation with Nuclear Weapons by Luxmark

This is to inform you that Luxmark, based in Lyran territory of the Federated Commonwealth, has been experimenting with and likely trafficking in nuclear weapons. An explosion occurred at their facility on Galava in November 3048. They did not return to the planet to collect any of their research equipment or check the status of the mercenaries they had hired to protect the facility.

A local city, Mossburg, started experience signs of radiation poisoning and testing has found high amounts of nuclear radiation in the water supply surrounding the site of the explosion at the Luxmark facility. The citizens of Mossburg that remain there are succumbing to the effects of the high radiation. Those that have relocated are still suffering the effects of their exposure.

The Galava World Council has found Luxmark guilty and is making arrangements to sue Luxmark for the damages they have done to this planet and its citizens. Luxmark has been black listed from our planet and we strongly advise you do the same for the planets under your control.

Per hospital protocol in the Federated Commonwealth, home of Luxmark, you are being informed of their trafficking and experimentation with nuclear weapons. Also, if they are in your governing area, please advice the members of the Hunter’s Hellhounds that were serving garrison duty for Luxmark of their need to be tested for radiation exposure.

My grandmother said that it was a person’s responsibility to take care of their family, a noble’s responsibility to take care of those in their charge, and humanity’s responsibility to eliminate known threats to others. Luxmark has grievously injured those now under my care, but only you can keep this threat away from your people.

Lost and Found {A Battletech Story}



Tigress... A planet of great beauty... and great danger. Cassiopeia was resting at the top of a sheer cliff that rose out of the forest mists below like a monument. The climb had invigorated her and left her with a profound longing for home.

A slight disturbance among the pebbles nearby alerted her and in a single fluid motion she whirled and struck, the tri-blades of her vibro-blades snapping forward to impail the Slitherstrike in mid lunge, pinning it to the ground. It was a small one, only three to four feet long. But the venom that dripped from its open fangs was deadly. With a flick of her other hand she beheaded the creature and stood up, looking again over the mist shrouded valley below.

It had been a while since she'd dared such a climb. But the recent news had affected her far more than she had expected. Had Sir Thomas St Cain realized the true reasons she'd opted to attend the Bengal Academy and remain with the Tigerhawks, he may not have approved.

She could not deny the camaraderie that had developed among the Tigerhawks. Their training regimens were among the most advanced, and the washout rates among the accepted were staggering. But Cassiopeia had graduated Bengal. Had joined the Tigerhawks, and earned her claws, and even achieved the rank of Pride Commander. They really were a breed apart. The entire Tigerhawk mentality was based on ability and competance, not politics. Tigerhawk training never ceased. And neither did the testing.

She now piloted one of the most advanced machines of war known to man. The Tigerhawk LAM was the product of more than a decade of design engineering from Centurian Armorwerks. To be the pilot of such a machine was in itself a great honor. Every Hunt was designed to be self contained, and consisted of one Aerospace Fighter, one Land Air Mech, four Battlemechs and a squad of Sabertooth Battlearmor in their Maxim. The Aerospace fighter was invariably an upgraded Riever, and one of the Battlemechs was a Tyrell Corporation Behemoth. Each Pride consisted of three to five hunts.

Their fighting style was unlike anything in the Inner Sphere. They'd came to Tigress at the onset of the 4th succession War, and wrested this planet from the Capellan Confederatin in a matter of days. Now, 20 years later, this planet was a veritable fortress. She pittied the poor fools that ever tried to take Tigress again.

But none of that was why she'd taken up with the Tigerhawks. She'd remained because the Tigerhawks took in orphans like herself. They went out among the war torn planets of the Inner Sphere and promoted their schools and opportunities. Any orphan was welcome to attend, and those who passed their rigorous battery of tests were given scholarships on the spot.

Part of those tests involved physical testing, and medical exams. And it was the medical exams that interested Cassiopeia. Her own medical records marked her different than everyone else. When she'd been found, she'd had a microscopicly small disc imbedded in the base of her coccyx. The disk had held the slightest traces of a completely benevolent form of radioactivity. And the disc was like a beacon under any medical x-ray. Further, the disc, had been laser etched with her name.

Nobody knew where she was from. What her true home was. And she longed to find another marked the way she was. The Tigerhawk recruiters canvassed the entire Inner Sphere with their visits to orphanages, and Cassiopeia had hoped that through them, one day she would locate another like herself.

Recently, the Tiger Olympics had gone to Solaris, the place of the Tigerhawks origins, and ran their recruiting drive among the many orphans there. No children had been found like Cassiopeia.

But one of the doctors who had been hired to assist with the medical exams had questioned Cassiopeia about her own personal interest.

He'd been quite surprised to learn the truth of what she was seeking. More so because he'd recently seen such an implanted device, though it had been in an adult not a child.

The discovery of this information had been like a shockwave to her, and she'd not known exactly how to take the information. She'd finished the recruiting drive and returned to Tigress with the rest of her Pride.

Confronted now with a doorway to her past, to her origins, she found herself hesitant to seek it out. What terrible answers would she find?

She called on her wrist chrono-comm for an aerodyne to come pick her up and waited. She couldn't continue like this she realized. The lack of knowledge would destroy her. Already she knew the distractions it was causing her could be fatal. But to leave the Tigerhawks for this personal pilgramage could destroy her just as easily.

Tigress was her home now. The Tigerhawks her family...

The image of the man's dossier came to her eyes even as the Aerodyne began to settle nearby.

He was still as much a mystey as her own past by the information listed...

Who was this... Magnus?




Alan~

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

*out of chronological order*

Star League Moon Base – April 3049

“McKayla’s Spirit to Galava. Come in Galava.” Nixie waited for a response with baited breath. She had been asked to come investigate the moon base revealed in the mission logs Commander Styles had received during the opening of Dweller’s Market. She had spent a month holed up in the communication base on Galava learning the codes and start up procedure to operate the equipment that was expected to be here on the base. The equipment was a bit different than that back on planet, but if she had interpreted everything correctly, she should have contact with Galava. She would try again in five minutes if she didn’t get a response. They really needed this base up and running to help detect incoming pirate ships. She still had patients recovering from the last pirate landing.

The air was different up here. She felt the weight of the past surrounding her. She was the first person on this base in centuries and it was a little spooky. The entry codes she had been given had been accepted when she flew up to the base. She had parked McKayla next to an aerodyne dropship that looked in fairly decent shape. Okay, fairly decent for Galava. Mike would be having a conniption fit if he saw it. Being here in real life was a lot different that when she was playing Raiders of the Star League. When she and Max had been playing, she had never been inside of a LAM let alone expected to actually fly her own LAM into a real life Star League Moon Base. But she had done it.

“McKayla’s Spirit to Galava. Do you read me Galava?”

“Galava to Spirit, we read you loud and clear. Sorry about the delay…we thought we might be hearing things; first message was full of static. We had to adjust some settings down here. Find anything worthwhile up there?”

“Depends on who you ask. Is there a Warden or Defender there to take my report and assessment Citizen?” Nixie respected the caste system she had learned existed in the Galavans. They weren’t Wardens…at least not all of them. She knew better than to step on the cultural conventions of those she had under her care.

“One moment please.”

Nixie sat down and waited. She had never truly realized what she had walked away from when she left Andurien until she encountered something similar here on Galava. If she hadn’t gone to Lady Helena’s funeral, she would still just be a Citizen. Instead, she had been recognized as the granddaughter of a noblewoman and trained in the militia, as a Defender. Had she stayed and survived the plotting and planning of her father and half-brothers, she would have become a warrior who leads and protects those under their care, a Warden of the Galavans. Nixie realized that she was actually an Exile, no matter what caste system you tried to place her in. Shephard was an Exile, but he still worked to protect his people and his planet. Could she face the past to protect this planet?

“Warden Strickland to McKayla’s Spirit. Go ahead with report.”

“The base is not on the moon as expected. It is inside the moon. Rail system connects landing area to living quarters, medical facility, repair center, and communications center. System still operational, but in poor repair. Everything that could be was stripped by the looks of it. Landing area has space for multiple dropships, number depends on size. Currently McKayla’s parked next to an Aerodyne Leopard Dropship. It appears functional, but is in need of severe repair. Some repair needed to get it to planet for certain. Also there are four badly damaged aerospace fighters. They are at my best estimate 100 tons, don’t recall name of type. Stuke, Snark, Strakes…something along those lines. I’m doubtful that they can all be repaired. My best guess is two might be able to be operational after a lot of work. Need expert to determine that though. That is all I have to report.”

“Copy McKayla’s Spirit. Return at your leisure. Galava Out.”

The Galavans were so militaristic, but that was their way. Nixie walked through the moon base ignoring the rail system that had led her here. She looked around and remembered working on McKayla after playing Raiders of the Star League. She had joked that life would be complete if she could actually wonder the halls of a Star League Moon Base. Mike had said only if it had Stuka Fighters in it. That’s what they were, the fighters were Stukas! Regardless, she now had free reign to explore a real life moon base complete with Stukas.

Did that mean her life was complete? She had friends on Galava, but no one she was close to. There was always so much work for the planetary physician to do. She had a farmhouse she never got to actually stay at. Yuri and the techs did McKayla’s maintenance. She never had to cook, didn’t have to pay for anything, had managed so far to keep from leaving the Caravans with a dog. Lisetta had warned her about their tendency to throw a puppy in with any transaction. She’d been wined and dined by people from every city/town she visited. She felt more like a noble now than she ever had on Andurien. That is how the people here treated her, like a noblewoman who was a doctor.

Nixie stopped at the Stukas and sat down. Galava treated her like a noble…why had it taken so long for her to realize that. The people didn’t call her a noble. The Caravans called her Sword. The Galavans called her Spirit or McKayla’s Spirit. They had a tradition involving some spirit ceremony and the moon to test Wardens. And since she had named her ‘mech, she was designated as her ‘mechs owner. She still hadn’t figured that one out. Most people called her Doc though, heaven sent, a blessing, but still just Doc. The people might not call her noble, and she truly wasn’t. Her grandmother had been though and her father was if he still lived. She was an illegitimate child of a noble, but the people her family was in charge of had accepted her as noble. Her family hadn’t though, and had paid her off with bribes and threats.

Nixie rose with a realization. In all likelihood, exploring this base would be the one thing that could make her life complete. Completely over, but still complete. She had to embrace her heritage to avenge the people of this planet, to protect other planets like this one from Luxmark. She climbed into McKayla with a renewed purpose. Galava would not be a stepping stone for experiments or pirates. She would help get this moon base up and running, report Luxmark to the authorities of its home territory and to the authorities of the Iron League, and train the people of Galava to aid themselves. Once she had people trained in first aid, med tech, and surgery…she would truly face her past. She owed so much to Galava, and she would spend the time needed here to train the people in the healing arts she loved. Then she would go home and fight for Lady Helena’s people.

Project Hope {A Battletech Story}

Captain Emilio Estevan Santiago peered through the forward vew ports of The Etruskan, a Mule class dropship as they entered orbit around Galava. He was in command of a small company of security forces that would be protecting the relief efforts and investigation into what was becoming widly known as "The Luxmark Incident".

This was Emilio's first solo command and he was eager to prove himself. But he had memorized all the warnings about Galava and this mission. Security First, they would be doing nobody a favor if they were all killed. Aid to those in need and from preliminary reports the people of Mossberg would likely need to be relocated untill after the radiation clean up was complete. That clean up would take time he knew. They would be on Galava a long time. His last objective was to investigate exactly what had happened here. There were unsubstantiated reports that Luxmark may have been trafficing in nuclear weapons. If so... did the Circinus Confederation get their hands on any? Would Glen Arden be the next to suffer nuclear destruction?

No... this mission would last the better part of a year he expected. But from what he had gathered the people of Whitestone were good people. And if his suspicions were correct then the Wold Council of the Iron League would be making a formal invitation to Galava for inclusion in the League.

They were of course the first that he'd made contact with upon arrival. But The Etruskan would be setting down close enough to Mossberg to provide assistance but far enough to avoid exposure to radiation effects of the nuclear blast that had destroyed the luxmark facilities.

===

The Etruskan landed near the base of the foothills of the mountains that lead up to Mossberg. After securing the immediate area and verifying safe radiation levels, Project Hope began in ernest.

Emilio had been informed by his father to coordinate their activities with Dr Nixie Jester who had first identified and cataloged the radiation effects. She had passed through Glen Arden not long past he'd been told. And returned with two children of Galava who were attending the New Inverness Military Academy, Kyanite and Claire.

When Dr Jester arrived Emilio was more than a little surprised. The Doctor came flying in, in a LAM!.

Emilio was quite familiar with LAMs he himself piloted a Griffin LAM that had been a graduation gift from Baron Helix McFarland of Faraday's World.

He hadn't expected to find one here on Galava. He climbed down and walked over to meet her personally.

"Lady Jester, I am most pleased to make your acquaintence. I have with me the sumation of Project Hope from Glen Arden. But I have only vague briefings on where these resources would be best applied. You have only but to direct and we can begin dispensing the aid and medical supplies where it is needed. We also have clean up crews who may be able to help contain and eventually eliminate the radiation from the areas most severly affected."

He began to introduce her to the other senior members of Project Hope...



Alan~

Excerpt from the Chronicles of Nixie Jester {A Battletech Galava Story}

Birthday Surprise – July 26, 3049

Nixie remembered the last birthday she’d actually celebrated. Max had surprised her with her first date. Today was the first day she’d taken off since she’d arrived on planet. Before the spring pirate attack, she’d been traveling through the cities of the World Council. Then she’d gotten wrapped up with the moon base. After the jumpship had left about 8 weeks ago, Lady Hesper and Sir Reese had approached her about taking Clara on as an apprentice. She’d agreed without realizing exactly what all that would entail. Clara had gone to the moon base with her when she’d gone with the Confederate to show Kristi how to get into the base and be on hand for any injuries. The Stukas had been loaded onto the Confederate while the techs did an inspection of the Leopard. Clara had somehow gotten the computer online and tested for functionality. Nixie had flown the Leopard down on a wing and a prayer with her spacesuit on just in case. It had made to Galava with alarms going off, but made it down nonetheless.

Jax hadn’t been happy with her, but he wasn’t happy with a lot of the risks she took. Taking Clara on as an apprentice had its good and its bad points. She now had a VTOL flying along on her house calls, so she actually had supplies. Jax’s Wardens made things a lot more orderly when she visited a new town. Clara was a quick study and good company. Six Wardens trained in Battle Armor were supposed to be her security force, not Clara’s in Jax’s mind. Jax thought that he was to protect her and they argued about her taking risks and wearing herself out. Jax seemed to think she needed to take more time for herself and so did the rest of the McGregor clan, especially Val. Val probably just wanted her fiancé home more than Jax got to be since he’d taken the role as medical security. They didn’t seem to understand that she had never taken time for herself and it just never occurred to her to do so. And so, her extra time had been spent teaching basic first aid skills and testing for those who had interest and ability for advanced classes. She’d done that for the last six weeks, and still had several classes to teach and areas to go visit.

They had thrown a party for “our Lady doctor” this afternoon. Clara had given her a datachip with a shy smile. Nixie actually was going to spend the night in her farmhouse for the first time in seven months. She opened her noteputer and inserted Clara’s present. She stared in amazement…how had Clara gotten this? Remembering her reaction and familiarity with the encryption on the Leopard, she guessed. Clara was a lot more like Max when it came to computers than Nixie had thought. She was looking at an inventory of the weapons cache that had been located at the site of the Luxmark explosion. Clara must have gotten it from the Leopard’s database. And was that blue a hyperlink? Nixie clicked on it and decided she wasn’t going to ask how Clara had gotten the information on the datachip she’d given her. If her messages brought help, she would be able to direct clean up of the Luxmark site a lot better than she’d ever imagined. The hyperlink had led her to floor plans of the Luxmark research facility on Galava. She clicked back to the inventory and looked at the message that was now displayed. “Please don’t tell Uncle Reese and Aunt Hesper. I wasn’t supposed to use the satellite Nat put a backdoor in, but I couldn’t resist. Happy Birthday, Clara.”

Had the Luxmark explosion really been an accident? If the WAC had access to this information, had they done something about it? She couldn’t believe it. It probably had been an accident. Luxmark was responsible. The leaders of WAC had settled down here on Galava and had gifted it with more than they had kept. Lady Hesper, Sir Reese, Erik, Nat, Adam, Hao…no one she had met could be responsible for something as tragic as this. They were to caring and concerned for the people of their chosen home to do something like that. Luxmark researchers had to have miscalculated somewhere along the lines. Tomorrow, she was going to Caravan’s Rest to see those who had left Mossburg and then she was headed to Mossburg.

Project Hope’s Arrival – August 3049 {A Battletech Galava Story}

A jumpship in system when not scheduled typically meant pirate attack. Nixie got word while she was in Mossburg that a dropship was coming in and to be aware that the GDF would be stationed at Caravan’s Rest, Scraphold, Camp Brave, Wasteland City and Trade Port. As the ship approached the planet, she could tell people were getting nervous. She sent the medical security VTOL back to Whitestone for resupply so they would be ready whenever the pirates landed.

“Whitestone Spaceport to McKayla’s Spirit. Come in Spirit.” Beryl’s voice came over the radio in English.

“McKayla’s Spirit here, go ahead.”

Beryl asked in Pikkinese. “You know any pirates, Doc? The ship is asking for you by name and claim to be with Project Hope from the Iron League. They asked for coordinates of Mossburg. We gave it to them and the GDF are moving to intercept, but it’ll be a while before they get there.”

Nixie took a minute to remember how to say what she wanted in Pikkinese. She had learned enough to catch everything tossed at her, but speaking it was different that understanding it. “I don’t know any pirates. May be a blessing. May be a trick. I did send a letter...this may be a week late birthday present from the gods. Ask Jax to go to Scraphold and I’ll meet the ship after it lands.”

