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Alternate Universe Fanfic
A VERY different alternate universe story.
by Nutcracker |
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Phelan shook the ever-present ice off his jacket. Only here for a few days and he hated this planet. But she was here, the so-called savior. He chuckled and ran a gloved hand through his long, red hair. He stood tall and was well built, a frame which had enabled him to succeed at his profession. He was a warrior.
Even more, he was a rarity indeed, a Mechwarrior. Outside of the SLDF, there was probably less than a thousand, half of which were too incompetent or too maimed to be effective in battle. He had been "rewarded" by birth, his father being the leader of one of the biggest groups of rebels, who made sure Phelan was trained from infancy. He had over forty kills by the age of 25, a prodigy indeed. And how did Colonel Kell reward his son? He sent him to meet with some "exalted leader", the daughter of the two biggest rebellion groups in existence.
He stepped past an open doorway where an older lady was telling tales of the past to children. He stepped and looked in, remembering how similarly he had learned of his past. One child raised her hand and asked, "How did the Star League unite mankind?"
The old woman looked up and her eyes met Phelan’s. They both smiled, knowing that this would be a tale of an answer.
"Well," she began, "Richard Cameron came of age and issued Executive Order 156. This decreed that the Draconis Combine reduce it’s Battlemechs to one regimental honor guard. Jinjiro Kurita refused and since he had made enemies of the other lords, no one defended him. In fact, House Davion ‘assisted’ the Star league.
After five years of fighting, they finally fell, and all members of House Kurita were executed for treason. The Star League took over administrational control of the realm and the entire League moved on.
"Then a few years later, a bloody civil war erupted in the Free Worlds League. After most of the leaders of House Marik were killed off in the infighting, the League moved in to protect the citizens of the Free World League. They finished off the warring factions and took control of the region.
"Soon there after, the League moved against the Capellan Confederation for it’s attacks on Andurian planets while the Free Worlds League was immersed in civil war. By this time the House Lords figured out what Richard was up to, but it was too late for the Capellan and House Laio.
"With that, complete war broke out. The Lyran Commonwealth took a few border worlds and dug in for a defensive stand. The Federated Suns went on the offensive. With the resources of the rest of the Inner Sphere, and what little Richard could eke out of the chaotic Periphery Realms, the two realms had little hope.
"The bulk of the SLDF moved against the Federated Suns, which lasted seven years before the Davions disappeared with a few regiments of ‘Mechs, becoming freedom fighters, using guerrilla tactics.
"Robert Steiner II, two years later, seeing that his fight was hopeless, surrendered his realm, sparing his people much of the bloody war. The Steiners were stripped of all land but Tharkad, which began to receive less and less League aid, leaving it of little worth. After re-establishing his control on the Periphery, Richard Cameron reached the pinnacle of unity that his ancestor had begun.
"And now we fight the League oppression. Some day the Star League will fall and we will all be free." She paused and took a sip of tea.
Phelan shook his head and moved on as a half-dozen small arms shot up in the air. ‘I should be piloting my Clint, not be listening to an old woman tell tales of our oppressive past,’ he thought. ‘And coming to find some ‘Golden Child’ was a waste of my talents.’
The smells of coolant, oils and caustic substances filled his nose. He was very near the ‘Mechbay. His interrogator told him that’s where she’d be. He was lucky he was expected, otherwise his interrogation and verification might have taken days instead of hours.
His mouth dropped as he stepped into the huge natural cavern. There must have been two hundred ‘Mechs in here. The most he’d ever seen was a battalion, and that was a League force. Rebels were considered a full fledged army if they could muster a company. And the designs, Maelstroms, Nightskys and Thunderhawks. There were old League-tech ‘Mechs. His Clint was considered advanced with an ER PPC and double heatsinks. Conversely, there were Banshees, Strikers and AgroMechs here as well. He asked the nearest person where the General was. The tech pointed to a Banshee being worked on. He walked over to the small group of people working on it.
He cleared his throat, "General Ka…" he started before he was cut off.
