The Universe, 3029

[Orlex Jaeger]

Crash location of Grail Lords Combat Transport (Space) VTOL
Somewhere on the Carrigan Continent, Errai II
Errai System, Davion Space
March 3, 3029
____________________________________

An elongated azure sphere of charged particles ripped through the forest canopy leaving a stream of ionized atmosphere crackling with energy in its wake. The PPC bolt engulfed several trees and a large rock in a cascading discharge of energy that left the surviving infantry hiding behind them probably defecating themselves a little. A few meters away a paltry amount of return fire was directed towards where the PPC shot had come from, probably more than a little averse to drawing the ire of whoever was firing the weapon. Several seconds later, just long enough for the high energy weapon to recharge, the particle projector cannon unleashed another devestating stream of charged particles which struck the large rock directly this time, vapourizing a sizable portion of it and leaving the rest half molten and glassed. The infantry that had been taking cover there scattered like rabbits with some of them outright fleeing while others scrambled to find cover elsewhere.

We arrived at the clearing that had been recently created by our crashed VTOL from the opposite side of most of the fighting, having radioed ahead to ensure the rest of our team didn't mistake us for an enemy squad attempting to flank them. Previously we had managed to disable the jamming equipment that was preventing us from contacting the rest of the Grail Lords and in so doing had also acquired a PoW. With our lines of communication now open, we quickly made our way back to regroup with the rest of our squad back at our crashed VTOL as the enemy units chasing us also found the crash site. The PoW had been quite forthcoming with information so far, including details about who was sponsoring them. He knew they were being supplied by either Cappellans or Kuritans but didn't know which. He did know that whoever it was had recently changed based on the sudden increase in aggressiveness by the gangs leaders and the change with their supplies, or at least someone wanted it to look like their backer had changed. We would have time to further question him later though, for the time being we had more important things to worry about, like getting our VTOL airborne and out of hostile territory in one piece.

"Rook-lead, this is Knight squad, we've arrived back at base with the package. We'll secure the package and then join up with you, where do you need us?" asked Sergeant Major Emma over our local comms.

"Knight squad, once the package is secured meet up with us on the West side. Knight-4, we can use your Golem on the NW flank immediately," replied Leftenant Isla.

"Copy that, Knight-4 is on his way."

Without hesitating I broke away to the north from the rest of our team as we entered the clearing, the rest of the team headed further south to secure our PoW in the VTOL. In the clearing I was able to push the exoskeleton to its full speed, which still wasn't overly impressive, and ate up the ground at a reasonable speed. Having checked that the autocannon had a full clip in it, I immediately was able to see where I was needed based purely on the volume of fire being directed at the downed VTOL. I took up position along the northmost flank and unleashed a full burst of suppressing fire into the jagged treeline where most of the incoming fire was originating from, the barrage had the desired effect and easily cut the enemy fire rate in half.

"Knight-4, reporting in," I keyed over the comms, "What do you need me to do?"

"Perfect timing Knight-4," replied Leftenant Isla, "They've figured out the limit of the VTOL's turret and are staying clear of it and we can't draw a bead on them with our support PPC without leaving the west flank wide open. Time to see if that fancy exosuit is worthwhile, I need you to storm their lines and break them up. Failing that, at least try to draw some fire off us until the rest of Knight squad is able to get here."

"Roger that, I'll see what I can do. See any firepower I need to worry about?"

"Only small arms and some sporadic light support weapons, that armour should be able to shrug most of it off without trouble."

"Good, it's held up well so far, let's see if those NAIS boys got it right on what kind of punishment it can actually take," I half joked as I turned and started plodding the armoured exoskeleton to the north heading straight to where the gunfire was still coming from.

As I broke into a run I brought up the semi-portable autocannon and fired off a few intermittent bursts as I approached, moving and firing meant I was anything but accurate but I was counting on the sheer volume of fire, and the fearsome noise of the weapon itself, to keep most of my potential opponents in cover. It worked until I was about halfway to the treeline when someone must have realized what I was up to and noticed the 1/2ton iron monstrosity that was quickly closing on their position. I saw movement towards the left and saw a group of at least 4 men repositioning slightly to bring their weapons to bear on me, they immediately unloaded everything they had and I simply had to trust that the armour would hold. Small arms rounds, and thankfully nothing larger than an SMG, ricocheted off the armour in an absurdly loud cacophony of noise that the limited sound dampening the suit offered could do little against. According to the heads up display, and lack of current injuries, the armour was holding up just fine, the enemy fire was doing little more than scratching shallow gouges into the armour but I didn't want to push my luck. I sent a volley of autocannon fire ripping into the ground and cover near where the men were firing from and enough rounds hit close enough to drive them back into full cover, however no sooner had they stopped firing than another group to my right, and further into the woods, opened fire on me. There was a light machinegun or other lightweight support weapon present amongst this group as I could immediately feel the difference in the weapons fire impacts before the HUD alerted me to minor damage. Turning to face the new threat I reactively raised my left arm to cover my 'face' as a lucky round struck the helmet and cracked the edge of the external camera's lens, several more of the higher calibre rounds impacted across the exoskeleton's chest and leg leaving sizable dents in the exterior of the armour. I returned fire, and in an effort to not be a giant target in the middle of a clearing, I moved towards the treeline again, leaving the less threatening squad of men over to my left. The enemy fire stopped as soon as I entered the treeline, the last few rounds coming from them striking into trees instead of me. I didn't have a solid bead on where they were and even if I did they probably would be moving to a new position already anyhow. Instead I turned back towards the clearing and began racking fire across the obvious positions of the squad still hiding out there. The strafing fire brought down several soldiers as they tried desperately to reposition away from my flanking fire and several more got picked off by Leftenant Isla and the other members of Rook squad that were in firing positions on this side of the dropship.