Beryl replied in English, “Got ya Doc. I’ll tell them you’ll meet them. Whitestone Out.”

---

Nixie climbed into McKayla and started walking up the mountain. It would be a bit before they hit planet. And she wanted to make sure that this wasn’t a trick from pirates. She couldn’t have imagined that the Iron League would actually send someone. She just had hoped that they wouldn’t let Luxmark do this to any other worlds. She watched the dropship come in and scan the area. It was an Iron League ship…this wasn’t a pirate trick. The people of Mossburg might have a chance after all.

“McKayla’s Spirit to Galava. Come in Galava.”

“Galava here. Commander Styles. Go Ahead McKayla’s Spirit.”

“Dropship is Iron League. I’ll be flying down to meet them. Can you let Marshal Shephard know?”

“Copy and Yes. Be careful.”

“Roger. McKayla’s Spirit out.”

Nixie walked McKayla down the mountain as the dropship landed. She got to a plateau and converted to air mode. She flew down to meet the dropship. She converted and landed a short distance away from the dropship. Knowing the temperature would be dropping, Nixie grabbed her wrap from the Broken Creek ladies. She climbed down from McKayla and twirled soft blue wool wrap around her over her cooling suit as the person from the Griffon LAM climbed down to come meet her. Apparently they weren’t very trusting either.

Nixie had never expected that the son of the viceroy of the Iron League would come, but she recognized Emilio Estevan Santiago. She’d seen him often in the news trideos during the months she’d been on Glen Arden. And now he was here calling her Lady Jester. What wouldn’t happen on Galava?

She met senior members of Project Hope and more with shock than amazement. Nixie couldn’t have imagined this in her wildest dreams, so this had to be real. Marshal Shephard would want to coordinate defense with Project Hope if only to keep on eye on them. Her team would want to keep an eye on her so this group didn’t take away “their doctor”. She needed to get the datachip from Clara that she had got just last week. Project Hope was worth the hassle of being called Lady Jester even worth the hassle of dealing with Jax’s Wardens. Mossburg was going to get help. She asked Captain Santiago if she could contact the Galava Defense Force and her medical security team to assure them that she was fine and let them know that Project Hope would be aiding Mossburg and the evacuees at Caravan’s Rest.

She talked to Marshal Shephard and Jax before the stress of the last week caught up with her. Taking supplies to Mossburg, treating them the best she could, preparing for a pirate attack, not eating before leaving to watch the dropship land, it being real that Project Hope was here to remedy Luxmark’s meddling…it was just too much…she was just too overwhelmed. Nixie passed out from the shock of it all.

Tanzu & Hana Story: ‘Make People Better’ [Part: 1]… {A Battletech Story}


Tanzu laughed to himself as he went through the final checklist as he started up the Battlemech he now found himself strapped into. As the Clint CLNT-2-3T came to life Tanzu remembered the last time he had found himself in one of these machines, it had been back on Graven’s Deep and the experience had not been a good one for him or the machine that he had been piloting and in the back of his head he heard a little voice mock ‘Move little man’. Piloting a Clint again not only brought back memories of Graven’s Deep but also the War Mule that Ace had taken to be traded off seven days ago to fulfill his promise back on Pomme de Terre to get Tanzu a mech in payment for his services to him. Tanzu knew he needed a new mech if he was to be a professional mercenary but that junkyard dog had seen him through some battles and had gotten him this far and despite the fact that he was not the semimetal time he knew that he would miss the old heap.

The bay doors opened in front of Tanzu which quickly brought him back to here and now, this was to be his fist test exercise since he had arrived at the Luxmark Weapons Research and Application Facility five days ago. Tanzu sent the Clint which had a new version of the Auto-Cannon Five stomping forward into the testing grounds which were a mockup of a city square with fake building scattered here and there. Two targets popped up on the Clint’s tactical map, appearing on the opposite side of the testing grounds some five hundred meters away from Tanzu’s current position. Pushing the Clint to its top cruising speed Tanzu headed in the direction of his targets as he brought up the right arm that held the mech’s new Auto-Cannon.

At 300 meter his targets started moving, which was a surprise but Tanzu quickly adjusted his route to intercept the left most target figuring they were some type of target droids but that thought proved to be wrong when Tanzu came around one of the buildings and got a good reading on his target which was a Locust moving at over 100 kph. Tanzu slowed at this and requested confirmation of target over the radio but he received no response before the Locust opened fire on him and the laser beam hit his Clint on the right leg and the armor melted away Tanzu knew that something was really wrong here.

Instincts took over at that moment and the Clint went into motion cutting left to put a fake building between it and the attacking Locust and when Tanzu come out on the other side of the building he let loss with his AC/5 which tore into the right side of the smaller mech. Tanzu needed to stop this fast so he turned and ran straight at the attacking Locust firing his two Medium Lasers which sent the Locust dodging to avoid one but not the other that cut through the armor of its left arm. Now only 180 meters apart the Locust let loss with its two Double Short Ranged Missile launchers, but Tanzu got lucky and only one of each pair hit him but one hit him once more in the right leg. Tanzu let the momentum of his run carry him up next to the Locust when he pulled back with the mech’s left arm and swung its left fist into the head of the Locust which rocked back and fell to the ground. The move had been more luck than anything but it had ended the fire fight for now and Tanzu once more got on the radio and called for confirmation of his targets.

Heart beats went by and Tanzu received no answer from the test control that had earlier been talking his ear off during per-start system’s check. Tanzu tried to see if the pilot of the downed Locust was okay but he was unable to see movement inside the cockpit of the mech. Distracted as he was Tanzu had kept a eye on his targeting computes so he had some warning when the other mech which was a Locust as well come running up from behind him between two buildings. Tanzu sent the Clint into motion as missile exploded around him with only one catching him in the right arm but the small mech’s laser cut deep into the Clint’s right leg once more eating away one of the foot joints. Tanzu answered back with his AC/5 but missed as he tried to put one of the buildings between him and his new attacker at the same time the downed Locust started to stand back up. Tanzu keep moving and this time when he came out of cover he made sure that the left side was facing his attacks and he place his fist attacking Locust in the newcomer’s line of fire. The fact that the injured Locust was between him and the Clint didn’t even make him pause as he opened fire with both SRMs with two hitting the injured Locust and none making it to their intended target. The explosions sent the injured Locust back to the ground but this time Tanzu defiantly saw a pilot get thrown around in the cockpit.

Tanzu had had enough and kicked the Clint’s jump jet to life flying over the downed Locust he opened fire with his AC/5 cutting deep into the enemy mech’s left side. The Locust answered back with its own single Medium Laser which cut into his already damaged right torso. Landing with the sound of thunder Tanzu fired with everything at point blank range at the Locust, the AC/5 tore into the left arm as one laser cut into the left leg but the other opened the gash in the Locust’s left torso even larger. Tanzu knew the next couple of shots were going to determine who walked away from this and with that thought he sent the Clint off to the right and way from the Locust trying to protect his injured side. The Locust was faster tough and got a shot off trying to send missiles and laser fire into the Clint’s right side but failed as three missiles hit the Clint’s chest and left leg and the Medium Laser cut into its right arm. The Locust didn’t fare as well when Tanzu opened fire sending an AC round into the mech’s left torso which tore away the whole left torso and arm and ripped into the sender torso setting off the SRM ammo. The Locust died in flames which engulfed the whole mech as it fell, but the cockpit didn’t eject and Tanzu yelled for emergency personal to respond.

As Tanzu continued to yell into his radio the controls to his mech came alive again and the Clint started to move without his command. The Clint stated to head back the way it had come and Tanzu strained his neck trying to see if the Locust pilot had made it out or not but soon lost sight of the burning mech. As Tanzu turned he caught sight of the fist Locust he had fought and its pilot was climbing out of the down mech but a coldness soon settled on Tanzu’s heart when he got a good look at the pilot. The blond haired frail looking young girl that stood on the downed mech holding her most likely injured arm could not be older than thirteen. As soon as he had caught sight of her she was gone as the Clint continued to move back to its bay. Tanzu’s mind raced as he realized he had been fight and possibility killing children, what had he done, nothing he planed for could have prepared him for this, children. Tanzu now knew that he was not here to test anything he was here as the test for those children, and the only way to pass the test is to kill him.

Looking forward to seeing the end result of Tanzu's story



Alan~

Shade to Hunter {A Battletech Story}

September 30, 3049 early, early morning.

Belladonna walked in to the ComStar facility, selected priority message, uploaded her message, acknowledged the fee would be taken from her account, and pressed send. Tab would get her message the next day if not late evening today.

To: Tab Hunter, Wayfinders, Trell 1
From: Belladonna Reynolds Hunter, Aspiron, Galatea

Dear Tab,

Hey honey! I know I don’t write often, but knowing what your contract is I had to share some news. I’m sure you haven’t had time to keep up with the news, but the trial has been the buzz of Galatea for the last few weeks. I wouldn’t have paid much attention except to increase security if MIIO hadn’t landed on the doorstep. The Wayfinder’s ties to the trial and Zodiac, my ties to Zodiac, and my past ties to subversive groups led them here. Anyway, the Hell Hunters Mercenary Unit (Wayfinder’s have former member/owner – one Marta Hunter – in the ranks) just won a large settlement in their breach of contract trial against Luxmark. (Wayfinder’s second tie – Tanzu took contract with Luxmark on Solaris VII while on leave of absence.) After surprising confirmation of the Hell’s Hunters accusations by the planetary physician of Galava (tied to Wayfinder’s by being former member of Circle of Swords. So, the XO and three others worked closely with her.), Luxmark admitted to having found a cache of Star League nuclear weapons and selling them to pirates. Subversive activities and pirates (being kidnapped apparently counts as being tied to pirates) and being security for a weapons research company tied to the Wayfinders led to the visit. So, MIIO may be looking more closely into the Wayfinders. I got them off Zodiac’s back and am playing nice even though they blacklisted me from the Fed Comm army. Dad being employed by Zodiac helped them accept that Zodiac is on the up and up. On the plus side to all of this, there are new bounties for the pirates named by Luxmark, the nuclear weapons they sold, and the missile boats that they designed. All the details are on the bounty page, you can look it up on your own.

Dad, Kathleen, and Gregory are fine. Isa’s been adopted into the family…figured that would happen when Dad got here. She’s like the big sister I never had and the technical minded child Dad never had all rolled into one. She even has a puppy from the kennel now. Training guard and hunting dogs is going well. I’ve sold several of the guard dogs and have an idea to bounce off Kayleigh and Shaun. Dad gave me MechSpotter’s Mud for our anniversary, apparently I had left it on New Avalon. He claimed it was to remind me of where we’d met. Kathleen claimed it was to get the flowery smell out of his workshop. Anyway, the last litter of puppies got into it, and thus the idea was born. I’m wondering if we can integrate scent into our ID badges so the guard dogs could supplement the ED’s. It’d have to be an exotic scent though. Oh, and while I’m thinking about, can you ask Kayleigh if that flower of Mohinder’s is poisonous to dogs? I didn’t see any effects, but the flowery scent of MechSpotter’s Mud kind of reminds me of that plant they were studying on the way back from Graven’s Deep.

Graven’s Deep has been on my mind a lot recently since Isa has agreed to her first noble visit. In January, four nobles along with four Canopian Companions will be visiting Aspiron. I don’t know how long they’ll be staying, but they are bringing their own loyal security forces. It will help, but increased security will make my life hectic, but I kind of owe a lot to these nobles. After all, Isabella did help rescue me from Kor and Johnny got us off Graven’s Deep. The permacrayon pirates are the reason MechSpotter didn’t come, but Isa’s excited. She seems happier than she has in a while. Lobo is still with the Slayers, probably because of Isabella’s Canopian Cousins, but it’ll be a Graven’s Deep reunion of sorts around here in January. I hope that Isabella can help get Isa out and about. Our family is fine, but Isa needs more friends around here.

Well, I’m going to be training the hunting dogs this month and daylight is wasting. I’ll be testing them on my birthday. I’ve found I can connect to them like I did the Gorg back on Graven’s Deep. Hope you are having fun hunting pirates. I’m glad I stayed behind, because if I ran into Kor I’m not sure that I could follow orders that didn’t involve killing him. The bounty on his head wouldn’t be the reason. What he put Dad, Kayleigh, Loni and me through…that is why. But thinking about it, he did get me to the right place to meet you. Well, daylight is wasting, so I need to go get this to the HPG facility since it’ll be open now.

Your loving nightshade,

Elle

Tanzu & Hana Story: ‘Make People Better’ [Part: 2]… {A Battletech Story}

Hana walked into her apartment and put her keys, purse and pistol down on the nightstand where they always went and kicked off her shoes. It had been a long day and she needed to get ready for tonight. She had spent the last seven hours with Ace Darwin, who she had met the first night she had seen Tanzu. The man had just walked in on them having tea as if he was an old friend and quickly had them in conversation with him over another cup of tea. Tanzu had introduced her as a close friend from his days before the Wayfinders who was living here on Solaris VII and who had looked him up when he had arrived here with Ace. Ace seemed to not buy the whole story, but didn’t press the point and they just had a nice talk before Hana excused herself for the night and had headed home.

It has been totally by surprise some five days later, three days after Tanzu had left for his employment with Luxmark, when Hana received a call from Ace asking her for some help. Since the old warrior, as he called him, was away; Ace wanted Hana to help him pick out just the right Battlemech for Tanzu. So four days later when Ace had everything ready and Hana had the whole day free, Ace picked her up at her apartment and they went mech shopping.

Ace took Hana to a shop called Mech Sales, which was located in Black Hills district, the shop was known for selling high-quality rebuilt mechs. Ace seemed to know the owner Roger Epstein fairly well and they quickly started talking shop while Hana was left to look around the showroom floor as it was. The showroom only held seven platforms for showing off mechs for sale and only five of those had something in them. Hana didn’t know all that lot about Battlemech so she was not sure just how she was to help Ace in picking one out, but she took a look to busy herself as Mr. Epstein and Ace talked.

The first mech was large and thin looking monster with the name Grasshopper printed on the plate in front of it; Hana just could not see Tanzu in something so thin looking so moved on to the next. The Hermes II looked like something that Tanzu would pilot, but she keep moving on to the next mech whose plate stated it was a Commando. Hana smiled up at the cute looking small mech and continued on to the next one, but stopped in her tracks when she saw it, if she was to choice this was the Battlemech for Tanzu. The Mech just looked like some forgotten war god with its large frame with a big cannon over its huge shoulders and the deadly looking axe in its right hand.

Ace walked up to Hana, “Ah the Axman, so what you thank will this do for the old warrior.”

Hana looked back at Ace then back to the mech, “The War Mule had always seemed like the only mech for Tanzu, but this mech is a true warrior as he is, Tanzu and it belong together.”

It took a moment for Hana to realize what she had just said and she quickly apologized for being foolish as she knew nothing of Battlemech and Ace would have a far better idea what Tanzu would need, but Ace just smiled back at her and walked back over to Mister Epstein. It took the better part of the next three hours of Ace haggling with Roger Epstein, but eventually Ace walked way with a price both he and Roger could live with and the Axman was now Tanzu’s, now if only he lives long enough to use his new Axman.

Hana stepped over to the mirror next to her shower that was still steaming from when she had just used it minutes ago and she started combing out her hair in preparation for the date she was going on to night. Doctor Vince Warsaw had requested her presence once again at yet another fundraiser dinner and was expecting her to arrive at his house in two hours. Hana was having a hard time focusing, worried as she was about Tanzu the dark thoughts of just what things could be going wrong ran over and over in her mind as she finished combing out her hair. She just could not stop wondering if he was in danger, she knew that no news might be a good ting but not hearing of or from Tanzu in seven days was really starting to wear on her nerves.

Hana finished getting reading with the final touches to her outfit when she slipped a small laser pistol into her small red purse that matched her form fitting dress, next she secured her small hidden knight into a bow at the back of her dress. Finally ready Hana headed for the ground floor of her apartment building where she knew Frank would be waiting with the company limo. If Hana was the subtle security Frank, an ex-cop was the intimidating obvious security a deterrent for would be stickup men and low level criminals. Frank nodded politely to her as he opened up the back door to the limo for her as she climbed in.

Frank drove them out to Dr. Warsaw’s townhouse that was located on the edge of a large private parkland inside the Silesia district near Riverside on the east side of the city. Hana was nerves as they pulled up to the front door of the large home but she just didn’t know why, she had attended such event several times now and this should be no different than any other social diner where she was expected to look pretty and say very little. The limo came to a stop and Hana waited inside as Frank exited to open the car door but when it opened it was not Dr. Vince Warsaw that climbed into the limo but a dark tan skinned woman with well keep black hair in a fine suit dress and holding a pistol she leveled at Hana.

“Hello Miss Hana, it is nice to finally meet you, I’m Miss Joanna Warsaw.” The woman said as Frank quickly closed the car door and moved to enter the driver’s seat.

Hana’s mind raced as she looked down at the gun in the woman’s hand, she had known that Dr. Vince was married but she had never meet his wife, could this woman really be her. Hana slid back as far from the woman as the interior of the limo would allow and turned herself so that she could easily get to her knife and at the same time use her left foot to move her purse way from sight. Her senses had been telling her something was wrong, why hadn’t she listened?

“What is this about?” Hana demanded.

The woman smiled back at Hana, “Well quite simply Hana your nice friend Tanzu has damaged some of our property and has become too much of a problem and so have you my dear. Too bad you went on that little shopping trip of yours or we may have never known about your connection to our little trouble maker and your part in this little mess.”

Project Hope {A Battletech Story}



As Emilio was busily introducing Lady Jester to the other senior members of the medical and scientific staff that headed up Project Hope, he suddenly realized that he'd somehow failed to actually introduce himself. Perhaps it was nervousness of his first command, or perhaps it was the fact that he was so well known on Glen Arden as to have grown unaccustomed to making those introductions. But either way he kicked himself mentally for the oversite. And now half way through the other introductions it would be inappropriate for it. In fact it would have likely been taken as an act of arrogance or pompousness.

