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"I think we all do Benny, but let's keep our goal in mind. The more we learn, the better we become, and the more we can teach our next group of Mechwarriors. Even if it makes us want to punch Vincent in the face." I watched the group all nod along at that before turning to someone who had been very quiet.

"Any updates from the Artillery Unit? How are you liking your new toys?"

"We are in full training mode Commander. We won't let you down again. Next time someone tries to raid Zaniah, they are going to have a big surprise on their way!" Elias stated firmly, the Artillery Unit was growing consistently. Elias was a firm believer in recruiting everyone he could get his hands on to join his unit. He probably grew the most outside of the future Mechwarriors group.

That and I had made sure he got the best toys. Between him and the Home Guard, they had received so far the most amount of equipment. Of course I had created a functional Mobile Long Tom out in the desert far from any spotters that could see it, giving the crew a place to train which they did religiously. Of course that wasn't all I had created for them. Though the mobile Long Tom was perfect for them to train on. RedBase, which was growing into a Castle Brian below the surface, had found itself with a little more than just that.

"Good. How is our surface construction going?"

"Oh I can answer this one Commander. Lieutenant Kurtz said. "The surface buildings are torn down, getting a mech to do so made it easy enough. We have finished clearing up the remains as you know and are currently waiting for the delivery of the prefab units you ordered, other than that. I spoke with an architect here on Zaniah, and we got a deal from him to design the base layout. I think it will work very well."

"Glad to hear it. Anything else we need to cover?"

""No Commander!""

"Alright dismissed!"

—-

"How about this?"

"What? Commander that is way too much. Light Light! You need to wear it in an overheating Battlemech!" Hanna argued pointing to the image. Which I rolled my eyes at her response.

"Fool! This isn't your Great house, 'I forget more about science than I remember Uniform!' This is the best bits of all the best StarLeague equipment with an actual functional armor protection for Mechwarriors, because I still have bruises from the last battle! Padding, armor, a suit that can seal up air tight. The Best NeuroHelm, or normal Helmet, for our infantry that the SLDF had. All equipped into a uniform that doesn't look like someone without functioning eyes put together. Did you see what the League raiders were wearing? I think their uniforms did more damage than their weapons."

"Haha Vicky. Now shut up. Cooling Suit or not, this is a lot, and I still say no cape."

"GASP How can you say that about my shoulder cape! It's incredibly magnificent!"

"Fuck, Did you just say GASP at me? Also only if you live on Canopus."

"Bitch! I'll show you Canopus!" I screamed as I jumped on her to try and pin her down.

Of course Hanna outmassed and out strengthed me, so a few minutes later we were back in our seats after I had offered a ceasefire.

"Fine no cape. But I insist on the Battleskirt. It's what pulls the uniform together."

"Oh I wasn't going to argue there. It looks great." Hanna agrees before she slows into a frown. "It's gonna be pretty noticeable Vicky. People don't wear stuff like this."

"People don't. We do. It's a statement Hanna. As long as they don't realize they are cooling suits until later, they will think we are just being weird. But then, some time years from now when they see our uniforms, they won't think oh that's weird. They will either think 'oh god oh god it's them.' Or they will say 'Thank god it's them.' we need to make our mark on the world."

"And a uniform is what you think will matter?"

"It will be when our base uniform is more advanced than the most advanced uniforms of the Great houses."

"Okay you got me there."

"Glad you see it my way, now help me with this bit. This damn thing isn't laying the armor over the cooling suit right."

"Yeah yeah, there, is your problem-"

—--

Although recruitment slowed to a trickle as the months passed, our actual training teams exploded. With the Centurions and Locust fully repaired and switched into the training Lances when we weren't training with Barons Alessa, they were used in training for all the future mechwarriors in the company. Giving all of them actual stick time.

This did eventually lead to a problem all military groups had when all they did was train.

"So we are seeing a pretty hefty plateau for improvement Commander. Frankly... Blue and Green training Lance are as good as we can get them considering they have had a more systemic training, and of course the tips and tricks we learned from Arthur, and the 10th. But we don't have the experience to teach them any further."

"I know what you're saying Benny, but I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"We are a Mercenary Company Vicky. We can't just, not fight." He argued, and damn him for having a point.

"You're saying you want to take another job off Zaniah, one that would split our forces when we still only have one Lance of official mechs."

"Sure, but we can bring the Artillery Unit with us… and we always have the Home Guard here. You know this is a good idea. We need the experience. Only way to get it… Is to go get it."

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "I know you're right, but my heart doesn't want to accept it."

"I know. You have a kind soul Vicky, but in this case, you aren't doing us any favors trying to protect us from everything. We can't protect our own people if we don't know how to fight."

"Okay. Benny, Just… Okay. Once we figure out what we are doing, I'll go check in with the Governess to let her know we are probably going to be doing a new contract. She isn't going to be happy that our forces are leaving."

"We aren't locked into the same contract anymore Vicky, you know as well as I do, the Governess doesn't dictate where we go."

"Alright. I'll go talk to ComStar then. I am sure we can find an MRB contract to dip our toes in the water."

"No way. I am definitely coming with you. Last time you got us stuck with the Governess, this time I get to look over the Contract first." He teased, but he meant it all the same.

"The Zaniah contract was an emergency! It all worked out in the end!"

"Sure Commander. Whatever you say."

—-

"So many of these contracts are garbage!" Benny groaned as we were sitting in my office, we had gathered a stack of potential contracts from the MRB and were going through them.

"Seriously, look at this one. They want an entire mech company, to guard their corporate headquarters. Pay is garbage salvage is 100% they offer no ammunition expenditure. So basically they just want to try and show off a bunch of mechs but not pay the mercs."

"Yeah, anyone who takes the contract deserves that trouble. Although I bet anyone who does won't accept the contractors lack of payment for long. I wonder if we will see a new contract later 'Hunt for Mercs who killed our former boss and destroyed our corporate HQ. Pay low. Salvage 100%.'" Benny joked.

"Pfff. That would be funny." I chuckle as we continue searching.

"Oh how about this one Commander? Shiloh. They want a lance and a company of infantry to garrison the capital, keep some civilians from rioting."

"Garrison contract? No way. Plus think about it Benny, We would be defending against a bunch of civilians, what does that mean if something goes wrong, and we are stuck trying to defend ourselves?"

"Warcrimes?"

"Warcrimes. I don't want to deal with riot suppression, that gets bloody, especially with a bunch of people dealing with their home."

We continued our search. "Oh, how about this one Benny, Phecda is close just one jump away. Apparently someone is really mad at one of the corporations based there. Wants a company of mechs to go bust up their workers. Pay is good, low salvage, which isn't terrible since a bunch of factory workers aren't going to have battlemechs… Oh. No wait, the corporation makes water refineries… Isn't Phecda dealing with that big water refinery project that keeps getting smashed by the League?"

"Last I heard, yeah, there was a raid on it like a year ago right? Oh look. Anonymous contractor. Yeah that smells like a League raid playing pretend there."

"Definitely a Leaguer… Toss it. They are trying to make water refineries. Considering we just spent the last year on Zaniah. That is a little annoying."

"Yeah definitely!"

"Too bad. Phecda… Well I have a few reasons to head there."

"Oh. Second Phecda contract."

"Wait seriously!? Gimme Benny Gimme!" I snatch it out of his hand and read it over. "Ah it's the other side of the coin."