Trusting more and more in the safety of the exoskeleton's armour I maneouvered the Golem along the treeline to get into a better flanking position on the infantry in the open clearing. A blue blast of energy, only partially visible through the heavy trees, indicated where the rest of Rook squad was firing the support PPC from the open cargo bay at the back of our VTOL. The deadly energy forcing another squad of troops out of cover and running madly towards me, most likely thinking they were meeting up with their forces on this side. Instead they were met with a hail of bullets as I emptied the last of the autocannon's magazine into their ranks cutting their numbers by half. Another brace of automatic fire raked across my exoskeleton's back and right side, a few rounds causing notable damage this time but nothing overly concerning and I continued on my methodical march around the edge of the clearing, taking cover behind a large tree only long enough to reload the autocannon slung underneath my right arm. I was not only counting on the armour itself to protect me, but also trying to make it look like I was indifferent to their fire, hoping that the psychological effects of that would prove just as an effective deterrent as my actual armour, another blast of weapons fire from within the woods peppered the Golem, this time more sporadic, and it seemed like my strategy might be working. This time I got a definite bearing on the enemy location and I quickly swivelled around to bring the full force of my support autocannon to bear, squeezing down on the trigger and sending a seemingly unending stream of hot lead pouring down range, the high velocity rounds ripping through what little cover the trees provided and tearing apart whatever they hit. The somewhat limited sensors on the exoskeleton were having trouble with keeping up with the pace of battle in anything except normal visual range and I fought the momentary urge to open the exoskeleton's helmet so I could see and track things with my own eyes. My years as MechWarrior definitely helped out as I was used to relying more on instrumentation than my own senses anytime I fought in a BattleMech.

A sudden, nearly blinding, blast of coherent light washed across my HUD from the left and a few warning lights lit up across my status screen. As the sensors recalibrated and I could see clearly again I turned towards the source of laser fire and was able to just barely spot a group of what appeared to be 5 jump capable infantry decked out with laser rifles and in the same set of gang colours as the majority of opponents we had faced today. Thankfully, other than the momentary sensory overload, the Golem was even better equipped at dealing with energy weapons than ballistics, it's armour having a semi-reflective coating and superior heat dissipation similar to regular infantry ablative armour. I charged straight at the squad with the autocannon barking out its resounding buzzsaw sound at my side and amazingly the squad was undeterred and returned intense fire, even as the autocannon rounds literally ripped one of the squad members to pieces. The incoming laser fire bathed the exoskeleton in hotspots of coherent destructive energy, the blasts no doubt slagging signficant portions of the armour just due to the sheer volume of fire. Alarms starting going off as my status indicator on the HUD turned an angry orange but I continued on, I couldn't let them reposition and engage me again on their terms. The squad finally broke as another member was gunned down by my autocannon fire and they scattered attempting to use their jump packs to clear out, unfortunately for them they seemed to have forgotten they were within a relatively dense patch of woods and one member immediately launched himself into a tree and crashed, another managed to recover in time and landed but then ran. The third surviving member was a little slower than the others but also realized he could jump away and instead tried to run, he wasn't fast enough however as I lept over the large fallen tree they had been using as cover. In a single motion upon landing I half swept, half punched the unfortunate soldier with my left arm, the sheer mass of the Golem's arm knocking him flying against a nearby rock, and then fired the autocannon point blank at the stunned soldier. It probably seemed like massive overkill, punching 25 high calibre rounds into a relatively lightly armoured soldiered at point blank range, and it was, but I didn't have a choice, the autocannon was hardwired to fire only in full bursts or suppressive fire which meant a minimum of 25 rounds were spent with every trigger pull. During the final moments of the charge a bevy of ballistics fire had begun impacting me from my right again but it subsided about halfway through the point blank burst fire blast, I could only assume that the brutality of my actions had either stunned the enemy into inaction or sufficiently frightened them into retreating.

Turning back towards where the support weapon squad was I just caught sight of a couple men running into the trees, their light machine gun left lying on its side, the barrel still cooling. I advanced on their position just to ensure it was indeed clear and with no other enemies in sight I quickly made my way back towards the edge of the clearing to check if Rook squad needed any further assistance.

"Great work Knight-4," radioed Leftenant Isla as I reentered the clearing, "looks like most of them have fled for now. We'll regroup in the cargo hold."

"Copy that, thanks Rook-1," I replied, "I had a couple survivors that retreated deeper into the woods as well."

Everyone was already gathered in the cargo hold when I got there and as I brought the exoskeleton up the loading ramp almost everyone stopped and stared incredulously at me. Apparently the Golem had taken even more fire than I thought and it looked like it had been through hell and back. There were rivulets of molten ferro-steel running down from countless laser blasts all across the front of the exoskeleton, numerous bullet holes punctuated the entire right side of the suit with several exposing vital internals. Multiple rounds pierced the armoured cargo container on the suit's back, and thankfully the demolitions pack currently stored there was naturally inert while stored. An entire panel of armour was just flat out missing on the left arm and the spotlight mounted on the shoulder sounded like a child's rattle with the number of rounds it had managed to catch. The helmet had a dangerously deep gouge across the top right side of it and the armoured lens covering the cameras/sensors and acting as the 'eyes' was shattered much worse than my cracked vision from inside would imply. In short, the Golem looked more like it had just been in a losing 'mech battle rather than an infantry fight. After everyone quickly got over their initial shock of seeing the state of my armour we reassessed our situation and got an update from our injured engineer, Bill, and our pilot, Luke, who had continued working on the VTOL even during the fire fight.