He sighed inwardly and glanced over at the loading ramps. Lieutenant John Walker Jr. was just walking his mech, "The Red Horse" down the ramp. The old Warhammer had seen hundreds of years of war though you couldn't tell it by the looks. At least not at first glance. He had a sudden constriction in his chest as he thought about it. Emilio and John Jr. had only been 3 years old when John Sr had died in that mech defending Glen Arden against a entire company of invading pirates. Had stopped them, and even managed to cripple their dropship before he went down. Support had arrived only a few minutes later and the pirates had been slaughtered to the last man. No quarter given. And a week later the Red Horse had lead the funeral procession down the mountainous passes from New Inverness to the city of Gloche Finnen where he was burried. A hundred bag pipes had accompanied the procession playing amazing grace. He couldn't watch ROMs of the event without feeling the loss of such a true Hero. It was said that John Sr's ghost still haunted the machine, that it sometimes did things on its own in battle.

Following the Red Horse came Lieutenant Sean MacGreggor in "The Wee Bairn". Emilio shook his head in wonder looking at it. This little Locust Battlemech held the highest kill ratio of any mech in the BOR. He hoped it's luck continued under his own command.

His Command... The Lions of Arioch. 8 Battlemechs and 4 LAMs along with support crews. It was a humble begining. But no more than his fathers Ghostriders had began as. He was proud of them all.

So caught up was he in watching the parade of mechs leaving the dropship that he almost missed the slight pause in conversation beside him.

Dr Fletecher, had been asking something about the prevailing wind patterns of Galava and most likely areas to have been affected by fallout radiation when Lady Jester had hesitated in her reply.

Emilio turned just in time to see her collapsing. His reactions were as instinctive as they were fluid and he caught her and lifted her into his arms in a single motion.

"Quickly, prep one of the medical bays!" He ordered and ran, carrying her up the nearest ramp and into the Etruskan.

Men and women were scurrying everywhere busy with the off-loading and paused to watch as Emilio and a medical team rushed by.

Once in the Med Bays, he lay her gently on the table and brushed the hair back from her face. "What's happened to her?" He questioned.

"Could be anything, back up and let us work! We'll give you an update as soon as we know anything." replied Dr Schultz, the chief medical examiner of Project Hope.

Emilio backed out of the med bay and looked around. It was not a very auspicious beginning to his first mission.

"Welcome to Galava." came a nearby voice. It was his wingman and pilot of "Charlie" a Shadowhawk LAM, Lieutenant Peter Anderson. Peter was one of the Aussie's, come from Caladon IV.

"Yeah..." Emilio agreed. "We need to make contact wtih Whitestone and the indig security forces that are inbound and alert them to the Doctor's condition as soon as we learn anything. Meanwhile we need to finish securing this LZ." He clapped the big Aussie on the shoulder and the pair of them headed for the ramps again.

Outside he counted 6 of his command off loaded and ready. He was pleased to see that Sean was already beginning a perimeter sweep in his mech. They were good men he thought. He just hoped he was worthy of them. His father had left some very big shoes to fill...

By the time all the mechs had been unloaded Emilio and Peter were already taking a overflight of the area and picked up an inbound chopper which was identified as Lady Jester's staff and entourage.

"Lion to Etruskan, patch me through to Dr Schultz in med bay one." he ordered and waited untill he heard the affirmative before continuing.

"Dr Shultz, we have inbound who will be interested in Lady Jester's condition. Do you have an update?"

"It appears that Dr Jester is suffering from stress and exhaustion which resulted in the feinting spell. However our prelimiary observations have also noted a more acute problem of mild radiation poisoning. We have given her a sedative and will be putting her in DeCon as soon as we have her stablzed."

"Thanks Doc." Emilio replied.

He switched to the open hailing frequencies and advised the inbound chopper of landing coordinates and advised them of Lady Jester's condition.

They were notably agitated. Apparently she had been pushing herself way to hard.

==

By local nightfall, a small Tent City had sprang up around the Etruskan to provide the operational theater for the 86 men and women who were part of Project Hope. Men and equipment and supplies of every sort were now parked and stacked everywhere.

The Lions of Arioch were now supported by a sizable indig force of mixed variety. This made things much easier, and Emilio had spent the last few hours in the med-surg ward on the Etruskan waiting for the sedative effects to wear off.

He heard her stir and try to sit up, and was quick to reach her side.

"Lady Jester, I am pleased to see you are up and feeling better. Please don't move yet, just lie still. They have you on an IV drip. Are you feeling better? Oh, and I appologize for my lack of protocol earlier. I am Emilio Estefan Santiago, Captain of the Lion's of Arioch, hired to secure Project Hope. Your man Jax is here too. Dr Shultz says you will need to remain in bed-rest for a few days, but you will be OK."

He stepped back and made room as Jax and Claire came closer.

"She's awake." he told the them.




Alan~

Project Hope {A Battletech Galava Story}

Nixie didn’t catch any undertone to her man Jax, but if she had to guess she’d been given a sedative and been put through Decon. She felt like she had when her lab partner had bungled an experiment. She looked at Jax and noticed the shaking violin case hiding behind him, but ignored that for the moment.

In Pikkinese, she asked, “You playing nice Jax?” The chagrined and boyish smile said it all before he even replied, “yes Doc”. He looked way too pleased with himself for something else to not be up. Looking to the far side of the bay, she saw a nurse and queried in English, “Bed rest for a couple of weeks?” The woman nodded her head yes, but didn’t say a word.

Turning back to Jax, she started giving orders. “Don’t look so pleased. I need my noteputer and the datachip from McKayla. You will have more work to do with me tied up here than if I was out in the field with you. Get those items, bring them back here and then make arrangements to get the mayor of Mossburg here in the morning. Clara will remain here for the time being. You are dismissed.”

Jax smirked, saluted, and departed leaving Clara with no place to hide. Clara looked more shaken than she should, but considering who was seated next to her that wasn’t very surprising. The violin case shook so much that Nixie was afraid the thirteen year old was going to drop it. “I’m okay Clara. The medical staff has it under control.”

Seeing her eying the man next to her and him looking puzzled at Clara, she decided it was time to put the two of them at as much as ease as possible. Besides, she was getting tired. “Clara, you know who this is as well as I do if not more so.” She turned to him, “My lord, may I present my apprentice Miss Clara Ames. And if you don’t want your heritage known far and wide by the rise of Peace and Solitude then say so before Clara leaves. She, Kyanite, and I are the ones most likely to identify you by sight, but still your face is plastered all over Glen Arden. All the former DIS personnel did go through the system, but I don’t know how many went planetside. It’s up to you, but you need to decide before Jax walks back through that door.”

She lay back as Clara got up the nerve to curtsy and actually come to Nixie’s side…

A Gathering Resolve {A Battletech Story}



Aurora McFarland couldn't prevent the shivver that ran down her spine seeing the 3 monstrous Overlord dropships descending through the Faradays's World sky. It wasn't fear of what they held that caused the shiver, it was what they signaled.

It was really happening at long last.

She could hear the radio traffic on the comms. There was the tension of anticipation in the air. The time of waiting was quickly drawing to a close.

Of course this was a time of great turmoil for nearly everyone. The entire Inner Sphere seemed on the brink of initiating the 5th Succession War, and out here in the periphery the various Pirate Lords were flexing their muscles in preperation for the veritible feast day that would come with such conflict.

And then there was the startling news that Quelimane, Bremen and Delagoa had fallen to a heretofore unknown enemy who bore the Swastika and Iron Cross of ancient Nazi Germany. They called themselves the 5th Reich. Whoever the 5th Reich really were, the Delagoa was only about a hundred and twenty five lightyears from Faraday's World. Maybe four jumps, five at the most, that would only be about a month of travel if they intended to attack Faraday's World.

She climbed up the short ladder to the cockpit of her Nemesis LAM, noting with grim satisfaction as the rest of her Lance did the same. She sealed her flight suit and neurohelmut and began the power up proceedures and pre-flight checks. All Nemesis were linked by advanced C3 Computer systems that enabled them to fight as a single super-organism.

But the 5th Reich was not the real reason for the arrival of the Iron League dropships. Baron Helix McFarland, her father, had not invoked the "Alliance" between Faraday's World and the Iron League. He didn't have to. Viceroy Enriche Santiago an old friend of her Father's had sent them as a peremptory measure. Both of their liaisons with the 331st Royal Battlemech Division had given them a warning that all indications were pointing to an imminent invasion by The Clans. And this information coincided with certain wild reports of deeply corward planets falling under attack by strange invaders or aliens. The most recent of which was Graven's Deep.

As a child she had learned all about her family's origins. About the history and early days of Faraday's World, and had often longed to be a part of the glory days that had created them. She'd often day dreamed about the Star League Defense Force, General Kerensky, and The Great Exodous. What an adventure that must have been! Her family and indeed the ancestors of nearly all the people of Faraday's World had once been part of that Exodous. It was only by a fluke failure of the Kearny-Fuchida jump drives of the Invictus, a Cameron class Battlecruiser that they had ended their journey at the very edge of the Periphery instead of vanishing with the rest of the Star League Defense Force into the deeps of the Coreward Galaxy.

Well, technically Faraday's World was located on the edge of the Periphery now, but at the time of it's colonization, Faradays' World had been in the very heart of the Rim Worlds Republic, which had just been brought to it's knees by the SLDF.

According to the Histories Faraday's World had been an unexplored planet around a nameless star. Amaris had little interest in further periphery exploration. He'd been distracted by his disasterous plans to conquer the whole of the Inner Shpere. But the SLDF had found it during the resulting purge of the Rim Worlds Republic. And later it had been used as a rallying point for many of the ships destined to join Kerensky in the Great Exodous.

It had been Admiril Thomas Faraday, who had given the command to move Invictus into orbit around the planet and begin colonozation proceedures. To remain in hiding and in isolation from the Inner Sphere was their only safety in the wake of Kerensky's Exodous. And so it had remained for nearly three hundred years.

Their entire society had been built underground. Hidden from casual observation and proof against all but direct attack by weapons of mass destruction. The colony on Faraday's World had grown even as the worlds of the Rim World Republic fell to barbarism around them. The Invictus had been gutted of course for material, and the hulk of it had been left in orbit as a first line of defense for the planet as a space station.

The Invictus. Aurora recieted the poem silently:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.


It suited her planet. It suited her people, and it suited her.

Of course The Invictus was no longer just a orbital hulk, but that was yet another of the great secrets that Faraday's World kept along with their connection to the 331st Royal Battlemech Division. That connection had only been established a few years before she was born. Logan, their first liaison with the Wolverines was still working with them nearly 30 years after making his initial contact. During that 30 years, Faradays World had ceased it's hiding and joined the interstellar community. Had in fact become one of the largest producers and exporters of Land Air Mechs in the Inner Sphere through Spectral Armory Inc. and forged the alliance with the Bearer's of Revelation that ultimately grew into what was now being called The Iron League.

Aurora found it sad that this war was actually about to happen. The people of Faraday's World had been part of Kerensky's Exodous after all. To fight the decendants of that exodous now seemed almost akin to treason. It was certainly not something that anyone here looked forward to. But the evidence provided by the 331st about the twisted nature of the Clans and their intensions left them no choice. It seemed now, that the 331st Royal Battlemech Division, The Wolverines, and the people of Faraday's World were about all that was left of the old Star League Defence Force.

The Revenants Regiment from the Iron League would now be joining the 2 Expiditionary Regiments and 1 Defensive Regiment of Spectral Dragoons that protected Faraday's World, and their Wolverine liaison had promised two more regiments from the 331st would soon be joining them as well.

After all, the Wolverines could ill-afford to lose this planet to the Clans due to the trade agreements that they held with Faraday's World. They could only hope that the Clan's kept their sights on Earth and not on insignificant periphery worlds...

Aurora sighed. She only wished her life long friend Mia were here with her.

Mia...

The two of them had been best friends and rivals throughout their scholastic lives, always trying to best each other while leaving their class-mates in the dust. She smiled at the thought. They had been so closely matched that they'd often been suspected of cheating on tests! Though there was no way that either of them would have missed the opportunity to best the other in any test. But Mia had left upon graduation and joined the Comstar Explorer Corps a few years back, and sadly had not been heard from since.

Mia now knew what her fate must have been. The Outbound Light had been headed into the deep coreward periphery. Right were the Wolverines said the Clan Homeworlds to be located. It was doubtful that any would survive such an encounter.

It was for Mia that Aurora drew strength to fight this coming war.

For Mia Kuma... her dearest friend.



Alan~

re-editing

Project Hope Begins {A Battletech Galava Story}


Nixie watched with growing amusement as Captain Santiago tried explaining that he didn't need the pomp and circumstance, but wasn't ashamed of who he was. Nixie figured she'd better take it at face value and interrupted him. "Captian is how you introduced yourself. My best guess is that you are here to let your actions speak for you, not your heritage." Seeing him nodding, she continued, "On Galava, nobility is scarce, but not totally non-existent. And the majority of the folk that I deal with would think less of you for flaunting your titles. I've learned in the last two months that several of my patients would not have had much to do with me if I had declared my heritage before they knew me. So, there you have it. I dub thee 'Leo the Lion' with the flying battlemech."

She turned to Clara, "You need to tell Ky to keep this under her book jacket. And do the same. He's Captain Santiago except to the Caravans. To them, he's Leo the Lion. Project Hope will be yellow with a Lion."

Seeing Jax return, Nixie had Clara take the noteputer and datachip. She looked at Jax and gave him his next set of orders. "You need to activate the Caravan Alert System and issue a warning that I will not under any circumstance treat anyone who attacks a member of Project Hope. And neither will Lisetta. Project Hope is here to help just like I am and any hostile actions towards them are to be treated as a personal attack on me. Leo the Lion with a flying battlemech is the leader of Project Hope. Project Hope will be distinguished by yellow and a Lion. Lions are kind of like tree cats, but a little bit different. Any issues with members of Project Hope are to be taken up with Leo the Lion just like issues with other Caravans are taken up with their Caravan Leaders. Their designation will be added to McKayla and to Spiritsword's Tent. Jax, you are in charge of getting all that done. You'll need to get with Captain Santiago to find out exactly what forces he has that will be unfamiliar to people. I know there is at least one more 'flying battlemech' that people need told about. If I have to rest, you are to make sure that no one under my care makes it harder for those taking over. Jenna and Marie can take turns 'guarding' me. Is that clear? "

She waited until he nodded and turned to Captain Santiago and explained, "Jenna and Marie are two of my security. They are also learning medical skills and would benefit the most from being exposed to the medical facilities here. Clara will need to work with the members of Project Hope. My if only help comes file contains the weather information Dr. Fletcher was asking about and all the other information that I have gathered. You object to anything I've just ordered, Leo?

"The Lions of Arioch already have a color scheme."

"Fine. Jax just use the symbol of the lion from their Coat of Arms for their civilians. Captain Santiago's unit can defend themselves. Maybe he'll even learn Pikkinese so he can deal directly with the Caravans. You two can work the details out together, but yellow is the color. My Caravan color so that the people of Project Hope clearly belong with the Medical Caravan."

She looked at Clara with the look of and you will remember our agreement. She told her in French, "Clara go work with them. The best way to use your birthday present to me really came true. Share the plans for the site from the datachip. That's all they really need to get things started."

