Chapter 17

Meridian Manufacturing Plant Two

New St Andrews IV, The Periphery

Rimward of the Circinus Federation

30 May 3077

 

               A matter of hours after securing the pirate camp, the Hussars rolled into Plant Two.  Marie and Bower escorted the captured truck in their ‘Mechs, with Caradin, Hoshino, and Wolfgang guarding the flanks.  Marie had made sure every prisoner got into the truck, using a length of cord to bind their hands except for one who was driving.  Climbing back into the Blossom afterwards had been tricky.  With her knee grinding and the rain making everything slick, she counted herself lucky she’d been able to get back up the ladder to the cockpit.

               Thomas rode along in the truck, keeping his sidearm on the driver.  He’d had little to say once Wolf had carried him back to the rest of the unit, but from the angry look he’d had on his face, Marie could tell the sergeant was barely tolerating the guard duty assignment.

               Wolfgang was similarly taciturn, just grunting in response to any effort at talking to him.  Marie guessed he wasn’t looking forward to the repairs on his Commando.  The machine was so damaged she was amazed it was even still moving.  Hoshino did his best to be encouraging, joking about how the pirates had not been able to stand up to real MechWarriors.

               For her part, Caradin was energetic on the trip back, congratulating them on a job well done.  Her Raptor was moving lightly, almost dancing down the road.  Marie found the lieutenant’s attitude simultaneously encouraging and unsettling.  There was suddenly no trace of the woman who’d been ready to mow down everyone like it would have meant nothing to her.

               It must have been an act, Marie reasoned.  Putting on a brutal image to scare the prisoners and keep them in line.  It had worked, after all.  Not one of the pirates had tried anything as they’d gotten the truck straightened out and had loaded themselves into the back.  Still, Marie’s mind kept flashing back to the image of Fleetfoot standing over them, its lasers glowing.

               The rain was slacking off by the time they arrived at Plant Two.  The ‘Mechs were directed to their bays while Meridian security guards took over escorting the truck.  As soon as the Blossom was secured Marie hastily unbuckled herself and climbed out, not even stopping to pull off her cooling vest.  Thankfully with the fighting over she hadn’t needed to strip down again for the journey back to the Plant.

               Her neurohelmet under one arm, she limped her way to ground level.  On the ground she ran into the expected bustle of techs and support personnel coming to make sure the BattleMechs were secured, along with a camera crew to record it all.  Marie barely even noticed the holo-lenses as she staggered over to the prisoner truck.

               Thomas was already out, talking with a few security guards.  Marie slipped past them to go around to the back of the truck, where more guards were pulling the prisoners out.  A handful of them were being laid out on stretchers, including the pilot of the Samurai Marie had landed on.  The Blossom’s tumble had partially crushed the aerospace fighter’s cockpit, and the pilot had needed to be cut out.  Now the woman was still in her pilot’s gear, trembling in pain from her crushed bones as she was carried off. 

               The prisoners that could walk were escorted to a detention cell in one corner of the Plant.  The small room looked like it had been made to hold unruly or drunk employees, but it was the best Meridian had for a prison at the moment.

               As she followed along with the guards, Marie spotted the technician from the hangar, picking out her head of dirty, tied-off blonde hair.  The woman met her eyes as she was ushered towards the cell, and Marie held up a hand to make the guards wait a moment.  She pulled the tech out of the line and gave her an expectant stare.  The woman looked very much like a pirate, with a skull symbol on her breast and a curving tattoo emblazoned over her cheek.  Still, she could not hide the look of fear in her eyes.

               “We’ve still got some wounded,” the tech said quietly.  “Is there a medic or someone you can send over?”

               Marie’s mouth went tight.  “I’ll ask about it,” she said.  “There’s a first-aid kit in there, try to make do.”

               “Sure, ‘make do’,” the woman muttered.  “So, what are you going to do with us?”

               “I…,” Marie hesitantly began.  “The lieutenant knows what she’s doing.  She’ll look after you.”

               The tech sighed.  “That’s what I’m worried about,” she said.  “Your lieutenant is a psychopath.  I saw what happened.  Javier wasn’t trying to get back in the Chameleon, he was climbing down.  She shot him anyway.”

               Marie blinked in surprise before catching herself and looking at the woman skeptically.  “Why should I believe you?”

               “Why should you believe her?” the tech answered.  “I’m not the one who was sitting up in a ‘Mech shooting us normal people on the ground.”