"Just call me Katie," was the reply, resounding from a lady buries in the torso of the prone ‘Mech. She looked up and extended a hand. He shook it, marveling at her. Nothing like he’d expected, she was covered in grease and grime, short blond hair streaked with dirt.
He could see beauty underneath the dirt, but it wasn’t something she focused on. She looked at her hand, self-consciously realizing how messy it was. She wiped it on her dirty coveralls as an after thought, looking up at him to apologize.
He smiled and shook off her apology. "Engine trouble? I know there old 380's have some power conversion problems."
"No," she answered as she got a rag and wiped her hands and face off, then she climbed out of the ‘Mech. "We swapped out the 380 and we’re putting in a 285," she continued. "Then we can upgrade the weapons load. It’s a tough job, almost impossible even with this facility," she waved her arm to indicate the cavern, "but well worth it." "Want to join me for a trip into town?" she asked.
Phelan nodded, though he wasn’t too happy about heading outside into the cold. She went to clean up and change, joining him a half hour later at the ‘Mech bay, wearing a green turtleneck sweater and black slacks. She drove them in some sort of tracked flatbed while Phelan talked about coordinating and unifying their rebellious factions. She artfully guided the discussion to lighter tones and they were laughing together as she brought the rover to a stop.
The town was closer to the equatorial greenbelt and was comfortable to walk around in, nothing like the blizzards Phelan had seen upon his arrival. They headed to a rations distributory, where Katie swapped some Cameron Dollars and some rebellion script for food for the troops. Phelan chuckled at the idea behind that, one could trade in the script and the rebels would, get one "out of trouble" however they could. As the workman loaded the truck, Katie took Phelan to a tavern across the street to wait.
Katie went up to the bar to order while Phelan found a booth. He sat down and watched as Katie overpaid for a pair of drinks and returned to the table. Phelan took his drink and wryly asked, "Do they heave to distill this stuff by the glass?" Katie smiled and help up her right hand, reflecting light of the palmed datadisk into Phelan's face. She sat down and sipped her drink.
Then the bar grew deathly quiet. A pair of SLDF Lawbringers came in, swinging their neural whips in menacing motions. One pulled out a hand-held electrical device and began to scan people with it.
After passing by a few people, the device beeped and they immediately pinned him to the bar and checked his pockets. One of the Lawbringers laid something on the bar and asked, "You know what the punishment is for having a weapon on Tharkad?"
The man stammered, "Bbbut it's just a Skye Army Knife."
The second Lawbringer grinned, "Sorry, we don't make the laws, and you violated the letter of the law." He then pulled out a laser pistol and pointed it at the man's head.
"Excuse me!" Phelan said, just before he tackled the Lawbringer, who's head bounced off the edge of the bar. The first one turned to engage Phelan, but a kick to the stomach and a knee to the head put him out as well. Phelan smiled, then all emotion drained out of him.
"Freeze," said a voice from the doorway. He turned to see two more Lawbringers standing in the doorway. Then one dropped as Katie kicked the back of his knees. The other turned, but she smashed a beer bottle on his larynx. The first got up, only to find his partner's whip around his head. Katie flipped the activation switch and he fell to the ground, twitching.
"C'mon, we have to get out of here," she told him as she hurried to the truck. Fortunately the rations were loaded already.
As he got in, she started the vehicle and took off, asking him, "What the hell do you think you were doing?"
"Saving that man's life," he replied.
She scowled, "And not thinking a DAMN about anyone else. What happens if we get caught?"
"We get caught! How can you sit by and watch people die? You're totally insulated from our fight by your leadership position."
"I lost my parents, two brothers and a sister in the war," she shot back. "My older brother did almost the same thing as you and was drawn and quartered for it! Who do you think is going to lead our little army? And are you sure the First Lord's torturers won't be able to pull information for you?"
Phelan started to reply, then remembered something his father had told him, 'The first rule is the woman is always right. The second rule is if the woman is wrong, see rule number one.' He bit his lip and said, "Well, I guess I'll be eating crow tonight."
