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I, Kerensky
by Roguebaron |
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Hogye, Engadine,
Melissa Theater, Lyran Alliance,
March 25, 3058
Working as a technician assistant was not that bad. Over the course of five days I learnt four things: one, battlemech repair and maintenance; two, Hogye did have authorities (a mayor and a sheriff), but in the street, the tyrannical Hunt Lance of CAMR was the rulers; three, Cedro was obnoxiously loquacious but honest, which served my purpose best if I wanted information; and four, Engadine was more than 50 parsecs away from Tharkad, the capital of Lyran Alliance. No one would hear our plea for help, even if we screamed it until we lost our voice. Cedro told me that the closest help we could get was the Morrison’s Extractor, only a jump away from Engadine. But what was the point of getting help from another mercenaries?
“Why do you keep staying at Hogye?” I asked Nurse Lin while she was prepping up a box of drugs. “Life had been cruel to you these past few years. There are other worlds that promise wealth, dignity, and future. I do not see them in Hogye.”
“You don’t understand,” she turned to me, looking me in the earnest. “We had a life, a rich and abundant life several years ago. I was still a kid back then, but I vividly remember how festive Hogye was in the heat of The Rooting. Rich counts, barons, dukes, earls, princes and princesses came down to this little town to test their virility against the forces of nature. Then the Clans took them away. Suddenly those genetically engineered bastards became more appealing targets than the nolans. What makes a better target than a clone inside an unstoppable war machine?”
“Are you blaming this situation on the Clans?”
“Can I not?” Nurse Lin fibbed a chortle. A hue of cynicism and desperation adorned her voice. “They were the ones that abandoned Terra hundreds of years ago! They and their holier-than-God code of honor! Who do they think they are, fighting us like we are some kind of pests? They have no right to reclaim Terra!”
“What about the Viper and his lance?” I asked. “Are you letting them take away your dignity?”
“In time, my new friend, in time,” Nurse Lin tapped my shoulder. “When we drive every single Clanner out of the Inner Sphere, and kill those who persist. When we beat the Clans, we can have The Rooting again. Then we don’t need the CAMR anymore.” She turned around and grabbed the box she had been working on for the last hour. “I need to take this drugs to Kinst,” Nurse Lin stated. “I don’t mean to cut our conversation short, but I really have to go. Why don’t you go home? It’s late, and you’ll need to be fresh tomorrow.”
“Very well,” I got up and bid her farewell. “I will see you tomorrow.”
As Nurse Lin walked toward a jeep, I started thinking about the Clans. So it was the Clans that ruined the harmony of life in Hogye. Those war-like people had never come to Hogye, but their invasion in 3050-3052 virtually destroyed Hogye’s infrastructure. I sympathized for these simple fellows. I wish I could remember something about the Clans from my previous life. I must have had encountered them, one way or another. Everybody did.
I had not walked long enough when I heard ruckus on the side of the road. I was too caught up with my thinking that I did not realize where I was walking. I was on the countryside, and five large men were standing at the gate of a house. Judging from their outfit, I could guess that these are the mercenaries. A little man, who I conjectured to be the host, stood just inside the gate. People from other houses peered from their window, but it was clear that they preferred being invisible to lending their hand for the little man.
As I walked closer, I noticed that the little man was Cedro. His voice and his gesture told me that he was in a great deal of pressure from the mercenaries. And there he was, the Viper himself, escorted by four other men. The distinct alcohol stench in their breaths told me that they were intoxicated.
“It is not my problem!” the Viper boomed. “I want my mech done now!”
“Senor Viper, tenga misericordia, por favor,” Cedro replied, a slight tension was imminent in his voice. “My son is sick. He needs me at home.”
“Hey, you are the one who promised to give us free repairs!” the Viper advanced even more. “It is insulting enough for me to come to your cabin. Now get your ass moving and take care of my mech!”
“I swear I will do it first time in the morning,” Cedro said, half pleading. “But my son needs me.”
