Chapter 27.2
Seras
Well-known member
Chapter 27.2 Operation Shiroyama interrupt: The One Day War.
3029
Terra
“Who is he?” I demanded nearly growling as my Nighthawk troopers dragged a terrified looking ComStar adept into the base. The base was still growing around us, set to create a schematic I had been working on over the years.
You never knew when I would need to build a nuke proof Castle Brian at a moment's notice. So I had to simply access the schematic and set it to build. Paying more attention to the mission to rescue Gauge.
Which hadn’t brought back Gauge!
“Not sure yet.” Marcus offered from within his Nighthawk. The captured man was currently sitting in a chair with two of my security men standing on each side with their power armor gripping his shoulders. Holding him down as he looked around in terror.
“Well?” I demanded towards the man. “I would very much like to know who you are? After all, you are wearing my brother's Cooling undersuit. The Undersuit he was wearing the last time I saw him when he came here to Terra. So I wo-”
“I won it in a contest! An acolyte came to Terra but wasn’t a Mechwarrior the higher ups put it up as a reward for a Mech competition, my score was the highest in the sims! I swear! I’ll take it off! Just don’t kill me!” He broke in instantly cutting my interrogation off as the man practically babbled.
“Where is Gauge Blake?” I demanded my hand already gripping the laser pistol on my hip, but to my shock my interrogation wasn’t going how it was supposed to.
“No idea! I swear! I’ve been hiding in my room waiting for everything to finish up! I don’t know anything!”
I growled jerking my head at Marcus to take over.
He didn’t know where Gauge was.
We didn’t know where Gauge was.
Fuck. This had just turned from a nightmare to an easy job, back into a nightmare now.
I watched as he was questioned by Marcus, even if he didn’t know much about Gauge.
He did know a lot about what was going on in the compound. How ComStar was fracturing so badly even here on Terra that he doubted they could mount any real defenses. How people were rioting in the streets against ComStars acts.
How he didn’t know where Gauge would be.
“I’ll make a prison. Just put him in there with food and water. I don’t have time for this.” I demanded after we gained everything we could from him. I was barely able to stop myself from punching a wall.
Fuck! There had been a chance we could have found Gauge right away, end this whole stupid conflict.
“Fine. We do this the hard way. Marcus, keep checking the sensor. I know how hard it is to track a person down if we don’t already have them tracked, but do what you can.”
“Yes Commander.” I nodded heading up towards the control room. Stepping inside I passed the many control panels along the walls, each of them sat one of our gunnery officers. Each of which controlled a different Naval weapon that was pointing either straight up, or towards the island.
They had been making sure ComStar doesn’t try anything stupid while we searched, but it turns out I would need to do more. I had hoped having so many guns pointed at them would keep ComStar very very distracted for at least a while yet to come.
“Do we have any contact from them yet?”
“Yes Commander. A few messages have been sent over, radio towards us. Mostly handshake protocols. I believe they are trying to establish contact.” Eris called out waving me over. “They are definitely freaking out, and it's not just one group. I got at least four different contacts trying to reach us.”
“Good. Pick one, and send it over here.” I ordered as I stepped over towards the large Holovid display in the middle of the room. I waited a few minutes once Eris nodded she quickly joined me at my side as finally the Holovid connected.
I frowned. That wasn’t a ComStar uniform.
“I am Maya. Head of the SLDF Resistance… Are you the ones who dropped the Warship?” A dark skinned woman asked, frowning as she looked me over.
I glared at her with my one eye as I realized this was a waste of my time!
“Victoria Eisen-Blume. Commander of the ISDF.” I introduced myself as much as I wanted to just punch the end call button. “You are trying to reach out to me and mine. What do you want?”
The woman blinked at that before seeming to rise to her own. “You crash a Warship almost on top of me, and your surprised we want to know what the hell is going on? So what the hell is going on! How did anything that just happened, happen, and what the hell are you doing here?”
“ISDF Rescue mission. Classified. Rescue mission. Satisfied?” I asked almost ready to turn to Marcus to have the call ended.
“Fuck off. A rescue mission? Fine. Welcome to Terra. I am the Head of the SLDF against ComStar. Obviously you have a problem with them, I can guess why, probably the same problem we do. What do you need, and what can you offer me to help.”
I blinked.
“I don’t need anything from you.”
“Maybe not. But maybe we need your help. You’ve come to hit ComStar. Well so are we. So let’s work together.”
“The Commander agrees.” Eris’s voice called out from behind my head. Earning a swift turn and glare from me that she ignored.
Damn that Private Eris! I was going to bust her back to Latrine Private after this!
“The ISDF is currently here to rescue Gauge Blake. If you have any knowledge of his location, we will offer as much assistance as we have at our disposal for it.” Eris spoke simply still ignoring my glare.
“Blake? You are here to rescue the guy that did the Blake Broadcast?” She looked surprised before smiling a bit. “If that is the case, yes I can help you. We have plenty of ComStar adepts and acolytes that rebelled because of the broadcast. They have been eager to try and save him, but we haven’t been able to get in. That means we have knowledge of the interior. We-”
“Eris. You wanted to be involved, now you are. You are now the SLDF Resistance Liason. Congratulations.” I tell her interrupting the woman before turning back to this SLDF leader. “Eris will continue this discussion. Eris figure out what they know and we can offer them what they need, use your discretion.”
“Of course.”
“Moving on.” I order Marcus cutting the Holovid I was using as Eris sighed at my lack of diplomacy.