Looking at all of them she said, "And now, get out of here so I can rest."

~~~

The two weeks had passed pretty uneventfully for Nixie, but Jax had been forced to unpack all the stuff in her house and even her motorcycle to find her video game. It had been stuck in the saddlebag of the motorcycle along with her Galatea Driver’s License. Dr. Schultz had been pleasant and had understood her line in the sand about defending the people of Project Hope with the threat of no medical treatment. The fact that she hadn’t taken the Oath sure reassured him after he’d found out her orders. She had gotten almost everyone to call her just Nixie, Spirit, or Sword. Some people still called her Lady Nixie or Lady Jester, but most of Project Hope had been broke of that habit.

And finally, she got to leave the Etruskan. She had been ordered to wait until nightfall for some reason, but she got to leave. Walking outside, she realized that she wouldn’t be leaving tonight. The CAS apparently had been informed that she was off bedrest today. There were Caravans of every color out tonight. And her tent was set up next to a large bonfire. Peace and Solitude were rising in the sky. Her orders had been taken to heart and Project Hope was welcomed by those that had taken in the people of Mossburg. Project Hope was well underway and she saw all of her Mossburg patients waiting outside her tent. The ones that wouldn't leave with no hope of going back to Mossburg were lined up like Jax always had them before she did their check-ups.

She finally understood why the only outfit that hadn't been packed was yellow. Her Caravan color was just right for a Caravan party. The Caravans might be a little uncouth, but they reminded her of the folk she grew up with before going to her grandmother's funeral. Good honest folk sure knew how to party better than the upper crust people she'd met. So, she was surprised that Leo was the one who had ordered Dr. Schultz not to let her leave until nightfall. There might be hope for the noble prince after all. He had pushed his team to get things done for her people and was making good progress on providing the aid she'd never asked for or dared to hope would come. And now his team was going to get to join in a Caravan party, a reward for the job well started and a chance to see the people they were here to help in a more personal setting.

She turned to Captain Santiago, "This is why I had to wait until nightfall? Leo the Lion, you are full of surprises. Patients to see and a party to go to." She knew she'd hear about it later, but she kissed him on the cheek anyway and said, "Thanks, see you at the party," as she ran to join her team at her tent.

Edit: Corrected grammar and tense issues. Story remains same, but now is grammatically more correct.

Project Hope {A Battletech Story}



This was decidedly a strange planet, Emilio concluded. Apparently he'd managed to find a landing site that the locals approved of quite by accident. A little bit further west and Project Hope would have had to contend with seasonal wildfires that spanned thousands of kilometers as well as seasonal monsoon floods. Much farther east he would have been in the Radiation zones. South would have placed them into an area often used by Pirates landing on this world, and north would have placed them into the "Fallout" zones.

"Luck" he whispered. But it was always better be lucky than skillful. Skills could be learned as needed.

He was standing at the foot of "Leo" his Griffin Lam and looking over the Lion's of Arioch awaiting a Parade Inspection.

He smirked inwardly shaking his head. He and his mech seemed to have earned the same name in the few weeks he'd been on planet. He didn't understand the reasoning behind it fully either. And now both Peter and John had began calling him Leo as well.

They were all waiting at attention. He made them wait a bit more. He'd decided upon this "Snap Inspection" when he'd heard Sean MacGreggor call him "Leo the Lion" across the combat channels once during a general sweep to investigate a fall of meteors about 50 kilometers southwest of their location.

He waited. They stood at attention.

From left to right they were:

The Battle Lance,
John Walker Jr., aka "Spectre" in his Warhammer "Red Horse".
Sean Killibourne, aka "Irish" in his Rifleman "Oberon".
James Patterson, aka "Brackets" in his Thunderbolt "Achilles".
William Alseim, aka "Farmer" in his Crusader "Lumberjack"

The Recon Lance,
Sean MacGreggor, aka "Loaper" in his Locust, "Wee Bairn".
Thomas Blackmoore, aka "Danger" in his Nate, "Speedy Gonzoles".
Reiko Chio, aka "Sakura" in her Hermes, "Tatsumaki".
Zahrina Cohen, aka "Ferret" in her Mongoose, "Huntress".

The Command Lance,
Peter Anderson, aka "Taz" in his Shadowhawk LAM "Abattoir", his own wingman.
Galad MacLean, aka "Sodger" in his Thunderhawk LAM "Galashiels".
Rebecca Maclean, aka "Canty" in her Sparrowhawk LAM "Airdrie".

And then facing them all, there was himself.
Emilio Santiago, aka "Lion" in his Griffin LAM "Leo".

He waited. They stood at attention.

He began his inspection slowly. Uniforms, decorum, and mechs. They waited at Attention.

When all was complete he returned to the foot of his own mech before them and took a deep breath.

"Galava has many strange aspects about it." He began "Things we are not used to on Glen Arden. Undoubtedly most folk from here would also find many of the things we do on Glen Arden a bit strange as well."

Caber Tossing came to mind unbidden at the thought Glen Arden oddities.

"The Caravan People's manner of speech is nearly as thick as yours Galad." Emilio continued. There was some grins down the row despite the fact that they were still at attention and in fact Emilio grinned as well.

"But the proper decorum and discipline must be maintained in any military command. The Callsign I took upon acceptance into Battlemech Training was 'Lion'. And the day I received this machine I cristened him 'Leo'."

He paused scowling around at them all. "You may stand at ease." he said suddenly and they all smiled now looking at him speculatively.

"Now... for some reason particular to the Caravan People of Galava they have begun calling me 'Leo the Lion' and even to the point of using this as my given name, ignoring the fact that my true name is Emilio. I have come to understand they have some ammusing names for several of you as well." He grinned in spite of himself.

"Even Lady Jester seems determined to call me this though I have no idea why that is. It's not a subject that I have ever discussed with her." He made a mental note to bring this up when next they had a few minutes to themselves.

He noticed a few more smirks at this but he ignored them and continued.

"However "Leo the Lion" is not acceptible for use in battlefield communications!"

"Ach! Wal as' a kenit, we as cae as cul ye Leo Aye? Tis nae sommat askew wae tha'!" Galad questioned.

Even having heard the big scotsman's thick burrish accented speach all his life it took Emilio a moment to translate what he'd said.

"Is that the consensus of all here?" Emilio asked at last, shaking his head and knowing what was coming.

"Aye Captain! Galad as speaks well enough fer us all!" Sean replied and there was much bobbing of heads and grinning all around now.

"Fine..." Emilio said sighing as if heavily put upon.

"Hence forth my callsign shall be Leo. But it is NOT 'Leo the Lion'! Is that perfectly understood?"

There was more head bobbing and even more grinning.

"Fine..." he repeated and sighed again. Leo and Leo...

"Well Listen up. There are near constant pirate raids on this planet. Our job is to protect Project Hope. But if we can do that and still give the locals a hand with any pirates that arrive during our stay here we will. And since we now have additional troops from the locals who are helping to secure Project Hope, we will have greater options in dealing with any such threats that DO arrive. So keep sharp! We may well see some heavy action on this planet whether we want it or not."

Every one of them saluted him. "Aye Captain!" they called.

"Ok then, we will begin with a series of drills. Battle and Recon Lances will be defending in our first exorcise, and will coordinate the defence the abandoned ruins in the marshlands which have been uploated to your battle coms. Command Lance, we will be the aggressors in this exorcise. It is our objective to destroy those ruins. Spectre, Loaper, you have 2 hours to get on location and prepare your defenses. The attack may come at any time after." He looked around as everyone nodded their understanding.

"Then lets move out!" Emilio called and watched as the 8 men of the Defending Team turned and began climbing up into their battlemechs.

The other three gathered close round their Captain and listened. "Ok, we have 2 hours to plot. Any suggestions on how we can pull this off?" he asked them.

The ground began to shake with the footfalls of the 8 departing battlemechs.

"I say we get in there ahead of them and drop some vibro-mines" Taz began.

Canty hit him on the back of the head. "We canne begin tae attack fe two hours no ye amadan!"

They began to plot.

And somehwere deep inside, Emilio smiled.

'Leo the Lion'

He wondered how long after his own graduation it had been before his father had been dubbed the 'Yama King...'





Alan~

Project Hope {A Battletech Galava Story}

Nixie hadn’t expected to hear about her kissing Leo the Lion as soon as she got to her tent, but Clara was beat red and Jax simply said, “This is the way it’s done Doc,” as he kissed Val on the lips. Nixie had just smiled as she entered the tent. She’d seen all of her Mossburg patients. They were in better health than she had seen them since she’d arrived on planet and all had made some sort of comment about how good ‘her fella’ was. Nixie hadn’t know if Leo would show up at the Caravan party or not, but she had one thing she always did at the Caravan parties.

Nixie sat down amongst the largest group of Caravan children she had seen since Dweller’s Market. It was story time. She had started this at Dweller’s Market and continued it every visit she made to the Caravan or to Caravan’s Rest. She looked around and saw all the smiles and was so thankful that she could make the Caravan children feel special before they got sent to bed. “What story do you want to hear today,” she asked.

“Droceles and Leo!” “Ocules and Leo!” “Leo the Lion!” came the clattering voices.

“But you’ve heard that one several times. Don’t you want a different one?”

“No! Leo!”

“Spiritsword, you haven’t told it to them since you made Leo the Lion the leader of your Caravan. It won’t hurt anyone to hear it one more time.” Justin said. He wanted to hear the story again himself. Klaus kept asking Lisetta and Keelan to tell it, but they didn’t know it very well.

Nixie looked at the young Caravan man that served the MacGregor Training Hall. “Okay. I can see your point, young Mohan.” She turned back to the children and started telling the tale in English, as all Caravan children understand English even if they wouldn’t admit it. She told the tale the way that would make sense to the Caravan children, just like her mother had changed the original story to make it real to her.

“Many Moonbrights ago on a planet far away from here, there lived a slave named Androcoles. The pirates that had captured Androcoles were very mean and hurt him every day. They made him do lots of heavy work in the hot sun with nothing to eat or drink and when he couldn’t work anymore they whipped him and beat him. One day when the pirates were off raiding, Androcoles ran away. He could not think of a worse fate than to die at the hands of the pirates.

Androcoles ran up to the mountains to hide. He found a cavern hidden in the mountain walls and crawled in. It smelled funny, but it should keep him safe from the pirates. Androcoles fell into an exhausted sleep. When he awoke, the funny smell was stronger and a lion was standing over him with its claws extended and its mouth open. A lion is like a tree cat, but yellow all over. This one looked even more fierce because it was an adult male with a large mane. Androcoles had heard that lions were regal and majestic, but this one was just plain scary.

Androcoles was terrified. He had escaped the pirates that enslaved him only to die at the claws of a lion. The Fates were not being good to him. The lion roared a terrible roar. Androcoles shook from fear, but realized that the lion was not trying to eat him. The lion was roaring in pain every time he stepped closer. Androcoles gathered the courage he had used to run away from the pirates and took a step toward the lion. His movement startled the lion and it stop. Androcoles carefully lifted the paw the lion had been favoring and saw that a thorn was imbedded in it. A thorn is like a very small dagger that some plants grow. Androcoles pulled the thorn out of the paw and waited to be swatted with the very same paw. Instead the lion licked his paw and curled up next to Androcoles.

Over the next several weeks the lion and Androcoles became friends. The lion watched over Androcoles and helped him hunt for food and stay warm at night. Androcolos eventually started calling the lion Leo after the noble lion that graced the sky of his planet. One day when Androcoles and Leo were playing, the pirates that had captured Androcoles found them. Leo tried to keep the pirates from taking Androcoles, but was not strong enough. Androcoles was taken back and forced to work by the pirates. Other slaves tried running away and so the pirates decided to make an example of Androcoles. They tossed him into a pit for weeks.

When they finally let Androcoles out, they put him in a gladiator arena like the ones on Solaris VII. The battles there are kind of like a challenge for leadership, but the battles are to the death and for someone else’s pleasure and gain. Androcoles knew he would die in the arena for the pirates had not given him a weapon and they were bringing out a savage and hungry lion. They let the lion go and it started running at him. Androcoles had never been so scared, but then he saw that the lion looked familiar. He called out ‘Leo’ and the lion skidded to a stop just inches from Androcoles and sniffed deeply. Then the lion licked Androcoles with his tongue. It was Leo! It was his friend! Androcoles and Leo started playing like they had on the mountains and then curled up in the arena to take a nap together.

The pirates were not happy that their blood sport had not shed any blood and that an example could not be made. The pirate queen saw beyond her disappointment and realized how unique the bond between the two friends was. It was not often that a vicious, savage, wild lion would befriend a human. Leo the Lion was declared a king amongst majestic creatures and truly noble at heart. Androcoles was declared brave as a lion, but as trusting as a child. She granted both of them their lives and freedom. And so, Androcoles and Leo returned to the mountains and lived in friendship.

Not all lions can be trusted, but some of them can overcome their instincts to ravage and kill all things that cross their paths. However, Leo the Lion and Androcoles show that some noble creatures can be trusted beyond their lifetimes. Leo eventually met a lioness and had cubs and Androcoles married a woman and had children. The tale of Androcoles and Leo in the arena was passed on to both families and they continued to develop friendships and trust. So, even though we live in a different time and far away from the home of Androcoles and Leo, we can still learn that trust and friendship can be forged between those that most would consider to dangerous to trust. So, now young ones, Peace and Solitude are high in the sky and it is time for you to close your eyes. Goodnight.”

Nixie watched the parents guiding their children off to bed and looked up to see Justin carrying Klaus to her. “Spiritsword, rest before you go to party. Caravan Leader is here, speak with him. I’ll take care of Klaus for Miss Lisetta.”

Nixie looked to see what Caravan Leader she was to talk to, but didn’t see any of the traditional Caravan colors approaching. So, she decided to rest and wait to see which Caravan Leader wanted to talk to her. She had learned that Justin was a bit of a mystic according to Mohan Caravan legends and that his mother had been a very strong mystic. She hadn’t thought to ask him which Caravan Leader wanted to talk to her. Would he have called Leo a Caravan Leader? He had said that she had made him the leader of her Caravan…so maybe. She’d sit her for a few minutes before going to the party. She'd been inside too long and it was nice to enjoy the night. Nixie started to softly sing a lullaby in French as she watched Peace and Solitude shining amongst the stars in the Galava sky.

The Saga of Ingrid and Isadora Wilson {A Battletech Story}



The journey to Rasalhague had been interminably long, only interupted by the occasional visit to a Zenith Point Waystation now and again.

The Waystations were a most welcome release from the monotony and clockwork timing of the intersteller jumps of space travel. And unfortunately ever since her rapid transit along the command circuit provided by Colin's parents to and from Northwind and Galatea, the symptoms of Transit Disorientation Syndroms were now far more acute, taking her longer to recover. She felt like she was going to die each time and took a sedative to try and just sleep through them. But that no longer worked the way it had in the past and she would wake up grogilly wretching as if to dislodge all her guts. The episodes were lasting hours now and left her so weak and exhausted she could barely move the rest of the day.

Of course everything was expensive on the big Waystations, but many of them were small cities in space, holding every sort of diversion and means of stripping a traveler of their money.

But when still 3 jumps out from Rasalhague Colin had presented her with a Blue and White Diamond Necklace and matching Earrings, Ingrid had just melted. They were beautiful! And from the size of the stones they must have been astronomically expensive. Especially on one of these Waystations!

Ingrid had spent much of the rest of the trip 'thanking him' for this most unexpected and welcome gift. Ingrid had never owned anything but costume jewelry her entire life untill she'd met Kailey who had given her a small set from her own collection to wear at the Mid Winterfest Sioree. Where she'd met Colin in the first place. Ingrid was no jeweler to give an appropriate appraisal of the necklace and earrings he'd given her but they must be worth tens of thousands of C-Bills! They were simply incredible.

Thus her trip had been a collection of both good times and bad, but when they finally arrived on Rasalhague itself Ingrid was still well pleased to see the space travel done for a while.

But exiting the ship had been nearly impossible! There'd been more red tape than she could have ever thought possible, signing permits and waivers and security vouchers and obtaining the required storage facilities for the two Battlemechs and single Aerospace Fighter they'd brought with them. Rasalhague had some extremely strict laws governing mercenaries and the possession of military grade hardware. There had been inquiries on what their mission was, and what intentions she had with her "Unit" on Rasalhague and just when she managed to make her way past one bureaucratic hoop another presented itself. It seemed that none of the very few"Approved" storage facilities were willing to accept their war machines for storage claiming a lack of room. Then on top of all that, the dropship captain was threatening to just dump their equipment and vehicles out on the tarmac of the spaceport if they come and didn't get it all out of his ship! He had other cargos to load! Of course the Starport Authority quickly pointed out that Mercenary's machines of war could not legally enter the Rasalhague Starport grounds except as properly inspected cargo and even then only secured aboard authorized and licensed transport carriers. Of course Rasalhague City had similar ordinances and under no circumstances were they permitted to actually enter and operate these machines of war except on specifically designated "reservations", none of which adjoined either the city or starport!

It was a nightmare! They spent days in red tape with the Dropship Captain charging them 1000 C-Bills per hour per vehicle left on his ship past the first 24 hours, the legally approved time limit for reasonable disembarkation! The whole fiasco cost them more than a quarter million C-Bills before all arrangements and fees were finally processed.

She'd heard about the general disdain that Rasalhague held for Mercenaries... but had never seriously studied it. Now she wished she would have! She wished she'd never come!

Once all that had been processed they were finally allowed to leave the Starport at last. To her astonishment, she found that Prince Haakan Magnuson had sent one of his personal aides, a man named Tovar Sigurd to meet her, and that a limousine was waiting for her. Unaware of the difficulties she'd been experiencing, Tovar had merely assumed that she was taking her own Royal time about exiting her transport ship while he'd been left waiting for days in the terminal for her.

Tovar had been simply aghast once he learned of all the troubles she'd encountered going through customs and had told her that she'd only to show that she was of Rasalhaguian Royalty and that these people and machines were her "personal retinue" and she would have been passed through customs within minutes! Of course the aide assured her that he would see to making proper arrangements and accomodations for her vehicles and followers and conducted them at once to the 'Grand Trollhättan', one of the most prestigeous hotels in the city and of course she would be staying as a guest of the Prince.

Ingrid had wanted to scream her frustration! And only Colin's calming touch kept her from giving Tovar a serious piece of her mind about all this!

