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Another Loki Day
Operations behind enemy lines
by Nutcrackr9 |
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Jason settled into the sauna, letting his body relax. Then the phone rang. It never ceased to amaze him how people timed their calls like that. He turned the handset on and asked, "Hello?"
"I’d like a dozen scramble eggs for pick up tonight. No sides please," replied the emotionless voice.
Jason inwardly groaned and said, "That will be five Kroner, sir."
"Very well," the voice said before hanging up. Jason loved the code worded language of his business. His boss loved it even more, the scrambled eggs irony fit with the Lyran’s bordering enemies, all of who’s iconic animals laid eggs; eagles, dragons, vipers and falcons.
He looked at the clock, which read 11:14 and got up to get dressed. They were going to pick him up at midnight. At least he didn’t have to pack any weapons tonight. The number of eggs indicated the time while side dishes informed what he had to bring. His response conveyed if there were any problems, such as his being compromised.
A black hovercar picked him up out front of his apartment building. Inside a dark haired man dressed in a darker suit smiled. "So, Jase, how do you feel about a suicide mission?" he asked.
Jason snorted. All he got these days were suicide missions.
Well, obviously an oxymoron there, as he was still around to testify to. There weren’t the walk-into-the-Lutherine-Children’s-Hospital-with-a-bomb-strapped-to-you missions, but ones he wasn’t expected back from. Dryly Jason replied, "Well, I just got some five year CDs and some good real estate, ‘Herr Schmidt’…."
"Herr Schmidt" pointed his index finger at Jason. "This is a big one, the Archon took time out of her schedule to send you off on this one." Jason raised an eyebrow. "You’re heading to clan space, we’re gonna give the Falcons something to chew on, so they don’t chew on us." Jason listened intently as his boss briefed him on the operation. Finally the car stopped, and so did "Herr Schmidt". They got out and entered a stone building. Herr Schmidt turned to him and said, "Wait here and someone will get you for the Archon’s send off."
He turned and left.
Jason looked into a mirrored plane of glass. For 32 years and a few dozen missions he looked pretty good. Blond hair and green eyes, with a hawked nose, he looked very Steinerish. At 1.75 meters, he stood above most, but not enough to stand out. The door opened and an attractive blond in a blue dress stepped out. "This way, sir."
He followed her into a dark room with a table and a chair. She motioned for him to sit down and left the room. He sat and was a bit startled when a trid picture appeared over the table. It was the Archon, in her office. "Herr Ritter, on behalf of the Federated Commonwealth, I wish you a successful mission and a speedy return. You have my personal thanks." The picture went dark, but the audio continued. "Why do we bother with these agents going off to die?" she asked.
Noise of a crew milling around started in the background as someone replied, "I don’t know your Highness."
Another voice chimed in, "Is this thing still on?"
The voice that replied to the Archon exclaimed, "Holy sh…."
And the audio ended. Jason wondered as well, he wasn’t some green Mechwarrior going off to battle and he sure wasn’t in this business for some spoiled royalty like the Archon and her brother. Jason and his loyalty to the nation that had raised him and had tried to save his family when disaster struck. For the couple next door who invited him to dinner on Christmas, for the doctor at the clinic and for the dropship attendants that circulated through the apartment across from his. But mainly it was the mantra driven into his head. Anyone, a farmer, the Archon or him, was a tool of the Lyran people, expendable for the greater good. He shook his head and headed for the starport.
Dropship Blue Chariot
Jason gently floated across the transfer tube, leaving behind the "Sister Sara", the Mule class dropship that had taken him from Tharkad to Malibu. The dropship was so large that it would be a waste to land it just for the little cargo that the Falcons were purchasing.
This smaller dropship would take the passengers and cargo to the planet. A dark skinned man dressed in jade jumpsuit greeted him.
"Tech Samuel, sir How are you today?"
Jason replied, "Fine, but a glass of milk helps settle my stomach." The tech nodded and led him down the hallway, drifting in zero-G."
Looking to make sure the hallway was clear, Samual ushered him into a room. A klaxon sounded and the shuttle began to move. Samuel closed the door and turned to Jason. "Your outfit is over there," he said, pointing to the closet, "we have about 20 minutes before docking with the Blue Talon."
Jason quickly donned the jumpsuit, which bore the insignias of a Jade Falcon Star Commander. He then followed Samuel to an airlock as the dropship finished docking with the Blue Chariot. Samuel shook his head and told him, "I can keep Star Commander Lyle busy for about five minutes, so you’d better hurry." With that, he floated down the hallway. The airlock opened and a man in his early thirties come through, wearing a jupsuit that marked him as a Jade Falcon Star Colonel.