I knew that was what she was sighing about, I had gotten good at understanding Eris’s sigh.
“Marcus next connection.” I ordered waiting a minute for the Holovid to connect as someone realized we had accepted the connection.
This time it wasn’t a young college girl.
No, this was a face I recognized, a few faces actually.
“Good morning ComStar.” I say glaring into the faces of Myndo Waterly, and others from the First Circuit.
I was looking around for the Primus, when a younger man spoke instead.
“It is a… Pleasure to finally have a chance to speak with you Commander Eisen-Blume. I am Nicholas Cassnew, precentor ROM.”
“Well since you already know me, I will skip the pleasantries. Give me Gauge Blake. Or die.” I didn’t say anything more.
I felt it rather strikingly portrayed my intentions.
“I am afraid that will not be possible, for many reasons.”
I nodded already reaching over to cut the connection when he interrupted me. “But there is more going on than you know.”
“I know a lot.”
“I am aware. Or rather I should say, your actions today have convinced me that you are more than what you have portrayed yourself to be.”
“Hardly.” I denied. “Where is Gauge?”
The room was silent on the other line as Nicholas watched me, eyes sharp. “I have one further question for your Commander. If you will allow me. I have been curious about you for some time. I even fought to allow you to continue your philanthropic activities across the Inner Sphere. Mostly because you were… different. Nothing you did ever added up. Of course now I have seen the truth. So please, answer me one question. What are the intentions of Victoria Cameron.”
“Eisen-Blume. My intention ROM, is to rescue my brother. Kill everyone who tries to stop me from doing that. And then go home.”
“And if you can’t? If we drag out Gauge Blake right now, and put a bullet in his head, as Myndo has threatened?”
My breath hitched at the very idea, and I felt my hand form into a fist. I knew I was baring my teeth, practically growling as I glared at this man, that dared to say that to me!
“You would find out just what kind of Commander I am. No, just what kind of Monster I am.”
He shook his head. “Will you be a Monster? I am very interested now in just what kind of person you are. Someone like you? With so much power at your fingertips? The Cameron returned? I wonder. Will you be another Jocasta Cameron? A saint that rules with such finesse that the Inner Sphere follows her every word? Or will you be the next Richard Cameron? What is it that drives you Commander? Idealism as you have said up until now? Or Greed?”
“I’m getting really tired of these games. I am not here to discuss politics. Give me Gauge.”
The man looked at me for a while, a silent staring contest as he contemplated something in that mind of his.
“Gauge Blake is dead. He was shot and killed as we secured the HPG. You came all this way for nothing.”
I blinked. The room around the man went utterly still, even Myndo sitting behind him jerked as she stared at the man in horror.
I opened my mouth to say something I am sure. But nothing came out. I closed my mouth.
“And now Commander. I get to see what kind of person you really are.” The comm ended, he actually hung up.
I could hear the others in the room begin stirring. Talking about what we had just been told. I could even feel Marcus come over and put a hand on my shoulder.
But none of it registered.
—--
A different perspective
Myndo Waterly
“What have you done! Her not knowing Blake is dead was our only point we could negotiate with! She-”
“What she will do Myndo is exactly what I wish to see. I already told you. ComStar regardless of what we do today is done. We will certainly not be in charge. No, in fact our heads will likely be decorating spikes soon enough. But this girl, isn’t it interesting? To find out what kind of person she is?”
“No I don’t find this very interesting!” She snapped turning to the other men. Since the landing everyone had been quiet in the room, a few injuries dotted amongst them showing that most hadn’t gone unscathed from the force of the ISDF arrival. “Well? Are the rest of you going to just sit there? Let Nicholas just throw away our only bargaining chip?”
“Myndo shut up. Most of us are just waiting for our escape plans to come into play, you’re the only one stupid enough to think we have a chance in hell anymore.” Precentor Tharkad Ulthan Everson spoke simply. “And since our Precentor ROM has already decided to throw away his life, I don’t find myself in any further mood to listen to you. Gentleman. Myndo. Good day.” He said rising to his feet and stepping towards the door.
Myndo was sure Nicholas was about going to have him killed, but nothing of the sort happened. “You are just going to let him go?” She asked only after the door had shut behind him.
“Of course. I am fairly sure we will all see each other at the show trial and execution. It is no matter if he runs now.”
“You are Precentor ROM, and you don’t think you can escape?”
“Of course I could. I could have a new face and iron clad identity by tomorrow morning. A life in a pleasant home somewhere here on Terra among the Rockies, or in the distant periphery, but I have no intention of spending the rest of my life running.” He was staring at her with that blank look on his face and Myndo knew then that she had misjudged this man for his entire career.
He wasn’t emotionless. He was insane.
“By why would I leave? I stand at the center of the future. One way or another whatever happens here on Terra will determine the course of humanity from now on. Aren’t you interested also? The… Elegance of it. A Cameron returned, the conquest of Terra, and the future it all leads to?”
“Death. It leads to nothing but death. The Successor Houses will never allow a Cameron to rule.”
He nods smiling. “Isn’t that what makes it all the more interesting?”
“Madman.”
“Probably.” He says with a shrug and a smile.
“Does that mean I can walk out that door without you shooting me in the back?”
“I won’t be the one to end your life Myndo. You can leave if you want. I promise you though, if you do? You won’t escape. Better to at least sit and watch. Like a tower crumbling while you are at the top. Better to stay at the top to see it all happen, rather than run through the insides only to be crushed without at least being able to see.”