Things had been much better in the following days though there had been little time. It seemed that they had arrived just toward the end of "The Landsraadt", a gathering of all the ruling nobility of Rasalhague. Thousands of Nobles had flocked to the world to participate and vote on certain matters of great importance. Not being a "Ruling Noble", at least not untill or unless she made claims for her grandfathers lands as well as titles, Ingrid was not permitted into any of "The Landsraadt Sessions" themselves, however she was invited to attend the daily "Grand Samlande" at Prince Elect Haakan Magnusson's Palace. The Grand Samlande was an informal gathering of the nobility and was considered to be the primary social event of the season.

Of the traditional 10 day Landsraadt and attendant Samlande, there were only 3 days remaining with the last being the most important and most attended, drawing in many of the lesser nobility from across the realm.

Ingrid spent the days touring the city and countryside and evenings at the Samlande, and was able to forget the trials she'd endured getting here.

The first night she'd attended the Samlande she'd been as nervous as a bird. She'd walked in past the huge bronze doors and the Court Harold had rapped his staff smartly to the marble floor and called out.

"The Princess Ingrid Bjelbo, and her escort Laird Colin McKinnon!"

Around them, all eyes had turned to the door. Ingrid had swallowed and had it not been for her grip on Colin's arm and his initial step forward, she would have likely turned around and left again.

All those hundreds of eyes on her didn't daunt her. It was not really knowing what was expected of her that caused the butterflies to churn. As she entered the grand halls, the nobles nearest the door all bowed with respect and she took another deep breath, too stiff to even acknowledge them with more than brief eye contact. Colin continued to guide her down the carpet. At the far end upon a great throne sat Hakan Magnusson. Slowly, with casual pomp they made their way down the halls. The farther they went, the less deeply the bows became untill nearing the end of the hall by the prince they were greeted only by frank looks and raised eyebrows.

Prince Elect Haakan Magnusson was a big man, and stunning in his finery. The military cut of his royal attire making him an icon of Rasalhague. The Crown he wore was little more than an elaborate and gilded headband, but it held more magesty upon his brow than any towering affair of jewels could ever have.

Ingrid took a steadying breath. She had spent many an hour practicing the next part in her room on the dropship during her travel here and for a wonder she managed to pull off her greeting without stammaring.

"Magesty, I have come in answer to your summons." She curtsied deeply only now realizing the depth of bosom her gown would be displaying to the man during this genuflex, and wondering if this were somehow linked to the origins of such actions. Beside her, Colin also bowed low, and they held their position awaiting recognition.

Beside Haakan Magnusson, one of his aides leaned in close and whispered something in his ear, to which the Prince nodded slightly.

"Rise Ingrid and please join me for a moment." Haakan said gesturing to his left side as he himself rose.

As she stood up again and started forward Colin kissed her hand and stepped back and she turned, suddenly nearly in panic. He looked at her approvingly and smiled. Taking a deep breath she Stepped up on the dias beside Haakan the Prince who now held his glass aloft and tapped it with a small spoon. The light ringing noise couldn't have possibly been heard beyond 30 feet in the low murmering that pervaded the grand hall, but the room quickly fell silent all the same.

"JAG kalla för en dansa!" he announced smiling and suddenly the nobles began backing away, making a large clearing.

Taking her hand he strode down the dias slowly, and before he reached the bottom a classic melody slowly lifted into the air as if it had already been playing and only now became loud enough to hear.

What followed was a classical dance and despite the nervousness that made her palms sweat and her stomach churn, a smile came to her eyes. She may not know how to talk or walk like a noble... but she KNEW how to dance! All eyes watched as the pair of them danced circles around the floor for the first half of the melody, then as if on que other nobles began entering the open area and joined in the dance.

It was exhilerating and astonishing. But it was somthing that Ingrid knew well and she enjoyed herself thoroughly. Then the dance ended with a flourish that left her in his arms kissing her soundly!!

There was small clapping and nodding around the hall along with knowing looks. Was Haakan about to take a Consort? The rumors flew about the chamber in open speculation. She heard someone whisper "It's good to be the King."

More music and dances followed the first, though Haakan now directed her slowly back toward his dias again, speaking softly with her.

"Rare is it to find such a skilled and wondrous beauty among the Royalty Ingrid. I can foresee great things in your future."

Ingrid blinked at him staring, completely unsure how to respond to that! So she blushed and let her eyes fall demurely.

"I am assuming that you would be interested in seeing the Jarldom of Skallevoll restored to it's proper lineage?" he inquired still walking slowly across the dance floor.

Unknown to Ingrid at the time, from the crowd of watchers one pair of eyes followed them with a seething hatred rather than speculative observation, growing suddenly hard before they turned and left the Samlande.

"Actually, Majesty, I have little experience in ruling a people, and I am sure I have no head for poliitcs. The discovery of my family's heritage was both a shock and a blessing, but I have no great ambitions of assention among the landed nobles of your court." she breathed the words softly hoping beyond hope that she wasn't insulting him somehow.

"And modest too..." he smiled and looked at her with growing interest. "I have been following your public expose'. However did you arrive at the name Barbietech? It is perhaps the most entertaining personal journal I have ever bore witness to." he said smiling.

Her blush deepened. "Ummm... well its a long story Majesty. But I have never been camera shy. The cameras follow me everywhere now." She jestured with her hand around the room.

Haakan laughed and nodded still walking slowly. "Ingrid, I will be frank with you. You have captured the attention of the galactic stage. The media loves you! Rasalhague is still struggling quite fiercely to stand apart and remain strong enough to survive the coming war. And you have become a strong woman Ingrid, a true Valkyrie at the head of a notable military command." he stopped and turns to look at her.

"There is much that we can offer each other. My court seethes with the ambitious and sycophantic and is filled with spies of every sort. I see in your eyes and answers a fresh wind and honest appreciation for level thinking. I promise, you would be well placed here. I can see to it. Your men wouldn't have to remain mercenaries. They could be your royal guard! Ingrid you have rights and responsibilities that are a part of the titles you now possess."

Her eyes going wide she starts to shake her head, opening her mouth to speak, but he put his finger to her lips silencing her.

"I know you... are honor bound, to serve with the Federated Commonwealth for now. And I will not ask you to break that oath of honor. But that will not last forever. It will not even last another year. Return to me again when your service to them is commplete." He smiles at her, lifting her chin to look into her eyes directly.

She again starts to open her mouth to say something but no words come out.

"I will have my way Princess." he admonished gently.

Sighing softly she spoke at last. "I will visit you again Majesty, when my responsibilities are clear." she agreed, nodding slowly, her eyes wide as saucers.

Abruptly, Haakan continued walking the short distance remaining to the dias. His eyes met Colins with a smile. "I must compliment and salute you Laird McKinnon, and beg your pardon for abducting your charge, I return her now to your safekeeping. Guard her well." Haakan said, the last sentance more of a command than advice.

Then he was ascending his dias again, and was at once crowded about by nobles seeking their own time for his ear.

"I want to go now" she whispered to Colin.

Back in her rooms at the Grand Trollhättan, she turned to Colin nearly shaking. "Oh Light Colin! What should we do? He expects me... all of us, to return after this contract and take up service with Rasalhague. He means to give the Jarldom Skallevoll to me, and... and I think he wants more than that as well. Colin he's old enough to be my father! He even wants the Wayfinders to join the KungsArme as my Royal Guard! Oh Light!!" She collapsed onto the plush sofa.

"Now I begin to see what Isabella was talking about when she said she would forsake all her noble titles that bind in the Taurian Concordat!" She sighed heavily and leaned over against Colin, snuggling into his arms.

She did not return to the Grand Samlande the next day, but did visit again on the last day, being careful to spend her time mingling well away from Prince Haakan. But she could see that it was no use. The greater portion of the nobles all defered to her now in quiet speculation. A woman who potentially held the ear and will of Prince Haakan was a person to be wary of. Nobody knew where she stood on any of the important issues, or what they could or couldn't say around her. They bowed and curtsied and genuflexed and she heard the words "Your Highness" so often that by the end, it was everything she could do to not burst out laughing at them.

They spent a few more days on Rasalhague taking in the sites and playing the noble tourist. But Ingrid knew she had to return to Trellwan soon.

Still, she had a couple more stops she wanted to make. It would add a few more weeks to her travel time, but she wanted to go meet her foster grandparents again, Lord and Lady Svedberg on Trondheim. And she wanted to make a stop on the way back at Skallevoll, just to get a look at this land that she stood to inherit.

Pappy and Nanny Svedberg, Anton and Sonja, were much older than she remembered them, but they were still in good health. The Trondheim Mountains sparked uncounted memories and she spent an all too short 3 days with them. They welcomed her into their home like the family they were and held nothing but pride and smiles for their granddaughter when she told them of the events at the Grand Samlande.

"Only people that ever go to the Landsraadt and Grand Samlande are those wanting to make waves child." Anton had told her chuckling. "Most sensible Nobles keep their noses well out of the Prince's Arse."

Ingrid had blinked and then laughed as Sonja admonished his language. Leaving Trondheim was one of the most difficult things she'd done in a long time. She wanted to stay and drown herself in memories of earlier times. But their travel schedule only allowed her the three days, and between her grandparents and Colin she was on busy sun up to sun down all three days. They even found the mountain home that her mother Irena Svedberg had once owned before she sold it and moved to Solaris. Ingrid vowed that she would come and purchase that land back when... if... she every returned to Rasalhague.

Their travels next stopped on the near periphery world of Skallevoll. Surprisingly, it was a lush planet of green trees and crystal seas and young mountains raking the dark blue skies with jagged white fangs. And it smelled... fresh.

She could come to like this world she thought. They only had 2 days to spend on Skallevoll, and so were slightly rushed in making their tour.

On the second night, Ingrid awoke with a start as Colin lept on her knocking her from the bed and landing atop her, knocking the breath from her at the same time. From the dark she heard gunfire and Colin grunted. Things began to happen fast after that. Her guards were rushing into the room guns shattering the window with a spray of glass and bullets, and Colin was heaving her outside their room where other guards were leaping from their rooms. Colin began to sag down the wall, leaving a bloodly smear and Ingrid gasped. There was so much blood. She began trying to lever him into one of the guards rooms with the help of another as other hotel guests began poking their head out into the corridor. Both she and Colin were naked and covered in blood now.

The gunfire stopped after a few minutes and an ambulance arrived to take them to the emergency room at the local hospital. Colin required immediate surgery to remove the three slugs that were imbedded in his back. He had been seriously wounded, but the wounds were thankfully not life-threatening. Colin was kept in intensive care for 3 days and was scheduled to remain in bed rest for another month.

Not trusting the security of this Skallevol for a month long stay after the obvious assassination attempt, Ingrid hired a medical team to travel with them, and after the 3 days in intensive care, Colin was released and they quickly left the planet behind to continue their journey back to Trellwan.

If her TDS was actually better or if worry about Colin was enabling her to blot it out, she took no sedatives during the trip back, remaining at his side the entire way.

By the time they arrived at Trellwan in mid November, it was to discover that most of the Wayfinders were gone, having been ordered out to chase down the notorious pirate Kenny Ryan and his Flashfire Bandits. The remaining Wayfinder defensive forces welcomed them home warmly, and Ingrid was briefed on all the events of the last several months. The pirates had attacked and most had been captured. The Wayfinders now had an additional 14 captured Battlemechs in prime condition, and another 8 that were salvageable. The Training Corp under Captain Peter Jackson Warfield III had already placed selected men in those 14 mechs and were drilling them daily in cooperation with the 12th Donegal Guard, and the Red Brigade which had arrived to provide training for young Prince Victor Ian Steiner~Davion.

There was a very great deal to catch up on, and Ingrid threw herself into her duties. And since Colin, no longer on bed rest but still 'walking wounded' was up and around, she began coaching him on the business of running the Wayfinders Mercenary Regiment by day, and assisting him with... 'physical therapy' by night.

And through it all Dawreo Welsh chuckled and watched the Barbietech ratings rocket higher and higher.



Alan~

Project Hope {A Battletech Story}



The exorcize complete the Lions of Arioch returned to Project Hope main base that night to find a rather large tent camp set up nearby. The Caravan People had apparently decided to stop by and settle in.

There was obviously little if any threat based on the steady exchange of men and women walking between the two tent cities.

The two Duty Mechs took up their guard stations while the rest entered the dropship and settled into their assigned mechbays.

When Emilio climbed down it was to a barrage of questions.

"Captain, they say these Caravan People throw some great parties! Do we have leave to attend?"

A dozen voices clamoring at the same time till he called for them all to be quiet. Then seeing Jax striding down the loading ramp, Emilio and Peter both approached him.

"Jax, what can you tell me about these Caravan People?"

Jax just grinned. "Only one way to know'em. They bring no fight to this place if that is what you ask."

Watching Jax walk off, Emilio turns to his men. "Stay clear of the place for now. Lady Jester knows a good deal about these Caravan Folk. I'll go see what I can find out and let you know. For now just keep an eye on things. We don't need any trouble if it can be avoided."

"Aye Captain."

Just as he reached the lift it opened and out walked Nixie.

Smiling he fell in step beside her as she headed for the ramps down. "I am glad to see you feeling better." he began. Just then she got a look at the Caravan Camp outside and came to a stop staring at it.

She turned to him with a surprised smile on her face, "This is why I had to wait until nightfall? Leo the Lion, you are full of surprises! Patients to see and a party to go to." She knew she'd hear about it later, but she kissed him on the cheek anyway and said, "Thanks, see you at the party," as she ran down and disappeared among the tents.



"Urrmmm..." he said in shock watching her leave.

"Eloquent." John taunted on que.

"A truer expression has never been uttered." agreed Zarhina.

"Ach, Ah blev she's gone as speechless Capn!" put in Galad.

"Ah shut it!" Emilio said.

"Well one thing is as certain Captain, them Caravaners are here fer a party!" Sean put in.

Silence weighed for long minutes.

"I guess you have the right of it Lions. Lets Party!!!" Emilio cried and yells and whoops went up around him.

They all started down the ramp already tasting the alchohol in the air.

Emilio pulled out his microcommunicator and called his two Duty Mechs.

"Brackets, Farmer, you will be pulling double duty tonight. And have tomorrow off entirely. Leo out!"

"Aye Captain." came the dulsatory replies.

"Don't complain. Your Section failed it's mission objectives!" Emilio laughed.

The Lions entered the party together, but their varying tastes soon lead them to seperating into groups of two and three.

Emilio had just taken his first drink when he spotted someone across the caravan. It was that girl... He snapped his finger trying to remember her name... The one Father was talking about... Natalia! Natalia Romanov!

"Natalia!" Emilio began, walking over to her.

She looked up startled and her eyes grew larger and a bit fearful. There were low growls from among the nearest Caravaners she had been partying with obviously responding to her fear. Some of them were pretty big Emilio noticed...

"Natalia, I just thought I would deliver a message from my father Enriche Santiago, Viceroy of the Iron League. Not that he actually gave me any message to give to you. But I heard him say it to your image. Apparently he spotted you from a parade that took place a year or so ago."

Her hand was resting on her pistol now he saw, as was several of the Caravaners. Peace of Project Hope or not, these men would die to protect her he saw. He needed to difuse this fast.

"He said: "Natalia, may you find the peace you are seeking. I have given the Black Warriors something else to be concerned with for now. It's all I can do. I hope you make it." He went to war with the Circinus Confederation for you Natalia." He pauses looking at them all a bit awkwardly. "Well... maybe I shouldn't have said anything... I'm going now." And he turned and began striding away.

Natalia was frozen on the point of attack or flight and it took a moment for the words to work their way though to her conscious. Went to war? she thought. Why?

"Хорошо я буду задницей обезьяны! Капитан Эмильо, ждите!" She muttered (Well I will be a monkey's ass! Captain Emilio, wait!)

"Captain wait!" she said again in english this time. "Why?... Why did your father go to war?" she caught up with him and stopped in front of him.

"He believed you Natalia. Believed in you. My father hates pirates with a passion that borders madness sometimes. He saw you, figured out that you were on the run from them. And initiated a War with the Circinus Confederation, the Black Warriors in specific... just to buy you some time. To give you a chance."

Natalia stared up at him in near disbelief. "But... I... I was one of them... once. That doesn't bother him?"

"What do I know of what bothers the Yama King Natalia?" he asked dryly

"But, yeah... I think it did bother him. It bothered him that you were trying to change your stars and they weren't giving you that chance. That's the way he is. I guess... that's basically the way I am too." Emilio shrugged a bit embarassed.

Then she jumped up and kissed him on both cheeks smiling broadly. "замечательный!" (Remarkable!)

Then she was dodging through the camp headed off to who knew where.

Well... it was turning out to be an on and off night. Been kissed twice by beautiful women only to watch them run off imediately... Just didn't have his game on this evening he muttered.

Natalia found Lisetta among the Caravans and pulled her to the side excitedly. "I'm pardoned! I just found out that the Iron League has pardoned me! Lisetta! Don't you see?! The one thing I have feared from the start is that the bounty's on my head would cause problems for Galava, first with the pirates and later with politics with the Iron League. And they didn't just pardon me Lisetta! They went to WAR for me! Against the Black Warriors!!!" Natalia was fairly bursting with joy to the point she felt like hopping around jumping for joy.

"I have to go tell everyone! I have to tell Eric!!" She hugged Lisetta and then vanished again heading for her Kodiak.

Lisetta shaking her head revealed what she'd heard to Spirit with a bit of amazement. Soon the rumors were spreading all over the camp.

===

There it was again... "Leo the Lion". He'd heard it through the crowd, though he didn't notice anyone particular calling for him. Following the voice he edged through the crowd into a small circle where Dr Nixie Jester was telling a lulliby story to a circle of children with upturned rapt faces. The story of Leo the Lion.

It wasn't exactly the story he'd heard as a child but close enough. Close enough to see that this woman had been wronged sometime in her past by Nobles she felt she should have been able to trust. Nobles who were not worthy to bear the title.

As the tale drew to an end he glanced around a bit embarassedly. He didn't want to spoil her story. Turning he had gone no more than about 60 feet before he was confronted by 4 large Caravaners. Clan Chieftons or whatever passed for that by the look of them.

They looked grim.

"Is it true that you have pardoned the Shockwave from the South?" The largest one asked bluntly.

"Wha?" Emilio began. "Who... What do you mean?" he said at last.

They put their heads together for a moment mumbling quickly and incoherently then turned to look at him again. "You would call her Natalia. Did you pardon her?"

"What? No.. for what? She's done nothing to be..." His eyes narrowed as comprehension suddenly dawned.

He drew himself up, and brung himself to full combat alert, preparing for trouble, and subtly hit the panic button on his wrist comm that would alert the Duty Mechs to potential problems.

