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I, Kerensky
by Roguebaron |
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Starport, Engadine,
Melissa Theater, Lyran Alliance,
May 2, 3058
Starport.
It was the only door into Engadine, and it was the only way to leave the cold world. It was a major civilization amalgam, much bigger than Hogye. Men and machines blended together, creating a sardonic harmony. I had never seen a dropship before. I had, as a matter of fact, in a picture. I had never seen one alive. Here at Starport, I could easily spot three of them being gutted by hundreds of workers and techs.
I watched everything from behind a large glass window of a local tavern, sitting comfortably while sipping my liquor. I was sitting comfortably in a tavern, waiting for Evee to get on her flight. We arrived at the Starport yesterday, and we were lucky that we did not have to wait long. The dropship would take Evee to Tharkad in 6 hours. Her connection flight to New St. Andrews was three days after her land, so she did not lose much time.
I sat there, watching her emptied her glass through a straw. She was a fine woman in her early twenties, with long wavy hair and slim but muscular feature. She was an odd rarity. While typical mechwarriors were lazily kempt and adorned with scars, Evee was a fine specimen without a single trace of combat. It was almost like she was a new battlemech straight out of the factory.
“My father was the head of security of House MacGregor, one of the ruling families in New St. Andrews,” she explained the other day. “Of course, as the chief, safety was the primary issue for him. I was stuffed with defense doctrines since I was a kid. I piloted my first mech when I was 17. The Trebuchet, the one you used to kill the Viper, was my 18th birthday gift. For most kid in New St. Andrews, I missed my childhood. But I always feel that my father spoiled me. I’m weird. Guns to me are like toys to other kids… normal kids.
“Two years ago the prince of MacGregor family was kidnapped by a rival family, due to his own stupidity. My father devised a plan to get him back, but he was killed in the process. I was destroyed, so I left for Outreach. I was hoping to get killed, so I could reunite with my father. But Commander Rick is a gentleman and a scholar, which reminds me very much of my father. I realized that my father would not want me to take this path. I was waiting to go back home ever since. I’m happy that it finally happens.”
“I have to apologize for wrecking your mech,” I said, trying to start some conversation. “I did not know how much it meant to him. Cedro tried his best to fix it, but for two days, he could only fix the armor. I feel bad to return your mech to you in such a horrid condition.”
“Forget it,” she smiled with the straw still stuffed in her mouth. “There are some good techs at New St. Andrews. They’ll fix it in no time.” She sucked the last drop of liquor in her straw, then leaned back on her chair. “I can’t believe I’m going home. When I made the deal with you, I thought I made the greatest mistake of my life. But now I knew I wouldn’t regret it. I’m glad that you’re a man of honor.”
I nodded in a smile.
There was a news screen near the counter, and it was covering news throughout the Inner Sphere, and beyond. The reporter explained that Phelan Kell, the son of a renowned mercenary leader that made it to the rank of Wolf Clan, had safely made it to Kell Hound’s base in Arc Royal, taking with him a third of Wolf’s armada that was fighting the Jade Falcons. In another news, Victor Steiner Davion led a massive task force to Coventry to answer Jade Falcon’s incursion, trying to prove to the warlike societies that the Inner Sphere was everything but timid.
The reporter then discussed the existence of Clan warriors amongst the mercenary unit Kell Hounds and their famous cooperation against the Jade Falcon on the planet Morges. This brought the relation between Clanners and Spheroids to a new level. When asked about it, Phelan answered, “The Refusal War gave us new perspective about ourselves and about our brothers from the opposite society. I am lucky to be a part of both. I just wish my best friend could see what I see. I lost him during this war, and I know he’s out there, watching for me.”
“Did you hear that?” Evee commented over the news. “It hasn’t been a decade yet when the Clanners tried to destroy our society. Now they’re our neighbors. Arc Royal now, who knows what then. Soon they’re walking in our bars, drinking our beers, eating our food, and still bragging about their superiority to us. I haven’t met one, but if I did, I’d kick his ass so hard he’d fly back to Strana Mechty!”
I smirked in response. “I think we all need to change our way of thinking in order to live as neighbors. Rid the prejudice. We need to learn from Phelan and Natasha Kerensky how to deal with the cultural differences.”
“Natasha’s a spy, ferrchrissake!” Evee snarled. “And Phelan… well, yeah, he did, but he’s one out of millions of Spheroids that were killed, enslaved, and derogated as genetic filth. Freebirth.” She hailed the waitress for a refill. “That’s what they call us. Freebirth. And they so eloquently proclaim that they’re trueborns, but in reality, it’s their way to express their loss of the nurtures of a mother. Damn Clanners. I hope they all go to hell.”