"Welcome to the Blue Chariot, sir. I am Star Commander Lyle, will you follow me?" Jason greeted the man. The man sneered, "You look to be my age, quaff?"
"Yes, sir," Jason replied.
The man started to follow him, "Then your time for a bloodname has passed. Minos Malthus shall be known in the remembrance while you will not even pass on your genes. I will help lead the Falcons to Terra!" Jason could see a sadistic gleam in the man’s eyes.
Jason opened a door with a touch of a button and gesture with his arm, "After you, sir." Malthus just sneered at him and floated through the open doorway, looking back at Jason. Jason closed the door behind Malthus, who looked at Jason through the plexiglass partition in the door with a confused look.
"What is going on here, Commander?" Malthus asked. Jason touched another button, marked "Depressurize" and the atmosphere began to bleed out of the airlock Malthus had entered. A look of realization hit Malthus like a hammer, he began clawing for a way out. But it was too late and his eyes rolled back in his head. Jason hit the stop button then another marked "Pressurize" and entered the airlock. He quickly stripped off his and the Colonel’s uniforms and donned the Colonel’s jumpsuit. Lastly, he removed the Colonel’s codex.
Just as Jason was about to leave, the Colonel moaned and his eye fluttered open. Jason smiled and said to him, "The Archon appreciates your sacrifice," and closed the door. He pressed the "Evacuate" button as the naked Malthus tried to get up. He flew out into space, limbs flailing.
Jason floated back to the rendez-vous hatch just in time to here a man say, "Not now Samuel, the Star Colonel is waiting." A pair of men, Samuel and a larger man, floated into his view. "I am sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Star Commander Lyle at your service."
Jason hrrumphed. "Star Colonel Minos Malthus will not be treated with such disrespect again. Let us go." With that, Lyle led him down the corridor.
Jade Falcon Base, Malibu
Jason followed as Star Commander Lyle introduced some of the officers of the 124th Striker Cluster. "Over there is Star Captain Juchi Hazen, who has been running the unit since Star Colonel Chi Li was assassinated." A younger man approached them at a hurried pace.
Lyle sighed and informed Jason, "Here comes Star Commander Aton."
Jason nodded, he had read about him in Star Colonel Malthus’s files, a talented battlemech pilot, he had entered the grand melee three times trying to win a bloodname, winning the melee twice, but losing both times fighting unaugmented.
Aton stormed up. "Sir, I demand a trial of position to take over Star Captain Rolanda’s command. She is an inferior MECHwarrior."
He looked almost like he was going to explode.
Jason frowned and replied, "Request denied, you would hamper the unit with your inability to bid."
Aton’s face twisted with rage, but he wasn’t going away. "I refuse your command," he responded.
Jason raised an eyebrow. Aton was well built, but not as big as Jason. "Then we fight here, Lyle draw a circle of equals."
Lyle picked up a stick and began to trace a circle in the dirt. When he finished, Jason began to take off his jacket. Aton followed suit, but Jason quickly wrapped his Jacket around Aton’s head and kneed him in the groin. Aton doubled over and Jason picked Aton up, tossed him over his shoulder, jogged to the side of the inscribed circle and dumped Aton outside of it.
Aton flailed, getting the jacket off his head. He scowled and replied, "The fight is invalid! You used a weapon," holding up the jacket as if it were damning evidence.
Jason rolled his eye, "You should have asked what weapons I chose." He stared at Aton for a second, "I will be using the Turkina you have been using. You will be assigned an Uller."
Aton’s eyes lit up with a new-found joy. "I choose to fight augmented in this trial of possession." He struggled to his feet and dusted himself off, dumping the Jason’s jacket at his feet, like some glove thrown before a gentleman’s duel.
Jason turned and started to walk off, "It is not a trial, it is and order. That is not your ‘mech." A tear rolled down Aton’s cheek. Lyle stepped beside Jason and Jason ordered him, "Get all four Star Captains, we will be leaving on a raid soon." Lyle’s face took on an expression of surprise, but he went to comply. In the distance, Aton started to protest having such a small ‘mech, but Jason silenced him by telling him, "You could be a solamah if you wish…."
Jason looked at the five assembled officers, Star Captains Rolanda, Jeremiah, Juchi Hazen and Torrance Yont, as well as Star Commander Lyle. He chuckled to himself as he realized he was really becoming his role. "Because the of the actions on Strana Mechty," he began, "we are at ‘peace’ with the Inner Sphere." He’d spat out the word peace like most clanners did the word freebirth. "The Wardens seem to be allied with them, so rather than let them wear us down, we will strike first, removing their cancerous presence. In one week, we leave to strike the Steel Vipers on Waldorff." He paced a bit.
