CHAPTER SEVEN: FINAL PURGE
When mankind is isolated and unfed with no sense of time or freedom from the stench of its own feces, it ends up soaked in self-doubt, in the fetal position, shivering, and it eventually shocks the effort of survival out of its system to the point where it doesn't even blink.
Lying in the center of his three by three meter concrete box next to a growing pile of excrement, thoughts of suicide are replaced with utter numbness. It is over eighty degrees, yet his body shrinks in tighter to shiver from its own sense of frozen despair. The tattered uniform caked in dried blood and puss resulting from the excessive torture he received conformed to his shape, making it uncomfortable, albeit painful to move and reform it.
It is here decades of life, a clan warrior upbringing is slowly purged from his mind, where his very identity and sense of being has left him an empty shell wanting of death but too bitter to force it upon himself. All sense of time was lost. It has been so long since he slept that counting to twenty was near impossible, with the numbers jumbling in his head somewhere between fourteen and eighteen every time. To think this was once a warrior who overcame the loss of his leg to win his bloodname and lead a front line cluster in Operation: Revival hinted at madness.
He was broken. With his spirit siphoned through his pain and pride ripped from his being, time could leave him shivering here for eternity and it would make not a difference. The ultimate insult one can endure is being stripped of one's purpose in the world. The natural order demands every person fills a role, no matter how large or small within its collective domain. When one falls outside that box, its existence is nothing more than a hollow curse so heavy it crushes the world around it away.
Maybe that is why he agreed to it. Maybe he didn't want to remain outside that box of place and purpose. Or maybe he didn't see his captors as the enemy anymore, but in the same category as his previous clan, part of the stain upon this world called humanity. Because only humans would be so cruel as to strip someone of their natural birthright: the right to exist.
The door cracked open exposing light to his eyes for the first time in hours. They themselves were extremely bloodshot from the lack of sleep he endured over the last several days. Even his dreams reinforced the pain of his new world, offering no escape past the confines of physics and the reality of lasting, physical scars.
Moving his hand to cover his searing eyes was painful enough, but it was automatic and not to be helped. It looked like despite losing everything else, natural instincts would always remain.
He was led from his box outside on a cybernetic leg that had been tampered with so much by his tormentor that it was jerky and failed to respond every several steps. He really needed it serviced, something he never thought he would say having it so well taken care of before.
After a short walk, a LAAF officer bearing the rank of Leutnant-General handed him a clean set of clothes and waited while he hesitantly changed, wondering what the now unpredictable day's future had in store for him. The material was soft, much softer than the gore-hardened uniform that only attracted flies. The sudden change his skin experienced was enough to jump-start his brain again, something he did not believe possible with such a small event. And while his voice was too horse to use, he listed to the officer speak as he had not interacted with a human that was not stripping him of further dignity in what seemed like a lifetime.
"Each man undergoes his own awakening in the experience you had. Every amount of social conditioning, every ounce of pride, notion of honor, and sense of identity is stripped away, leaving the core being in place to be explored untainted. Your core has been exposed, and now that you know who you truly are, we offer you one of the things we took away, helping you regain the rest to form a person stronger than any you will encounter from here out."
He listened, somehow understanding every word and its implication. Weeks ago, the thought of accepting any 'purpose' from these monsters was inhibited by his pride. Now, he could be killed just the same and care not an ounce about it.
"Your clan cannot comprehend what we have done. The human mind is so much more complex than the warrior training you received can handle. In days we have deconstructed a lifetime of mental conditioning. Can you not see who holds the true power? There is no right and wrong, but only strength and weakness.
"And if you truly believe only the strong survive, then you will help your trothkin prove themselves. You will provide them with a challenge so great as to rival your own journey to your core. And then it can truly move forward or die: the only two acceptable outcomes in any challenge in life."
Just exactly where this guy was going got confusing, suggesting that he could help his clan achieve greatness through tribulation. What could he do as a degraded, worthless rag of flesh now that he had been defeated and stripped of any dignity? How could he benefit from anything any longer, let alone his clan?
He was led to a building on the other side of the garden they had been walking through. Past the door awaited another man wearing a LAAF dress uniform. But this one was different. He spoke with a tone very distanced from the officer next to him, and he wore the crest of the Steiner royal family.
The new man's words started to make sense as he spoke them, telling him just how he would be great again despite no one ever knowing. He gave the broken man a sliver of confidence that his own self perception would give him more strength than any military award. He outlined exactly how he would help the universe by challenging his former clan with the proven guile of his captors to help it the way it helped him. It diminished the value of the casualties resulting, making them an acceptable price to pay for greatness.
With the strong truly the only to survive, it all justified itself. And after being given the dignity of a human being again after so long, he was told he would be released. He was told his clan would return to again liberate this world, and that he would again be given the opportunity to take what he was given here and rise through its ranks, put him in a position to make it prove its invincibility, or put it out of its misery entirely.
"Go," they said…
"…go back to your clan…" Jacob stood in the tall cavern heated by his equipment and buzzing with the chatter of his men and the collected group of injured, freezing pilots. They had survived the Armageddon outside and with that gained his respect, something he thought he was incapable of producing anymore, at least for his former clan.
The ultimate twist is that ahead in a medical tent lay the body of the man that tried to kill him so long ago in these very caves. He dreamed of the day he would be face to face with the insidious traitor that followed orders to murder his own trothkin, but never knew under what circumstances it would actually happen.
Now, with all that had happened to these warriors over the last several days, he could not think of bringing them any more death. It was not charity on his part, but commonality. They too were betrayed by their own clan, and risked their very lives to protect it nonetheless. They had acted in a fashion he never could have imagined himself acting in, and that realization humbled him a bit. How much the world he thought he knew could turn upside down in just a few days…
Thao awoke to find himself in a sleeping bag surrounded by the walls of a small tent. The only other thing here was Star Commander Bree, holding his hand, seemingly waiting for his return to this realm.
Her eyes were welcoming and full of concern, but her smile told him that he would be alright. The fact that he slept for the first time in days had its own effect on him, one he was not complaining about. But the pain shooting through several points in his body told him that he had a lot more recovering to do before resembling the condition he was in when he started this nightmarish journey.
"Hey," she started with a soft voice. "Welcome back."
He smiled, "Hey." Then he tried to look around before thinking better of it, "Where are we?"
"In a cavern underground. Jacob and his men came to help us out of the cold."
"How many…" He could not find the words to complete the sentence. He suddenly remembered the battle and all of its despair. Her shaking her head did not help soothe him, as her face told him of their loss. "Bree," he started, nearly choking back tears, "I am sorry. I am so sorry. They deserved better than this--"
She cut him off, "Stop. We who survived did so because of you. It was you who pulled us through all of this. Everyone believed in themselves, in our fight because of your confidence. Do not blame yourself for what the world does out of its own cruelty."
He appreciated the words, but still felt horrible knowing what kind of hell his unit was put through recently. Honorable battle was one thing, that was to be reveled in. But this was a death march with him at the front, leading them all down a dark road to nowhere. At least, that's how he felt until she spoke again.
"…Kael would have been proud."
"Would have been…?" He instantly knew what her comment implied, but needed to hear it outright to believe it.
She dipped her head when she spoke, "His signal flatlined before ejecting over three hours ago. Gregors could not find him anywhere in the area. He stayed in the air until his fuel nearly ran out."
Wow… he thought. Kael Pershaw, the most stubborn man he had ever known: too stubborn to identify with the living most of the time, too stubborn to die. The thought of him actually leaving this world was near impossible to fathom, especially in the cockpit of a 'mech. What a glorious end to a career so shattered by politics at the last moment.
"There is nothing we can do about that," she continued, bringing him back to reality. "The battle was harsh. People die. That is the way it is."
Then a new voice penetrated the air inside the tent, "That is the way it has always been, quiaff?"