"As a matter of fact yes. Yes I have. And if any of you have a problem with The Shockwave from the South, you can take it up with me right now!" He rolled his sleves up a few folds as he spoke.

The four of them stepped up as one and grabbed him before he could move and after a paniced moment Emilio realized that they were... Hugging him???

They each hugged him and gripped his forearm mumbling something that Emilio could only catch a few words of. Something like. "Mummblle oaths of mumble offer shade mumble and water...mumble mumble Caravan mumble mumble leader mumble."

They were grinning from ear to ear as they stepped back. Then he was hefted aloft and being carried all around the camp!

Then the Duty Mechs approached and Emilio quickly called them off. "I dunno what this is Brackets, but it's OK. I have it under control."

"Yeah you look like you are in control Captain." came the smirk of a reply.

After being hauled around the camp a few times, they were always careful to avoid the areas of the sleeping children and medical tents, he was at last dropped again to his feet.

Right in front of him stood Lady Nixie Jester.

"He is here." said Justin and the crowd began to melt back.

"Urrrrmmm.." Emilio said.



Alan~

Beware the Ides of March... {A Battletech Story}



Sent: December 28, 3049 - 9:30 PM

Dear Sarah,

I know its been a long time since I dropped by, but I was looking forward to seeing you again this next week. I will only have 6 days to visit, and I hope you won't be too busy. See you soon!

Your friend,

Jackie.


This message, now received was deleted at once.

It was meaningless but for one aspect.

"6 Days"

A 6 part message "Set D".

Over the course of the next few days more than 50 message accounts were checked as part of random routine maintenance, including the required six specified accounts. Each of those six accounts held an encrypted portion of the real message. A portion that would have no meaning without the other 5.

Once all 6 had been gathered, they were combined in the correct sequence and only then were they processed by algorithims nearly as old as the mon that decorated the dark silk kimono that glistened in the muted light of the computer screen.

The decyphered and unencrypted message was far shorter and different than the sum of it's varied parts.


Location - Andurien
Targets - Lord Frederick and his 3 sons
Actions - Flense and Terminate Lord Frederick
Actions - Break and Terminate Lord James and Lord Harold
Actions - Gulag and Exile Lord Gregory
Actions - Ensure fair and impartial Lordship is attained for Lady Helena's lands and people

Message memorized, it and all other messages were deleted and the data storage devices wiped.

Travel times to Andurien from Solaris would be only a couple months.

Beware the Ides of March...


The following day, Kage Shi vanished from Solaris.




Alan~

Project Hope {A Battletech Galava Story}

Nixie watched as Peace glowed brightly in front of her, she had never flown this close to Peace before. She was a beautiful moon, but just a moon unlike her brother Solitude. Maybe that is why she had changed her normal flight plan to include Peace despite the fact she was taking Emilio to Solitude. Emilio was so unlike the nobles she had ever dealt with. He seemed to be so inexperienced in the ways of the world. He had said he was not well traveled, but neither really was she. Yet, she knew only the dark side of nobility, a side he seemed not to be a part of. So, she was taking the first noble she had met that she might be able to trust to the place that had given her the courage to warn others about what had happened at Galava.

She had gotten off bedrest today and her sleep schedule was stilled messed up. Too many days of being allowed to sleep late into the day, but she would have to crash before they returned to Galava. And Emilio had been out on exercise with his team before the party, so he would have to sleep too. It was a good thing the salvage team had left the bedding and rations in the living quarters in preparation for the exploration of the mine. It would be of good use tonight after they talked.

Nixie hadn't replied to the last communication from Emilio. She had heard him just before she made her typical broadcast to the Caravans at take off, but how could she advise a noble on training his team to not be bodyguards. She couldn't even get Jax to back off, and that reminded her she still had to deal with Jax trying to set her up tonight. Just because she'd worked herself too hard, didn't give him the right to meddle in her life. So, maybe she and Emilio could train their teams not to be bodyguards in the same way. It would take teamwork though, and persistence.

Nixie had never had anyone swear on their life and honor to be her friend, but Emilio had. And if she had interpreted his anger and words correctly, he would inadvertently take her future out of her hands. He had only been trying to learn about Galava and had instead learned more about her childhood than anyone besides Max. And unlike Max, he had the power to make her family pay for what they had done to her. Max had accepted that she didn't want them to pay, but Emilio praying that she had no love for these creatures had told her that her family would pay the same price her mother had. Her mother had died because she had failed to protect Nixie from being exposed as Lord Fredrick's daughter. And now her sperm donor and lordlet brothers were all going to die for failing to protect her from themselves. She doubted that her words on Gregory's behalf would change his fate. Hopefully, he would get a swift death though.

She had exposed Emilio to the dark side of nobility, but she would not give him the proof she had that her sperm donor had arranged for her grandmother's death. She would not be responsible for taking Emilio into the dark places that had been her home during her three years as an Andurien noble. He did not need that blackness on his sole. Ironically, her friendship with him would make her the apple of her sperm donor's eye. He had tried to set her up with nobility as dark as himself during her years on New Avalon. She had gotten out of that though, by focusing on her education and the children whenever at one of the ritzy parties. The children had given her the strong interest in video games and had shown her a glimpse of the good side of nobility. Emilio was part of the good side of nobility and she had to remember that.

She might as well accept that she was nobility especially since she stood to take over her grandmother's lands in the event of the death of the lordlets and her sperm donor. Emilio's anger at the injustice done to her could only lead him to right the wrong that was the way he was. He had said that he needed to put being a prince to some good use. She would have to remind him to formalize Natalia's pardon, but might not ask about what plans he had made in regards to her family. She would find out at some point, but didn't want him to ever feel any guilt about signing the death warrants for her biological family.

Emilio had changed his call sign to match his caravan name, and had accepted that he was a Caravan Leader. He was doing the right thing for Galava and like she had told him earlier he had proven that there was more for Galava than pirates. He had said that she was making a difference here on Galava and maybe she was, but one thing she knew was that she had finally made a difference to Lady Helena's people, the people she had betrayed when she was sixteen. Would she be asked to rule Lady Helena's people on Andurien or would they find someone else to take the spot? There were some distant cousins that would be perfect to rule. Peter or Lewis would do a much better job ruling than she would, and she would tell anyone who asked that. Project Hope had arrived on Galava, but would bring hope to another planet as well. And it gave her hope for her future, so what did she want that future to be?

She checked her sensors. Emilio still remained on her wing like a silent angel. He was probably processing the events of the night as well...

Project Hope {A Batltetech Story}




Emilio adjusted his trajectory slightly, keeping Spirit just ahead and to the left as they drifted through space. It was amazing just how quiet it really was in space.

But here, alone, and with only his thoughts to keep him company, his mind returned to the orders he'd given this morning. Orders to kill...

It was the first time he'd given orders to go live with any combat orders. He'd never been in open battle before. He wonderd only now, after the fact if his father would have approved. Was that proof that he was becoming his own man, not dwelling eternally within the shadow of the Yama King? Or was it proof that he was just foolish in not thinking through the consequences of his actions?

In either case he'd done what he'd felt was right. But that did bring to mind something else that Nixie had said. Something that the Caravaners had also asked about. 'Natalia's Pardon'. Opening a computer link with the Etruskan, he called up the myriad of "Ambassadorial Documents" he'd been granted access to for the duration of this mission. It took a few minutes but he found it. An official waiver of guilt form. Emilio filled it out, completely absolving Natalia Romanov of all known or unknown wrong doing within the boundries of the Iron League as of this date. This commission was to be carried out immediately. He sent it back to the Etruskan along with orders to have it notorized and forwarded on to Glen Arden. He also gave orders for a printed copy to be delivered to Natalia in Whitestone.

There... he really had pardoned her. That at least he felt assured his father would approve of.

He began to ponder more on Nixie. Why was she out here? She hadn't come in with the folks from DIS. She didn't know anyone from Galava before she came... at least as far as he knew. And she'd bonded so closely with the natives that he had to marvel in wonder. One would think she'd grew up here somttimes.

And she was called Doctor... but he could plainly see the heavy weapons her LAM carried, and the skill with which she used the machine. She would kill if it came to it... and probalby had already. He smirked thinking that this doctor probably had more combat experience than he had himself. In fact he was certain of it. Not that that mattered.

He would have considered offering her a place with the Lions.. but he knew she'd just left Mercenary work behind to come out here and she seemed happy here. Galava was her home now.

Recalling other things he let his mind drift. She'd flew out to meet Project Hope alone, only to discover she was suffering from certain medical ailments herself. Jax had indicated that she didn't take care of herself very well. Putting others ahead of her own health.

During her recovery, Dr Shultz and Dr Fletcher had worked hand in hand with her from her rooms in the medical ward on the Etruskan, carrying out her directives or at least consulting with her about virtually every aspect of Project Hope on Galava.

And now, he had to wonder if she would want to take possession of her Grandmothers holdings on Andurien. He would have to ask her tonight after they reached Solitude. It WAS her heritage after all. She had first rights to it.

She was definitely an enigma he decided at last.





Alan~

The Story of the Galavans {A Battletech Galava Story}
as told by Nixie to Emilio at Solitude Moon Base

The Galavans, sometimes called the Dwellers or the Wardens, are descendents of the Star League Defense Force garrison that was left on Galava after it was retaken from the Rim Worlds Republic. Regiment D was abandoned here during the exodus during the 1st Succession War. They remained lost to the Inner Sphere by choice. War still came to Galava though, in the form of civil unrest, invading raiders, and pirates seeking to scavenge the bones of Galava. At first, Regiment D fought off these threats acting as the vanguards of law and order they were. This vanguard lasted even after every city had been reduced to ruin and the populous driven to the point of extinction. It was at this point Commander Ryan Turner sent the regiment into hiding. He divided up what was left of his forces and sent them along with large groups of survivors from Galava’s cities to hide in the ruins. Each ‘camp’ was charged with the protection of the people, the rebuilding of forces, and the guarding of the ruins they were assigned to. The people moved into underground shelters and a system of communication was established. Over the years, the communications base became long forgotten. As did all their history, they simply became the Galavans. They still live in military law and have evolved into a caste system. However, the military does not rule the people it only protects them inside of the ruin walls. The Galavans are still a mystery to many as they have only joined the new society formed from refugees about two years ago. I’ve spent time with them as I used their facilities as a recovery ward to patch people up after the last pirate attack. The caste system is fairly simple. Civilians are called Citizens. The Defenders are their ‘mech warriors and are assigned to defend the camps. The Wardens are they warriors that go out and help the people of Galava and seek out information and ways to protect the people. They tend to have Battle Armor. Whitestone uncovered a dropship in their mine that gave information regarding the locations of several caches that had been lost due to things forgotten over generations. One of those was this base and it still needs some repair, but the real treasure to the Galavans was the records of Captain Styles of the dropship and of Commander Turner in a file that had been stored in the communications base. The Galavans got their history back at Dweller’s Market last year and so that is the story of the Galavans.”

The Dark Tide {A Battletech Story}



The Crimson Corsair pursed her lips angrilly. "I was expecting better from these surats!" she snapped, having adopted one of the Clan slang curses.

Gamma Rayz touched her lips with a gentle finger and the angry lines of her face faded as she looked up at him with mixed adoration and challenge.

"It is only a beginning." he said calmly looking out through the observation deck at the asembled pirate ships.

The intercom blaired with various pirate commanders vying for attention and command. Suzie Morgraine~Ryan, Morgan Fletcher II, Cedrick Grimm, Lord Kang and several other surviving pirate leaders were listed among those who had rallied to the Crimson Corsair's call. For some of them, it was the second time they had answered her call.

One and all, they had lost their worlds to the invaders. And those losses had been bitter. But not every battle had been a complete loss. Among the 6 jumpships and crowded dropships were the various remaints of the coreward periphery pirates of the Greater Valkyrate, Oberon Confederation and Elysium Field. A total of Clan 8 captives had been taken taken during all that fighting. 2 had been Mechwarriors, 3 were aerospace pilots and 3 had been battlesuit infantrymen. One of those was former Star Colonel Kuladin Furey. The only one to have been accepted as a bondsman thus far, and who stood nearby to the pair silently.

It seemed that most of their pirate allies did not trust the clanners enough to keep their word as bondsmen just yet.

But all of these clanners had been put to the question. And the information had been quite revealing. The Invading Clans were not truly interested in the pirate realms at all... those had just been in the way. Their target was larger. Nothing short of the entire Inner Sphere.

Of all the forces the Clans may have to face during their attacks... the Pirates alone have practiced the operation of Raid and Fade to an art. Though combat with heavy Clan Warshiips and Aerospace Fighters had vastly reduced the fleet's overal Aerospace capabilities, it was generally agreed that as the Clans moved forward... their captured planets would become vulnerable to predation. And the dense Star's End Asteroid Belt would make pursuit by clan warships difficult to impossible.

What proceeded now, was an armed truce while the pirate leaders vied for suppreamacy of the allied fleet. There was little doubt that the Crimson Corsair could procecute her claims for leadership... or Gamma Rayz, since they possessed the only Warship in the entire fleet. But for now they let the chaos play out.

If truth be told, both Gamma Rayz and the Crimson Corsair had higher standards than the pirate rabble exhibited. Still... if this were the only means they had of striking at the clans, then they would take it.

For Gamma Rayz part, he would have given anything to spearhead an elite regiment against them. These Clanners could be beaten. They'd proven that on Graven's Deep. Twice. They could do it again.



Alan~

Letters to PC’s and NPC's in Current Games from Galava to arrive the end of December 3049.


To: Elena Sullivan c/o the Wayfinders
From: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava

November 25, 3049

Elena,

I tried to start writing this letter earlier this month, but then I got hit with the realization that running away wouldn’t solve anything. I would be taking the problem that I didn’t know, accept, and love who I am with me. So, I’ve spent the last month going through all the things I keep hidden away and realizing that I have no reason to be afraid to be myself. You taught me the skills to seduce others, but it took Leo to teach me that it is more important to love yourself than to get others to love you. And I’m probably going to screw up trying to tell him that, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need him to love me to be okay on my own.

I just got done moving to Caravan’s Rest from Whitestone and realized that the trade ships are due in system any time so I had better get a letter typed to send to you. Caravans are basically gypsy’s like the folks my grandmother ruled on Andurien used to be. Oh, yeah, my grandmother was a noble and so was my father and half-brothers. I’m illegitimate, but my youngest brother apparently filed things so that my heritage is proven. It came up and my citizenship hearing in the Federated Suns, but I’ve denied it for so long that I don’t think I even told Max that. I’m not denying it anymore, my heritage is part of who I am. I might not know how to act like a noble, but there are some folks on planet that can help to teach me. I moved to Caravan’s Rest to be with my people. I may not rule them, but I am a war leader in my own Caravan. They have war leaders and caravan leaders. Caravan leaders are more of political leaders and war leaders are more of those that fight for the people. And that is what I was going to do for my grandmother’s people, but I’ve learned that I don’t have to worry about them. I just have to take care of my people.

So, to do that, I need to learn how to be political and may join the Galava World Council, but I don’t know about that. It kind of depends on Leo’s reaction at Dweller’s Market and I’m certain that it won’t change my plans to stay in the Iron League. I’m being kind of silly and sending him presents for the twelve days of Christmas. Not the traditional ones by any means, but ones that show who I am and the parts of myself that I had to accept to be able to love myself. Dweller’s Market is the end of the year trade fair and we are going to try having Highland Games a la Galava for the members of Project Hope. Project Hope is an Iron League medical mission that is here to help clean up the Luxmark site. I think I told Max about that, but it may have been Olan & Sam that got the message about the explosion being caused by nuclear weapons. Yeah, major stuff that wasn’t in the documentary that led me out here.

Okay, so I have to be nosy…have you and Max hooked up yet? I know you kind of had a crush on him when we were in the Circle of Swords, but now that I’m not in the picture have you taken the chance to try dating him? Or at least to have gotten him away from the sensoround on occasion? If you haven’t hooked up with Max, have you found someone special? Told you I was going to be nosy… I hope you are happy Elena whether you are with someone or not. I am happy, truly happy for the first time in my life and I don’t have a man in my life at the moment. The possibility of one, yes, but I don’t need him to love me to be happy. I love him and I will try fighting to show my love for him is true, but I will let him go if he doesn’t want me and will go on with my life still at peace because I am who I am, and that is enough for me.

I feel like I’m rambling, Shadow, but I haven’t written you since I left the Circle of Swords. Okay…you probably don’t know that I’ve taken an apprentice. Clara is thirteen and is going to be a challenge. Me moving to Caravan’s Rest may help as she has come with me and is no longer going to be under the wing of her family. She wants to be a mechwarrior, but her aunt and uncle don’t want that for her. I just figured out to accept who I am and love myself for my mixed bag of skills, and so I need to encourage her. Clara is gone for the week to help her sister get ready for her wedding. And by moving here to Caravan’s Rest, I can actually train with my people in my ground warrior skills. The Caravans respect that healers can be warriors to more than most on Galava.

And my fellow war leader, Lillian Filcher, is here to spar before the sun sets, so I must let you go. May your days be filled with the brightest joys and may your wings never fail you.

Your friend and sword sister,

Lady Nixie

To: Maximillian Knight c/o the Wayfinders
From: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava

November 26, 3049

Max,

If you come across a video game that teaches you how to be a noble, let me know. I will not be going to Andurien. There will be no need. I have been assured that Lady Helena’s people will be ruled by those that will take care of them. So, I’ll be staying here on Galava with my people. The Caravans that are at Caravan’s rest aren’t quite as settled down as the gypsy folk that constitute the majority of my grandmother’s holding, but I claim them as my own.

