Month: January 2025

Quarters One

2130hrs

 John exited the den after taking the call from Hollister and walked over to the liquor cabinet. Opening its door, he reached in and pulled out a very dusty bottle. Lifting it to his sight, he noted the brand and after a nod, closed up the cabinet. He then moved to the kitchen to get a glass.

 Kris, seeing him with the bottle in his hand, followed him into the kitchen. “Since when?” she said to him when he glanced at her. “That bottle is ancient.”

 John looked back at her as he grabbed a brandy glass. “Since I was told the Hell Horses were coming…” he replied as he held the glass in her direction. “Want one?”

 “Wait what?” Kris said as she translated. “Hells Horses? Aren’t they a clan?”

 “Yup,” he said. “And I’ve been informed they are coming to Centarus to have a go at the Wolverines… over something if they had simply asked for, I’m pretty sure he’d have given most of it.”

 Kris looked at his expression then at the bottle. Noting its label, she realized it was one of the few Terran whiskeys they had, something called Jack Daniels… which meant this was a doozy of a report as this stuff was the most expensive booze they had. Grabbing his glass, she also grabbed the bottle. “This I gotta hear if you are breaking this out.”

 A smirk as he retrieved a second glass then led the way to the living area. “I figured it was appropriate…” he said. “Hollister got it from the Ghost Bears, courtesy of their Watch… seems that they are looking to come hold a trial of possession over all the Wolverine Records and Remembrance.  Or fight for a copy of.”

 She looked at him. “All of their records?” Kris asked as she popped the cap on the whiskey then poured. “Wouldn’t he simply give a copy of the Remembrance? And why all records?”

 John waited for her to fill his glass before answering. “Remembrance? Sure. All records… that’s a bit more of a pickle.  I know the Wolverines have locations out there where some excess gear was cached. They did it in case their leap of faith coming here failed.” He said. “Much like Wolf’s Dragoons did… and its been left out there as insurance.”

 Kris blinked. “But why not bring it in? I mean, you guys went out to Barbados to get things didn’t you?”

 “Sort of…” he answered. “It was both a reclamation mission as much as retrieval. The Caches I didn’t learn about until after we were on our way back… and it was decided to leave them alone for now. No one knows about them outside of Clan higher ups… and me- though I don’t have locations. To be honest, I don’t need to right now and the Wolverines really aren’t big enough to need another couple battalions or so worth of gear. Hollister is thinking that and I agree- they don’t have the pilots for it either…”

 She took a sip of her whiskey. “Wow…” she said and thought over what her husband said. “And with those records, someone other than them would know about it. And maybe try to take them?”

 He nodded. “Correct…” he said. “And it also shows their route out of Clan Space as well as possible viable locations for either colonies or resource scavenging. Valuable stuff…”

 She stared at him, her brain processing the information. While she wasn’t as knowledgeable of military matters like her husband, she was no slouch at figuring out things. “That is so not good…”

 A grim smile. “Correct… which is where I come in,” he said. “When they get here and start their posturing, I am going to be requested to be the referee and arbitrator for what’s at stake, information wise.  As well as the hand on the bat to smack hands if someone breaks the rules.”

 A pause. “How big a bat is the question… as all we know is the force coming is about a Cluster’s worth- roughly the size of one of our battalions but that number is a guess.”

 “Why a guess?” she asked.

 “Hell’s Horses use a lot of elementals attached to each of their stars which makes them far more potent than a normal cluster.” John replied. “This is going to be messy…”

  She frowned. “How long do they have till they show up?”

 He shrugged. “End of April, beginning of May at the earliest,” he said. “And with the pending action stemming from what Les mentioned, this is going to be tight….”

Operations Conference Room 1

1045hrs 28 March

 The room emptied of everyone leaving Tinney sitting at a table staring at the screens on the wall. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes in thought. The information Leslie had presented to the assembled leaders had been as concise and informative as she could make it. Which was comforting, as the potential odds of a strike on the place could be dicey.

 It appeared, between all the information gained via the captured data-cores here on Centarus and the information obtained by the Knights, that a short list of systems was generated. A list of places where Blakist forces could be hiding and or staging from. Of the list of five presented, the most likely was a system long abandoned and only listed on the captured records… and Wolverine charts. That system was called Cork, and it was a two to three jump trip there from Centarus, depending on route chosen.

 The reason for concern is the amount of expected enemy was quite unknown. The basic information gained from the captured records put the raiders at around two battalions of mechs all told. Of those, two companies of their forces had been destroyed- by the Knights and the Reign.  This meant at least another three or four companies remained plus whatever actual Blakist units might be there.