"We had to replace and jury-rig almost the entire port side power system, the lasers are out of service as we had to steal their power relays and couplings to provide enough power to the engine, but only around 40% at best. If we had a little more time I might be able to get one of them functional. We have more than enough power from the fusion engine, the problem is getting the power delivered, it's the power system itself that's fried," continued Bill as he rambled on about the repairs.

"Thanks Bill," interrupted Luke, after an exasperated look from Isla, "we need some serious repairs to get everything working again but right now, with the time we've had, she's flyable. I wouldn't want to take her anywhere near combat, but she'll get us home."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time, I want everything stowed and ready to go ASAP. Bill, Luke, how long will it take to get her airborne?" asked Leftenant Isla.

"I need 5 mins to get the engines warmed up and ready for lift off, providing our attempted repairs hold under load," replied Luke.

"It'll hold," stated Bill.

"You have half that," Isla said to Luke before turning to everyone else, "Double time people, we're airborne in 3 mins, whether you're ready or not."

[Bishop Weyland]

The Skinwalker slowly lumbered forward towards his fellow teammates who had now formed a protective circle around Kauffman. Major Hayes had look of concern and relief on his face. Nathan looked like dogs shit warmed over...but he was alive and smiling, which made the hulk mercenary crack a smoke as well. Mech warrior Jenkins was joyous to say the least, even covered in brown sewer sludge. Both the ship’s captain and crew member where in a three way conversation with Captain Maxwell about what happens next. 

Bishop began taken in the scene of bloody carnage that littered most of one deck of the ship. A nagging feeling of depression creeped into the veteran warrior’s mind....the battle was over, done. No more hostiles, weapons fire or sanctioned homicide. There was no one left for him to kill or protect, a warrior without a cause. 

In this moment sadness and bitterness Bishop caught the corporate CEO looking at him. Kauffman face said it all, wonder, intrigue and fear. Kauffman saw it, the change, maybe he even saw the monster deep down in Bishop’s soul. Every little escaped the man gaze. The Mercenary knew the question would come, some he knew and wanted to hid, others he didn’t know. Only time would tell. 

Hoisting the bulky light machine gun high up on his hip Bishop gave a respectful node and fake smile.  The CEO tiredly waived and smiled back. Wanting to escape the man’s gaze Bishop turned and walked back to the cargo doors to provide rear security for anyone else attempting to intervene in corporate business. Alone to his thoughts the Skinwalker distracted himself by doing a systematics gear and weapons check. He was a walking disaster, his ammo back was down to 40%, his amor was practical melted or smashed to pieces, combat harness was tattered and torn. 

Checking his forearm mounted suit diagnostics he was pleased to see his EVA suit was not compromised. Next he lifted the suits heavy helmet, checking of damages. It was then he saw himself, in the armored glass visor... face caked in blood and gore, eyes reflecting the Ambient light hi wing him an almost demon like look. His face now heavily sacred from burns, he was completely bald now. 

“Monster “he whispered to himself. 

“Yes... yes we are beautiful” responded the beast from the dark corners of his mind. 

Bishop felt heavy with exhaustion, even his steroid enhanced body felt weak and his enhanced senses dulled . The pain came rushing back now, burn wounds felt as if they had torn open, searing pain in his lungs and rib cage and his synthetic spine screamed in agony.  In that moment it was almost to much for him to handle. 

Without thought the Skinwalker reached down to a sealed pouch on his hip and pulled out a small auto-injector filled with a neon blue fluid. Thumping the cap off Bishop plunged the syringe deep into is exposed traps at the base of his neck. Closing his eyes he waited for the concoction of mild combat stims mixed with pain killers to flood into his system. Second later his power returned and the pain melted away. Now he heard and smelt every detail of the battle space... he was awake now and clear headed. 

Tossing the auto-injector on a pile of dead soldiers the hulking veteran turned pack to to his team for order. He stopped dead in his tracks....eyes looking with Captain Maxwell holding a look of concern. 

“Alpha-3 this is a Control” Captain Donovan spoke coolly. 

“This is Alpha-3, send your traffic Control” growled Bishop. 

“Status check....medical just observed a concerning spike in your vitals...are you ok?” Responded Donovan 

“Copy that... must have been a glitch sir” 

“We understand, we will get a tech on it when you are aboard... job well done Alpha-3” Donovan said. 

“Thank you sir” Bishop replied... still holding Maxwell’s gaze. 

 

[Charles Maxwell]

I hated being outnumbered and outgunned. Although the arsenal of weapons carried between Hayes, Weyland, Harlow, Jenkins, and myself provided ample firepower to quell most of the situations we could expect to encounter aboard the freighter at this point, the fact of the matter was, we weren't doing anything that a squad of Capellan soldiers couldn't just as easily handle with far more brutal efficiency than our ragtag group of mismatched and under-qualified commandos could hope to muster. CCAF troops were trained to be cold, calculating, killing machines - infantry in the purest sense - and while I had no doubt that Steve and Nathan were exactly that when behind the controls of BattleMechs, their training as infantrymen was only designed as a fallback in case things went horribly wrong with their war machines. Even I wasn't the young buck I had once been - while I could certainly still hold my own in a brawl, I much preferred the safety and security of being behind the controls of a hundred tons' worth of ferrosteel and high-caliber weaponry to the near-naked feeling of wearing only a combat spacesuit for protection and hoping that the frame of the security robot I was covering behind would prove adequate against any hostile fire I might encounter.