Bree turned to see Jacob standing in front of the entrance flap. She did not want to leave however. She fought too hard this last day to keep him and did not want to let him go now, alone with a man who had every right to demand rectification of past sins in the worst possible way. But Thao spoke against her wishes regardless.
"Bree," he started, taking a pause to remoisten his throat, "give us a moment." When she did not let go of his hand he continued, "Please?"
The look in his eyes assured her everything would be alright. How he knew was beyond her, but she did not argue. She just left the tent and stayed close, wanting to be as near to him as possible, even if separated by a sheet of vinyl and a disgraced warrior…
Jacob waited a moment to collect his thoughts and separate them from his emotions, "The clan has changed a lot since I was banished, quiaff? This group of yours resembles nothing I used to remember."
Thao automatically assumed a vulnerable position in this exchange, by not only being rescued by Jacob, but now lying in a sleeping bag simply trying to keep warm. "Neg, the clan is exactly the same. We would be fighting Falcons just the same as the Vipers outside had they followed us here instead."
"That is curious," Jacob began as he sat down facing the star captain, "because you all seem to think that by surviving you can still serve a purpose. After all, that is why you won that battle. Am I right?"
Thao paused, "… it is complicated."
"Try me." The look in Jacob's eyes was genuinely curious. Besides, after what Thao did to him, he was owed a little insight to his own similar betrayal.
"Yes. Our own clan turned its back on us, though I guess we had it coming. The type of unit we are, the stuff we do, it begs for scrutiny from the narrow-minded traditionalist." A slight look of bitterness broke through, "But if we did not exist, the clan would already be broken. It just does not know how much it needs us."
"Needs you, huh? Looks like you convinced it. They sentence you to death as well?"
Thao should have expected this, and his sigh was one more of shame than disgruntlement, "The clan means well, if we can take care of those who abuse its naivety. It stands for an ideal that is stained by those selfish assholes that exploit it for personal gains." He grew angry as he spoke, thinking about Dev and gaining strength through his resentfulness, "I have been betrayed by the same man that ordered me to kill you so long ago. I know now that nothing is sacred but justice; and I aim to drown him in it if it kills me."
Jacob lowered his head and smiled at the enthusiasm and passion displayed by a warrior he could have become had he had more faith in his clan and chosen to be more optimistic. It was funny how the world had things turn out. If there was such a thing as fate, it had a twisted sense of humor, one Jacob could relate to.
"I know now that you did not know who we were back then. Dev used you to do his dirty work before throwing you out like he did."
"Aff."
"Then I want to help you bring him down."
That widened Thao's eyes. Jacob wanted to help him? After he nearly killed him so long ago in these very caves, he found himself side by side with his own victims. He couldn't write something so absurdly unrealistic if he tried, yet it somehow felt like a completely natural course of action. "Good. We can use the help."
Just then one of Jacob's subordinates threw the flap to the tent open and interrupted them, "Jacob, we have a transmission you need to hear."
Thao emerged from his sleeping bag quickly, using the recently reacquired energy and followed Jacob to the communications table setup not too far from the tent. On it were several scanners, spanning the fairly narrow array of signals the Jade Falcon military used to send and receive communications. A voice rang out from the speaker of one of them that resonated deep within both Thao and Jacob.
"…I understand that. I am asking permission to clean up my own clan's mess, and in the act relieve your men of any inherent danger of tracking these bandits down." It was Dev Iler, and he was already in the middle of an exchange with someone.
There was a pause in the communication as the recipient contemplated its response, "Very well. I will not deny a clan the opportunity to exterminate its own vermin. But you will be monitored, for security reasons. I hope you understand." It was a female voice demanding of respect, most likely higher ranking than the treacherous star colonel.
"Completely. My dropships will depart shortly and give you coordinates for our landing and search areas."
"Good. I will give you this opportunity because of the result of your success against my fellow Steel Viper forces at New Sydney. You have 48 hours to find these dezgra and dispose of them. After that our hospitality runs out."
"Well bargained and done, Galaxy Commander. Star Colonel Dev Iler, out."
"So he is coming for us here, huh? After we are out of 'mechs and completely spent? What a coward!" Mechwarrior Weston slammed his fist into the table as he finished the sentence, mirroring the anger sparked in everyone present, even the former 2nd Falcon Velites.
But that is when Thao spoke up and controlled the tone of the situation before it flared too high, "He will not find us here." Several people moved in closer to participate, or at least observe the exchange while he continued, "We move out in twenty minutes."
"What?" Several people raised their eyebrows in shock. They were in no condition to move. Some of the wounded were still getting used to their splints and bandages, let alone eating for the first time in almost two days.
His command tone returned, along with the bearing and confidence that showed he was a natural leader, "The travel time from New Sydney to here by dropship is not long, and we need to get to Renatia by ground to shut Arthur Stoklas down. We fry the big fish first, then work our way in-house."
Many had trouble understanding his logic. Those in Jacob's outfit were especially confused, having waited for their chance to kill Dev for years and wondering who this Arthur Stoklas was and why he was more important. But Jacob, in his discourse with Julian earlier, knew exactly what was going on and agreed. "Men, we have a new mission. Pack up and be ready to move in twenty!"
His troops responded at the same time and disbursed to work their gear into the vehicles they had parked a distance away. That is when Thao inquired about the one question banging on his mind from even before the battle in the valley, "Where is Julian?"
Jacob looked at Thao, "I do not know. He left on a snowmobile fourteen hours ago."
"Did he hint at where he was heading?"
"No. He took water and some MREs, along with a boat load of maps and fuel before disappearing. I think he went east, right into a massive storm that luckily missed us. That man is crazy…" he finished, trailing off.
Thao shook his head in further confusion. Not only was Julian alive, but he forewent the opportunity to join up with his unit and is now off snowmobiling somewhere on his own. What the hell was going on?
"What were the maps of?" he asked.
Everything. Some main-road transportation maps, smuggling routes, topographical…"
Great, Thao thought, another mystery to be postponed. "Well, I will deal with him later. We have to move now while the Steel Vipers are still reeling from the loss of their cluster. How long has it been since the battle?"
"Three hours."
Just three hours, Thao thought? He was so energized he could have sworn it felt like a solid day since. But he just took that as a blessing and gathered his men for the trip ahead, which he was sure was going to be long and cold…
Galaxy Commander Angelica Zalman waved Arthur Stoklas into one of the chairs in front of her desk, "This… Star Colonel Dev Iler seems eager to take these Falcon bandits out himself. I thought bandit hunting was considered below a Colonel's duties, but the Jade Falcons are seemingly full of surprises lately, quiaff?"
Arthur's face was indifferent, "Aff." Unlike her, he thought they were extremely predictable. He knew Dev was here to meet up with him and just so found an incriminating loose end wandering around in the countryside. It was important for Dev to seal that up before it leaked into the open, but Arthur knew and had to play the game of ignorant observer to keep his own intentions secret, which bored him to death.
"I had aerial reconnaissance set up with several assault stars loaded into Union-C's to find and finish the dezgra, but they are now on standby." For good reason she did not look disappointed.
"Galaxy Commander," he started, "For two days?"
"Neg. I am increasing security for the command center though. Increased 'mech patrols and ID checks. How are you faring in your new facility?"
He wanted to keep a low profile in his new command center, mainly to mask any incriminating activity that may occur there in the next phase of his pushing this war. He chose the location because it previously being an information hub gave him access to facility hardware needed for his normal operations. It was formerly a government library of sorts, and blended in with the surrounding buildings fairly well, or at least better than the main capitol building Angelica chose for her office. Because of that, its target profile was significantly smaller and he decided to minimize security to just his personal staff, which were much more qualified than anyone thought.
"My facility is up and running smoothly. My staff can handle security. I am not worried about anything outside the expected tasks ahead."
The insinuation that she was paranoid went unnoticed. "I am keeping the task force on standby until we receive the status of the 195th."
"Understood." He too was interested in finding out what happened to them.
"I also want you to keep an eye on this Star Colonel Iler."