I watched her gave away her hatred toward the Clans with great amusement. Somehow I found the whole situation entertaining. Her eyes sunk deep into the socket, but what was left uncovered proclaimed in the earnest that one day, if she met one, she could rip a Clan apart barehanded. The veins in her neck bulged, and her breaths became deep.
I could understand Spheroid’s abhorrence toward the Clans. They were arrogant and claimed to be the superior, more civilized beings, evident in the epithets ‘freebirth’ and ‘barbarians’. They were genetically altered: bred, born, and raised just to war. Unlike us, their sole function in their short lives was to fight, and their ultimate glory was to be immortalized in the genetic pool. That was a pathetic life, but the Clanners were proud of it.
We sunk into our own reckoning, until somebody got into the bar. I almost did not recognize him, but his feature was hard to miss. It was Fercyn, the ex-sheriff of Hogye that left the people he was supposed to protect. The protector of Hogye that chose not to confront the mercenaries in order to keep them fighting the nolans. He had certainly lost his interest in life, as was apparent in his unkempt hair and face. His swollen eyes told me that he was intoxicated. I did not want to speak with him, but unfortunately, he spotted me.
“Well I’ll be damned!” he mumbled as he walked toward me. “Don’t suppose I can get away from my curse, do I?” He took a glance at Evee, and somehow he remembered her. “And now you’re working with them. Your desire to burn them cost me my job, and now you embrace them. You’re just one bastard, sonofabitch…”
“Go away, asshole!” Evee growled. “Take your drunken bullsh…”
“Evee,” I tapped her arm, trying to solve this non-confrontationally. “Mr. Fercyn, let me explain…”
“What? Trying to take control of the situation? That’s so typical!” Fercyn became more erratic. “You just have to be in control! I was doing what’s the best for Hogye, but you just can’t stand being an ordinary guest that you had to do something stupid to make the town turn away from me! They don’t need me anymore because they have Parker, the hero! Hooray!”
“I did not try to take control!” I snapped. “I did not make the town turn away from you. You turned away from them. It was my mistake, I admit, and I stuck with it until I got everything right! Now Hogye is an independent, autonomous town, free from outside force. It was just like everybody wanted. We have a small force, and within 2 months, we will have a platoon of battle armors. We can defend ourselves from the nolans. I am here because I promised Miss Ridinghood a transport to New St. Andrews when she helped us in the final confrontation with the CAMR.
I paused briefly to take a deep breath. “There is so much to do at Hogye, Mr. Fercyn. We will host The Rooting in December, something we have not done since 3056. You are a part of Hogye for a long time. We still keep the Commando in good condition. It is still your mech.”
“Is that so, huh?” Fercyn fumed. “Listen to me, wiseguy! There’s nothing left for me at Hogye! As long as you’re there, they’ll see you as the messiah, and me Judas! They’ll wipe out everything what I did for them for years, and replace my name with yours! You and your reckless, stupid acts!”
“Megi will not forget what you did for Hogye…”
“That bitch was the first to expel me from Hogye!” Fercyn roared. “What I did was nothing more than history to her, compared to what you have! I can’t compete with you!”
“And what is it that I have? What do you think I have and you do not, so Megi favored me over you?”
Fercyn shot a derogatory smile at me. “Look at you, you pathetic smug! Why do you think she favors you over the entire Hogye? I know you came to Hogye to hide something, and I know damn well she knows it too. Whatever you’re hiding, it must’ve well worth the entire town!”
“I do not hide anything!” I bemoaned. “I did not even know what happened to me! Mr. Fercyn, do you…”
“Cut the crap, Parker. I know who you are…”
“Sir, is this man bothering you?” suddenly the bartender came.
“No, no, I know him,” I tried to defend him. He held a piece of information to my past, and I could not afford to lose him. Not now. “Please, Sir, let him stay.”
“I’m just leaving,” Fercyn snorted, then turned away and got out of the bar.
I could only watch as Fercyn disappeared. I went back to my chair, thinking about what Fercyn just mentioned. This was the biggest breakthrough about my past, although it was not what I expected. Fercyn knew about my past. He did not mention it explicitly, but I knew where he was heading. He was referring to the rune in the wood with the mysterious mech. He knew about it, and he thought that it was related to me somehow.
Then something bothered me. If Fercyn was true, what was I hiding from? If Fercyn knew this all along, why did he keep quiet? Why did he not confront me the way Megi did? And why did Megi never get straight with me about it? I started to feel that I was being deceived by everybody. And I felt that Fercyn held the key to my past.
“Parker, is that true?” Evee gave me a strange look. “What in the world are you hiding?”
“Evee, stay away from this,” I decided to talk to Fercyn some more. “It is a pleasure to know you both in and out of the battlefield. I wish you the best, and I hope we meet again someday.”