The troops we were now facing aboard the Hurry Up Bessie were dropping like flies. Their security robots had been the first to fall. Bereft of the ability to even disengage the safeties on their weapons while facing targets that, to them, registered as friendly, they were quickly cut apart by the combined-arms barrage we threw at them. The infantry holding down the corridor were swiftly felled after that, though they'd managed to inflict a fair amount of damage on the robot I piloted; one of its two machine guns had been wrought free from its mount, and a series of well-placed shots into its left tread had restricted its locomotion. I also bore the scars of several close calls - in addition to the demise of my helmet, I had two nasty flesh wounds on my left bicep from bullets that narrowly missed me, as well as innumerable other cuts and scrapes from shrapnel and various other projectiles.

As I strafed the surviving Capellans with the security robot's remaining cannon, I saw Major Hayes ascend the ramp to the cargo hold. Somehow, in the midst of the unfolding mayhem, he'd managed to break through the enemy lines and cross the antechamber with Nathan Schmidt still on his shoulder, taking out a pair of hostile soldiers with nothing more than an oversized hunting knife in the process. A few moments later, as Hayes reached Jenkins and Kauffman, an infantryman attempted to ambush the Major from behind, only to end up being suddenly and unexpectedly shot to death by an abruptly-awake Nathan. The explosion of violence created a distraction for the remaining entrenched forces - one that Bishop and I used to our advantage, taking out the final Capellans just as my security robot's ammunition ran out.

A single straggler managed to avoid the final firestorm, but didn't surrender. As he continued to open fire on us, I quickly drew my laser rifle, shoved its output to the maximum setting, and fired off a single burst directly into the soldier's center of mass. The Capellan dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, a smoldering hole cored in his chest. I quickly disembarked the robot and floated toward the fallen guard, muttering a halfhearted platitude at his corpse before reaching down and snatching a herbal cigarette from his uniform pocket. It was no Arturo Fuente Opus X, but it smoked. And that's all I gave a crap about at the moment. I plucked his lighter - a heavy, quality construct engraved with the emblem of House Liao - from his shirt pocket, and used it to set the cigarette alight. Inhaling deeply, an intoxicating mix of vapors raced through my respiratory system. I closed my eyes, holding my breath for several seconds, exhaling a blossom of smoke at length as a familiar calm came across my body. I felt my muscles relax, my posture straighten, and a surge of energy as my brain released massive amounts of dopamine into my nervous system. After a moment, I turned toward Bishop and Nikki.

"Nice work, both of you. I think it's safe to say that we're rid of our Capellan problem," I smiled grimly.

Without replying, the Skinwalker made a pained face and reached down to a sealed pouch on his hip, pulling out a small auto-injector filled with a neon blue fluid. Thumbing the cap off, the Lieutenant plunged the syringe deep into exposed traps at the base of his neck. Closing his eyes, he paused as the concoction took effect. In seconds, it appeared that his energy returned and the pain melted away; Weyland transitioning from deeply concerned and strung out to relaxed and clearheaded. 

Tossing the auto-injector on a pile of dead soldiers, the hulking veteran turned back toward me, his eyes locking with mine momentarily, carrying with them an expression of guilt. Before I could offer a reply, Harlow spoke.

"Not exactly all of the Capellan problems are solved, Captain Maxwell," Harlow advised. "Doctors Wen and Tao are still unaccounted-for. I'm not entirely sure whose side they're on, but they could prove...problematic...if they're still at large and my suspicions are correct."

"Damn. One problem runs straight into the next," I replied. I took a long drag from the cigar before tossing the unfinished remains in the direction of the carnage we'd wrought. The cigar somersaulted through the zero-g environment, colliding with several bulkheads and giving off a cascade of sparks. I exhaled heavily, sending smoke rings wafting lazily across the expanse, and shouldered my laser rifle. "Where might they be?"

[James Hayes]

"James...you came," William enthused, a mixture of gratitude and relief in his expression as I knelt down and supported him against my knees while taking an assessment of his health. Aside from his vitals being all over the place, Kauffman looked like he'd been through the wringer. His hair was wildly unkempt, sections of it having been buzzed away entirely for what I can only assume were attempts at biohacking his implants. In some places, the marks of sutures were evident. His face was gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes, and even with the spacesuit in place, I perceived that he'd lost quite a bit of weight.

"Well, yeah, you forgot to release my stock options before we went IPO," I joked. "I couldn't let you off the hook that easily."

William smiled weakly.

"Am I imagining things, or was that Nathan Schmidt who you had on your shoulder? And did he actually just save your life?" the executive asked.

"Yes, sir. It's definitely Mister Schmidt. And it does seem that he had impeccable timing, both in terms of when he elected to come back from the nearly-dead and when he decided to intervene on my behalf," I nodded.

"The last time I saw Schmidt, he was in the process of destroying the Half Moon. Now, he's working with us?" Kauffman inquired incredulously.

"There have been a lot of developments while you were...out of the loop," I explained. "I can promise you a full briefing, but right now, respectfully, we need to get you out of here. Do you feel like you can walk?"

"Yes. The stimpatch seems to be working; thank you. I can walk," William confirmed, gingerly rising to his feet with my assistance. "I believe I overtaxed my implants just a bit on that last maneuver."

"That last maneuver saved my life, and it was awesome!" Steve Jenkins suddenly exclaimed, releasing Nathan Schmidt from an awkward embrace and ambling over to stand before Kauffman, grinning from ear to ear. "You were all like, 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!' And then the guys were like, 'AHHH, YOU KILLED ME.'"

"James, this is Steve Jenkins, my liberator. I'm assuming you've already been introduced. He's a fine solider and expert tactician," William smiled, clapping Jenkins on the shoulder. "He was instrumental in seeing to it that I made it out of that...laboratory...in once piece." Kauffman gestured toward a half-destroyed portable building within the cargo bay that was bedecked with all manner of communication dishes and antennas.