               Marie held up a hand.  “It’s fine.  The lieutenant’s unconventional, but she knows what she’s doing.” 

               “One of you does, at least,” the tech muttered.  She looked Marie up and down, her gaze lingering on the Clan neurohelmet before meeting her eyes again.  “It’s actually you, isn’t it?  MechWarrior MacLeod?”

               “…McCloud, actually,” Marie corrected, confused.  “What do you mean?”

               “I thought you were just some actress,” the tech replied, incredulous.  At Marie’s blank stare, she shook her head.  “I’m Mel, by the way.  Melody.  For all that’s worth right now.”

               Marie stared at the woman, trying to think of a way to tell her not to worry, but she could find no words.  At the silence, Melody’s mouth tightened. 

               Both women looked up at the sound of footsteps, to see Thomas and Caradin coming towards them.  Thomas had the hard, military look Marie had come to associate with the man, but Caradin was practically glowing, looking like she was walking on air.

               “Good work, McCloud,” Caradin said cheerfully.  She glanced at Melody before looking back to Marie.  “Prisoners all squared away?”

               Marie nodded.  “Every one of them is accounted for.  Melody here was just letting me know this group’s got some injuries.  Is there a medic who could look them over?”

               Caradin and Thomas stared at her for a heartbeat before Thomas stepped forward.  “Medic, sure,” he said.  “Right here.”

               Then he put his hand on Melody’s chest and shoved her so hard that she backpedaled through the door of the cell, slammed into a wall, and fell sprawling onto her face.  Before the woman could even look up from the ground, Thomas had grabbed the door to the cell and slammed it shut.

               “You were not given instructions to talk to them,” Thomas said firmly, holding a finger up in Marie’s shocked face.  “You only had to secure them and lock the door.  Couldn’t you do that much, rookie?”

               Marie’s mouth was hanging open at the sudden display, but she recovered quickly.  “What the hell was that?!” she snapped at him.

               “That was me doing your job for you,” Thomas shot back.  “These people don’t have the right to make demands, and it’s not your place to talk with them, understand?” 

               A dozen impertinent responses all came to mind at once, but before Marie could voice any of them, Caradin ended the argument by putting her hand on Thomas’ arm and giving him a hard look. 

               “That’s going too far, sergeant,” Caradin said coldly.  “Get to the debriefing, we’ll continue this there.”

               Thomas twitched before looking at Caradin and nodding.  Snapping a quick salute, he turned on his heel and walked away from them.

               “Lieutenant, what was that supposed to be?” Marie asked.

               Caradin sighed.  “That was my sergeant not being able to shut it off,” she said, before shrugging.  “That’s just how he is.  Useful in the field, but difficult once he’s out of the ‘Mech.”

               Marie blinked.  “What, that’s it?  ‘That’s just how he is’?  You can’t treat prisoners like that!”

               “Yes, I’ll talk to him about it,” Caradin replied dismissively.  “But he’s got a point.  These people are pirates.  That means they play dirty, McCloud.  Rest assured when guns don’t work they’ll use lies, or worse, feelings.  Thomas is rough, yes, but he’s right that you shouldn’t waste time talking to them.”

               “How about showing basic human decency?” Marie asked.

               Caradin’s smile returned, though there was a cynical look to it.  “That’s a good thing to hang onto, but remember if the roles were switched I wouldn’t bet on a pirate showing you any decency.  It’s hard, I know,” she said, stepping up to Marie and patting her shoulder.  “You’ve got a lot to learn.  But you still did really well today, shutting these people down and getting them all here safe so the client can see some justice done.”  She looked Marie over.  “I’ve got to go meet Coghill and give him my report.  Take fifteen minutes and clean up, then head to the conference room for a debrief with the rest of the lance.  Bring your cockpit recorder.”

               Marie let out a slow breath and nodded mutely.  She clenched her arm tightly around her helmet as Caradin left.  Once the lieutenant was out of sight she grimaced and looked back through the window on the door of the detention cell to see Melody picking herself up off the ground.  She wanted to say something, but once again words failed her.  She stepped away from the door, making a mental note to continue the conversation with Caradin later.

               She made her way to her quarters and tried washing up.  The cockpit had been boiling hot after the Inferno hits, leaving her a sweaty mess.  Going out into the rain afterwards had done nothing to clean her up.  Even now her hair was still damp and stuck to her scalp.  The dye was running, leaving an orange streak on her forehead.  Blood spatter stained her jacket and pants, calling up the unwanted memory of the man disintegrating in front of her.  It smelled like pork, she thought, bizarrely.

