HONOR, VALOR, AMBITION, AND THE WAY OF THE CLAN

A BattleTech story by RougeBaron

Note: With I,Kere4sky gearing up for the climax, I am trying to "backlog" myself with another writing piece so I won't have to roll my thumbs when IK4 ends. There are several ideas that can be very interesting writing materials (thanks, stonegnome1 and The Colonel), but I decided to do some sort of "prequel" to I,Kerensky series. It is always nice, after all the main characters said and did on the main storyline, to go back in time and exploit the time when they were just naive, cocky, but oblivious young cadets.

This idea has been lingering in my head for a long time, but aside from 3 montage drawings at deviantArt, I haven't done anything to it. I was just being lazy. But since one of the main characters will take a critical position in Ulquiorra9000's story Steel Wolf, I am poised to write this. This story will follow two young women in the Clan Invasion Era, and it also exposes the early life of Parker, my best BTech guy, although he won't take the spotlight from the main characters.

And I get to write in the Clan Invasion Era, something I always want to do.

BattleTech/MechWarrior is copyright by FASA, Wizkids, Topps, Smith and Tinker.

Rated R (M) for violence, gore, and sexual references.


PROLOGUE

"The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, boy, so you'll have to square with that some day".

~ Pirates of the Caribbean

Jumpship Elizabeth Swann,
Butte Hold, Greater Valkyrate,
June 5, 3033

Captain Jarvik Valentin watched the main screen as alarm blared throughout the jumpship, making his head throb in pain amidst the frantic bridge of the merchant-class jumpship. The radar highlighted half a dozen Spad-class aerospace fighters coming inbound with full speed, while their mother ship, a small frigate of unknown class, gallantly advanced toward his unarmed ship. Its forward-facing torpedo tubes lined up perfectly with the jumpship's hull, and Jarvik knew the fate of his ship.

"Who are these pirates?" Jarvik asked his frenetic officer, trying to sound calm without much success. "The Oberons? Redjack Ryans? Valkyrates?"

"Negative, Sir, this is something else," the officer answered with trembling voice. "Their ship is not registered in our database."

"Closest Lyran fleet?"

"Two days away, Sir!"

"Jump point?"

"Three hours away."

"And what's the fighters' ETA?"

"Fifteen minutes, Sir." Sweat beaded on the officer's forehead. "We're gonna die, aren't we Sir?"

"Nobody's gonna die today!" Jarvik croaked. "Turn this ship around and make it to the jump point, full speed! Get the passengers on the escape pods!" He turned to his first mate. "Take Marissa out of here."

Marissa, Jarvik's 7-year-old daughter, refused to leave the bridge when the first mate tried to take her. She held on to Jarvik's leg and screamed anytime the first mate touched her. She had been accompanying her father all her short life, but this was the first time she was under duress. A smart kid that she was, she knew something was going on: people shouting, alarm blaring, everybody running from station to station, and the panic expression of her father, everything told her that something terrible was looming. She immediately went to her safe place: between her father's legs.

"Marissa, sweetheart, listen to me," Jarvik said calmly. "How about a hide-and-seek? You hide on the escape pod, and I will find you."

"No, Papa! The ship is really loud," she tightened her grips on her father's legs. "I don't want to play on the escape pod…"

The Spad fighters had reached effective range for the PPCs, and they wasted no time firing their weapons. The thin armor of the merchant-class jumpship couldn't hold the onslaught, and the engine exploded, sending tremendous quake throughout the ship. Jarvik was thrown across the room, and Marissa lost grip of her father. She rolled under the console, screaming as she saw ship crews lying in blood on top of each other. The first mate lied dead with his eyes looking straight into hers, with his face crimson red and mouth wide open.

"Damage report! Damage report!" Jarvik screamed, grimacing as he strained to get up.

"All engines are disabled, Sir! We're dead in space!"

"Spread the word: Abandon ship! Everybody to the escape pod!" Jarvik limped toward Marissa, dragged his screaming daughter from under the console, and struggled to make it to the escape pods. His crews stampeded on the corridor, and it took a great deal of Jarvik to stay standing amidst the frenzied crowd. The crowd raced to the escape pod, and Jarvik tottered toward the one on the last end of the line.

Unfortunately, the pirate frigate had caught up with the disabled merchant jumpship. It docked with the jumpship and carved a hole on its hull. Just when Jarvik and Marissa was about to reach the escape pod, three men came and blocked them. Standing between 5'5" to 5'10", these men wore colorful jumpsuits with myriads of pins and flashy accessories. The fume of tobacco reeked from their clothes.

"Pirates! Brigands! Thieves!" Jarvik growled, fighting the urge to curse in front of his daughter. "One day your days will end miserably! We don't have anything! We are just a jumpship carrying passengers! There's no precious cargo here! What is it you want?"

"As trading commodities, humans are as exotic as tobacco and spice, Captain," the man in the middle replied as he pulled out a cigar from his pocket. "There are a lot of people that want to pay a fortune for a beautiful little girl like yours."

"You sonofabitch!" Jarvik hissed. "You got the ship. It's more expensive than the entire crews and passengers. Just take the ship and let my daughter go."

"You don't have a choice," the pirate drew a sawed-off shotgun and shot Jarvik in the abs. The captain screamed and went to the floor, holding his stomach while breathing heavily. Marissa screamed as hard as she could, but she was completely overpowered when the burly pirate pried her off her father's grip.

"Just be grateful that a part of you survives this day," the pirate taunted the dying captain. "You have a pretty kid. I might just keep her for my own, although good-quality merchandise like this can benefit us a hundred fold."

"Bastard! Don't do this!" Jarvik whispered with his last breath. "Let her go!"

But the pirates turned around and went back to their mother ship, taking Marissa with them. The pirate frigate detached itself from the jumpship then sank two torpedoes at the jumpship broadside. As the jumpship exploded and split into two, the frigate slowly turned away and went back to the dark side of Butte Hold.