9.2

Chapter 9.1 Politics and Paperwork

Vindemiatrix System

Brattleson's Depot

I felt horrible. The pirate's dropship that I had taken back was not as stable as the well maintained one that had taken us out. The damn thing was hell on my stomach. I paid for my arrogance!

"C'mon Commander, no time for this. You have a meeting with the Governor, remember?" Benny prodded as I groaned as a sack of terrible discomfort.

"I hate you all!"

"Yeah yeah I know, c'mon you'll feel better once you are off the dropship."

Unfortunately Benny was right. He dragged me off the ship, and once my feet were on stable non shaky ground I was already starting to feel more normal. The Governor this time wasn't waiting for us at his mansion, no the man had actually gone out to greet his son.

The fact his son was returning at all must have been a relief but when the Colonel stepped out of the dropship not in the Shadow Hawk he had left in, but his own Battlemaster? Once more returned to him. I could tell the old man was feeling something.

The Colonel clambered down the ladder from the Battlemaster and stood before his father, tall and proud. The old man pulled him into a hug, and despite the flush of red going up his neck I could see the Colonel returning the hug. Their whispered conversation stayed between the two of them as I stayed away, mostly because I was still regaining my color.

"Ah and there she is. Commander Eisen-Blume." The old man called out, despite his obvious frailty, he seemed more energetic than before.

I guess getting your family Battlemech back will do that. "Governor. I hope you are pleased with the Iron Blooded Orphans' work?" I couldn't help but ask as I approached. The old man offers a deep rumble of a laugh before nodding.

"Yes Commander, you are worth every Kroner. Or will be rather once I actually pay you." He said turning entirely from his son to step towards me. "You have done my planet a service no amount of Kroner can ever repay." His heavy words echoed around and everyone took notice of his words.

"I was simply doing my duty. Pirates are the enemy of all civilization." I offered, not sure what else to say. The whole situation was awkward. But it seemed to be enough because he patted my shoulder and headed back to his car.

"Well then let's get somewhere more comfortable for our discussion, I am sure it will be an interesting one." He chuckled as he led me into his very fancy hover car.

It had cooling seats! I wanted one.

—-

I appreciated the food. The wining and dining the Governor was doing for me. I liked the praise him and his men were giving me. Hell I liked the medal he had told me I would receive in an official meeting the next day. The Star of Vindemiatrix was a hell of a medal apparently. The highest award the Governor offered outside of LCAF military medals.

But I was starting to get annoyed at his dawdling. As Virgil Carolus, the Governors aide, once more went over our contracts reimbursement for ammunition. "Due to excessive although effective use of LRMs during the engagement we will accept the repayment request 95% of cost of all LRMs will be return-"

"Enough about the ammo. Or the hazard pay, or all the other little bits and pieces. You have been avoiding the meat of this deal all day. And Governor I'm fifteen. I don't really care for the purposeful avoidance of the issue at hand."

The room went silent. The large meeting room with a massive wooden table is where I was sitting around with The Governor, the Colonel, the aide, then around the table stood, nobles, and generals, and all sorts of important people that lived here on Vindemiatrix. All of them of course aiming for a piece of the pie.

But I wanted my piece first.

The room was silent. No one, not even the Colonel willing to intrude on this argument. "Very well." The rumbling bass of the Governor speaks, the first time in quite a while, and I note his voice is not just deep, it's tired.

We had been at this all day after all.

"Virgil. Skip to the important part."

"Y-yes, Governor Maruska. The Invader Jumpship Clementine. The Union Dropship… undesignated. And the Mule Dropship Undesignated. Have all been accepted as salvage under the Contract the Governor made with Commander Eisen-Blume." Virgil admitted, and the gasps around the room were thunderous.

It wasn't just odd to hear that, but almost unheard of, but it had been part of our deal. I would move out with my current forces, join his assault of the pirate base attacking his world. But in exchange. Anything taken from the pirates could end up on the salvage table. No exceptions like in a normal contract.

It was a definite contract of desperation. And I knew exactly why the gasps of denial were so loud. A jumpship. A single jumpship could do wonders for a planet's economy, and Virgil just admitted that if I pushed for it, I could potentially take it right out from under them. If it had been any other situation the demand would have been refused immediately.

But this had been the old man's one chance to have it all. Take out the pirates. Get his family Battlemech back, earn enough wealth from the pirates' haven to revitalize his economy for decades to come.

And I had given it to him at a steal.

But now I wanted what was mine.

The Governor raised his hand and the table went silent. "As per our contract the Iron Blooded Orphans earned their pay. All of it. No matter what circumstances we end up with. I won't hear any denials on this. Commander Eisen-Blume. Per our agreement, you have first choice of any one piece of salvage. Regardless of what it is."

I swear one of the nobles made a sound like he was going to have a heart attack when that was admitted to the table. It had been one of my demands when making this deal. There were always minutiae or exceptions for normal clauses in salvage. 'Company earns percentage salvage shares but can't spend them on X' sort of stuff. It was normal. Common. I had demanded an exception to that because of the danger. And it had been dangerous even if we had done exceptionally well.

It only took one mistake to end in death.

"I am sure most of you believe you already know my choice. It should be obvious plainly to even a fool. But I am also not fool enough to take it outright. I am a mercenary. I will always need jumpships. But not always use them. So how about a more equitable arrangement? If I don't choose the Jumpship today, instead I want an offer of premium status. If I ever need a jumpship for an emergency mission, or need to go somewhere in a hurry this Invader will assist me. If you can agree to that concession, which I will of course pay the crew for every use of. I will remove the Jumpship from the salvage offer."

My offer rattled around the room for a minute. The noble who looked like he was dying before regained his color and turned to the Governor. Because really there were only two voices that mattered in this room. His and mine.

"I believe a contract will need to be written up to suit both our interests, but I see no reason why we would not support our friends the Iron Blooded Orphans in any endeavors they might have in the future."

I smiled like a shark. "Then my first pick is of course the Union dropship." My statement still sent the room in a tizzy, there had been more than a few nobles in this room planning on the new dropships and jumpships to restart trade here on Vindemiatrix, but frankly? Not my problem.

No, I was going to have a dropship. And a good one too. The Mule was something I would let them keep. Those things were dangerous to be in during any sort of combat. So I happily traded any claim on it for more shares of everything else. Of course the Union was exactly what I really needed.

Well it would be once I brought in all the 'spare parts' it would need to fix it.

Considering the Jumpship, and Dropship were all I really cared about, I accepted without complaint the mechs and other salvage that was partitioned to me. Most of it was junk from when we blew up the street, mechs in ten pieces don't usually do well. But it was fine. I was already planning on scanning it all down and just creating some new mechs.