               Her body felt heavy and her head was throbbing.  She resisted the urge to crawl into bed, instead washing her face off and then numbly changing into her Hussars uniform.  Then she headed back out, making her way to Blossom long enough to pull out the battleROM recorder before going to the debriefing.

               The conference room was one Marie recognized, with frosted glass walls giving a blurry view of Caradin, Thomas, Coghill, and Bower talking at the big table inside.  Wolfgang and Hoshino were standing outside the door, each carrying the familiar block of a cockpit data recorder under their arms.  They both gave Marie a nod of acknowledgement as she arrived.

               “Still standing?” Wolfgang quipped.

               Marie held her chin up.  “Nothing I couldn’t handle.  At least my ride’s still in one piece.”

               Wolfgang smirked at that, while Hoshino nudged him.  “McCloud-san is a talented warrior.  She throws herself into battle with enthusiasm.  And has the presence of mind to capture so many of the pirates to bring them to justice.”

               Wolfgang shrugged in response.  “Lot of work, bringing back live ones like that.”

               “Yeah, and it’s worth it,” Marie shot back.  She paused, thinking.  “Anyway, didn’t you have to round up the guys who ejected?”

               His face darkened and he looked away from her.  “I had my orders,” he grumbled.  “You’re the one going out of your way to make things complicated.  You think you did those people any favors?  This place is so backwards I bet they still hang people.”

               An image of Melody with a noose around her neck flashed to Marie’s mind.  “Big words, coming from a guy who needs to glue his ‘Mech’s arm back on,” she shot back. 

               Wolfgang gave her a look that was half-annoyed, but before he could say anything all three of them looked up at a solid thump coming from the conference room.  Caradin’s form was standing and leaning towards Coghill.  Marie could imagine the glare Coghill must have been receiving.

               “What is this supposed to be?!” they heard Caradin’s muffled voice shout from inside the room.

               Coghill’s answer was quieter.  Marie found herself leaning forward to try and hear better.  She caught herself and glanced self-consciously at Wolfgang and Hoshino, only to find they were listening intently as well.

               “…terms of the contract you signed,” Coghill was saying.  “If you read on page 28 subsection C – ”

               “To hell with subsection C!  I just cleared out your whole problem and you’re saying it’s not good enough?!”

               “The bonus you’re referring to is pro-rated based on performance thus far.  The board has decided to assess the value of the other costs you’ve incurred, not the least of which is the damage to the Arbiter you were given for short-term use.  It’s all laid out very clearly,” Coghill answered, a note of condescension in his voice that made Marie’s fist clench.

               “You think you can do this to me?  You people would have nothing without me!” Caradin shouted back.

               Coghill sighed.  “We will try to make sure you’re duly compensated, but we can’t justify the payout you’re demanding.”

               You can’t justify me?  You just want to leave me hanging in the wind while you wring your hands and say ‘not my fault.’  You wanted the problem dealt with, and it’s dealt with!””

               “Really?  From what I heard you’ve recovered almost none of the stolen materials, and what you did get is smashed to pieces.  Dead pirates look fine on a holo-reel, but, we need our products to sell, which you’ve provided none of after promising you could handle this contract.”

               “Oh, so sorry ‘Mech battles didn’t listen to your damn sales department!  What am I supposed to do now?  I’ve got three ‘Mechs trashed and you’re cutting me off?”

               “Of course not, Meridian would be happy to offer you a deal on any salvage you’ve acquired – ”

               “Spare me your cut-rate bullshit!” Caradin spat.  “What’s your board pay for it, half-price?  A quarter?  Because you know there’s no other store?  Yeah, wipe that smirk off your face, little man.”

               “Don’t you threaten me, I’m the company rep, and your liason,” Coghill said back.  “Anyway, I am just relaying a message.  We’ve paid you the contracted amount, anything further you’ll have to take up with the MRBC.”

               “Oh, save it!  You’re just pushing me off on some bubblehead who’ll say ‘I lost the paperwork.’  You think you can pull that on me?”

               “I think we’re done here,” Coghill said, standing up.  Marie, Wolfgang, and Hoshino quickly stood at attention as he turned to leave.  A moment later the door opened and Coghill stepped out, furtively adjusting his glasses.