"They had you in there?" I asked. "What were they doing?"

"Attempting to use a variety of techniques to access my augmentations and, presumably, try to download the information in my mind. They started that after I wouldn't simply tell them about Project Black Eclipse. I'm still not entirely sure how they found out that venture in the first place," William explained, raising an eyebrow and glancing toward Nathan. "I was in and out of consciousness for - well, I'm not sure how long. What is today's date?"

"March 3, 3029," I responded.

"I was in and out of consciousness for a long time," Kauffman concluded.

"Well, we should try to get that laboratory transferred over to our custody for analysis. See what all they might have done to you - and also ascertain how much information they potentially mined," I advised. "Our first priority is to get you off this ship, though. The rest of the team's waiting for us over there." I pointed toward the gathering of Weyland, Maxwell, Harlow, and her crew. "This rescue was only possible because of them as well, and I'm sure that they're anxious to say hello. Let's get you over to them. Steve and Nathan - will you lead the way?" I asked.

Schmidt and Jenkins nodded and headed down the ramp ahead of us. As I put Kauffman's arm over my shoulders and assisted him in his strides, I glanced ahead at Nathan. Where the plastiform bandage had previously been present on his back, there was now only exposed flesh, with no sign of the the gaping exit wound that had previously been present.

What in the hell is going on there? I thought to myself. I started to make a comment to William, but decided against it for now. Whatever gift it was that Schmidt possessed, speculation about it could wait until we'd disentangled ourselves from the current predicament.

###

A few moments later, we rendezvoused with the remainder of Alpha team and the crew. of the Hurry Up Bessie. As we arrived, I waved an incredulous-looking Captain Harlow over to me.

"Captain Nikki Harlow - this is William Kauffman - your undocumented passenger. General Kauffman - Captain Harlow is the skipper of the ship you're aboard - the Hurry Up Bessie. She says that she was unaware of what the Capellans were doing in their little shop of horrors back there."

"I was unaware," Nikki scowled. "There's no need to speculate about where my loyalties fell in this whole mess. We only took a haulage contract from the Capellans. We don't answer to House Liao."

"I'm just relaying the information, not trying to make any assessment of the situation," I answered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Harlow," William smiled, his polished and charming personality asserting itself despite all that he'd just endured.

"Oh, uh - nice to meet you, too, Mister Kauffman. I hope you're doing okay. Better than these guys, at least," Harlow continued, gesturing at the gore surrounding us. William blanched noticeably.

"I am, thank you for asking. And I'm terribly sorry about the inconvenience and financial hardship this incident has undoubtedly inflicted on you. I'm sure that the Crayven Corporation can come to an equitable arrangement with you to make you whole again," Kauffman continued, looking toward Captain Harlow expectantly. "Have we any unfinished business here?"

[Nikki Harlow]

The CEO looked like he'd been tossed around by some giant barn cat, but talked like he was negotiating in the boardroom. "I'm terribly sorry about the inconvenience and financial hardship this incident has undoubtedly inflicted on you. I'm sure that the Crayven Corporation can come to an equitable arrangement with you to make you whole again. Have we any unfinished business here?"

"Thank you, that's very appreciated," I said. "I'm sure you didn't intend to get kidnapped on my ship, but our margins are pretty thin - cleaning up after surprise visits from merc squads isn't in the budget."

Kauffman smiled. "I thought that might be the case."

"I see you're all suited up to leave the way you came in, but if you'd like to avoid the floating hogs and the vacuum of space-"

"Floating hogs?" William asked quizzically.

"Yeah - your employees came in through the airlock of one of our livestock bays. Even mining planets want their pork fried rice, so we bring the pork - and it's not very happy right now. If your ship docks with mine, you can avoid all that."

"As interesting as that sounds, I suppose you're right that this isn't the best time for a tour. It looks like some of my rescuers no longer have intact space suits." Kauffman motioned toward the mercenary captain, who was standing nearby. "Charles, which ship has come for me?"

"It's the Mendacius, sir," the mercenary said. "They've got this ship in tow."

"I think you can let us go now," I said. "I'll let Gretchen know you're friendly. I can guarantee she wouldn't shoot at you, but it'd be inconvenient if she went speeding off. By the way, have any of your people seen Dr. Tao? She was in the mess hall a little while before you all showed up, so she might be unaccounted for."

"Wherever she is," Major Hayes interjected, "she needs to be brought back alive, so she can tell us the full extent of what was done to General Kauffman. Are there any other 'passengers' who might have that information?"

"The only other scientist was Dr. Wen, and he would have been on shift in this cargo bay," I said.

A very muddy looking mercenary who I didn't recognize exclaimed, "Now he's all over the cargo bay!"

"In that case, Dr. Tao is our sole source of information," Major Hayes said humorlessly. "Lieutenant Weyland, do you feel up to bringing her in?"

[Steve Jenkins]

Everybody was Standing around trying to figure out what to do while all the dead guys floated everywhere and bullet smoke wiffed around. I started to feel Anxious on account of I figured that the Capellans were coming. Also my space Suit was starting to give me Jock Itch and I had to go to the bathroom. *Hey uh Nicky. " I said, "All the Combat Drugs are wearing off and I have to pee, where is your bathroom?" 

"It's over there around the corner" said Nixki. "You have to put a code in, its 420420696969TOILET, the keyboard is in the cupboard by the door, if you have to pee use the toilet Stool, but if you have to go #2 you have to use the urinal, the plumbing is broken."