What Myndo was about to say was cut off as something rocked the entire room.
“What was that?”
“I believe the second stage of grief. Anger.” He offered as once again the room shook, and then again.
The system was adjusted and the satellite image focused on the surface. Showing the Castle Brian that had grown out of a fallen Warship in the ocean around Hilton Head was no longer quiet.
Blasts of PPC fire, missiles, and Naval Autocannons. All fired down onto the island. The structures of ComStar. Buildings older than the Star League all crashed down and sundered as if a child was destroying a sand castle.
And about as easily.
“I suppose it is a good thing that no one is on the surface. ComGuard are still standing by on sub level 6.” Nicholas spoke with a noise that for anyone else might have been just a breath but Myndo realized it was the man's laugh.
She shivered. What a snake.
Then she scowled at what she had just thought.
“She stopped firing.” He commented then as Myndo realized the rumbling had stopped.
“There.” He said pointing but again Myndo knew he wasn’t focused on her, or the other Precentors or guards in the room.
No, it was like a child pointing out things of interest. He was… Fascinated by this. No, by the Commander.
Myndo decided then and there, she wasn’t going to stick around any longer. This madman could stand atop his tower as it tumbled down if he liked, but she was going to take the chance that she could race down the stairs fast enough.
This would not be how her life ended.
She rose and walked out the door, and not a single person stopped her. Of course she had her own escape plans. One doesn’t live in the Combine without developing the habit of learning to set up a way out. Not that you always could in the Combine, but you still did it.
So she hurried down the hallway.
—-
“You should stop. You aren’t hitting anything.” Eris tells me as I stand atop the very peak of my castle. Watching the island below me be hammered into fury and dust.
At least, I would be watching, but I couldn’t see much through the tears.
“Why? What’s the point?” I snapped back rubbing my eyes. The stupid eyepatch that I had taken such a wicked enjoyment in sporting to mess with the Combine somewhere on the floor behind me. “What am I even still doing here? Gauge is dead. We came all this way, did all these stupid things, and for what? To rescue a dead man!?”
I turned intending to snap at her only to find myself pulling into a hug. “Gauge was your brother. I understand. I lost my family too.” She whispered as she held me tight even as I weakly protested. I couldn’t.
If she did this. I wouldn’t be able…
I wouldn’t be able to go on.
“They killed him. Eris, they killed Gauge, he was… He was doing what I said! This is my fault! I shouldn’t have let him go, or I shouldn’t have ever told him we could make the Inner Sphere better! I put this stupid shit in his head and now he is dead!” I screamed into her shoulder gripping her tightly, because if I let go, I wouldn’t be able to stand.
This was my fault.
“Gauge was a man. He was entirely in control of his choices, and I remember you moping when he left. He didn’t ask you permission Vicky. He told you he was leaving. Remember?”
“That doesn’t help! He is dead!”
“And nothing we say right now will change that, but we still can change something. Are we going to let his killers escape? To run away?”
I stilled my eyes so clogged I couldn’t see anything but a blur as I looked into her face.
“No.”
“We are on Terra Commander. Standing before Hilton Head. You got us here. You led us here, and we followed. So what now?”
“Our mission… Our mission failed. So we go on to the next mission. Tell the Blackwatch to mount up. I want my brothers body secured.”
“Understood Commander. Shall I ready your mech?”
“No. Not this time. This time I will be here, showing ComStar just how… Unhappy I am.”
She nodded reaching up to quickly wipe my cheeks. The silver paint on my cheeks felt cold. Frozen.
But it was warming up.
I turned to the window watching the wretched remains of Hilton Head far below, burning and broken.
I could hear his voice, but it only came out as his last words. Over and over they repeated in my head.
“For a better future.”
—--
“ISDF. Begin assault.” I order over the line. Everyone had been gathered together. It was time to act. To move. Even if I felt lost, I could still do this. Break the holdout of ComStars former leaders and hold them until someone else got here to hold a trial for them.
I wouldn’t do it. Couldn’t. I was well aware my hand kept drifting down to my pistol on my hip.
Yeah best to let someone else take that unenviable task.
With a thought my Nanoforges woke up. From the base of my castle green fog began spreading creating a Ferrocrete bridge over the water. Slowly growing outward. Every hundred or so yards another Large Nanoforge was built just to ensure that nothing would slow the growth. I could see the ants nest just under the ground on the island begin stirring at my actions.
But I hardly cared. Their actions would be pointless.
Already the bagpipes began playing, as the Blackwatch marched.
The audio was playing quite loudly. A little addition that William had requested, if I had been any other time, and in any other situation, I would be laughing that the Blackwatch were once again marching on Terra.
But right at that moment I felt simply empty.
The bridge finished connecting my castle to the island, but that wasn’t the end of my work. Nanoforges continued to grow as it spread forward. A path had already been settled on. Eris had pathed out the best way for this assault.
Just because it needed me to create an entirely new entrance hardly mattered. William and his group, marched on. Their mechs pristine, and each of them coated in green fog, like cloaks around them.
Any damage they took would be healed in moments. It didn’t matter how many of the Comguard chose to fight. Today they would lose.
So the battle happened bellowing the earth on Hilton Head. ComGuard what few decided to stay and fight when the roof above them opened up like it had always meant to, and a Company of invincible Highlanders wearing the colors of the Blackwatch dropped on their heads.