               “We are so far from done with this!” Caradin hissed at his back.  This was followed by a solid-sounding crash of something hitting the floor.  Bower, trailing after Coghill, winced and gave Marie a worried glance before following Coghill away.

               “Gonna be a bad one,” Wolfgang muttered.  “Guess I better stretch out and get ready for this next part.”  Hoshino elbowed him in the ribs, which he returned with a nudge of his own.  “What?  Holly gets horny when she’s pissed.”

               Marie glanced at the two men.  “So what happens now?” she whispered.

               As though in response to Marie’s question, they heard Caradin’s voice from inside.  “All of you, in here.  Now.”

               Wolfgang clenched his jaw and headed into the conference room, followed by Hoshino.  The big man touched Marie’s shoulder and gave her a worried look.  “Just remain calm, it will be fine,” Hoshino whispered, before going inside.

               Concerned, Marie took a breath, tightened her grip on her battle recorder, and followed him in.

               Inside was a table and chairs made of local wood, lit by the harsh brightness of the overhead lights.  Caradin sat on one side of the table, staring intently at a datapad.  Thomas was clumsily repositioning a holographic projector in the center of the table after picking it up off the floor.  The projector hummed and sparked before finally displaying a summary view with small windows displaying the Hussars’ ‘Mechs alongside the pirate ‘Mechs.  Most of the latter were struck out with gray or red lines.

               Marie followed Wolfgang and Hoshino as they walked up to the conference table and wordlessly slid their cockpit data recorders over to Caradin.  The lieutenant did not look up from the datapad as they did so.  Thomas plugged the recorders into the projector and then made a sharp gesture to the wall, where the three of them went over to stand at attention.

               They stood there in silence for several long minutes, Caradin not looking at them.  Marie found the pressure almost dizzying.  She wished someone would say something.  She took a breath to ask if everything was all right, but Hoshino silenced her with her a quick glance and a shake of his head.

               After an eternity Caradin looked up at them, her face cold.  “Wolf, how’d it go on your end?”

               Wolfgang squared his shoulders.  “The wrecks are all tied up and ready for salvage teams.  The Wolvie pilot didn’t make it.  No ejection.”

               Marie flinched a little at that, remembering how the Wolverine had gone up under her fire. 

               “How about the Quickdraw then?” Caradin asked.

               “He ejected, but his chute didn’t open.  He’s splattered.”

               “Hm.  And the Chameleon?”

               “Nope, his chute didn’t open either.”

               “That’s a shame,” Caradin commented flatly, and quietly looked back to the datapad. 

               “Both chutes didn’t open?” Marie asked.  “What’re the odds of that?”

               Caradin looked up at Marie, as did the rest of the Hussars.  Thomas was the first to react.

               “These people are piloting junk,” the sergeant explained smoothly.  “They’re lucky their ‘Mechs even start up, let alone all the parts work right.”

               “I bet a few of them think it’s a sign of weakness to eject,” Caradin added on.  “That Arbiter pilot didn’t punch out, and the other Chameleon pilot tried to start something with me.  McCloud, any hope for those ForestryMechs?”

               Marie hesitated; she hadn’t had much chance to look over the ‘Mechs in the rain, especially while wrangling prisoners.  “Might be fixable,” she said.  “And we pried the pilots out of them, so – ”

               “When I ask you a question, I don’t want wishy-washy.  Either tell me it’s broken or not,” Caradin hissed.  Marie drew back and nodded.  Caradin returned her attention to the datapad.  “Forget it, just add the walking chainsaws to the list of spare parts,” she grumbled. 

               “What’s the next move, LT?” Thomas asked, echoing Marie’s thoughts.

               Caradin sat in silence for a few seconds, considering things.  “Meridian lied to us.  These weren’t pirates,” she finally said.  “Two lances of ‘Mechs, with air support?  Specialized ammunition?  Ground teams and support crews?  An Overlord to carry them all?  And then this,” she said, tapping a button.  The display of the ‘Mechs was replaced by an image of a skull within a spiked wheel. 

               “Circinus Federation,” Caradin coldly announced.

               Marie tensed, recognizing the logo as the same one she’d seen on Melody’s breast.  Circinus Federation was a Periphery nation.  They were fiercely territorial, as most such places were, but also aggressive, launching piracy-style raids on anyone who fell in their sights.

               “Professional pirates,” Wolfgang summarized.  “Meridian’s more out of their depth than they thought.”