"It looks good though, check out the issuer. The LCAF! Oh and it has some requirements, Arctic gear will receive preference. Do we have Arctic gear?"

"Yeah There was some in Helm… Damnit Phecda… Now that I got that name in my head it's so hard to just say no. I'm too greedy, Benny."

"What? What's so important about Phecda?"

"Let's just say I know of a potential Lostech cache there too."

"What? Even after Helm? Is there even anything there of value that you don't already have? I've seen that list of equipment on your Noteputer."

"A Colossus Dropship crashed landed there. But it may be intact enough to 'copy' that good enough for you?"

"Are you serious!? A Colossus… No no don't get distracted, Forget that for a second. Vicky… How many other caches do you know about? We need to talk about all the stuff your mother knew about and didn't go after because even one of these is enough to do… Anything."

"She didn't have any backup, and then she died. That's why I need you Benny. Can't go grab all the shiny treasures without enough metal backing me up."

He snorted at my line. "Yeah well. We all owe you Commander, you aren't getting rid of us. So contract?"

"Let's say yes for now, but I want to keep looking… While I want that dropship it may be too much too soon. There is no easy way to get that thing moving without causing a huge uproar."

"Understood Commander." He saluted which I lazily returned as he turned back into the pile of contracts. It was so weird that it was all printed out. ComStar was so 80's sometimes. Not that I could ever tell that joke to anyone.

"Oh three Contracts here that might work. A defense, and two raids." I pointed out.

"Let's see Algorab? That's pretty close too isn't it, I don't think I know anything about the planet though."

"Yeah it's just Anti-Spinward of Zaniah. It's an anti raid action… Looks like a League raid based on LIC intel? Nice. But, I don't know.. We might not even make it in time. Look, they are saying the next two months." I offered with a sigh, realizing we couldn't take this one.

"Oh. Yeah that's basically all travel time for us, we won't be much help if we show up a week too late." Benny matched my sigh. It kinda irritated us both that we couldn't get there to help. "What about the other two? Oh both of these are on Vinde-Vindemitry ugh Vin-dem-i-atrix. That name is so annoying!" Benny scowled as he had to sound the name out to get it right.

"Pff go take some more of Gauges classes! Hmm That one. No absolutely not, I refuse to take a contract that targets a Civillian Library. We already have enough issues with loss of knowledge."

"Yeah… It doesn't sound right either honestly. Oh this one is against Pirates! Apparently they tried to raid… the planet."

"Vindemiatrix."

"Yeah that. But got left behind for some reason."

"Something to ask the Contractor I suppose. Pirates… Hmm that could be a tough one. We would have to check before we fire any artillery, I would hate to hit captives." But pirates usually had mechs in poor condition, we might be able to get more salvage than normal out of it.

"Ooh. Yeah that could be an issue, well taking them out would feel good, it might also be a little rough for us if they are taking captives." Benny offered. "I don't know if everyone is ready to see something like that.. You know?"

"Yeah. I would… Well I wouldn't let our infantry move on something like that for sure. The other hand? Salvage isn't bad, we might be able to claim a mech or two." I comment. "That could really help."

"I wouldn't mind killing some pirates Commander, and I know the rest of us wouldn't either."

"Put it on the maybe list, I haven't decided yet, but it's a contender.

I went through a few more tossing more than a few into the trash, before coming up on one that I didn't even mean to read, but a few words caught my eye and when I was done I was tugging on Benny to get his attention.

"Benny! The Animals Benny! We need to save them!"

"What, Vicky, get off, what has got you so worked up?" He snatched the contract from my hands reading through it, the offer to go hunt endangered animal poachers on New Kyoto, the planet was well known for its massive reserves meant to protect species. "Well. I mean it sounds nice but there isn't exactly going to be a lot of mech combat is there? Maybe a light mech at most? Poachers aren't going to wander around in a heavy mech or something."

"But Benny! Look! All the cute animals need our help. We can't just let them get killed!"

He sighed, rolling his eyes, taking the piece of paper and to my hopeful eyes placing it on the maybe pile. "There, can we move on now?"

"Yes!"

"Okay Let's finish up this pile. It's getting late." Benny ordered plopping the rest of the contracts down, we both dug in, more than a few ending up in the rapidly filling trash can.

"Heh, Look Vicky, your specialty, Lostech hunting."

"Wait what? Really? Ugh. My head is so full of Phecda already, okay let me see. Hmm. Oh. Pfft. Did you do this on purpose!" I yelled at Benny seeing his smile and I rolled my eyes at him. "Jerk."

"Well I couldn't resist. So is that a no?"

"Definitely no. For one, we already have the Von Luckner design from the one on Helm. For two, I don't really like dead worlds Benny. They creep me out."

"What really? You afraid of ghosts or something Vicky?"

"No. Afraid of what caused that planets population to die out and get the planet pulled from the maps. They don't always write down the reasons, but sometimes… Sometimes it's because they want to protect anyone from going there."

"Creepy. Yeah that one goes in the no pile then." He offered, quickly pushing it into the trash.

"Shiloh again here." I mention pushing the contract over.

Benny reads through it for a while "Hmm. Doesn't seem so bad. There will definitely be a fight if we do this one... Probably I mean escorting some people around a hostile planet is bound to attract some attention, but I don't get why they want to send civilians over. And apparently all they want to do is some studies on the amount of money they can make from the planet's resources? I mean Shiloh is still a League planet. Guaranteed if we stick around too long we will get more than just the local militia to contend with."

"Put it on the maybe pile. It sounds like someone is expecting a cakewalk, and I don't trust people that think their enemy doesn't get a choice."

"Yeah that's true Commander. Shiloh has those crystals though right? The really expensive ones?"

"Yeah Shukam if I remember right, they are worth a ton, I wonder if I could produce them."

"Probably your lostech is crazy like that, but you wouldn't be able to make too many of them right? Someone would notice crystals flooding the market that are only supposed to have a source on one planet."

"It would have been cool though."

"Definitely cool."

The next contract had me groaning into my palms as I resisted the allure.

"What?"

"Must resist helping cute endangered animals!"

"Wha- Another one? How many poachers does this planet have!"

"Not poachers this time. Apparently there is an invasive species killing everything."

"Oh.. I mean. We could do a pretty good job with that but again, not a combat mission Vicky."

"I know. I know. But the poor babies."

"Moving on Commander."

The next few minutes passed in silence before I snorted while reading a contract. "Really? Who would be stupid enough to try this again!"

"What?" I threw the contract at him and let him read for a few moments before his face broke into a look of horror. "Didn't the League try this already?"

"Yeah just a few years ago, and they paid for it. No one just steals or attacks Cranston Snords museum. Apparently he is a bit finicky about it. If you do he follows you back to your home and robs everything back while crushing your mech force. Or at least that is what happened last time." I joked the Contract to raid Snords museum was obviously issued by someone high up in house Marik, maybe even the Captain General himself.

"Probably. Toss it?"

"Hell no, Burn that thing I don't want anyone thinking we even considered it! It's a fucking museum! We don't attack museums! What the hell is wrong with these assholes! They are lucky they didn't list the exact contractor, I'm tempted to find them and introduce them to my Mech sized boot."

"Hell yeah."

"Last few."

"Finally. Okay we got… Trash. Trash… What? Is that even a thin-Oh. Canpopus. Of course, trashing that one. Oh here."