"Aff. I already have something in place for that." Little did she know, he was on Dev the moment he landed in New Sydney. In fact, he already had the demolitions set up in the Renatia trial center planning on Dev landing to defend his clan's enclave headquarters, not its secondary city. Dev's move in challenging the smaller, weaker force in an assured victory robbed him of that fate and extended his life that much longer.
Arthur's personal investment in that man was going to remain clandestine if he could help it. With the Emerald Talon operation and its apparent failure unknown to the rest of the clan, he accepted the loss and was grateful that was the only hiccup he incurred so far. No more would be acceptable.
The routes Jacob and his men developed to get around the region unseen were incredibly efficient. Originally thinking they would veer around main roadways and river systems and therefore be longer and cumbersome, Thao was delighted when he learned their preferred routes were up the gut of the terrain, utilizing the mentality that the faster they moved, the less chance they took getting caught, even at the expense of some exposure.
Most of the trip was downhill, which quickly saw the average temperature rise as they descended. While Jacob's men were accustomed to this, the Nighthawks were constantly stripping layers or repositioning their wardrobes to adjust to the continuing climate change.
It was nice to feel the wind flow over his head so freely after the last few days. The simple act of racing down a river in a speed-raft at 110 km/h, skimming the surface of a natural water flow glistening in the rising sun harboring smells of cedar and pine was almost orgasmic to those used to the hot, cramped confines of a battlemech cockpit or stagnant spacecraft.
Looking ahead, he saw the river split, just like Jacob told him it would. One of the three rafts positioned itself to their left, ready to take the other split in the fork and form up to create diversions to clear as much Steel Viper security as possible for their near suicidal mission.
Once Jacob realized Thao did not have an actual plan worked out, he spoke with him to devise an impressively simple maneuver to get him where he needed to go. It was a weight off Thao's shoulders, which have carried the burden of more battle plans, alternative strategies, coordinating underground activities, and political defenses in the last 72 hours than Jacob did the last six years. Jacob actually enjoyed working his mind around military strategy again, especially on a project as impossible as this. It was liberating, as near decades of training had molded his mind into a clan military officer whose sole purpose was to kill, and figure out ways to kill better.
Eight out of the eighteen members of Thao's 'mech trinary made it through last night's maelstrom. The three extra were Julian, Kael, and Gretchen, of which Julian was MIA and Kael KIA. Asano regained consciousness shortly after the combat ended and the other pilots slowly converged near the middle of the cove the elementals secured against the surviving Steel Viper pilots. The idea of executing the Vipers, or simply leaving them out in the cold to reap what they sow was actually never entertained, as Shaine's elementals allowed everyone in around the fire they set up.
The elementals now were guarding their Viper prisoners. Normally, winning a battle like that would provide isorla in the form of bondsmen. But the Nighthawks were considered dark caste now, and that was not a battle bid between both participating parties. While the Vipers were glad hospitality was extended, they were still confined under armored security until this entire situation unfolded. Them being in a dark, enclosed cavern somewhere beneath the surface of Marshall did help unbolt the normally sturdy nature of Steel Viper deployments. With so many unknowns, something had to give that normally didn't. It was only natural.
After another twenty minutes, Jacob tapped Thao's shoulder to guide his attention to the view of Renatia climbing over the horizon in the distance. It was beautiful in the morning light. Fields around them were lush with foliage, though cold fog still filled the low spots forming pools of mist randomly spaced throughout their surroundings. The sheen glass of the tall buildings, as tall as they got here anyway, reflected the sun's rays out in all directions, though it seemed to pinpoint just the viewer as he looked at it.
Thao felt Bree next to him inhale deep to help absorb the sight. It was welcoming after the previous night; and squeezing Bree's hand he decided that with all the hells in the world they have seen, he picked a priceless day to die if that was what awaited him beyond the aqueducts ahead.
"Sir, all combat teams are locked in and our launch orders have been verified."
"Great, anything new to tell me?" Dev sat in his cramped dropship office again studying the faces and what information he could pull up from the Nighthawks' roster. Since most of it was deleted or simply not recorded since their transfer from previous units, he was now just killing time waiting for his Overlord-C to launch.
Then, finally, a tech addressed him over the general channel, "Star Colonel?"
"Yes?"
"This is tech Emil. We found the problem. Several steps on the docking crew pre-launch checklist were never done, which is why we didn't get the green light."
Dev could not count how many times he asked the other castes on his dropship crew to refrain from using contractions around him, but was concerned enough with his timetable to spare the other man a lecture. "Are we finalized now, then?"
"Yes sir. Ready to go."
"Good. Find the man responsible for the delay and send him to my office."
"…yes sir."
Finally he felt the rumble of his dropship's rockets as they lifted him from the ground of the planet he so distantly remembered. The reported loss of an entire trinary caught in a storm during navigational drills drew a strong 'suggestion' from command that he be transferred to a more, environmentally friendly post with some supervision. What they didn't know is that he expected that, and quickly worked his way out of that funk through effective politics. Losing that trinary and the hell it would have caused him if it reported its knowledge is what allowed him to remain a warrior, and eventually, again throw his clan into the fires of challenge that would mold it into either the fiercest fighting machine possible, or a distant memory unworthy of noting. Anything in between would be beneath his notice.
The trip into the city proper was more cautious as the two rafts in Thao's party slowed and utilized overhead cover points when air reconnaissance challenged their vulnerability in such a direct route. They headed toward the east bloc water purification facility before normal working hours would release civilians into the equation. It was crucial to have deployed as soon as they had, or else they would have never made it this far with either the Vipers seeing them, Dev landing on them, or the Renatia inhabitants showing curiosity at the sight of illegal combat rafts snaking through their city with bandits and worn-out 'mech pilots alike belonging to the clan that so recently lost this city and their allegiance.
Right now the streets were not crowded with the silent-running electric cars, the sidewalks not populated with those heading to and from public transportation sites on their way to work. And that lack of life made it infinitely easy for Jacob to dock at the facility like he had so many times in the past under the cover of night and hide it after getting the riders topside.
They entered the facility itself and grabbed several overall and coverall uniforms to hide their tattered pilot vests and thermal under-gear. In three smaller groups, they merged with the now emerging populace to make way to a bus that would take them to a garage they maintained within the city storing supplies and a special little item they have been working on the last year leaving two of Jacob's men to excuse themselves to another location within the city…
Entering the garage, Thao thought it was surprisingly stressful avoiding eye contact with all the people he was intermixed with on the streets, afraid that they would see his worn face and bother him with concern as his fatigue finally caught up with him. But a new energy temporarily spiked within again when his eyes laid themselves upon the sight of a custom-made armored personnel carrier, complete with a forward wedge battering ram, solid wheels, armored chassis, and support machine gun mounts along the roof.
He approached and ran his hand over the near-reflective surface like he did to his Night Gyr almost exactly a day before. Jacob's men grinned with pride, some even smiled showing teeth at the chance to finally take her for a spin. They played rock/paper/scissor to pick their positions out, the driver being the most coveted one at double elimination down to the last man before playing for the rest.
Some of the Nighthawks actually sulked when shown their ride: an eight person passenger van with the sign, "Recovering Alcoholic Community Service Transport" painted across the sides depicting it as one of the government vehicles designed to embarrass convicted public intoxicated individuals and drunk drivers while they performed several hundred hours of tasks nearly too menial to ask the dredges of the laborer caste to do. The humor of it all was that they could simply show their fatigue and wear to pull off a near perfect portrayal of real community service workers.
A map was unfurled on a table the commanders gathered around, including Gretchen, Bree, and Weston in place of Marx, who was still in the mountain cavern with the broken leg he sustained landing on loose rocks after ejecting the night before in combat. On it Jacob's right hand man, Daniels, highlighted the most probable Steel Viper Watch headquarters location, the locations for both the first and second diversions, and escape routes and rally points they can utilize in case they are compromised before deploying.