"OK" I said, then I went to the bathroom in my space suit and I found the Keyboard. Then I went over and plugged its cord into the door. "ENTER PASSWORD FOR TOILET ACCESS" a recording of a deep man's voice bellowed which surprised me. Then I put the code in and the door flung open really hard. I went Inside and ripped my spacesuit off and sat on the Urinal to do my Business. While I was waiting I got out a copy of Guns and Bullets and I started reading an article about Full Auto Shoot lasers. Then I noticed that the bathroom had supermarket music playing in the background. It made me think of my Business back on Sheratan and how it had been so long since I had did a legal representation. I needed more slip and fall cases and personal injury cases because people would always Settle but you had to make a bunch of calls and emails to threaten the right People, it was hard to do that way out in outer space, I needed a business that was automatic cash. I flipped more pages than I saw an ad that made me scream in the bathroom, it said BATH BUSINESS FOR SALE BY OWNER and then it said NEED TO SELL RIGHT AWAY NO OFFERS REFUSED  CALL BOBBY ON SHERATON. I couldn't believe my luck, I had did a career in Bath Housing when I had been in high school back on Kuuzu. I got out my phone and called the number for Bobby, it took a long time to go through on account of how far we were from home, finally I got a voice mail from the phone call 

"HI my name is Steve Jenkins and I'm a successful business man on Sheratan, I want to buy the baths, I have a bunch of cash I have to blow so I need you to sell it to me me now, call me back at 753174882DXe354511 so I can pay you because I don't want to put my credit card on your voice mail, also "

Suddenly I felt the ship move and everything got really heavy as the gravity turned back on, all of a sudden my phone got ripped out of my hand and fell in the Toilet by the g force!!" NOOOOO!!" I yelled while I heard the phone hit the brown water, I jumped up and turned around to look at where it had went but I was too late, "AUTO FLUSH IN PROGRESS WARNING, LARGE DEPOSIT DETECTED, TURBO PURGE IN PROGRESS" Said a electronic voice from a speaker inside the toilet bowel. Then there was a huge WHOOSH and I saw the most terrible thing, all of the Sewage was swishing around and my phone's glowy screen was going around in the water too, I could see that the call was still connected so my voice mail wasn't sending!! I Rammmed my arm into the water but I couldn't get the phone in time, it went down the little hole in the bottom of the urinal and I couldn't see it anymore. 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I Screamed and my yell made hot tears come on my Face, I couldn't believe I had survived everything to make all the money for the Business and now I couldn't buy it on account of a stupid toilet, I sat down on the floor to think. The floor was cold on my junk and it made me yell again, Just then the toilet started talking again! "ERROR, TOILET BLOCK DETECTED, REVERSING," then the urinal suddenly overflowed backwards and a bunch of brown water and other Things came out onto the floor, but my phone was still gone "404" it said, "TOILET BLOCK CONTINUED, PLEASE CALL MAINTENANCE" 

I couldn't believe ny luck, I could still get my deal done if I could get my phone back! "HOLD ON BOBBY I DROPPED MY PHONE!!!" I Yelled into the toilet tank, then I went over and pressed a button on the wall that said CALL MAINTENANCE. 

"Hello??" I said. "My phone is in the toilet and I need a maintenance so I can get it out and finish my Business Deal." I hoped someone would answer before it was too late...... 

"404" Said the toilet again and then it barfed up more brown water.......

Edited October 23, 2020 by Steve Jenkins

[Steve Jenkins]

PART DEUX......

*WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR RIGHT NOW, WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO GET YOUR PHONE OUT OF THE TOILET!" A voice in the intercom said. "But I have to get this Business Opportunity!!" I yelled back. "Also its not a toilet, its a urinal, you have to let me fulfill my Destiny!" 

 "SO SORRY, ME NO SPEAKA THE ENGLISH!!" The other voice suddenly said and then it hung up on me. "BALL DAMN IT!!" I Screamed, I was really angry and this time I meant Business. I marched over to the clogged urinal and I stared at it with a powerful force in my face. "Come on!!" I said "You are a Flush Force 5000 XLT with turbo mode and toilet OS and a garbage disposal inside the flusher for those really stubborn log jams! Work!! Give me my phone!!!"

"404" the Toilet OS said. 

"Aaargh!! Operator!" I yelled.

" 404. Command OPERATOR not found. Would you like to do some online shopping?" I couldn't believe my bad Luck. 

"Human Being!" I Yelled. "404" said the voice inside the bowel. "Did you know that the capital of House Kurita is Luthien?" 

"WHY DOES A TOILET EVEN KNOW THAT??" I Screamed, then I remembered, in the movies the good guys always could open doors by ripping the lock combination thing out, maybe if I ripped the Computer off the toilet it would back up the right way! So I grabbed the computer box on the Back of the urinal pipe and started letting out a huge Zen yell as I pulled and Strained really hard to get the lock off, "WARNING, VANDALIZATION DETECTED, THE AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED" The toilet Shouted. 

"I don't CARE!!" I Yelled and I pulled so hard that I farted, but unfortunately I must have pulled too hard because the next thing I Knew the whole Urinal popped off the wall and busted on the floor into a billion pieces!! I Screamed as water sprayed out of the pipe from one end and Brown Water sprayed out of another pipe and I got blew backwards against the toilet stall door where the sit down toilet was. Then the Water stopped. I Sobbed really loudly, I couldn't believe my Business Opportunity was gone on account of the toilet computer in my hands that had lost my Phone. I got up and put my space suit back on, I was about to leave when I saw a glowing thing in the Brown Water. 

Oh My God

Could it BE???? 

I reached down and picked it up, it was my Phone, it must have blew back out when I adjusted the toilet!! And it was still connected!!! I started talking into it. 