"Hmm? What did you find Vicky?"

"Ever heard of the "Brotherhood of Cincinnatus?" I asked, the name meant nothing to me.

"Never. What's it say?"

"They are looking for someone to add more tonnage for a raid looks like."

"Oh. That could work pretty well Vicky. We could get some experience working with an allied command."

"Yeah but we would also have to work with an allied command structure. What if something screws up and they decide the mercs are less important than their units?"

"I think that's something we will always worry about Vicky."

"No. Benny put it on the no pile. I don't know who these guys are, and I don't like the idea of not being in command. We had some other great offers after all."

"Alright, that's it then." He says as he tosses the last of the Contracts into the trash. "We got these ones on the maybe pile. So Commander?"

"Nope. We are going to throw a meeting together, let everyone decide this time."

"Huh well if you want Vicky. C'mon it's way past chow time."

"Yeah sounds good, I bet we can find something interesting in the cafeteria."

"Oh yeah, Himmel isn't on chef duty tonight." Benny mentioned as he stood up stretching out.

"Oh thank God. Let's go!"

—-

"So, here are the contracts we are considering, each of them brings something to the table, some more than others, some more risk than others. Browse through them, I want everyone to read each one, get an idea of what each offers and asks." I tell the room, the full Command staff gathered once more as we looked over the pile of papers Benny and I had passed out.

I gave the group a few minutes to parse through the contracts offered. Hanna was the first to speak up. "Okay Vicky, which one do you think is the best? I know you, you wouldn't offer a list like this without having your own opinion."

"Nope! I do have a few preferences, but this isn't just about me. I want an outside perspective. So you tell me your thoughts, without me influencing you."

"Ugh, whatever. I like the Pirate assault. It'll be a while before we can get there, so the pirates will definitely have done repairs, but beating up pirates is always a good thing. We should do that one. It's a fast job. We can basically be in and out, especially since they can't hide from us."

"Hmm. I agree with Hanna. Pirates deserve to be taken out, plus we will have surprise on our side with that. They won't know where we are, but we will know where they are. Sounds like an easy mission." Gauge offered.

"While I do agree the pirate mission sounds good. It's not a mission that has any real importance behind it. The Pirates are trapped, they aren't going anywhere for now, but this.. This is big. The Phecda contract gives us another connection to the LCAF, and while it is another garrison mission, well, we are good at that. There will definitely be a fight, the League have been attacking constantly to try and stop them from putting up that refinery factory." Lieutenant Kurtz offered nodding firmly. "It's the most important job here."

"Not the Pirate raid?" I ask noting that both missions were similar in some ways.

"No. Vindemiatrix already has a solid militia. They can hold off the pirates if not take them out, but Phecda has been an ongoing problem."

"That's exactly why Phecda can wait!" Elias argued. "We should do the Pirate job. It's the most time sensitive. And if we show up we guarantee we can stomp them flat. This time. They won't get a chance to even fire their weapons. Let the Artillery Unit come along Commander. We will knock their base into kindling."

"Whoa. Easy! We don't know how many hostages they might have or civilians forced to work for them at gun point. We can't just flatten the entire place."

"Bu-Yeah… Yeah I know. Sorry." Elias offered looking quite conflicted.

"Don't worry Elias, we know what you meant. We trust you."

"Thanks Commander. I won't let you down again."

"You never did."

"Alright my turn then." Benny continued. "Considering everything, we should take the pirate job. It's a fast job. Guarantees us combat, we know basically what the enemy has, and their advantage of being in a military base doesn't matter so much for us. They can't sneak out, and we can take out any static defenses without too much of an issue."

"Oh phooey! Where is your sense of duty Benny!" Hanna jostled him slightly. "What if we don't want a safe job!"

"No job is ever safe. Don't forget that." I interrupt their joking. "If those pirates are veterans, it doesn't matter our advantages, they have their own."

Flushing a little, Hanna nodded. She constantly spoke about the Wolverine during the raid, the one that took on our group three on one, and just wouldn't be put down. Hanna had taken it personally, training harder than anyone else. It helped that she had the least amount of actual duties, but her cooling suit and new Neurohelm had been stress tested the most out of our group.

"There is another option." Gauge offered slowly. "We could do multiple missions. Splitting up our forces."

"No."

"Not a chance!" Benny and I both spoke at once and I waved him forward letting him speak. "We don't have the experience to even hope for that, or the numbers. Maybe if we had two complete Lances, but we don't not yet. After this job, if we can claim some of the pirate mechs, we might be able to afford something like that, but even then I would feel more comfortable taking two lances, rather than splitting them."

"Benny has it right. Gauge. We have some advantages, advantages that no one knows about or expects, but just because it's an advantage doesn't mean we win. We need to get even more advantages to make a real difference. Teamwork. Experience. Training. Equipment. Support. These are advantages that others already cultivate. We are behind the game, so we need to play catch up."

"Understood Commander." Gauge offered a little petulant, but I nodded and moved on. I would chat with him later. "Okay so the current Red lance will go, but I won't take part in the battle, I'll be going purely as the command element. Benny I want you with us this time, you need the experience as well."

"Are you sure Commander?"

"I am. We aren't going with everyone. Gauge. You've been really involved in your classes. Do you want to stay or go?"

"Oh… I want to stay. I'm still digging into the Memory Core. There is so much to learn!"

"Okay you are in charge while we are gone, so don't get lost completely in your head."

"I won't Vicky!"

"With that, we will take a mix of Red and Green Lance as our force this time. Benny will lead, Hanna, and Lenden will support, and Erica will be your scout. I want her to get practice using the sensor system."

"Sounds good to me Commander. We won't have any issues this time."

"Oh I know. That's why we are bringing along the Artillery Unit, and Delta Ops."

"Oh, You want Delta to come too?" Carl asked, perking up into a smile.

"Yes. We may be able to always know where they are, but stealth may be important for this. If they have any captives… Delta will be needed to make sure that when we move, they don't get killed."

"Can do Commander! Leave it to Delta Ops. Don't be surprised about the fires though!"

"NO WAR CRIMES CARL!"

—-

That afternoon I walked into the Starboro HPG terminal to send a message to Governor Maruska, the issuer of the Vindemiatrix contract. It wasn't difficult, confirming contract offers were pretty standard ComStar MRB business. I did have some slight changes to the contract, which wasn't abnormal.

Honestly I just asked for complete medcare in case of any injuries on the job. Had to make sure my kids would be alright if they got hurt. With that I moved on to the next difficult part of the job.

My meeting request with Governess Alessa was accepted, and I found myself in the same waiting room that I had met with her last time.

She entered a half hour later, as confident as any noblewoman can be. "You requested a meeting, Commander Eisen-Blume?"

"I did Lady Alessa. The Iron Blooded have taken a short contract off world. I wanted to inform you that our mech Lance will be unavailable for a few months while that contract is active."

I could see the disquiet on her face at that answer. "I thought you said that you would be staying on Zaniah for some time last we spoke Commander."

"That was the plan, but our training is going well, and I need to get my people more experience. I have too many green troops, and not enough battles to blood them with. You don't have to be too concerned Lady Alessa, I am not taking my entire force. You will still have our assistance if another raid comes through. I am not leaving my kids here without a few big surprises for anyone seeking trouble."

"But not your mechs."