Then Thao followed Jacob to the corner of the garage while the former commander of the 2nd Falcon Velites radioed his second team. There was no reply at first, showing Thao that the surge of Steel Viper communications congesting the air waves due to their numerous initial urban assimilation operations would be yet another obstacle to work around.
But Jacob had yet another trick up his sleeve, or up the wall to be more accurate. A photovoltaic powered signal booster on the corner of the air conditioner assembly on the roof beeped to life as Jacob finally pulled out all the stops and was able to access the fruits of all his pet projects over the years, almost like showing off.
A short moment later, a reply burst through the communicator, "Copy that. We are now at the auxiliary transformers in the east bloc. Ready to detonate charges…" Jacob had planned first to set charges off in the bloc in which they planned to operate in case the Steel Viper leadership decided it was a decoy attack for a real force in the west bloc.
The duo immediately made their way to the latter leading to the roof access hatch. Upon emerging into the sunlight assaulting the roof and forcing them to shield their eyes, they found a nice perch and crouched low to keep from gaining any unwanted attention. Then Jacob gave the command, "Go for it."
In the distance, through binoculars they saw an explosion in a parking lot take out what looked like a gas main, as several constant jets of clean burning fire fingered into the sky and scratched at it repeatedly without relief.
While the muffled sound of the distant explosion was as much background noise to them as a door closing, the pedestrians populating the sidewalks were startled to life before city sirens went off and echoed through the concrete maze of buildings. The sirens hinted at crisis, which is how the people responded: in a wave of panic finding some throwing themselves into nearby buildings and others avoiding structures altogether and running down the middle of the street to disrupt traffic.
Weston appeared behind them as they sat back and watched the dancing flames in the distance like neighbors would watch distant fireworks from their lawn chairs during the Founding Day celebration. "Now what?" he asked.
"We wait," Jacob replied.
Thao just nodded his approval. He was impressed at Jacob's efficiency at 'hidden warfare' and not entirely surprised how familiar he was with it himself. He momentarily deducted that his unit truly was representative of the type of war the clans were determined to eliminate entirely, but then naturally distanced his unit's intentions with those of terrorists, freedom fighters, and those that revel in chaos for chaos' sake. Their goals were noble.
Eventually, they heard booming footsteps in the distance. Jacob had been watching the security forces and traffic diversions while Thao observed the emergency response vehicles and what routes they used. But when the promise of incoming battlemechs became a reality, they combined their data and decided which building to assault. They chose the government library and administration building, as patrols were evenly covering all four sides of its surrounding green plaza lawn and even a fire truck and ambulance arrived there to sit in anticipation of being needed.
It was all standard municipal procedure to protect that structure, but the forces included Steel Viper security personnel and Thao and Jacob failed to find their presence anywhere else in the east bloc. Thao figured the actual operations center would not be in the main halls or even the electronic storage server vaults, but in the hub where the actual communications' network resided.
Luckily, he was stationed here long enough before to familiarize himself with the city, and actually remembered, vaguely, where that room was in the building. The rear right corner of the basement if he was not totally mistaken. If not, then it was the rear left corner of it. Jacob was impressed at Thao's intuition and told the driver of the APC where to aim when approaching the building. The smile alone told him that he understood.
While Hess and Killian quietly debated as to which strip club in the city was the most cost-friendly, the rest of the men in the diversion team killed their time looking busy under the highway overpass complex in the center of downtown Renatia, surrounded by scaling buildings lined with glass windows and the traffic that was finally thinning out from the morning rush.
They knew they could not sit here long having the Steel Vipers still on high alert trying to lock the city down for 'absorption', the process in which a clan assimilates the benefits of a particular area into their planetary infrastructure. It consisted mainly of surveying transportation routes; underground water, gas and sewage networks; and domestic monetary output before delving into the economic utility it served in its previous clan and can now serve in the new one.
Lucky for them, the operations start in the center and work their way out, leaving them better off sitting around for a short period of time here than if they were on the outskirts.
Suddenly, the radio spurred to life, and several of them jumped to it and listened to their commander confirm a clear signal, their identity, and give the order to start the party they so carefully prepared for everyone. They left the shadow of the overpass and made their way near the lobby of one of the nearest buildings. Then Hess won his paper/rock/scissor competition with Killian, and with it the honors of detonating the package.
The first set of charges went off fifty meters from the center of the overpass complex in the incoming lanes only, allowing the traffic on the connecting structures themselves to safely exit, albeit, at a reckless speed due to the reaction of random exploding asphalt. Then, the delayed second set of charges collapsed the structures onto themselves, forcing a deep rumbling through the streets of Renatia accompanied with a minor tremor and a huge cloud of dust slowly expanding into the roadways between the surrounding buildings.
The team cheered in perfect contrast to the mass panic now in the streets. They stood still for a moment and enjoyed the sight of their accomplishment before running with a small crowd away from the ominous dust cloud rolling their way to disappear at their leisure. In the distance they heard the heavy footfall of the battlemech response force rerouted from the east bloc, relieving the pressure of opposing firepower for Jacob and his small entourage.
The APC's engine roared to life being an internal combustion one compared to the battery powered van behind it. By now most of the civilians were off the street and sidewalks to their jobs or homes and traffic was finally moving again and thinning out from the initial panicked response to the recent explosion, which mattered not to the advancing two-vehicle convoy as it was utilizing the sidewalk and its complete, obstruction-free pathway straight to the heart of the east bloc and the government library building.
Light posts, information terminals, and garbage cans blurred past the vehicle at an incredible speed, seemingly shortening their trip with the heated sense of acceleration they all felt. And suddenly the ambient noise of the wheels moving on the pavement became a muffled shadow of itself as the vehicle launched itself from the curb of the sidewalk onto the asphalt street surrounding the library. The battlemech presence had left this post to secure the Galaxy Commander's main facility, leaving this fortress that much more pregnable.
With guards and even a star of elementals jumping out of the way before turning to fire on the racing vehicle with their short range missiles, the slit that was the APC windshield viewport suddenly showed its image blur as the vehicle itself skidded into a 180 degree turn and powered back in the direction of the rear of the building.
With Weston behind the wheel of the van veering left around the complex to avoid giving the star of Steel Viper elementals the opportunity to rip his vulnerable vehicle to shreds quicker than he could pass a double chili-cheese pork burger at gunpoint into a vacuum tube, he had to slow down more to accommodate the higher center of gravity and avoid flipping when he skidded around to face the rear left side of the target building opposite Thao and company.
The rear gunners on the APC successfully shot the first volley of SRM fire down, which was enough to afford them enough time to close the distance with the library and pulverize the outer wall into fragments generous enough to allow them passage.
An action-pausing jolt accompanied the deafening demise of the outer wall of the library. But it was just that, a jolt, as Thao kicked the door down he had been facing for the last thirty seconds and bolted from the vehicle soon to be in the crosshairs of those elementals again.
Everyone followed him as he found the doorway leading to the basement staircase and rammed through it with his shoulder. As if to accentuate the impact, Weston's van blew through its portion of the wall, albeit partially, right when Thao hit the door. He was too fast though, having moved halfway down the winding stairwell before the rustling of the second crew foretold their disbursal into the building whose design did not have an easily accessible stairwell on that side. The last three men in Thao's group actually saw the Viper elementals traverse the rubble and begin clearing the area, but the armored units were too large to fit into the stairwell doorway without jettisoning their missile launchers, which stalled them just enough to have the cry of their commander ring in their ears as his command center erupted into white from the flash bangs that were thrown through the entrance doorway.
With the rush that only a fast-paced raid can provide, Star Captain Thao Prentice breached the threshold of the lower network hub room to find the walls lined with computer terminals manned with Steel Viper technicians and lower ranking warriors. Star Colonel Arthur Stoklas, the Steel Viper Loremaster reeled in pain, hunched over with his eyelids straining to keep their contents intact. The grenades were within two meters of him when they went off, making Thao think about how this redeemed his horrible game of ski-ball he takes so much crap for.
