Chapter IV

"Tracer Six-One Actual, this is Command One-One. Report."

Sergeant Samuel Martinez, late of the Star League Defence Force Special Forces Command clicked the throat microphone built into his helmet.

"Command, this is Six-One Actual. Our guests are moving towards the vehicle pool now."

"Roger that, Six-One. Continue to observe and report. Command out."

Martinez had already copied all this to the rest of the team, so there was no need to risk any more transmissions. Maybe their guests were monitoring the usual SLDF frequencies. Turnabout was fair play after all, since Martinez had spent a fascinating hour since waking up, getting his checkup, into his armour and then out here listening in.

Something bothered him about all this. It wasn't the town being completely overgrown, he'd expected that. It who their guests were, or rather [I]weren't[/I]. They had arrived in a civilian ship for starters, not one that was SLDF or any of the houses. Their DropShips and their vehicles, Mechs and otherwise, wore no markings that he recognized, and the deaths head insignia hadn't been in the Computer either. Their vehicles were battle-scarred and seemed, if not worn, but like they had seen extreme use, but still well taken care of. Their wheeled stuff used honest to god internal combustion engines instead of fusion cores it seemed. Long story short, who were those people?

They knew the name of their commander from the intercepts, though that no Colonel Carlyle was in the computers was to be expected.

By now, the rest of his team had packed up what little deployable equipment they'd had the chance to take out of storage, and soon they were making their way to the vehicle pool. As the road was in an absolutely terrifyingly awful state and the terrain hadn't changed much in however long they'd been underground, they reached their destination earlier. Their guests had left most of their Mechs behind, under guard of course, and only a battered-looking Stinger provided overwatch as their people fanned out to inspect the remnants of the vehicles that had been left behind when the facility had been sealed.

"Command, this is Six-One actual. In position at the vehicle pool. Our guests are inspecting what's left of it. One Stinger is providing overwatch."

"Six-One, are you in danger of being discovered?"

He checked the passive scanners again. No one was coming their way and the Mech was observing the sky over the mountains. It seemed that the absorbant coating of the armour they wore held up against whatever scanning devices those people had in use.

"Negative, One-One. Sir, they are fairly close to the main entrance. What am I supposed to do if they find the marker?"

"Continue to report, Six-One. Command is still putting itself together."

The military version of 'call again later' it was then. He only hoped that by the time those people stumbled over the entrance marker someone was around who was willing and able to decide something. This whole mess was so far away from the standing orders they'd all been briefed on after the facility was sealed. With a wry grin that no one could see behind his faceplate, he reminded himself that either way recon-team Tracer Six-One would have a front-row seat to the spectacle.

"Roger that, One-One. Six-One, out."

He knew that whoever was awake by now would be watching the data-feed from his helmet camera, so he took care to not dip his head too much as he visually scanned the vehicle pool.

Two of them, the man they had identified as Colonel Carlyle and a blonde woman stood slightly to the side, like officers were wont to do while others worked for a living.

"So what do you think, Sarn't?"

"Beats me, Goldstein. Could be from one of the houses, I suppose."

"Naa, I dunno, Sarn't. Don't look like any House unit I'm familiar with."

Martinez couldn't help but grin. Goldstein prided himself about his encyclopedic knowledge of the private armies the various houses maintained, and him not knowing this one increased the chance that they were something like a mercenary unit. But how? If things had gone really pear-shaped...

[I]"Six-One, report status."[/I]

"No change so far, One-One."

He couldn't help but wonder why they asked this, given that they had a live video feed...

"Roger that, Six-One. Be advised, you are hereby authorized to initiate [b]peaceful[/b] contact when you judge them to be close to discovering the marker. Command, out."

"Acknowledged, Command. Six-One, out."

So the General was finally up and about. Good. At least if things went wrong now, he'd have someone to plead his case before he was thrown into the deepest hole this shithole planet could provide. Oh happiest of days, as he could see that these people seemed to know what they were doing by the way they methodically searched the wrecked and overgrown construction vehicles and machinery. True, outwardly the marker was little more than a manhole cover with the Cameron star on it, but still, if someone drove up the road for another mile, they stood right on top of it. If they inspected it any closer than at a glance, then finding the entrance to the facility would only be a matter of time. Though nothing happened for more than an hour.

"Sarge, y'all should listen to this." another team-member said over their private channel.