"But not all my mechs, my mechwarriors need experience. So we go to get some. And hopefully come back with some more mechs. But I am only taking a Lance, the rest will stay to defend the planet."

"I see. I can't say it isn't disappointing, But you will do as you like. How long do you expect your Lance to be gone?"

"Well travel time notwithstanding, the mission itself should be rather quick, unless something goes wrong. I expect the fight itself should only take a week or so. Shouldn't be long before we are back."

"That is reassuring, as much as I have confidence in my sons talents, I will be more comfortable to know there is another Lance of mechs supporting them."

"Well you will still have our scouts, and other support while we are gone if something does come up."

"Hmm. I suppose I should simply be grateful for that. I will hold your men to that. Well Commander Eisen-Blume. I wish you luck then."

"Governess Alessa. As always a pleasure." I offer back, although I said it neutrally I really did mean it sarcastically. The woman was a pain in my ass.

I left in a hurry after that. We had a lot of preparation to complete before we got our confirmation on travel plans back from the Contractor. While I was out, I stopped over at the Planetary Guard office to put in one more request. A little bit of a surprise, and something I probably should have done months ago, but things had gotten away with me. At least we should hear something back maybe by the time I get back from this job.

Hopefully.

—-

That night. As everyone else slept I entered into my secret room. Thanks to a little combination between the sensors and a factory it was pretty easy to make equipment fitted specifically for every person. Before I left every single one of my kids found a present outside their room in a box with their name on it. It was the first step to a huge change to the Inner Sphere. Although that as always takes time.

—--

A different perspective

Frank Tillian

Zaniah III

Old apartment buildings, Condemned.

Frank groaned as he shut the door behind him. The wooden door, which wasn't actually wood since there was almost no trees on this planet, creaked and groaned as it settled.

"You get the food?"

"Of course. The old man was glaring at me the whole time, but he did sell me the food. Unlike Toni."

"It's not my fault! I was chatting with one of the kids, not my fault I gave them some candy so they would talk.. The old man thought I was a molester!"

"And that is why Toni isn't allowed near the damn shop anymore, and I have to do every food run, so fuck you Toni."

"Yeah yeah whatever Frank. So that's the food, everyone gather up let's see what we learned." Toni called them all together as they sat around the damaged old furniture, there was five of them in total working together in a cell trying to gather information on these Iron Blooded Orphans. Unfortunately, it wasn't going well.

"We can't blend in with the locals. They all know each other on sight, and they have become protective of the kids." Toni started. "The kids' base is also surprisingly secure. I tried sneaking in through the desert. They picked me up in one of those trucks, gave me water and told me the desert was dangerous. Fucking brats."

"Better than them shooting you. Any idea how they knew you were coming?"

"None I checked for trip lines and things, and none of my scanners read any sort of laser detection. They just… Drove up to me in the middle of the desert and told me to go away."

"They're guards are good. Tried coming up to the wall to sneak over? Guards were waiting on the other side. One of the brats tased me."

"You are lucky they didn't shoot you Pete."

"Yeah, I didn't feel lucky. Those tasers they had were nasty."

"Yeah? That's cause you guys are idiots, I got one of them talking, and they eventually cracked." Frank informed the group shoveling a helping of noodles into his mouth.

"Yeah? What did they say?"

"They said our attempts to break into the base were funny, and they were under orders to treat us with kid gloves. Apparently they know we are LIC and don't want to cause any trouble." Frank admitted continuing to eat as all the agents, spys one and all, skilled and trained realized they were being toyed with by a bunch of orphan teenagers.

"What the fuck is wrong with this planet?"

"It must be something in the air. I never dealt with a stupider situation in my life until I came here."

"Frank you are just fuckig with us right? No way one of the orphans said that."

"She did. It gets worse too."

"Fuck me. What? Did she say your real name or something?"

"No thank God. No, she said that every time one of their guards catches us before we can sneak in, or one of the kids lays us false information. They get a reward back at base."

"God damnit. I could be on Solaris right now."

"Yeah but no we had to get pulled into this shit show because the kids embarrassed the local Governess."

"Not surprised. Considering they have been leading us around the damn nose."

"I'm taking tomorrow off. Gonna go find a bar in the city."

"Yeah, sounds good. Are you coming, Frank?"

"Might as well. We aren't gathering anything here."

"Command's not gonna be happy."

"Eh fuck em. Tell them the kids have too much security, if they want any info on the inside send a fucking Lohengrin orphan."

1138

Chapter 7.1 It's a Horror movie trope, not to see the monster until the end.

3021

Vindemiatrix

Treshira Starport

The landing in Treshira was rough. Mostly because the Leopard hired to carry us wasn't doing very well. Carl gently unwound my locked up fingers from his arm as the Leopard finally slowed to a stop on the runway.

"Well we made it."

"BARELY." I hissed as I rose on shaky legs. Never again. Getting a Dropship just became Priority number one. Pirates? Piss on them, they can wait, Dropship. That's important.

"Calm down Vicky. It's okay. We landed just fine." Carl offered, sounding only half apologetic. The rest was amusement.

"BARELY!"

"Oh, is the Commander still out of it? That's fine, I'll start getting everyone ready for the unload, Carl you keep an eye on her?" Benny asked as he walked past the two of us as he sauntered out into the Leopards hangar to ready the army of uniform clad orphans out of the ship.

Yeah our uniforms were done. It had taken me a lot longer than I expected to modify everything. First we had to take the base pieces and physically modify them, then copy that, then modify it again, and again, and again.

But after at least forty iterations, everything fit comfortably, and more importantly offered benefits no one would be aware of right away.

The fact I made them look similar to what I remembered from the Battletech PC Games outfits was a complete coincidence, and not at all a declaration that I was so done looking like a reject from the space 80's.

Now I looked like space warrior modern edition. {Source}

And so did all my kids.

Of course I kept our concrete styled white, and red color scheme. It was a theme at this point. So as I walked out of the Leopard, my kids running around wearing their full armor, as I had ordered whenever we were on campaign, I had recovered enough that I sauntered over to the group that had stepped out of some fancy hover cars and were waiting for us. I could tell the look of surprise wash over their face as I waltzed up in a very expensive, and well armored uniform.

"Commander Eisen-Blume. I was told my contact would be a 'Virgil Carolus?'" I offered and I could see the man that reminded me a lot of Arthur step forward.

"Commander a pleasure to meet you, I am Virgil, Governor Maruska's aide, and since he couldn't find time to make his all the way to Treshira I will be acting as your contractor for the duration of this mission."

"Good. My men will be unloaded soon, and we can start our preparations."

"Ah. That's rather quick Commander, are you sure you don't wish to gather more intelligence. The Pirates have been stable. They don't seem to have any interest in leaving the base."

"A guide to the general area, and anything you might think is important is all we will need Mr. Carolus. The Iron Blooded Orphans are ready. We just need some time to stretch our legs, and we will be good to go."

"Ah. Very good then Commander this is…"

"Colonel Mark Maruska Planetary Defense force." A second man stepped forward and hesitated for a moment. He looked like he was trying to decide if this was a trick or not, but eventually it looks like his manners won out. I could smell alcohol on his breath despite the fact he was in uniform. He offered his hand which I shook firmly, being careful not to squeeze too hard. The gloves on my uniform were armored after all.

"A pleasure to meet you. Anything you can tell me about these pirates that might be important during my assault would be appreciated."