Within seconds every Steel Viper tech had their hands raised while the warriors stood defiantly against the laser rifles pointed at their faces by a hostile force mixed with civilian-made combat utility clothing and official 'mech pilot vests alike. It only took one of Jacob's men to swing his weapon around and rifle-butt the challenging Viper warrior in front of him to the ground to ignite a momentary chain of violence that sent every Viper warrior present down and one to get shot. Gretchen and Daniels were already typing on an open terminal while it happened, forgoing concern for the enemy presence here for mission efficiency.
Behind them, the Viper elementals from outside tried to run down the winding staircase to get wedged in its narrow confines. A small puff of dust accompanied the struggling sounds of metal jamming itself in concrete to tell Thao he had a few moments to push them from his mind.
Without the adrenaline subsiding, he turned to face Arthur, who was finally able to stand up and slowly open his eyes. But when he saw the hostile group of tattered Jade Falcon pilots armed with what looked like hairy, weathered militants he forced himself to blink to assure his brain it was watching the right channel.
Thao took that opportunity to close the distance and point his rifle at Arthur's recovering body, resulting in both of them being alone in the middle of the room and the perfect focal point of the rising tension.
The confused Loremaster finally changed his expression from confusion to disbelief before opening his mouth, "Th… Thao?"
Thao lifted his chin in recognition of his name and said, "Cheers," before shooting Arthur in the left knee with his laser rifle and sending the loremaster to the ground in pain. The heat from the laser bore a hole through it and cauterized the wound shut. Arthur clutched his knee in pain and screamed momentarily from the shock of his nerves exploding signals all the way up to his brain, but shut himself up to preserve what face he had left.
Thao never moved. He thought the trip from the mountains, with the cool air and silent respite from all the action he survived the last few days would settle his mind and prepare it again for logical, calculating thought. He was wrong. The sight of the man who single-handedly tried to push his clan over the edge into turmoil, using it to turn on itself and his unit to reward the bastard Dev in the process sent Thao into a chaotic storm of emotion driven on hate. Everything he lived for was not only beneath this man's notice, but was squashed beneath his feet and left behind to wither away. And right now, Thao had the power to prove his superiority and take that world back, if for just a moment.
What was worse was that this man, Arthur Stoklas, was not taking this like his idea of a true warrior would. Instead of a cold, confident leader, before him lay a defeated, desperate man whose own world so easily slipped from his grasp. To be driven from your own clan by such a travesty was the icing on the cake.
Above them sounds of combat rose again, telling everyone present that the Viper elementals not jammed in the stairwell had found the rest of Thao's entourage and engaged. It served only as background noise to the developments inside.
Gretchen looked back from her terminal, not reacting to the firing but her own development before informing him, "It looks like he has a private server, and it is locked up tight. Fingerprint ID and a decryption code…"
Arthur felt an instant shift in mentality, because with his brain catching up to the shockingly unexpected development of a Falcon bandit militia storming his compound to undo years worth of planning, his face turned from one suffused with pain to anger. Despite all his work and success, right now, he was vulnerable to those most unworthy, "Who do you think you are, blasting your way in here like criminals? What could you possibly hope to accomplish? There is a war going on and you are lucky to not be victims of it ye--"
He was interrupted by Thao's rifle discharging. A searing hot beam quickly lopped off Arthur's left hand, burning the new stub shut with the heat to create a clean cut. The sudden surge of pain exploded in Arthur's brain again, sending him back in a shock powerful enough to stop him from screaming. Clutching his arm's end at the wrist with his only remaining hand, he fought back tears and any vocal outcry that would further embarrass him in front of his men.
Thao just followed up coldly, "There is your fingerprint."
Daniels took the cue and headed over to the dismembered hand, him being the only one moving throughout the tense room. After returning to the consol with it and unlocking half the required bypass locks to the private server, he continued looking at Thao, who stood over Arthur like a farmer looms over an injured wolf that was caught feeding on his herd.
"You are nothing, insignificant. When my elementals get here, they will tear you to pieces. You are not leaving Renatia alive, freebirth." Arthur's message was clear; his words venomous, showing the utmost contempt for Thao's recent sacrifices.
Thao's response though, unlike the hot tempered Loremaster before him, rang cold with bitter truth, "I do not plan on it. But right here, right now, it does not matter."
The reality that whatever happens minutes from now, if Thao lived or died, if the truth of Arthur's actions were ever released or not had no bearing on Thao killing him outright, for he had all the power at the moment. And as if to prove his point, the action upstairs suddenly halted, before a jarring explosion sent shockwaves through the bodies below. The blast upset the building's structure as the second floor must've collapsed in on itself, with the resulting cheers and shouting from Thao's men above telling everyone listening that the elementals were no longer part of the equation.
That revelation put Arthur's mind in rewind and made him reset himself to meet the new circumstances. He calmed himself, closed his eyes, and adopted a new tone, "So, what do you want?"
"I want you," Thao answered, never removing his gaze, "To suffer like my men have the last few days; to feel all their pain, at the same time."
"The code…" Gretchen reminded him from the side of the room in an attempt to refocus him on the task at hand. If anything productive were to come of this, it was in the form of hard evidence. With their reputation completely decimated, it would take a lot for anyone to believe their word over the Steel Viper's Loremaster.
"As you should. I could not imagine having my clan gutted from the inside, with its own dishonor killing itself off, half of its holdings in jeopardy, and its most intransigent leader accused of mass genocide. When someone like Kael Pershaw is rejected by his own ranks, what chance do you have of anyone listening to you? Those files are useless."
"You are so proud of yourself," Thao stated, having not blinked since he set eyes on his prey. "You blackmail a savashri commander into setting his clan up for failure, luring all the bloodnamed away from their worlds to attack the vulnerable leftovers. You have him accuse us of genocide, ruining Kael's credibility while your saKhan challenges us for Strana Mechty and your dezgra rejects take the Emerald Talon. You think you are so clever in stripping my clan of its pride and character, yet you sit here now, on the ground, at the full mercy of a disgraced criminal. So you honestly think all of that combined could even touch the pride of my clan? Your ambitions are shallow and your planning flawed."
"Maybe all you have seen so far, but you missed the crescendo, your clan's final act." And it was pride that won the day. With Arthur realizing that he was not leaving this room alive, he decided to prove to Thao that he was doing this for nothing, that the Nighthawks' little crusade could not stop the impending destruction of its clan. "When your clan loses itself in questioning its own substance when facing extinction, your dishonored Watch will be accused of destroying our primary genetics repository on Strana Mechty."
"What…?" Thao's mind took a step back. Did he just say what I thought he said?
The change on his face must've been apparent, because Arthur continued, "Oh yes. Stripped of all honor and charged with genocide, your leader, Kael Pershaw finally slips into his senile dementia and wants to go out with a bang, sticking it to the clan that that overran you. He orders the bombing of my clan's most prized possession in a last, feeble attempt at going down in history and meaning something. In doing so he proves his criminal accusations as evidence from your council reveals, and Clan Steel Viper, the victim of his actions, wins the right of a
Trial of Annihilation. No matter what you do here, your clan will be destroyed by our hands, and you will be to blame.
"I will die a hero, while your mentor dies a limp, cancerous tumor in your clan's history; his genetic legacy purged from your ranks before the Vipers take it all." He studied the horror on Thao's face, watching him try to figure out if what he was saying were true, the implications of it horrific enough as a lie. "He is dead already, quiaff? You are all that is left of his legacy?" Then he smiled and shook his head in satisfaction, "It fits."
The anger swelled within Thao. "You would destroy your own repository to kill us?" His voice lowered to reflect his scorn, but he could not find words to follow up.
Arthur's face swelled with pride in his victory. He knew it was over, with Thao finally losing his sense of control and his own plans being too solid to fail. "Sacrifice is needed for any victory. Yours is for naught."