               “They must’ve known,” Caradin muttered.  “They called us in because they were being invaded.”

               “But we won,” Marie interjected.  “Circinus or pirates or whatever, we sent them all packing, so that’s a good thing, right?”

               Again she got that look from the rest of them, leaving Marie feeling unsettled. 

               “What makes you say that?” Caradin asked after several uncomfortable seconds.

               Marie blinked.  “Two lances worth of ‘Mechs down, that’s got to be almost all of their fighting force.  They’re scattered and broken.”

               “What’s scattered and broken is all of our salvage,” Caradin corrected.  “It’s all over the damn forest, and it’s just about the only pay we’re getting.  What we didn’t get were the stolen goods Meridian wanted back.  And as for ourselves…” with a few commands she brought back the view of the Hussars’ mechs.  Parts of each of them were tinted in yellow or red to indicate damage.

               “Katamari’s got wrenched actuators, Wolf is full of holes and needs a new arm before we can take it into another fight…and the Blossom and Fleetfoot both need a lot of armor repair,” Caradin summarized.  “We might have won, but it’s hardly a clean win.  More likely we’re coming out in the red after all this.  Back to the matter at hand…any other resources I missed?” the lieutenant asked.

               “The prisoners,” Thomas replied.  “Over twenty in all..”

               “That’s a lot of loose ends to keep track of,” Caradin muttered before glancing up at Marie.  “Did the prisoners have anything to volunteer?” she asked.

               Marie shook her head.  “They’re waiting to see what happens to them,” she answered.  She felt her stomach twist at the disappointed look this earned her from Caradin.

               “That’s a problem, isn’t it?” Caradin asked.  “Right now I don’t even know what’s happening to my own people.  On that point, Wolf, you’re benched until you get that wreck put back together again.  That means two arms.  Get McCloud on it if you need a hand.”

               Instead of the expected annoyed comeback, Wolfgang just nodded.  Marie raised one hand.  “Sir, might be hard to get replacement parts.  Wolf’s laser alone – ”

               “Figure it out,” Caradin interrupted.  “That Commando’s older than your grandfather.  Find something to patch it together.  In case you forgot there’s a whole stack of spare parts out in the woods.”

               Marie went quiet, processing the lieutenant’s words.  Mechtechs were used to working with whatever they could find, but using spare parts pulled out of wrecks was never easy.

               “I hope you can figure out how to get the parts over here.  You did have a plan for that, right?” Caradin went on.  “Considering how you’ve been so sure of what to do up to now.”

               Marie blinked again.  “Sir?”

               Caradin gave her a narrow-eyed look.  “You got me to agree to those ridiculous aerial sweeps because you were sure they had satellite surveillance.  You pushed to go after these pirates because you just knew you could find them.  We’d be able to take them down clean, and the client would be so happy they’d pay for everything.”  She gestured to the display to the Hussars’ ‘Mechs.  “Does this look clean to you, McCloud?” Caradin growled.  “And as for the client giving us anything for all our trouble, it turns out they’re tightening the purse strings.  Or did you expect that?”

               “You told Meridian it was your plan!” Marie argued.  “And we all did the best we could!”

               “Don’t drag your lancemates down to explain yourself,” Caradin warned.  “As for your best, let’s see what that amounts to.”

               She switched the display to the data from the Blossom’s cockpit recorder, showing the views from the various sensors.  Caradin sped through the aerial patrol and onto the engagement.

               “You abandoned your lance here,” Caradin said coldly.  “You fell for an obvious trap.”

               “Bower ran off and I had to get him,” Marie explained.

               “He’s not in your lance.  You left without orders from me or your sergeant.  That’s already a serious problem.”

               Marie’s lips went tight as she held in a protest.  The recording went on, and Marie heard her own voice calling in the contact with the Quickdraw. 

               “Your communication’s too delayed,” Caradin went on.  “You’d already run into two ‘Mechs by now, you’re not calling it in until the third one showed up.  You can’t be that sloppy.”

               “I thought Wolf had already called it in,” Marie answered.

               “And you assumed Wolf was covering Thomas, too?  That’s why you left him to get picked apart like this?” Caradin asked, changing the display to Thomas’ Arbiter being blasted apart.  “That’s the client’s equipment, McCloud.  They expected it back in working order.”

               “I was covering our liason,” Marie replied defensively.

