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It All Falls Apart
A future history of Battletech
by Solarmech |
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Capital City, North America
Terra
The Terran Commonwealth
July 27, 3158
The old man watched with pride as the ceremony started. He could have stayed indoors and watched the coverage on one of the many news channels, but his place was here. His wheelchair was off to the side, behind a large stone pillar, out of sight of the people watching, but that was what he wanted. He had no wish to embarrass anyone with the frailties old age had inflicted on him. The old man shifted slightly and watched the podium, the only part of the stage he could see well. Triumphal music played as he thought back to the first Star Lord taking his oath. He had not wanted the position in any way, but he felt it was his responsibility to take it. The old man could still hear his friend curse a blue streak in three different languages at the pomp and circumstance that lay ahead. He could even see the smile the oversized bodyguard wore when his friend finally ran out of bluster. Those had been hard days, but still good ones in many ways.
The hard days where long over now, but the good days where still here. Things where mostly peaceful now. The insane Word of Blake had been swept away. The Clans had finally learned that they where not going to rule a new Star League. And the Great Houses had lost the thirst for useless wars. Pirates where rare nowadays and the Periphery states where expanding the reach of man to the stars. Many of them where League members now, only the Turians refused to join, even though for all intensive purposes they where a member. The old, foolish grudges where starting to fade away now, if slowly. Another generation or two and they may even die out.
The old man blinked, steadied himself and turned his attention back to the stage as the Supreme Star League Judge began to give the Oath of Office. But not a single syllable escaped her lips before a blinding flash filled the open-air stage. The old man recovered his vision swiftly, thought there where large spots in it. He saw the Supreme Judge folding over in apparent agony. The man who would be Star Lord also appeared to be in pain, but still he reached down to help the stricken woman. Cry’s of pain now reached the old man’s ears and he noticed that his own skin felt as if it where burning.
“Radiation” was his only thought as thunder from a great explosion washed over him.
The old man guided his chair forward, he needed to see more. His great nephew had picked the Supreme Judge up and was trying to carry her to safety. The old man’s heart filled with pride as he witnessed this. Even in great pain and dying, his nephew's first thoughts where of others, not himself. The cries of pain where becoming quite now as death stalked the ceremony. The dead and dying where everywhere. The Coordinator close by the stage, next to him the First Prince, beyond them the Caesar. All the leaders of the League Member States where here, and many other important figures as well. All destroyed in one horrid action. His great nephew finally collapsed. The way he fell, the old man knew that he was dead before he hit the stage. The Khan of the Ghost Bear Republic looked up at the sound and tried to move to the stage. He actually took several steps before even his great elemental strength failed and he crashed to the ground.
The old man knew he was dying, the pillar had stopped some of the radiation, but not enough to spare his life. His warrior's blood called for him to act, even if it something so small as to find out what had killed him. A quick look showed that one of the residential towers about 3 kilometers away had been shattered. The broken stump that remained that looked as if ripped apart from the inside. But an atomic would have caused much more devastation, unless…… a radiation bomb, that was it. A nutronium bomb? Something like that, the pain was making it hard to think.
He looked around and beheld the dead. He could not help it as tears began to crawl down his face. He did not cry for himself, his friends or even his family. He cried for all humanity. All this death would fan the flames of hate. Honor and justice would be cast aside in a quest for vengeance. The peace of nearly 60 years would be ground in to the dust because of the efforts of few madmen.
Soon the radiation claimed the old man, and the former Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, Hohiro Kurita passed beyond the cares of the living.
The rest was Chaos.
This is part One of a interconnected series of stories.
The next story is "To the Ashes" |
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