Sacrifice, Thao thought. With him learning of his supposed betrayal and murder of his own unit several years ago, his previous commander conspiring against his own clan, losing warriors to a war that should have never been, and worst of all, having his mentor, Kael relegated to history as a mass murderer, he decided he had sacrificed enough. It was time to make the enemy sacrifice.
Thao dropped his rifle and walked up to Arthur, grabbing the now alarmed man by his throat and lifting him into the air with strength brought on by rage. Arthur struggled against his grip, looking into Thao's eyes as his brain was denied both air and blood, washing his body in panic and helplessness.
The room watched as Arthur slowly died, uselessly flailing and hitting his killer with desperate swings of his weakening arms. He did not make a sound, no gurgling, no last words. He just flailed and flailed, looking at Thao, who never broke his gaze until the body fell limp in his grasp, eyes still open with the shock of its impending death. While Thao won by taunting Arthur's pride enough to make him confess the depths of his obsession with vengeance, Arthur won in enraging him enough to kill before getting the code that could stop it. Only Gretchen shook her head in refusal at what she saw, while the rest of the faces, Jacob's men included were still stricken with shock from learning of his plans.
Thao dropped the body and turned away to pick up his rifle and take complete charge of the room and its inhabitants, now having left civility far behind, "Okay, this is the deal. We may never make it out of Renatia alive, but I have a mission here. At least one of you knows the decryption code to his server, and you are going to tell me quickly or none of you are leaving here alive either."
A silence followed as no one spoke up. After a few moments, Thao raised his rifle with one hand and fired at a Steel Viper tech, forcing everyone to wince at the sudden execution.
But he had not lost it yet, as the shot narrowly missed, boring a hole through the terminal behind the cowering tech whose life had just flashed before his eyes. "I am not fucking around here," he told everyone, throwing his verbal restrictions out the window as well.
One of the Viper warriors, his face heavy with anger and disgust, looked at the highest ranking Viper warrior in the room, a star captain who was staring down the barrel of Bree's rifle. "Star Captain, tell him the code."
The star captain turned only his head to meet the warrior and shot him a look of refusal, to which the warrior continued, "Blow up our main repository? Are you crazy?"
Thao took interest in the exchange and did not involve himself, yet. Another warrior spoke up, "Star Captain, tell him! This is madness!"
"Hold your tongue mechwarrior," the star captain replied, sounding extremely aggravated that they ratted him out as the only one who knows the decryption code.
But the first warrior was not having it, "Cutter," he started, omitting his rank in a most insubordinate tone, "If you do not give him the code, I will make sure you end up like that thing on the floor!"
The second warrior hit him with logic, "We all know now. We will not hold our peace! If you let that madman blow our repository, I swear by the blood of Kerensky himself--"
"Okay," the star captain quipped. "I understand." His voice wreaked of defeat, but at least he would not let his wanting for revenge damage his clan in ways most could not fathom.
He sat, exhaling his defeat. He closed his eyes, swallowed hard with effort, and spoke it, "Samuel, fifteen three."
Daniels almost typed it when Gretchen's hand stopped him. Thao spoke her concern aloud, "That would not be a failsafe code to erase everything, would it?"
Inhaling deep again to overcome his urge for resisting, he replied, "No, it is the right code." That is when Thao briskly walked up to him and knelt to match his eye level. He stared into the star captain's eyes with his own cold, heartless orbs until he was convinced that the look of despair was genuine, and told Daniels to use it.
As Daniels typed, another tech spoke up, reciting some arcane passage, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, oxen and sheep, camel and donkey."
Thao actually knew what he was referring to, thought most of the warriors present were outright confused. Julian had kept a bible in his book collection, telling Thao of its importance in so many wars and acts of philanthropy alike. While Thao never read it, he knew it was a controversial historical reference, and had an unmistakable language to it. The fact that the decryption code was the name of a passage that recited God's order of the killing of an entire people only made sense, as something finally did today.
Then, suddenly, the consol in front of Gretchen and Daniels burst to life, opening menu after menu of information, with everything from timelines to Arthur's personal unit rosters to correspondence with various contacts needed for his clandestine operation's success. It was everything they could have hoped for and more. The excitement on Gretchen's face made its way over to Thao, who just ordered, "Send it all to Star Admiral Malthus now before something happens to it."
"Affirmative!" she replied with vigor.
But not moments after she began her transfer, battlemech footsteps boomed their way into the room from outside as the distracted security forces finally approached after getting the run-around. Mechwarrior Weston gave him an update from his communicator and he decided to hang tight in the hidden basement until the files were completely uploaded through the Emerald Talon's secure channel.
Then suddenly, over the general frequency everyone could hear, "Steel Viper forces in Renatia, cease all combat activity. This is Star Colonel Adrian Malthus from the Emerald Talon warship in orbit over your location. I have targeted your command structure and surrounding patrols. If you open fire on any contacts before word from your Khan reaches you and I have been advised by mine, I will bombard you from orbit until you pose no more threat to my trothkin on the ground. Be this your only warning."
A silence ensued as every Steel Viper in the city conferred with their superiors through Galaxy Commander Angelica Zalman before lowering their arms and disengaging.
Though Thao could not predict what the Khans of their respective clans would do with the information garnered from Arthur's personal files, he was satisfied he did all he could to right the situation. It was all he had in him, and he hoped all the sacrifice leading up to this point would at least be acknowledged. Had Kael survived to see that they had succeeded, Thao swore he would have smiled.
In her war room on Strana Mechty, Marthe Pryde killed the feed and took a deep breath. She looked over at Nicole Hoskins, who had changed her attitude since discovering the identity of the Emerald Talon invaders and assisted her to best of her ability. The information filled her screen with pages upon pages of correspondence and historical references to Arthur's private investigations. His contacts concerning the build-up to the war were found throughout the information, being difficult to weed out but incriminating enough to have Marthe immediately send a search team to the Steel Viper Strana Mechty repository with the cooperation of Khan Brett Andrews and his teams while he sorted through the same material on his end. It was so confusing, though the shock of it all coming in at once forced a momentary homeworld-wide cease-fire between the two clans and promise of a personal meeting between the khans in the near future to discuss the relevance of such information as a pretense for war and its continuation. Nicole's shock had convinced Marthe that she really did not have knowledge of Arthur's personal endeavors, and she convinced the Falcon khan that Brett Andrews did not either. The actions of the Steel Vipers in the wake of learning about the workings of a man driven to destroying his own clan's most prideful symbol to provoke the annihilation of his self-perceived nemesis proved that they were a proud and honorable clan, and did not want to continue such a now-known dirty campaign without figuring out the truth.
But as that truth absorbed, the shock eventually subsided as Marthe started to think about the last two days and what her clan had been through. So many warriors were thrown into combat, eager to prove themselves to their absent commanders to find their opposition elite warriors years their senior in experience. The amount of individual loss, the enclaves, the troop morale, the fact that her clan had been so brutalized in a way she would never have seen coming, including the persecution of the Nighthawks, who she had to owe this extraordinary development.
In fact, the only person who could have imagined the scope of such a thing had already fell victim to it. Her long time council, Kael Pershaw, finally fell. She heard he went down fighting in his 'mech, something she found difficult to imagine but was happy to hear.
His legacy would take work to restore among the Falcon ranks, but his unit, Star Captain Thao Prentice continued where he left off. He succeeded in unearthing the truth. He did it sly, and dirty. The Nighthawks fought the kind of war that was being used against them. But their actions avoided more death, and that was the difference between them and who the clan thought they were. And at least, as some kind of consolation, he survived. Maybe someday he too would be the one grooming a successor who would save the clan in the most unorthodox of ways, she thought.
With Thao washing his hands of his past, he may actually have a bright future ahead of him. But his past was still catching up with him, as her incoming video showed. It looked like several dropships had changed course from mountains south of Renatia to the city proper to claim their prize. After all they had been through, it was a Jade Falcon who would reward them with an execution.
