"White Reach: Landfall" (Part 8)
- Date: October 16, 3031
- Location: Minos Firebase
Mikell walked down the halls of the new firebase, knocking on them with a knuckle and frowning. At least it was functional and put together in a matter of weeks instead of months. But it wouldn't hold up to serious assault, and Louis was already grumbling about crossed wires in the fabrication area. The 'Mech Bay buildings were capable of handling the same general function as the DropShip facilities, just not with the same degree of precision yet. Louis assured Mikell it was going to be possible, just would take some time and supplies to build better housings and mounting points for the lifting equipment. Irene had been grumbling about the medical ward being little more than a clean room, but she would make it work.
Then there was the other room, the four simulation systems they had brought along and a computer system so they could check out potential recruits. He was walking past before pausing and leaning in to see one of the folding chairs in the corner with Olivia reading a datapad quietly. "Olivia?" He asked, and noticed the lights were off. She glanced up. "What is it?"
"One of the things which happened as the HPG came back up, was there being messages received for a few crew members. Elly just finished distributing them today." She looked up. "It took them a while to get around to sorting through the low-priority messages, I guess. Or maybe they just were annoyed at people."
"And you got a message?"
She nodded twice. "From home." When she didn't elaborate, Mikell made a motion with his hand, and she gave him a half-smile and sigh. "No, sir, you don't get to know what's in there."
"I'm your commanding officer, if there's something going on-"
Olivia set the datapad down on the nearest flat surface and slowly stood, tension rising in the air around her. "It's not your problem." She spoke it softly, but there was a defiant snap to her tone. "Do you want to hear about my home planet, what sort of things go on there which keep everything so nice and cozy? It's a neverending paradise, you know, enough food and water to go around and never any problems getting treatment if you hurt yourself or get sick." Her tone twisted, as she shook her head.
"I know better. You're from-"
"Don't finish that." She flexed her fingers and glanced aside at the datapad. "Look, it really isn't anything you can fix. It's long over, more than likely, and even if we jumped contract or I left right now? It'd be too long for anything to get fixed." She let out a long sigh. "I'm here. Not there." She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly before opening those eyes and smirking. "I made my decisions a long time ago, and again when I came to join your new rogue outfit."
"Mercenary outfit." He poked her shoulder gently. "So, seriously. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Make sure we have coffee enough so Louis can make his abomination and I can still drink some?"
"Done and done." Mikell nodded. "So, shall we discuss finding new recruits?"
Olivia touched a finger to her lips and shook her head. "Not until you get Kelly out of the simulator. She's in number four, practicing trying to kill an Atlas." She hesitated. "I might put money on her, right now."
"Didn't you tell me about that time you wagered on that one lady with a Griffin 1S for the Solaris Championship?"
Olivia swatted his arm. "I did my homework on her! I was absolutely sure she was going to make it, that Allard fellow was supposed to lose. I don't know what happened." She sighed and shook her head. "Man, one of these years I need to track her down. Find out what happened after she lost. It was like she just disappeared off the face of the Inner Sphere."
"Save it for retirement. Or after the contract is done."
- Date: January 4, 3032
- Location: Minos Firebase
It had not been a pleasant few months, but it had been mercifully boring enough the buildings were completed. Around the firebase there was a new storage building, a pair of bunkhouses, a power generator, and few heavy roads to connect them and permit 'Mechs to walk along without completely destroying the roads. A half a kilometer off was the edge of a denser cluster of buildings which was near the spaceport. Mikell often had to stop himself from imagining errant missiles exploding across the facades, and it was particularly difficult while he was sitting in the briefing room reviewing the financial and data reports which had been filed in the morning. In short, after Janus' authorized payment hand finalized, they had enough to pay everyone and then to begin preparing for a new round of slugging matches with those around the planet.
"Hello, Commander, we need to talk about a few things." Irene's voice spoke up about two seconds before her hand plucked the shoulder seam of his jacket and pulled him aside. "We received medical supplies last month, and do you know what was missing?"
"Given the urgency with which you found me, I'm going to guess it's either 'everything' or Kelly's medicines." He turned to looked at her expression, and sighed. "Which is it?"
"The latter. Though we are running a little lean on general antibiotics." She hesitated, then spoke up slowly. "There's also the matter of supplier, as we seem to be only able to acquire them from one particular company-"
He threw his hands up, palms-out, and shook his head quickly. "I put in the orders you give me, matched to what's available out there. I don't play favorites, I just try not to spend too much on the supplies." She inhaled and slowly let the breath out through her nose, lips pressed tightly together. "How long do we have Kelly's meds so far?"
"If we resupply soon on those, we should be good. And by soon I mean two months." She hesitated. "If the regimen is interrupted, it could lead to the effectiveness dropping off. That's all I can tell you right now without access to equipment we don't have. So keep that in mind." She poked him in the shoulder. "I have to get back to following up with Duchen and his rehabilitation."