It took only a few hours, mostly since Eris was constantly messaging the ComGuard. Telling them to surrender and that they would not be harmed. Slowly my troops pushed through the defenses what little there was, until finally. As night began falling, as I looked over the island. And received plenty of reports from Marcus, and his Nighthawks. From William and his Mechs, from Eris and our newly allied SLDF Resistance.
That Hilton Head Surrendered.
—--
A different perspective
Maya Elliot
Maya wasn’t entirely sure why she was accepting this. Although she supposed when the force with the technology and power to orbital drop a Warship just to create a beachhead, told you to send out men to certain locations and sit on them until their say so.
Maya sent out the orders and her people, mostly kids with guns and more bluster than skill did as she ordered.
Why those locations were so important, Maya had no idea, but she wasn’t about to get in the way. While still on the Comm those naval weapons had opened up on Hilton Head, And Maya had immediately agreed.
Seeing weapons of that scale blasting entire sections of the ComStar building down, watching as the massive satellite dish atop the island fell in fire and melted metal had told her just how serious these people were.
She had even taken the Comm and sat at one of the locations herself.
It wasn’t that it was the farthest point from the Hilton Head, and in an old underground Mall that had long been abandoned.
Of course anyone that looked at her could tell her tough act was breaking. She was afraid.
This had turned from a college protest, to an active rebellion, to sidelined as the ISDF did the impossible.
“Hey Maya! You hear that?”
Maya blinked looking over as one of the kids started looking around. The underground they were hanging out in was completely abandoned. Her group had to break windows and cut through old security gates to get in.
The group of three had been hanging out mostly in silence. Maya was too focused on going through the Comm channels and giving orders to people that asked for help.
But now that she was focused she did hear it. A scraping noise. They all rose and started walking through the abandoned shop fronts. The noise was growing louder and louder, and while it echoed around, it was easy enough to figure out where it all came from.
Down a side path past some bathrooms was a maintenance room, at least that is what it said on the door with fading white paint. The sign also said authorized personnel only, but no one even hesitated as they opened the door and stepped inside.
The noise of the door opening was utterly hidden by the noise one of the walls was making as it slowly grinded it’s way upwards. Dust trailing down, the wall was about head height now, and behind it a long hallway trailed off into the distance.
But it was the woman that was scrambling around inside an old locker that had much newer clothes and equipment that grabbed Maya’s attention.
It took one look before her decision was made. She walked up her rifle raised and as she got right on top of the woman she struck.
The butt stock of her rifle smashed into the side of her head, just like old Phil had shown her a few days ago, when striking with a butt stock don’t just tap them, aim for a location past their head, and that way when you strike they won’t be resisting.
She crumpled into a heap, and Maya grinned as she grabbed her radio. “ISDF this is Maya SLDF Resistance. We got a ComStar Precentor by the robes trying to sneak off through a hidden door.”
“Yes, we suspected they might use that escape path. Please secure her. Once we are done here, we will finish contact. Over.”
Maya blinked.
“Done here? What are they going to take on the entire ComGuard in an hour or something? What are we supposed to do with this?” She asked nudging the woman who was moaning a bit as she stirred.
“Hell if I know. C’mon I’m sure we can find some rope or something. Just make sure she doesn’t have a weapon.” One of her people said as he started looking through her robe to do just that.
“Yeah.”
—--
Two hours later I stepped into the panic room deep beneath the surface. The Comstar first Circuit were sitting in chairs facing me, my Nighthawk clad troops standing behind them, weapons pointed and ready.
I turned to see Myndo Waterly among them, the woman had been caught as had many of the Precentors by the SLDF Resistance.
I still sighed every time I thought of the name the terran people had decided on.
“You are all under arrest. Do not resist, and you will be treated… Well I won’t torture you, and you will get food and water.”
I looked over the group of terrified or furious people. Some of the most powerful people in the Inner Sphere.
Now they were completely incapable of even raising their voice against me. And they all knew it.
“You.” I point at the Precentor ROM. The only one that seemed completely unfazed by the way Eris was holding her weapon against his head. “You will take me to Gauge.”
“Very well.” He said simply nodding as slowly rose, purposefully not making any sudden moves as Eris shot me a look.
Precentor ROM. The spy. Probably the most dangerous man in the room, but also the one man I didn’t expect to still be here. He should have easily managed to escape, well perhaps not with our sensor, but he should have at least attempted it.
But he didn’t.
If my mind wasn’t so focused on… making sure. I would have possibly been more interested in his plots and plans.
Right then, now that I was walking through the underground of Hilton Head, as the Comstar members we passed were guided around in handcuffs. I wanted to finish my job.
I had to see.
We walked through the long corridors for a while, until finally we came into a medical bay. More than a few beds were filled, Doctors were wandering around, but stilled at my entrance. The pair of Nighthawks walking at my shoulders and pointed guns did tend to draw attention.
I followed after the Precentor as he walked through the room into a back room, which was obviously, a morgue.
I hesitated at the entrance.
Right now it felt… Fake. I felt almost blank, but I knew.
If Gauge was here… it wouldn’t be fake anymore. But my feet took a step, and another as I walked into the morgue where the Precentor was standing beside a pull drawer.
The fact it looked so similar to morgues I would have seen on TV a lifetime ago, made the entire situation feel almost… inauthentic. As if I expected something more futuristic.
I stepped forward ignoring the Precentors explanation of which one as I grabbed the drawer and pulled.
A body in dark body bag was pulled out, and it took me a moment with shaking hands to pull down the long zipper.