 The dilemma he had right now was what to earmark for a strike. For the first time in a long while, the entire Regiment was available for use in such actions, which was a nice thing. However, a full mobilization, while tempting, was not reasonable nor feasible. There was still too much recovery work to do and pulling units to go deal with this would sap that effort.

 It didn’t mean he wouldn’t send something… just not as much as he’d like. Good thing he had allies… as all three Clan leaders present offered assistance. Had the Snow Ravens been here for this, he was pretty sure they would have offered… as their Alliance had suffered some in all this too.

 Looking down at the notepad before him, he took stock of what was likely going to be needed.  At least one warship for sure as a big stick, which Hollister offered without question.  Both Ghost Bear and Saber Cat offered some of their forces to the effort, which was nice… but this was going to require a large amount of steel to solve and neither had much with them.

 He recalled his discussion with Kris last night… and having the Knights get involved made even more sense. Given their reinforced company’s location, they could be on site at the same time as a strike group. Which would be an important piece of the force, if he ordered it. And right now, as he ran available assets through his thoughts, he was going to order them in. They were a contracted force, after all… and well, this was the ugly side of mercenary life- being ordered into a potential firestorm.

 At least they had an employer (him) that did care about them.

 Tapping the table, he pondered what might be there… If he was a betting man, he would put money on the enemy there to be at least two battalions of forces with some support elements for spice. And they were on the Defense.

 Conventional Wisdom stated you attacked with three to one odds when you could. Less than that was a dangerous gamble unless you could hammer the enemy piecemeal or set maneuver traps.  Given Lancer doctrine, having maneuver traps and employing shenanigans were a staple of battle plans but the enemy always gets a say. And any Word force here would be wary of such.

 While the meeting just concluded had agreement on going, there was still orders to send out to make it official… and a conversation with Woodbine to have. All the plans in the world didn’t mean shit until permission to move was gained.  While the Lancers supposedly had permission to conduct missions again, it didn’t mean he could just up and go anywhere just yet…

 Clicking on a desk comm panel, he waited for a reply. When the technician answered, he spoke. “Specialist, I will be sending a priority message to Sector in Woodbine. Please see if a direct real-time HPG channel is available via the Bismark.”

 [Right away, sir.]

 John had never used this ability of the Hyper Pulse Generator Communications system before. He knew they could do it, courtesy of the Clans and he was certain the Comstar element on Woodbine would have kittens- such use put serious stress on an HPG and one would find out in a hurry if maintenance was up to snuff.

 But the devices could do it… and the lag would not be all that much, considering it was only one hop. But this needed to be done, for the longer it took to get moving, the more likely this plan would get leaked by someone on the other end.

 [Governor,] the technician commed him. [Channel being set up. Fifteen minutes for them to prep on the other side.]

 “Very well… thank you.”

**

 Three hours later, warning orders went out…

Lieutenant Colonel Borton had messaged his Executive Officer while in the air on his way back to Third’s Cantonment. He knew John would not take long for a decision and getting the battalion moving now before the orders officially dropped would save time. Third would be the bulk of what was deploying, and the four companies of the reinforced battalion would be ready to move on time.

 Two companies of armor would be accompanying his forces as well as some battle armor… and the old soldier knew he would need go over Combined Arms actions again. It had been a long time since he’d led such formations and he’d be damned if he didn’t get up to speed on it.

*

 Khan Hollister had traveled with Star Colonel Lebowski back to Sage to discuss matters of training when the Wolverine Khan was notified. Hollister, knowing what was going to be needed, had already offered up the State of Grace as flagship and Denali, freshly repaired from the Battle of Centarus, as a security ship for the flotilla. Ground force wise, two companies of battlemechs would be contributed. The actual order merely made it official.

 Lebowski calmly informed the Wolverine Khan a star of Aerospace and a Binary of Omnis would accompany the other clan’s troops. As the Star Colonel put it, “Our Clans fought together as Allies long ago… and I think we should again.” This addition would be added to the combat rolls as soon as they landed.

*

 Krog, who was still in Auburn when the orders went out, messaged his SaKhan immediately to pick a full star of Elementals as their contribution. As much as he would want to commit mech forces, the Touman could not risk their committal just yet. Still, a full star of experienced Elementals was a potent addition.

*

 Lieutenant Colonel Duncan MacKenzie was told by Leslie to get two teams ready to go. The Blood Spirits would be going with the Task Force, and their role would be as Borton’s knife in the dark. Which meant whatever it was he had them do would be very sharp, very deadly and likely bloody…

 Duncan took that message and personally walked over to the barn where Argyle and Salem were conducting hand to hand practice.  Once told, the two team leaders immediately ended practice for their teams and set them to gathering gear. There would be a trip to the Bunker for an SOE suit; the specialist gear would be returning to battle for the first time in thirty years with this mission….