"So call me back at my phone number and I'll put the business on my Credit card, also I'll be back on Sheratan soon and you can give me a Tour, by the way my friend will go get the Keys from you whenever you get the payment, thanks bye." Then I hung up and went over to the sink and washed the Brown Water off my phone and my stuff and used the hand dryer to Dry my hair and clothes. Then I walked back out of the Bathroom and over to the Group.

" OK I'm ready to leave now" I said. 

"You were in there a really long time." Said Major Maxwell. "Also why do you have a Toilet PC in your hands?" 

"I made a Real Estate purchase for my Business Empire" was all I said back, then I adjusted my Bushido blade to make the point.

[Orlex Jaeger]

Crash location of Grail Lords Combat Transport (Space) VTOL
Somewhere on the Carrigan Continent, Errai II
Errai System, Davion Space
March 3, 3029
____________________________________

We managed to get the damaged VTOL airborne within the 5 minutes that Leftenant Isla had given us, despite the engineers originally saying it would take at least 10 minutes, and were making our way out of enemy territory at a semi-respectable speed of around 65km/h. Nowhere near our usual top speed of 108km/h but with a heavily damaged engine and nobody willing to risk using the VTOLs' jet boosters in its current state it was the best we do. We had been airborne for just under 2 mins when the "present" we left in the clearing was activated, knowing that the enemy would return in force after having driven them off earlier we didn't want to risk them following us in our relatively vulnerable state. So we setup a little gift for their return, using roughly 10 C8 blasting blocks, a pair of satchel charges and any grenades or other ordnance we still had left all jury-rigged to the demolitions kit I had been carrying in the Golem's mission equipment storage, we rigged a large portion of the clearing to explode spectacularly with a deadman's trigger on the corpse of one the failed attackers. Seemed a little morbid to use the corpse of one of their fellow comrades to activate the explosives but it didn't seem to bother the DMI agents one bit, they were probably used to much more heinous things dealing with the Maskirovka and their like on a regular basis.

We still had the rear hatch on the VTOL open, with the Semi-portable PPC that Sergeants Ross and David carried around mounted on an integral tripod facing out the back, so we could clearly see the explosion with our own eyes. We could actually see the blast wave rippling through the treetops surrounding the clearing as the light of the explosion itself faded before the sound of the detonation reached us nearly a full 6 seconds later. Being around 2km distant already we didn't feel so much as a breeze from the explosion itself but the rising cloud of debris from the blast and the angry glow of fires meant that the enemy certainly felt alot worse. It appeared, for the time being at least, that we were in the clear and made the best time we could to get clear of the enemy territory and link back up with the rest of the DMI team on planet. With radio contact fully restored, and no sign of any further jamming, we updated Captain Leena and Captain JJ on our situation as well as our ETA and hoped there wouldn't be any further surprises on this particular mission.

_________________
Several hours later...
_________________

Having regrouped with the remainder of our team and "safely" landed the damaged VTOL aboard the Gorgon, a DMI Black Ops dropship based on a modified DroST IVc, our squad disembarked and were given just enough time to stow our gear before we were required to meet up with the Captains in one of the meeting rooms for a debrief. Having less equipment to check over and stow, using the prototype combat exoskeleton meant everything was essentially already stowed once I secured the suit itself in its dock and the techs took care of most everything else with it, meant that I was heading to the debriefing a few minutes earlier than everyone else. The particular path that I was taking to get there wound past Captain JJ's office and as I rounded the corner in the corridor I could hear bits of what seemed to be a rather heated arguement filtering out of the closed doors.

"What do you mean 'NOT ON THE BOOKS'?" came an unfamiliar but definitively feminine voice.

A slight pause before the same voice continued, "Wait no, don't tell me. I don't want to know, plausible deniability, ..." the rest of the sentence falling below a volume that I could discern.

"It's not that simple," said a different, masculine voice, this one I recognized as my brother's, Captain Johnathon "JJ" Jaegar, or Xerox as he often went by. A rather lame callsign in my opinion but I had to keep that opinion to myself, "... a valuable asset ... it's not like I had a choice, besides no one else wanted to test that suit anyways ..."

Parts of the conversation drifted in and out of audible range, the closed door and assumedly sound dampened walls made most of the conversation muffled at best as I continued walking towards my intitial destination, only slowly slightly as my curiousity got the better of me. As I approached the Captain's office itself, and continued past to avoid looking suspicious, I noted that the door itself was not fully sealed, which seemed odd, and that is what was allowing some of the conversation to spill out into the corridor.

"I want nothing to do with your little MI4 schemes," came the female voice again, this time I recognized it as belonging to our other Captain, Leena Sykora, who was the actual MI6 Captain in charge of this particular DMI strike team, "Just be warned that when this all comes down, and it eventually will, it always does, it will all come down on your head. My team, myself included, have no part in this."

"We'll talk about this later, we're not done here ...," responded Captain JJ, again part of the his response fading out beyond hearing as I got further away from the office, "... but we're going ... late ... the debrief."

I rounded the next corner and anything that remained of the conversation was lost to the general rumble of the vessel itself, it's main drives firing strongly as the dropship fought the gravity of Errai II in order to get into space and a stable orbit. As I had suspected I was the first person to the debrief but only had to wait a few short minutes before the others began arriving, within a couple minutes everyone was there except the Captains who arrived together almost immediately after everyone else was seated. The debrief itself was uninteresting and typical, aside from our a little extracurricular excursion, and the unexpected strength of the enemy forces, the mission itself had gone off as planned. Now it seemed we had a few days where we would "lay low" so to speak and carry out our cover job of being a hired transport to deliver supplies between worlds in system, in the mean time our undercover agents would be trying to ascertain where the gangs and criminal underworld was receiving such high end military gear from.