Mikell kept walking, and pulled his jacket shut as he jogged across to the 'Mech Bays. The delivery from this morning sat to one side, the crates still closed up. He noticed Sagittarius Lance's BattleMechs were standing ready and Pegasus Lance was being worked on by two of the crews. But closer yet was a tracked tank which had the turret dismantled and sitting on a scaffold, while Louis was standing and working on it. He hadn't noticed Mikell walking up yet as there was a metallic snap and a piece of metal fell to the floor.
"Damn it all, I hate this Quickscell crap-" Louis shouted, and hissed through his teeth. "Tim, I need another PPC mounting bracket from the box. This one was cracked and defective." A younger man in coveralls ran off to one side. Louis stuck his head out the bottom and called after him. "And if you drop it I will bolt it to your hand."
"Problems?" Mikell asked mildly, and earned himself a glare.
"All due respect, sir? Eat a bag of toads. I really don't have the time, nor am I in the mood." Louis turned his head as Tim came back and made to toss the bracket up to Louis and was caught short by the even stare. "Tim? I will embed a socket wrench in your forehead." After it was handed up carefully, Louis got back to work.
The commander watched for a little longer and glanced around the bays. The two Condors were still partially dismantled to one side, as well. "I am guessing this is about normal for what Quickscell has produced?"
"I'll give you the full debrief in two hours, if you do me a favor and see if Kelly's trying to power up that new Wolfhound. I understand the need to be familiar with the new machine, but I haven't vetted the reactor yet to be sure if the shielding is working. I may be old but I'd like to have the option of having children and grandchildren."
Mikell nodded and wandered off, seeing Kelly standing near the Wolfhound and shaking a can of spray paint. There was fresh paint drying on the side of the arm, a stenciled script of some sort. "Kelly, just decorating?"
"Sir. Just got a new name for the new 'Mech." She was staring up at the head and looking at it intently.
He raised his eyebrows. "Decided not to go with 'chainsaw goodness'?"
"Until you can get me one to mount on the left hand." She shook her head and climbed up with stencils in her teeth, starting to spray along after a moment to set it in place. After a minute she nodded and hopped back down. "Does that look straight to you?"
"Miraculously, yes." He squinted. "Cú Sedda?"
She was wiping a rag over the stencils, cleaning them off. "Story I used to hear, recall hearing about this guy. Said that he killed another guy's dog in self-defense and when the owner was distraught, he offered to guard in its place. Took on the name of 'hound' and it stuck because he became famous. Liked the sound of the name and the story, so I figure if this is my hound I'm gonna make sure people know it. And when it gets famous-"
"I get the point." He pointed at the name. "So why is it Sedda instead of Sethan?"
She capped the spray can and set it down, giving a shrug. "It's not yours. It's mine."
"I paid for it?" He said, tapping his chest softly. "Company money bought it."
"Well it's mine." She folded her arms and stared at him steadily, looking at him from head to toe. "Do I have to fight you for it?"
"Hell no." He'd seen her practice sparring enough to know she fought dirty. "You have to fight for me." He pointed. "Ten percent of your monthly salary goes towards the value of the 'Mech. Same sidelines and clauses as everyone else, you break it and you still owe the company the full value. If you earn pick of salvage, that's the Company's and we take it off the value you owe."
She tilted her head, seeming to think it over before unfolding her arms and pointing two fingers at him. "Twenty percent."
"What? You want to negotiate . . . up?"
"Pay it off sooner, and I'm not using the money for anything but food."
"Your choice. Twenty percent." He held out his hand, and she took it with a grip a little more than firm, grinning at him. "You'll have to sign the paperwork to make it official in the morning."
"Sure thing." He turned and walked away. He heard her laugh, and looked back to see her hug the arm of the 'Mech. "All mine now, can't wait to break you in with real combat!"
"Sir?" Elly's voice came over his earpiece. "We've got an hour before we need to get our order out through the HPG station. I felt I should warn you about the time." He nodded and headed out of the 'Mech Bays, feeling the chill in the air. "Also, I would like to put in the request for an increased order for coffee beans. We're running low again..."
- Date: January 24, 3032; 08:02 Local Time
- Location: Minos Firebase, Briefing Room
Mikell tapped on the table to bring the map up, then clapped his hands to get attention from the waking 'MechWarriors.. "Okay, everyone, let's bring the meeting to a start." He pointed at the map of the continent, and stood up. "Our records are needing some updating, now that Louis and his techs got everyone ready to go. I am thinking we need to begin a recon effort with the lances."
"This sounds like an invitation to get ambushed." Olivia chirped, raising her hand. "I think that sounds like a terrible idea."
"I like ambushes." Simone said in turn. "I mean, I like being the ambushing person. Can we do that?" Mikell glanced at her. "Sorry sir."