*

 A priority message was sent to Sterlington for the Knights Errant.  They would be getting deployment orders to have them meet up with the task force in ten days at Kirbyville. Once they linked up, full details would be given then. Knight Captain bin Zalas stared at the orders for a good ten minutes as something poked at his subconscious with its contents. 

 After a few, he picked out what was bothering him- there was an encrypted message within its passages, and it was the wording of certain areas that clued him in.  It was a cypher that dated back to Operation Serpent which meant Celeste was involved with this message.

 Grabbing a hold of Tristian, the two of them decoded the message within. The cypher revealed a short message which told the former Knight of the Inner Sphere all he needed to know who they were going to be fighting:

 Revenge is an act of passion. Vengeance is an act of Justice.

G2 Section

Phoenix Lancers Operations

Auburn

1901hrs 27 March 3081

 Major Anna Chisholm rechecked the data acquired from the Knights Errant mission and the results of the crosscheck of what little they had from the surviving Word of Blake data-cores on the warships.  After checking, she contacted Selby Drexel from the Blood Spirits. “Selby, its Anna Chisholm; need a crosscheck on something.”

 [Hello Anna… and what you need?] The expert slicer replied.

 “I’ve been going over the transit records from the Wobblie jump ship data cores and what was recovered from the Dropships…” She said. “And I think I found where they are coming from.”

 Selby immediately knew what the other was about to ask. [I can crosscheck it; one sec while I set up a link.] The link being set up was a virtual conduit for passing datafiles or accessing secure servers. The level of encryption involved was massive but it allowed for highly secure links to and from remote sites not within a proper network.

  About a minute later, Anna’s system received a network invite message from the expert datatech. “Got it…” Anna said and clicked it. After answering the queries embedded in the packet, she replied. “Locked; you should have access now.”

 [Ok… give me a few minutes] Selby answered and closed her comm.

 After ten minutes, Selby contacted her. [I read your notes first then ran it…. I agree with your list. Not necessarily in the same order for two through five but I agree on all five. Especially the top one]

 Anna let out her breath. “O-kay…” she said. “Time to bring this up the chain. Thanks Selby- that was fast, by the way.”

 A chuckle. [Girl… we’ve been trying to rip apart what WE found from the Compound two years ago and compare it to what we’ve gotten in the Trinity Cache and such.] Selby answered. [Your data was comparable with some of what we had… and some of ours locked in yours; I added entries to your notes as to what or where… and you’re welcome.]

 “I’ll read them then start the process… later!” she said and hung up.  Opening the note document, she gave the additions a read then got up from her seat. This was too important to use a comm unit for and she knew Colonel McCormack was in her office this late.

**

 Leslie was seated at her desk going over operational reports and some intelligence assessments. Since she had returned from Ghost Bear space, she’d been playing catch up with all the events that had happened since she been gone. Granted, there was very little to deal with, metaphorically speaking, for the initial period… then there was the Invasion.

 The period of time between the traditional Harvest Feast of November and end of year usually had been slow but this last one was… eventful. In reading the intel assessments of the events leading to the invasion and incidents during, Leslie marveled at how much had been accomplished… by the Word in installing hidden cells, how deep the rot had gotten… and how well the cells had been rolled up.

 That there had been one among the Lancers who was part of all of this… hurt. She knew Edgar Johns… and his being co-opted had been a major breach of the unit’s mystique.  The Phoenix Lancers had long been a difficult command for anyone to plant moles or spies in. The sense of family and brotherhood, its overall tightness, was a protective thing for most of its existence… and even as it grew, the amount of trust shown its people had rarely ever been betrayed.

 Not to say that there were not any problem children… but there had only been two exceptions before now to the tightness of the command. One had eventually come back- that one being the Farquharson child and her actions had proven to be a huge intelligence boon. Hell, it was still paying dividends…  The other was Dyckman… and that he’d managed to keep a hook into someone within the command structure was huge. They would never have found Edgar without the Trinity Cache and the work of the Spirits. And with one, there may have been more; the orders to go over everyone’s records with a fine-tooth comb had resulted in a handful of people being investigated. Thankfully, no one else had been compromised like he had… and she’d take it.

 A knock on her door broke her from her reverie. “Come,” she called out as she looked up.