"We will be taking most of the cluster, but a force is needed to defend this world while we are gone. I expect you to bid for the right of your Trinary to defend our base." All the captains quickly bid themselves out, with Jeremiah winning by leaving the planet defended by a star consisting of three mechwarriors, two pilots and a point of elementals. Jason praised the bid and assured Jeremiah that he’d be the last bid out of the attack on the Vipers. With that, they began preparations for the raid. Jason took a deep breath as he left to go to his quarters. His mission was near fruition.
Near the Steel Viper Base, Waldorff
Jason’s teeth bit into his mouthpiece as his Turkina hit the ground. His captains reported in, everyone had made the drop successfully and they were forming up. With Jeremiah and Torrance Yont’s trinaries short a star (one of Yont’s stars had been bid away), he had them guard the flanks. He put Rolanda’s trinary in front as a recon screen. As the body of his force, he kept Juchi Hazen’s trinary, of which he took command. He scrolled through the Viper’s TO&E, complete with five Binaries, making the two forces equal.
A voice interrupted his study "Sir, I have lost Aton," Star Captain Rolanda said.
Jason switched over to a topographical display and replied,
"Well, shift over and re-establish contact with him."
Rolanda’s voice again interrupted his planning. "No sir, he ran into an assault binary and charged them. His star was lost."
Jason groaned. He brought the assault binary up on the screen and opened a channel to the cluster. "Okay troops, we have the punch of the Vipers located to our right, so we are going to shift to the left of them. Jeremiah, I want your unit to harass but not fully engage them Everyone form a wedge, we will split their forces." With that he pushed his Turkina to a run. The Falcons formed a wedge, allowing Jason’s star to cut through the Vipers defensive line. Then five Vipers moved to close the gap. Jason surged toward a Battle Cobra, sending a message to his star, "Take care of the rest, I am going to hit them in the rear."
He pulled his triggers, shrugging off a pair of large pulse laser salvos. Against the Turkina’s heavy armor, the shots did little. The Battle Cobra did not fare so well, as Jason used the pulse lasers and Targeting Computer to make up for his mediocre gunnery. The left side of the Battle Cobra vaporised in a cloud of metallic steam, as did other chunks of the Cobra’s armor. The ‘mech stumbled and the pilot overcompensated and the ‘mech pitched on it’s back. Jason surged toward the base, making sure to plant a metallic foot on the cockpit of the Battle Cobra, a decidedly unclanlike maneuver. Jason didn’t care, the goal was too close.
He sprinted through a chain-link fence and onto the base’s tarmac. Queries started coming from his cluster. He switched the communications system off and finished crossing the base, reaching an area of new construction. A few unarmored Elemental approached his ‘mech from their posts guarding the building, momentarily stunned that a ‘Mech would bother with visiting the base it was fighting a trial for. They didn’t get to wonder long.
Jason exited his ‘mech, carrying a Mauser pulse rifle with him. He encountered a guard on his way, who got a shot off, leaving a gouge in his side before Jason’s burst of electrons put him down. He entered a room marked "Reactor Control", startling the technicians inside, who died cowering. He accessed the full program and set a geometric increase for the reactor, delaying the start time for a few minutes. Then he opened the access panel beneath the computer and ripped apart the key pad’s connection to the computer. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of completing a mission.
Moments later, the base and kilometers surrounding it disappeared in a mushroom shaped cloud of fire, as the fusion reaction grew so powerful that the magnetic forces containing it blew their circuits, releasing Nature’s fury as particles fused together and released their energy. The surviving Falcon star tried to retreat off planet, confused at how their compatriots had died. An orbiting Viper warship destroyed them, enraged at the dezgra destruction not only of the garrison force and base, but of their newly built factory as well.
Then they sent a message of what had happened to be relayed to Strana Mechty.
On the planet’s surface, seventy kilometers from the base, a Donar VTOL crash landed, it’s rotors warped from massive heat, finally giving out. Jason marveled at the Clan machine. Fast enough to get him out before the blast, but tough enough to take a beating from the fringe of the explosion. He spotted a road in the distance, and after changing into the Viper jumpsuit he found in the chopper, he headed toward it. Where there were roads, there were cities, and the Warden clans were very quick to establish economic relations with the Inner Sphere since the peace was reached. He hoped they kept giving him suicide missions. "I don’t think I could survive anything else," he thought to himself, wishing for his sauna. |
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