I didn’t even have to draw it down very far.
I knew.
I saw.
—--
3029
Terra
“Who is he?” I demanded nearly growling as my Nighthawk troopers dragged a terrified looking ComStar adept into the base. The base was still growing around us, set to create a schematic I had been working on over the years.
You never knew when I would need to build a nuke proof Castle Brian at a moment's notice. So I had to simply access the schematic and set it to build. Paying more attention to the mission to rescue Gauge.
Which hadn’t brought back Gauge!
“Not sure yet.” Marcus offered from within his Nighthawk. The captured man was currently sitting in a chair with two of my security men standing on each side with their power armor gripping his shoulders. Holding him down as he looked around in terror.
“Well?” I demanded towards the man. “I would very much like to know who you are? After all, you are wearing my brother's Cooling undersuit. The Undersuit he was wearing the last time I saw him when he came here to Terra. So I wo-”
“I won it in a contest! An acolyte came to Terra but wasn’t a Mechwarrior the higher ups put it up as a reward for a Mech competition, my score was the highest in the sims! I swear! I’ll take it off! Just don’t kill me!” He broke in instantly cutting my interrogation off as the man practically babbled.
“Where is Gauge Blake?” I demanded my hand already gripping the laser pistol on my hip, but to my shock my interrogation wasn’t going how it was supposed to.
“No idea! I swear! I’ve been hiding in my room waiting for everything to finish up! I don’t know anything!”
I growled jerking my head at Marcus to take over.
He didn’t know where Gauge was.
We didn’t know where Gauge was.
Fuck. This had just turned from a nightmare to an easy job, back into a nightmare now.
I watched as he was questioned by Marcus, even if he didn’t know much about Gauge.
He did know a lot about what was going on in the compound. How ComStar was fracturing so badly even here on Terra that he doubted they could mount any real defenses. How people were rioting in the streets against ComStars acts.
How he didn’t know where Gauge would be.
“I’ll make a prison. Just put him in there with food and water. I don’t have time for this.” I demanded after we gained everything we could from him. I was barely able to stop myself from punching a wall.
Fuck! There had been a chance we could have found Gauge right away, end this whole stupid conflict.
“Fine. We do this the hard way. Marcus, keep checking the sensor. I know how hard it is to track a person down if we don’t already have them tracked, but do what you can.”
“Yes Commander.” I nodded heading up towards the control room. Stepping inside I passed the many control panels along the walls, each of them sat one of our gunnery officers. Each of which controlled a different Naval weapon that was pointing either straight up, or towards the island.
They had been making sure ComStar doesn’t try anything stupid while we searched, but it turns out I would need to do more. I had hoped having so many guns pointed at them would keep ComStar very very distracted for at least a while yet to come.
“Do we have any contact from them yet?”
“Yes Commander. A few messages have been sent over, radio towards us. Mostly handshake protocols. I believe they are trying to establish contact.” Eris called out waving me over. “They are definitely freaking out, and it's not just one group. I got at least four different contacts trying to reach us.”
“Good. Pick one, and send it over here.” I ordered as I stepped over towards the large Holovid display in the middle of the room. I waited a few minutes once Eris nodded she quickly joined me at my side as finally the Holovid connected.
I frowned. That wasn’t a ComStar uniform.
“I am Maya. Head of the SLDF Resistance… Are you the ones who dropped the Warship?” A dark skinned woman asked, frowning as she looked me over.
I glared at her with my one eye as I realized this was a waste of my time!
“Victoria Eisen-Blume. Commander of the ISDF.” I introduced myself as much as I wanted to just punch the end call button. “You are trying to reach out to me and mine. What do you want?”
The woman blinked at that before seeming to rise to her own. “You crash a Warship almost on top of me, and your surprised we want to know what the hell is going on? So what the hell is going on! How did anything that just happened, happen, and what the hell are you doing here?”
“ISDF Rescue mission. Classified. Rescue mission. Satisfied?” I asked almost ready to turn to Marcus to have the call ended.
“Fuck off. A rescue mission? Fine. Welcome to Terra. I am the Head of the SLDF against ComStar. Obviously you have a problem with them, I can guess why, probably the same problem we do. What do you need, and what can you offer me to help.”
I blinked.
“I don’t need anything from you.”
“Maybe not. But maybe we need your help. You’ve come to hit ComStar. Well so are we. So let’s work together.”
“The Commander agrees.” Eris’s voice called out from behind my head. Earning a swift turn and glare from me that she ignored.
Damn that Private Eris! I was going to bust her back to Latrine Private after this!
“The ISDF is currently here to rescue Gauge Blake. If you have any knowledge of his location, we will offer as much assistance as we have at our disposal for it.” Eris spoke simply still ignoring my glare.
“Blake? You are here to rescue the guy that did the Blake Broadcast?” She looked surprised before smiling a bit. “If that is the case, yes I can help you. We have plenty of ComStar adepts and acolytes that rebelled because of the broadcast. They have been eager to try and save him, but we haven’t been able to get in. That means we have knowledge of the interior. We-”
“Eris. You wanted to be involved, now you are. You are now the SLDF Resistance Liason. Congratulations.” I tell her interrupting the woman before turning back to this SLDF leader. “Eris will continue this discussion. Eris figure out what they know and we can offer them what they need, use your discretion.”
“Of course.”
“Moving on.” I order Marcus cutting the Holovid I was using as Eris sighed at my lack of diplomacy.
I knew that was what she was sighing about, I had gotten good at understanding Eris’s sigh.