She sighed. "Sorry I chewed you out, I just have to try to weigh the cost against the gain and sometimes I can't do what I feel is the right thing to do." Tensions eased after that during the ride home.
The return of the food rations was an amazing celebration. Phelan marveled as a meal's rations were handed out to each person, while the rest went to storage. Music played, stories were exchanged and everyone relaxed. Phelan actually managed to enjoy himself before falling asleep.
"Get up!" The voice shook Phelan to the core. He opened his eyes to see Katie standing over him in her underwear. He tried to recall the night before, then realized she was holding two cooling vests in her hands.
"They're razing the town to teach the planet a lesson. Two dead and two wounded Lawbringers must have really pissed them off."
Phelan stripped off his clothes, noticing an approving eye from Katie. He took the offered vest and followed her to the 'Mech bay. Katie went to her Banshee while Phelan took an offered Clint.
This one was a bit different than his, mounting a pair of the newer league ER Large Lasers in place of where his ERPPC would be. Heck, it even was equipped with some of the new triple heatsinks. He started it up and followed her out, walking beside her as she sprinted the massive machine.
Minutes later, they arrived at an obscene visage. The town was burning, people being shot in the streets. The war had finally broken out on Tharkad. Katie spotted a medium sized Vicar toying with it's victims with it's trio of machine guns. The machine rocked as her cannons, auto and particle, impacted the 'Mech. It tried to fire it's autogauss, but it was too off balance. Phelan finished off the machine by melting it's cockpit.
Then Katie's 'Mech was thrown off it's feet. She fell into a building and was wrapped up in the structure, unable to rise. Phelan glanced in his rear view screen and saw a Deathgiver turn the corner. 110 tons of sheer destruction, it's arms smoking as the cold, damp air turned to steam on the trio of heavy repeating PPCs on each arm. It fired a spread of Acid-Inferno missiles from each of the 15 racks on it's back, but Phelan wasn't there.
He ran around a corner, circling back to Katie. But the monstrous machine was gaining on him. It must have activated it's super charger and MASC. He sprinted through an alley, just as a sextuplet of particle blasts impacted where he was, followed by another six seconds later. The machine followed him, slowed as it's wide shoulders plowed through the sides of the buildings on either side. Phelan did not waste the advantage, twisting and firing his lasers, melting two furrows into the armor on the chest of the 'Mech.
Then he sprinted out of sight of the beast. Just as he was about to breath a sigh, a voice came over his comm system, "Run little rabbit, but your traitor friend will still die." Phelan ignited his jump jets and leaped over the buildings next to him, landing behind the Deathgiver. He triggered his weapons, making the enemy 'Mech rock a little, but it twisted around, ignoring the deep scars in it's rear torso and left leg, and fired it's left arm mounted HRPPCs, two of which impacted with his left arm, ripping it off, along with some of the torso it had been attached to. The second salvo produced only a hit on his right leg, but it sent him sprawling.
As he struggled to get his machine in a sitting position, he again heard the other pilot's voice, "Fooling rebel, now you two are both dead," as it aimed it's arms at him. Phelan fired all his weapons in a final act of defiance, which merely scored away armor from the right side and leg of the enemy 'Mech.
Then it shuddered. Next it exploded, sending burning acid globules and shrapnel across the street and over his 'Mech. As the flames disappeared, Phelan saw a massive Battlemech walk up through the dissipating smoke. Never had a fearsome war machine ever looked so good. "I thought you had to weigh your importance against the rebellion's?" he asked the approaching, dust covered Banshee.
Her voice sounded in Phelan's ear, "Well, I've found that you're pretty important to me. Let's go get some more oppressors."
Phelan stood his 'Mech up. "Phelan Kell, let's go make history together."
He smiled and replied, "I guess I better inform my CO that I'm in loved with someone it my unit."
"Oh, who's that?" was her response.
Phelan sped his 'Mech up and said, "I'm in love with you, Katherine Steiner-Davion." |
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