The next few hours were mostly determining the Jumpship contract. Which was very nice. In the end, I became a co-owner of the jumpship. Which hadn't been what I expected, but it seems to be the first thought they all had at my offer. Which was fine. The Clementine was a fine ship. Or it would be eventually. Unfortunately it was a lot harder to get scans of the damn thing, so for now I was relying on just giving them money to ensure everything was fixed up.

Although I didn't tell them, if it ever got really bad I would just go out and copy the thing whole. But that was years in the future, If ever.

It wasn't like I was going to be able to hide a brand new Jumpship. That was one secret that once it got out, there was no putting back.

—-

The rest of the meeting went well, and it was only as it was ending and I was leaving the Governors manor that I ran into someone else I had been wondering about.

"I suppose since you aren't in handcuffs and are walking around freely someone proved your credentials?"

"Correct Commander Eisen-Blume." Analise told me. The woman was wearing more normal clothes now, a pretty standard Lyran LCAF uniform, although pointedly without any rank, or other markings. "Once we got in contact with LIC, they assured the governor's office that I was on assignment. Of course I now have a new one."

"Well good luck with that. I guess." I mutter before heading off. She still creeped me out a bit. Unfortunately it was only a few moments later that I realized she was following me. I slowed, a creeping feeling up my back, "I'm not going to like the answer when I ask you why you are following me, am I?"

Despite her blank look I could tell she was amused. "Not at all Commander Eisen-Blume. Not at all."

"Alright. Why are you following me, Analise?" I said after a few moments realizing she was waiting for me to play along.

"Why because I have orders to be your new Liason with LIC command of course! Someone was very impressed with your work and figured that you should have a more direct line Commander Eisen-Blume."

"I am fairly sure everything you just said was a lie." I tell her, turning around and looking the woman in the eye. "I think if that was true they would have offered me a fairly normal liaison not a member of Lohengrin."

"I think the Governess of Zaniah III's comments on you are quite accurate Commander Eisen-Blume, you are very perceptive!" She offers with a fake looking smile. Which only made me shudder in my armor.

"I don't suppose I can refuse can I?"

"It would look rather suspicious, besides. Didn't you yourself say you accept any orphan that wishes to join? I'm an orphan Commander Eisen-Blume."

I blinked at that. Hell that's right. I remember that vaguely some of the LIC agents were orphans trained to be incredibly patriotic. Damn that's fucked up. I stepped closer and did what just came naturally to me. Despite the woman being a little taller than me, it wasn't too much of a height difference, my armored boots helped as well, so when I leaned up and patted her on the head it wasn't too difficult. "True. Welcome to the Iron Blooded Orphans, we will have to get you some armor… You'll be an odd fit, but whatever." I tell her, before walking away. "Well don't fall behind, we have work to do!"

"W-what… Yes Commander Eisen-Blume."

—-

Well alongside our surprise recruit, that wasn't the only ones who wished to join. Part of the agreement with the Governor was that the Iron Blooded Orphans could go around to the orphanages and recruit.

Yeah, he had looked a little uncomfortable about it, but I did explain this wasn't some weird meat grinder thing. I simply have the resources to provide food, housing, and training for a lot more people on Zaniah, and if he wanted to lighten the resource drain on his planet, I would take all of them.

I ended up with a lot of new recruits.

"How many joined?!"

"About four hundred." Benny offered, handing me the clipboard containing the list. "I know the population here is a little higher than Zaniah, but this is still a lot of people."

"Yeah it is! That's twice as many joined us on Zaniah, and we cleared out most of the orphanages there! Where did they all come from!?" I was utterly shocked at the numbers, but really as I looked into it, I discovered the simple truth.

There were fewer orphans on Zaniah, because more of them died. Raids after all didn't just affect adults. Kids got caught in the crossfire. Plus we were on the news everywhere here on Vindemiatrix.

"Okay so that's too many to take with us on the Union. We are going to need to charter a civilian transport ship for that many." I offered, already pulling up the listings for civilian dropships. We just need to find a personnel transport. That would handle that many kids without too much issue.

"Yeah, but there is another problem Commander, that is more than double our current population. Do we have the resources and manpower to handle that sort of increase?"

"We probably don't but to be honest we need to do this anyway. We will need to get used to getting surges in population. We aren't always going to be just a small merc band after all." I offered mentioning my future plans even as Benny waffled.

"Alright. I guess we should probably send a message to Zaniah then, let them know about the incoming. So they can prepare."

"Good idea Benny, while you're there, go ahead and try to reach out to these ship captains. I doubt most will be too pleased about transporting so many children, so you might have to offer a bonus for doing the job."

"Can do.. Vicky. About the LIC agent. Analise. What do we do?" Bennys hesitation was obvious, Analise wasn't what I would call a trustworthy member of the IBO. And once she made it to Zaniah it would be pretty obvious that something is up.

"Nothing. Yeah she is a spy, obviously, but she is an orphan just like us, even if she is older. She wants to join? We bring her in. Is she spying on us? Definitely, but that's just how it's going to go. We can spend all our lives trying to hide from every prying eye, or just do our best to keep improving ourselves. I would rather keep recruiting anyone who wants to join, than worry about the couple spies that will inevitably get in."

"Vicky… Don't you think that's a little short sighted? We need to be careful about traitors, what if they set off a bomb, or reveal all of our secrets!"

"I know it's naive Benny. I know! But we can't change the world by falling into the same mistakes that everyone else has already made. We need to look at the world how we want it to be. So yeah. It's a risk. And if it fails, it will be my fault. I take that responsibility. But if our trust is paid back in turn, even just once? I think that's worth it."

Benny grimaced and then dropped his head into his hands and moaned loudly for a few moments before righting himself. "Understood Commander. Just, don't expect me not to keep an eye on her."

"Do as you like, as long as you are making her feel like she is one of us."

"That, Ugh I'll try Commander."

—-

Two months. Our Union, and I did love saying that. Left Vindemiatrix before we did. It's crew were men and women hired on the planet, from the starports, and the captain was the same former Lieutenant that had flown her here, he worked for me now. The crew weren't permanent and knew that, but I was paying them very well for now to crew the ship and when they landed on Zaniah to start training some of my kids as dropship personnel.

It was the safest way. I wasn't about to put a couple kids who have barely even been on a dropship in command. That is how explosions happen.

Everyone else basically went with me on the Stardust. A horribly cliche name for a travel liner. We had basically commissioned the whole ship for this run, and I was paying out the nose to make sure it happened. While we were on board, on a long and boring trip my orphans trained the new kids. Basically a mini bootcamp, as we started putting everyone through their paces and explained the ins and outs of what it meant to be Iron Blooded Orphans.