The strange look on his face seemed to finally take over, and it was obvious he couldn't hold it in, "I can't, this has got to be a joke. Where is your actual Commander kid, I can't deal with a little girl playing dress up right now." The Colonel questioned laughing the whole while. I could instantly tell this was going to be an annoying meeting.

"The Iron Blooded Orphans, combat uniform does it's job. Keeps our insides on the inside."

"Pfft, your fucking with me." He turned towards Mr. Carolus. "Virgil, what is this? Father really paid money for a bunch of kids. Look!" He pointed to the crew unloading our gear. "I don't think a single of them is old enough to be out of school, much less take out the rest of the Red Vultures!"

"Colonel. We hired these Mercenaries through the MRB, they are certified. I apologize, Commander. You must-"

I waved him off. "Apologize after we clean up your pirates, or don't it doesn't matter to me, or my men. I just need to know what I need to watch out for, Number of mechs, any hostages, defenses?" I asked, although honestly?

I didn't need to know any of that.

"We don't know for sure how many mechs they still have active, but I have all the data right here." He offers handing me a packet of paper as the Colonel continues to scoff at the thought of us fighting.

Whatever. Not my problem.

"Good. I would like to move out tomorrow then if you can base us somewhere for the night. I don't want any travel lag to interfere."

"Of course, we already prepared for that Commander, we opened one of our bases to you for your stay." Mr. Carolus offered as he pointed out on the front of the packet. The first page was a map showing us the path to a military base.

"Perfect. I'll get my men settled for the night, go over the plan, and move in the morning."

"Now I know you're joking. This kid is going to rush in and get killed, probably give those pirates more mechs to play with, Virgil! I'm calling my father about this nonsense, ComStar have obviously lost their minds!"

The Young colonel, and he was young, I wouldn't put him past early thirties. Stomped off, back towards the most expensive car in the convoy.

"I-"

I waved him off again. "Apologize later. Work now."

"Agreed. Here is the route to tak-"

—-

"So what do they know?" I ask the group. My combat group were standing around a table that had the papers splayed across them.

"They know the pirates had a Lance of Battlemechs. A Shadow Hawk, SHD-2K. A Vulcan, VL-5T. A Panther PNT-9R. And a Firestarter, FS9-H. What they don't know is the current status of most of those. They know at least the Panther is still active. Apparently they get random PPC fire every once in a while." Benny offers pointing to a paper.

"But that's not all they have." Lenden offers pushing another paper closer. "Apparently, when they took the base they claimed the unknown number of vehicles that were stored there."

"Somehow the Planetary defense doesn't know how many tanks they took?" I ask.

"Nope. The base was used as a training base. A lot of the vehicles there were wrecks. They don't know how many of them are usable."

"Do the pirates even have enough people to drive the tanks and the mechs?" Hanna asked, noticing the issue.

"Apparently, the Dropship that was disabled, it was taking off at the time. So the damage wasn't catastrophic when it crashed. The survivors gathered together and drove off in land vehicles they had with them, or stole."

"So these pirates have been fucking around for over two months now and the government doesn't have any idea how much force they can actually bring to bear?" Lenden asked, sounding thoroughly amused.

"Commander, I thought Benny was supposed to keep you from picking out any more potato level jobs?"

"Fuck you Lenden. The job is solid, the intel is just spotty, and that isn't a problem anyways." I reminded him with a jab with my elbow. His armor stopped it from doing more than jostling the older boy.

"Yeah and the planetary guard think we are in pre-school, refuse to talk to us, and their Colonel laughs every time he sees one of us, or gets mad. You now, like a normal Vicky mission." Lenden points out.

"Yeah this is definitely a Vicky Mission." Hanna adds, her smirk stretching her lips.

"Vicky mission." Benny offers patting Lendens shoulder like he was consoling him.

"So it's treason then." I hissed, dammit I didn't have a lightsaber.

Note to self, Lightsabers.

"Now that, 'let's fuck around with our Commanding officer is OVER.'"

"Well I still-"

"Carl, I swear to god. I will make you regret ever being born. So help me."

Instead of saying anything the boy wisely raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay so back to work. We generally know where they are. We confirmed at least that they don't have any hostages, well that we know of. The training base was alerted and they pulled everyone out before the pirates claimed it."

"Yeah nice of them to not even try to use the defenses or at least sabotage them." Lenden added snidely, the boy was already growing bored as he formed one of the papers into a paper airplane.

"It's fine, they only have a few turrets, mostly for anti-air. The base is in the middle of a deep forest. So we have lots of cover."

"So do they."

"Yeah but Lenden, Cover works both ways. And we have better eyes than they do."

He nodded at that. "That's true, what about our Carriers? Up in the mountains in a forest isn't going to let them do much."

"Hey! The Artillery Unit can handle any terrain!" Elias spoke up, affronted.

"We are going to go slow and steady, they can't ambush us, and they can't use traps against us. So we surprise them. They will think they have every advantage. We will whittle those advantages down." I offer my smile turning sharp.

"First. Once we get up there, we find a location." I motion towards the map we had been given of the area. "We build some defenses for the Carriers."

"Oh You mean capital B build huh? Sure that's safe?"

"It will be, I'll check to make sure we don't have any spies, but the plan is to get them to leave the base, the base is only a minor objective, but I bet we can get a bonus if we return the base still intact."

"Wait, you want to fight them in the forest?"

"No Lenden. I want to kill them in the forest. A fight means they stand a chance."

It took a moment for that to pass through his head, before his grin turned sinister "Oh Commander. I sometimes forget how much of a troublemaker you were before all this. I'm in."

That night I took off in the Locust. For once thankful that we weren't fully professional, as the Locust never did get the Nanoforge refitted to a Medium laser. And in a bright green flash far from civilization. A Metal Extractor came into being.

—-

We moved out the next morning. Our little convoy of four mechs, two carriers, and two trucks, one for me and the Delta Ops, and another with some of the loaders from the Artillery Unit.

I wasn't taking part in this fight from the cockpit. Shocking, I know.

But Erica needed some experience in a fight and she had earned my Locust. I wouldn't take it from her. She was still terrified of combat, so she would have to get over that soon if she wanted to be a Mechwarrior

As we rumbled along I kept my eyes on my Sensor, although instead of calling out anything interesting, I was constantly radioing in to Erica to ask for updates.

She was a scout after all, even if she didn't have to actually leave the group to do the scouting, she would need to be in the habit of transmitting information.

"A-ah, I see the base on the sensors now. It looks like we had some i-intel issues. There are six mechs on base."

"Fuck. Alright Green 3. Give me a sitrep." Benny ordered out, taking over as planned.

"O-oh, Umm confirmation on the four reported mechs, although it looks like the Vulcan is damaged… The two new mechs are a Javelin, JVN-10N, and a Locust, LVT-1V."

"Hmm Where did the extra mechs come from?" Benny wondered aloud.

"Raiding during the last few months maybe?" Lenden offered with an audible shrug his armor shifting coming over the comms. "Who cares? They need to be taken out, so we take them out, more salvage for us."

"Lenden, no Rough Squad antics this time." I ordered out.

"Aww C'mon Commander! You are taking away all the fun."

"We aren't here for fun, we are here to prove we know what we are doing and for the reputation involved."

"Roger that Commander. Lenden, you'll have plenty of fun, but let's focus up. Green 3, vehicles?"