So, if you ever come to the Iron League try to visit, but knowing that is not likely. I wish you the best of happiness and hope that you find someone you can share your darkest secrets with. Life is not a video game, Max, and trying to live life like one can only tear you apart when you realize that what you are lacking is the awareness and acceptance of your true self because you have spent too long in the world of fantasy and what if. So, will you get out of the sensoround and really connect to people, for me if not for yourself?

Your friend and sword sister,

Lady Nixie

To: Olan and Samira Stonedell c/o the Wayfinders
From: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava

November 26, 3049

Sam,

Stop and breathe! Yes, it says Lady, but I am not married. So, just chill out and settle down.

Olan,

I respect that you tried to shelter me from the darker side of being a mercenary while we were on Ascella. What you didn’t know, because I never told you (or anyone besides Max until I got to Galava) was that my father and half-brothers were nobles in the Free Worlds League. I only lived with them for three years before going to school at the University of New Avalon. And those three years showed me more of the darker side of life than Ascella or mercenary work as a whole could have.

Olan & Sam,

I won’t be returning to my homeworld in the Free Worlds League. I know that my grandmother’s people are going to be taken care of the way that they should be and I have come to accept that my heritage is part of who I am. It’s taken having all of this blow up in my face for me to realize that my problem with the Wayfinders wasn’t being a warrior. It was that I would be confronted with the fact that I didn’t accept myself and who I was.

I will be staying here on Galava or in the Iron League. As long as I am on Galava, I have moved to Caravan’s Rest. Caravans are basically gypsies and my people in the Free World’s League were descended from gypsy clans that settled down. I’ve learned to accept and love who I am, but I still need to learn how to be a noble. There are some people here that can help me with that and I may even try to participate in the Galava World Council.

My future is not written, but whatever it is, I will always be thankful for Sam making the Circle of Swords a family. And I will always love the mixed bag of skills that led Olan to hire me, even if it does make life challenging. Since Sam’s family hadn’t heard about the two of you, I’m guessing they’ll have gotten in touch.

So…to end this message:

I wish you the brightest joys and deepest love. May your marriage be blessed by the Fates and as strong as your sword.

Your friend and sword sister,

Lady Nixie

P.S. Sam, you sure write a long letter. Glad to hear from you! Spiritsword 11-30

To: Michael Jones c/o Strike Lightning Guard
From: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava

November 30, 3049

Mike,

A pedestal? Are you crazy? I don’t need to be put on a pedestal ever. Relief fund for war victims sounds like a much better idea. I am not worthy of a pedestal, especially since I have more of a history of running away from problems than facing them, but that has changed. What you didn’t know, because I never told you (or anyone besides Max until I got to Galava) was that my father and half-brothers were nobles in the Free Worlds League. And I ran away under threats and bribes to the Federated Suns leaving my grandmother’s people in not so kind hands.

I won’t be returning to my homeworld of Andurien. I know that my grandmother’s people are going to be taken care of the way that they should be and I have come to accept that my heritage is part of who I am. It took a few things but I’ve realized that my problem with Wayfinders wasn’t being a warrior instead of a healer. It was that I would be confronted with the fact that I didn’t accept myself and who I was. I do now, albeit it hasn’t been easy and I love who I am.

Thank you for listening to me via my letters and helping me with McKayla. You are the brother I wish I could have actually had instead of the ones I did. So, if there is anything I can do for you from Galava or the Iron League, let me know. Remember that it will take quite a while before anything I could do would reach wherever you are. I’ve made my home amongst the Caravans, the gypsies of this world, as they are the closest to my people on Andurien. I’m officially a war leader, one who fights for their people, instead of a caravan leader, political leader…but that may change over time. I don’t rule here, but I’m going to be taking “noble lessons” after Dweller’s Market, end-of-the-year trade fair. Galava has an exiled noble family from the Draconis Combine and a former Knight of Randis that are willing to help me in this endeavor, but for now I am getting ready for Dweller’s Market.

And since the trade ships will be leaving system soon, I need to finish this message and sent it out. May you have the brightest joys and a working set of tools!

Your friend and sword sister,

Lady Nixie

The Saga of Michael Brom, aka Hardcase {A Battletech Story}



Michael tilted his head down looking over the top of his sunglasses at his friend Don Boyle lounging on a lawn chair nearby. For himself, Michael had pulled his used ejection seat out of the salvage scrapyard and was sitting back in it relaxing and watching the techs and astechs scramble over the wreckage of his Hunchback. Thus far they had only managed to complete the "Debrising" or whatever they called it. Cutting away all the twisted metal and structure that was damaged beyond any hope of repair. What was left was a pair of heavily damaged legs attached to a headless center torso of his mech. It would take a LONG time to put it back together he'd been told, and there was no guarantee that it would ever be the same. Then he smirked. Had he been in his old Rommel, he'd have been dead 5 times over taking the beating his Hunchback had. It was good to be a Mechwarrior!

"Don... I been thinking about a new name for the Battle Lance." He gestured grandly down the line of Battle Lance Mechs that all looked like junkyard remains. "In memory of those assholes who gave their lives to try and take ours... we should call ourselves "Shattered Zone". Whatddya think? Will Blixt go for it?"

Deep bellows of laughter issues from both big men as they thought about Blixt's potential reactions. Michael was sorly tempted to start refering to the lance in this way just to put a burr under the uptight XO's skin anyway.

He lay back on his ejection chair sipping a glass of tea and watched the work. It was fascinating really, watching this sort of thing. He wished he had a camera setup for some time-lapse photography. It would have made for some great memories one day.

After giving the idea considerable thought... he decided to wait untill after the 'Free Dayz' Blixt's had granted the Battle Lance were over before he began the campaign to rename them to Shattered Zone. Ever the prudent fellow was Michael Brom.

He chuckled again.

He glanced over seeing Captain Riley walking down the mech bays, talking with a heavily bandaged Mike Jones.

Don stood up muttering something like "May as well talk with her now as anytime."

Mike shook his head. Bodyguard. Don was taking a liking to the little girl it seemed. Watching him go Mike leaned back with his hands behind his head and smiled.

Yeah... Good and bad, he was beginning to like all these greenhorns as well. He'd often thought that this mission with the SLG would have been his first and last. There'd been trouble in the beginning, back on Galatea, of the sort that Mike didn't tollerate. But they were ok... for a bunch of white boys.

And he'd had a chance to put his Zeus Heavy Rifle to use as well. A grim smile tugged at his mouth as he remembered sighting down the scope at a pirate soldier who was himself taking aim at the FNG. What was his name? Brice? Didn't matter. He was the FNG untill someone newer came along. Then he'd pulled the trigger, and the pirate had suddenly blossomed with 3 holes big enough to put your fist through. Quite satisfactory.

Man it had been a long while since his basic infantry training during his early LCAF Army days. He'd almost forgot how much he enjoyed stalking and hunting bad guys.

But the big surprise... was Blixt Corson. Michael had to hand it to the XO. The man was hard to kill. Took down FIVE of the bastards on foot after being the first to get his mech blown out from under him! Michael wouldn't have thought the man had it in him. But as he thought about it. It was the respect that Blixt had earned in his eyes that gave Michael the itch to goad him with 'Shattered Zone'.

He chuckled again.

Taking another sip of his tea, he continued to watch the work on his Hunchback proceed.

Simply Fascinating!





Alan~

The Saga of Koko Robinson {A Battletech Story}



Koko finished her letter and pressed 'Send'. It had been a while since she'd written her family. Her parents, Kim and Jared Robinson, and her two younder sisters, Miko and Suko were supposed to be currently stationed with the 10th Lyran Guard on Twycross.

Her father had been infantry all his life. Just as she'd been, before she'd 'Found' a Locust Battlemech and subsequently joined the prestigious ranks of the Mechwarrior Elite. Despite having no formal training at any military academy she'd taught herself the basics of battlemech operations. But if truth be known, it came rather easily to her. Most said that she just had a natural aptitude for it and that really helped.

Her life had been such a roller coaster ride the last few years however. She'd left the LCAF Mobile Infantry to join the private sector as a Mercenary Mechwarrior. She'd joined one ill fated band of mercenaries who were just trying to establish themselves after the tragedy of Tsingtao, only to watch that unit break up only a few weeks after it's inception. She and one other man from that bunch had traveled to Galatea and had both of them been accepted into yet ANOTHER newbie start up unit. The Strike Lightning Guard.

Koko had been determined though. She WOULD succeed. She'd sold all the salvage she'd acquired on Trellwan and had invested the larger percentage of that money. Keeping only enough to live in luxury and to purchase a new Lamborghini.

And then she'd met Blixt Corson. She'd never dreamed of attracting the attention of a true nobleman. Her own origins were about as humble as it were possible to be. After all, she'd been born out of wedlock, and she'd never even met her father. Not her biological father anyway, and didn't even have a name for him. And to be honest... she didn't care. Her mother had been lived a subsistance level live as an impoverished vietnamese cleaning lady working for a temp service contracter called Dial-a-Maid. Koko had been 6 years old when her mother had met and married Jared Robinson who was himself, a grunt infantryman in the LCAF.

She'd always dreamed of having more. Wanting to be somebody. To make something special with her life. Blixt had taken her in and showed her the correct protocols, invited her to a real nobleman's party, the Mid Winterfest Soiree on Galatea. It had been wonderful and exotic, an experience that Koko would never forget! She wanted to repay him for the kindness. And in fact she'd been quite ready to repay his kindness with sex. After all, didn't all men want sex after they did something they thought would impress a girl?

But Blixt Corson had shocked and surprised her, by only kissing her softly and left her to herself in her grand appartment in the sky in Galatea City and then going home himself.

They had continued to date over the next few months on Galatea before they received their first contract. But in all that time, he'd been... she didn't quite know how to express it... formal? kind? Was this how nobles courted each other? She didn't know but figured it must be.

She hadn't really been disillusioned per se. She only knew that every other man she'd ever met would have jumped her there an dthen... and he didn't. Later, when the unit's contract came in, she'd bought a few books on "Swedenese", the Japanese and Swedish culture that prevails in Rasalhague, and during the long journey to Barcelona she'd tried to learn more about his people, and what might be causing him to remain... distant. Was he expecting something specific of her?

She'd even begun speaking Swedenese with him when they were alone. She knew she must not be very good at it. But at least she was trying.

However on Barcelona matters only got worse. They shared coffee now and again. Met for breakfast occasionally.

Koko knew she was losing him but didn't know what to do about it short of just outright seducing him. Ane she doubted even that would work in the long run.

But from the start the unit's mission on Barcelona times were desperate and left little opportunity for idle speculation about her struggling relationship with Blixt.

Their first mission had been to destroy a band of pirates that were attacking the Barcelona Star Port. And during that fight she earned her very first kill as a mechwarrior against a battlemech called a "Wolfhound". Upon returning to the Crucible she'd been granted the right to upgrade from her locust into the Wolfhound and she quickly agreed. The Wolfhound was 15 tons heavier and much more powerful! She painted two small Pirate 'Kill' Flags on her mech. After all, 'Technically' this WAS her second kill... though the first had been as a Mobile Infantryman. She still counted it however.

But when Kor's War Dawgs had taken the Crucible after they'd all been forced out of their battlemechs by the inept local militia guard units, she had consigned herself to failure at last. With her mech lost, all she would have had was money... And she knew that Riley wouldn't be able to replace her mech.... or anyone elses for that matter. It was simply... over.

But the grace of god had blessed them all and Kor had found it too risky to waste time trying to dig their mechs out of the rubble of the destroyed mech hangers after they'd been bombed.

But ironicly the next combat action she'd had with the Strike Lightning Guard... was again as a Mobile Infantryman!!

Some of the pirates infesting this miserable world had taken over an agro-combine and they had hostages. Riley had asked for volunteers to go in on foot and try to protect the hostages if negotiations went awry.

And to be honest... there had been no-one more qualified for such a mission than she herself. So she'd strapped on her combat armor, and jump pack, and shouldered her Arasaka Raiden and at Raoul's orders had lept into battle. She'd killed three of them at the barn and had held that station to deny the pirates further access to their mechs. One of those three had in fact been climbing up to get in his mech... but the mech was not active at the time... so she couldn't claim that as a 'Mech Kill' even if she wanted... really.

The other five Pirates at the agro-combine had died as quickly as the three that she'd killed and the mission had been a resounding suceess, over within seconds, though Raoul had been shot by the last pirate standing. He'd be ok.

The unit had captured four more battlemechs during this encounter, and again Koko was allowed to upgrade. This time she left the Wolfhound for a Dervish and soon after, she'd transfered her two Pirate Kill Flags to her new machine.

Koko didn't really know what she had expected or hoped for after that, from Blixt... but whatever it was... it didn't happen. In fact in the following weeks she finally began to wonder more and more, if Blixt was actually trying to give her subtle hints that she was taking this whole thing much more seriously than he was... perhaps too seriously. Was she?

Maybe... maybe she'd just read a lot more into this whole thing than was fact... just because... she wanted it?

She recalled an old childhood song... "If it don't fit, don't force it, just relax and let it go! Just because that's the way you want it doesn't mean it will be so!"

The next battle had been wtih the Pirate band known as "Shatterzone". It had been a nightmare fight, and she'd been held back from the rest when the Command Lance had fallen behind. Long before she arrived on scene, Blixt's mech had fallen, the very first to fall!

She'd nearly paniced but then a cold fury had settled into her bones and she began firing volley after volley of LRMs into the frey even before she could see her targets. She struck without mercy, taking out first one, then two, then three of the enemy mechs with head shots!! During the fighting she had little time to register that her company was being destroyed around her. Blixt, Brice, Michael, Mike, and even Brian fell one after another. In Koko's mind there was only targets. Targets who had killed Blixt!!! Targets who must pay!

When the dust finally settled she realized that they had won a victory... with the timely assistance of Lord Pedro Niles' additional mechs of course.

Koko imediately went looking for Blixt's ejection pod. She found it... but Blixt was gone. Tears blured her eyes suddenly as she finally heard Captain Riley call for everyone to check in. She held her breath listening as the unit began to sound off.

When she heard Blixt call in she almost feinted with relief, and had sat in her mech crying for several minutes.

It was then she realized that yeah... maybe she really was taking their supposed relationship a bit too seriously.

She'd painted 3 more pirate flags on her Dervish upon returning to the mech bays. She was officially an "Ace" now with 5 kills.

Koko found that she could't face Blixt for several days afterword. The pain still too fresh in her mind. She knew she would have broken down and cried again if she had been forced to say more than a yes sir or no sir to him.

She was finally resigning herself that maybe... maybe Blixt needed a noblly born woman to truly attract his attention. Maybe what he needed... wasn't her.

Blixt must have noticed something different in her eyes in the days that followed... for just a week after the fight with Shatterzone Blixt approached her alone and tried to comfort her about it.

"Koko... I know that you may think that I have been a bit aloof since our coming to Barcelona." he'd began. Koko had blinked... both in surprise at how close to the mark he really was, and at the sudden unexpected mention of it and found herself nodding slightly

"It's just that we are... on assignment. We must maintain proper military decorum while on mission." he continued.

She took a breath but had to let it out slowly again or risk bursting out in tears in front of him. Taking a second breath, she looked up at him at last. "Blixt, we will be... on assignment... most of our lives. I... I know that I am no noble. I am from the lowest of the low... and... and I will understand if that means you can never fully respect me. But... I... I need someone I can share my "off duty" life with... not just my "off mission" life."

She rises up on tip toes and kisses him softly, affectionately. "Don't say anything for now... but I will need to know soon... if there can ever be... an 'Us'."

The song returned to her mind as she looked up into his eyes. "If it don't fit, don't force it..."

That was followed up with another thought. "If you love something... let it go free... If it doesn't come back... hunt it down and kill it!"

She smiled slightly but it never reached her eyes... then... she let him go...

Turning away as tears welled up in her eyes, she wrapped her arms about herself and walked quickly back toward the barracks.



Alan~

The Saga of Maximillion Knight {A Battletech Story}



Sweat poured down his face. The heat was rapidly rising in the cockpit as Nightwing despreately twisted and dodged the storm of fire erupting from the Pirate Dropship. Vermithrax shuddered as it sustained a direct hit. Cursing Nightwing looped and spun, to put some distance between him and his tormentors.

The next hit sent alarms blaring throughout his mech as one system after another began to give out.

Anger and frustration boiled up in him.

Then looking at the myriad of stars that encompassed him beyond the looming dropship, and it's attendant fighters. Space was beautiful he thought, pulling his helmut free.

The mech was hit again and one of the main engines went spinning out into his field of view.

"Fuck it!" he said bitterly and hit the button to open the cockpit canopy.

The hatch opened with a hiss of air seals breaking. Then he stepped out onto the deck and stretched. Closing the hatch to his Nintindo Sensuround, he shook his head.

'That new Patch for "Karlain of the Swirling Horde: The Pirates of Tsingtao" sucks!' he thought bitterly and strode off for his cabin, blinking his eyes in the bright glow of the deck lights.

When he reached his cabin, he turned on his data term and called up the two messeges he'd received from his former lover, Nixie Jester.


=====

To: Maximillion Knight c/o Wayfinders
From: Nixie Jester, Galava, May 30, 3049

Max,

I hope that you are having a great time with the Wayfinders. Galava has been good for me. You always said that real life was never as good as a video game, but I have to argue. Galava’s moon is way better than Raiders of the Star League, Mission 17. I have used some of the skills you made fun to learn and hide and seek in a LAM against pirates is harder in real life than in the video game.

Galava also gave me something back that I lost on Ascella. My warrior’s spirit is back and stronger than it ever had been. I’m going to write Gregory next year and see which of the lordlets is in charge and how the people are. He never wanted to be a part of the family, but has always been painted in the same light. He is the only one of my half-brothers I would ask how the people are. Gregory has a secret that would make him more hated by our father than I am. If my grandmother’s people are happy and well, I’ll be staying here on Galava. If not, I’ll be calling you on the fact that you said if I ever wanted to go fight for them you’d come with me.

I hope that real life has finally become more exciting to you than a video game! And tell Elena hello for me. I’ll try to send her a message in December.

Nixie

=====


To: Maximillian Knight c/o the Wayfinders
From: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava

November 26, 3049

Max,