It was a long arduous trip, and I never want to be stuck on a ship full of teenagers again.

Unfortunately I'm a moron and that is basically half my current profession.

Also I did my best to keep an eye on Analise. The woman… still creeped me out, even if I did feel bad for her. 'Taken in' by the LIC as a young orphan and basically taught nothing else but how great the Commonwealth was.

Yeah it explained the weirdness. The two month long flight was long and boring, and it gave me plenty of time to have conversations with her. Even if I did have to force myself to do it. Regardless of her true intentions she agreed to be an Iron Blooded, so she was one of us, at least until she did betray us.

I wasn't holding my breath, but I wasn't going to limit every choice in the world for fear of being betrayed. So we talked. Not that she actually ever said much. It was always redirected questions and side answers. But that's fine.

As we finally hit the atmosphere of Zaniah I couldn't help but feel glad it was almost over, even as my stomach rebelled.

—-

"Vicky. Welcome home." Gauge told me as he pulled me into a hug which I returned even as the hundreds of new orphans looked around their future home for the first time.

Unlike when the IBO had originally gotten eyes on the base, it looked like an actual military base now. Gleaming white concrete walls surrounded the interior, turrets lining the walls giving it a strong feeling of safety.

The roads weren't dirt anymore. They must have hired a ferrocrete layer while I was gone, which was fine. It was always nice to put some money into the local economy. So now strong roads crossed the base. The prefab buildings I had purchased so long ago were here now. Each of them would need some 'upgrades' but that was for later. For now they were all cooled, and usable as offices, or extra barracks, or just hang out rooms for different units.

Whatever we needed.

Thankfully Gauge had gotten my HPG message, and I could see the trucks and construction men working outside the walls on the north side.

Creating our Dropship pad.

I would go over it myself after to make sure it was good to go, and then we would set up additional walls and defenses. It was the first 'extension' we had put on our base on the surface. A good sign.

"Glad to be home. We brought new kids."

"I see that… Maybe too many this time? Where are we going to put them all?" Gauge whispered as he looked over the horde that was being met by already trained members of IBO. The armor that they all wore grew stares and envy, as did their easy confidence, and shiny equipment.

The new kids would get all of it, but only after they integrated.

"It's fine. We are going to need to get used to integrating large groups. This won't be the last time we hit a planet and recruit a batch of orphans."

"That's… Fair. Oh Benny, Hanna, Welcome back! Benny, you have so much work on your desk!"

"Hey Gauge tha- What do you mean I have work on my desk! You were supposed to take care of it!"

"Oh I did my best but some things I didn't know. So it's all yours. Welcome home!" Gauge offered patting Bennys shoulder and getting a slug back in return, although with their armor Gauge only laughed instead of wheezed in pain. By the Narrowing eyes, I figured Gauge would be under a nasty prank for a few days until Benny forgave him.

"Oh Yeah Gauge, how's the repair of the mechs going? I know our new dropship got here first." I reminded him, knowing the reaction I would get.

The squawk of horror he gave when I said that was worth it. "What did you idiots do to the mechs! Hanna! Don't think I'm not talking to you too! Your damage wasn't as bad but really you lost the arm again! And Benny! What, did you decide to use your mech as target practice!? You are supposed to DODGE! And don't get me started on all the scrap you brought back!"

I smiled as Benny and Hanna enjoyed showering Gauge with all of the stories of how their mechs were damaged, enjoying the irritation the boy showed.

"And don't think I am done with you Vicky! Next time you order a 'surprise' like that, warn me first! They delivered the crates here and we opened them up without knowing what was inside. Do you have any idea what I have been dealing with for the last two months? Thousands of requests to be the new mechs pilots. Thousands!"

"Well did you tell them it wasn't going to work like that, the four Stingers are training mechs."

"Of course I did!" He hissed.

All I did was smirk in return and by his narrowed eyes I got the feeling I would be suffering some pranks in the future as well.

All was good.

—--

I was busy through the next few days. Unlike last time I didn't have the luxury of resting for a while. As soon as we landed I was back in charge. Balancing four hundred new men. Two more barracks 'appeared' downstairs. And frankly I knew it was suspicious which is why I reminded as many of the old guard as possible to just pretend it was always there.

Enough of them got the message that I didn't hear any comments from the new kids.

No idea how much Analise figured out of course.

But with the quarter's situation completed, I was able to move on to other issues. We needed a second and probably a third cafeteria, and more cooks. We couldn't cook enough food for seven hundred people like we had before.

So it was time to expand in another way.

"Lieutenant Kurtz. It's time to expand our staff. We need more cooks. More workers. Laundry probably needs an upgrade as well." I told the older man as I walked into his office the next day.

"Commander… We can do that. It won't be hard to hire some part time, or even full time cooks… Are you sure that's a good idea? We have… well you know."

"It's fine. We already have a LIC agent among our most recent recruits."

"What!? Who? Why?!"

I snort as I settle into the chair. "Not by choice, Analise, and she was ordered to keep an eye on us, so if she is going to spy on us regardless, might as well recruit her and put her to work as well."

"Is that… wise?"

"You mean, am I being a stupid kid? Probably. But I am hoping that being open enough to just recruit her despite knowing what she is, will help keep anyone in the LIC from growing concerned about what my intentions are."

"I don't know if that will really work out how you think it will Commander."

"I am aware it's naive, Alfred. But I refuse to play the secrecy game for the rest of my life. Why do you think I told you the truth about everything?" I asked him after a time, he paused before closing the packet of papers he had been working on before.

"I haven't been sure. Not even now. If you were anyone else in the Inner Sphere, I would probably have taken a bullet, and that would be the end of it. I had noticed things you were obviously hiding."

I couldn't help but smile. "That is exactly why I decided to tell you. Lay everything on the table. We, I mean humans, didn't used to be like this. I mean, sure, as a whole we always have had problems, but there were times in the past we were better. I want to return to those times. I want to remind humanity we don't have to live like we have been. That war is not our natural state."

"I, I don't know. Commander I don't think I understand, but if there is one thing I have learned after working with you for so long, it's that you do things differently than anyone else. Maybe we need that." The older man looked a little embarrassed as I gave him a full smile.

"I trust you Alfred. You may not be an orphan, but you are an Iron Blooded, and in the end me trusting you, hiring you at all, was a net positive for everyone. I want to keep doing that. I would rather trust people, and watch things improve, then suspect every person I meet, and never get anywhere."

"Understood Commander. How... How should I interact with her? Will we be running her through our boot camp?"

"Of course! How else is she supposed to make connections? Treat her like any other. If she wants to spy on us, by joining, then she does all the same work the rest do."

