A Story in the BattleTech Universe by Tamarallion Arothlin
Jenkins' Residence
Johannesburg, Carlisle
Lyran Alliance
24 March 3067
As soon as Liam stepped in the door, he knew that something was wrong. His parents were sitting on the leather sofa in the entryway. Both of the had that look in their eyes, the look that was part concern and part "you're-lucky-that-we-don't-have-a-mind-to-disown-you".
Whatever it was, Liam knew that he was in deep. Very deep.
"Have a seat, son," his father Bryan ordered, motioning to the tiled floor in front of the sofa. His neutral tones did nothing to thaw the lump of ice that Liam felt forming in his gut.
The fern was gone, Liam noticed. Strange that something so insignificant and unrelated could catch his attention like that. His eyes fixed on the space formerly occupied by the fern, he slowly sank down to the floor, turning his attention at last to his parents. An entire minute of silence passed, silence broken only by the tweedle tweedle tweedle of some bird or other in the distance. He saw nothing to reassure him in their eyes or their body language. Even more, now that he looked closer, he could see a hint of inevitable dread. Whatever he had done or whatever had happened, they had been expecting it and fearing it for a long time. But what? What did I do? Did they finally find out…?
At last, Liam nervously cleared his throat and shifted his position. "What… what is it? What's happened?" Fear and anticipation filled the hollow in his stomach.
"I talked with David's mother today," his mother Shelly started, brushing away a stray strand of hair. Her attempt to sound casual and light failed miserably. "It seems that all the time you said you were over there studying for Interdimensional Math and History of the Inner Sphere… you were really using David's BattleMech simulator. I looked though your room and found books about battles and weapons and 'Mechs…" She took a breath. "You know how much your father and I don't approve of the military, especially MechWarriors. We've tried to teach you how bad they are your entire life." Her voice took on a questioning, almost plaintive tone. "Why, Liam? Why must you obsess so over those awful machines?"
Liam felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his chest. Finally, he need no longer keep his activities secret. It had been wearing at him to get up at local midnight and steal all those hours in the simulators, to sneak time in the library reading about the exploits of Victor Davion and Kai Allard-Liao, to stay up late memorizing technical diagrams and designing loadouts by the flickering light of his old flashlight.
At long last, he would be able to tell them.
He took a deep breath and leaned forward slightly. "Mom, dad… in two days when I turn eighteen Terran years, the Lyran Alliance will recognize me as an adult. I'll be able to work for passage on a JumpShip, sign a legally binding contract… and join a unit like the Kell Hounds or the Wolf's Dragoons. I'm going to be a MechWarrior." He plunged ahead, trying to ignore the stunned expression on their faces. "I know how much you dislike them and all that… but it's what I was born to do. I'm faster than everyone else is. I can think on my feet and use the other members of my lance. I can create loadouts and configurations that work well together. But most importantly… This is what I want to do." He looked into their eyes in turn. "I'm not like you. I will never be happy as an average citizen of the Alliance, turning the wheels of our economic engine. I want to see new worlds, meet new people—"
"And blow them up," his father cut in harshly.
Liam shook his head. "Dad, you're not being fair. You know perfectly well that our realm needs warriors to defend it. The Clans will be coming before long… the Free Worlds League is dangerously powerful…"
"But a BattleMech is so expensive! There is no way that you could ever afford one! The only way is for you to enter a military academy, and that takes even more money. We barely have enough C-Bills to keep the mortgage paid, not that we would ever spend any on something like that anyway. Liam, use your head here!"
"I'll find a way," Liam replied, bunching his fists. "I can always find a way if I work hard enough. This is just something that I have to do."
His parents looked at one another for a long moment. Liam almost imagined he could see tears forming in his mother's eyes. Somehow, Liam felt that he was missing something.
"We've always tried to raise you right," his mother said, sounding as though she might indeed break down at any moment. "We've always tried to teach you right from wrong. And now, you go running off to senselessly trade your life for—"
"Enough," his dad cut in. He hugged Liam's mom close. "Honey, this day was due to come for a long time. Maybe we were wrong to put it off."
"But he didn't have to turn out like one of them!" His mother finally broke down. "He was such a happy, normal child… he cried the first time he scraped his knee… he loves to paint… Oh, Bryan, he's not like the rest of them! He can't be!"
Liam watched them. Confusion had well and truly replaced his fear. What was going on?
Maybe I'm the descendant of some great MechWarrior, Liam chuckled to himself. Maybe Dan Allard had an affair and left me some money and a BattleMech. Oh, and while I'm at it, I might as well be the heir to the Lyran Alliance and the Federated Commonwealth and the Khan of Clan Wolf-in-Exile while I'm at it.
Although it was a favorite fantasy of Inner Sphere children that they were the unwanted offspring of nobility, destined to make their fortune as a hero on the battlefield, Liam knew perfectly well that it was only a fantasy. He was just some commoner who was blessed with above-average strength and dexterity who had a knack for piloting BattleMech simulators. He'd never actually set foot in a real 'Mech, and had only seen them from a distance as the local garrison lance ran through training activities.
"Come on, Liam," his father spoke at last, rising from the couch. "There's… something you need to see." As he walked by the patch of tile where the fern had formerly rested, he pried up a loose tile and took a data chip out of a tiny recess.
Liam felt the first stirrings of excitement. What's he doing? What is that? Could it be…?
"Where are we going?" Liam asked, trailing after them.
"You'll see," his father answered tonelessly.
Liam wasn't sure whether to be elated or terrified as they made their way to the maglev station a block away from their house. Was it some kind of reward? Some form of punishment?
Maybe something that was both at the same time?