"What is it?" Nicole asked.
Marthe's reply was but a whisper, "Dev…"
Star Colonel Dev Iler's dropships were almost to the landing point he highlighted nearly an hour ago for his navigator when Star Admiral Adrian Malthus sent a blanket communiqué over the southern part of the continent. It appeared, however impossible it was, that some of the Nighthawks made it into Renatia before he arrived at their landing site in the mountains and convinced the Emerald Talon to intervene on their behalf.
He was learning to not underestimate them as they had done nothing but surprise him since their cowardly retreat from the Renatia trial of possession itself. Their surviving this long, and making it to the new Steel Viper capital in this region through its defenses showed him their determination at making his efforts at cutting his loose ends as difficult as possible. But he was not finished. With the Emerald Talon keeping the Vipers in line, and the other clan itself knowing that it was not the object of his mission, Dev just planned on going in there with superior firepower and killing that stubborn thorn in his side once and for all, both fulfilling the clan council's decision and forcing Adrian Malthus to consider shooting down one of his own dropships.
The tension building in anticipation of finally ridding himself of those dezgra forced the travel time to stretch however. So Dev found himself harboring extra energy that he decided to burn off by foregoing the intercom system and traveling to the bridge in person to ask about their estimated remaining flight time. He worked his way back just the same, not really happy or sad about the progress but just wanting to fast-forward this entire trip so he could command a battlemech again. The adrenaline high of his previous victory in New Sydney finally subsided and he crashed harder than he would have preferred. Maybe it was the politics that got to him, or maybe it was simply thinking about the past. Either way, shooting at some bandits sure sounded like a good time to him, especially ones that managed to survive the Steel Vipers as long as they did and threatened to make his life a living hell if they were allowed to snoop around anymore. It was personal now, which sat just fine with him.
He reentered his office, squeezing his frame through the small doorway before heading straight for the seat behind his desk. Right as he passed the edge of the desk itself he heard his door shut behind unexpectedly. The sound startled him and accompanied a voice, "We need to have a talk."
Realizing it was the tech that delayed his launch that he looked forward to berating, his head grew instantly hot at the tone used in breaking protocol and demanding anything from a bloodnamed warrior of a superior caste. He turned around to see his supposed subordinate standing in front of the closed door with an exceptionally calm expression on his face. That face… he thought. It was so familiar. Like he was an actor in a movie he was watching and just so narrowly forgot what role he was so known for.
The tech walked forward to sit in the chair across from him, which he was not ordered to do as Dev likes to discipline lower caste members with them in a fairly uncomfortable position. While opening his mouth to stop the tech his brain landed in the right spot as he recognized those eyes of ice…
Dev instinctually pulled his sidearm from his holster to have the tech pull three throwing spikes from his left sleeve with his right hand and in a smooth motion release them at once directly into his own wrist and hand. He screamed in pain and instantly dropped the gun, now instead clutching his arm that was sending surges of pain through his upper body. Acting on autopilot, he reached to pull the spikes from their new homes when the tech again opened his mouth out of turn in a tone suggesting he was annoyed, "Do not remove them," Dev stopped when the tech articulated the word 'not' in a way most demanding, "You will just bleed out."
Now he remembered. It was that Star Captain, Julian Buhallin: the warrior he couldn't find any information on after some debacle on Barcella several years go. "What the… what are you doing on my dropship?" He forwent asking how he got on his ship, but used his anger to go straight for asking why.
Speaking calmly and lowering himself into the chair facing the desk with one leg folded over his other knee in a posture most comfortable, Julian replied, "Let me guess: you have two small scars in your lower back, on either side of the base of your spine."
"Wha--?" That was unexpected. Despite the fact that he did not see any comment like that coming, Dev in fact did have two scars on his lower back.
"Back in the day they used a titanium based conductor for the sensory manipulation trials. It heated up a lot in the long sessions. Later on they switched to a nickel base with a silver coating. It had the same effect, probably better, but minimized scarring."
"What are you talking about?"
Julian narrowed his eyes while he looked at Dev. He made him completely uncomfortable having infiltrated his office, pacified his ability to defend himself, and was now studying him like a lab animal. "You know, the concept of guilt widely held on ancient Terra was a spiritual, or moral condition in which you have wronged someone and sense the metaphysical imbalance you have caused. But later, scientists claimed that guilt is imprinted in the mind, conditioned through years of being told what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior."
What in Kerensky's name is this man babbling about? He is insane, Dev thought to himself as he tried to mentally block out the pain of the spikes lodged in his arm and took a seat himself, eyeballing the intercom button and quickly looking away when realizing Julian was following his eyes and knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Under this thinking, we can 'unlearn' what makes us guilty, possibly eliminating the feeling altogether. Suddenly, right and wrong are trivial concepts that have no bearing on reality and no place in our decisions on how to act."
"What are you talking about?!" Dev screamed in frustration.
"They used the box, right? They gave you a little shovel to scoop up your shit so you did not get infected sleeping in it?"
No… Dev started to panic inside. Images of the darkened walls stained with blood from countless people before; the stench of his own feces lodging itself in his nose, making it hard to breathe… He pushed all this from his mind almost a decade ago and thought it was lost to him forever. He was wrong.
The look on his face must've told Julian he started to access those memories, prepping his victim for more and setting him up for his ultimate downfall. It was like playing with a marionette that just so happened to have a soul.
"How long did it take you?"
"Take me to what?"
Julian elaborated in a consistent tone, "Dr. Meng Youwei. In his youth he considered himself an artist; in his later years, a businessman. He specialized in… well, I think you know what he specialized in."
Dev remained silent, trying to block out the invading images of his time in captivity. Meng's face stared at him just like Julian's now, with his eyes penetrating every defense he could muster to read him like a book.
"The later scientists had it right. Guilt is imprinted. All morality is imprinted, which means it can all be erased and rewritten, like a computer program." Julian leaned forward, tilting his head as he continued to study the man in front of him, "But they… took the clan out of you. Somehow, he was good enough to erase everything: your upbringing, your past, any sense of loyalty… They call it 'psychological identity deconstruction', but he truly was an artist…"
"What is your point?" Dev growled in frustration.
"You betrayed your own clan, though I cannot figure out why. Did they have you buy into the Inner Sphere ideas of capitalism and greed? Did they promise riches and pleasures, a high ranking command? Or did they simply turn you into the ultimate Darwinist, constantly wanting to challenge your clan to make it stronger. Make it like you, erase its sense of right and wrong and allow it to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it destroys everything in the process?"
"What do you know?"
"I know you ordered the execution of an entire trinary of warriors, men that trusted you with their lives. You betrayed them, and they knew it."
"The clan will survive. That is what really matters."
"Aff," Julian continued, averting his eyes momentarily to shake his head in disapproval, "Hopefully."
"What does that mean?"
"The first time you betrayed us, you gave Michael Steiner top level access codes to our complete touman profile. You put every single planet, troop, and civilian at risk. The second time you betrayed us you made murderers out of innocent warriors as some of them unknowingly gunned down their own, while the rest joined your perverted world void of conscience, convinced it was the right thing to do.
"You lied to them too, did you not? Star Captain Jacob found your transmission logs to Michael. You knew he would rat you out for the traitor you were. So you pinned it on him and had the star captain he told keep it a secret after helping your new, 'replacement' unit kill him off to maintain their honor. Only to have them systematically suffer 'accidents' throughout the years following to make sure no one could connect you to that massacre. It was bad enough asking them to kill their own, but you have one hell of a way to reward that loyalty."
"It was for the good of the clan. I do not expect you to understand that. We were stagnating with each passing year," Dev's voice rose with anger as he spoke, "Weakening our only chance to succeed, to take Terra and show the rest of the clans, and the Inner Sphere we were right!"