“Marcus next connection.” I ordered waiting a minute for the Holovid to connect as someone realized we had accepted the connection.
This time it wasn’t a young college girl.
No, this was a face I recognized, a few faces actually.
“Good morning ComStar.” I say glaring into the faces of Myndo Waterly, and others from the First Circuit.
I was looking around for the Primus, when a younger man spoke instead.
“It is a… Pleasure to finally have a chance to speak with you Commander Eisen-Blume. I am Nicholas Cassnew, precentor ROM.”
“Well since you already know me, I will skip the pleasantries. Give me Gauge Blake. Or die.” I didn’t say anything more.
I felt it rather strikingly portrayed my intentions.
“I am afraid that will not be possible, for many reasons.”
I nodded already reaching over to cut the connection when he interrupted me. “But there is more going on than you know.”
“I know a lot.”
“I am aware. Or rather I should say, your actions today have convinced me that you are more than what you have portrayed yourself to be.”
“Hardly.” I denied. “Where is Gauge?”
The room was silent on the other line as Nicholas watched me, eyes sharp. “I have one further question for your Commander. If you will allow me. I have been curious about you for some time. I even fought to allow you to continue your philanthropic activities across the Inner Sphere. Mostly because you were… different. Nothing you did ever added up. Of course now I have seen the truth. So please, answer me one question. What are the intentions of Victoria Cameron.”
“Eisen-Blume. My intention ROM, is to rescue my brother. Kill everyone who tries to stop me from doing that. And then go home.”
“And if you can’t? If we drag out Gauge Blake right now, and put a bullet in his head, as Myndo has threatened?”
My breath hitched at the very idea, and I felt my hand form into a fist. I knew I was baring my teeth, practically growling as I glared at this man, that dared to say that to me!
“You would find out just what kind of Commander I am. No, just what kind of Monster I am.”
He shook his head. “Will you be a Monster? I am very interested now in just what kind of person you are. Someone like you? With so much power at your fingertips? The Cameron returned? I wonder. Will you be another Jocasta Cameron? A saint that rules with such finesse that the Inner Sphere follows her every word? Or will you be the next Richard Cameron? What is it that drives you Commander? Idealism as you have said up until now? Or Greed?”
“I’m getting really tired of these games. I am not here to discuss politics. Give me Gauge.”
The man looked at me for a while, a silent staring contest as he contemplated something in that mind of his.
“Gauge Blake is dead. He was shot and killed as we secured the HPG. You came all this way for nothing.”
I blinked. The room around the man went utterly still, even Myndo sitting behind him jerked as she stared at the man in horror.
I opened my mouth to say something I am sure. But nothing came out. I closed my mouth.
“And now Commander. I get to see what kind of person you really are.” The comm ended, he actually hung up.
I could hear the others in the room begin stirring. Talking about what we had just been told. I could even feel Marcus come over and put a hand on my shoulder.
But none of it registered.
—--
A different perspective
Myndo Waterly
“What have you done! Her not knowing Blake is dead was our only point we could negotiate with! She-”
“What she will do Myndo is exactly what I wish to see. I already told you. ComStar regardless of what we do today is done. We will certainly not be in charge. No, in fact our heads will likely be decorating spikes soon enough. But this girl, isn’t it interesting? To find out what kind of person she is?”
“No I don’t find this very interesting!” She snapped turning to the other men. Since the landing everyone had been quiet in the room, a few injuries dotted amongst them showing that most hadn’t gone unscathed from the force of the ISDF arrival. “Well? Are the rest of you going to just sit there? Let Nicholas just throw away our only bargaining chip?”
“Myndo shut up. Most of us are just waiting for our escape plans to come into play, you’re the only one stupid enough to think we have a chance in hell anymore.” Precentor Tharkad Ulthan Everson spoke simply. “And since our Precentor ROM has already decided to throw away his life, I don’t find myself in any further mood to listen to you. Gentleman. Myndo. Good day.” He said rising to his feet and stepping towards the door.
Myndo was sure Nicholas was about going to have him killed, but nothing of the sort happened. “You are just going to let him go?” She asked only after the door had shut behind him.
“Of course. I am fairly sure we will all see each other at the show trial and execution. It is no matter if he runs now.”
“You are Precentor ROM, and you don’t think you can escape?”
“Of course I could. I could have a new face and iron clad identity by tomorrow morning. A life in a pleasant home somewhere here on Terra among the Rockies, or in the distant periphery, but I have no intention of spending the rest of my life running.” He was staring at her with that blank look on his face and Myndo knew then that she had misjudged this man for his entire career.
He wasn’t emotionless. He was insane.
“By why would I leave? I stand at the center of the future. One way or another whatever happens here on Terra will determine the course of humanity from now on. Aren’t you interested also? The… Elegance of it. A Cameron returned, the conquest of Terra, and the future it all leads to?”
“Death. It leads to nothing but death. The Successor Houses will never allow a Cameron to rule.”
He nods smiling. “Isn’t that what makes it all the more interesting?”
“Madman.”
“Probably.” He says with a shrug and a smile.
“Does that mean I can walk out that door without you shooting me in the back?”
“I won’t be the one to end your life Myndo. You can leave if you want. I promise you though, if you do? You won’t escape. Better to at least sit and watch. Like a tower crumbling while you are at the top. Better to stay at the top to see it all happen, rather than run through the insides only to be crushed without at least being able to see.”