"Oh yes! Vedette Medium tanks are active. I see four of them looking functional, but it looks like they are trying to repair two more." Erica replied, her voice calmer now.

"Okay, good job Green 3." Benny offered, "Alright listen up. Once we set up our FOB our goal is to complete this mission without a scratch on our armor. That means we work together, keep focused, and don't let up! First targets are going to be the light mechs, we want to remove any ability to escape. Remember our job isn't to retake the base, that's just a bonus, our job is to remove the pirates completely."

""Yes! Green 1!""

I smiled. Benny was in his element. We traveled up the mountain passes, and it wasn't long before we came up to our first issue.

"Commander, there is a man up ahead in what looks like some sort of hut. He does have a radio on him, I think he is a scout for the pirates."

"Good catch Green 3, I agree. Well Delta Ops. This time you're up."

—-

A different perspective.

Anthoni Elric.

Treshira mountains.

Toni, was getting truly sick of being the 'spotter' while the rest of the gang were back at base, sleeping comfy in the military barracks, he was out here in a roughly put together hut they had made, watching the damn road. Sure they were up in the mountains, but this planet with it's fucked up sun was still hotter than he really wanted to deal with.

"Bet they're all eating the good food, probably all cooked and hot, instead of this." he grunted, shoveling another spoonful of lukewarm mash into his face. The food that his gang had left him with was stuff that could be stored without a fridge. Not exactly what you want to eat for weeks on end though.

Weeks had gone by since he had even seen a single military scout. At first they had sent them up all the time, trying to figure out what the gang was up to.

Toni had spotted every one of them. The road was the only way up this side of the mountain, unless you had jump jets on a mech, but those things were loud. So he wasn't worried besides, his little hut was well hidden, nearly invisible from the road, and even harder to spot from any other direction. He spotted the fools that drove up in jeeps, and informed Martin. Martin loved shooting light vehicles with his PPC.

Toni was so sure of his safety, so sure that no one could get past him. He never heard the birdsong die down, as he chewed on his meal. Never heard the knife slip out from a sheath.

He certainly never heard anything ever again.

—-

A different perspective

Carl

Delta Ops

Treshira Mountains

"Commander. Enemy down, we have the radio, and are heading to the road for pickup." Carl said before turning to his squad. He was surprisingly okay with what just happened. He always expected his first kill to be more of an explosion of regret, or conscience. Instead his hands felt steady and he was feeling good.

Ready to continue with their mission.

"You okay Carl?" Samantha asked aloud, forgoing the radio for the moment.

"I'm okay Sam, not about to let killing a pirate mess with my calm. We got work to do."

She nodded once firmly, and the squad filed out of the small hut, leaving the corpse where it lay. It wasn't their concern. They had a job to do, and the entire Delta Ops would be damned before they messed this up.

The Delta Ops had a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Despite helping with Helm, despite doing something so amazing, few of the other Iron Blooded knew about it. To most of the Company, they were just the weird Delta guys.

Carl wanted to make a statement, so as much as Green Lances newbies wanted to show off, Delta Ops wanted it even more.

The power on their NightHawks still near fully charged the small group left, rushing through the forest, using their jump jets from time to time to move over obstacles, until they were overlooking the road. The mechs already started to tromp past them as they waited, Lenden giving wave as he stormed past.

Once the mechs were clear, the Norman truck they were using as a command vehicle, and a storage for the NightHawks slowed to a stop below them.

They jumped from the cliff, months of training let them activate their jump jets, slowing them to a more comfortable landing beside the truck, as they all clambered into the back of the truck.

"Good job out there!" Vicky yelled out from the back window of the truck, Carl handed the radio to her getting a thumbs up before settling in, turning his NightHawk to low power mode until they would be needed again.

—-

With the spotter dead, and their radio in our hands we now had a path straight to the base. Other than the land mines that they had placed further up the road, but landmines are only a threat if you don't know they are there.

They didn't have any other spotters. Pirates' discipline wasn't their best trait after all. Not that it would have mattered if they did.

"Okay Green 3, did you find a good place for our FOB?"

"I did Commander! Sending coordinates now!"

I looked over the space Erica picked out. It was just a bit north of the base, and was actually at a higher elevation, giving a good overlook of the base. If we positioned ourselves correctly, we could probably attack without them being able to see us. "Good spot. Let's move out!"

Eventually we had to move off road which did present some issues we hadn't considered. "Okay smash that tree out of the way, try to keep it quiet!" I called out to Benny who was using a small laser and his gripping arm to cut a tree out of the way of our Carriers.

It worked, and after a few minutes of stomping on the fires we cleared the path and the Carriers made another few meters before we found another stoppage.

"Okay! That's enough Green 3. I'm swapping with you for a bit." I growl. I was not happy sitting around while daylight was burning.

When Erica swapped seats with me I could tell she was unhappy, but I clapped her armored shoulder as we passed. "Just until we get to the FOB. The Battle, and the Mech is still yours." Once I was in the Locust. The bright light of the Nanoforge quickly cleared our path, best thing? It was quiet, and I could construct a dirt road without much issue. We started making incredible time while driving literally through the middle of a forest.

The location of our FOB was reached within just an hour at that rate, and after first clearing the area, I started building. First strong walls, made up of the same material as a Castle Brian. In other words nothing the pirates had would do much against these without a real concerted effort.

Then I built up a few Turrets at each of the four corners. These were actually AC/20 Turrets. Anything looking to attack our little fort would swiftly wish it wasn't surrounded by trees, because to get close enough to attack would mean you are close enough for the turrets to return fire.

Housing came next, A secondary building in the middle, for us to use to bunker down in case we are attacked.

Then I just made a junction for our Carriers, and enough LRM ammo to refuel a few hundred times if necessary. I did have to slow what I created, in order to let the metal extractor catch up on the metal production, but as night fell we were done.

After switching out of the Locust, giving it back to Erica. I settled into the small Command office I had created. A powerful radio system would keep us in contact even if the pirates had some more powerful ECM, or jamming equipment. And since it was SLDF equipment, it should be impossible for some Pirates to listen in.

"Alright. Operation Midnight visitors is a go!"

"Commander. Please pick a better operation name, or let Benny choose." Lenden complained.

"Commander prerogative to pick the operation names! Now move your ass Green 4!"

"Yeah yeah. Fuckin ey Benny how do we put up with this shit."

"You are still broadcasting to me as well, Lenden!" I snark at him which causes his broadcast to suddenly end.

Moron.

From there. Benny took Command. "This is Green 1. Green 3, provide coordinates for bombardment to our Lance. Command will determine Carrier group targets. Let's move Mechwarriors."

But none of us expected the radio to crackle to life and for me to listen in on an interesting response. "Hold on a moment Benny. They might just make this even easier for us."

—-

A different perspective

Damien Cross

Treshira Mountain Military Base.

Darrien Cross wasn't used to dealing with this level of trouble. He had been a pirate for years, had been on more than a few raids, but he had never had a drop ship drop out from under him, or at least never had one dropped out, while the pirates were leaving the planet.

He had known just as they did, they weren't going to turn around to pick him up. The Red Vultures had a code. There was no way they would turn around to try and save his scrawny ass, not even for his mechs. The Dropship crash had been an accident. One of the damn engines gave out mid thrust.

A complete one in a million.

Of course no one knew that at the time. All the other pirates saw was their dropship suddenly fall out of the air. Of course they didn't turn around. No way would they risk their metal.