"Hah, when she is done, she is probably going to be cursing your name Commander."

"Bah, if she is a spook, she must have gone through a bootcamp before. Let her sweat for a bit. It's a good way to get her used to Zaniah anyways."

—-

While settling the new recruits was a major workload over the coming weeks, I made sure to focus on probably the most important job.

"Eighty of you volunteered for a very important job. You will be joining the crew of the Union Dropship Isaribi. You will train every day continuously under the crew we have hired. There is no task on board that ship that you won't know back and forward. I need you all to be capable, on your own, of handling a ship during the routine or the emergency, because eventually we will get more dropships. And when we do, you will be the core of the crew, the captains and leaders to ensure our people get to where they need to be safely."

I had gathered all eighty of the potential crew at the Starport where the newly christened Isaribi was landed. Captain Dallas. Was standing beside me as he looked over his trainee crewmembers. I could tell he was hesitant about this idea. They were all young, nothing but kids in his eyes. Without any of the schooling that he expected they would need. It didn't help that he was young too.

I told him plainly he would do this. Training his replacements of sorts was a requirement of his job. Eventually he agreed.

But not without a lot of persuasion and a hefty raise. Damn Lyrans.

So as I watched the Captain took control of the crowd. All eighty of the kids were divided up, 2 to 1 for a member of the ship's crew to learn from.

Over the next few weeks the Isaribi would be going up every day before coming back in. Over and over. It was going to cost a small fortune in fuel, and the captain had been worried about repairs. But I had waved him off.

Gauge had already gone through the ship with his repair group 'searching' for damaged parts or traps the pirates might have left. Of course there were issues, and Sensors were applied to all of them, not all the ship was scanned, but enough was that we had discovered a few systems that had required immediate repairs. And I had already 'found' the spare parts. Most of the repairs were completed at this point, meaning that the Union was already in better shape than most Dropships of this age.

Pleased with the meeting I left the kids to get settled into the dropship. As I was heading back to the base a few AFS flew overhead in formation and I smiled knowing that at least a few of them were my kids.

Things were looking up. Training was still our main focus, but when money flowed, and resources weren't a problem, you could teach someone a lot in a pretty short amount of time. I pulled up to the security checkpoint and was waved through a moment later. Every checkpoint had a scanner set up, so it's not like anyone coming through wasn't already checked for weapons or bombs long before getting close. I drove down the road, slowing a few times to allow the groups of new recruits wearing their cooling suits run around the base. Our training group had increased massively, as many of the original Iron Blooded had been tasked to help out running the bootcamp.

I pulled in and parked my truck. Leaving the key in the ignition, if someone needed a truck they would just walk up and take it. There were plenty of them now. We had a huge fleet of trucks, after all. As I hopped out, one of the kids walked out "Afternoon Commander!" He called as he started refueling the truck. The fuel cache I had created before I had even left for Helm had only needed a top up when I came back from the Vindemiatrix job. It carried a startlingly large amount of fuel, and I had buried it underground to ensure it wouldn't be a target during an attack.

I had also created a 'fake' surface fuel storage that was actually filled with water.

You know in case anyone was stupid enough to try and blow it up, it would make it harder to light anything on fire instead.

I headed inside. The original Hangar was still our main building, but our prefab buildings now connected to it, creating a large compound on each side of the hangar. The biggest benefit for them was just to have more places to cool off after being outside. I passed a few of the rooms being used, mostly by older Iron Blooded as a place to get some privacy as they did their work. Most of them, being taken over as offices. The logistics department was always getting bigger.

Despite being able to create anything we needed it was still important to know when we needed something after all.

I got plenty of greetings as I walked past, everyone was wearing our new uniform, the armor. I hadn't quite made it mandatory to wear the armor over the cooling suit, but with the new recruits and the culture growing it had slowly become a sign of 'graduating' basic training. Basically if you wore the armor, you were more than just a recruit, you were an Iron Blooded Officially.

I groaned as I remembered I would have to remind Benny about the medals thing. I still owed Erica a medal for doing so well on Gniezno.

I walked through the buildings into one of the many staircases that now led down. Instead of being forced to use the hangar I had made more entrances. The stair cases were quite wide enough for five to move up and down at the same time, as I stepped down a few passed me, some of them recruits wearing just their cool suits. "Commander!"

While it wasn't an official requirement, Benny always liked his military cosplay and had taken to teaching a standard Lyran salute to the recruits. Of course the older kids had picked up on it, and started doing it too.

Mostly just to annoy me. Since it felt wrong not to salute them back I ended up having to do it rather constantly. My hand raised up to my forehead in return as I sent them off.

As I walked downstairs we got to the important stuff. I walked past the school rooms. Gauge had taken little time in claiming a few rooms and turning them into a school. Every Iron Blooded was not so much required, but 'suggested' to sit in on them whenever possible. The fact the classes were covering topics that were literally in some cases unknown to the Inner Sphere outside made me laugh.

Alfred was usually sitting in on them when he wasn't busy. The man was fascinated with the science we had lost.

Of course just down the hall were the games rooms. I couldn't let a bunch of kids do nothing but train after all. Holo, and TriVid Projectors, that were top of the line had constant viewings of Immortal warrior and other vids. Solaris matches were still very popular. Freddy made sure that he always picked up the most recent matches whenever a HPG message was delivered with them.

I walked past Sasha in the medical bay. The girl was, whenever not helping someone injured, learning in Gauges classes. Her focus, unlike Gauge, was medical science. Although we had hired a group of doctors at exorbitant rates to cover our medical needs. A lot of their job was teaching.

I was still curious if Sasha learned more from the Classes, or the doctors.

I was actually really thankful a lot of the Helm Core was filled with old SLDF 'classes' on subjects, for soldiers away from a school, sort of like correspondence courses. Of course I also knew it was getting closer to the time for me to act on that.

Passing through the cafeteria I grabbed a snack that was always freely available. Freddy had outdone himself. When word had gotten around that with the new recruits it was stressing our cooks. Which was more of a routine job than anything permanent even now. He had seen an opportunity.

It was very Lyran. Instead of hiring permanent staff and having them on base, instead we had hired a bunch of people off base to cook food. Basically many of the people in the nearby town that were out of work, would be supplied food. They would cook it, and it would be collected at a central location and then brought back into RedBase.

Normally this would never work. A chance for someone to poison my kids was an instant no, but the sensors once more solved a convoluted problem. When they were brought in, the food was checked. And that was that.

Snacking as I walked I passed the Rough Squads chosen room. The door was as usual open, and I slowed as I passed. I could instantly tell Lenden and the squad were plotting. Lenden noticed me at the door and smiled while I gestured 'I have my eyes on you.' while he gave me a shrug and innocent smile.

