Chapter Forty-Nine: Intelligence
Chapter Forty-Nine: Intelligence
Kentares IV Draconis March, Federated Suns July 1st, 3011
I hated having to watch things from the ground and not be able to do anything about it. And to make matters worse, Katrina had left me babysitting Melissa while she was in recovery along with Arthur on the Argo. So I was sitting in the communications bay, listening to the chatter among our pilots as they artfully destroyed the enemy forces. Having a regiment of Fighters left at home made defending it a lot easier.
"No Melissa, don't touch that." I rushed over to prevent her from pushing the broadcast button. "Come on Mel, you've got to listen to what Uncle Mark says."
"Unca Mock." She reached up to be held and so I picked her up. "Up"
"You're spoiled." I said, as I brought her back to my chair and handed her my keys to play with. "Spoiled rotten I say." I began tickling her sides to peals of laughter.
I was only able to halfway listen to the battle in the void, but I knew that not being able to keep an eye on Melissa would end up with me dead. Finally, after about an hour trying to, I managed to tire Melissa out enough that she fell asleep while I was holding her.
"Last of the enemy has been destroyed." I heard as I held Melissa, "Send in recovery vehicles ASAP." I decided that a situation report could wait until the next day. I yawned, sat down in a comfortable chair while holding Mel, and nodded off.
July 3rd, 3011
"Rook, you manage to rip anything off of the dropship computers?" I asked our main computer specialist. (He had been adopted into our intel department years ago.) While holding Mel who was fast asleep on my shoulder.
"Yeah actually." Rook said. "I've got some interesting stuff for you to go over later." He glanced at one part. "Say, have you ever heard of a system called Versailles?" He asked me.
"No, I've never heard of it." I said, lulling Mel back to sleep as she began to stir. "Maybe it appears on some older maps or something." I suggested, genuinely having never heard of the system.
"Well, I don't think these people were Dracs, Colonel." Rook said seriously. "Their dropships were too new, and the computers weren't full of junk like most dropships are." His face paled as he looked at one of the things that he had just seen in the data that he had pulled from their systems. "Colonel, take a look at this."
"Fuck." I said, "Whoever this was, they really wanted to send a message didn't they?"
"I'll say sir." Rook finally regained his composure. "The Davions would have unleashed hell like it was the first succession war all over again."
"Thanks for all of your help Rook. I'll send a line or message to Ian or Hanse and see what I can dig up with Jones." I said, "For now, go get some rest Rook, you look like you could use some rest."
July 4th, 3011
"Katrina, I'm not your babysitter." I said as I tried (And failed) to pass Melissa back over to her mother.
The toddler I was holding refused to let go. Saying "Unca Mock, Unca Mock." And grabbing my beard in order to direct me back to the room we had set aside for her to play in.
"Ow, Mel stop." I said, slowly untangling the hands from my beard. "Katrina, get your daughter before she rips my beard out."
Katrina, (And Arthur,) were too busy bent over laughing to assist poor uncle Mark. At this point, I had been brought low by the toddler and she had spun around to climb on my back as if I were a horse. "Unca Mock Unca Mock." She cheered. Laughing at my misfortune.
Finally, I managed to escape from the little terror that Mel was sometimes. But it was only because she had gotten tired. After recovering from her laughter, Katrina picked Melissa up and gave her a kiss on the top of the head.
"You like playing with Uncle Mark Melissa?" She asked, booping Melissa on the nose.
"Yes, Play Unca Mock." She made to reach for me again but was blocked by Arthur swooping in to capture her attention. "Dada." She reached for the still slightly weak man and he held her tight and kissed her on the cheek.
Smiling softly to myself, I slipped away and allowed them a private moment to be a family.
July 10th, 3011
"Mark, seriously anything you need ever, You call Arthur or myself and we'll make it happen." Katrina said as she hugged my neck.
"Well, there's a couple of things that I actually have for you." I said, and grabbed an envelope I had prepped. "You're not allowed to open it until you've made it back to Tharkad." I said. "And I'll be sending a Sharpshooter representative over to Tharkad soon. Try and point them in the right direction?"
"I can do that." Katrina laughed. "The Kell brothers just started up a Merc unit, and Morgan told me to tell you that he said "Hi" before I left."
"Alright, I'll catch up to Morgan sometime in the future." I said. "Katrina, Arthur." I knelt down at eye level for Melissa. "Mel, I'll see y'all around sometime." I gave Melissa a big hug, a handshake with Arthur, and Katrina wrapped me into a bear hug and then they left to head back to Lyran space. They would be bringing a couple of my doctors and nurses with them to make sure that they stayed on the path of recovery though.
July 11th, 3011
"McAllister." I said, seemingly calm.
"Yeah?" He asked as he walked over.
"Where is my Warhammer?" I asked. "And why is there a Marauder in its place?"
"That redhead came by bout a month ago." He snapped his fingers together to help him remember. "Kerensky, I think her name was. She had authorization from you to take a mech out for the long term. It didn'ay specify what mech she could take."
I sighed heavily. "Well, let's see if there are any surprises waiting for me." I climbed to the cockpit via the gantry. I popped open the hatch to see that there was a sealed letter sitting on the seat of the Marauder.
Sitting down in the chair, I opened the letter and began to read it. "Sorry for the switch Mark, but I knew that I might need some of the Lostech in your mech to help out the Dragoons. Do not worry though! I'm just borrowing it for a little while and you can use my Marauder while waiting for my return. By the way, I left some things in your office for you to find later. I will be back in a year or so, and I hope that we will be able to pick up where we left off.
Your battle buddy, Natasha.
"Fucking Clanners." I muttered to myself with a smile on my face. "Always got to be different."
"McAllister!" I yelled. "See what Lostech you can swap out in here. This is gonna be my ride for a while."
July 31st, 3011
"Leave the stack there." I pointed to where I wanted the pile of paperwork lay. "Anything super important today Mary?"
"Check the first envelope, I think it's from Hanse Davion." She said, before dismissing herself back to her desk.
Reaching for and opening the letter, I found that it was an invitation to Hanse and Dana Stephenson's wedding in January of 3013. Apparently I was being invited as part of the groom's wedding party and I was to be there as "Early as possible." I had been keeping tabs on Hanse, and he had earned the nickname "The Fox" all over again as he pacified and began to convert Tikonov over to the Davion way of thinking.
I was also keeping tabs on the NAIS construction and what was going on with the hiring and recruitment of scientists there. It seems that no matter what the universe, Dr. Banzai would always be drawn to work for NAIS instead of a company like mine.
Natasha had been spotted and we knew that Natasha would give them our intel, and it seems that Ian had consulted with Hanse and gotten the Northwind Highlanders to move back to Northwind permanently or at least that's what the slow pullouts seemed to indicate anyway.
Dropship on route to Wolf's Dragoons. July 25th, 3011
"And you are?" the odd man in front of her in the ship's gym asked.
"I am Lieutenant Natasha Kerensky of the Marksman." She said as she sat down on the bench press. "If I have to ask you to leave me alone again, it will be accompanied by a broken nose at the minimum." She glared at the man who had been hitting on her.
"Fifty days." Natasha said to herself "It will take around fifty days to get there, let's hope it's enough."