If you come across a video game that teaches you how to be a noble, let me know. I will not be going to Andurien. There will be no need. I have been assured that Lady Helena’s people will be ruled by those that will take care of them. So, I’ll be staying here on Galava with my people. The Caravans that are at Caravan’s rest aren’t quite as settled down as the gypsy folk that constitute the majority of my grandmother’s holding, but I claim them as my own.

So, if you ever come to the Iron League try to visit, but knowing that is not likely. I wish you the best of happiness and hope that you find someone you can share your darkest secrets with. Life is not a video game, Max, and trying to live life like one can only tear you apart when you realize that what you are lacking is the awareness and acceptance of your true self because you have spent too long in the world of fantasy and what if. So, will you get out of the sensoround and really connect to people, for me if not for yourself?

Your friend and sword sister,

Lady Nixie

=====


She didn't understand. None of them did. None of them ever do. Everyone in the galaxy eternally strives to put things in nice little boxes with nice little lables so that they can continue with their nice little lives in peace and ignorance.

'My darkest secrets?' he thought bitterly. 'I once thought I might be able to share those... just once. with Nixie.' In retrospect he was much more happy that he hadn't.

No... there was nobody he could really trust with his darkest secrets. His entire life was punishment. Video Games were his only escape. His only chance to have a life without... the curse.

And anyway how was real life any better than a video game? You can't even 'reboot' life when you make a stupid mistake.

Idly he wondered what had changed on Andurien that would remove Nixie's desire to go kill her family?

He re-read them again, and then decided that he should probably send her a reply.


=====

"To: Nixie Jester, Lady Zandbergen, Caravan’s Rest, Galava
From: Maximillian Knight c/o the Wayfinders

December 25, 3049
"Priority Mail"


Heya Nixie!


Yeah, Raiders of the Star League, mission 17 was a blast. I will have to swing by this Galava place and check out this moon of yours sometime. And did you hear? They are coming out with a sequal next year called "Raiders of the Star League: The Return of Kerensky!" Man I can't wait! There is supposed to be compatibility patches which includes every Land-Air-Mech every made and many more that have never been seen before!

But to tell you the truth Nixie... except when battle strikes us... my game system makes me far happier than real life ever did. But then you knew that. I am who I am.

But I am glad that things are going well for you out on Galava. You will have to let me know what's happening on Andurien when you get the chance. You've got my ciriosity piqued.

Anyway, it looks like things are really heating up out here on Trellwan. And get this... Phelan Kell has been killed out on the Oberon World of "The Rock". We were there! The folks that did it, have a big ole wolf head symbol, similar to Wolf's Dragoons, but different. But still you it may as well have been Wolf's Dragoons as hard as they gave it to the Kell Hounds! They TOTALLY blew away Kenny Ryans 1st Company of the Flashfire Bandits, and then they sacked the Kell Hounds 3rd Battalion. And even Olan took some serious hits before we could skip town.

But you know what? There is this guy named Joe Grimm who joined up with us here on Trellwan a couple weeks ago, and he says the SAME THING happened a few months back out on Graven's Deep!

He says they are headed this way!

Man I can't wait to tangle with them. But I seriously doubt they will ever come to Trellwan. I mean... this is such a miserable little dustball. And... well I am not permitted to speak of the planetary defences. Suffice it to say that I REALLY don't expect to see any trouble here.

But man... wouldn't it be great!

And some guy named Tanzu has joined the Wayfinders too... and he has some wicked bad stories to spin about Luxmark! You should get together with him and compare notes!

Anyway, take care of yourself out on Galava Nixie! And let me know if you need anything. You can always reach me through the Wayfinders!


Sincerely,

Maximillion Knight


=====



Alan~

The Saga of Tab Hunter {A Battletech Story}



To: Belladonna Reynolds Hunter, Aspiron, Galatea
From: Tab Hunter, Wayfinders, Trell 1

<<Initiate Alpha 14 Deep-Threat Encryption Protocols>>

(Begin Full Trideo Wave Recording)


Elle sweetheart, we have a situation!

I have just receieved an emergency communique that an assassination attempt was made while Ingrid and Colin was touring Skallevoll. Knowing what you and I know about the Free Rasalhague Rebpulic I think we can rule out an attempt on Colin's life though he was the one that took the bullets. Ingrid would be the obvious target. This means there may also be assassins headed for Isadora.

Lock her down Elle. She's too important to the Federated Suns to allow someone like a jealous fringe nobleman to gain access to her. Lock her down good.

Elle... I never wanted to leave you behind this time. But someone had to stay with Isa. I know you can do as well as I in taking care of MIIO's interests. But, don't forgt your own Elle. I don't want to lose you!

Pull rank if you have to. I give you all my authority to do whatever is necessary, but recruit those MIIO investigators from the Luxmark Incident and get ready for assassins.

And Elle love, I would have never thought about actually inviting Isa into the family like that. Simply brilliant! I think pretty soon I may be sitting in on YOUR classes! *He laughs*

Mechspotter's mud? What are you going to do with that??? Well if you think it may help with Dr Mohinder's research, I understand that Dr Beverly will be looking into that soon... after they find the cure for brunettes. *he laughs again*

Elle... be cautious about these Taurian Privateers... The Taurian Concordat has never been on friendly terms with the Federated Suns. I doubt there is any connection with the assassination attempt in Ingrid. If I remember correctly Isabella was actually very close to Isa. But during a priority lock down like we must initiate.. we have to take every possibility into account. I trust your judgement Elle.

And it's funny that you mention Kor. I have also received word from men in the 12th Donegal Guard, that KOR recently made a successful raid against the Lyran Fortress on Barcelona called the Crucible. He has supplies enough now to last him the next 50 years of raiding. When next we see him, he may be quite different.

But Kenny Ryan did in fact attack Trellwan, and were ordered to hunt him down after he escaped with a just one of his three companies What we found at his lair on The Rock in the Oberon Confederation,was another enigma. An enemy force using unfamiliar battlemech designs, incorporating highly advanced technology were already on the Rock and destroyed the remains of Kenny Ryan's command. Then they attacked the Kell Hounds 3rd Battalion and destroyed it. Phelan Kell fell with them. We only just escaped ahead of these invaders ourselves.

After investigating and compiling all incoming data, conventional interpretations suggest that the Crimson Corsair must once again up to consolidating all the Coreward Bandit Kingdoms underneath her rule. But there are discrepencies that I cannot interpret.

Where did she get her Warship? Where did they get the advanced technology or the training. Elle.. I have never seen a unit operate like these did. They are easily classified as "Elite" in both skill and technology. Where did the Crimson Corsair find such men??

Also Joe and Ben Grimm, and Loni MacDonald arrived with word of strange attacks out on Graven's Deep. But... for some reason, Joe claims that the Crimson Corsair come to Graven's Deep and helped rescue a large number of refugees from that planet. Including Billy Cho! What follows now is third tier information. Unreliable at best. Joe said that the Crimson Corsair said that her spy said, that the attackers out here in the periphery may be connected to Wolf's Dragoons. Calls them "Clans" and may be a threat to the great houses. Obviously the information is suspect.

But there are incoming reports from all around the coreward periphery, rumors of pirates having been dislodged from their homes by an overpowering invader. Merchant ships that witnessed these invaders who only just barely escaped Rumors of an invader who possesses Star League Warships! Rumors that all three of the great Bandit Kingdoms, The Elysium Fields, The Greater Valkyrate, and the Oberon Confederation have been completely destroyed!

As you know, the last of the great Warships were destroyed hundreds of years ago. The only one in existance is the Black Lion that the Crimson Corsair possesses. Of course we know that all of the Great Houses are deeply involved in rebuilding shipyards capable of producing these Warships. And the Galax facilities should be launching the first Vincent Class Destroyers soon. But, unless there has been a MAJOR breach of security somewhere, there simply couldn't be any other source for the Warship rumors other than the Crimson Corsair herself.

But Joe Grimm seems absolutely certain that the Crimson Corsair was actually involved in destroying what was identified as a Star League Congress Class Frigate in DEFENCE of Graven's Deep!

None of this makes any sense. There should be NO such Frigate. We need to get someone back out to Graven's Deep and see what's going on. To that end I am sending Duane Leahy to see what he can find. Please forward a request on to MIIO HQ for a replacement operative to pilot the Magellan.

Another critical point of note. There is NOTHING in the Comstar Associated Press about these attacks. Why?

This is big Elle... really big.

There is more, some of which even I cannot speak. Matters are actually quite desperate here on Trellwan. These mystery invaders may not be content with merely conquering all the bandit kingdoms. And if war comes to this world... well... Mercenarys... are expendible.

I don't have to tell you any more than that my love.




I will see you when I can.


(/End Transmission)




Alan~

The Saga of Chief Jones {A Battletech Story}

Mike Jones leaned back in his chair and massaged his temples. He was trying to finish the After Action report for Blixt, but his headache had returned. As he tried to massage the pain away, he thought again about how much he missed Nixie. Brian Rice was a decent doctor. But outside of the clinic, he was a complete dick. Nixie was not just a wonderful doctor; she was also a wonderful human being. And he sorely missed being able to sit down and talk things out with her.

After a minute, he gave up massage and reached over for the pain relievers that Rice had prescribed. He popped two pills, returned to his noteputer and continued typing.

That was when the ejection system engaged and catapulted me out of the mech. I was knocked unconscious, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up at the medical facility at The Crucible.

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Our lack of information about the enemy composition led us to engage the enemy with only a portion of our force. We should have used the aerospace assets to conduct a fly over. Had we done that, we would have known that the enemy had heavy and assault mechs in their force. With that information, we surely would have kept the distance and not engaged them in a piecemeal fashion.

Also, I concur with Lt. Yeager’s assessment that aerospace resources should have been prepared for ground strikes. The Strike Lightning Guard would have suffered much less damage had strafing runs or bomb strikes been employed against the enemy.

It is obvious that the enemy was trying to kill XO Corson. It is impossible to recommend a response to future attempts without knowing who was behind this and why. A high priority must be placed on finding the answer to these questions so that a proper response can be formulated.

Mike paused and considered how to finish his report. In his report he described how three members of the unit disobeyed orders to attack the Hunchbacks. After the Strike Lightning Guard had returned to The Crucible, he (unofficially) spoke to Samuel and Shenji to find out why they had targeted other mechs against his orders. Samuel claimed that he was caught up in the moment and swore that it would not happen again. Mike wasn’t happy with that answer, but at least there was a promise that it wouldn’t happen again. Shenji on the other hand chose to explain that Mike’s order was dishonorable, and that honor came before obedience to a field commander. And that answer had Mike furious. Mike originally intended to talk to Brice too, but after speaking to Shenji, he was too angry. Better to just finish the damn report and move on to repairs. But how should he finish the report? Mike knew exactly what he wanted to recommend. But he was also professional enough to realize that he was letting his anger color his judgment. After considering it for several minutes, he just typed the following.

In addition, this unit does not have the required cohesion for proper combat engagement. The fact that Lt. Udet, Lt. Kyoto and Lt. Brice Jones disobeyed orders meant that it took longer than necessary for the Hunchbacks to be defeated. And ultimately The SLG faced enemy fire longer than necessary. I leave the recommendation as to whether disciplinary action is required to the Commander and Executive Officer.

Lt. ‘Chief’ Jones
Strike Lightning Guard

Then Mike closed the file and started working on the repair schedule.

The Saga of Brian ‘Needles’ Rice {A Battletech Story}

Brian Rice finished his review of Mike Jones’s medical file. Then he shut the noteputer down and muttered, “Mike, you are an ass.”

The joint operation with Lord Niles did not end as everyone had hoped. The Strike Lightning Guard began their pursuit of the Shatter Zone pirate band as planned. But after the pirates entered a forest, they turned around and attacked the SLG. For some reason the leaders thought that the enemy only had light and medium mechs and chose to fight with their own light and medium mechs. However when the opposing forces closed for battle, the SLG learned that the pirates had heavy and assault class battlemechs. The light and medium units of the SLG made a fighting withdrawal to link up with the heavy units behind them. However, they did not link up until after Blixt and Mike Jones had ejected from their mechs. The battle remained a very brutal fight even after the heavy mechs from The Strike Lightning Guard entered combat, and the SLG was suffering badly when Lord Niles and his forces came up behind the pirates and opened fire into their backs. Victory was theirs, but at a heavy price for the SLG.

After returning to The Crucible, Brian had overheard a discussion between Mike Jones, Blixt Corson and Captain Rylie. They discussed how they should have used the aerospace fighters to recon the pirates before engaging them and how they might have avoided combat had they known the enemy force strength. But shortly after that, Mike confronted Samuel Udet and Shenji Kyoto, demanding to know why they did not obey his orders in battle. It was apparent that he was furious at them, and at Brice Jones too.

And that bothered Brian. It wasn’t Samuel’s, Shenji’s or Brice’s fault that the unit wound up in a meat grinder. And it was damned unfair for him to be mad at them. So much so, that Brian decided to check Mike’s medical file and make sure he didn’t have any mental instability. He didn’t. Mike was just an ass.

Brian figured that Samuel and Mike would return back to normal because of their friendship. Shenji was completely unflappable and didn’t seem to care what Mike thought. Brice Jones however was new to the unit, and Brian bet he didn’t appreciate receiving Mike’s ire. Brian decided to find him and have a chat. He bet they could find something to talk about. Maybe they would about Mike Jones and how he was an ass.

A Meeting of Minds {A Battletech Story}



Colonel Thomas Blane, the Lyran Intelligence Corp officer rose as the lights in the council chamber were dimmed. "Gentlemen. As you know there have been a tremendous number of wild rumors in the media. Though thankfully Comstar has shown an unexpected and welcome restraint in not giving these rumors more credibility than they publicly deserve." He pauses and moves to a display screen where a star map of the Lyran Commonwealth is displayed.

"The first and most important thing we must do is seperate fact from guesswork. And the fact is that pirate activity is up over 5000% in the last few weeks alone! Every major bandit kingdom has been raiding rampantly along the boarders! Kenny Ryan even attacked us here on Trellwan for Pete's sake!" He points to the star chart then, naming more than 2 dozen star systems along the lyran boarder that have been attacked by pirates in recent months.

"This is obviously a crisis that cannot be taken lightly. Tensions are building and dispite the efforts that Prince Hans Davion is taking to stave off the impending war with the Draconis Combine, people everywhere are gearing up for the conflict. Pirate raids are systemic to times of war. Right now we cannot truly afford to go procecute a war against every pirate in the periphery! We have the Wayfinders here for this mission already."

General Hawksworth leaned forward. "Are you saying that we should completely discount the astounding quantity of rumors then?"

"Which rumors are you speaking of General? The rumor of the Crimson Corsair in command of an entire Fleet of Warships? The rumor of the Ghosts of Kerenskys Star League Defense Force returned from the dead? The rumor of Aliens attacking from another galaxy? Or the rumor that as many as 8000 nuclear devices salvaged off Galava may now be in Pirate hands?!" He paused for a moment.

"General we must deal in facts! Believe me when I tell you that LIC is doing everything we can to investiagate this. And if you asked me for my opinion, I would say that all of this is way to convenient, to be mere happenstance. Let me explain: First the Draconis Combine lures Hans Davion into sending his son to this location by posting Hohiro Kurita in similar duties within the Draconis Combine. But for Victor this is Into Harms Way, Gentelmen.. not out of it! Then the Bandit Kingdoms all begin their attacks in preparation for the full assault. They are testing our defences, and baiting us to retaliate! It's all together too convenient."

"We must follow Ockham's Razor in this. With all things being equal, the simplest answer is most likely the correct one. I ask you. What is most feasable?

That this Crimson Corsair has supposedly drummed up some here-to-fore unknown amazing pirate force complete with here-to-fore unknown warships and here-to-fore unknown star league battlemechs and have begun a purge through the bandit kingdoms in preparation for an invasion of the great houses themselves for here-to-fore unknown reasons???

Or that our long time enemy, the Draconis Combine, is deploying their disinformation specialists like we KNOW they do, and using the Star League battlemechs that we KNOW them to have, and perhaps deploying a few of their warships that we KNOW them to be building. And these pirate attacks are just a preliminary for invasion like we KNOW them to have tried in the past... right... here... on Trellwan...

And if that isn't enough to convince you General... Ask yourself why... why these 'supposed' attacks in the bandit kingdoms have not been made public news by the Comstar Associated Press?

Because General... just like during the War of 3039, Comstar is in collusion with the Draconis Combine...

This... all of this... is little more than an elaborate Draconis trap! A trap designed to kill Victor Steiner~Davion, and seize a large chunk of our worlds!!" He stabbed his finger down onto the table.

There was a lot of muttering around the room.

"Then what are your recomendations Colonel?" General Hawksworth asked.

Standing up straight, Colonel Thomas Blaine, turned walked back to the board, and turned again to face them before speaking.

"Nothing... Sir, we should do nothing. With the sole exception of Barcelona none of the border worlds have been seriously threatened by these pirate raids. If we deplete our troops by sending our men out to go make punitive raids against the Bandit Kingdoms it weakens our planetary defenses, while simultaneously providing the very catalyst that the Draconis Combine has been waiting for! In fact I don't think we should even allow the Wayfinders to make another such punitive attack. Furthermore, I submit that we should begin a series of war-games here on Trellwan. Not only will the training benefit troops and morale, it will present an undeniable show that we of the Lyran Commonwealth will NOT be baited into any more Draconis Traps!"

"Colonel Blaine... what about the reports from the Kell Hounds? Do we discount those as rumor and gossip too? They state specifically that they faced an never before seen command of warriors using battlemechs of advanced designs also never before seen, using never before seen tactics? What about the fact that the Wayfinders issued a similar report?"

Blaine smiled patronizingly. "Major Cooper... Phelan Kell was a Naglering dropout. How else do you expect Morgan to spin it after using his inheritance from Katrina Steiner's death in 3040 to re-establish the Kell Hounds to their former glory? Of course they were attacked by something massive and overwhelming..." he sighs shaking his head

"As for the Wayfinders, well they were working with Phelan at the time. They even admited to making a bargain to share the spoils of war. And how do you think it looks Major.. with them returning "Unscratched" from a battle along side the Mighty Kell Hounds when the Hounds were shattered almost to the last man... Again.. of course they would paint a picture of some overwhelming terror to cover the fact that they actually abandoned the Kell Hounds.... and ran away." He snapped his pointer shut as if that were the end of it.

"If you ask me gentlemen. If we should be doing anything, it should be the consideration of a Breech of Contract suit against these Wayfinders..."


"Are there any other questions?" he concluded


After several shaking heads the council was adjourned.






Alan~