After the debrief as everyone was filing out of the room, having been the first one in I was also the last one out due to the confines of the room itself, I noticed that Captain JJ had stayed at the front podium instead of leaving with Captain Leena immediately. As I made it to the door he called out to me, "Orlex a moment please, I have something I need to discuss with you."

Turning to face him I took a step back into the room, "Sure, what's it about Captain?" I typically tried to refer to him by rank, at least in public, just to avoid the mistake of being too familiar with him in the wrong company seeing as how he was my younger brother, even if we had been estranged just a few short months ago.

"I'm going to need a 'FULL' combat report on the Golem exoskeleton, as well as list of any special recommendations you have for it," the emphasis he placed on 'full' told me there was more to this, though I wasn't sure exactly what at this point, "I'll come by your quarters by 19:00 to pick it up, I expect you'll be ready for a complete operational breakdown of your experience with the prototype by then."

"Yes sir, understood. I'll have the report ready and waiting for you," I responded with a nod, this didn't sound good.

"Good, dismissed."

I turned and exited the debrief room and headed towards the mess hall to get something to eat before getting started on the "report" I was requested to prepare. Sadly I knew the report itself was just a diversion and something more troubling was brewing. At one point in time Johnathon and I had a secret code we used to talk with each other, something I'd wager a lot of imaginative brothers did when young, and ours evolved over the years but typically consisted of a seemingly inocuous word or phrase given undo emphasis in an otherwise normal conversation followed by a request or statement that in itself seemed benign but when combined with the previous phrase or word it could have an entirely different meaning from the what the actual words themselves meant. It had been many many years since JJ and I had last used our code and I couldn't even remember what the last iteration had been, let alone what he might have been trying to tell me, but I knew for a fact that he wasn't coming to my quarters this evening to collect a report. All the same, I did need to have a report available to hand in when he came, at the very least to keep up the charade if not to actually file. I was going to have a busy afternoon it sounded like.

[Marcus Donovan]

Meanwhile...

C.S.V. Mendacius
Near the system jump point
Epsilon Eridani IV
March 3, 3029
___________________________

I let out a sigh of relief as Donovan's orders crackled over my headset. 

"Affirmative...the skipper of the freighter is aligned with why we're here and is agreeable to repatriating the boarding party. I want the cargo adapter prepped and ready to receive us from Cargo Bay One direct to the Mendacius. Have a materials team ready to receive this 'laboratory' across into our own hold. I want it stripped to the walls for analysis. Also, please have the medical facilities prepped and ready to receive wounded from both Aegis Division and the crew of the freighter - including our Capellan P.O.W.s, assuming that Lieutenant Weyland and the Crayven ISF bring them back alive."

"P.O.W.s? Plural?" I asked in surprise. "And - respectfully, sir - are you certain that we want to bring unvetted civilians and hostile combatants aboard Mendacius? They pose a security concern that could be mitigated if we were to put them aboard the Republic or the Tana. Both ships are on station with us at this time."

"To your first point - yes, we left a man secured, alive, and in the early throes of gastrointestinal mayhem in Cargo Bay Two. When we dock, I want you to send a couple of ISF assets in to retrieve him. Have him and Doctor Tao assigned to the brig pending transfer to an onshore holding facility. And to your second point - yes, I'm certain. These orders are direct from General Kauffman. He doesn't want us bullshitting around in what's probably going to become a hot combat zone shortly. If you're concerned about security, bring blindfolds for the Capellans, but leave the freighter crew alone. Just don't let them wander into any areas marked 'secret' or what have you. Understood?"

"Aye, sir," I replied.

"Good. Now, I'm going to patch you through to Captain Harlow for maneuvering instructions. I'm sure she'll be delighted to speak with her favorite 'Cruise Director' again."

The sound of my forehead face-palming into my hand echoed audibly across the pocket warship's command center.

[Nikki Harlow]

"-and it turns out our passengers really were keeping a kidnapped CEO in our cargo bay. The fake cruise ship - actually called Mendacius, apparently - is waiting to receive him and the rest of the boarding party. Do you think you can dock cargo bay two with their adapter?"

"I see them deploying it now - it looks like a match for our airlock," Gretchen said over the com channel. "Do you expect any trouble from our passengers? The computer says there's not much left of that baby's interior lock, but I could try to figure something out." 

"The, uh, gentlemen from the other ship have the situation under control," I said. 

There was static on the line for a moment. "Alright. Not looking forward to seeing how they did that. Hang on, I'm turning Bessie around for docking." 

"Great, thanks Gretta. Let me know if you need us to do anything on this end." 

"Actually," Gretchen said, "can you tell me if Jacob Isaacson's goats are down there?" 

"No goats here, but thanks for asking," I said. The major raised an eyebrow. 

"Good, good," Gretchen responded. "It seemed important to check, in a situation like this." 

We weren't carrying any goats; "Jacob Isaacson's goats" was a phrase we'd established to discreetly ask if there was any deception going on. According to Gretchen, it was based on some obscure Bible story, and more importantly, it was a relatively normal thing to ask about on a ship that moved cargo for farmers.

"Will you need assistance with containing your livestock?" the CEO asked. "I can only imagine how much trouble goats would be roaming loose on a dropship." 

"Thank you, but I think we've got it under control," I said. I turned to the major, not wanting to pester the guy who could barely stand up straight. "Can your ship spare a medic? Ours got concussed in a tangle with one of your people, and I don't think she can treat herself in that state." 

"We'll treat her aboard the Mendacius, too," the CEO said with a smile. The Major looked uncomfortable, but didn't argue.