 Major Chisholm entered. “Colonel… I have an update on the hunt and it’s a doozy,” she said. “I think a location for the raider base system has been found…”

  Quarters One

Auburn

2100hrs 27 March

 John had just sat down to eat a late dinner with Kris when his comm unit chirped. The two of them stared at the device as it rang a third time. “Shit…” he said as he reached for it.

 Kris scolded. “No! Don’t you answer that…” she said. “You gotta eat; otherwise, you aren’t going to because of some new disaster… and I won’t have it.”

 John looked at her as he grabbed the device on the fourth ring. “Sometimes I wish… but it’s a priority chirp,” he said to her then spoke into the now active device. “Tinney…”

 [John, its Leslie…] the voice of the Lancer Executive Officer sounded through the speaker. [There has been a development involving the raiders…]

 He stared at Kris as he answered. “What sort of development?”

 [I am reliably certain we know where they are based from] Leslie answered. [The data the Knights Errant were able to transmit was torn into and compared to the pieces we had from the surviving Word of Blake craft in system. Several items fell into place, and we have a system to look into…]

 He closed his eyes. “Son of a bitch… How reliable is your find?” he asked. If she was calling him now, it had to be pretty good- Leslie never advanced anything this big unless she *knew* it was good.

 [70 percent.] Her reply was short. [Without the data cores physically in hand to really analyze, I cannot go above that number and I admit my team may have the reliability rating wrong but not by much.] A pause. [5 points, plus or minus.]

 He looked at Kris and after a few seconds made a decision. “Okay… It kept this long so it can keep until morning. Set up a meeting with Operations and all three Clans for 0830; this is going to involve all of them too…”

 [No Legion?]

 A sigh. “Unfortunately, no,” he answered. “Pryme and his troops are slated to leave on April 3^rd; he’s leaving behind a detachment to maintain shop though. He says they are volunteers who want to keep helping… I think its more than that, but that’s me being suspicious.”

 Leslie agreed. [I concur… and given what I have on his world’s politics and his LAAF record; I suspect you and I may have some validity to those thoughts though the reasons I have are not bad ones.] she said. [As for the meeting- Virtual or in person?]

  She got his Alliance record? I don’t even want to know how… Tinney thought as he glanced at his watch. “Mmmm…. In person if possible. Virtual otherwise.”

 [Then I will set it for zero nine then; Star Colonel Lebowski is with Khan Hollister over on Crossroads assisting the Saber Cats with their Touman.] she said. [Third is the ready Battalion right now and Colonel Borton will want to be here. The extra time will allow for all to be In Person.]

 A chuckle. “Agreed. Anything else?”

 [Not at this time.] She answered.

 “Ok… Zero Nine tomorrow… Later,” he said and ended the call. Looking at his wife, he spoke. “This is going to be interesting…”

 She stared at him. “You think?” she said. “Three Clans, us, and whomever else wants in?”

 A nod. “Depending on where they are and their condition, I think the Knights will want to lead the charge…” he said. “I know bin Zalas will want to exorcise a few more demons from his people… and this might help. I will not prevent that.”

 She looked at him quizzically. “By fighting?”

 A slight shake of the head. “By fighting Blakists… I know Atreus still weighs on him- and sometimes confronting the cause of your bad memories is the best way to loosen their hold on you.” He said. “For more than a few I’ve known, it was the only way.  And before you ask, most of those people are still alive.”

 Kris shuddered, remembering the pummeling her Battlemaster took during the Trial of Possession battle and the fighting of the kidnap attempt. “Well…” she began, “I suppose there is merit in that approach. Not something I’d want to try though.”

 John looked at his wife, his gaze softening as he noted her body language. “No… and it’s a method that isn’t for everyone. But for some soldiers, it’s the only way they think will work.” He reached out and took her hand, holding it in silence.  Silence that was broken by the chime of the residence comm unit.

 “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she cursed as she got up. “I got it…” Kris stalked over to the comm unit and answered. “Quarters One…”

 [Ma’am, Lieutenant Rodriguez in Operations] came a voice. [Khan Hollister has requested a call from Governor Tinney at his earliest opportunity.]

 As she looked at her husband, she answered the caller. “I’ll let him know- do you know what in reference to?”

 [No ma’am…] he said. [Just that he contacted Operations and asked us to pass the message along.]

 “Consider it passed, Lieutenant,” Kris replied. “I’ll make sure he contacts him in the next five minutes.”

 [Thank you, ma’am. Operations clear,] he said and hung up.

 She sighed. “When it rains it pours…”

 A chuckle from John. “Don’t I know it…” he said. “Let me go call him from the Den and find out what’s going on. For all I know, someone sent him a Trial request and I gotta referee…”