Within seconds Martinez had switched to the frequency their 'guests' used.

"- nothing here, Colonel. We've gone over most of the vehicles that can still be called such and we found nothing. We can maybe scavenge a few more durable parts, but all their fusion engines have been removed and generally the cargo holds are empty of anything we can use."

"Load up what you can use. That road doesn't go anywhere, but I want to check out the area anyway. They were constructing something, and if this is anything like it was on Helm, we should be fairly close."

"Will do, Sir."

"That's it then, ladies and Gentlemen. I think we are about to make contact with them."

He switched channels to the command frequency.

"Command, this is Tracer Six-One. Our guests are getting close to the marker."

"Acknowledged, Six-One. Feel free to act as needed."

Martinez let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he'd held in. It had been the voice of General Hackett, the senior military officer in the facility, one of the members of the council and generally someone who cared for his people, so much in fact that he had forsaken a promising career with the 308th BattleMech Divison to join the project. If things went pear-shaped now, it would be naught but his own fault. In the end he decided not to wait. Better do this here, where there was a relatively open space. So he advised his team accordingly and then keyed the command frequency again.

"Command, Tracer Six-One is initiating contact."

"Good luck, Six-One. Out."

"Tracers, turn everything off and holster your shooting irons. We don't have anything bigger than a pop-gun, remember..."

With that, Martinez took off his helmet, clipped to the side of his armour in the spot provided for the task and rose to his feet. His rifle was left behind and he raised both his hands as he stepped beyond the treeline and onto the grassy, partially overgrown parking space.

~**-**~

"Contact, south!"

Grayson didn't know who had yelled like that, but from his position he could see both his people rushing into cover, including their metal guardian training itself towards the threat, and the contact itself.

"I am unarmed, I want to talk!"

The figure was wearing... some sort of power armour by the way he moved. It was painted in a set of woodland camouflage he was unfamiliar with, but as the soldier, for he clearly was one, stepped closer under the watchful eyes and guns of the Legionaries, Grayson could see what was a low-visibility iteration of the Cameron star on the upper arms of the armour his counterpart wore.

"Who are you?" Grayson asked, careful to keep his hands visible and away from his gun.

"Sergeant Martinez, SLDF Special Forces Command."

Lori snorted. "And I'm the heir to House Kurita. There hasn't been a Star League in three centuries. Who are you, Mister?"

He seemed to be genuinely surprised by this, shaken even. Martinez, if that was his real name, closed his eyes for a second and

"You should probably wait-"

Martinez was interrupted, likely by someone on his radio.

"Yes, Sir. I think that we have a Code Andromeda.-Yes, Sir, I am certain."

The supposed StarLeague soldier looked at them with a sad look on his face that told of someone who was in the process of having his fondest hopes dashed.

"Who the hell are you, and what is going on?"

"My Commanding Officer can explain this a lot better than me, Colonel..."

"I won't follow you anywhere. And do you really think you could make me?"

For the first time, Martinez grinned. "I have no intention of forcing you anywhere. Both because you have a Mech pointing his laser at me, and because it would be against my orders. But what makes you think I was alone?"

His hands still raised, Martinez made a two-fingered wink and seconds later four more figures in the same type of armour came walking in from the treeline, weapons pointed at the ground and helmet-visors open.

"Colonel Carlyle, may I present you the rest Team Six of the Royal Rangers?"

tbc

Okay, some minor housekeeping is in order. Now, this is all stuff that will be worked into the story eventually, but I'm putting this here now both so that you know and that I don't forget.

Basically, as far as the Inner Sphere is concerned, the GDL disappeared without a trace. This caused quite a few ripples. Between some trying to find out where they went (since by now they are fairly well-known in certain circles) and because of increased intelligence activity others trying to discover if their plans have been made 'public' and shuffling their forces around, the Fourth Succession war, wile inevitable, has been delayed into 3029. Not very far, think early march. This will be a factor later on, but for now we'll concentrate on what's going on with our favourite Mercs.

Secondly, I'm not yet sure how the Clans will react to all this, but the Fourth Succession War is taking the attention of what intelligence assets they have and what happens on this world will get lost in the shuffle for a while. Oddly enough, ComStar will be the first ones to notice something odd, for reasons that will become apparent soon(ish).

Thirdly, that unit is entirely my own creation.