What Myndo was about to say was cut off as something rocked the entire room.
“What was that?”
“I believe the second stage of grief. Anger.” He offered as once again the room shook, and then again.
The system was adjusted and the satellite image focused on the surface. Showing the Castle Brian that had grown out of a fallen Warship in the ocean around Hilton Head was no longer quiet.
Blasts of PPC fire, missiles, and Naval Autocannons. All fired down onto the island. The structures of ComStar. Buildings older than the Star League all crashed down and sundered as if a child was destroying a sand castle.
And about as easily.
“I suppose it is a good thing that no one is on the surface. ComGuard are still standing by on sub level 6.” Nicholas spoke with a noise that for anyone else might have been just a breath but Myndo realized it was the man's laugh.
She shivered. What a snake.
Then she scowled at what she had just thought.
“She stopped firing.” He commented then as Myndo realized the rumbling had stopped.
“There.” He said pointing but again Myndo knew he wasn’t focused on her, or the other Precentors or guards in the room.
No, it was like a child pointing out things of interest. He was… Fascinated by this. No, by the Commander.
Myndo decided then and there, she wasn’t going to stick around any longer. This madman could stand atop his tower as it tumbled down if he liked, but she was going to take the chance that she could race down the stairs fast enough.
This would not be how her life ended.
She rose and walked out the door, and not a single person stopped her. Of course she had her own escape plans. One doesn’t live in the Combine without developing the habit of learning to set up a way out. Not that you always could in the Combine, but you still did it.
So she hurried down the hallway.
—-
“You should stop. You aren’t hitting anything.” Eris tells me as I stand atop the very peak of my castle. Watching the island below me be hammered into fury and dust.
At least, I would be watching, but I couldn’t see much through the tears.
“Why? What’s the point?” I snapped back rubbing my eyes. The stupid eyepatch that I had taken such a wicked enjoyment in sporting to mess with the Combine somewhere on the floor behind me. “What am I even still doing here? Gauge is dead. We came all this way, did all these stupid things, and for what? To rescue a dead man!?”
I turned intending to snap at her only to find myself pulling into a hug. “Gauge was your brother. I understand. I lost my family too.” She whispered as she held me tight even as I weakly protested. I couldn’t.
If she did this. I wouldn’t be able…
I wouldn’t be able to go on.
“They killed him. Eris, they killed Gauge, he was… He was doing what I said! This is my fault! I shouldn’t have let him go, or I shouldn’t have ever told him we could make the Inner Sphere better! I put this stupid shit in his head and now he is dead!” I screamed into her shoulder gripping her tightly, because if I let go, I wouldn’t be able to stand.
This was my fault.
“Gauge was a man. He was entirely in control of his choices, and I remember you moping when he left. He didn’t ask you permission Vicky. He told you he was leaving. Remember?”
“That doesn’t help! He is dead!”
“And nothing we say right now will change that, but we still can change something. Are we going to let his killers escape? To run away?”
I stilled my eyes so clogged I couldn’t see anything but a blur as I looked into her face.
“No.”
“We are on Terra Commander. Standing before Hilton Head. You got us here. You led us here, and we followed. So what now?”
“Our mission… Our mission failed. So we go on to the next mission. Tell the Blackwatch to mount up. I want my brothers body secured.”
“Understood Commander. Shall I ready your mech?”
“No. Not this time. This time I will be here, showing ComStar just how… Unhappy I am.”
She nodded reaching up to quickly wipe my cheeks. The silver paint on my cheeks felt cold. Frozen.
But it was warming up.
I turned to the window watching the wretched remains of Hilton Head far below, burning and broken.
I could hear his voice, but it only came out as his last words. Over and over they repeated in my head.
“For a better future.”
—--
“ISDF. Begin assault.” I order over the line. Everyone had been gathered together. It was time to act. To move. Even if I felt lost, I could still do this. Break the holdout of ComStars former leaders and hold them until someone else got here to hold a trial for them.
I wouldn’t do it. Couldn’t. I was well aware my hand kept drifting down to my pistol on my hip.
Yeah best to let someone else take that unenviable task.
With a thought my Nanoforges woke up. From the base of my castle green fog began spreading creating a Ferrocrete bridge over the water. Slowly growing outward. Every hundred or so yards another Large Nanoforge was built just to ensure that nothing would slow the growth. I could see the ants nest just under the ground on the island begin stirring at my actions.
But I hardly cared. Their actions would be pointless.
Already the bagpipes began playing, as the Blackwatch marched.
The audio was playing quite loudly. A little addition that William had requested, if I had been any other time, and in any other situation, I would be laughing that the Blackwatch were once again marching on Terra.
But right at that moment I felt simply empty.
The bridge finished connecting my castle to the island, but that wasn’t the end of my work. Nanoforges continued to grow as it spread forward. A path had already been settled on. Eris had pathed out the best way for this assault.
Just because it needed me to create an entirely new entrance hardly mattered. William and his group, marched on. Their mechs pristine, and each of them coated in green fog, like cloaks around them.
Any damage they took would be healed in moments. It didn’t matter how many of the Comguard chose to fight. Today they would lose.
So the battle happened bellowing the earth on Hilton Head. ComGuard what few decided to stay and fight when the roof above them opened up like it had always meant to, and a Company of invincible Highlanders wearing the colors of the Blackwatch dropped on their heads.