“And other people don’t?” the Viper started to ramble. “I’m risking my ass everyday, and you can’t give me a little respect? See what you’ll do if I pull out my troops out of this little sinkhole, you ungrateful maggot!”
It was enough. I could not tolerate him anymore. He had been insulting everybody that he met, everybody that did his order wholeheartedly, everybody that just would not stand up because they needed him. I felt this carnal desire overwhelmed my mind, blocking my common sense, and urged me to stand up for Hogye countrymen. I knew how important the Hunt Lance was to Hogye, but I did not care anymore. All I wanted was an action to stop the Viper’s atrocities. So I walked by and said, “Sir, I can take care of your mech. Mr. Cedro taught me a lot of things. I am just as capable as he is.”
As I expected, the big man turned to me, and his stare looked like a thousand knives flying straight into my heart. “Who the hell ask you to speak? Get out of my face, you moron!”
“Sir,” I took a deep breath, “Mr. Cedro had worked long days for you. Please, respect his wish to stay with his family.”
“Respect?” the Viper screamed his lung out. “RESPECT? What do you know about respect, you sonofabitch! Here, I’ll show you respect!”
The big man cocked his right arm, and catapulted his fist toward my face. This is unexpected. I never thought that he would take it this far. But I did not know how to react. I could see his fist as it flew toward my face, and I even knew where it would hit me. But I did not do anything. I just waited until it hit me right under my right eye. A sting of pain surged into my face, and I could feel my head jerked behind. The Viper was a big man, and he surely knew how to punch. I felt my skin thickened under my right eye. But I mustered all energy to stay upright.
“You’re a tough guy, aren’t you boy?” he mocked me while taking up a fighting stance. “Let’s see how you handle this!”
He swung his club-like arm again. His movement was slow and predictable. However, I did not flinch. I never expected a fight, and now that I had one, I did not know how to get out. I let his fist hit my face again, this time on my left cheek. I could feel the crack on my jaw, and I could taste the saltiness of blood when the fist impacted. The momentum threw me back two steps behind. I felt my neck strained to sustain his hit. But I absorbed it. The mercenary leader chuckled, thinking that I was nothing different than any other Hogye’s citizens that would not stand up against him.
“Parker!” Cedro screamed in panic. “Senor Viper, stop it! You’ll kill him!”
But instead the Viper launched another shot at me. This time, it was serious. He used his waist as a gyro when he swung his right arm. This punch was ten times harder than the previous two. It was a lethal punch that could put me in hell. I could not let this blow hit me. And something moved me out of the way. When his arm swooshed in front of my face, my right hand impulsively grabbed it with and twisted it down. Then my left elbow, as if moving by its own will, sank into the back of his elbow.
The result was devastating. A loud crack ensued, and blood sprayed into my pants. The Viper’s elbow was shattered, and two of his arm bones busted out of his cartilage, tearing out his skin.
“Arrgh! My arm!” the Viper screamed while holding his arm. “Kill him!”
The four men that came with the Viper boxed me and drew their pocketknives. They moved in on me with their knives pointing at my midst. One of them lunged forward and shoved his knives at my midsection. I sidestepped to the right, letting the knives flew inches in front of my body, then raised up my left knee. I did not even have to kick. His momentum brought him straight at my knee, and before he knew it, my knee gouged his solar plexus. I heard a muffled scream and gastric fluid sprayed from his mouth. He fell on his knees, gasping for air while doubling over to ease the pain.
Another one came at me from behind, using up his advantage. His movement was predictable and slow, so slow I could see where he was planning to jam his knife. He was attacking my left shoulder. So I ducked low and kicked his ankle. His left foot twitched, and he lost his momentum before crashing to the ground. I got up, and another one had already in a position to stab me. I raised my hand to stop the blade, then jammed my right leg into his crotch. His knees buckled as he keeled over, and his face turned pale before sinking into the dusty ground, whimpering like a puppy.
The last one decided not to press the attack, and helped his friends to escape the scene.