"I want to do this so we can also be seen to be out there, a PR stunt of sorts." He glanced back around the table. "Given the map of the continent, I think if there's going to be trouble it'll come from the north of the city or the south. Lots of hills to hide things in to the north, and there's nobody to the south where the tidal plains make it less than attractive to build permanent structures."
Vandal coughed into his hand. "Except for, I understand, drilling platforms. Tapping fossil fuel or natural gas. I'm not sure which, but I've seen the notes now and then about platforms which are suspended about fifteen meters over the ground out there for when the tidal plains fill." As Otto glanced at him, Vandal shrugged. "What? I've been out and about trying to learn a bit about the planet. Did you know there's also some sort of rail system which was planned back before the Third Succession War reached its peak?"
"Why does it matter?"
"Because it matters to the people here." Vandal sighed and rolled his eyes. "And pretending you're interested lets them pretend you're not outsiders who don't have an interest in their well-being."
Otto's brows drew down and he frowned. "We aren't interested in their-"
"Otto, one week KP." Mikell cut him off, and leaned back to look around. "There is a major reason I want this done, and it has to do with several DropShips which arrived in the last three weeks. While we were doing shakedowns of the new vehicles and getting the crews up to speed, there have been forces arriving as we heard about last year. One of them had a landing trajectory Jade tracked to this continent, but we don't know where." He held up a finger. "But we need to find out where, who, and what sort of trouble we're in before they find us."
There was a slight stirring through the room. "What about those people we fought before?"
"I don't think they are eager to come back, or they would have. I'm a little leery of them, which is why I want the lances to be close enough to get back here quickly." He pointed. "Pegasus, I want you to the south of the city, I think you're maneuverable enough to avoid getting caught if there's something out there. Sagittarius, I think we're better off taking the north side."
"We?" Reginald's head snapped to regard Mikell curiously.
"Aubrey is still out on medical, so I'm piloting the BattleMaster again." He folded his arms and sighed. "Rather than deploy light. Elly is going to act as coordinator from here, since our communications problem has cleared up." Reginald still stared at him. "Look, I have no idea when Aubrey will be fit to return to duty-"
"If you decide to do this, sir, I'm not stopping you." Reginald spoke slowly, distinctly. "But let's not be hasty, if we run into someone." He glanced at Olivia, who nodded back and shrugged. "I don't want to take over if you take an autocannon round to the head."
"I'm not eager to put myself in the line of fire for that either. But I don't feel right letting everyone take all the risk." Mikell stood up slowly. "We're leaving for patrol tomorrow morning, but Pegasus Lance? I want you to move under cover of night."
"Understood, Commander." Simone stood slowly and looked at the table. "We'll notify Elly if we find something, and I presume we're not to engage unless she gives us your authorization?"
"Correct. Get yourself rest before you go." He shut off the table. "Dismissed."
- 09:11 Local Time
- Location: Sakura Firebase
Chu-sa Agati Shira glanced over the map of the continents and the small symbols which reflected the known locations of cities and other places of interest. It wasn't nearly as detailed as she would have liked, but she would get more detailed intelligence data as soon as they were underway. The base was going to need to be active soon, a place to hide the DropShips and get underway as a foothold. The lack of nearby port was going to be an issue, with the closest one in the tundra far to the northwest. For now, the Legion didn't need to be noticed. Not with the other forces on the planet, including the ones she had the information on thanks to her connections.
That was going to continue to bother her, getting these "gifts" and having things expected in return. Such as this whole push for White Reach, for instance. But if they could report back to the Regiment command the planet was ready to be reinforced and claimed then it might allow some of the people to restore some measure of honor in service to the Coordinator.
"We are ready to disembark on the mission." Kashira Cobb spoke up. "The location should be prepared for reinforcement by tomorrow, assuming we don't meet resistance."
"If you do, either quash it or relocate." Shira frowned in thought. "Anders. I want you to lead the movement against the north side of the city. I am assigning you enough force to take care of whatever defenders may come to you." She regarded her console and made a few selections. "Gather your force and be underway within one hour."
"Understood."
Shira leaned back in her chair, and in the silence she stared at the top of her console and rubbed her fingers over a stain on it absently. This was it, with those orders she was now officially acting outside orders from above. If this endeavor failed, her life was forfeit, her family would lose all standing, and the dishonor would no longer be implied with her assignment to the Legion of Vega. No, it would be open, and her usefulness would be at an end for her "friends" within the group who had been trying to pull her strings ever since she inherited the Gladiator.
She stood up and shut off her console with a curl to her lips, the flash of anger passing as quickly as it had come. This had better be worth it, or the Ouroboros would find out the Dragon was not to be trifled with. What would it mean to be the infinite loop, when the Dragon encompassed the stars themselves?
Shira needed to take her mind off this. It was time to find someone to spar with.
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