I wasn't convinced at all. Satisfied he got the point I continued on. Heading to my objective.

The training room was a massive hall filled with Sim pods. Each of them were currently full, and I walked up to the command center Hanna had taken to running these. She would create the objectives for each Lance, sometimes making them work in large companies, sometimes alone, she would pit groups against each other, with objectives and everything else.

She got a real kick out of it.

"How's everyone doing?"

"Good. Better now. We learned a lot from our last jobs. Erica has been teaching the scouts how to think in a different way since we have the sensors. Benny has been guiding everyone on morale. I focus mostly on accuracy and making it so we are actually effective…"

"And Lenden is Lenden."

"Right. Rough squad? Well. I don't really want to fight them in an actual battle. They are going to be a menace."

"Yeah but they are our Menace. How is the integration going for combined arms? I know the Stingers I picked up have basically never stopped running."

"Well we run them through maintenance of course. Repair group is starting to riot half the time when we bring in damaged ones, but yeah. We can thank the Governess for that. Gauge traded her for a few of the Scorpions while we were gone, in exchange for something or another, but it allows us to train combined arm groups. Although first they have to prove they have what it takes on the sims before we put them in the Stinger."

"Good. So we have Scorpions now? I didn't know that. Jeez, Gauge needs to actually finish his reports. Who took over the tanks?"

"Well you know not everyone can be a Mechwarrior…"

"Yeah. So it's that group?"

"Yep. They were feeling useless. Sure they help out around base doing other things, but not all of them want to be non-combat. So we got them some tanks."

"I'll have to get some bigger vehicles than a couple Scorpions for them then. Scorpions are good for militia, or for training, but I would never let any of us drive one into battle."

"Sounds good Vicky. I'm sure the Tankers will be happy."

"Tankers?"

"Gauge isn't good at naming things. Almost as bad as you."

"Hey!"

"Just being honest with you Commander." Hanna offered snickering at my huff.

"Whatever. Fine. Anything else interesting happened while we were gone that Gauge forgot to mention?"

"No idea. I've been busy with this."

"Yeah fair enough." I sighed patting her on the shoulder as I walked out of the Sim room. Seems I had other things to check on.

"Commander! Radio for you!" Elias called out as he jogged to catch up to me. "It's Arthur."

"Weird. What does he want?" I muttered, taking the radio from his hand and pushing down the receiver. "This is Commander Eisen-Blume."

"Vicky, I am glad to hear from you, I find myself with some time tonight. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me?"

"Huh? Oh sure, we can do with a bit of night Training. I'll get everyone prepped. Glad to hear from you too Arthur. I'll see you then. Commander Eisen-Blume out." I toss the radio back to Elias who is looking at me weirdly. "Can you let everyone know we are having some night training?" I told him. And he nods slowly as I walk off.

I still don't know why he started laughing so hard.

Chapter 9.2 Politics and Paperwork

3021

A different perspective

Analise?

RedBase

This was definitely the strangest mission she had ever been on. Things just didn't add up. It was like trying to complete a math equation but every time you get a non-answer like potato.

Analise was growing rather frustrated with the experience. It had been almost a month since she had arrived on Zaniah, and while she had seen no sign of League contacts, or Drac, or Capellan. That didn't mean something strange wasn't going on. No, in fact it only made this entire situation more suspicious.

There was so much for her to report on that it ended with the spy not sure where to start! The underground base which no one knew about. Equipment that she shouldn't have. The Sim pod room had caused her to gape in shock. The kids asking if she was alright was quite embarrassing.

It only seemed to get worse. Everywhere she turned was something peculiar. Rooms full of equipment. She had seen the armory when being issued a rifle for training. It was full. Wall to wall with guns and weapons.

She couldn't believe they had so much equipment. She had taken to writing her reports whenever possible even if she had been stuck on base during her 'boot camp' days. She was glad it was over. And she swore she would make the Commander pay for putting her through that. She hadn't run so much in years. She was a Mechwarrior! Not infantry!

Still she had made some contacts. Both with the new recruits like she was, who had taken a liking to her, and the older Iron Blooded that would very often grab a few orphans out of training and put them through some new task to learn. It was how she had met her favorite contact.

"So Commander Eisen-Blume, just walked into the Orphanage one day and had a mech?" Analise asked, keeping the story of the IBO origins going.

"Yep! It was crazy! Vicky had always been a little weird but it was normal weird, not like that. So anyway we all wanted a ride in the Locust, but she said no. Which you know, fair. But we didn't give up, and then a few days later Benny is like "Who wants a job?" And well Benny is our brother you know? So we jumped on it, and then we were given equipment and weapons and told to guard Vicky's Mechbay, which was super fun at first! The pay was good too, but then well. We kept getting attacked."

"Oh? Attacks? I hadn't heard about this."

"Oh yeah the Locust originally belonged to some asshole, and he wanted it back or something? Well he was firebombing our trucks, he even shot an inferno missile into our mechbay!"

"How horrible."

"Yeah exactly so Vicky stood up, after chasing the guys down, and made this awesome speech about becoming a family and joining her and stuff. Super awesome speech so we all signed up, the old guy hasn't bothered us since."

"I see. I wasn't aware there was so much history of the company on Solaris." None at all really although considering the company was made and fled Solaris in the same week that made sense. Explained the lack of knowledge.

"Oh yeah but that's really it then we had the super long trip to Zaniah." The girl that Analise was pumping for information was a bit of a blabber mouth she had learned after meeting her, but she also gave away plenty of information to the spy. Enough to make it easier to fulfill her objectives.

LIC wanted to be sure the IBO weren't backed by a foreign power planning a surprise strike. It wasn't likely, but orphans aren't as protected as normal kids. Analise knew that very well. So it was always possible their leaders had been influenced by a foreigner in order to cause trouble.

But there were no signs of that. There were signs of something though. Analise knew she would figure it out. "Sorry Stephanie, I have to go. Talk to you soon!" She said and the younger girl waved her goodbye. Stephane was just one of the contacts Analise had targeted for easy information.

Some people love to gossip after all.

She stood stretching a bit. Analise had recently 'graduated' from basic training among the IBO and had then received her armor. It had taken some getting used to. Although even Analise admitted that armor was comfortable, the SLDF cooling suit made the armor almost an afterthought. Yet Analise never forgot what it was, and to her shock every one of the kids was wearing. She was probably wearing something worth an entire mech to the right buyer.

And they all had one. Every recruit once they were run through the basics were given a cooling suit as a uniform.

It had almost caused Analise to immediately leave to file a report. But she had held that urge in. If they were this free with cooling suits… What other Lostech had they found? Analise needed to know. So she stayed. The kids had been wary at first, until they learned she was an orphan as well although she was now old enough that wasn't relevant anymore, it was enough for them to accept her whole heartedly.