I stood there, totally befuddled by what just happened. I just knocked out four highly charged mercenaries, warriors that fought for a living. I never knew I had it in me. The way I fought my battle gave me the creeps. How did I know those maneuvers? Did I go through a military training in my past? Or maybe it was the mercenaries that were just too drunk to fight? Anybody, including Cedro, could easily do what I just did.
The fight had awakened the neighborhood, and as the last attacker hit the ground, I was surrounded by dozens of spectators, including some children. The adults stared at me with venom, because they knew what would come up from this fight. But the children gave me smiles. They knew that one day somebody would stand up against the mercenary scoundrels, and for tonight, it was worth the watch.
Then came this man, wearing a drab tan uniform with a star on right chest. He had a gun on his belt, and it was the first time I saw a man with a gun since I woke up at Hogye. He must have been the sheriff. He was in his early forties but clearly well exercised. He curtly grabbed my arms and forced me to lean on the hood of the jeep, grumbling, “What the hell did you do? Do you realize what you’ve just done?”
“Sheriff, I was just trying to help Mr. Cedro,” I complained.
“Yeah? How? By breaching the contract with the CAMR?” the sheriff snapped.
“Hauptmann Viveros wanted Mr. Cedro to fix his mech tonight, but Cedro’s son is sick. I offered them my service, but instead they attacked me. Mr. Cedro can validate my claim.”
Much to my dismay, Cedro dipped his head to his chest, and without looking at me, he weakly said, “Senor Viper and I were having a little disagreement, that’s all.”
“That’s what I thought!” the sheriff snarled, then cuffed my hands behind the back. “Now get up, big guy! See if you can stand my brig! Cedro, you come along!”
The sheriff hauled me to his car and put me in the back seat. He dismissed the crowd, and drove to his office. I could not understand these people. I fought for them. I took the blows for them. And for that, they treated me like a criminal. I understood that I might have breached the contract between the CAMRs and Hogye, but I refused to believe that the CAMR mercenaries were the only solution to Hogye’s problem.
As we arrived at the sheriff office, the sheriff hauled me to the jail and started a long questioning for Cedro. Through the cell bars I could hear the mechanic explained over and over about what happened, he was insistent that I was the one that started the fight, not the mercenaries. He never said anything about being forced to leave his sick son. I could hear people murmuring outside the office, waiting for the sheriff to handle this situation. But the aura in the sheriff told me how serious this matter was.
I felt like a complete idiot.
Then somebody else came into the office. She was a woman, clearly in the mid forties, and I could see from her gait that she held a high position in Hogye. She inspected the office, and quickly caught the intense atmosphere inside. She threw a quick look at Cedro, then came to the sheriff’s attention. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Our ‘visitor’ mauled the Viper and his goons,” the sheriff explained.
“How bad?”
The sheriff did not answer. A simple headshake was enough for the lady to understand the gravity of the situation.
“Senor Viper and I were having a conversation,” Cedro tried to defend me. “He wanted me to work on his mech tonight. Out of sudden Parker came and got Senor Viper really, really mad. Then they got onto a fight. What’s gonna happen to us now, Senorita?”
“I don’t know,” the mayor stated, looking at me with pity. “But are you sure you were just talkig, and nothing else?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the sheriff shot a perplexed look at the mayor. “Are you taking his side?”
“Just want to be sure about what really happened…”
Before the mayor could finish her sentence, two men and a woman entered the office. By the way they dressed up, I knew that they were the rest of the Hunt Lance. And I knew that they came to avenge their commander. They swept the office with their eyes, and when they spotted me, they lowered their hands to grab their knives. But before everything went out of control, the sheriff drew his gun and cocked the hammer. The ‘click’ sound served as a warning for the mercenaries. They stepped back, and one of them walked toward the mayor. He was a young man, barely passed his twenties. But being the spokesman for the mercenaries, in the absent of the Viper, showed his inner strength. He might be the best mechwarriors in the Hunt Lance, even better than the Viper.