               “I already said he’s not in your lance.  Now on to where we moved in…here,” Caradin went on, speeding past the trip in the woods and into the pirate base.  “McCloud, can you tell me what you did wrong here?”

               Marie swallowed self-consciously.  “Well…I missed my jump target and landed on unstable terrain.”

               “You fell on your face,” Thomas summarized.

               “True enough,” Caradin commented.  “You ignored my orders to stay on the ground, rushed in, and gave up a good position, all to intercept one aerospace fighter.”

               “It was about to take off!” Marie argued.

               The response was a withering glare from Caradin before the lieutenant rewound the playback and started it again.  This time, the Blossom did not jump towards the aerospace fighter, but instead stayed ground-bound, circling the base and opening fire on the Chameleon.

               “Here’s the proper response, McCloud.  If you’d stayed with your teammates and used cover like you should have, you could’ve silenced that ‘Mech before it could do so much damage to you.  Which would have freed me up to intercept the others, since I wouldn’t have needed to bail you out of trouble.”

               “How…” Marie whispered, watching the phantom display of a different version of the battle.  She knew the Beagle Active Probe gathered enormous amounts of data, but she hadn’t realized it could simulate different engagements.

               “Instead you cut yourself off from support and got yourself surrounded.  And that was even without your tripping over the aerofighter and going down.  You’re damn lucky, McCloud.  If either ForestryMech had been a few meters closer, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

               “I know,” Marie muttered in response.  “But I thought you were right behind me.”

               “I didn’t hear you asking me to follow you in,” Caradin answered.  “Your last words to me were to call in the aerofighter and say you were intercepting.  After that you jumped in before I could let you know I was ready.”

               “You were right there!  You’d have seen everything that was happening!” Marie protested.

               “What I saw was multiple units slipping away while you were getting stuck on one grounded aerospace fighter,” Caradin replied.  “I was going around to cut them off.  When you called for backup I had to race back and engage multiple targets at once.  I was so busy covering you I had to take that stolen Arbiter down instead of just disabling it.  That’s two ‘Mechs you cost the client, McCloud.  So what else is there?  Sergeant?”

               “McCloud failed to secure the base,” Thomas answered dutifully.  “She brought down the aerofighter and one ‘Mech, but left the pilots in the cockpits.  Then she refused to engage the ground forces.”

               “Correct,” Caradin said.  The recording reached the point where the Blossom took hits from the men with SRM launchers.  With the touch of a button, Caradin changed the battle again, and the Blossom opened fire on them without hesitation, the holographic men glowing red and fading away.

               “Proper response time for this kind of situation is three, maybe four seconds,” Caradin commented, rewinding the video and playing back the battle as it had actually happened, with the Blossom taking aim but not firing.  “You had these soldiers under the gun for almost ten seconds straight, with not a shot fired.  Why was that?”

               Marie stammered.  “Th-they were unarmed, sir.  The launchers were empty.”

               “How could you be sure of that?  Do you think you’re keeping track of everything that was happening around you?”  Marie hesitated at that.  “That’s what I thought.  There were so many of them running around you could’ve been getting hit from all sides!  But no, you just sat there and watched let them get away, along with a dozen of their other friends.”

               “Marie-san intercepted another truck though,” Hoshino said, finally breaking his silence.  “And secured the other aerospace fighter.”

               “Yes, ‘secured’ it,” Caradin said, giving Hoshino an annoyed sideways glance.  “By getting out of her ‘Mech in a hostile environment.  .”

               “You ordered me to get out for a photo op!” Marie protested.             

               “I don’t remember saying that,” Caradin answered evenly.  “What I remember is telling you to secure the area.  Now why did you think that meant dismounting?  Your ‘Mech has antipersonnel machine guns.  Even with your accuracy, you could’ve silenced all remaining hostiles in under a minute.”

               Marie’s brow furrowed.  “Those people had surrendered, sir.  We had to respect that under any rules of engagement.  Are you saying we’d have been better off just gunning them all down?”

               Hoshino tensed and Thomas’ face darkened and he took a breath to say something, but Caradin silenced him by mutely raising a finger without taking her eyes off of Marie.    

               “All done?” Caradin asked after a few seconds.  “These people are the OpFor we were sent to stop.  You think Meridian’s going to shed a tear for any of them?  They’re not worth your mercy, McCloud.  Especially not if it means the whole engagement is me cleaning up after you.  That kind of sloppiness isn’t something I need in my unit.  We’re coming back to our employer empty-handed today, and that’s on you.”