It was why she had learned so much about this strange group of orphans.

"Oh Analise. Good. Come with me." Alfred Kurtz, a former LCAF Sergeant now a lieutenant in the IBO waved her over. He had been in charge of the basic training, and despite his obvious watching eyes, he had never treated her any differently from the other kids.

"Yes Lieutenant Kurtz?"

"You haven't gone to the classrooms at all. Gauge sent me to remind you that he still wants to test you on where you are at in case you need any required courses."

"I graduated from schooling years ago, Lieutenant."

"Tell that to Gauge. He is currently in classroom one. Off you go Private."

Irritated, she wanted to argue but despite being orphans, there was a military culture on the base. It was considered unthinkable to just argue with a superior officer, especially since many of the kids knew that following along is how you get a mech.

It was the oddest mix of military discipline, and a sort of casual environment Analise had ever seen. She had written an entire report on it as well.

Saluting the older man she turned and stalked off. Irritating, this was her first free day since she joined, she had been planning on leaving base and heading to the HPG to send her initial results, she was sure that her commanding officer would be fascinated with the strange proliferation of lostech on display if nothing else. Instead she turned back down, heading towards the learning section of the base.

She entered the classroom that was currently running some sort of education course over the HoloVid. The room wasn't packed, but there were plenty of members of what she recognized as the Repair Unit watching avidly, and taking notes. Gauge waved her over. "Come sit over here, we are going to give you our placement test." He tells her, nearly pushing her into a second room connected to the main classroom.

Once inside the sound from the holovid cut off but not the video. The large window on the side of the room let her see out. Irritated, she started writing out the answers to the test. Some she was surprised to find were quite advanced. In fact some of the questions were well above anything she had studied in her own classes.

The surprise distracted her enough that she found herself instead of focusing on the test watching the Holovid out the window. The video was some sort of learning video. It was weird though. It seemed old. The production value was both old, and advanced. As she watched, she watched some people in zero gravity pouring out some sort of foam.

Which hardened into shape. As the video continued her eyes widened as she realized what it was she was seeing. She stood opening the door quietly to listen in.

Listening as a scientist long dead went over the process and creation of Endo-Steel.

She had completely forgotten that she still needed to complete the test.

—-

I was resting in my office going over some of the training reports from the newbies when my door was pushed open.

Analise, looking less put together than I had ever seen her before, was standing there, looking at me like I was some wild animal ready to attack her. "Commander Eisen-Blume. I need you to know that I finished a report and it's currently held by another agent to be sent out on the next HPG pulse if I don't tell them to hold it. So you need to be very clear with me. Who are you?"

That was an odd question. "Victoria Eisen-Blume. Solaris Orphan, Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans." If she wants a stupid question I guess I'll give her a stupid answer.

Her face for probably the first time since I knew her showed a lot of real emotion, this wasn't Analise the spy, this was a woman who was feeling actual human emotion. Even if it was anger at me, it made her way less creepy. "Don't fuck around with me. I walked into a classroom today, and there was a lesson on Gravitic engineering. One of the products of which is Endo-Steel. I watched. A how to course on how to create Endo-Steel… No one has that knowledge… Except you."

"Well and I suppose you now." I answered as I pushed my stack of papers to the side. Finally a good excuse for Benny. 'Sorry I couldn't read through your boring reports because I had a spy losing her shit in my office. Sorry not sorry!'

"That! This isn't a joke!"

"No, I suppose from your perspective this is the most serious moment of your life." I sigh leaning back. Dammit Gauge. I gave you one job… Well no I gave you lots of jobs. Okay nevermind. "Sit down Private Analise."

"I am not a Private. I am Hauptmann Eris Stingler, and as a member of Lohengrin, with the authority of the Archon of the Commonwealth. I am demanding answers."

"I answered the only question you actually asked me so far, Eris Stingler of Lohengrin."

She twitched, irritation covering every inch of her "Fine since you want to be obtuse. Who are you to have that knowledge? No one knows how to make Endo-Steel."

"Well besides ComStar. But I found it. How else?"

"ComStar? What does- No Stop evading. You found the knowledge of how to make Endo-Steel and haven't turned it over to the Archon?!"

"Oh Eris, I found the knowledge on how to make everything, and haven't yet turned it over to the Archon, because I have no way of getting it to her without everyone in the Inner Sphere finding out."

She blinked at me, processing what I had just said. Her eyes suddenly alight. "I heard a rumor that your mother was a Lostech hunter. She, or you did it. You found a Memory Core."

"My Mother discovered the location, I went out and retrieved it. You might have heard about my journey into FWL territory? Well I was traveling to a hidden Castle Brian on the world of Helm. The man in charge of Helm, Major Edwin Keeler, late of the SLDF realized the truth. With the SLDF gone, the Succession wars were going to destroy us. He thought that we would bomb ourselves into the stone age. Like we almost did. So he gathered everything he could, every learning course, every science book. Everything. He stored it in the Castle Brian, along with probably a brigade of metal."

The woman looked at me, but I wasn't sure if she was seeing me. Her eyes were glazed over. Shocked at what I had just revealed. "You have a SLDF Memory core."

"I do."

She shakily took the seat across from my desk. Feeling particularly kind I pulled a bottle of water out from my mini fridge and passed it over. I mean it's not like I could offer her a shot of whiskey or something.

I was underage!

"You need to hand it over. I will take it in an-"

"No."

She blinked and in that moment I could see the weapon that the girl had been trained to be behind her eyes.

"Not because I'm not planning on handing it over to the Archon I already explained that, but because I will only hand it directly into the Archons hands. Anyone else. Anyone. Could let it leak. The moment it leaks a countdown starts. You know that. LIC might be one of the best Intelligence branches but can you trust every member? Every noble in charge? How many of them would make a copy and sell it off to another power?"

"Many of them." She said weakly. If it had been anything else she would have argued. She was a patriot after all, every member of Lohengrin was, but this was too important. Even patriots recognized the rot in their own members. That was the biggest part of their job after all.

"So the plan was to continue building up forces until I got a dropship… Then… Well I have a plan to earn a face to face meeting. But I have been putting it off."

"No more. If you won't hand it over to me to hand over. You will hand it over to the Archon now. No more delays… if you try I will be forced to kill you."

I groaned. This was why dealing with spies was such a pain in the ass! "Yeah yeah. Get over yourself. That's the plan. Fine. I guess it's time to begin operation… Sorry you became a Ghost."

"What?"

"Geeze everyone's a critic!"

—-

"I don't understand." Eris muttered as we drove out into the desert. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this.