It took only a few hours, mostly since Eris was constantly messaging the ComGuard. Telling them to surrender and that they would not be harmed. Slowly my troops pushed through the defenses what little there was, until finally. As night began falling, as I looked over the island. And received plenty of reports from Marcus, and his Nighthawks. From William and his Mechs, from Eris and our newly allied SLDF Resistance.
That Hilton Head Surrendered.
—--
A different perspective
Maya Elliot
Maya wasn’t entirely sure why she was accepting this. Although she supposed when the force with the technology and power to orbital drop a Warship just to create a beachhead, told you to send out men to certain locations and sit on them until their say so.
Maya sent out the orders and her people, mostly kids with guns and more bluster than skill did as she ordered.
Why those locations were so important, Maya had no idea, but she wasn’t about to get in the way. While still on the Comm those naval weapons had opened up on Hilton Head, And Maya had immediately agreed.
Seeing weapons of that scale blasting entire sections of the ComStar building down, watching as the massive satellite dish atop the island fell in fire and melted metal had told her just how serious these people were.
She had even taken the Comm and sat at one of the locations herself.
It wasn’t that it was the farthest point from the Hilton Head, and in an old underground Mall that had long been abandoned.
Of course anyone that looked at her could tell her tough act was breaking. She was afraid.
This had turned from a college protest, to an active rebellion, to sidelined as the ISDF did the impossible.
“Hey Maya! You hear that?”
Maya blinked looking over as one of the kids started looking around. The underground they were hanging out in was completely abandoned. Her group had to break windows and cut through old security gates to get in.
The group of three had been hanging out mostly in silence. Maya was too focused on going through the Comm channels and giving orders to people that asked for help.
But now that she was focused she did hear it. A scraping noise. They all rose and started walking through the abandoned shop fronts. The noise was growing louder and louder, and while it echoed around, it was easy enough to figure out where it all came from.
Down a side path past some bathrooms was a maintenance room, at least that is what it said on the door with fading white paint. The sign also said authorized personnel only, but no one even hesitated as they opened the door and stepped inside.
The noise of the door opening was utterly hidden by the noise one of the walls was making as it slowly grinded it’s way upwards. Dust trailing down, the wall was about head height now, and behind it a long hallway trailed off into the distance.
But it was the woman that was scrambling around inside an old locker that had much newer clothes and equipment that grabbed Maya’s attention.
It took one look before her decision was made. She walked up her rifle raised and as she got right on top of the woman she struck.
The butt stock of her rifle smashed into the side of her head, just like old Phil had shown her a few days ago, when striking with a butt stock don’t just tap them, aim for a location past their head, and that way when you strike they won’t be resisting.
She crumpled into a heap, and Maya grinned as she grabbed her radio. “ISDF this is Maya SLDF Resistance. We got a ComStar Precentor by the robes trying to sneak off through a hidden door.”
“Yes, we suspected they might use that escape path. Please secure her. Once we are done here, we will finish contact. Over.”
Maya blinked.
“Done here? What are they going to take on the entire ComGuard in an hour or something? What are we supposed to do with this?” She asked nudging the woman who was moaning a bit as she stirred.
“Hell if I know. C’mon I’m sure we can find some rope or something. Just make sure she doesn’t have a weapon.” One of her people said as he started looking through her robe to do just that.
“Yeah.”
—--
Two hours later I stepped into the panic room deep beneath the surface. The Comstar first Circuit were sitting in chairs facing me, my Nighthawk clad troops standing behind them, weapons pointed and ready.
I turned to see Myndo Waterly among them, the woman had been caught as had many of the Precentors by the SLDF Resistance.
I still sighed every time I thought of the name the terran people had decided on.
“You are all under arrest. Do not resist, and you will be treated… Well I won’t torture you, and you will get food and water.”
I looked over the group of terrified or furious people. Some of the most powerful people in the Inner Sphere.
Now they were completely incapable of even raising their voice against me. And they all knew it.
“You.” I point at the Precentor ROM. The only one that seemed completely unfazed by the way Eris was holding her weapon against his head. “You will take me to Gauge.”
“Very well.” He said simply nodding as slowly rose, purposefully not making any sudden moves as Eris shot me a look.
Precentor ROM. The spy. Probably the most dangerous man in the room, but also the one man I didn’t expect to still be here. He should have easily managed to escape, well perhaps not with our sensor, but he should have at least attempted it.
But he didn’t.
If my mind wasn’t so focused on… making sure. I would have possibly been more interested in his plots and plans.
Right then, now that I was walking through the underground of Hilton Head, as the Comstar members we passed were guided around in handcuffs. I wanted to finish my job.
I had to see.
We walked through the long corridors for a while, until finally we came into a medical bay. More than a few beds were filled, Doctors were wandering around, but stilled at my entrance. The pair of Nighthawks walking at my shoulders and pointed guns did tend to draw attention.
I followed after the Precentor as he walked through the room into a back room, which was obviously, a morgue.
I hesitated at the entrance.
Right now it felt… Fake. I felt almost blank, but I knew.
If Gauge was here… it wouldn’t be fake anymore. But my feet took a step, and another as I walked into the morgue where the Precentor was standing beside a pull drawer.
The fact it looked so similar to morgues I would have seen on TV a lifetime ago, made the entire situation feel almost… inauthentic. As if I expected something more futuristic.
I stepped forward ignoring the Precentors explanation of which one as I grabbed the drawer and pulled.
A body in dark body bag was pulled out, and it took me a moment with shaking hands to pull down the long zipper.
I didn’t even have to draw it down very far.
I knew.
I saw.
—--