               Marie drew back unconsciously at the harsh tone in Caradin’s words.  She glanced at Wolfgang and Hoshino, seeing both of them pointedly staring at the wall and avoiding eye contact.

               “Fine.  Sorry,” she said bitterly.  “What is the next move?  What can I do?”

               Caradin leaned back in her chair.  “Right now I’d say you’ve done more than enough, McCloud.  For all our trouble today we get about two hundred tons of junk scattered through the woods, a beat-up training ‘Mech, most of a Locust, and a bunch of prisoners no one cares about.”

               “We could make use of the prisoners,” Thomas suggested.  “We’ll need some hands getting all that junk back here and making sense of it.”

               “Wait, forced labor?” Marie asked.

               Caradin held up a hand, not looking at her.  It’s worth a try,” she replied.  “Tell them it’ll earn points with Meridian, maybe that’ll motivate a few of them.”

               “And if the work wears them out they might get talkative,” Thomas went on.  “Give me and Hoshino a little time with them, I bet we’ll get some answers on where to find the rest of them.”

               Marie knew she didn’t like the smirk that touched his lips as he spoke.  “I can talk to them,” she quickly volunteered.  “A few of them seemed to trust me enough to talk.”

               Once again the other Hussars looked at her like she had spoken out of turn.  Thomas’ expression turned hard as he met her eyes.  “You were getting pretty friendly with that one a minute ago, letting her make demands.”

               Caradin held up a hand for silence again, then looked thoughtful as she tapped her chin.  “Interesting,” she finally said.  “Do you think you’d be able to get information out of them?”

               “Sure thing, sir,” Marie answered immediately. 

               “You know what that means?”  Caradin asked.  “I need to know where the rest of their band retreated to.  And they might not be willing to part with that information.  Are you able to do what it takes to convince them?”

               Marie clenched a fist at her side.  “I’ll get answers,” she said.  “You can trust me, LT.”

               “This’ll be your chance to prove it.  I’m assigning you to security detail on the prisoners, then,” Caradin answered with a nod.  “Now as for the rest of you, we need to make sure the client says secure.  There are still a lot of pirates out there, and at least three BattleMechs unaccounted for.  So we’re back on patrol starting tomorrow.  Wolf, Hoshino, get your rides fixed up asap and get ready to go out.  Thomas, I’m assigning you to the Blossom.”

               Thomas just nodded sharply at that, while Marie’s breath caught.

               “Sir, what?” she asked.

               “I need my sergeant in the field, and I’m running precious low on materiel for him right now,” Caradin answered matter-of-factly.

               Because he blew up the last two ‘Mechs he was in, Marie thought.  “But the Blossom is my ‘Mech!  We’ve got a Chameleon and a Locust to put him in!”

               Thomas snorted dismissively at that.  “That Locust is full of holes and the reactor’s probably breached after all that shooting you were doing,” he said.  “And calling a Chameleon a BattleMech is being very charitable.  I need something half-decent if I’m going to be in the field.”

               Caradin nodded in somber agreement.  “If it settles your nerves, call it a loan until we get something better for him.  That’s all then,” All of you, dismissed.  Wolfgang, stay behind.  You and I need to catch up.”

               Marie ground her teeth and stepped towards Caradin, but the lieutenant met her eyes with a hard glare, wordlessly telling her the conversation was over.  She felt her anger freeze at that look, replaced with a stomach-twisting unease.  Her will leaving her, she backed away and followed Hoshino out the door.

 

*End Chapter 17*

 

Thanks for reading!  And thanks very much for your patience with my delay as life has kept me very busy, and remains busy today.  But I'm not giving up, I love writing this story, and love that anyone will read it.

 

Battletech and Mechwarrior are the property of Catalyst Game Labs.

 

Rachel McCloud, the Bristol, Marie Rose (Sr.) and the Black Thorns are creations of James Long, who among other things wrote Main Event and DRT for the Battletech universe.

 

Image of Melody comes from Rafael on Twitter: @rafa_w73

 

A gallery of images from this story is compiled on my Ko-Fi page.  Donations are not required, but they are appreciated, and help me pay the artists to make more images for this story.

 

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Audio version of this story is available at https://lucendacier.podbean.com/ , and on Apple podcasts.

 

Audio with images is available on Youtube, which also includes music I found out on the wilds of the Internet.