"I know you don't but you will, especially since you haven't let me out of your sight all day."

"You carry the most important piece of technology in the Inner Sphere. I don't know if I can trust you, so I will make sure you have no chance to run."

"If I wanted to run Eris, I would just have you killed and then no one would even know. I don't really care about whatever message you gave to your other 'agent' by the time it was sent to anyone, I would be long gone."

The silence that spread from between us lasted a little too long and I sighed. "But I have no intention of doing that, so relax. I'm Lyran, I don't like the League, I don't like Liao's. And I absolutely hate the Combine."

"That still would leave the Federated Suns." She mentions calmly. All I could do was snort at that. "You mean the Fedsuns that are currently making a peace deal with the Commonwealth? The ones that will likely receive their own copy of the Memory Core not long after I hand it over?"

"Yes."

"See? Sounds stupid. Relax, we are here." I say and on the horizon as we climbed a dune in the truck, we could see it. St. Marinus House. "I am not looking forward to this." I groaned as I pulled up to the Sanctuary.

"... This is the St. Marinus house… You are here to speak to Morgan Kell." Eris spoke slowly, putting it all together.

"Right in one, now I just need to convince a sanctuary I need to speak to one of the people they are protecting, and do it all hopefully without stressing out a bunch of mechwarriors that fled the war. C'mon." I tell her, pulling up to the front entrance, I step out, grabbing the large package I had brought with me out of the back seat and huffed as I pulled it into my arms. Moving towards the large wooden doors that were already opening.

"Guess it's time to change the universe."

My statement earned me an odd look from Eris and I sighed, seriously this is what is wrong with spys. No sense of drama!

The doors of the sanctuary opened. And out walked an older man, graying hair and more interestingly, gray eyes. Wearing a well worn habit. "Good evening. I am Brother Giles, I am afraid we do not accept visitors here. Unless one wishes to join us." The old man offered as he looked over both Eris and I. The fact we were wearing armor probably hinted that we weren't exactly here to join.

"Apologies for bothering you Brother. I am Victoria Eisen-Blume, Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans, this is Eris Stingler, of Lohengrin." I added knowing that the name of a division of LIC would give me more respect than my company name. "I know I am asking for much, but I am afraid I must have a meeting with Morgan Kell. It is… A very serious matter."

I could see the older man's eyebrows crinkle as I mentioned the LIC division. "I see. We no longer take part in matters of the Inner Sphere. I am afraid that Morgan Kell is not seeing visitors."

"I know. I would have come here, especially here, if this wasn't so serious. I'm not. I'm not asking him to leave, or take part, I need to speak with Mr. Kell regarding who he knows, more than anything he has done. I don't have any interest in him as a Mechwarrior… if that helps?"

"I am afraid it is the duty of St. Marinus house to shield any who seek it from the outside world. I apologize we can't, and won't help you."

Fuck. This old man was such a pain in the ass.

"I understand that. Again this is more important. It's very likely the most important thing I have ever done. Please. I need to speak to Morgan Kell. Five minutes. If he refuses to speak to me any further after that I will never return."

Brother Giles, which wasn't even his real name. Shook his head. "I am sorry. The purpose of this house is important. The men and women that come here, do so to be protected. I will not besmirch that for anyone. No matter how important they believe their need."

"Oh you think so?" I grumble pulling off the bag I was carrying. "Give this to Morgan Kell then. I will wait out here for an hour. I bet you he will see me once he realizes what it is." I offer stomping forward to push the heavy bag carrying a copy of the Memory Core into the brothers arms. There was also a noteputer inside for easy searching of the database. Despite his attempts to refuse I pushed it into his arms.

"Please. Just give it to him, and if he checks it, he will understand. I won't say anything further if in an hour he doesn't come to see me."

I don't know if it was what I said, or the look of horror on Eris's face at me relinquishing the Memory core to this no name man. After all, how could she know this was actually Hermann Steiner? A good man who removed himself from succession so Katrina could become Archon.

It seems something I had said caused at least a tiny inkling of interest as finally he relented. "I will do this much. Ask nothing more, and leave if he does not wish to speak to you."

"Agreed. On my honor." I reply and wait for the older man to grab the bag and head inside.

"That was foolish! You can't simply hand over the Memory Core to anyone!" Eris hissed at me and I didn't say anything at first. "You have no idea what that man could do with a Memory Core, what if he takes it and runs? Wh-"

"That man is Hermann Steiner."

Jaw hanging open for a moment Eris's face goes flat as she processes what I had just said. "I see."

"Yeah that's my second option if Morgan doesn't agree to help. One of them will. I am sure of it."

"And if they don't?"

"Then I leave and do something stupid." I grin. "If you can't do the smart thing, do something stupid instead."

"I don't believe that is.. Where are you going?"

I walked back to the truck. "I'm gonna sit inside the truck. It's hot out here, even with the armor. Come on. You can yell at me some more inside."

"I am not yelling." She argues as she follows after me.

She totally was.

—-

I was just getting ready to leave, an hour-ish later when the doors of the Sanctuary finally re-opened. This time Brother Giles came out in a hurry, rushing towards my truck. I stepped out and the older man stopped suddenly, his breath coming out in sharp gasps, and his Steiner Gray eyes wide and in shock.

"I'm glad, I was afraid I was going to hand it over and you and Mr. Kell were going to just ignore it."

"That… That is a Star League Memory Core."

"It is. Now, can I speak to Morgan Kell now? As you can probably tell, I have something important I need from him. Or from you."

His eyes closed for a moment and when they reopened, I knew I wasn't dealing with Brother Giles sending off annoying pests that dare come and disturb the men and women that came here for peace.

No, I was dealing with Hermann Steiner who in another time could have been Archon.

"Yes. Commander Eisen-Blume, please be welcome at the St. Marinus house. We have many questions."

"Excellent. I have some answers." I offer cheekily, as Eris shifted herself beside me, the realization for her she was dealing with a Steiner meant she was acting extra respectful, and I am sure it was the only reason she didn't nag me to be more respectful.

Nodding his head the older man turned and I followed him into a place that few ever got the chance to visit. The long halls were quiet, although I did pass a few men and women as we walked the halls. We got plenty of strange looks, and some looks of horror as well.

I guess for a bunch of people who left the war when it became too much, seeing a young girl in armor… Well I could understand it. Although I wasn't about to let that stop me.

We came into a small room with a well worn but comfortable looking table. And sitting there, looking just as awed as Brother Giles had, was Morgan Motherfucking Kell.

I was pretty sure that was his full name.

This guy was 'the' badass. The man that died of old age. One of the very few that ever got that ending. And he had done it while fighting the whole time.