But Darrien had sprung into action. Readying those that survived, arming them all and making a breakout into the forest. They had been chased but mechs were far superior to vehicles in the forests. Especially Pots in his Firestarter. A few forest fires, a few hijackings to get more vehicles, eventually sneaking onto a military training base and taking over.

It had been going better than he expected. They had managed to take on enough metal that no one on the Planetary Guard was willing to make a move. Not with the mountains and forests between them. Sure they would have been in trouble from AFS bombing runs, but that was what the AA turrets on the base were for.

So he settled in, planned. Killed a few of his men that came up with stupid ideas like trying to blend into the population, or escape.

He couldn't have any of them wander off while he still needed them. Plus he was the boss, and so he was already trying to get them all off planet. There were plenty of dropships willing to make a nice stack of C-bills for just picking up a group and taking them somewhere.

No one had bit yet. The Planetary Governor was doing a good job of keeping the sky above the base clear.

Still they had time. They had pushed back the first push of tanks and air support that tried to push them out. The AA turrets and mechs took out that attack. Since then, small scouting attacks have come through, but nothing they weren't ready for. Scouts on each of the roads on the way up, and a watchful eye for any tricks kept their base secure.

That and the mines on the roads.

The passing months had given him enough time to get some of the vehicles running, he had even managed to put the two light mechs back together. They had been stolen during the raids, but too damaged to do more than haul away. Not that they would help much, but gifting the mechs to some of his dispossessed warriors had kept morale up. No Mechwarrior wanted to lose their ride once they got one. So they stayed instead of trying to run into the forest to escape.

It had been working well. Food wasn't too hard to come by. There was a sort of deer that tasted pretty good, in the forest. Apparently it was endangered? Not his concern. The rest of the supplies? Well they were starting to run low, but not to the point where they needed to think about raiding.

"Yo Darrien. Toni ain't responding to his radio." Mal called out as Darrien was doing his rounds, if he didn't he would find his crew slacking around, only when he was around cracking the whip did shit get done.

"What? Fucker, Mal It's Captain! You shit. And give me that fucking radio," he snatched it from Mals hand and flipped the button. "Toni, you fat fuck this is Darrien, if you don't respond to me in ten seconds, I'm sending a fucking kill squad out to remove your bottomless hole!"

Not a sound came through. "Toni?" he repeated but nothing but static.

Darrien had known the man for years now, there was a reason he had put him on scout duty, he was good at it, and although sometimes he wouldn't respond to the radio right away, the man was also a coward. Threaten him, and getting to that radio would be his first and only job.

But nothing came through.

"I don't like this." He muttered to himself. "Mal, go wake everyone up, tell them to get mounted up. Something fucky is going on."

"C'mon Darr-Captain, it's just Toni fallin asleep or some shit, everyone is partying right now, if I go tell them to mount up I'll be dealing with whining all week."

"If you don't do as I say, you won't be having any problems next week."

"Alright alright! I'm on it Captain." Mal huffed as he wandered off.

Darrien was getting that feeling down his spine when shit was about to hit the fan. So instead of wandering around he made his way over to his ShadowHawk. The startup was fast enough, the damn thing just needed a few kicks to get all the displays to turn on.

It was all quiet according to his sensors. Nothing on thermal or vibration. "Am I just overreacting?"

His heart was starting to slow down, as the sense of fear disappeared. He waited for the rest of his Lance to mount up.

"Fuck Darrien, I was just about to get some, you pulled me away cause Toni fell asleep jackin off again?"

"Like fuck you were Pots, I wouldn't touch your shit even if your Firestarter was on the table." Milly in her Vulcan hissed out over comms.

"Hah! Like hell I'd ever wager my girl. She's got me through all sorts of scrapes."

"Enough! Toni isn't responding still. So that means something happened to him, chance it's nothing, but chance is it's a Planetary Guard column moving up to fuck us in the ass. So we are moving out, going to go check the road, and check on the fucker to see if we need to kill him for fucking around. Let's move."

His order was listened to if not without plenty of grumbling as the four mechs of his Lance moved out, The secondary Lance, moved with them. They were supposed to screen the advance, but the light mech pilots often stuck too close to do that. Unfortunately they had only been mechwarriors for a short time, and they often came too close. Feeling safer in a group.

"Mitchell, get the tanks prepped too. I don't want any surprises while we are gone." He radioed out, that tingling down his back was still just as strong.

"Yeah yeah 'captain' Let me handle the ground pounders. You lead your mechs around." The tank commander responded as Darrien grit his teeth. If these men would just follow his orders he could have already left this miserable backwater. But no, every order had to be cajoled, or bribed. It was miserable. He didn't know how Red had done it.

The Lance headed out of the base, into the forest, stepping carefully in their lackluster formation.

The forest was quiet, and there wasn't even a moon to guide them, as they traveled. First Darrien wanted eyes on the road, he wasn't about to let this whole night be ruined just because Toni fell asleep or fell off a cliff or something.

The glow of his faulty nightvision lit up the forest in a green haze. Thermal barely worked on his mech, never had really, but it had only gotten worse over the years. So he was stuck with this vision if he wanted to see anything at night. The small lights on the front of his mech barely illuminated anything, and one of them was still broken. Even replacing the light didn't fix that problem so it was some internal wiring not connected.

As they traveled in the dark something kept tingling up his spine. Something was wrong, but he couldn't figure it out. Like an itch under his skin.

Fortunately, it wasn't him that finally figured it out.

Pots in his Firestarter noticed it first. He heard a soft *Thunk* echo through his mech and slowed for a moment "Hey, guys I think there is something on my mech?" He called out swiveling lightly to try and see, but his Firestarters Night vision and thermal were the worst out of the whole group. Being a Firestarter it had to deal with some sudden changes.

"Probably a tree branch Pots, keep your focus."

"No guys really that sounded metallic on my hull! It sounded weird!"

"Pots! Chill your shit get back in formation! We need to keep moving, I don't want to be out here all night!" Darrien roared back. "I don't see shit on your mech, That goes for the rest of you too. Keep your bellyaching to yourself, now move!"

The nervous energy from Pots was spreading though. Everyone was looking around constantly like something was in the darkness with them.

They traveled for quite a while in the dark, their radios quiet. The forest tripping them up, and keeping them moving slow. They didn't dare take the roads, not after they had mined them so thoroughly.

They finally made it to Toni's hut and it was a bit of an argument but Darrien was firm. "Fucking asshole, I gave you an order since Toni isn't responding yet, Get your ass down there and see if he is inside!" Darrien yelled at Scott, the red haired man was usually rather difficult to work with, but he was also the most expendable, not like his Locust was going to do much in a scrap.

Watching the red headed man pop the hatch on his mech and slowly crawl down the ladder thankfully he didn't fall in the dark. He hit the dirt and pulled his pistol before sneaking into the hut.

A moment later. The hut went up in a fireball. And Darrien knew that bad feeling he had wasn't about to go away. "Every back to base! We need to make ready to be attacked!" The Lance started moving in a hurry through the dark forest. Leaving the Locust to stand watch over the flames disappearing behind them as they hurried.

Running through a dark forest, with the fear that the attack was finally coming that the fucking Planetary Guard were finally hitting them? Darrien wasn't at his best, but what was worse? Nothing should have slipped this far through. They had traps, spotters, sensors, hell the military base had a surface to air radar!