His face grew serious with resolve now, "We either plow our way to victory, or just stand in the way of someone else who can. We allowed a freebirth a bloodname, hegira from some spheroid, and allowed a Wolf to embarrass us by killing our rightful ilKhan on the Grand Council floor. A second culling is needed now more than ever."
Then it got silent for a moment before Julian spoke up, "I see now how you two got along so well."
Dev yielded to the idea that Julian knew more than he was letting on, which was most of everything it seemed. So he let some of his guard down trying not to incriminate himself further, "You mean Arthur?"
"Aff." Then Julian leaned forward even closer, "Did you know about the Emerald Talon?" A hint of Dev denying his confusion surfaced momentarily on his face, answering the question for him. "Did you know he booby trapped the trial arena to kill you the moment you met up with him in Renatia?"
Again, Dev fought the urge to portray any response.
"And, here is the kick in the balls: did you know he was going to destroy his clan's main genetic repository and blame it on Star Colonel Kael Pershaw as a pretext for a Trial of Annihilation against us?"
"That is bullshit," Dev interrupted. Now it was getting real out of hand.
"Bullshit," Julian nodded his head in cynical agreement. "I spoke with Star Captain Jacob yesterday."
"Impossible. He died years ago." He said what he thought was true, but the dots slowly started to connect and form another truth that challenged his own.
"Neg, he lived. His unit pulled together through that winter to emerge and survive on their own here. They are helping Star Captain Thao Prentice, your former subordinate take down Arthur Stoklas in Renatia."
"Bullshit!" Dev failed. He let it through: doubt. He started to believe, he started to entertain the idea it was all possible, that he knew everything; that Julian could read him like just like Meng Youwei so long ago. His captors back then told him that they made him stronger, that they took away his ability to fear. They told him they made him stronger than his clan did, and that he was above it, with no use for something like doubt. But once back in the ranks, he didn't feel above the clan so much as outside of it. He wanted it to prove itself to him, go through the same humiliation to emerge victorious and taller than all the others. It turned into his life goal to never be vulnerable again, ever, and eventually that became an obsession. He would do anything to preserve himself, and in turn his clan needed to prove it was better than all as well.
But he started to doubt. Even then he started to doubt if he was good enough for the clan having cracked at the hands of a spheroid, and that confusion forced him aside. It forced him to do bad things and strive to justify them. It forced him to push himself farther than his peers, even at the expense of their lives. He was determined to be the best, the top of the food chain, all because he wanted to eliminate that doubt. It was his only remaining weakness.
"I ask again, how long did you last?"
Dev swallowed hard, "Last for what?"
"How long, before you cracked?"
He never delved into his past. He never told anyone anything about his captivity. It was like being mentally raped to no end, victimized repeatedly in the ultimate violation of a human being. But his experience justified his actions in his mind, "Look, you do not know what it is like. You do not know what it feels like to have them inside your head, inside your body, making it do things. Do not lecture me on 'guilt'."
Julian just listened.
"I am above guilt. I am above anything the clan alone could have made me."
"No," Julian said heavy with bitterness. He sprung up and pointed a hateful finger at Dev while exhaling pure contempt with his words, "You did not make it. You cracked! You failed! You let them think you won. You let them brainwash you into thinking you were strong. You betrayed your own men, men who trusted you because you were too weak to accept that you fucked up! Innocent people died because of your weakness. Then you sentenced my unit to death to cover your tracks! Good people who have sacrificed more for their clan than you could ever hope to. People who rely on me have been killed because of you. And now," he sat back again, lowering his tone, "You opened the floodgate for another sociopath to try and annihilate us. He is not playing by our rules. He does not care who dies. He is exactly like you. He would kill his own to prove he is not weak."
It all sunk in so fast that Dev could not contain it. He had hurt many. Believing for so long that he was a victim of circumstance, he remained bitter toward everyone and everything. It was all capable of ruining him again, so he needed to maintain complete control over the world around him. That mentality wore him thin, and before he knew it, he became something else, something that could eat its young without a second thought if helped him maintain that control. Strength, weakness, trust, loyalty, betrayal, vulnerability: he had been living this life of cycling fears for so long that he just broke down on the spot when confronting them all at once. Had I ever truly been in control…?
"So answer my question: how long did you last?" Julian looked into the eyes of a broken man dreadfully holding back tears of disgust, anger, and regret all at once. He did not blink. He wanted the man to see that the person doing this to him had gone through this as well, that it was possible to simply be loyal, have faith in those around you, and be fulfilled simply adhering to your own sense of morality.
"Eight days."
Julian instantly broke eye contact and turned his head in disgust. But Dev tried one last time to justify himself, "Hey…!" Then he dipped his head in defeat, "It is not like anything we have ever experienced before. It is… so dark, and numb."
"Dr. Kurt Gedichte. Squirrelly guy, cleaned you up after Meng was done for the day…"
Dev remembered him. For some odd reason, despite all his brain was trying to process, he could picture the man perfectly.
"We captured him seven months after your rescue. Kael had him run the program on me, the same one they put you through."
Dev looked up with surprise and confusion. Somehow, if Julian were telling the truth, then he overcame the conditioning and actually did become stronger. He was in total control, choosing which morals to adhere to and fighting to the death for them. But, despite all the implications that came with the shared experience, he just wanted to know one thing. He needed to know if this man was worthy to judge him. So he asked, "How long did you last?"
Julian pressed the tips of his fingers together and dipped his own head in thought, absorbing the experience that was ripping through the mind of the man across from him. Then, after a deep breath that told Dev that he had been humbled and understood the weight of his experience, "Twenty two days. They shut the program down after that, said that the next levels of physical torture would kill me and therefore I had passed. Gedichte had never seen that before."
Julian got up and grabbed the pistol Dev dropped just minutes ago. He removed and pocketed the magazine, then extracted the chambered round and stood it upright on Dev's desk next to the pistol itself. "As long as you breathe, there is always the opportunity…," Dev listened intently, though he was too ashamed to look Julian in the eyes, "…to do the right thing. Even though the right thing now will not erase the wrongs of your past, it is still a sign of strength."
Julian then produced a small audio recorder and laid it next to the pistol. "You owe it to the men you have killed. You owe it to the clan that took you back after surrendering. And most of all, you owe it to yourself. Be what you wanted to be, an example to our clan. Show it that you can find the strength to atone for your sins, that you can be accountable and accept the consequences of your actions. This once, take real control of yourself."
Then Julian turned around and paused, not showing a shred of concern that Dev could put that final bullet in his back. "Go out doing the right thing, and you will leave this world fulfilled."
Then he opened the door and left, closing it behind him and leaving Dev Iler alone with both his past and his choice of a future. For some reason, the battle was easy, and he felt no inclination anymore to cover up his sins and convince himself that he could do better next time. He resigned to doing it right once, and leaving it be.
Julian stayed outside the office door for several minutes, wondering how he was able to resist what he did so long ago. He tried to imagine him turning out like Dev, broken and conflicted beyond reason, obsessed with perfection while letting their lies eat through his soul from the inside. Then he realized that he would have killed himself long before giving in to that. At first glance Julian realized that an outsider would see him embracing the impossibly noble yet simple ideals of his clan as an easy way out, a crutch to lean on with which to focus his energy without going through the real trouble of finding his own way.
But they would not realize that traveling that path always leads one to a hollow existence. In search for one's personal truth, they inevitably create one instead, just to make an end to that journey. Because the truth is: there was no eternal truth to be found. Life was about what you choose to believe in and how you represent its values. Believing in just yourself is a doomed path because you are forced to recreate your values every time your efforts to uphold them fail. Doubt in one's purpose is by far the worst fate anyone could suffer. And those that walk that path and never doubt always try to take the world down with them when insanity infests them entirely.
A single gunshot rang out from behind the door, and Julian turned away thinking, There was more life in that single trigger pull than his entire career as a warrior. I almost envy him. He hit his apex and fulfilled his existence. His travels are over, may he finally find peace.