"Morgan Kell." I said into the room, catching his attention and pulling his eyes away from the screen of the Noteputer I had left with the Memory Core. "I am Victoria Eisen-Blume. Commander of the Iron Blooded Orphans. How do you like my Memory Core?"

The man blinked. Having just barely torn his eyes away from the screen to watch me as I gave my introduction. As if realizing he had been so distracted he hadn't noticed me enter his hand ran up and stroked through his beard, which even now was tinged with gray.

"I think… That you found something rather special Commander." He offered slowly, as if he considered every word and only bit them out when he was satisfied.

"Thank you. It was a pretty risky job, I'll happily tell you about it if you like, but before that. Business." I took a seat across from him and I noticed his eyes rove over my armor curiously. "I want to put that into the hands of Katrina Steiner, no one else. Because anyone else will mess it up."

He considers this and nods slowly. "I see. That's why you came here."

"Indeed! I am an unknown, going to Tharkad? Even if I wanted to hand that over, it would get out. Too many men and women protecting the Archon, they would never let me get that in her hands before someone finds out what it is. But…"

"But I could do that." He nods. His eyes closed as he exhaled heavily. "I don't know if I am ready to leave. But needs must."

"Not exactly." I interrupt. Stopping that line of thought entirely. His arched eyebrow made me smile, Morgan Kell was not a man used to being argued with I guess. "You could walk right up to the Archon and hand that to her, but there is another way that I could do that. A letter, or a message. If I head to Tharkad with a message from Morgan Kell, the Archon would definitely see it. If that message happened to inform the Archon that she needs to have a private meeting with the messenger?"

He tilted his head thinking it over, quietly stroking his beard as he seemed to run the scene through his head before shaking his head. "No. I came here because I felt… Well, it doesn't matter. You did well on the recent raid."

"Oh. You heard about that?"

"We still get the news. Some choose not to watch it, but it is difficult for us to completely cut ourselves from the rest of the Inner Sphere. You and your orphan company. You fought well."

I blushed! What else could I do! This guy was a legend! "We tried."

He broods on that for a while. "Yes. What does that make me? That I stopped. My childhood dream." He glances at the Memory Core. "It was a dream of mine to find this exact thing. A Memory Core that can bring back the lost knowledge. I stopped trying, and in my stead a child completed it."

"I'm fifteen. Hardly a child. At least call me a teenager." I grumble, which had the older man give me a chastising look for a moment before nodding.

"It seems I left for too long… I will go back to Tharkad. Let's get this into Katrina's hands. I refuse to not be part of this." He stood grabbing the Memory Core before I waved him off.

"Leave that one. I was intending on leaving it here. I figure if everyone here wants to avoid the rest of the Inner Sphere, they might appreciate all the learning courses on the core."

Brother Giles hesitated as did Morgan Kell. "We can't leave this here Commander. We have a duty to return the core to the Archon." Giles eventually offered although I could tell he was hesitating as well.

I just snorted "That's a copy of a copy. It only has learning courses. Don't worry we will be delivering the complete version to the Archon. So it's okay to leave this one."

Both men stilled. "The complete Core?" Morgan finally asked and I nodded. Waving my hand to and fro.

"Yeah this one has all the SLDF training courses, they were classes for the soldiers while they were away. So it has a lot, but Helm, Oh Helm is where I got the Memory Core. It had a secret Castle Brian hidden up in the mountains. Anyways. Helm wasn't just a weapons depot for the entire sector, it was also a Library. Edwin Keeler a Major in the SLDF, well he saw what was coming with the succession wars. So he put everything he could find and put it into the Memory Core. Civilian, Military, Secret tech if he had it. He put everything into it. I wouldn't bring the full Core anywhere that I don't have full security for after all."

The looks of shock on the two men's faces had me smirking, as they realized what they had seen over the last hour? It hadn't even been everything. Brother Giles swayed for a moment and it was only Eris's quick reaction to him that caused her to rush forward to catch the former Steiner, as it looked like his world was crashing around him.

Morgan Kell? Well his look of shock slowly shifted until he was looking me over with an odd look. I just smiled in return "I have a union that I ordered to get ready for a trip to Tharkad, if you don't mind riding with a bunch of Orphans."

"That will be fine Commander. Just let me get my ride."

That was how I drove back to RedBase, Eris beside me looking startled, and a red and black colored Archer walking behind us.

The base was a stir by the time we came within sight. A new mech always grabbed attention, and I am sure our Guard unit had noticed the Archer we were leading.

Pulling past the very attentive checkpoint guards I pulled the Norman towards the Isaribi that was currently resting on our Dropship pad. I hadn't intended on bringing Morgan Kell back with me, but it wasn't too difficult to radio ahead and make sure one of the mech Gantries were open and ready for him.

Watching him pull his mech into the open gantry actually sent a bit of a thrill up my spine. He moved so gracefully in a mech it reminded me that as much as my kids were improving, the real elite of elites were on another level.

"Go on Eris, get packed up. I know you are going to want to come with. Oh and I don't know what you put into that message with the other agent. But that is still a problem." I tell the girl as I stepped out of the truck watching the spy keep her eyes locked on me for a while before nodding.

"Understood Commander Eisen-Blume." She was back to being rather monotone, but that was fine. That was just how she was. Nodding, I turned back to Morgan Kell as I watched him slip out of his Archer, already I could see Benny rushing up to me, to find out what was going on.

"Is-Is that Morgan Kell!?" Benny asked before I could even call out a greeting as he hit me like a missile, stumbling a little I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah Mr. Kell accepted our offer to transport him back to Tharkad. It's time we have that meeting with the Archon… Things started happening that removed the option of sitting and waiting any longer."

That pulled Benny from his hero worship as he looked at me questioningly.

"Our spy, Analise, her name is Eris Stingler, make sure you update her records. She found out that we had the knowledge on how to make Endo-Steel… Blame Gauge. She freaked out. Forced me to act. So now we are moving. No more sitting and waiting." I looked ahead. This single act was going to impact so much, I honestly wasn't sure how the Archon would react to this. I only knew her from third hand. Hell I had never even read a book she was in!

I guess it was time to see. I crossed my fingers, hoping that she truly was looking for peace. Because I was about to put the most powerful weapon in the Inner Sphere into her hands. Knowledge.

"Benny. Break out the Red Lance's new mechs. Try to keep them hidden for now, but if something happens while I am gone. Then it's past time we stopped jobbing. I'm gonna go load up my new ride. Not about to show up to meet the Archon in a Locust." I joke and Benny looked like I had just given him his birthday Christmas, and his first born at the same time.

"You are my favorite." He whispered to me as he hugged me tightly and I laughed.

"Of course I am! I'm everyone's favorite!"