I got up, shook her hand, left several c-bills on the table, then walked out of the bar. I turned around to a small alley between buildings then swung to the back of the bar. I found nothing, only a small alley with strong stench of urine. I quickly walked past the alley until I came to the other street. There was no sign of Fercyn. I walked around the block several times, but he disappeared into mist.
When I went back to the bar, Evee had already gone, so I decided to go back to Hogye. I could not wait to confront Megi about this. I knew she knew something about me, and she had been denying me for some reason known only to herself. This time, I would not let her fool me again. I had to know what she knew about me.
The journey back to Hogye was hardly enjoyable because all I could think of was Fercyn’s comment about my past. When I arrived at Hogye, I wasted no time and went to the capitol. Megi was there talking to her staffs, and upon seeing me, she quickly dismissed her entourage. Then she caught the cloud in my eyes, and knew that tonight would be a long night.
“How’s the trip?” she fibbed interest. “Did she get onboard?”
“I assume. I met Fercyn at Starport.”
“Did you? How was he?”
“He said he knew about my past, and he said you knew it too.”
First, I saw wrath blasting through her face. Then she calmed down, taking some deep breath, then dipped her head into her chest. “What did he say?” she asked, her voice was hoarse, trying to cover her emotion.
“He said that I came to Hogye to hide. I am hiding something, and he said you knew it too.” My chest felt like it was about to explode. “Is this true?”
“No,” Megi quickly replied. “No, Parker. He does not know about your past. Nobody knows about your past. You came to us with all your mystery. We found you half dead in the snow. That’s it.”
“Then why did he accuse me of hiding something?” I pressed my anxiety. “What benefit would he get by telling me things that are not true? What did he want from me?”
“I don’t know, Parker!” Megi gnarled. “Maybe he heard something about you that I’m not aware of. Maybe he met somebody that knew about your past. You’re asking the wrong questions to the wrong person. Why didn’t you ask Fercyn yourself? He’s the one that tells you things, so don’t come and goad me about it!”
I look at Megi, extracting any hint of lies from her expression. I could not find even the scantest trace of deceit. She was telling me the truth. But still, I felt that she was hiding something. Megi was a tricky individual. She answered my question truthfully, but I knew she knew more. She held things that I wanted to know, because I did not ask the right questions. It was exactly like Megi said. I was asking the wrong questions.
“Why do you do this, Megi?” I moaned. “Why are you playing games with me? Just be honest with me and tell me what you know about me.”
“Parker, you’re obsessed,” Megi sighed. “You did wonderful job giving Hogye its dignity. You’re young and have a bright future. But all you think of is your past. Why can’t you just look ahead? Think about this: maybe Fercyn’s right. Maybe you were hiding something. Maybe your past was dark and cold, and your hands were smeared with blood and misery. Now, you have a chance to forget those and start a new life. Do you think you’re ready for the truth? You can’t control your past, Parker, but you can control your future. I suggest you do it.”
Who would not abide to that? Under my breath I cursed Megi for being such a good talker. She got a point, and she put it in a way that no one would argue with her. I felt that she was trying to disrupt my attention, to force me to see the other direction so that she would not have to tell the truth. But she was dead right. I could have been a saint, but I could also have been an evil. Like Megi said, I could not control my past. So why risk it?
“You’re angry, and you’re tired,” Megi said gently. “Just sleep it off. If you still want to talk about it, come by my office tomorrow. Your mind will be much fresher.”
Well, I agreed. It might have been the long-hour drive to Starport and back. It might also have been my envy to Evee. She was so delighted to go home. I did not have a home. I did not have anybody to go back to. I felt trapped in this world. Hogye was a nice town, but it was not my town. These things accumulated into a time bomb that erupted when Fercyn provoked me. Maybe a good night sleep would wash away my petulance.
“I see you tomorrow,” I nodded at Megi, then walked out of the building.
I felt so tired that when I came to my place, I almost missed a small package on my door. It was a box, wrapped hurriedly in a drab paper. There were no names, no address in the package. First I thought I would wait until morning, but then I decided that I had 5 minutes to spend on the package before I went to bed. What I saw inside completely made my heart jump.
There was a picture and a note inside the box. The picture showed Evee, roped and muffled on a small bench with guns on her head. Two men sandwiched her, but the photographer intentionally left out their faces. Evee was in no pain, but her eyes screamed confusion, anger, and fear. I read the anonymous note, and I could not believe what it said:
We have your beautiful partner. You can save her by taking ‘it’ to Starport. There is a small abandoned airfield north of Starport. You have 48 hours to bring ‘it’ to the designated place. Come alone. We will not harm her, but we’ll break one of her bones for each hour you come late, starting from her fingers. If you tell anybody or call the police, she’s dead. So think wise. |
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