This attack should not be possible without something letting the Red Vultures it was on. The fact they had already lost a mech pilot to a fucking trap? That was when Darrien knew something really fucky was going on. "Hey, is anyone seeing anything? Martin, you have the best sensor system, catching anything? I got a bad feeling."

"Nothing that I can see, boss. It's all quiet out there."

"Fuck that, something is definitely up, everyone check in!" Darrien demanded something was twigging at the back of his head when he turned around for a moment to see, something had been off.

"H-hey… Where is Brent?" Pots called out as he was spinning around. Darrien felt ice down his back turning around to check on his crew when he noticed the missing mech. The Javelin wasn't with the Lance.

"W-when did that happen? Who saw him last! Speak up now!" Darrien demanded.

"He was behind me when we started running! I was sure he was gonna follow!" Milly responded from her Vulcan. The entire forest seemed oddly quiet as each of the mechs around them started spinning in place trying to find whatever it was in the forest that was hunting them.

"Alright don't lose your shit, stick close, I want everyone on my six, and whoever is in the back gets checked on every minute. This isn't some horror Holovid bullshit. Clear comms, and keep your head on a swivel let's get back to base." Darrien took command, it was all he really could do.

Their pace through the forest was much slower this time, all of them knew something was in the forest with them, but they couldn't tell what. Their jittery nerves eventually came to a head when Milly lost it and started shooting her flamethrower and mediums into the dark, screaming that something had been on her mech.

The freakout only made discipline worse. Pots suddenly rushed ahead, his Firestarter disappearing into the forest.

"DAMNIT POTS GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" Darrien screamed into the radio as he kept his weapons angled out in the dark ready to defend if any attack came.

None did. Except a few moments later an explosion echoed out from ahead of them, and the entire Lance moved as one for probably the first time. They rushed to catch up to Pots. "Pots! Pots respond damnit was that you! Are you under attack!? POOOOOOTS!"

They learned soon enough he had. They came across the smoke from his Firestarter laying face down in the dark. Smoke drifted out from his busted cockpit.

"What the fuck. Something head shot him!?"

"Can it! We are dealing with something out here, together this time! If you rush off on your own you are dead!" The Lance of mechs stormed through the forest, it was no longer quiet, as they smashed trees to make their way.

He hadn't heard any fire. Just one explosion. What the hell could have blown up Pots cockpit without any noise? The unease was only building, when as they stomped through the woods Darrien noticed it first.

Smoke burning into the sky, creating a slight heat haze on the dark sky on his thermals.

"Fuck, the base!" He growled as he kicked up the speed daring for a moment to activate his jets just to get high enough to maybe see what was going on. The fact he could see smoke pluming up from the base only made his fear increase. "Base is full of smoke, we are under attack for sure. We are going to go reinforce, don't fall behind. Don't leave anyone behind!" He knew the information wouldn't do much for Lance's confidence. Three mechs down already.

What a clusterfuck.

He rushed. Which he realized was a mistake right when his LRM alarm went off.

Darrien had enough time to look up, seeing the hundreds of flares of missiles coming down on his position. He dove to the side, hoping the tree cover was enough to save his life as they crashed down on his Lance.

The trees splintering and cracking was just barely audible over the explosions of the missiles as if the forest around them was coming alive in response to the attack. Fires started everywhere, and Darrien realized in horror that even as one barrage of Missiles ended, he could already see the faint fires of more plumes shooting into the sky.

"R-run to the base! Everyone!"

He pushed his ShadowHawk forward trying to escape the fire before it became too much, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Martin take to the air on jump jets, trying to escape the fire.

Two burning blue lights lit up the forest shooting from the same angle as the base. The large lasers burned chunks of Martin's armor down, Something went internal on his mech and his leg went flying in another direction. His mech tipped sideways.

Darrien watched as the Panther fell sideways into the forest below.

Darrien didn't have time to worry about that, because he just realized that the enemy was between him and the base.

"Fuck! Why hasn't the base alerted us to an attack!" He screamed into his radio, but what was even more terrifying is that he hadn't heard his Lance since the missile assault. He hunkered down for a moment switching radio frequencies on the knob trying to reach anyone but only a faint hiss reached his ears.

They were jamming him too?

"Who are these fuckers?" He couldn't help but ask aloud. The planets militia didn't have this sort of equipment! They would have known! The fucks would have used it during the initial raid! This couldn't be LOKI right? He hadn't done enough to piss off the Lyrans that bad surely!

No one was answering his comms, and now he was trapped with an unknown number of enemies in the forest. What fucking hell had caused this! How had they slipped past him completely!? They hadn't noticed any spotters, or spys, there would have been something! Even a radio transmission would have been at least picked up alerting them, but nothing!

Nothing until Toni missed his clock in.

It ran through his head then. The last time Toni had contacted them was that morning, to let them know he hadn't seen anything.

"They had hours to slip past us." He dreaded that realization, but it was too late now. He decided that the base was done. So was his Lance, they would mill about and be an appetizing target for a while. He was getting the hell out of here. He turned off every scanner he had, going passive, hopefully it would keep him hidden long enough to get away.

Behind him as he ran he heard the sounds of combat continue, until it went silent not long after. He rushed away, using his jump jets sparingly to hop down the mountain. He of course had set up a small getaway during the months of idleness. Heading out on 'scouting' missions to stretch his legs he really had been transporting enough supplies to last him a while to hide out in the mountains.

As a Pirate Darrien knew that sometimes especially when things got bad, you had to plan to just disappear for a time. He ran for a good hour or two staying very low to stay out of any chance to be noticed, thankfully he was mostly going down hill. Then in a valley that had an ancient mountain run off stream, there was a truly ancient old cabin along a river a good few miles from the base. He had scoped it out, and had taken it over months ago.

When he arrived, the first thing he did was slip his ShadowHawk into the rapids. The freezing cold mountain water which was the coldest thing around would keep any overhead thermal from reading it after just a few minutes, he settled in, letting the water flow over his mech partially submerging his cockpit. His hatch ending up just under a small fall in the rapids, putting it above the water, but still hidden from view from any angle. He quickly grabbed anything he needed, opening the hatch for as short a time as possible to keep as much water out as he could before closing and sealing it.

He started a fire in the old cabin's fireplace to warm up. Switching into some more normal clothes and even planning on hiding his looks. Give it a year or two, and a new man would wander out of the mountains, a bald man, instead of his full head of hair, with a full beard instead of his clean shaven face. He would get a ride out of here, find some way to transport the ShadowHawk, maybe a flatbed or something, and he would be safe from whatever the fuck was happening on this planet.

Darrien Cross was done with whatever had happened back there. He was completely ready to start a new life, as a new man. Idly he started considering what his new name should be. "Terry maybe? I always liked Terry."

"Good name." The voice spoke from behind his ear.

The knife cut off his shocked response.

As he gurgled out from the knife sticking through the back of his neck he could just see the shape of the form that had killed him. The final thoughts of the man Darrien Cross was full of horror at the sight, he had never seen anything like it. And even in his last moments, until the monster spoke, he never heard him.

{So did a bit of an experiment on this one. Having all of the fighting be done from the enemies perspective. I hope I hit the sense of terror I was aiming for? Fighting a group that always knows where you are, and they are basically impossible to find without direct eyesight is probably pretty horrifying.

}

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