You've been reading too much, Liam reprimanded himself. This is real life, not one of those novels you snag during your spare moments at the local library. They're probably just going to take you out on the Parkway and show you how much you'd be missing if you went off world or some such.
Still, what had gone on so far had defied Liam's expectations completely. He had come in expecting to be chewed out… after all, the rule against BattleMech-related literature and games had been one of the oldest in their household, and the one Liam had most rigidly observed. At least, the one he had most rigidly observed until he reluctantly agreed to step into David's 'Mech simulator some three years ago. His parents seemed more upset than he'd ever seen them before, but not at him.
Normal was the last word he would have used to describe the situation.
"Here," Bryan spoke as they came to a halt in front of a large U-Stor-It building. It was the first word he had spoken since the invitation to come along. The entire trip on the maglev train had been silent, save for his mother quietly crying. Liam knew for sure now that something far beyond the ordinary was about to happen. He glanced at the dimensions of the building, trying to puzzle what might be stored within…
His father turned to him and gave him the data chip. "I had intended to give this to you sometime when you had decided not to become a MechWarrior. However, fate has conspired against us." He smiled, although it was a bit strained. "It seems that you were meant to use this after all…"
Liam studied the chip, turning it over and over in his hands. It seemed a rather ordinary sort of high-security electronic key. But what does it open? Liam looked again at the storage building. Excitement and anticipation overwhelmed him, but he restrained himself and managed to walk casually up to the door in the side. He slid the chip into its notch.
The computer thought about it a moment, then the light blinked green and the door opened.
Holding his breath, Liam stepped into the vast empty darkness.
At first, he thought that the building was empty. Then, he realized that there was a large shape of something against the far right wall. With trembling fingers, Liam pressed the light panel next to the door and light flooded the room, revealing the storage building's contents.
The chip dropped from Liam's nerveless fingers, clattering a couple of times before coming to a stop. Echoes from the clattering chip reverberated and died away.
"I don't believe it," Liam whispered.
The enormous shape was a Cauldron-Born BattleMech. Not just any 'Mech, but a state-of-the-art OmniMech deployed only in the highest echelons of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Even in a crouch, it towered more than twenty feet above Liam. The 'Mech was painted in a color scheme of dark and light blue, with the clenched fist of House Steiner emblazoned boldly on the Cauldron-Born's lower legs and the side of its cockpit.
As part of his mind reeled from disbelief, another part of his mind catalogued the 'Mech's deadly arsenal and noted that it carried a configuration that he had never seen in any of his bootleg technical reference manuals. The right arm ended in a large, snub-nosed muzzle that looked like it belonged to a laser weapon – it was just three sizes too big. Two smaller weapons similar in appearance were carried by the 'Mech's left arm. Those have to be Heavy Lasers. Amazing… that's new technology even for the Clanners. The Cauldron-Born's most imposing weapon, however, was mounted along the center axis of the 'Mech. It actually displaced the tapered cockpit to the left side of center. All that was visible was an enormous muzzle, which Liam figured was big enough for him to crawl into. An Ultra Autocannon 20, the most feared close-range gun available to any chassis. A single salvo of shells could obliterate lighter 'Mechs. Even mighty assault designs like the Atlas and the Annihilator had to tread lightly around the UAC-20. Another laser weapon, probably a medium pulse laser, was mounted just under the cockpit. The machine sitting in front of him had enough firepower to erase Carlisle's entire garrison force from existence and level the capital city on the side.
Had someone plopped a catalogue full of 'Mech designs and configurations down in front of Liam, he could not have done a better job picking his favorite one.
It's just like the stories, Liam thought in wonder. Have I wandered into a novel by mistake? He pinched himself and winced – well, there went one possible explanation.
Liam heard footsteps coming slowly up behind him. "Happy birthday, son," he heard his father say quietly.
Slowly, Liam tore his eyes from the Cauldron-Born and turned to face his parents. He gathered in a breath. "I know it can't have been easy for you to let me see this. Thank you."
His father shook his head. "The infernal machine is yours by right. It would have been wrong to withhold it from you, especially now that you have made the decision to become a MechWarrior." He smiled again, and this time it seemed a little less forced. "I have heard that this particular variant is especially powerful, and I would not want you to go into battle with inferior equipment while this thing sits here and collects dust."
Liam nodded, still hardly daring to believe that all this was happening. Suddenly, a detail caught his attention. "That 'infernal machine,'" he began as he indicated the Cauldron-Born with a wave, "is a Clan OmniMech of a design that is rare even among the Clans. Only Clan Smoke Jaguar fielded these chassis in any sort of considerable numbers. More, it is armed with weapons that surely must have been prototypes at the time of its construction. How did anyone come to possess this 'Mech? And how did it come to be mine?"
His mother and father exchanged another long glance. "Why don't we go to a restaurant or someplace for supper first?" his mom asked, forcing cheerfulness. "I'm starved. That okay with you, honey?"
Liam immediately knew that something else was up… but he decided to let whatever revelation his parents had in store wait for after supper. It couldn't be anything too bad – at most, a 'you-are-actually-not-our-son' speech, and he considered Bryan and Shelly to be the only parents he would ever have. Whether or not he was biologically related had nothing to do with the equation.
Here I am, calmly contemplating whether it matters that I'm adopted, Liam thought, chuckling to himself. How things can change in the space of a day…
"Sounds great," he replied. "Let's snag something at the train station."
Liam bent over to retrieve the chip, tucking it safely into his pocket. As he straightened, he took one last look at the Cauldron-Born – his 'Mech – before he brought down the lights, plunging the storage building into darkness once more.