“My name is Wade Avery, second-in-command of CAMR Hunt Lance,” the man spoke arrogantly. His gesture showed no respect whatsoever to the middle-aged mayor. “This is John Hunter and Evee Ridinghood, my lance mates. I am speaking on behalf of Hauptmann ‘Viper’ Viveros. As we both know, our commanding officer was mauled by the outsider under your protection. Hauptmann Viveros suffered a severe broken arm, and three other mechwarriors were also beaten. I want the perpetrator to be held responsible…”
“You shall get your justice,” the mayor boldly interjected. “Parker will be detained here while Sheriff Fercyn conducts investigation of this matter.”
“I don’t need investigation, old lady,” Wade said curtly. “That man brutally attacked and bludgeoned my commander along with three of my lance mates. I don’t want your justice. I want my justice… a warrior’s justice!”
“Bludgeon is a rather strong word, Mister Avery,” the mayor replied. “And neither of us was there, so let’s wait until the investigation is finished. Parker will stay here until we can settle our differences about it. You are welcome to contribute to the investigation, but until then, he stays!”
“I thought we had an understanding,” Wade hissed.
“The way I understand our contract, Mister Avery, is that you take care of the nolans while my people provide you with everything you need. If you try to interfere with our justice system, you are breaching our contract. If I report your conduct to the CO of CAMR, he may revoke your privilege and your mechs.” With a defiant smirk the mayor approached the mercenary. “Your choice. And if you think that I am bluffing, you are sadly mistaken.”
It was clear that the mercenary was not a good negotiator, but a persistent warrior. He paused for a moment, pulling himself together, then spoke with a venomous tone, “You have one week to hand him over. I will withdraw the CAMR forces from Hogye, and I will come back seven days from now. Should you decide to retain him, I will flatten Hogye until no stone is left on another. That, if the nolans haven’t gotten you first. Now excuse me.”
As the mercenaries left, the mayor and the sheriff looked at each other as if they were discussing something. The sheriff’s eyes were raging with rage and desperation, and his face flushed in a reddish hue. The mayor maintained her cool attitude, although I captured a glint of doom in her eyes.
“How could you possibly choose the outsider over your own people?” the sheriff roared, his hands clenched so hard I could hear his knuckles cracking. “Just give them what they want!”
“They’ll kill Parker,” the mayor replied calmly but firmly.
“So what? It’s better him than us!”
“If I didn’t know you better, I’d hold you accountable for that comment!” the mayor snarled.
“Why not?” the sheriff rebuked curtly. “He’s ruining everything! Because of him, the CAMR left Hogye. We are defenseless against the nolans without them. That’s what I’m concerned about, because that’s my job! And you have made my job so much more difficult than it should be! What do you see in him that make you think he’s worth more than Hogye’s citizens?”
“It’s my job to nurture everybody that needs help.” The mayor paused to take a deep breath, then spoke slowly, “The Hunt Lance won’t leave Hogye until tomorrow. I suggest you start doing your job and plan your defense against the nolans.”
The sheriff shot a fiery stare at the mayor, then left the office. The mayor looked at me and Cedro interchangeably before walking toward my cell. After what happened to her and the entire town of Hogye, it was remarkable that she could maintain such a calm attitude.
“I don’t think we’re properly introduced,” she spoke to me without any sign of feelings. “I am Mayor Megi. I see that you and Cedro had made quite an acquaintance. And I see that you met Sheriff Fercyn. Don’t get him wrong. He’s just a temperamental old dog, but inside he’s a good man.”
“Mayor, I never meant this to happen,” I said sincerely. “I only meant to help…”
“I know…” Mayor Megi nodded. “Still, you’ve damaged us more than you helped us.”
“Then why did you hold me?” I asked, completely puzzled. “You could have sent me to the CAMR and fixed the damages I did. You could have saved the whole town.”
“No redemption should be made upon another’s blood,” the mayor sighed. “The damages had been done since the first day the Hunt Lance came to Hogye. Now stay here and behave. I’ll see if I can help Fercyn. Cedro, why don’t you come with me.”
The mayor went out of the office, followed by the mechanic. He shot a quick glance at me before leaving me alone in the sheriff’s office. I caught his glance, filled with regret and sorrow. But he quickly got out of the office, and I was alone, locked up in a cell. |
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